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Allegheny County

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Allegheny County is postponing some second dose COVID-19 vaccine appointments until they get more supply, officials announced on Friday. Allegheny County is citing a combination of bad weather and the shortage of Moderna vaccine as the issue. They typically get a notification on Fridays that their doses are on the way and they did not get that notification today. Watch the full report from Pittsburgh’s Action News 4 in the video player above. This announcement only applies to the clinic run by the health department at the DoubleTree in Monroeville. If you were supposed to have your second dose this coming Wednesday through Saturday, your appointment for that dose is postponed. County officials said they sent those impacted an email. These are people who got their first dose at the Monroeville clinic on Jan. 27 through Jan. 30. If your second dose is scheduled for Monday or Tuesday of next week, this announcement does not impact you. This is only for people whose second dose was scheduled for next Wednesday through Saturday at the health department’s Monroeville clinic. People braved the snowfall and cool temps Friday afternoon to get to the county’s vaccination site in Monroeville. Debbie Besh went there for her second dose and her husband Nicholas will travel to Latrobe next week for his. He hasn’t heard of any changes to his appointment. Besh remains positive. “I’m going to be confident,” she said. “I’m going to be hopeful. I’m going to say he’s going to get it too.”The county now joins other vaccine providers that have been impacted by delayed second doses. “We don’t worry about the distribution,” said Diane Riley. Staff at Lebanon Shops Pharmacy in Mt. Lebanon showed Pittsburgh’s Action News 4 where they keep vaccine. On Friday night, there was one empty Moderna box. Riley works as the director of clinical service. She said the mix-up on the state-level has not impacted second doses for the pharmacy. There’s a shipment set to arrive next week, according to Riley, to vaccine their patients who got a first dose at the end of January. “So for the moment we’re not panicking,” she said. The county also announced that no first dose clinics with vaccine administered or provided by the Allegheny County Health Department will be scheduled for next week. This includes appointments at both the Monroeville and Castle Shannon clinics as well as other sites. Officials said that may change pending receipt of supply or additional guidance from the state. Any resulting change will be announced publicly. Anyone with questions regarding COVID-19, the vaccine or scheduling their second dose should call 2-1-1 for more information and to be connected to available resources. Read the full news release from Allegheny County below: The state Department of Health announced earlier this week that there has been a delay in the shipment of vaccine due to recent inclement weather as well as a shortage of Moderna vaccines for second doses impacting supply. As a result, the Allegheny County Health Department (ACHD) today began contacting affected individuals with its plan for the scheduling of second doses of the Moderna COVID-19 vaccine. This information affects only those individuals who received their first doses from the Health Department. ACHD typically receives notification on Fridays that a supply of vaccine has shipped, and the vaccine typically arrives on Tuesday or Wednesday. The customary notification was not received today, and the vaccine shipment that should have arrived earlier this week was not. Based on that, ACHD does not have in its possession enough vaccine, nor assurances that it would receive enough vaccine, to provide second doses for all those who are reaching the 28-day minimum time period during the coming week. ACHD is scheduling appointments for vaccine based on the limited supply of vaccine that it has on hand. Emails were sent today to individuals who received their first doses at the Monroeville vaccination clinic on January 25 and 26 and are due for their second doses on Feb. 22 and 23 that contained second dose registration links. Those individuals will be vaccinated on Monday and Tuesday. The links sent are for second doses only, and the doses available through these links have been set aside to fulfill second dose needs. These links are intended for use by only those individuals due for second doses at the Monroeville vaccination clinic on those days and should not be forwarded to others. Anyone who makes an appointment using one of those links who was not an intended recipient will have their appointment canceled and will be turned away at the Monroeville vaccination clinic. If an individual is due for their second dose on Feb. 22 or 23 at the Monroeville vaccination clinic and did not receive an email containing links, they should call 2-1-1 to register for their appointment by phone. The health department today also sent an email to individuals due for their second doses between Feb. 24 and 27 at the Monroeville vaccination clinic advising that appointments are not yet available for them. Links for their second dose appointments will be sent once the supply of vaccine is confirmed. These second doses will be provided within the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention recommendation of up to six weeks after the first dose. Additional Points of Dispensing (PODs) for other Phase 1A health care and front-line staff that were scheduled for next week will be rescheduled. Those impacted received an email today notifying them of this change. These health care workers and frontline staff will receive their second dose within the CDC-recommended guidance of up to six weeks after the first dose. At this time, no first-dose clinics with vaccine administered or provided by the ACHD will be scheduled for next week. This includes appointments at both the Monroeville and Castle Shannon PODs as well as other sites. That may change pending receipt of supply or additional guidance from the state. Any resulting change will be announced publicly. “The supply of vaccine in Pennsylvania faces two challenges at this moment, a string of bad weather delaying shipment and a shortage for second doses. The county health department is committed to being a good partner and part of the solution as the state responds to these challenges,” ACHD Director Dr. Debra Bogen said. “The priorities of the ACHD during this period are to create as little disruption as possible for those due for their second doses and to fully vaccinate those 65 and older, who are at the greatest risk of severe illness or death from COVID-19.” In Allegheny County, 90% of the deaths and 65% of the hospitalizations have occurred among those 65 years old and older. The plan announced today affects only individuals who received their vaccines through ACHD and not individuals who received their vaccines through other providers. The state has assured providers that the appropriate supply of doses will be available. Individuals who need to schedule their second dose should work with the provider or location where they received the first dose. Requests for a second dose cannot be accommodated by other providers. The health department will continue to schedule the second vaccine in the series for individuals who received their first vaccine from an ACHD POD. While the recent announcement by the state may mean that there may be some delay in when the second vaccine is administered, these potential changes remain in line with guidance from the CDC which recommends that vaccines may be administered up to six weeks (42 days) after the first dose. It is important to note that there is no difference between a first and second dose of the vaccine. While the language that has been used to talk about the vaccine series has referred to “first shot” and “second shot,” these vaccinations are identical. A person who receives a “second shot” was given the exact same thing as a person who received a “first shot.” It is the same vaccine, in the same way, provided both times. The reference to first or second pertains to supply chain management. It does not reflect different medications or anything else that would impact the health of a person being vaccinated. When applied to an individual, it simply indicates whether it’s that person’s first or second shot in the series. Again, they are identical. Anyone with questions regarding COVID-19, the vaccine or scheduling their second dose should call 2-1-1 for more information and to be connected to available resources.

