Updates
Long-Term Studies Of COVID-19 Vaccines Hurt By Placebo Recipients Getting Immunized-NPR
Tens of thousands of people who volunteered to be in studies of the Pfizer-BioNTech and Moderna COVID-19 vaccines are still participating in follow-up research. But some key questions won't be easily answered, because many people who had been in the placebo group have now opted to take the vaccine. Even so, there's valuable information to be had in the planned two-year follow-up studies. NPR, … Continue Reading
February 18, 2021
What New US Congressional Leadership Means For Foreign Aid-Devex
The roster is finally set as a new cadre of U.S. congressional leaders has taken the helm of the committees with the greatest role in determining policy and providing funding to the United States’ development priorities. In the Senate, some key leaders merely switched from ranking members to chairs of their respective committees. But in the House of Representatives, election losses and retirements have resulted in a new set of leaders. Devex, … Continue Reading
February 18, 2021
US Jobless Claims Rise To 861,000 As Layoffs Stay High-The Associated Press
The number of Americans applying for unemployment aid rose last week to 861,000, evidence that layoffs remain painfully high despite a steady drop in the number of confirmed viral infections. Applications from laid-off workers rose 13,000 from the previous week, which was revised sharply higher, the Labor Department said Thursday. Before the virus erupted in the United States last March, weekly applications for unemployment benefits had never topped 700,000, even during the Great Recession of … Continue Reading
February 18, 2021
No Jab, No Job: Vatican Gets Tough With COVID Anti-Vaxxers-Reuters
The Vatican has told employees that they may risk losing their jobs if they refuse to get a COVID-19 vaccination without legitimate health reasons. A decree by Cardinal Giuseppe Bertello, effectively the governor of Vatican City, said getting a vaccine was “the responsible choice” because of the risk of harming other people. Vatican City, at 108 acres the world’s smallest state, has several thousand employees, most of whom live in Italy. Its vaccination programme began last month and Pope … Continue Reading
February 18, 2021
U.S. Life Expectancy Fell By A Year In The First Half Of 2020, CDC Report Finds-STAT
As the Covid-19 pandemic took hold, life expectancy in the United States dropped one full year during the first half of 2020, according to a new Centers of Disease Control and Prevention report, with even greater declines seen among Black and Hispanic people. Preliminary data from the agency’s National Center for Health Statistics released Thursday mark a reversal of incremental gains over the past few years. Life expectancy at birth for the total U.S. population declined from 78.8 years in … Continue Reading
February 18, 2021
How To Sign Up For A COVID-19 Vaccine In Your State-NPR
The COVID-19 vaccines are here, but if it's your turn to get vaccinated, how are you supposed to sign up? The answers vary by place, so NPR created a lookup tool to help you understand how things work in your state and connect you with local resources. And we're sharing guiding principles and advice for navigating the process below. NPR, … Continue Reading
February 17, 2021
EU OKs Contract For 300 Million More Moderna Vaccine Doses-Politico
The EU commission has approved new contract for 300 million additional doses of Moderna's COVID-19 vaccine. The second contract with Moderna provides for an additional purchase of 150 million in 2021 and an option to purchase an additional 150 million in 2022 on behalf of all 27 EU member states. The deal also provides for the possibility of donating the vaccine to lower and middle-income countries if the EU has enough supplies. Politico, … Continue Reading
February 17, 2021
EU Development Boss Makes Debt Relief Push-Devex
European Union finance ministers discussed a “global recovery initiative” in response to the COVID-19 pandemic Tuesday, though the planned link between debt relief and sustainable investments remains vague nine months after the idea was first announced. Ursula von der Leyen, president of the European Commission, told the United Nations last May that Europe needs to do more than hold pledging conferences on global access to vaccines. “I would like to propose something even more ambitious,” she … Continue Reading
February 17, 2021
Native Americans Embrace Vaccine, Virus Containment Measures-The Associated Press
Joyce Dugan did not hesitate before sitting down inside the Cherokee Indian Hospital for her second and final dose of the COVID-19 vaccine. “I’m proud of our hospital,” the 72-year-old former tribal chief said as a nurse quietly prepped her arm. “I’m proud that we’re able to get these shots.” While minority communities across the United States have struggled to trust the vaccine, the opposite is true for the Eastern Band of Cherokee Indians, a Native American tribe of 16,000 in western North … Continue Reading
February 17, 2021
U.S. Retail Sales Rebound Strongly In January Amid Additional Stimulus-Reuters
U.S. retail sales rebounded sharply in January after households received additional pandemic relief money from the government, suggesting a pick-up in economic activity after being restrained by a fresh wave of COVID-19 infections late last year. Retail sales surged by a seasonally adjusted 5.3% last month, the Commerce Department said on Wednesday. Reuters, … Continue Reading
February 17, 2021
Biden Administration Says It Has Increased Vaccine Supply-NPR
