Tag Archives: COVID vaccine

Health

Atlanta restaurant turns away unvaccinated customers: ‘No Vax, No Service’

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An Atlanta-area restaurant is making headlines over a new sign its owners posted warning potential customers: “No Vax, No Service.”

What are the details?

Owners of the Argosy Restaurant and Bar, located in Atlanta’s East Village, posted a sign outside of their restaurant last week advising potential customers they are not welcome inside if they are unvaccinated, WSB-TV reported.

“For the safety of our staff, guests, and community…No Vax, No Service,” the sign reads.

The decision was made after three employees and co-owner Armando Celentano tested positive for COVID-19, according to the Atlanta Journal-Constitution. All four were reportedly vaccinated against COVID-19, which would make them “breakthrough cases.” Data from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention show such cases are exceedingly rare.

“We think we were exposed at different times to unvaccinated people,” Celentano claimed.

The positive tests forced the owners to shut their doors over the weekend, resulting in tens of thousands of dollars in lost revenue, the owners said. “I can’t afford to continue shutting down due to COVID infections,” Celentano said.

So how will the restaurant enforce its new policy? Not proactively — at least for now.

From the Journal-Constitution:

Argosy employees will not check proof of vaccination at the door, in part because the restaurant doesn’t have the staff to support such protocol. Instead, customers are asked to carry proof of vaccination — either the original copy or a digital version, such as a photo from a smartphone — and show it upon request. Vaccination is required whether customers are indoors or outside.

Celentano said the policy was “fluid” and could change. “If it becomes obvious that we have to start taking vaccination cards at the door, we will,” he said. “We want people to have fun and walk around but not spread this thing to people and staff. … This is not, hopefully, a long-term policy. Hopefully, it is enough to get us through until we can develop herd immunity.”

In his interview with the Journal-Constitution, Celentano acknowledged accusations of “virtue signaling,” but said implementing the new policy is his “line in the sand” — and his right, after all.

“It’s a privately owned, small business and I have to do what I think is right to protect the people who rely on me to make a living,” he said.

Legal experts told WGCL-TV that Argosy’s policy is legal.


Argosy Restaurant requiring vaccine for service

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How did customers react?

Customers were torn over the divisive new policy.

Sean Villalobos, a frequent Argosy customer told the Journal-Constitution, “It’s your right as a business owner, but from a purely practical standpoint, there’s no way you can verify who is vaccinated or not. From a business perspective, it doesn’t make sense to potentially alienate people at a restaurant.”

“I think it’s a bunch of crap,” David Carpenter told WSB. “It’s everybody’s choice, that’s what I think.”

Customer Megan Mewbron, meanwhile, told WSB, “I personally don’t have a problem with it because I’m fully vaccinated.”

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Health

More vaccine mandates likely once FDA grants full approvals: experts

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More vaccine mandates may be imposed across the US once the Food and Drug Administration gives its final stamp of approval to COVID-19 shots, health experts have predicted.

The three vaccines on the market are currently being administered under an emergency use authorization but a full regulatory sign off could remove legal hurdles for businesses and government agencies that want to require shots for their customers and employees, NBC News reported.

“I think once the vaccines go through full FDA approval, everything should be on the table, and I think that everything will be on the table at the level of municipalities, states, employers, venues, government agencies,” Andy Slavitt, the Biden administration’s former COVID-19 response coordinator, told NBC News.

Once one or more of the vaccines are fully approved, Slavitt said he believes that federal agencies should begin to require the inoculation.

People seen protesting against mandatory vaccines on Broadway in Manhattan on June 27, 2021.
MediaPunch/Shutterstock
Anti-vaccine protesters gather outside Madison Square Garden in NYC ahead of a Foo Fighters’ show, which requires proof of vaccination to enter.
REUTERS/Andrew Kelly

“I think every government agency ought to rethink what’s appropriate,” Slavitt said. “There are a number of people in surveys, by the way, who say precisely these words, ‘I’m not going to take it, unless it’s required.’”

