When COVID-19 vaccines entered the commercial market, the federal government introduced a program to make shots accessible to people with limited coverage or no insurance. That program which provided millions of free shots to low-income people is now coming to a halt, U.S. health officials said.
The Bridge Access Program is set to end in August, months earlier than local health departments and health centers expected as pandemic-era funding from Congress is expiring. Biden administration officials are seeking permanent funding so that routine vaccinations can remain free for adults, through a program akin to the long-standing Vaccines for Children program, a Centers for Disease Control and Prevention official said via email.
Leaders at health centers and departments said without the Bridge Access Program, theyre worried about how theyll secure funding for vaccines in preparation for the winter respiratory viral season when hospitalizations and deaths tend to increase. Many low-income Americans may be unable to afford vaccines for the novel coronavirus and its myriad variants. Updated vaccines will be formulated to target these strains, but pandemic-era funding will be gone.
Leaders at the National Association for Community Health Centers, a nonprofit advocacy group, said they knew the program was temporary, but were surprised to hear it was ending this August. As looming respiratory illnesses such as flu, RSV and COVID-19 increase in the colder months this year, health centers will continue to immunize people daily, said Sarah Price, the associations director of public health integration, in a statement. Health centers will either stock these vaccines or refer to resources within their community with an aim to addressing access barriers and closing the loop, she said.
Since Bridge Access launched in September 2023, it has provided more than 1.4 million free COVID-19 vaccines through retail pharmacies, community health centers and public health departments across the U.S., David Daigle, a Centers for Disease Control and Prevention spokesperson, said in an email. The CDC did not respond to inquiries about whether the agency told health centers and departments the Bridge program would be ending in August.
Vaccine manufacturers Novavax and Pfizer said via email they planned to assess their accessibility options for U.S. consumers in the wake of this change and help ensure the vaccines were accessible for uninsured and underinsured patients. Moderna did not respond to a request for comment.
The loss of the program has made health officials worry about an uptick in cases.
This is creating a barrier that could lead to much larger resurgences of COVID, said Dr. Walter Orenstein, associate director at the Emory University Vaccine Center. Orenstein formerly worked as the U.S. National Immunization Program director with the Vaccines for Children program launch in the 1990s and foresees trouble if vaccines are not made more accessible.
I hope Im wrong. But I think that (its) better to remove barriers to access when we have such safe and effective vaccines than to prevent people [who want] those vaccines to get vaccinated.
The U.S. has reached a record low of uninsured people, the Department of Health and Human Services announced in August. However, about 7.7% of the population, or around 25 million people, still dont have health insurance. Among adults 18 and older, 11% are uninsured.
In addition, millions of adults have less-than-robust health coverage through their employer and many earn too much to qualify for Medicaid. People in this category likely would have had difficulty getting a COVID-19 vaccine without Bridge Access funding.
The vaccine funding is ending as Medicaid is being rolled back across the U.S. Nearly 22 million people who had Medicaid during the pandemic have been disenrolled as of May 10, according to KFF, a nonpartisan health policy organization.
The next round of COVID-19 vaccines intended to target dominating strains has not been released.
Northampton County Executive Lamont G. McClure, in collaboration with the Northampton County Department of Community and Economic Development, Emergency Management Services, and Lehigh Valley Hospital-Coordinated Health Allentown Hospital (LVH-CHA), announces the closure of the COVID-19 vaccinations and testing sites in Northampton County.
The vaccination site, LVPG Internal Medicine Pine Street (325 Pine Street, Easton, PA 18042), and associated walk-in testing centers located at Bangor ExpressCARE, Bethlehem Township ExpressCARE, and Palmer Township ExpressCARE played a pivotal role in the regions response to the pandemic which will now close on Saturday, June 1, 2024.