PITTSBURGH —

Allegheny County is postponing some second dose COVID-19 vaccine appointments until they get more supply, officials announced on Friday.

Allegheny County is citing a combination of bad weather and the shortage of Moderna vaccine as the issue. They typically get a notification on Fridays that their doses are on the way and they did not get that notification today.

Watch the full report from Pittsburgh’s Action News 4 in the video player above.

This announcement only applies to the clinic run by the health department at the DoubleTree in Monroeville.

If you were supposed to have your second dose this coming Wednesday through Saturday, your appointment for that dose is postponed. County officials said they sent those impacted an email. These are people who got their first dose at the Monroeville clinic on Jan. 27 through Jan. 30.

If your second dose is scheduled for Monday or Tuesday of next week, this announcement does not impact you.

This is only for people whose second dose was scheduled for next Wednesday through Saturday at the health department’s Monroeville clinic.

The county also announced that no first dose clinics with vaccine administered or provided by the Allegheny County Health Department will be scheduled for next week.

This includes appointments at both the Monroeville and Castle Shannon clinics as well as other sites.

Officials said that may change pending receipt of supply or additional guidance from the state. Any resulting change will be announced publicly.

Anyone with questions regarding COVID-19, the vaccine or scheduling their second dose should call 2-1-1 for more information and to be connected to available resources.

Read the full news release from Allegheny County below:

The state Department of Health announced earlier this week that there has been a delay in the shipment of vaccine due to recent inclement weather as well as a shortage of Moderna vaccines for second doses impacting supply. As a result, the Allegheny County Health Department (ACHD) today began contacting affected individuals with its plan for the scheduling of second doses of the Moderna COVID-19 vaccine. This information affects only those individuals who received their first doses from the Health Department.

ACHD typically receives notification on Fridays that a supply of vaccine has shipped, and the vaccine typically arrives on Tuesday or Wednesday. The customary notification was not received today, and the vaccine shipment that should have arrived earlier this week was not. Based on that, ACHD does not have in its possession enough vaccine, nor assurances that it would receive enough vaccine, to provide second doses for all those who are reaching the 28-day minimum time period during the coming week.

ACHD is scheduling appointments for vaccine based on the limited supply of vaccine that it has on hand. Emails were sent today to individuals who received their first doses at the Monroeville vaccination clinic on January 25 and 26 and are due for their second doses on Feb. 22 and 23 that contained second dose registration links. Those individuals will be vaccinated on Monday and Tuesday.

The links sent are for second doses only, and the doses available through these links have been set aside to fulfill second dose needs. These links are intended for use by only those individuals due for second doses at the Monroeville vaccination clinic on those days and should not be forwarded to others. Anyone who makes an appointment using one of those links who was not an intended recipient will have their appointment canceled and will be turned away at the Monroeville vaccination clinic.

If an individual is due for their second dose on Feb. 22 or 23 at the Monroeville vaccination clinic and did not receive an email containing links, they should call 2-1-1 to register for their appointment by phone.

The health department today also sent an email to individuals due for their second doses between Feb. 24 and 27 at the Monroeville vaccination clinic advising that appointments are not yet available for them. Links for their second dose appointments will be sent once the supply of vaccine is confirmed. These second doses will be provided within the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention recommendation of up to six weeks after the first dose.

Additional Points of Dispensing (PODs) for other Phase 1A health care and front-line staff that were scheduled for next week will be rescheduled. Those impacted received an email today notifying them of this change. These health care workers and frontline staff will receive their second dose within the CDC-recommended guidance of up to six weeks after the first dose.

At this time, no first-dose clinics with vaccine administered or provided by the ACHD will be scheduled for next week. This includes appointments at both the Monroeville and Castle Shannon PODs as well as other sites. That may change pending receipt of supply or additional guidance from the state. Any resulting change will be announced publicly.

“The supply of vaccine in Pennsylvania faces two challenges at this moment, a string of bad weather delaying shipment and a shortage for second doses. The county health department is committed to being a good partner and part of the solution as the state responds to these challenges,” ACHD Director Dr. Debra Bogen said. “The priorities of the ACHD during this period are to create as little disruption as possible for those due for their second doses and to fully vaccinate those 65 and older, who are at the greatest risk of severe illness or death from COVID-19.”

