Category: Corona Virus Vaccine

How will the storage requirements of the Pfizer vaccine affect the programme?

It was initially thought that the Pfizer vaccine must be stored at -70C to be effective, meaning it can only be delivered to GPs with the facilities to keep it at that temperature.

However, according to latest results, the Pfizer vaccine no longer needs to be kept at super cold temperatures. If approved by regulators, this means the vaccine can be stored in standard medical freezers for two weeks, which will have a significant impact on distribution.

It is understood the vaccine batches are being broken down into doses of 75, in order to give the vaccine toelderly residents and staff in homes with more than 50 beds to avoid wastage.

The Oxford vaccine does not need to be stored in such cold conditions - it can be kept at temperatures between 2C and 8C.

This means it is moremobile than the Pfizer jab and therefore more easily deployed into care homes of varying sizes and into private homes for individual doses.

Vaccine MinisterNadhimZahawi said that 8am-8pm inoculations will continue for those in the over-80s age group, but as more people in other age groupsbegin to receive the vaccine, "it becomes much more convenient for people to go late at night and in the early hours".

Mr Zahawi expected the scheme to be in operation in hospitals around London, and 50 vaccination centres, by February.

Offering vaccinations overnight will speed up the rollout, and allow the Government to reach their goal of vaccinating 32 million people - 60 per cent of the UK adult population by spring.

The South African variant and the Brazilian variant have threatened to undermine the vaccine and testing gains of recent months.

The Medicines and Healthcare products Regulatory Agency (MHRA) is expecting some vaccine tweaks to be needed as it has already begun to look at how quickly an altered jab could be approved, and Matt Hancock has said he is "very worried".

As of Feb 16, 217cases of the South Africa Covid-19 variant have been identified in England. Due to some cases not being linked to travel,door-to-door testing will take place in some parts of England.

This comes as scientists have found that theKent coronavirus variantis mutating to mimic theSouth African variant,which could render current vaccines less effective.

It was announced on Feb 7 that studies of the Oxford University-AstraZeneca jab have shown that itdoes not protect against mild and moderate infection of the South African variant.

However, vaccines against new coronavirus variants should be ready by October, the team behind theOxford University/AstraZeneca jabhas said.

On Jan 25, Moderna Inc announced that its vaccine was effective against the Kent and South African variants. Deliveries of the vaccine will take place in the spring.

Britain is also on the brink of approving a fourth coronavirus vaccine, after a jab trialled in the UK was shown to be highly effective against the Kent variant in what the Health Secretary hailed as a breakthrough.

Sixty million doses of the Novavax jab have been secured by the UK,which Mr Zahawi was himself injected with as part of the trial, which was shown to be 89.3 per cent effective in preventing coronavirus in participants.

Professor Paul Heath, the Novavax Phase 3 trial chief investigator, said he believed that vaccines could be adapted "at pace" to target new variants of coronavirus after the Novavax jab was found to be effective against the Kent variant.

Crucially, it was shown to be highly effective in preventing infection from the Kent variant whichBoris Johnson said on Jan 22 could be up to 30 per cent more deadly than the original.

However, most promisingly, on Jan 16, The Telegraphrevealed that Britain would have the capacity to vaccinate the entire nation against new coronavirus strains within four months, once a new super-factory opens this year.

The government is currently looking to the future, and Boris Johnson has said that elderly and vulnerable people in the UK may have a coronavirus vaccine every year, similar to the roll-out of the annual flu jab.

Have you had the Covid vaccine or are you due to get one? We want to hear from you. Get in touch with us here.

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Who is next on the priority list for Covid vaccines - and how will I be contacted? - Telegraph.co.uk

For more than two months now, the US has been vaccinating its population with two Covid-19 vaccines one by Pfizer/BioNTech, the other by Moderna that are highly effective at preventing illness, hospitalization, and death.

Despite that fact, public health officials and media outlets have been warning that vaccinated people need to behave largely how they did before they were vaccinated. Thats because we dont know as much about the vaccines effectiveness at preventing transmission to others. A vaccinated person may be well-protected from Covid-19, but if they carry the virus, could they possibly infect the people around them?

But a growing body of evidence suggests the Pfizer/BioNTech and Moderna vaccines do, in fact, cut down on viral transmission. Two recent studies show some pretty favorable results one from the UK that found that two doses of the Pfizer/BioNTech vaccine cut down by 86 percent someones chances of developing an infection that they could pass along, the other a study in Israel that found an 89.4 percent reduction (though it should be noted that the Israeli study has yet to be fully released). These findings are consistent with what we know about vaccines and transmission in general.

In other words, even as we wait for more definitive studies on the vaccines effects on transmission, more and more scientists think we do have enough information to feel pretty good about the vaccines capacity to give us back a semblance of normalcy as we approach a year of life in a pandemic.

In an opinion piece, Johns Hopkins epidemiologists M. Kate Grabowski and Justin Lessler argued, We are confident vaccination against COVID-19 reduces the chances of transmitting the virus.

I have been very cautious due to limited evidence on transmission effects but agree with [Grabowski and Lessler] that a large transmission effect is the best explanation of the limited evidence to date, Harvard School of Public Health epidemiologist Marc Lipsitch said last week.

Even Dr. Anthony Fauci has sounded an optimistic note. The looming question is, if the person whos been vaccinated gets infected, does that person have the capability to transmit it to another person? Some studies are pointing in a very favorable direction, he said in a White House briefing last week.