The COVID-19 vaccine continues to be the most effective way to protect each other from severe illness and death. I extend our deepest gratitude to LVH-CHA for their unwavering dedication in providing vaccination and testing services to Northampton County residents and employees for four years, stated Executive Lamont McClure. We will never be able to measure the number of livesthatwerepotentially savedor the significant impact this partnership had on the thousands of County residents who utilized the testing site. I would be remiss if I did not express gratitude to the LVHN healthcare workers who administered the tests and vaccinations.
While the closure of the testing and vaccination site marks the end of a significant chapter in Northampton Countys COVID-19 response, the County remains committed to protecting the health and safety of our residents.
For further information on testing and vaccination options, the public is encouraged to visit:www.lvhn.org/treatments/covid-19-vaccines
Information provided to TVL by: County of Northampton 669 Washington Street Easton, PA 18042 https://www.northamptoncounty.org/
The North Carolina Supreme Court will consider the case of a Guilford County teenager who was vaccinated against COVID-19 in 2021 despite his objections and without parental consent.
A court order Thursday confirmed that the high court will take up the case of Tanner Smith, who was 14 when he faced the forced vaccination. Smiths mother, Emily Happel, is also a plaintiff in the lawsuit against the Guilford County school board and Old North State Medical Society.
Lower courts have ruled against the mother and son. A unanimous state Court of Appeals panel ruled in March that a federal law, the Public Readiness and Emergency Preparedness Act, protected the school board and medical group from legal liability linked to the vaccination.
Thursdays court order signaled that Supreme Court justices will consider a single issue from Happel and Smiths appeal: Whether the trial court and the Court of Appeals erred when they determined that the PREP Act provided immunity to the defendants for constitutional violations and pre-empted all state law claims.
The case has attracted attention from eight Republican members of North Carolinas House of Representatives. They filed a brief on April 12 urging the high court to take the case.
They have a special interest in protecting the fundamental rights of the parents they represent and for whom the General Assembly has recently enacted legislation on the very subject embraced by this appeal, wrote Tyler Brooks of the Thomas More Society, who represents the eight legislators.
As members of the General Assembly, they have a unique role in ensuring that local governmental bodies, particularly those charged with public education or who otherwise interact with children, abide by and are governed according to North Carolina state law, Brooks added. In this same vein, they further have a strong interest in ensuring that the enactments of the General Assembly are upheld against erroneous findings of federal preemption, as occurred in the instant case.
The Guilford school board and Old North State Medical Society filed separate documents asking North Carolinas highest court not to take the case.
The school boards court filing asked the court to reject claims from Happel and Smith on the grounds that the alleged constitutional questions are not real and substantial and that the subject matter of this case does not involve legal principles of major significance to the jurisprudence of this State or raise issues of significant public interest.
[T]he direct issue before the Court of Appeals is not a substantial constitutional question rather, it is a straightforward application of federal statutory immunity, which applies to the same degree to state law claims and state constitutional claims, and which is not at all an issue of first impression, the Guilford schools lawyers wrote. In fact, the idea of federal law overriding contrary state constitutional provisions appears in the U.S. Constitution itself, which expressly states that federal law supersedes both contrary state laws and state constitutions.
Even the specific idea of the PREP Act immunizing against constitutional claims is not a new one, the court filing added. Guilfords brief cited a 2024 decision from the 9th US Circuit Court of Appeals holding that, through the PREP Act, Congress expressly foreclosed federal constitutional claims related to covered countermeasures.
Happel and Smith filed a petition on April 5 asking the states highest court to take their case.
The pandemic that occurred from 2020-2022 caused a seismic shift in the social, medical, political, and legal landscape of not only the State of North Carolina, not only the United States, but the world as a whole, wrote lawyer David Steven Walker. How the government chose to deal with the pandemic, especially concerning the administration of vaccines that had been granted emergency use authorizations, was and is a hotly contested issue, one that is certainly of significant public interest.
This public interest is even more significant when the issue revolves around the vaccination of a minor and the allegation that neither the minor nor the minors parent consented to the administration of the vaccine, Walker added.