In Allegheny County, 90% of the deaths and 65% of the hospitalizations have occurred among those 65 years old and older.

The plan announced today affects only individuals who received their vaccines through ACHD and not individuals who received their vaccines through other providers. The state has assured providers that the appropriate supply of doses will be available. Individuals who need to schedule their second dose should work with the provider or location where they received the first dose. Requests for a second dose cannot be accommodated by other providers.

The health department will continue to schedule the second vaccine in the series for individuals who received their first vaccine from an ACHD POD. While the recent announcement by the state may mean that there may be some delay in when the second vaccine is administered, these potential changes remain in line with guidance from the CDC which recommends that vaccines may be administered up to six weeks (42 days) after the first dose.

It is important to note that there is no difference between a first and second dose of the vaccine. While the language that has been used to talk about the vaccine series has referred to “first shot” and “second shot,” these vaccinations are identical. A person who receives a “second shot” was given the exact same thing as a person who received a “first shot.” It is the same vaccine, in the same way, provided both times.

The reference to first or second pertains to supply chain management. It does not reflect different medications or anything else that would impact the health of a person being vaccinated. When applied to an individual, it simply indicates whether it’s that person’s first or second shot in the series. Again, they are identical.

Anyone with questions regarding COVID-19, the vaccine or scheduling their second dose should call 2-1-1 for more information and to be connected to available resources.

Read original article here

Business

Live updates: Pfizer and Moderna vaccines have reduced effectiveness against South African variant, new studies show – The Washington Post

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  1. Live updates: Pfizer and Moderna vaccines have reduced effectiveness against South African variant, new studies show The Washington Post
  2. New funding for testing, Biden plan to reopen schools, South Africa distributes J&J vaccine: Latest 11Alive
  3. Lab studies suggest Pfizer, Moderna vaccines can protect against coronavirus variant CNN
  4. Iqbal Survé: Greater co-operation with BRICS countries will help SA navigate Covid-19 storm IOL
  5. OPINION | SA on the right track as it prepares to acquire vaccines from fellow BRICS members SABC News
  6. View Full Coverage on Google News

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Health

Pfizer, Moderna vaccines can protect against coronavirus variant, lab studies suggest

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For the study, researchers at Pfizer and the University of Texas Medical Branch genetically engineered versions of the virus to carry some of the mutations found in B.1.351. They tested them against blood samples taken from 15 people who had received two doses of the Pfizer/BioNTech vaccine as part of a clinical trial.

While the blood serum samples produced less neutralizing antibody activity, it was still enough to neutralize the virus, they wrote in a letter to the journal. This is in line with other studies. And it’s well within what is seen with other viruses, one of the researchers said.

“Although we do not yet know exactly what level of neutralization is required for protection against COVID-19 disease or infection, our experience with other vaccines tells us that it is likely that the Pfizer vaccine offers relatively good protection against this new variant,” Scott Weaver, director of the Institute for Human Infections and Immunity at the University of Texas Medical Branch and an author of the study, told CNN.

“The reduction in the levels of neutralization against the South African variant of about 2/3 is fairly small compared to variations in neutralization levels generated by vaccines against other viruses that have even more variability in their protein sequences than SARS-CoV-2,” Weaver added.

Pfizer said there is no evidence in real life that the variant escapes the protection offered by its vaccine. “Nevertheless, Pfizer and BioNTech are taking the necessary steps, making the right investments, and engaging in the appropriate conversations with regulators to be in a position to develop and seek authorization for an updated mRNA vaccine or booster once a strain that significantly reduces the protection from the vaccine is identified,” Pfizer said in a statement.

Separately, a team at the National Institutes of Health and Moderna published a letter in the same journal outlining findings from an experiment they reported last month. They also reported a reduction in the antibody response to viruses genetically engineered to look like the B.1.351 variant — but not enough of a reduction to make the vaccine work any less effectively.

“Despite this reduction, neutralizing titer levels with (the variant discovered in South Africa) remain above levels that are expected to be protective,” the company said in a statement.

They found no reduction in efficacy against a variant first seen in the UK and known as B.1.1.7.