Robert Field, a law and public health professor at Drexel University, noted that there had been no precedent for requiring shots still in the full-fledged regulatory review process.

“Employers are on shakier grounds because of the emergency use authorization,” Field told Reuters in December.

Full approval is the FDA’s strongest endorsement of a drug and typically requires six months of safety follow-up.

Pfizer and Moderna have applied for full approval of their two-dose vaccines, both of which secured emergency use authorization in December.

Pfizer has said that it anticipates a decision no later than January 2022, but the FDA is widely expected to finish its work reviewing the vaccine far sooner.

Kathleen Sebelius, health and human services secretary under President Barack Obama, said that the mandates could be the necessary push to get more Americans vaccinated as more contagious strains, such as the Delta variant, spread across the nation.

Security personnel ask customers for proof of vaccination as they enter City Winery Thursday, June 24, 2021, in New York.
AP Photo/Frank Franklin II

“Shame on us if we sit here in July and don’t do something to increase the vaccination rates and then we can’t open schools or have a situation where, God forbid, the economy takes another hit because businesses have to shut back down,” she said.

Health experts says that once the major COVID-19 vaccines are fully approves, more mandates may come into place.AP

With Post wires

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Health

California man who mocked vaccines dies of COVID-19

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A California man who mocked COVID-19 vaccines has died after becoming infected with the virus.

Stephen Harmon, 34, died on Wednesday at Corona Regional Medical Center, about an hour east of Los Angeles.

Prior to his hospitalization, Harmon shared a series of jokes on social media about vaccines.

“I got 99 problems but a vax ain’t one,” he wrote in June on Twitter.

In another tweet the same month, he made fun of the Biden administration’s outreach efforts to push vaccines.

“Biden’s door to door vaccine ‘surveyors’ really should be called JaCovid Witnesses. #keepmovingdork,” he wrote.

Harmon had been treated for pneumonia and critically low oxygen levels in the hospital, news station KCBS-TV reported.

Three days before his death, Harmon shared that he was being placed on a ventilator and asked his followers to pray for him.

“If you don’t have faith that God can heal me over your stupid ventilator then keep the Hell out of my ICU room, there’s no room in here for fear or lack of faith!” he wrote on Twitter.

Hillsong Church founder Brian Houston paid tribute to Harmon, who had been a member of the Los Angeles congregation.

“He was one of the most generous people I know and he had so much in front of him. He would always turn up to our grandkids soccer games and he will be missed by so many,” Houston wrote on Instagram.

Dr. Oren Friedman, who treats COVID-10 patients at Cedars-Sinai Medical Center in Los Angeles, called Harmon’s death “unbelievably demoralizing.”

“Virtually every single person that is getting sick enough to be admitted to the hospital has not been vaccinated,” Friedman told KCBS-TV.

With Post wires



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Health

Doctor forced to turn down COVID patients begging for vaccine

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An Alabama doctor has warned that it’s “too late” to administer the COVID-19 vaccine when patients are in the hospital fighting for their lives.

Dr. Brytney Cobia, who works at Grandview Medical Center in Birmingham, said she’s forced to turn down desperate pleas from COVID-19 patients to be given the vaccine before they’re placed on ventilators.

“I’m admitting young healthy people to the hospital with very serious COVID infections,” wrote Cobia on Facebook on Sunday.

“One of the last things they do before they’re intubated is beg me for the vaccine. I hold their hand and tell them that I’m sorry, but it’s too late.”

The majority of the infected patients currently in the hospital have not received the shot — and the one patient who has been vaccinated just needed a little oxygen and is expected to recover, Cobia told AL.com.

But some of the patients who were not vaccinated have not been as fortunate, she said.

“When I call time of death, I hug their family members and I tell them the best way to honor their loved one is to go get vaccinated and encourage everyone they know to do the same,” she wrote on Facebook.

Cobia tells family members of COVID patients who have passed away to honor them by getting vaccinated.
Facebook

“They cry. And they tell me they didn’t know. They thought it was a hoax. They thought it was political. They thought because they had a certain blood type or a certain skin color they wouldn’t get as sick. They thought it was ‘just the flu’. But they were wrong. And they wish they could go back. But they can’t.”