Studying exactly how much a vaccine affects transmission is very difficult. It requires exceptionally good contact tracing, which few countries have, or inference from lots of different forms of limited evidence. Uncertainty remains about exactly how much the vaccines reduce transmission and that uncertainty has led many public health officials to be cautious in their public statements.

But that cautiousness can end up misleading the public, giving people the impression that scientists have no information at all. That, in turn, could also lead to vaccine hesitancy. Some people may think, if I get vaccinated but I still have to continue masking and social distancing at all times, then why get vaccinated at all?

In their own lives, medical experts and, again, journalists tend to be cleareyed about the vaccines. Many are getting shots as soon as theyre offered one. They are urging their family and friends to do the same, David Leonhardt argues in a New York Times piece. But when they speak to a national audience, they deliver a message that comes off very differently. It is dominated by talk of risks, uncertainties, caveats and possible problems. It feeds pre-existing anti-vaccine misinformation and anxiety.

The vaccines do reduce transmission. They do take us a big step closer toward life beyond the pandemic. And the messaging from our institutions should start reflecting that.

Now that many people have been vaccinated against Covid-19 about 64 million in the US new research is coming out every day that clarifies the transmission picture. Two key new studies look at the rate of disease among people who got two doses of the Pfizer/BioNTech mRNA vaccine. Thats an important figure for judging how effective vaccines are for transmission the lower the rate of infection, the lower the rate of transmission.

A little step back here to explain where things stand on vaccines: There are several vaccines approved in different parts of the world, with various approaches and levels of effectiveness. The best vaccines out there appear to be the Moderna and Pfizer/BioNTech vaccines, which are the only vaccines with emergency use authorization in the US right now. Just to keep the scope of this piece manageable, it will focus on the Moderna and Pfizer/BioNTech vaccines.

A new working paper published with The Lancets preprint publication program on Monday looked at health care workers in the United Kingdom who were vaccinated with the Pfizer/BioNTech vaccine. It finds that the vaccine doesnt just make people less likely to get symptomatic infections (which we already knew from Pfizer/BioNTechs initial trials) it also makes them much much less likely to get infected at all. Vaccine effectiveness was 72% ... 21 days after first dose and 86% ... 7 days after the second dose, the study concludes.

Thats lower than the 95 percent headline number you might have seen, but that 95 percent measures symptomatic infections; this measures all infections, even invisible asymptomatic ones, through routine testing of healthy people.

Another new paper, this time out of Israel, looked at the Pfizer/BioNTech vaccine as well. (A big caveat: The findings were announced in a press release, but the study itself hasnt been released yet.) It found a drop of 89.4 percent in infections among people who got two doses of the vaccine, compared to unvaccinated people. We dont have as much information from this research as wed like yet, as the paper has yet to be made public, and given the methodological challenges of estimating transmission, the details of the paper matter a lot. But that number is similar to the one from the UK study.

Even though the studies focused only on the Pfizer/BioNTech vaccine, theres reason to believe that the results translate to the Moderna vaccine as well. The two vaccines work very similarly. Both contain a set of instructions to the RNA in our cells to build a protein very similar to the spike protein in the coronavirus. Then the immune system notices the intruder and responds, producing antibodies thatll protect against the coronavirus later.

Because the two vaccines work very similarly, the researchers I spoke to said it was overwhelmingly likely that they both block transmission to a similar degree. As a result, we can assume though with some uncertainty that evidence of strong infection reductions from the Pfizer/BioNTech vaccine also likely applies to Moderna.

But even before the most recent research came out, we already knew that the vaccines would help curb transmission. For one thing, the Moderna and Pfizer/BioNTech mRNA vaccines reduce the chances of getting a symptomatic case of Covid-19 by 94 percent and 95 percent, respectively. That is a promising starting point if a person doesnt get Covid-19, then they cant pass it on.

But what about asymptomatic cases?

In their initial clinical trials, Moderna and Pfizer didnt study whether vaccinated people got asymptomatic cases of Covid-19 that is, people who tested positive for the coronavirus but did not suffer any symptoms. However, when people went in for their second shot, Moderna did give them a nasal swab test for Covid-19. In a supplement to its submission to the FDA, Moderna says that 14 of the 14,134 vaccinated people had Covid-19 (with no symptoms at the time) and 38 of the 14,073 people in the control group had Covid-19 (with no symptoms at the time).

That rules out one big worry about the vaccines: that they might make Covid-19 mild in vaccinated people so mild they dont experience any symptoms without actually preventing it. Instead, it was clear from back in December that the vaccines reduce asymptomatic infection as well as reducing symptomatic infection.

Using Modernas nasal swab test data, infectious disease biologist Marm Kilpatrick at UCSC estimated that the vaccine, after a single shot, reduces a persons odds of infection with Covid-19 by up to 90 percent. (When I emailed him, we determined that with some more pessimistic assumptions, the reduction might be more like 78 to 88 percent.) Of course, the overall efficacy of the vaccine after both doses will almost certainly be higher.

The new data on the Pfizer/BioNTech vaccine in Israel and in the UK backs up that finding. It suggests that after two shots, the vaccine is 85 to 90 percent effective at preventing infection with Covid-19.