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World

COVID-19 vaccines by demographics: 4 questions answered

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WITH HEALTH CARE PROFESSIONALS HAVE BEEN TRYING TO GET FOR WEEKS. KCRA 3 INVESTIGATES BRITTANY JOHNSON JOINS US LIVE WITH MORE ON WHAT THE DATA TELLS US, BRITTANY? BRITTANY: THE DATA TELLS US WHO IS GETTING VACCINATED BY RACE AND ETHNICITY, AGE AND GENDER. TAKE A LOOK, IF YOU GO TO COVID19.CA.GOV, YOU SEE THE INFORMATION BROKEN DOWN. IT IS NOT REQUIRED TO INCLUDE THIS INFORMATION ABOUT YOURSELF IN ORDER TO GET A COVID-19 VACCINE, ACCORDING TO THE CALIFORNIA DEPARTMENT OF PUBLIC HEALTH. A SPOKESPERSON WITH THE STATE HEALTH DEPARTMENT SAYS ONLY 10% OF PEOPLE HAVE DECLINED TO PROVIDE THIS DATA. ALTHOUGH IT’S NOT MANDATORY, ONE DOCTOR I SPOKE WITH AT UC DAVIS HEALTH, SAYS WHEN PEOPLE INCLUDE THEIR DEMOGRAPHICS, IT’S HELPFUL. HE ALSO ADDS, THE INFORMATION IS KEPT CONFIDENTIAL. >>HAVING THESE DEMOGRAPHIC CHARACTERISTICS ARE REALLY IMPORTANT, AS I SAID, TO BE ABLE TO TARGET CERTAIN GROUPS IF WE’RE NOT SEEING ENOUGH VACCINE UPTAKE. THAT COULD BE FOR LOTS OF REASONS, ONE OF WHICH WOULD BE JUST THE AVAILABILITY OF VACCINATION SITES AND DOSES OF VACCINE. IT COULD ALSO BE BECAUSE OF VACCINE HESITANCY. WE DO KNOW THAT THERE ARE CERTAIN ETHNIC AND RACIAL SUBGROUPS WHERE THERE HAVE BEEN MORE CHALLENGES IN KIND OF OVERCOMING THIS VACCINE HESITANCY. SO THAT WOULD ALLOW US TO THEN CALIBRATE OUR OUR TARGETED EFFORTS TO TRY TO OVERCOME THOSE THOSE DISPARITIES. BRITTANY: DR. POLLOCK SAYS IT’S IMPORTANT TO KEEP IN MIND THAT THIS DATA DOES NOT REPRESENT WHAT THE OVERALL POPULATION LOOKS LIKE HERE IN CALIFORNIA. THE INITIAL DATA LARGELY COMES FROM HEALTHCARE WORKERS AND FIRST RESPONDERS. THE FIRST GROUPS OF PEOPLE TO

COVID-19 vaccines by demographics: 4 questions answered

KCRA 3 Investigates has been going over the latest coronavirus vaccine data released by the state of California. The most recent data provides details about who is getting the vaccine by race and ethnicity, age and gender.Dr. Bradley H. Pollock, associate dean and chair in public health Sciences, at UC Davis Health, spoke with KCRA 3 about the demographics data.Q: What are your overall thoughts on the data demographics dashboard?Pollock: One of the reasons to track race and ethnicity, as well as age, and, and sex, also, these are all really important factors is to make sure that we can identify any gaps there are in terms of the population that are getting vaccinated. That would be one reason. Second reason would be to be able to look at both vaccine efficacy, so, when people are vaccinated, you know, we know that the efficacy may be hopefully up to 95%, there’s still one in 20 people, then 5%, that would fail. And we don’t know yet whether there’s a particular higher rate or lower rate among certain ethnic-racial subgroups. So that would be important to know that. The same thing is true for any adverse events that occur, you know, any of the reactions that people have, that are serious. While there are data available from the clinical trials that were done to evaluate both of the vaccines, the Pfizer and the Moderna vaccines, we still don’t have a really solid idea of whether there’s going to be differential adverse events in certain population subgroups. And so, having this information will be very helpful to be able to evaluate how the vaccines working, as well as to identify who to target for efforts if we’re seeing certain groups are not getting vaccine(s) equally. We want to be able to target those groups and increase our backs vaccination efforts.Q: Putting on your age, your race, ethnicity, where you live, all of that is not mandatory to receive the vaccine. We know that. But with that being said, do health care officials recommend or encourage people to do this, even though it’s not mandatory? Pollock: We really do prefer when people provide that information, of course. The information is kept confidentially, also. It’s not released for public at the level of individuals. So, having these demographic characteristics are really important, as I said, to be able to target certain groups if we’re not seeing enough vaccine uptake. That could be for lots of reasons, one of which would be just the availability of vaccination sites and doses of vaccine, and it could also be because of vaccine hesitancy. We do know that there are certain ethnic and racial subgroups where there have been more challenges in kind of overcoming this vaccine hesitancy so that would allow us to then calibrate our targeted efforts to try to overcome those disparities.Q: According to CDPH, only 10% of people who have received the vaccine so far have declined to provide this data. That means 90% have included demographics information. Is that promising?Pollock: Vey promising. Much better than what I heard a week ago, which was 60%. So, 90%% is much better. I hope that they get it up, that gets to be a higher rate than that because again, it helps us but 90% is very good.Q: Do the initial data reflect California’s population?Pollock: In relative to the first doses that came out, and remember that doses were shipped out two months ago. Now, they all went to large health care organizations. All of them. We, UC Davis Health, Kaiser, Sutter, Dignity, all of the big health providers. And the reason is that the very top tier people was to vaccinate the health care workers so that they wouldn’t be taken out of the workforce, if they get sick, they can take care. And remember, the hospitals were overwhelmed. So if you look at at the racial, ethnic composition of health care workers, it ranges quite a bit, but there certainly are going to be fewer people of color in nursing and medicine when it comes to the folks that we were. Actually, though, at UC Davis Health, we included all of our employees that were that worked at the Medical Center, including folks that that are not in the same professions — we have people that did a lot of the janitorial and foodservice. And there, what we did see, at least initially was a more hesitancy. There were fewer folks in some of those job categories that really agreed to get the vaccine. And so we’ve tried really hard to educate folks and then to make that available, and they still can get vaccinated. So we’ve actually been picking up some of that slack. But overall, I think that the fact that the first doses went to health care workers, the workforce, really doesn’t typify what the population looks like here. And as you said, we’re still a little bit early on, and now we’re seeing vaccines getting rolled out to the general population, only really in the last month. And in fact, there’s been issues of vaccine availability, as well as logistics. So I think those are kind of getting ramped up right now. And hopefully, in short time, we’ll actually be vaccinating in a very good, equitable way across the state. Again, with this material in mind, that there are people that are more vulnerable. In fact, if you look at the mortality from COVID-19, it’s primarily in the in the elderly population. So the idea of having 75 year olds for us and then 65 plus, year-olds, it makes a lot of sense from the standpoint of trying to reduce deaths, as well as reduce hospitalizations. But we’re going to see things ramp up. I’m at least encouraged by the federal government and the Biden administration for really ramping up the distribution of vaccines to the whole country. I think when a lot of us thought that maybe the fall, by the end of fall, we would be pretty good in the country — it may be by the beginning of summer or the middle of summer when we actually get most of the people vaccinated.

