Updates
Immunocompromised And Concerned About The Vaccine? Here's What You Need To Know-NPR
Lots of people have questions about getting vaccinated against COVID-19. That includes the millions of Americans with weakened immune systems that put them at higher risk of severe disease if they do get infected with the coronavirus. "Patients want to know whether it's safe to get it and, if they do get it, which one should they get? And of course, they also have concerns about how it can affect their own condition as well," says Dr. Sharon Dowell, a rheumatologist at Howard University … Continue Reading
March 26, 2021
Shots In Little Arms: COVID-19 Vaccine Testing Turns To Kids-The Associated Press
The 9-year-old twins didn’t flinch as each received test doses of Pfizer’s COVID-19 vaccine -- and then a sparkly bandage to cover the spot. “Sparkles make everything better,” declared Marisol Gerardo as she hopped off an exam table at Duke University to make way for her sister Alejandra. Researchers in the U.S. and abroad are beginning to test younger and younger kids to make sure COVID-19 vaccines are safe and work for each age. The first shots are going to adults who are most at risk from … Continue Reading
March 26, 2021
What It Will Take To Vaccinate The World Against COVID-19-Nature
Within just a few months, pharmaceutical firms have produced hundreds of millions of doses of COVID-19 vaccine. But the world needs billions — and as fast as possible. Companies say they could make enough vaccines to immunize most of the world’s population by the end of 2021. But this doesn’t take into account political delays in distribution, such as countries imposing export controls — or that the overwhelming majority of doses are going to wealthier countries. This situation is fuelling a … Continue Reading
March 26, 2021
Serbia Starts COVID-19 Vaccinations At Migrant Camps-Reuters
Serbia began vaccinating its migrant population on Friday to curb the coronavirus from spreading in refugee camps where social distancing is a challenge. Currently around 6,000 migrants, mainly from the Middle East and central Asia, are in Serbia, mostly in 16 government-operated camps and cases of COVID-19 have been recorded. So far, enough of the AztraZeneca vaccine has been delivered to give 570 migrants their first dose. Reuters, … Continue Reading
March 26, 2021
A User’s Guide: How To Talk To Those Hesitant About The Covid-19 Vaccine-STAT
As the Covid vaccine supply increases throughout the U.S., the next hurdle to reaching herd immunity will be convincing those who are hesitant about vaccines to receive their shots. Surveys show Black and Hispanic adults are more likely to be “waiting to see” before they get a vaccine (but are also less likely to say they definitely won’t take one than white adults). Experts say the best way to tackle vaccine hesitancy is for people to have conversations with those they trust, whether a … Continue Reading
March 26, 2021
200 Million Shots In 100 Days: Biden Issues New Vaccination Goal-NPR
President Biden is doubling his original COVID-19 vaccination goal to 200 million shots in arms by his 100th day in office — which is just over a month away. When he entered office, Biden said his goal was 100 million vaccine doses in 100 days — a target many observers thought was not ambitious enough. According to federal health officials, that 100 million figure was hit on Biden's 58th day in office. About 2.5 million vaccine doses are being administered every day in the United States. NPR, … Continue Reading
March 25, 2021
1 Report, 4 Theories: Scientists Mull Clues On Virus’ Origin-The Associated Press
A team of international and Chinese scientists is poised to report on its joint search for the origins of the coronavirus that sparked a pandemic after it was first detected in China over a year ago — with four theories being considered, and one the clear frontrunner, according to experts. The lengthy report is being published after months of wrangling, notably between U.S. and Chinese governments, over how the outbreak emerged, while scientists try to keep their focus on a so-far fruitless … Continue Reading
March 25, 2021
Africans View COVID-19 Vaccines As Less Safe Than Other Vaccines-Devex
A survey report released this month on perceptions of inoculation in 15 African nations found that in almost all of them, respondents tended to view new COVID-19 vaccines as less safe than other vaccines. Only Ethiopia — with the highest proportion of people willing to take a COVID-19 vaccine, at 94% — was an exception. There, 14% of people deemed vaccines unsafe in general, while just 12% thought COVID-19 vaccines are unsafe. Devex, … Continue Reading
March 25, 2021
U.S. COVID Response Could Have Avoided Hundreds Of Thousand Of Deaths-Reuters
The United States squandered both money and lives in its response to the coronavirus pandemic, and it could have avoided nearly 400,000 deaths with a more effective health strategy and trimmed federal spending by hundreds of billions of dollars while still supporting those who needed it. That is the conclusion of a group of research papers released at a Brookings Institution conference this week, offering an early and broad start to what will likely be an intense effort in coming years to … Continue Reading
March 25, 2021
After U.S. Failures On Covid, Congress Is Working To Prepare America To Fight The Next Pandemic-STAT
Congress, in a rare show of bipartisanship, is gearing up to try to prevent the next pandemic. Already, a duo of powerful senators has pledged, publicly, to work together on legislation that will “make sure nothing like [Covid-19] ever happens again,” as the influential Democratic Sen. Patty Murray (Wash.) put it. They will work, too, to diagnose the problems and important lessons to be learned from Covid-19. There are several potential ways they could seek to pass a future bill, including … Continue Reading
March 25, 2021