There are some caveats. The data from the UK and from Israel comes from observational studies, not randomized controlled trials: If the people whod been vaccinated differ from people who havent, the studys assumptions might not hold. Researchers do their best to adjust for this, but any adjustment will be imperfect. In addition, getting the vaccine could change behavior the vaccinated might take more risks, and they might be less likely to seek Covid-19 testing or be required to provide negative test results.

So this estimate shouldnt be considered definitive. But it lines up with other sources of evidence, and it suggests that, overall, the vaccine is likely highly effective in the 80 to 90 percent range at preventing infections. And low infection rates mean low transmission rates.

But lets say a person who has been vaccinated still gets infected with Covid-19. Thats not great, but the vaccine likely continues to protect the people around them, according to the research so far. Thats because of another consideration: viral load that is, how much virus can be measured in a patients nose and throat.

Not everyone who has Covid-19 is equally likely to transmit it. A new study published in The Lancet based on research from contact tracing in Spain has found a very strong association between viral load and how many other people the patient infects, as well as how serious the infections in other people are.

This isnt very surprising. Viral load determines how much virus you are coughing or breathing into the air, which determines whether other people get sick. And if they get sick with an unusually large dose of the virus, itll have a head start at infecting them, and theyre likely to get sicker.

In our study, the viral load of index cases was a leading driver of SARS-CoV-2 transmission. The risk of symptomatic COVID-19 was strongly associated with the viral load of contacts at baseline, the study concludes.

The impact of the vaccine on transmission, then, will be the product of two factors, co-author Michael Marks, an epidemiologist at the London School of Hygiene and Tropical Medicine, told me: lower chance of getting infected, and lower viral load if infected.

We already covered the former point above; what about the latter? Do the vaccines cut viral load?

On this front, theres great news in another preprint based on data from Israel: The Pfizer/BioNTech mRNA vaccine appears to cut viral load dramatically, so people who do get Covid-19 after the vaccine have less of the virus in their nose and throat, making them less likely to infect other people.

We find that the viral load is reduced 4-fold for infections occurring 12-28 days after the first dose of vaccine. These reduced viral loads hint to lower infectiousness, further contributing to vaccine impact on virus spread, the study concludes. This research is just a preprint, not yet peer-reviewed, but if the data holds up, it would suggest that vaccinated people who test positive and are infectious are still significantly less infectious than unvaccinated people.

The data is certainly intriguing and suggestive that vaccination may reduce the infectiousness of COVID-19 cases, even if it does not prevent infection altogether, Virginia Pitzer, an infectious diseases modeler at the Yale School of Public Health, told Nature.

Many of the caveats discussed above apply to this study, too. This research from Israel is an observational study, not a randomized controlled trial. However, the vaccinated people had the same average viral load during the first 12 days after vaccination as the unvaccinated people, and only after 12 days did a difference start to emerge, which suggests the vaccine is what is producing the difference.

In total, vaccination unambiguously makes people less likely to get a case of Covid-19. Then, if a vaccinated person does get a Covid-19 case, preliminary Pfizer data from Israel suggests theyll have lower viral loads, which other research has established makes them less likely to pass on the virus. And because of the lower viral load, if they do infect another person, the infection is less likely to be serious.

To be clear, the transmission point is based on early data theres still uncertainty about how exactly lower viral loads in vaccinated people will translate to lower infectiousness. But some data is different from no data.

There isnt significant doubt among epidemiologists that vaccines somewhat cut transmission.

First, almost all vaccines do that, so it was a good starting assumption before we had any data at all. (There are a few exceptions, such as the vaccine for whooping cough, but theyre very rare.)

Second, its where all the data on the Covid-19 vaccines points. Everyone thinks the data indicate a reduction in total infections, as well as symptomatic infections, Kilpatrick told me. People disagree on whether we can accurately estimate how [large is] the reduction in total infections and infectiousness.

In other words: There seems to be consensus that the vaccines dont just keep the vaccinated safe they make the people around them safer, too. The real question is how much safer. Lipsitch, who is more conservative than Kilpatrick at estimating that impact, still says that no effect on transmission would be beyond shocking, and that his best offhand guess is that minimum level of transmission reduction consistent with the evidence is 50 percent.

But the fact that the vaccines make other people safer too hasnt necessarily made it into public messaging. News reports of the vaccine have foregrounded what the vaccine cant guarantee and what we cant do after weve been vaccinated.

Yes, people with coronavirus vaccinations should still distance from each other. Heres why, argued the Washington Post.

Youre fully vaccinated against the coronavirus now what? Dont expect to shed your mask and get back to normal activities right away, begins an Associated Press story in which older people who have all been fully vaccinated are advised not to reunite with each other.

Our discussion about vaccines has been poor, really poor, Dr. Muge Cevik, a virologist, told the New York Times. It has overwhelmingly emphasized the fact that post-vaccine transmission is still possible, rather than frankly discussing the probability of such transmission and leaving it up to people to make their own risk calculation.

Thats because a lot of public health officials worry about encouraging people whove been vaccinated to party like its 1999, potentially spreading the virus to other people who havent had their chance to get vaccinated yet.

Its important to note that for a vaccinated persons behavior to be more dangerous than an unvaccinated persons, theyd have to go really wild. If vaccines reduce infection by 90 percent, then unless your behavior gets 10 times more dangerous after youre vaccinated, you are still safer to be around than you were before the vaccine.

Dont go bar-hopping, but having also-vaccinated friends over is likely fine, Dr. Leana Wen of the George Washington School of Public Health argues in the Washington Post. Letting your grandparents hold your kids? Families might reasonably conclude thats also fine, she says.