SACRAMENTO, Calif. —

KCRA 3 Investigates has been going over the latest coronavirus vaccine data released by the state of California. The most recent data provides details about who is getting the vaccine by race and ethnicity, age and gender.

Dr. Bradley H. Pollock, associate dean and chair in public health Sciences, at UC Davis Health, spoke with KCRA 3 about the demographics data.

Q: What are your overall thoughts on the data demographics dashboard?

Pollock: One of the reasons to track race and ethnicity, as well as age, and, and sex, also, these are all really important factors is to make sure that we can identify any gaps there are in terms of the population that are getting vaccinated. That would be one reason. Second reason would be to be able to look at both vaccine efficacy, so, when people are vaccinated, you know, we know that the efficacy may be hopefully up to 95%, there’s still one in 20 people, then 5%, that would fail. And we don’t know yet whether there’s a particular higher rate or lower rate among certain ethnic-racial subgroups. So that would be important to know that.

The same thing is true for any adverse events that occur, you know, any of the reactions that people have, that are serious. While there are data available from the clinical trials that were done to evaluate both of the vaccines, the Pfizer and the Moderna vaccines, we still don’t have a really solid idea of whether there’s going to be differential adverse events in certain population subgroups. And so, having this information will be very helpful to be able to evaluate how the vaccines working, as well as to identify who to target for efforts if we’re seeing certain groups are not getting vaccine(s) equally. We want to be able to target those groups and increase our backs vaccination efforts.

Q: Putting on your age, your race, ethnicity, where you live, all of that is not mandatory to receive the vaccine. We know that. But with that being said, do health care officials recommend or encourage people to do this, even though it’s not mandatory?

Pollock: We really do prefer when people provide that information, of course. The information is kept confidentially, also. It’s not released for public at the level of individuals. So, having these demographic characteristics are really important, as I said, to be able to target certain groups if we’re not seeing enough vaccine uptake. That could be for lots of reasons, one of which would be just the availability of vaccination sites and doses of vaccine, and it could also be because of vaccine hesitancy. We do know that there are certain ethnic and racial subgroups where there have been more challenges in kind of overcoming this vaccine hesitancy so that would allow us to then calibrate our targeted efforts to try to overcome those disparities.

Q: According to CDPH, only 10% of people who have received the vaccine so far have declined to provide this data. That means 90% have included demographics information. Is that promising?

Pollock: Vey promising. Much better than what I heard a week ago, which was 60%. So, 90%% is much better. I hope that they get it up, that gets to be a higher rate than that because again, it helps us but 90% is very good.

Q: Do the initial data reflect California’s population?

Pollock: In relative to the first doses that came out, and remember that doses were shipped out two months ago. Now, they all went to large health care organizations. All of them. We, UC Davis Health, Kaiser, Sutter, Dignity, all of the big health providers. And the reason is that the very top tier people was to vaccinate the health care workers so that they wouldn’t be taken out of the workforce, if they get sick, they can take care. And remember, the hospitals were overwhelmed. So if you look at at the racial, ethnic composition of health care workers, it ranges quite a bit, but there certainly are going to be fewer people of color in nursing and medicine when it comes to the folks that we were.

Actually, though, at UC Davis Health, we included all of our employees that were that worked at the Medical Center, including folks that that are not in the same professions — we have people that did a lot of the janitorial and foodservice. And there, what we did see, at least initially was a more hesitancy. There were fewer folks in some of those job categories that really agreed to get the vaccine. And so we’ve tried really hard to educate folks and then to make that available, and they still can get vaccinated. So we’ve actually been picking up some of that slack. But overall, I think that the fact that the first doses went to health care workers, the workforce, really doesn’t typify what the population looks like here. And as you said, we’re still a little bit early on, and now we’re seeing vaccines getting rolled out to the general population, only really in the last month.

And in fact, there’s been issues of vaccine availability, as well as logistics. So I think those are kind of getting ramped up right now. And hopefully, in short time, we’ll actually be vaccinating in a very good, equitable way across the state. Again, with this material in mind, that there are people that are more vulnerable. In fact, if you look at the mortality from COVID-19, it’s primarily in the in the elderly population. So the idea of having 75 year olds for us and then 65 plus, year-olds, it makes a lot of sense from the standpoint of trying to reduce deaths, as well as reduce hospitalizations. But we’re going to see things ramp up. I’m at least encouraged by the federal government and the Biden administration for really ramping up the distribution of vaccines to the whole country.