Cobia said she recommends that anyone who hasn’t been vaccinated reach out to their physician with questions.

“I try to be very non-judgmental when I’m getting a new COVID patient that’s unvaccinated, but I really just started asking them, ‘Why haven’t you gotten the vaccine?’ And I’ll just ask it point blank, in the least judgmental way possible,” she said. “And most of them, they’re very honest, they give me answers. ‘I talked to this person, I saw this thing on Facebook, I got this email, I saw this on the news,’ you know, these are all the reasons that I didn’t get vaccinated.”

“And the one question that I always ask them is, did you make an appointment with your primary care doctor and ask them for their opinion on whether or not you should receive the vaccine? And so far, nobody has answered yes to that question,” she continued.

Across the country, at least 99% of COVID-19 deaths and 97% of hospitalizations are among people who have not been vaccinated, according to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.

Cobia says she has made progress encouraging people to get the vaccine.
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Business

J & J COVID-19 vaccine less effective against Delta variant, study suggests

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The one-shot coronavirus vaccine from Johnson & Johnson is much less effective against the Delta variant than it is against the original version of COVID-19, according to a new study posted online Tuesday.

The study, which examined blood samples in a laboratory setting and has not yet been peer-reviewed, suggests that anyone who received the J&J vaccine may need to receive a second shot as the variant continues to spread across the US.

“The message that we wanted to give was not that people shouldn’t get the J&J vaccine, but we hope that in the future, it will be boosted with either another dose of J&J or a boost with Pfizer or Moderna,” study leader Nathaniel Landau, a virologist at NYU’s Grossman School of Medicine, told The New York Times.

Earlier this month, New Jersey-based Johnson & Johnson published preliminary data indicating its vaccine was effective against the Delta variant, first located in India, at least eight months after inoculation.

Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) Director Dr. Rochelle Walensky said there is every reason to believe the Johnson and Johnson vaccine will perform well against the Delta variant.
AP

However, in May, the British government released a study indicating that a single dose of the AstraZeneca vaccine, which is similar in structure to the Johnson & Johnson vaccine, was just 33 percent effective against “symptomatic disease” caused by the Delta variant, while two doses were 60 percent effective against symptomatic disease.

J&J spokesperson Seema Kumar told the Times that the data from the latest study “do not speak to the full nature of immune protection.”

Last month, Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) Director Dr. Rochelle Walensky told NBC’s “Today” show that “we have every reason to believe … that the J&J will perform well against the Delta variant, as it has so far against other variants circulating in the United States.”

Walensky told lawmakers earlier Tuesday that the Delta variant currently accounts for 83 percent of all COVID-19 cases in the US. During the same hearing, White House chief medical adviser Dr. Anthony Fauci said researchers were still assessing whether booster shots would be needed to provide additional protection.

“We don’t want people to believe that when you’re talking about boosters, that means the vaccines aren’t effective,” Fauci said. “They are highly effective, we are talking about the durability of that.”

Initial studies indicate that mRNA vaccines manufactured by Moderna and Pfizer BioNTech are effective against the Delta variant and could provide protection for years, provided the virus doesn’t mutate far beyond its initial form.

The Delta variant has been blamed for an increase in cases, hospitalizations and deaths in recent weeks, though the numbers in all categories are still well below the peak of last winter’s surge and the overwhelming majority of hospitalizations and deaths are occurring among unvaccinated people.

Despite that, health officials in Los Angeles and Las Vegas have reimposed mask mandates in indoor spaces, regardless of individuals’ vaccination status.

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Health

COVID-19 Updates: EU vaccination campaign catching up with US

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NEW YORK (WABC) — The European Union’s vaccination campaign is catching up with the United States.

European officials vaunted figures from Our World in Data showing that 55.6% of EU citizens have had at least one dose, compared to 55.4% in the U.S. It was the first time the EU figures outpaced those across the Atlantic.