President Biden's COVID-19 czar Jeff Zients told governors on Tuesday that the weekly vaccine supply going out to states is increasing by more than 20% to 13.5 million doses this week, Jen Psaki, the White House press secretary, announced. Psaki also said the supply going directly to pharmacies will double to 2 million this week. Before taking office, Biden promised to improve and streamline Trump's Operation Warp Speed and pledged to get 100 million vaccine doses into arms in the first 100 … Continue Reading
February 16, 2021
The Coronavirus Is Here To Stay — Here’s What That Means-Nature
In January, Nature asked more than 100 immunologists, infectious-disease researchers and virologists working on the coronavirus whether it could be eradicated. Almost 90% of respondents think that the coronavirus will become endemic — meaning that it will continue to circulate in pockets of the global population for years to come (see 'Endemic future'). Nature, … Continue Reading
February 16, 2021
India’s Dramatic Fall In Virus Cases Leaves Experts Stumped-The Associated Press
When the coronavirus pandemic took hold in India, there were fears it would sink the fragile health system of the world’s second-most populous country. Infections climbed dramatically for months and at one point India looked like it might overtake the United States as the country with the highest case toll. But infections began to plummet in September, and now the country is reporting about 11,000 new cases a day, compared to a peak of nearly 100,000, leaving experts perplexed. The Associated … Continue Reading
February 16, 2021
Moderna Expects To Supply Second 100 Million Vaccine Doses To U.S. By May-End-Reuters
Moderna Inc said on Tuesday it was moving forward the supply target for the second 100 million of its COVID-19 vaccine doses to the United States by a month to May end. The biotech firm said short-term delays in the final stages of production and release of filled vials at Moderna’s fill and finish contractor Catalent Inc have recently delayed the release of some doses. Moderna said these delays are expected to be resolved in the near term and not expected to impact monthly delivery targets. … Continue Reading
February 16, 2021
STAT-Harris Poll: 1 In 4 Americans Were Unable To Get A Covid-19 Test When They Wanted One-STAT
As the U.S. struggles to contain the Covid-19 pandemic, nearly a quarter of Americans say they wanted to get tested for the coronavirus but were unable to do so, according to the latest survey from STAT and The Harris Poll. Specifically, 24% reported that they could not get tested for various reasons - a testing site was not nearby, the wait for a test was too long, transportation to a test site was unavailable, or it was unclear where to go for a test. Some people cited more than one of these … Continue Reading
February 16, 2021
New York Governor Defends Temporarily Withholding Nursing Home Coronavirus Data-NPR
Facing allegations that the state under-reported the number of coronavirus deaths in nursing homes, New York Gov. Andrew Cuomo said Monday that everything reported was accurate — albeit delayed. "All the deaths in the nursing homes and in the hospitals were always fully, publicly and accurately reported," Cuomo said. "The numbers were the numbers. Always." A report by the state attorney general last month found the death toll was much higher than officials had disclosed — perhaps as much as … Continue Reading
February 12, 2021
Why It’s So Hard To Make Antiviral Drugs For COVID And Other Diseases-Scientific American
Physician Claudette Poole doesn’t take long to rattle off a list of antiviral medications she prescribes to her patients. “There really aren’t very many,” says Poole, a pediatric infectious disease physician at the University of Alabama at Birmingham. And for people with Covid-19, there’s just one approved for use: remdesivir, which doesn’t seem to save lives, but speeds recovery in those who do get well. Clearly, more antivirals would be nice to have—so why don’t we have them? Inventing them, … Continue Reading
February 12, 2021
Biden Administration Finalizes Purchase Of 200M Additional Vaccine Doses-Politico
The Biden administration has finalized deals for an additional 200 million doses of Covid-19 vaccines, fulfilling plans announced last month, President Joe Biden said Thursday afternoon. The deals for 100 million additional doses each from vaccine makers Moderna and Pfizer will boost the country's supply to 600 million doses — enough to inoculate 300 million people. Politico, … Continue Reading
February 12, 2021
Dose Shortages Undermine Push By U.S. States To Speed COVID-19 Vaccinations-Reuters
When the U.S. government began shipping COVID-19 vaccines in December, state health providers could not administer shots fast enough to keep pace with deliveries and millions of doses sat waiting for arms. Two months later, the situation has reversed. Supply constraints are slowing ambitious vaccination programs, as massive sites capable of putting shots into thousands of arms daily in states including New York, California, Florida and Texas, as well as hospitals and pharmacies, beg for more … Continue Reading
February 12, 2021
Overloaded Schedules And ‘Covid Cowbells’: For Pharmacists, The Covid-19 Vaccine Rollout Brings Exhaustion, But Some Relief-STAT
The nationwide frenzy to get Covid-19 vaccines has been complicated, frustrating, and downright exhausting for millions of Americans. But take a moment to consider the plight of your local pharmacist. Working with limited supplies and imperfect scheduling systems, many are drowning under a flood of inquiries. Wait lists, where they exist, are getting longer. And even creative solutions are succumbing to the cold realities of the day. STAT, … Continue Reading