The case deals with the interplay between duty of the courts of North Carolina to remedy constitutional and other legal violations and a federal law that defendants purport forecloses that opportunity, Walker wrote.
The trial court and the Court of Appeals interpreted the PREP Act so broadly as to shield nearly every act, no matter how egregious, from any legal consequence, according to the petition. Further, the Court of Appeals and the trial courts decision rendered totally useless N.C. Gen. Stat. 90-21.5(a1) which prohibited the very acts committed by defendants. It is now a law of aspiration, with no consequence for its blatant violation.
The quoted state law NCGS 90-21.5(a1) says, Notwithstanding any other provision of law to the contrary, a health care provider shall obtain written consent from a parent or legal guardian prior to administering any vaccine that has been granted emergency use authorization and is not yet fully approved by the United States Food and Drug Administration to an individual under 18 years of age.
The Appeals Court issued a unanimous March 5 decision against the mother and son despite labeling the forced vaccination egregious.
Plaintiffs argue the trial court erred in determining that the PREP Act is applicable to this case and provides immunity to both Defendants, Judge April Wood wrote. Due to the sweeping breadth of the federal liability immunity provision in the PREP Act, we are constrained to disagree.
Bound by the broad scope of immunity provided by the PREP Act, we are constrained to hold it shields Defendants, under the facts of this case, from Plaintiffs claims relating to the administration of the COVID-19 vaccine, Wood added.
In August 2021, Smith was a 14-year-old Western Guilford High School football player. His family learned in a letter from the Guilford schools that Smith might have been affected by a COVID-19 cluster involving the team. He would not be allowed to return to practice until getting a COVID test.
Free testing would be provided at Northwest Guilford High School. The letter indicated ONS Medical Society would conduct the testing and consent for testing is required, Wood wrote.
Smiths stepfather drove him to the testing site and waited outside the building. The teenager was asked to fill out a form while a clinic worker tried unsuccessfully to contact his mother. Smith and his family didnt know the clinic also provided COVID-19 vaccine shots.
After failing to make contact with Tanners mother, one of the workers instructed the other worker to give it to him anyway. Tanner stated he did not want a vaccine and was only expecting a test, but one of the workers administered a Pfizer COVID-19 vaccine to him, Wood wrote.
Happel and Smith filed suit in August 2022. A trial judge dismissed the case in March 2023.
Appellate judges ruled that both the school board and medical society were covered by the federal PREP Act. A declaration from the secretary of the US Department of Health and Human Services in March 2020 offered protection related to the COVID-19 vaccine.
[W]e hold ONS Medical Society is a covered person as a program planner that administered a vaccine clinic, and individually administered vaccines to individuals. The declaration clearly provides that a program planner may be a private sector employer or community group when it carries out the described activities including administration of a covered countermeasure, Wood wrote.
The same law also applied to the Guilford school board. We are convinced by the Secretarys interpretation in the declaration that a covered person under the PREP Act includes a state or local government . . . [that] provides a facility to administer or use a Covered Countermeasure. We hold this language includes the Board, which provided a facility Northwest Guilford High School for the administration of the COVID-19 vaccines, Wood wrote.
Wisely or not, the plain language of the PREP Act includes claims of battery and violations of state constitutional rights within the scope of its immunity, and it therefore shields Defendants from liability for Plaintiffs claims, Wood added.
The Appeals Court noted that North Carolinas General Assembly amended state law in 2021 to require parental consent before a vaccine granted emergency use authorization may be administered to a minor.
Its intent is to prevent the egregious conduct alleged in the case before us, and to safeguard the constitutional rights at issue Emilys parental right to the care and control of her child, and Tanners right to individual liberty, Wood wrote. Notwithstanding, the statute remains explicitly subject to any other provision of law to the contrary under the broad provision preempting state law in the PREP Act.