I think when a lot of us thought that maybe the fall, by the end of fall, we would be pretty good in the country — it may be by the beginning of summer or the middle of summer when we actually get most of the people vaccinated.

Read original article here

Business

AstraZeneca Covid-19 Vaccine Effective Against U.K. Variant in Trial

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LONDON—A Covid-19 vaccine developed by the University of Oxford and

AstraZeneca

PLC is effective against a variant of coronavirus that is spreading rapidly in the U.S. and around the world, according to a new study, a reassuring sign for governments banking on mass vaccination to bring the pandemic to an end.

The preliminary findings, published in a study online Friday that hasn’t yet been formally reviewed by other scientists, follow similarly positive results from other manufacturers.

Preliminary studies from

Pfizer Inc.

and

Moderna Inc.

found their Covid-19 shots continued to offer protection against new virus variants that have contributed to a fresh surge in cases in the U.K., Europe, South Africa and elsewhere.

Vaccine makers are nevertheless readying new shots that zero in on the new variants more precisely, underlining how mutations in the virus risk morphing the year-old pandemic into a long-running cat-and-mouse game between scientists and a shifting enemy. The virus behind Covid-19 has so far been linked to almost 2.3 million deaths worldwide and more than 100 million cases.

The study published Friday looked at the AstraZeneca vaccine’s effectiveness against a new variant of coronavirus first identified in the U.K. last year.

As new coronavirus variants sweep across the world, scientists are racing to understand how dangerous they could be. WSJ explains. Illustration: Alex Kuzoian/WSJ

The variant has now displaced older strains to become the dominant version of the coronavirus in Britain and is spreading in many other countries, including the U.S., where public-health officials have said it could become the dominant version of the virus.

Preliminary estimates suggest the variant from the U.K. is 50%–70% more transmissible than earlier versions of the virus. U.K. scientists said recently that early data suggested it could also be deadlier.

Researchers examined blood samples from around 256 participants in an ongoing clinical trial of the vaccine in the U.K. who tested positive for Covid-19.

Genetic sequencing allowed them to identify which participants were infected with the new variant and which had an older version. A little under a third had the new variant.

By testing antibody levels and other markers of immune system activity against the virus, the researchers found the vaccine triggered an effective immune response against the new variant in 75% of cases that showed symptoms of infection, and in around two-thirds of cases if those that didn’t show symptoms were also included.

The U.K. Coronavirus Variant

The small-scale study showed the vaccine works slightly better against older, more established versions of the virus. For those with the older strain, the vaccine was effective in 84% of symptomatic cases and 81% of all cases.

The researchers reported sharply differing antibody responses among the two groups, saying certain types of antibodies induced by the vaccine were up to nine times less effective at neutralizing the new variant than the old. Overall protection was similar, however, suggesting other parts of the immune system are playing a key role.

Andrew Pollard,

director of the Oxford Vaccine Group at the University of Oxford, said it isn’t entirely clear which biological mechanisms are most important. It might be infection-fighting T-cells or other types of antibodies, he said.

“We don’t know the answer,” he said.

Almost 120 million doses of vaccine have been administered worldwide, according to figures compiled by the University of Oxford’s Our World in Data project. Roll-outs have been patchy, with some countries such as Israel and the U.K. moving rapidly to inoculate their most at-risk citizens and others, including in Europe, lagging behind due to supply and other issues. The U.S. has so far given at least one dose of vaccine to 35 million people, around 10% of its population.

Vaccine makers say the technology behind Covid-19 vaccines should allow them to swiftly retool their production lines to produce shots targeted more precisely at new and emerging variants.

Some studies have suggested a variant first identified in South Africa might be less susceptible to existing vaccines than the U.K. variant. Companies including Moderna, Pfizer and its partner

BioNTech

SE,

Johnson & Johnson

and

Novavax Inc.

are designing new vaccines to specifically target the South African variant.

Babak Javid,

associate professor of infectious diseases at the University of California, San Francisco, said small differences in how vaccines perform against new variants compared with established versions isn’t a major concern provided those vaccinated are protected against severe illness and hospitalization. That will be critical to determining when countries relax lockdowns and other public health restrictions, he said.

Write to Jason Douglas at jason.douglas@wsj.com

Copyright ©2020 Dow Jones & Company, Inc. All Rights Reserved. 87990cbe856818d5eddac44c7b1cdeb8

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World

COVID Live Updates: Johnson & Johnson aims to vaccinate 100 million Americans by April

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NEW YORK (WABC) — Johnson & Johnson says it plans to have enough vaccines for 100 million Americans by April.

Right now, the vaccine is undergoing a large scale trial to make sure it’s safe and effective.

Doctor Anthony Fauci says Johnson & Johnson is close to seeking an emergency use authorization from the FDA.

This vaccine only requires one shot and does not need to be stored at as cold of temperatures as others.

What to know about coronavirus:
Tracking COVID-19 availability and progress in NYC
New Jersey COVID-19 Vaccine Tracker
Find out if you are eligible and where you can go to get your vaccine
Coronavirus by zip code – New York City
Do you have coronavirus symptoms?

Here are more of today’s headlines:

Former Mets skipper Davey Johnson hospitalized with COVID
Former New York Mets manager Davey Johnson has been hospitalized in Florida with COVID, according to Mets PR. The former manager led the Amazins to their last World Series title in 1986.