Our World in Data says the U.S. still has a higher proportion of fully vaccinated people. The figures are 48% in the U.S. versus 42% in the EU. Britain and some other countries are moving faster than either.

The EU took a more cautious approach to vaccines initially and got off to a slower start than the U.S.

EU markets commissioner Thierry Breton noted that half of vaccines made in the bloc have been exported to more than 100 countries overall. But extreme global vaccine inequalities remain. Only a small fraction of vaccines reaching the poorest populations in Africa and elsewhere.

Here are more of today’s headlines:

First positive COVID tests for athletes in Olympic Village
Two South African soccer players have become the first athletes inside the Olympic Village to test positive for COVID-19, with the Tokyo Games opening on Friday. Organizers confirmed the positive tests on Sunday but didn’t identify the athletes other than to say they were non-Japanese. The South African Football Association later confirmed there were three COVID-19 cases in its delegation – two players and a video analyst.

Cases on rise in all 50 states for 1st time in 6 months
For the first time in 6 months, the number of COVID cases is rising in all 50 states. Health officials say most of the cases are happening with people who are not vaccinated. They say the vaccination rates are down about 85 percent since mid-April. In part of California, officials have re-instated a mask mandate.

Mayor de Blasio says masks will continue to be optional in New York City.

No plan for NYC to return to mask mandates, Mayor Bill de Blasio says
New York City Mayor Bill de Blasio said Friday that there are no plans to return to mandatory mask wearing like what was recently re-enacted in Los Angeles County, as the highly contagious Delta variant of the novel coronavirus spreads. De Blasio pointed to the hospitalization rate of .31 per 100,000 people.
“We do not have a plan to change course at this point, but we are going to watch the data constantly to see if any adjustments are needed,” he said. “(It’s) a very low rate, and it’s stayed low in the recent weeks.”

Yankees-Red Sox game on for Friday after testing shows no new COVID cases
The Yankees’ post-All-Star break opener against the Boston Red Sox had to be postponed because of positive COVID-19 tests among six New York Yankees players, though as of now, the teams plan to play Friday. Pitchers Jonathan Loaisiga, Nestor Cortes Jr. and Wandy Peralta tested positive, with pending tests for Aaron Judge, Kyle Higashioka and Gio Urshela later being confirmed as positive. ESPN’s Jeff Passan reports no new positive cases have been reported since Thursday afternoon, and players underwent one more round of testing Friday afternoon before first pitch. Following those tests, Major League Baseball said the game will proceed as scheduled. The postponement of Thursday’s game will be made up as part of a split doubleheader at Yankee Stadium on Tuesday, August 17.
Monster Jam returns as MetLife Stadium’s 1st 100% capacity event since pandemic began
Despite concerns over rising COVID cases, Monster Jam returns to New Jersey Saturday as MetLife Stadiums first 100% full capacity event since the pandemic began. The event will have the largest capacity in the Tri-State Area in well over a year, with an expected 40,000 in attendance. Spectators will not be required to wear masks or show proof of vaccination. Tailgating will also be allowed. Concessions will be open, and while masks are recommended, it is only a recommendation.

NY lawmaker against mandatory COVID-19 vaccines for colleges, universities
A Republican lawmaker is voicing her opposition to mandatory COVID-19 vaccinations at New York colleges and universities. Assemblywoman Jodi Giglio (R-Riverhead) held a press conference Friday to speak out against the plan to require all students attending state colleges and universities this fall to take the vaccine as a requirement for enrollment.
“With what we now know about the virus and the necessity for vaccinating young people, students should not be forced to choose between getting the shots or attending college,” Giglio said. “The vaccines are still considered experimental, and we should not be forcing them on this extremely low-risk population.”

Woman goes viral after getting kicked off cruise ship over positive COVID test
A woman from the Bronx went viral for video she took while being booted from a cruise over a positive COVID-19 test. Laura Angelo says it was all a mistake, but cruise lines have strict measures in place to protect passengers.