Vaccinated people should, of course, respect businesses rules about masks the essential workers asked to enforce those rules have no way to know if youve been vaccinated. And while most people are still unvaccinated, the vaccinated should be thoughtful about protecting those who havent had a chance at the vaccines yet. But those reminders shouldnt drown out an accurate understanding of the fact that the vaccines are really effective.

Advising people that they must do nothing differently after vaccination not even in the privacy of their homes creates the misimpression that vaccines offer little benefit at all. Vaccines provide a true reduction of risk, not a false sense of security, epidemiologist Julia Marcus argued in the Atlantic.

Our recommendations for vaccinated people should reflect our best current understanding of the evidence.

Its true that theres still some uncertainty about the magnitude of the effects of the vaccines on transmission. Its possible that as we learn more from Israel, recommendations will change. And its important that people get fully vaccinated two shots, plus some time for the immunity to fully take hold before they assume the vaccine has fully protected them and the people around them.

But whats important to remember is that we arent operating from complete ignorance. We know a lot about the vaccines, and what we know points toward them being very effective at reducing transmission and protecting those around us. If youre hesitant about taking the vaccine because you heard that it might not protect others, you shouldnt be, because the evidence suggests it does. That message is at least as important as warnings for the vaccinated not to party.

Read the rest here:

The Covid-19 vaccines reduce transmission. Heres the evidence. - Vox.com

An AstraZeneca vaccine production line.

Bloomberg | Bloomberg | Getty Images

The world's largest vaccine maker by volume, Serum Institute of India, has been told to meet domestic demand for Covid-19 shots first before distributing them overseas.

The move implies that foreign governments could face order delays from the company as it places India's needs ahead of others.

"Dear countries & governments, as you await #COVISHIELD supplies, I humbly request you to please be patient," CEO Adar Poonawalla tweeted.

He said the Serum Institute of India (SII) "has been directed to prioritise the huge needs of India and along with that balance the needs of the rest of the world. We are trying our best."

Poonawalla did not elaborate on who gave the directive.

SII declined to comment further about Poonawalla's tweet when contacted by CNBC.

Serum Institute is manufacturing the vaccine developed by British-Swedish pharma giant AstraZeneca and Oxford University, which is known locally as Covishield.

It is one of two vaccines that has received emergency approval to be used in India's mass inoculation campaign which aims to vaccinate some 300 million people in the first phase, most of them frontline workers and those above 50 or in high-risk groups.

The other vaccine that received emergency approval was developed locally by India's Bharat Biotech. It was created in collaboration with the state-run Indian Council of Medical Research and was granted emergency use authorization as clinical trials continue.

Since kicking off the vaccination campaign in January, India has inoculated more than 10.8 million people as of Feb. 20, according to the government. It is expected to ramp up the number of daily vaccinations in the coming months.

An army health worker prepares a dose of Covishield, AstraZeneca/Oxford's Covid-19 coronavirus vaccine made by India's Serum Institute, at an army hospital in Colombo on January 29, 2021.

ishara S. Kodikara | AFP | Getty Images

Covishield was also granted emergency use listing by the World Health Organization (WHO) this month, allowing it to be supplied to low and middle-income countries around the world.

AstraZeneca said it hopes more than 300 million doses will be made available to 145 countries in the first half of 2021 through Covax, a global vaccination initiative led by WHO and others.

Covishield is less expensive compared to some of the other vaccines being used such as the ones fromPfizer-BioNTechandModerna. It also doesn't need to be stored in ultra-low temperatures, which makes it suitable for use in many developing countries that lack necessary storage infrastructure.

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India's Covid vaccine maker told to meet domestic demand first, urges 'rest of the world' to be patient - CNBC

Press Releases

02/22/2021

(HARTFORD, CT) In an effort to ensure that Connecticut continues taking the most equitable and efficient approach to quickly administering the COVID-19 vaccine to as many people as possible, Governor Ned Lamont today announced that the state will continue with an age-based approach to expanding eligibility to the vaccine, explaining that other previously considered scenarios proved overly complex and confusing, would potentially exacerbate inequities in vaccine distribution, and slow down the process of providing it to Connecticut residents.

Age is one of the strongest factors contributing to COVID-19 deaths, with 96 percent of COVID-19 deaths in Connecticut occurring in people over the age of 55.

To provide clarity and predictability, the governor today announced a schedule for age-based eligibility for the next several months. By laying out a clear timeline for eligibility for the vaccine, the strategy allows everyone in the state, including essential workers and those with chronic conditions, to know when they will be able to schedule an appointment. The planned schedule is as follows:

To further ensure equitable allocation of the vaccine, Governor Lamont also announced that he is directing the Connecticut Department of Public Health to set numerical targets and work with vaccine providers to ensure that vaccines are administered to people living in the highest-risk communities in proportion to their population. These targets and the associated strategies will be announced in the coming days.

In addition to the age-based eligibility, preK-12 school staff and teachers, and professional childcare providers will be eligible to receive the vaccine in March at dedicated clinics that will be set up specifically for those sectors. Educators and childcare professionals will soon receive information from their school administrators and employers on when their dedicated clinics will be provided.

Connecticut has been using a phased approach to its COVID-19 vaccine program because of the very limited supply of the vaccine that it has been receiving from the federal government. The program initially began in December with healthcare providers and medical first responders, and then expanded in January to include all individuals over the age of 75 and certain congregate settings, followed by those over the age of 65 in mid-February. All previously eligible individuals and settings will continue to be eligible after March 1.