High-risk sports could resume in NY in February
High-risk sports can restart in New York State on Feb. 1 if local health departments approve. This includes basketball, wrestling, hockey, volleyball, football and lacrosse. However, whether or not they resume will rely on factors such as if there have been more cases of the more transmissible COVID variant, the local rates of COVID positivity and the ability to monitor and enforce compliance. Nassau County Executive Laura Curran says that schools can resume sports in the county.

2 more vaccine mega sites open in NJ
All six of the New Jersey’s COVID-19 vaccine mega sites are now open, with residents lining up Friday at two new locations in East Rutherford and Atlantic City. This as the state announced they have successfully vaccinated 500,222 residents in a little more than a month. Sites at the Meadowlands Racing and Entertainment Complex and Atlantic City Convention Center were both fully booked, but more appointment times are expected to be added based on availability.

UK chief scientist says new COVID-19 variant may be more deadly, more research needed
There is some evidence that a new coronavirus variant first identified in southeast England carries a higher risk of death than the original strain, the British government’s chief scientific adviser said Friday — though he stressed that the data is uncertain. Patrick Vallance told a news conference that “there is evidence that there is an increased risk for those who have the new variant.” He said that for a man in his 60s with the original version of the virus, “the average risk is that for 1,000 people who got infected, roughly 10 would be expected to unfortunately die.”

“With the new variant, for 1,000 people infected, roughly 13 or 14 people might be expected to die,” he said.

Researchers developing face mask sticker that can detect COVID-19 in droplets
Researchers at UC San Diego’s School of Engineering are working on a potential game changer in the fight against COVID-19. Researchers are looking into a new type of test that could detect the virus on your face mask. The test can be worn as a sticker on your mask. The sticker includes a little dye and works just like an at-home pregnancy test. As someone wears the sticker on the mask throughout the day, it collects droplets. After a few hours, it can detect COVID-19 molecules from your breath.

Dave Chappelle tests positive for COVID-19
Dave Chappelle tested positive for the coronavirus just before his comedy show scheduled for Thursday, forcing his upcoming appearances to be canceled, a spokeswoman said. Chappelle was expected to perform Thursday through Sunday at Stubb’s Waller Creek Amphitheater in Austin, Texas. Those shows have been canceled and Chappelle is quarantining, his representative Carla Sims said in a statement. The comedian is asymptomatic. Chappelle had been performing socially-distanced shows in Ohio since June, and moved his shows to Austin during the winter, Sims said. Rapid testing for the audience and daily tests for Chappelle and his team were implemented.

NJ vaccinates 500,000
The state of New Jersey has vaccinated 500,222 residents in a little more than a month, Governor Phil Murphy announced on Friday. He also added that two COVID patients in the state were found to have the more aggressive strain first found in the UK.

NY hospitalization rate of increase is slowing
The rate of increase of patients being admitted to New York hospitals for treatment for COVID-19 is slowing, Gov. Andrew Cuomo said Friday. Cuomo called it “good news,” but cautioned that the more contagious variants discovered in other parts of the world remain a threat and could cause cases to spike again. COVID hospitalizations stood at 8,846, down from 9,055 the day before and has now dropped by more than 400 over the past two days.

NYC and state could run out of vaccines Friday
93% of the state’s vaccine supply now exhausted, both the city and the state are on pace to run out of vaccines.
There are 300,000 shots waiting in storage for second doses.
The city is now considering giving them as first doses for those still waiting and backfilling the supply and delaying by a few weeks the second shot for those who already gotten the first.

Top 7 COVID vaccine questions answered
You had questions about COVID-19 vaccines and 7 On Your Side is getting you answers from doctors on the front line of the pandemic.

MORE CORONAVIRUS COVID-19 COVERAGE

Positive COVID-19 cases by zip code – New York City

New York City COVID-19 Vaccine Tracker
New Jersey COVID-19 Vaccine Tracker
Find out if you are eligible and where you can go to get your vaccine
Do you have coronavirus symptoms?
Where to get tested in New York, New Jersey and Connecticut
WATCH: Eyewitness to a Pandemic
Centers for Disease Control and Prevention on coronavirus

Submit a News Tip or Question

Copyright © 2021 WABC-TV. All Rights Reserved.



Read original article here

World

COVID Live Updates: Johnson & Johnson aims to vaccinate 100 million Americans by April

Leave a comment

NEW YORK (WABC) — Johnson & Johnson says it plans to have enough vaccines for 100 million Americans by April.

Right now, the vaccine is undergoing a large scale trial to make sure it’s safe and effective.

Doctor Anthony Fauci says Johnson & Johnson is close to seeking an emergency use authorization from the FDA.

This vaccine only requires one shot and does not need to be stored at as cold of temperatures as others.

What to know about coronavirus:
Tracking COVID-19 availability and progress in NYC
New Jersey COVID-19 Vaccine Tracker
Find out if you are eligible and where you can go to get your vaccine
Coronavirus by zip code – New York City
Do you have coronavirus symptoms?

Here are more of today’s headlines:

Former Mets skipper Davey Johnson hospitalized with COVID
Former New York Mets manager Davey Johnson has been hospitalized in Florida with COVID, according to Mets PR. The former manager led the Amazins to their last World Series title in 1986.