The Pandemic Pushed People Outside And Now, Some Companies Hope They Stay There-NPR
Something weird happened on the primitive mountain bike trails outside of Kansas City last spring. Coleen Voeks says she went from seeing a person or two stretched out along miles of trail there, to seeing a mass of humanity. In the United States bike sales climbed 65% last year, and electric bike sales shot up 145%, despite shortages at many bike shops. Hage says sales would still more robust if factories could keep up with demand. NPR, … Continue Reading
March 24, 2021
Carcinogen Found In Hand Sanitizers That Plugged Covid Gap-Bloomberg
Some widely available hand sanitizers that American consumers snapped up last year to ward off coronavirus infection contain high levels of a chemical known to cause cancer, a testing firm’s analysis found. An assortment of hand cleaners that flooded into the market after mainstays disappeared from retail outlets contain high levels of benzene, according to Valisure, a New Haven, Connecticut-based online pharmacy that tests products for quality and consistency. Bloomberg, … Continue Reading
March 24, 2021
What Scientists Do And Don’t Know About The Oxford–AstraZeneca COVID Vaccine-Nature
The road keeps getting bumpier for a vaccine that most researchers say is safe and effective and has huge potential to protect large swathes of the world’s population. Less than a day after the University of Oxford and the pharmaceutical firm AstraZeneca reported positive early results from the largest trial so far of their COVID-19 vaccine, officials at a US government agency overseeing the trial questioned claims about the vaccine’s efficacy. The latest development might amount to “nothing … Continue Reading
March 24, 2021
Pandemic Rages In Eastern Europe Leaving Hospitals Struggling To Cope-Reuters
Hungary’s hospitals are under “extraordinary” pressure from rising coronavirus infections, its surgeon general said on Wednesday, as the country became a hotspot in the third wave of a pandemic that has hit Central Europe especially hard. Like much of the region, Hungary managed to curb infections during the initial phase of the pandemic in March-April last year with fast and strict lockdown measures. However, a new wave of infections that has swept through the region in 2021 has seen Hungary … Continue Reading
March 24, 2021
EU Moves Toward Stricter Export Controls For COVID-19 Shots-The Associated Press
The European Union moved Wednesday toward stricter export controls for coronavirus vaccines, seeking to make sure its 27 nations have more COVID-19 shots to boost the bloc’s flagging vaccine campaign amid a surge in new infections. The EU’s executive Commission said on the eve of a summit of the EU’s leaders that it has a plan to guarantee that more vaccines produced in the bloc are available for its 450 million citizens even if that comes at the cost of helping nations outside the bloc, most … Continue Reading
March 24, 2021
The Future Of The Pandemic In The U.S.: Experts Look Ahead-NPR
A year after the pandemic shut down the country, a growing number of infectious disease experts, epidemiologists, public health officials and others have started to entertain a notion that has long seemed out-of-reach: The worst of the pandemic may be over for the United States. No one thinks that's guaranteed by any means. There are many ways the pandemic could resurge. But many say it's becoming increasingly possible that the end may finally be in sight. NPR, … Continue Reading
March 23, 2021
Canada's Largest Province Says It's In The Third Wave -- And Officials Worry The Vaccine Rollout May Not Happen Fast Enough-CNN
Canada's largest province declared Monday it was at the beginning of a third wave of the coronavirus pandemic, pointing to evidence of increasing case counts, hospitalizations and the spread of variants. "We're in the third wave. The numbers are slowly going up, they're not going as fast as predicted by the modelers," said Dr. David Williams, the chief medical officer for Ontario. He added, "We're now starting to see impacts on our hospital rates, our ICU admissions are up again, our hospital … Continue Reading
March 23, 2021
Gavi Approves COVAX Vaccine Allocation In Humanitarian Settings-Devex
The board of Gavi, the Vaccine Alliance, has approved the allocation of up to 5% of total vaccine doses procured via COVAX for high-risk populations in humanitarian settings. The so-called COVAX Buffer also allows for the emergency release of vaccine doses in case of severe outbreaks of COVID-19. The allocation is equivalent to up to 100 million vaccine doses for 2021, according to the news release. All COVAX participant countries, regardless of income, will have access to doses allocated for … Continue Reading
March 23, 2021
Pfizer Begins Early-Stage Study Of Oral COVID-19 Drug-Reuters
Pfizer Inc has started an early-stage U.S. trial of an oral COVID-19 antiviral therapy that could be prescribed to patients at the first sign of infection, the company said on Tuesday. The drugmaker, which developed the first authorized COVID-19 vaccine in the U.S. with Germany’s BioNTech SA, said the antiviral candidate showed potent activity against SARS-CoV-2, the virus that causes COVID-19, in lab studies. Pfizer’s candidate, named PF-07321332, is a protease inhibitor that prevents the … Continue Reading
March 23, 2021
What We Know And Don’t Know About Long Covid-STAT
It doesn’t have a formal name or a definition. No one can predict who will develop it, but whether you call it long Covid or post-acute Covid-19 or just identify yourself as a long-hauler, the constellation of prolonged symptoms after Covid-19 infection has become all too familiar. About one-third of people who were sick enough to need hospitalization — including supplemental oxygen or mechanical ventilation to breathe — still struggle with problems affecting their bodies and their minds four … Continue Reading