New LA County health order requires face coverings indoors as COVID cases spike

Citing continued increases in transmission of COVID-19, the Los Angeles County Department of Public Health is re-implementing a mandate requiring residents to wear masks while indoors, regardless of their vaccination status. The county previously only recommended mask-wearing indoors. The new mandate will take effect at 11:59 p.m. Saturday night, officials announced Thursday.
NYC vaccination rates by zip code
There are about a dozen communities in the New York City area where three out of four people have not been vaccinated yet. 7 On Your Side Investigates created a map where the darkest colored zip codes have the most vaccinated New Yorkers and the lightest, the least.

MORE CORONAVIRUS COVID-19 COVERAGE

New York City COVID-19 Vaccine Tracker
New Jersey COVID-19 Vaccine Tracker

Centers for Disease Control and Prevention on coronavirus

Submit a News Tip or Question

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Health

​Jerome Adams says CDC relaxing mask guidance is ‘premature’

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​Jerome Adams, the surgeon general in the Trump administration, said the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention’s relaxing masking guidelines amid a surge in coronavirus infections because of the delta variant “premature.”

“Last year Tony Fauci and I famously, prematurely, & wrongly advised against masks. I felt it was the best call at the time, but now regret it. I’m worried the CDC also made a similarly premature, misinterpreted, yet still harmful call on masking in the face of delta variant,” Adams said in a series of postings on Twitter Saturday.

He said the mask guidelines should pertain to areas where coronavirus cases are increasing and vaccine rates are declining.

Adams made the comments a day after current CDC Director Rochelle Walensky warned of a “pandemic of the unvaccinated” as the delta variant spreads across the country.

“We are seeing outbreaks of cases in parts of the country that have low vaccination coverage, because unvaccinated people are at risk.”

People wearing protective masks cross the street in Midtown on March 27, 2021 in New York City.
John Lamparski/Getty Images

I​n Los Angeles County, a mandate took effect on Saturday that requires both vaccinated and unvaccinated people wear masks indoors. ​

Adams blamed the confusion on the changing science around the novel coronavirus, which was first reported in December 2019 in China. 

​”​What Dr. Fauci and I said was based on the science & conditions at the time, and amounted to ​’​save the medical masks (which were all that was available) for the medical workers.​’​ Both the conditions & the science changed, but what people heard and held to was masks don’t wo​rk,” he said in another posting. ​

“What @CDCgov said was based on the science & conditions at the time, and amounted to ‘you’re safe IF you vax it OR mask it,’” Adams said. “Both the conditions (rising cases) & the science (delta variant) changed, but what people heard and held to was masks were no longer needed.”​

He predicted that states will soon enact mask mandates like Los Angeles County that “conflict with mask guidance @CDCgov issued a month ago.”

“The sooner CDC says we were wrong & hits the reset button, the better. Trust me​ ​- I know more than anyone​,” he said. ​

Adams said based on the emerging data, the CDC should be advising people to “vax it AND mask it” in areas with increasing coronavirus cases and positivity rates.

“CDC was well intended, but the message was misinterpreted, premature, & wrong. Let’s fix it​,” he said. 

​New infections spiked 70 percent from the previous seven-day average to about 26,300 cases, Walensky said during a briefing on Friday. ​

At the same time, hospital admissions jumped 36 percent to about 2,790 a day, while deaths from coronavirus rose 26 percent to 211 per day. 

According to the CDC, more than 160 million Americans are vaccinated, representing about 48 percent of the population. ​
​​



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Health

Israel claims Pfizer COVID vaccine less effective against Delta variant

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Israeli officials are warning that the Pfizer vaccine is “significantly less” effective against the Delta variant of the coronavirus, the strain first seen in India that now accounts for 31 percent of cases in the US. 

“We do not know exactly to what degree the vaccine helps, but it is significantly less,” said Israeli Prime Minister Naftali Bennett. 

The shot is still keeping people from getting seriously ill in Israel, where over 60 percent of the population has received a jab. Just 1.6 percent have become critically ill, compared with 4 percent in the pre-vax wave of cases. 

Concerns are also rising about the effectiveness of vaccines against the Beta variant, first identified in South Africa. 