High-risk sports could resume in NY in February
High-risk sports can restart in New York State on Feb. 1 if local health departments approve. This includes basketball, wrestling, hockey, volleyball, football and lacrosse. However, whether or not they resume will rely on factors such as if there have been more cases of the more transmissible COVID variant, the local rates of COVID positivity and the ability to monitor and enforce compliance. Nassau County Executive Laura Curran says that schools can resume sports in the county.

2 more vaccine mega sites open in NJ
All six of the New Jersey’s COVID-19 vaccine mega sites are now open, with residents lining up Friday at two new locations in East Rutherford and Atlantic City. This as the state announced they have successfully vaccinated 500,222 residents in a little more than a month. Sites at the Meadowlands Racing and Entertainment Complex and Atlantic City Convention Center were both fully booked, but more appointment times are expected to be added based on availability.

UK chief scientist says new COVID-19 variant may be more deadly, more research needed
There is some evidence that a new coronavirus variant first identified in southeast England carries a higher risk of death than the original strain, the British government’s chief scientific adviser said Friday — though he stressed that the data is uncertain. Patrick Vallance told a news conference that “there is evidence that there is an increased risk for those who have the new variant.” He said that for a man in his 60s with the original version of the virus, “the average risk is that for 1,000 people who got infected, roughly 10 would be expected to unfortunately die.”

“With the new variant, for 1,000 people infected, roughly 13 or 14 people might be expected to die,” he said.

Researchers developing face mask sticker that can detect COVID-19 in droplets
Researchers at UC San Diego’s School of Engineering are working on a potential game changer in the fight against COVID-19. Researchers are looking into a new type of test that could detect the virus on your face mask. The test can be worn as a sticker on your mask. The sticker includes a little dye and works just like an at-home pregnancy test. As someone wears the sticker on the mask throughout the day, it collects droplets. After a few hours, it can detect COVID-19 molecules from your breath.

Dave Chappelle tests positive for COVID-19
Dave Chappelle tested positive for the coronavirus just before his comedy show scheduled for Thursday, forcing his upcoming appearances to be canceled, a spokeswoman said. Chappelle was expected to perform Thursday through Sunday at Stubb’s Waller Creek Amphitheater in Austin, Texas. Those shows have been canceled and Chappelle is quarantining, his representative Carla Sims said in a statement. The comedian is asymptomatic. Chappelle had been performing socially-distanced shows in Ohio since June, and moved his shows to Austin during the winter, Sims said. Rapid testing for the audience and daily tests for Chappelle and his team were implemented.

NJ vaccinates 500,000
The state of New Jersey has vaccinated 500,222 residents in a little more than a month, Governor Phil Murphy announced on Friday. He also added that two COVID patients in the state were found to have the more aggressive strain first found in the UK.

NY hospitalization rate of increase is slowing
The rate of increase of patients being admitted to New York hospitals for treatment for COVID-19 is slowing, Gov. Andrew Cuomo said Friday. Cuomo called it “good news,” but cautioned that the more contagious variants discovered in other parts of the world remain a threat and could cause cases to spike again. COVID hospitalizations stood at 8,846, down from 9,055 the day before and has now dropped by more than 400 over the past two days.

NYC and state could run out of vaccines Friday
93% of the state’s vaccine supply now exhausted, both the city and the state are on pace to run out of vaccines.
There are 300,000 shots waiting in storage for second doses.
The city is now considering giving them as first doses for those still waiting and backfilling the supply and delaying by a few weeks the second shot for those who already gotten the first.

Top 7 COVID vaccine questions answered
You had questions about COVID-19 vaccines and 7 On Your Side is getting you answers from doctors on the front line of the pandemic.

MORE CORONAVIRUS COVID-19 COVERAGE

Positive COVID-19 cases by zip code – New York City

New York City COVID-19 Vaccine Tracker
New Jersey COVID-19 Vaccine Tracker
Find out if you are eligible and where you can go to get your vaccine
Do you have coronavirus symptoms?
Where to get tested in New York, New Jersey and Connecticut
WATCH: Eyewitness to a Pandemic
Centers for Disease Control and Prevention on coronavirus

Submit a News Tip or Question

Copyright © 2021 WABC-TV. All Rights Reserved.



Read original article here

Health

Studies of South African Coronavirus Strain Raise Concerns About Immune Response

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JOHANNESBURG—Three new laboratory studies are raising concerns that the immune response triggered by a Covid-19 infection or vaccination may be less effective at protecting against the new strain of the coronavirus that first emerged in South Africa.

The findings come from experiments done in the laboratory and only look at certain elements of a body’s immune response. Still, they reinforce the possibility that vaccine makers and regulators will need to update Covid-19 vaccines as the virus evolves.

A fourth study, conducted by scientists at BioNTech SE and Pfizer Inc. and published by the companies, showed that their vaccine successfully neutralized a variant that was initially detected in the U.K. That study didn’t include the South African strain.

The U.K. variant has already spread to many other countries, including the U.S.

More than a year into the pandemic, the discovery of new variants that appear to have made the virus more contagious is forcing researchers to adapt their understanding of the coronavirus that causes Covid-19. One concern, researchers said, is that the new strains are emerging in countries where a significant percentage of people have already built up an immune response to earlier variants after getting Covid-19.

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