Updates
WHO Points To Wildlife Farms In Southern China As Likely Source Of Pandemic-NPR
A member of the World Health Organization investigative team says wildlife farms in southern China are the most likely source of the COVID-19 pandemic. China shut down those wildlife farms in February 2020, says Peter Daszak, a disease ecologist with EcoHealth Alliance and a member of the WHO delegation that traveled to China this year. During that trip, Daszak says, the WHO team found new evidence that these wildlife farms were supplying vendors at the Huanan Seafood Wholesale Market in Wuhan … Continue Reading
March 15, 2021
This Was Texas' First Weekend Without Covid-19 Limits. Here's How It Went For Business Owners-CNN
For about a year, Texas businesses have done whatever they could to stay afloat. As Covid-19 ravaged the state and the country, they pivoted to takeout service, operated their dining rooms at reduced capacities and required masks for their employees and their customers, all according to state rules. Last week they were finally given the chance to return to normal, after the governor issued an executive order lifting the state's mask mandate and allowing businesses to reopen at 100% capacity. … Continue Reading
March 15, 2021
US Prison Guards Refusing Vaccine Despite COVID-19 Outbreaks-The Associated Press
A Florida correctional officer polled his colleagues earlier this year in a private Facebook group: “Will you take the COVID-19 vaccine if offered?” The answer from more than half: “Hell no.” Only 40 of the 475 respondents said yes. In Massachusetts, more than half the people employed by the Department of Correction declined to be immunized. A statewide survey in California showed that half of all correction employees will wait to be vaccinated. In Rhode Island, prison staff have refused the … Continue Reading
March 15, 2021
Unthinkable? EU Considers Getting A Vaccine Boost From Russia's Sputnik-Reuters
Publicly, the European Union has dismissed Russia’s global coronavirus vaccine supply campaign as a propaganda stunt by an undesirable regime. Behind the scenes, the bloc is turning to Moscow’s Sputnik V shot as it tries to get its stuttering efforts to vaccinate its 450 million people back on track, EU diplomatic and official sources told Reuters. Reuters, … Continue Reading
March 15, 2021
The White House Is Set To Unveil A Wide-Reaching, Billion-Dollar Campaign Aimed At Convincing Every American To Get Vaccinated-STAT
The White House will soon unveil a wide-reaching, $1.5 billion public relations campaign aimed at boosting vaccine confidence and uptake across the U.S., Biden administration aides told STAT. This television, radio, and digital advertising blitz, set to kick off within weeks, will focus on Americans outright skeptical of vaccines’ safety or effectiveness as well as those who are potentially more willing to seek a Covid-19 immunization but don’t yet know where, when, or how. Specifically, the … Continue Reading
March 15, 2021
Netherlands, Ireland Join Countries Pausing Use Of AstraZeneca's COVID-19 Vaccine-NPR
The Netherlands and Ireland have joined several other countries in temporarily suspending administration of a COVID-19 vaccine made by AstraZeneca after reports of abnormal blood clotting in several people. The move comes after countries including Italy, Austria, Norway, Denmark, Iceland and Latvia suspended, delayed or limited rollout of the vaccine over safety concerns. NPR, … Continue Reading
March 12, 2021
Global Rise In Childhood Mental Health Issues Amid Pandemic-The Associated Press
Doctors elsewhere report similar surges, with children — some as young as 8 — deliberately running into traffic, overdosing on pills and otherwise self-harming. In Japan, child and adolescent suicides hit record levels in 2020, according to the Education Ministry. Pediatric psychiatrists say they’re also seeing children with coronavirus-related phobias, tics and eating disorders, obsessing about infection, scrubbing their hands raw, covering their bodies with disinfectant gel and terrified of … Continue Reading
March 12, 2021
Novavax Says COVID-19 Vaccine Has 89.7% Efficacy-Devex
Novavax’s COVID-19 vaccine has an overall efficacy of 89.7%, according to final results of its phase 3 efficacy trial in the United Kingdom. It has a 96.4% efficacy against the original strain of the COVID-19 virus, but 86.3% when accounting for the B.1.1.7/501Y.V1 variant first found in the United Kingdom. Meanwhile, the vaccine has shown 48.6% efficacy in South Africa, where the B1.351 variant is dominant. Efficacy is higher at 55.4% for HIV-negative individuals. Devex, … Continue Reading
March 12, 2021
WHO Approves J&J Vaccine For Emergency Listing-Reuters
The World Health Organization has approved the emergency-use listing of Johnson & Johnson’s COVID-19 vaccine, the U.N. agency said on Friday, broadening access to the shots. It is the third COVID-19 vaccine after those of Pfizer/BioNTech and AstraZeneca to receive backing from the WHO. Reuters, … Continue Reading
March 12, 2021
Biden Will Compel States To Make All Adults Eligible For Vaccines By May 1-STAT
The White House will compel state, local, and tribal governments to make all American adults eligible to sign up for Covid-19 vaccines no later than May 1, President Biden said on Thursday. The Biden administration has previously issued non-binding directions or recommendations on Covid-19 mitigation measures like mask use or school reopenings. But the aides stressed that, using the authority of the Department of Health and Human Services, its vaccine order will be binding, and states’ … Continue Reading