In a perfect world, we would have enough doses of the vaccine to get it to all 3.6 million people in Connecticut right now, however each state is being given a very limited supply, which is why we must take this phased approach, Governor Lamont said. Connecticuts healthcare providers have been doing an amazing job getting the vaccine to people as quickly as they can, and using age as the only qualifying factor is one of the reasons why theyve had success so far. The last thing we want to do is complicate the process for them and cause delays that slow things down and exacerbate issues regarding equitable access. A vaccination program of this magnitude is unprecedented in recent times, and I appreciate everyones understanding of the fluid nature of this situation. My goal is to get as many people vaccinated as quickly as possible, and I believe this is the best path to meeting that challenge.

We have been in the COVID-19 marathon for approaching a year and now our race becomes a sprint to beat the variants of COVID-19 that are now circulating in the state and elsewhere and to return to a sense of normalcy for ourselves, our families and our communities, Connecticut Acting Public Health Commissioner Dr. Deidre Gifford, who also serves as co-chair of the Governors COVID-19 Vaccine Advisory Group, said. The Department of Public Health is committed to an equitable vaccination program. Sticking with an age-based vaccine rollout allows our vaccine providers to get as many shots as possible as quickly and equitably as possible into the arms of Connecticut residents, and vaccinating our education and childcare workforce will get our children back in the classroom this school year.

Ensuring communities of color have access to vaccines is one of the most important and impactful ways we will get this pandemic behind us, Dr. Reginald Eadie, president & CEO of Trinity Health New England and co-chair of the Governors COVID-19 Vaccine Advisory Group, said. Using age as an eligibility criterion makes it clear to all of our residents, especially those who have been disproportionately affected by COVID-19, that the vaccine is here, its available, and provides for an easier registration process to actually receive the vaccine. Education is important when it comes to addressing vaccine hesitancy, but we must also have a simple process to make sure those who need the vaccine receive the vaccine. This new timeline not only informs residents of when they can anticipate they will be eligible to be vaccinated, but it also provides vaccinators direction on when and where to target their own outreach and education efforts.

Equitable access to vaccine for our communities that have been hardest hit by COVID-19 has always been the priority of the allocation subcommittee, Nichelle Mullins, president and CEO of Charter Oak Health Center, and Zita Lazzarini, associate professor of public health sciences at UConn Health, both of whom serve as the co-chairs of the allocation subcommittee of the Governors COVID-19 Vaccine Advisory Group, said in a joint statement. We agree with the governors approach and, while not ideal, we understand that a continuation of the age-based system simplifies the requirements for vaccination. We also applaud the states commitment to set tangible benchmarks for providers to vaccinate residents living in Connecticuts cities and municipalities with large underserved and high-risk populations. These benchmarks are intended as affirmative steps to increase equity in access to vaccines and to remediate inequities that have accrued so far.

Connecticut Business and Industry Association president and CEO Chris DiPentima said that while essential employers had spent time and resources preparing for the vaccine rollout based on the initial guidance, he understood the need to pivot. We cannot rebuild our economy and recover from the pandemic without first addressing the public health crisis, he said. This new approach allows for more workers across Connecticut to get vaccinated in a short period of time, and it eliminates potentially complicated rules, making it easier and more equitable for everyone to receive their vaccination. It is critical that we vaccinate as many people as possible as quickly as possible.

All eligible individuals in Connecticut are required to make an appointment in advance of receiving the vaccine. Residents aged 55 to 64 should not attempt to make an appointment now they will not be able to schedule one until the program expands to their age group on March 1.

To locate vaccination clinics, individuals should visit ct.gov/covidvaccine and enter their zip code. From there, users will be shown the nearest available clinics and provided with specific directions on how to make an appointment at each one, including over the internet and over the telephone.

Those who do not have access to the internet can call Connecticuts Vaccine Appointment Assist Line at 877-918-2224. The line is open seven days a week from 8:00 a.m. to 8:00 p.m.

The rest is here:

Governor Lamont Announces Connecticut Will Continue Age-Based Approach To COVID-19 Vaccine Eligibility; Educators and Childcare Providers To Have...

Tennis Australia's president has been booed during the presentation ceremony at the Australian Open after mentioning the COVID-19 vaccine and the Victorian government.

Jayne Hrdlicka was making her speech following Novak Djokovic's win in the men's singles final at Melbourne Park when the crowd became restless.

The Serbian player had just won his ninth Australian Open and 18th grand slam.

When Ms Hrdklicka spoke about vaccines, the crowd unleashed a chorus of boos

"With vaccinations on the way, rolling out in many countries around the world, it's now a time for optimism and hope for the future," she said, before pausing to let the crowd settle.

Ms Hrdlicka then thanked the state government, saying: "Without you we could not have done this."

This led to another chorus of boos.

Ms Hrdlicka finished her speech by thanking fans, and calling those in attendance a "very opinionated group of people".

Coronavirus restrictions have been a common talking point during the Australian Open, with more than 70 players forced into hard quarantine after positive tests were recorded on charter flights bringing players and officials into the country.

Crowds were also kept away from Melbourne Park during a five-day lockdown due to a COVID-19 outbreak at a quarantine hotel.

Djokovic has also been a polarising figure during the coronavirus pandemic.