The UK will require all travelers from France — including the fully vaccinated — to isolate for 10 days when they return because the Beta variant is spreading there, though mostly in the Indian Ocean territories of Reunion and Mayotte.

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Health

Illinois COVID Update Today: IL reports 578 cases, 12 deaths as test positivity climbs

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CHICAGO (WLS) — Illinois public health officials reported 578 new confirmed and probable cases of COVID-19 and 12 related deaths Tuesday.

There have been 1,397,667 total COVID cases, including 23,336 deaths in the state since the pandemic began.

The preliminary seven-day statewide test positivity from July 6-13 is at 2.1%. May 30, 2021 was the last time the state’s test positivity was that high.

Chicago COVID vaccine map shows how many residents vaccinated by zip code

As COVID-19 cases rise in Illinois, health officials are tracking the trend to a rise in cases downstate, home to Illinois’ lowest vaccinations rates.

“We are seeing more cases in places where the vaccination rates are lower and that is concerning,” said Dr. Rachel Bernard, medical director, Chicago Department of Public Health.

According to IDPH data, the Southwestern regions of the state are seeing the highest spike. In the span of 30 days, Region 3 climbed from 1% to 5%. Region 4, to almost 8%; and Region 5 seeing a 4-percentage point increase in positivity rates.

“It is beginning but it is not significant enough to overwhelm our hospitals yet, so that is good, but if we continue to follow this path it is possible and something that people should be concerned about,” said Shawnna Wrhine, outreach coordination for the Southern Seven Health Department, which covers the seven counties in the southernmost tip of the state.

Summer camps hit with COVID outbreaks — are schools next?

Within just a week’s time, Southern Seven Health Department saw a 200% increase in COVID cases.

“At this point we are very concerned as to why there is still hesitancy among residents there,” Wrhine said.

The Southern Seven is also home to the county with the lowest vaccination rate in Illinois. In Alexander County, only 14 percent of the people who live there are fully vaccinated.

“There is concern that the vaccine is not effective. That the virus is a hoax,” Wrhine said.

Illinois COVID vaccine map shows how many residents vaccinated by county

With those lower vaccination rates come higher rates of transmission and a greater risk for the more infectious delta variant.

“We are assuming at this point that the delta variant is here. We want residents to be cognizant of that,” Wrhine said.

State health officials are now reporting dozens of new cases of the Delta variant, with 236 total cases of the new strain. Infectious disease experts in Chicago are expecting citywide numbers to rise as well.

“Every time there has been a holiday in the following two to three weeks we have seen an increase in numbers and then 2-3 weeks after we see more hospitalizations,” said Dr. John Segreti, Rush University Medical Center.

Missouri, Arkansas added back on Chicago Travel Advisory amid rise in COVID-19 cases

The delta variant is being blamed for the surge in COVID-19 cases across the country, particularly in Arkansas, where doctors worried the surge there could be the deadliest.

“You can’t ignore the fact that Arkansas has a low vaccination rate compared to other states,” said Dr. Steppe Mette. “And the delta variant is the predominant variant in the state. You put those two together, and you’re in for the perfect storm.”

The delta variant is also a major concern in neighboring state Missouri, where the CDC said the variant makes up nearly 75% of sequenced new cases. And after several weeks with no states on its travel advisory, Chicago’s Department of Public Health announced Arkansas and Missouri have been added back on the list.

“Those cases have gone above the threshold for what we would consider to be at higher risk,” Bernard said.

Within the past 24 hours, laboratories have reported testing 31.841 specimens for a total of 26,183,998 since the pandemic began.

As of Monday night, 498 patients in Illinois were reported to be in the hospital with COVID-19. Of those, 108 patients were in the ICU and 40 patients with COVID-19 were on ventilators.

A total of 12,851,005 vaccines have been administered in Illinois as of Monday. The seven-day rolling average of vaccines administered daily is 20,794. There were 25,902 vaccines administered in Illinois Monday.

Copyright © 2021 WLS-TV. All Rights Reserved.



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