March 12, 2021
Hospital Emergency Rooms Struggle With Overdose Spike During Pandemic-NPR
When the pandemic hit, visits to hospital emergency departments plummeted by more than 40%. People were scared of catching the coronavirus. But Kristin Holland, a researcher at the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, found patients experiencing drug-related crises needed help so desperately they kept coming. NPR, … Continue Reading
March 11, 2021
Researchers Race To Develop Antiviral Weapons To Fight The Pandemic Coronavirus-Science Magazine
In March 2020, as the scope of the COVID-19 pandemic was coming into view, Jen Nwankwo and colleagues turned a pair of artificial intelligence (AI) tools against SARS-CoV-2. One newly developed AI program, called SUEDE, digitally screens all known druglike compounds for likely activity against biomolecules thought to be involved in disease. The other, BAGEL, predicts how to build inhibitors to known targets. The two programs searched for compounds able to block human enzymes that play … Continue Reading
March 11, 2021
Is COVAX Part Of The Problem Or The Solution?-Devex
As a plane carrying 600,000 doses of COVID-19 vaccines landed at the Kotoka International Airport in Accra, Ghana, in late February, world leaders celebrated the milestone — it was the first country to get a delivery through COVAX, a global vaccine distribution facility established in mid-2020. Seth Berkley, CEO at Gavi, the Vaccine Alliance, called it “a historic moment” and said COVAX had to overcome “many hurdles” to reach it. But those hurdles are still standing: Countries that receive … Continue Reading
March 11, 2021
Pfizer/BioNTech Say Data Suggests Vaccine 94% Effective In Preventing Asymptomatic Infection-Reuters
Pfizer Inc and BioNTech SE said on Wednesday that real-world data from Israel suggests their COVID-19 vaccine is 94% effective in preventing asymptomatic infections, meaning it could significantly reduce transmission. The companies also said the latest analysis of the Israeli data shows the vaccine was 97% effective in preventing symptomatic disease, severe disease and death. That is basically in line with the 95% efficacy Pfizer and BioNTech reported from the vaccine’s late-stage clinical … Continue Reading
March 11, 2021
The Uncounted: People Who Are Homeless Are Invisible Victims Of Covid-19-STAT
They are the invisible victims of Covid-19, marginalized not just in life, but also in death. Despite the extraordinarily detailed statistics that parse the ages, races, and comorbidities of the nation’s more than 500,000 Covid deaths, no one seems to have any idea how many homeless people have died. STAT, … Continue Reading
March 11, 2021
High Obesity Rates In Southern States Magnify COVID-19's Threat-NPR
In January, as Mississippi health officials planned for their incoming shipments of COVID-19 vaccines, they assessed the state's most vulnerable: health care workers, of course, and elderly people in nursing homes. But among those who needed urgent protection from the coronavirus ripping across the Magnolia State were 1 million Mississippians with obesity. Obesity and weight-related illnesses have been deadly liabilities in the COVID-19 era. A report released this month by the World Obesity … Continue Reading
March 10, 2021
Countries Now Scrambling For COVID-19 Vaccines May Soon Have Surpluses To Donate-Science Magazine
Last week, U.S. President Joe Biden shaved 2 months off earlier projections and promised COVID-19 vaccine doses would be available for all U.S. adults by the end of May. That’s welcome news for the United States, which has had more COVID-19 cases and deaths than any other country. It could also be good news for nations that may benefit from the more than 1 billion extra doses the federal government has ordered. Science Magazine, … Continue Reading
March 10, 2021
Black, Hispanic Americans Lag In COVID-19 Vaccination As Outreach Efforts Struggle-Reuters
It’s a life-threatening problem that’s been long predicted - but that few in the government or private sectors have yet done much to solve. Now the consequences are hitting some of America’s most vulnerable communities. America’s COVID-19 vaccine drive is failing to reach Black and Hispanic communities, despite pervasive warnings about their lack of healthcare access and heightened vaccine hesitancy, rooted in distrust of the government and historical episodes of medical exploitation. Reuters, … Continue Reading
March 10, 2021
The Countries That Don't Want The COVID-19 Vaccine-Devex
Though Tanzania has received widespread criticism for its policy of virus denial, it is not the only African country that has not moved to acquire vaccines. According to Dr. Richard Mihigo, program area manager for immunization and vaccine development at WHO’s Regional Office for Africa, four countries that qualify for free vaccines under the COVAX advance market commitment financing instrument — Tanzania, Madagascar, Burundi, and Eritrea — have not yet completed the necessary requirements. … Continue Reading
March 10, 2021
‘A Wild Year’: School Nurses Greatly Expand Role With Covid-19 Vaccinations, Contact Tracing-STAT
Last September, as Covid-19 vaccine candidates were rapidly advancing, Katherine Park and six of her fellow school nurses in St. Louis County, Mo., envisioned school-based vaccination sites as an extension of the district’s pandemic response plan, which they had been working on for months. They reached out to the local health department, letting it know the district had buildings for use and more than 30 school nurses who could jump in on administering shots. STAT, … Continue Reading