While many countries were experiencing lockdowns and a surge in infections, Djokovic hosted an exhibition tour which was played in Serbia and Croatia.

The tour drew criticism, especially from fellow tour player Nick Kyrgios.

Djokovic tested positive for COVID-19 following the tour.

He also came under fire for writing a letter, referred to in some quarters as a 'list of demands', asking for the easing of some of the quarantine restrictions placed on players in Australia.

Link:

Australian Open crowd boos at mention of coronavirus vaccines and Victorian government after Novak Djokovic's win - ABC News

A mutation of the Covid-19 virus was discovered in South Africa and announced in December 2020. Similar to the UK mutation that India has been dealing with this year, the South African strain (501Y.V2) is more transmissible. However, it also affects the younger population more.

What is this variant and what does this mean for the countrys efforts to vaccinate the population against Covid-19? Take a look:

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Quixplained: What is the South African variant of Covid-19? - The Indian Express

Need to stay updated on coronavirus news in Texas? Our evening roundup will help you stay on top of the day's latest updates. Sign up here.

The winter storm has halted Texas urgent and critical COVID-19 vaccination efforts delaying the delivery of hundreds of thousands of doses that were scheduled to arrive and preventing what might have been 1 million injections by hundreds of providers this week, state health officials said Tuesday.

The U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention and shipping companies postponed last Fridays shipments, which included 407,000 first doses and 333,000 second doses to Texas in anticipation of the bad weather, said Chris Van Deusen, spokesman for the Texas Department of State Health Services.

The National Weather Service encourages people to close blinds and curtains, gather in one room if possible and close doors to others, and stuff towels in the cracks under the doors. Wear loose-fitting layers of warm, lightweight clothing. Eating snacks and staying hydrated will help to warm the body up. Stay off the road unless an emergency requires you to travel; conditions in many parts of the state are treacherous because of the snow and ice. Some cities are providing warming centers and transportation as needed find local resources here. If you have power, conserve it for those who dont. Reduce your electricity usage by turning the thermostat to below 68 degrees, unplugging lights and appliances, and avoiding use of large appliances like ovens and washing machines. If you have resources or are able to offer financial donations, find nonprofits who are helping people here.

We do not know. State and city officials are urging patience and telling Texans who have running water to boil it. Take whatever measures you need to prepare for several days without water. Officials in Austin, for example, said Feb. 19 that restoring water services would likely be a multiday process for the whole city. We have some resources here, but your best bet to find free water is to check your local media.

Sign up for news updates from us by texting hello to 512-967-6919 or visiting this page.

When the states electrical grid operator began implementing rolling outages at 1:25 a.m. CT on Feb. 15, these were intended to be a temporary measure to deal with an extreme winter event. Instead, some Texans are going without power for much longer, facing days without electricity instead of the originally planned 45 minutes at a timeThe electricity grid was designed to be in high demand during the summer, when Texans crank their air conditioning at home. But some of the energy sources that power the grid during the summer are offline during the winter. So when Texans stayed home during the storm on Sunday and demanded record amounts of electricity, the states power grid could not keep up.

Yes, Texas has its own power grid run by an agency called ERCOT, the Electric Reliability Council of Texas. The history is long, but the short version is: Texas has its own grid to avoid dealing with federal regulations. In 1935, President Franklin D. Roosevelt signed the Federal Power Act, which charged the Federal Power Commission with overseeing interstate electricity sales. But Texas utilities do not cross state lines. ERCOT was formed in 1970, in the wake of a major blackout in the Northeast in November 1965, and it was tasked with managing grid reliability in accordance with national standards.Note that Texas is not all on this same power grid. El Paso is on another grid, as is the upper Panhandle and a chunk of East Texas.

No. The lost wind power makes up only a fraction of the reduction in power-generating capacity that has brought outages to millions of Texans. An official with the Electric Reliability Council of Texas said on February 16 that 16 gigawatts of renewable energy generation, mostly wind generation, were offline. Nearly double that, 30 gigawatts, had been lost from thermal sources, which includes gas, coal and nuclear energy.Texas is a gas state, said Michael Webber, an energy resources professor at the University of Texas at Austin. Gas is failing in the most spectacular fashion right now.

It remains unclear when providers might receive those deliveries, officials said, given the wide swath of Texas that is dealing with historic snow and ice accumulations, impassable roads, power outages, cell phone outages or no access to clean water.

We're not expecting shipments for this week to arrive until tomorrow at the earliest, and deliveries will be subject to local conditions, Van Deusen said Tuesday. No one wants to put vaccine at risk by attempting to deliver it in dangerous conditions.

Before the storm arrived, Texas was on track to administer 1 million doses per week and had fully vaccinated more than 1 million Texans with both doses of the Pfizer or Moderna two-dose regimen by the weekend, according to DSHS numbers.

The winter weather in Texas is expected to intensify this week before warming over the weekend. Temperatures over much of the state remained below freezing on Tuesday, and more ice and snow were expected through Thursday morning.

Public health officials in Dallas, Houston, Austin and other cities postponed planned vaccination events or individual appointments until at least the end of the week, saying the injections would restart once travel conditions were less dangerous. Officials in Hays County were focusing on second doses rescheduled for the end of the week at a local high school and pushing first doses to next week.

Local providers have postponed vaccine clinics because it is not safe for people to be out across much of Texas. Vaccination will resume as soon as conditions permit, Van Deusen said. I haven't heard of any public sites being open, but I guess there could be some isolated places where that's possible.