The PREP Act provides only one exception for a Federal cause of action against a covered person for death or serious physical injury proximately caused by willful misconduct. Because Plaintiffs have not made any such allegations in their complaint, we are constrained to conclude the PREP Act preempts the protections provided by state law, Wood wrote.
Judges Allegra Collins and Jeff Carpenter joined Woods decision.
OTTAWA - The National Advisory Committee on Immunization says the mpox vaccine can be given at the same time as an mRNA COVID-19 vaccine, reversing its previous recommendation to wait at least four weeks due to safety concerns.
It said Friday that data is now available to show there is no increased risk of myocarditis or anaphylaxis for people who are given Imvamune, the vaccine for mpox, when they are also vaccinated against COVID-19.
The recommendation also says that Imvamune can be given at the same time as any other live or non-live vaccines.
The committee recommended the mpox vaccine two years ago after outbreaks in several countries, mostly among men who have sex with men as well as sex workers.
The first case in this country was reported to the Public Health Agency of Canada in May 2022, and the committee says there were 1,541 cases up to the end of last year.
Ontario had 737 cases, Quebec reported 531 cases and British Columbia had 213, the committee said.
Symptoms of the disease include a rash, fever, body aches, back pain and swollen lymph glands that appear within seven to 21 days after exposure.
Two doses of Imvamune are given at least 28 days apart to protect against the disease or as soon as possible after exposure to the virus to prevent illness or severe outcomes.
Those considered at highest risk of mpox include men who have sex with men and meet at least one of these criteria: they have more than one partner, are in a relationship where at least one of the partners has other sexual partners or they have had a confirmed sexually transmitted infection in the last year.
The committee says sex workers, regardless of gender or sexual orientation, are also at risk of infection, as are people who have had sexual contact in sex venues or work or volunteer there.
It says that while cases of mpox have declined significantly since the fall of 2022, the disease remains an important public health concern.
A spokeswoman with Toronto Public Health says the city has had 36 lab-confirmed cases so far this year compared to 27 cases for all of last year.
Toronto Public Health says the mpox vaccine will be offered by appointment at Metro Hall on June 1 and June 8 as part of Pride month awareness efforts that will also involve community organizations.
This report by The Canadian Press was first published May 24, 2024.
Canadian Press health coverage receives support through a partnership with the Canadian Medical Association. CP is solely responsible for this content.
The Canadian Press. All rights reserved.
(WDAY Radio) -- A COVID-19 vaccine is being pulled from the European market after stark demand fall and acknowledgment of rare health concerns.
AstraZeneca announced they would pull their vaccine after a shift in demand to other COVID-19 vaccines rose to meet the new variants of the virus. The vaccine, which is credited with saving millions of lives throughout the pandemic, also had the potential to rarely cause blood clots and induce low platelet levels.
Companies like Pfizer and Moderna continue to maintain market relevance to the COVID-19 vaccine market, with the two companies currently dominating the vaccine market. A total of 13.58 billion COVID-19 vaccines have been administered across the globe according to data collection experts. Pfizer and Moderna made billions of dollars off of vaccine sales in 2023 according to Health Care Dive, but AstraZeneca made an estimated $12 million from their vaccine sales in the year, compared to the previous $1.8 billion in 2022.
The vaccine from AstraZeneca was never filed for approval through the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, but was in use across several countries in Europe, Australia, and other continents.
The following is a summary of Coronavirus disease 2019 vaccine efficacy in participants with weakened immune systems from 4 randomized-controlled trials, published in the April 2024 issue of Infectious Diseases by Sherman et al.
Data on COVID-19 vaccine efficacy (VE) in people with mildly immuno-compromising conditions are limited despite vaccines success in preventing severe disease in the general population.
Researchers conducted a retrospective study analyzing the efficacy of the COVID-19 vaccine in people with mildly immuno-compromising conditions.