Reasons for closure ranged from lack of supply to utility issues, according to state and local health officials. That includes 85 large vaccination hubs and several hundred smaller providers across the state.

Mobile vaccination units being run by the Texas Department of Emergency Management to reach vulnerable populations in underserved areas were still operating in some places, but that others had to reschedule because of inclement weather conditions, said TDEM spokesperson Seth Christensen.

One potential threat to supply already in Texas is the inability of the power grid to keep up with demand, which has resulted in rolling blackouts and outages across the state. Health officials have not reported any doses wasted so far, but those numbers will continue to come in throughout the week and offer a clearer picture of the effects on vaccine storage in the coming days, Van Deusen said.

Hospitals and health departments generally have backup power, but small providers may not, Van Deusen said.

If they cant store vaccine under the appropriate conditions, were asking them to transfer or administer it, he said.

The Pfizer vaccine can be stored under regular refrigeration (up to 47 degrees F) for up to five days before it needs ultra-cold storage; Moderna for 30 days.

Hospitals are required to have generators with enough fuel reserves to power the entire hospital for 96 hours, according to National Fire Protection Association standards. State health health officials are directing them to closely monitor vaccine supplies, and if a power outage means the vaccine cant be stored properly, the vaccine may be transferred to another facility or administered to "any willing person to ensure that it is not wasted," according to an update sent to hospitals from the Texas Hospital Association. That authorization is in effect until Thursday, when health officials will re-evaluate that protocol, the update said.

Hospitals are already dealing with severe staffing shortages and water supply issues in some areas, and have partnered with restaurants to help address food shortages at those facilities, THA officials said.

When the power went out at a Harris County facility storing 8,500 vaccines early Monday, officials sent most doses to local hospitals, universities, a local jail and other facilities capable of storing and administering them to keep them from being wasted, said Rafael Lemaitre, spokesperson for County Judge Lina Hidalgo.

The doses not allocated to the other facilities were put back into storage after manufacturers told them they could be saved, he said.

Nothing was wasted, nothing was thrown away, he said.

Most of the doses were administered Monday morning at the various sites, according to a report in the Houston Chronicle.

Lemaitre said local hospitals are on the critical circuits run by CenterPoint Energy in Harris County and are safeguarded against rolling blackouts. They also have backup generators in the event of a weather-induced outage.

They know where the critical infrastructure is, he said. We have not heard any other indications that there is a threat of spoilage or a lack of refrigeration anywhere else. But were still in this, were expecting more severe weather tonight, so were monitoring it closely.

Continued here:

Texas power outage, storm delay COVID-19 vaccine deliveries, injections - The Texas Tribune

All other regions of England have given their first dose to more than nine in ten of the over 80s, with London a distinct outlier. After the first two months of the vaccination programme only four in five (81 per cent) of over 80s had been given their first dose in the capital.

But in terms of second jabs, London has now fully vaccinated the highest proportion of over 80s - at 14 per cent - affording that smaller number of people greater protection.

The lowest is in the Midlands - at 9.2 per cent - static from the week prior.

Proportionally, more people in their 70s have now received a first vaccination, with close to full coverage in most regions, based on exceeding 2019 estimates.

Among younger age groups, almost one in six people under 70 have now received their first jab in the North West, with more than one on ten having received their first dose in every English region.

All of the doses given so far have been forthe Government's first set of priority groups - atotal of 32m people that includes everyone over the age of 50 as well as all frontline workers and people with underlying conditions that make them highly vulnerableCovid-19.

The nine groups are below - and it isthe people within the first four groups, comprising 15m people, that the Government is aiming to offer doses to by mid-February:

When asked how the Government will identify which key workers need the vaccine more urgently, the Health Secretary shared that 99 per cent of deaths are in the top nine groups of the JCVI guidelines. After that, the goal is to reduce transmission and get back to normal as soon as possible.

Scotland has now given out over 1m first doses.

In Wales, over 800,000first doses of the Covid-19 vaccine havenow been given.

Read more:From transmission to efficacy, the Oxford, Pfizer and other Covid vaccines compared

A fast pace of dose givingso far means the UK stands relatively strong in the international rankings of vaccinations.

So far the UK is ranked 4th in the world, according to statistics compiled by Our World in Data, a team of statistical researchers based in Oxford.

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How many Covid vaccinations have been given in my area? Use our postcode tool to find out - Telegraph.co.uk

How will the storage requirements of the Pfizer vaccine affect the programme?

The vaccine must be storedat -70C to be effective, meaning it can only be delivered to GPs with the facilities to keep it at that temperature.

It will be difficult to administer in care homes.Deputy chief medical officer professor Jonathan Van-Tam said: This is a complex product. It is not a yoghurt that can be taken out of the fridge and put back in several times.

It is understood the vaccine batches are being broken down into doses of 75, in order to give the vaccine toelderly residents and staff in homes with more than 50 beds to avoid wastage.

The Oxford vaccine does not need to be stored in such cold conditions - it can be kept at temperatures between 2C and 8C.

This means it is moremobile than the Pfizer jab and therefore more easily deployed into care homes of varying sizes and into private homes for individual doses.

Experts believe the Oxford jab will be easier to deploy beyond formal healthcare settings, in part because it does not need to be stored at such cold temperatures as the other approved vaccine.