They used post-hoc analysis of four COVID-19 vaccine trials (Moderna, AstraZeneca Janssen, and Novavax). A tempered immune system (TIS) variable was defined based on medical history and medications to determine VE against symptomatic and severe cases of COVID-19 in TIS vs. non-TIS starting 14 days after completion of the primary series. The same model was used to analyze the participants living with controlled human immunodeficiency.
The results showed only 3,852/30,351 (12.7%) Moderna participants, 3,088/29,868 (10.3%) Novavax participants, 3,549/32,380 (11.0%) AstraZeneca participants and 5,047/43,788 (11.5%) Janssen participants had a TIS. Metabolism and nutritional disorders were the main cofactors in most TIS conditions (73.9%). All participants showed a significantly reduced likelihood of symptomatic and severe COVID-19 with vaccination vs. placebo. The VE did not differ significantly between participants with TIS and NTIS or those with HIV for symptomatic or severe COVID-19 across all trials.
Investigators concluded that mild immunity issues showed no difference in VE against COVID-19 symptoms or severity compared to those without in four vaccine trials.
Source: academic.oup.com/cid/advance-article-abstract/doi/10.1093/cid/ciae192/7643769
EASTON, Pa. - In another sign of moving on from the COVID-19 pandemic, Northampton County is closing its COVID vaccination and testing sites.
Theyre scheduled to close next Saturday, June 1.
County Executive Lamont McClure made the announcement in a Friday news release.
The sites have operated for more than three years in a partnership with the county Department of Community and Economic Development, Emergency Management Services, and Lehigh Valley Hospital-Coordinated Health Allentown Hospital.
McClure said the vaccination site, LVPG Internal Medicine-Pine Street at 325 Pine St. in Easton, and walk-in testing centers at Bangor ExpressCARE, Bethlehem Township ExpressCARE and Palmer Township ExpressCARE, have played a critical role in the region's response to the pandemic.
"The COVID-19 vaccine continues to be the most effective way to protect each other from severe illness and death, McClure said in the release. I extend our deepest gratitude to LVH-CHA for their unwavering dedication in providing vaccination and testing services to Northampton County residents and employees for four years."
Since the pandemic began in 2020, more than 50,000 Pennsylvanians have died from COVID and over 3.5 million cases have been reported, according to the Coronavirus Resource Center operated by Johns Hopkins University & Medicine.
Said McClure: "We will never be able to measure the number of lives that were potentially saved or the significant impact this partnership had on the thousands of county residents who utilized the testing site. I would be remiss if I did not express gratitude to the LVHN health care workers who administered the tests and vaccinations."
He said the closings mark the end of a significant chapter in the countys COVID-19 response.
Several health care providers supply testing and vaccination options.
May 24, 2024 The American Heart Association has issued a statement warning that false information about COVID vaccination and heart defects attributed to the Association may be spreading. The misinformation is inaccurately and incorrectly connected to a recent scientific paper on cardiovascular-kidney-metabolic (CKM) syndrome.
The written statement was issued through a May 23 news release titled, Beware: Myths incorrectly connecting COVID vaccine to heart defects may be spreading, and reported that the Association issued a fraud warning and urges individuals to check reputable sources such as peer-reviewed scientific journal and the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention and discuss medical questions with their healthcare provider.
The American Heart Association statement emphasized that AHAs 2023 Cardio-Kidney Metabolic Health scientific statement, as detailed in the news release, as well as the presidential advisory and manuscript, does not include any references to COVD-19 vaccination or vaccines of any kind.
These false articles and accompanying social media posts are misleading and make connections that cannot be attributed to the American Heart Association or its scientific statement, noted the statement. It also noted that the articles do not reflect the Association's policy or position and the organizations name is being used without permission. The Association supports COVID-19 vaccinations as safe and effective.
The myths are posted and cross referenced to several websites including one noted as one of the largest producers of fake news by Poynter Institute-accredited factcheckers such as Snopes, FactCheck.org and others.
Medical misinformation can spread rapidly and be deadly. As noted by editors of more than two dozen cardiology-related scientific journals around the world in a 2019 editorial, "human lives are at stake" because of medical misinformation.
Additional Resources:
AHA COVID vaccine information:Get the factsandfind answers to COVID-19 vaccination questions
AHAfraud warning
AHA journal Circulation editorial:Medical Misinformation: Vet the Message!
More information: www.heart.org
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It is hard to overstate how much the older adult population is affected differently by COVID-19."
Published May 24, 2024 Last updated 3hours ago 3 minute read
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While some consider COVID-19 to be in the rear view mirror, it continues to cause severe illness, even death, in some Ottawa seniors. That is the population along with others considered high risk who are being urged to get vaccinated now before cases begin to increase again.
Some 130,000 Ottawa seniors, or 70 per cent of older adults in the city, havent received COVID-19 vaccines in the past six months. That makes them eligible for a COVID-19 as part of a spring vaccination campaign aimed at the most vulnerable.
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Dr. Trevor Arnason, Ottawa Public Healths newly appointed deputy medical officer of health, says he is concerned that cases of COVID-19 will increase in Ottawa in the coming weeks, a pattern seen in summers since the beginning of the pandemic in 2020. That puts seniors and other vulnerable residents at risk for severe outcomes, and especially those who have not had recent vaccines.
It is hard to overstate how much the older adult population is affected differently by COVID-19, Arnason said.
After a long lull, Ontario wastewater readings are beginning to increase slightly, suggesting COVID-19 is circulating in the province and case numbers could rise. Some countries in Europe and elsewhere are seeing steeper spikes in infections.
Even during this springs lull in COVID-19 cases, some people continued to be hospitalized with complications from infections, with about 85 per cent of them being 60 or older. Some infections have resulted in deaths.
We are still seeing lots of older adults who end up in hospital, and there are still deaths, Arnason said.
Since the beginning of 2024, 46 Ottawa residents have died as a result of COVID-19 infections. There have been 2,018 COVID-19 cases since January.
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Research has shown that the impact of COVID-19 on the elderly can be significantly more severe than seasonal influenza, which can also cause severe illness among older adults.
The spring COVID-19 vaccine campaign is not open to the general public, but to people over 65, those who are immune compromised and people over 55 who are Indigenous, as well as their family members.
Arnason said people in vulnerable groups who did not get vaccinated in the fall of 2023 were of particular concern. Both last falls and this springs vaccines are better targeted to current COVID-19 variants circulating than earlier vaccines were.
Arnason acknowledged it could be difficult to get the message out that COVID-19 continued to pose a threat when cases had been low for months and many people had moved on. It can be hard when the general public is saying this is in the rear-view mirror.
But he said many older people recognized the increased risk for their age group and would take preventative measures, including getting vaccinated.
Between April 1 and May 5, 4,918 doses of COVID-19 vaccines were administered to adults 65 and over in Ottawa.
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People who dont qualify for vaccination this spring should also be aware that COVID-19 is still present in the community, he said, and work to stop its spread by staying home when sick and by taking other precautions, including masking.
There is likely to be another vaccine available in the fall for the general population.
Meanwhile, for those who are eligible, Arnason said: Now is the time to get vaccinated. We could see a rise over the summer months.
Vaccines are available at pharmacies and some neighbourhood health and wellness hubs. More information is available online at ottawapublichealth.ca.
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TAMPA (BLOOM) Its being reported that Lyme Disease flare-ups could be linked to the COVID-19 vaccine. Dr. Tara Foti has 20 years of work experience in healthcare settings, but has had debilitating health problems impacting every system in [her] body since getting a COVID booster in December 2021.
Tara shared that she previously treated Lyme disease around 2017 and tested positive again in January 2023. The best working theory is that the old infection was reactivated by the vaccine, along with a number of viruses.
Tara and her husband, Chris, joined Gayle Guyardo, the host of the global health and wellness show, Bloom, to share more about their journey and how Lyme Disease has affected their lives.