Vaccine MinisterNadhimZahawi said that 8am-8pm inoculations will continue for those in the over-80s age group, but as more people in other age groupsbegin to receive the vaccine, "it becomes much more convenient for people to go late at night and in the early hours".

Mr Zahawi expected the scheme to be in operation in hospitals around London, and 50 vaccination centres, by February.

Additionally, three hospitals in Birmingham began offering 24-hour vaccinations for health and social staff from the night of Jan 20.

Offering vaccinations overnight will speed up the rollout, and allow the Government to reach their goal of vaccinating 32 million people - 60 per cent of the UK adult population by spring, which was announced on Jan 11.

The EU has threatened to block exports of the Pfizer vaccine following a row with the vaccine company, AstraZeneca.

On Jan 26, Brussels decided to impose tighter controls on exports afterreacting with furyto the news that AstraZenecawill deliver 50 million fewer doses to the EUthan it had expected.

The EU has said that it will "take any action required to protect its citizens", leading ministers to worry that the delivery ofPfizer vaccines to the UK will- at best - be delayed by extra paperwork.

This led the Governmentto say on Jan 31that it can "absolutely guarantee" its programme of delivery of the Covid-19 jab,amidthe row with the EU over vaccine supplies, with International trade secretary Liz Truss confirming that "contractual supplies won't be disrupted."

Two of the first NHS staff to get the jab suffered allergic reactionsandtheMedicines and Healthcare products Regulatory Agency warned the vaccine should not be administered topeoplewith a history of significantallergic reactions.

However, ProfStephen Powis said that this was common for new vaccines and the staff haverecovered well.

The South African variant and the Brazilian variant have threatened to undermine the vaccine and testing gains of recent months.

The Medicines and Healthcare products Regulatory Agency (MHRA) is expecting some vaccine tweaks to be needed as it has already begun to look at how quickly an altered jab could be approved, and Matt Hancock has said he is "very worried".

As of Feb 10, 141cases of the South Africa Covid-19 variant have been identified in the UK. Due to some cases not being linked to travel,door-to-door testing will take place in some parts of England.

This comes as scientists have found that theKent coronavirus variantis mutating to mimic theSouth African variant,which could render current vaccines less effective.

It was announced on Feb 7 that studies of the Oxford University-AstraZeneca jab have shown that itdoes not protect against mild and moderate infection of the South African variant.

However, vaccines against new coronavirus variants should be ready by October, the team behind theOxford University/AstraZeneca jabhas said.

On Jan 25, Moderna Inc announced that its vaccine was effective against the Kent and South African variants. Deliveries of the vaccine will take place in the spring.

Britain is also on the brink of approving a fourth coronavirus vaccine, after a jab trialed in the UK was shown to be highly effective against the Kent variant in what the Health Secretary hailed as a breakthrough.

Sixty million doses of the Novavax jab have been secured by the UK,which Mr Zahawi was himself injected with as part of the trial, which was shown to be 89.3 per cent effective in preventing coronavirus in participants.

Professor Paul Heath, the Novavax Phase 3 trial chief investigator, said he believed that vaccines could be adapted "at pace" to target new variants of coronavirus after the Novavax jab was found to be effective against the Kent variant.

Crucially, it was shown to be highly effective in preventing infection from the Kent variant whichBoris Johnson said on Jan 22 could be up to 30 per cent more deadly than the original.

Prof Neil Ferguson, who sits on Nervtag, the Government's virus advisory committee, said the latest data showed up to 13 in 1000 people aged 60 who contract the variant strain could die, compared with 10 in 1000 who caught the original variant.

"It is a realistic possibility that the new UK variant increases the risk of death, but there is considerable remaining uncertainty," Prof Ferguson told ITV.

The professor said the data available on the new variant is patchy, but there is a "signal" that there is a "1.3-fold increased risk of death".

However, most promisingly, on Jan 16, The Telegraph exclusively revealed that Britain would have the capacity to vaccinate the entire nation against new coronavirus strains within four months, once a new super-factory opens this year.

The government is currently looking to the future, and Boris Johnson has said that elderly and vulnerable people in the UK may have a coronavirus vaccine every year, similar to the roll-out of the annual flu jab.

Have you had the Covid vaccine or are you due to get one? We want to hear from you. Get in touch with us here.

Read more here:

Who is next on the priority list for Covid vaccines - and how will I be contacted? - The Telegraph

LOS ANGELES (CNS) - Beginning next week, Angelenos will no longer need an appointment to get a COVID-19 test -- not to be confused with vaccine -- at Los Angeles sites, Mayor Eric Garcetti announced Thursday.

"Since we became the first big city in America to offer universal testing, free to everyone with or without symptoms, we've tested more times than there are people in the city of Los Angeles, over four million tests across 14 city-run sites, 136 nursing facilities and over 150 mobile sites we've set up around the city," Garcetti said during his COVID-19 briefing.

People seeking a test starting next week will be able to show up to any testing site Monday through Saturday between 8 a.m. and 3 p.m. While people wait in line, they'll be able to register for test, and all they need to bring is their insurance information or identification if they don't have insurance.

Garcetti did not specify which day next week appointment-free testing will begin.

People wanting to plan in advance can still sign up for an appointment in advance.

Appointments can be made at and a list of testing sites is available at corona-virus.la/covid-19-testing.

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COVID-19 tests, not to be confused with vaccine, in LA to be available without appointment next week - FOX 11 Los Angeles