Category: Corona Virus Vaccine

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SEATTLE Federal approval of the second coronavirus vaccine means more doses are coming to Washington and with them a growing interest about the distribution of vaccines.

This week, Washington was set to receive 130,000 doses of Modernas vaccine, which was approved by the Western States Scientific Safety Review Workgroup on Sunday after having been awarded emergency approval from the U.S. Food and Drug Administration on Friday.

Some of the first Moderna doses were delivered to the Seattle Indian Health Board Monday, where members of the executive team were vaccinated to demonstrate its safety and effectiveness.

Getting the vaccine to every corner of the state and getting it into the arms of everyone who wants it is a logistical and messaging challenge for public health officials.

In this weeks FAQ, we answer questions about how people will know when it is their turn to be vaccinated and whether pregnant women should be vaccinated for the virus.

Q. How will people know when they can get the vaccine?

A. Vaccinating the population against coronavirus is a herculean task that requires state and public health officials to prioritize vaccinations and decide who to inoculate as more vaccine becomes available.

Currently, only high-risk health care workers and residents and employees at long-term care facilities are being vaccinated. The state Department of Health (DOH) is working to finalize its vaccine allocation and list of where state residents fall on the prioritization list.

This framework is informed by national guidelines and guided by feedback from the communities, partners, sectors and industries that are heavily impacted by covid-19 in Washington state, Franji Mayes, a DOH spokesperson, wrote in an email.

The prioritization list will be posted on DOHs website when it is finished, Mayes said.

The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) has developed a tool for smartphones to remind people when they are due for their second dose of the coronavirus vaccine. A web address to get started with the program is provided in the vaccine information sheet given to those receiving their first doses.

Q. Do people have a choice between the Pfizer-BioNTech and Moderna vaccines?

A. There are a number of coronavirus vaccines being developed. Modernas vaccine received emergency regulatory approval last week, making two vaccines available.

Because there are only two vaccines available, most facilities with vaccines are following the CDC and DOH guidelines to vaccinate what is being called the 1a group. This initial group includes residents and employees at long-term care facilities and health care workers who are at high risk of contracting the virus.

These restrictions limiting choice could last for weeks or months, but that could change as supplies increase, according to Public Health Seattle & King County.

Q. Should women who are trying to become pregnant, or are pregnant or breastfeeding, be vaccinated?

A. While there arent studies about pregnancy and the coronavirus vaccine because none of the clinical trials included pregnant women, the American College of Obstetricians and Gynecologists (ACOG) recommends that pregnant and lactating women who want the vaccine have the option of receiving it.

The ACOG recommends pregnant women discuss the vaccine with their health care providers. Those who become pregnant in between doses she should still get the second dose.

Other things to consider, according to the ACOG:

There currently is no preference between the Moderna and Pfizer-BioNTech vaccines, other than that the latter is available to 16- and 17-year-olds.

Pregnant women who get one of the coronavirus vaccines should delay getting other vaccinations, like for the flu or Tdap, for 14 days after the second coronavirus shot.

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Q&A: Knowing when to get the coronavirus vaccine and if pregnant women should get it - TribLIVE

LONDON (AP) The head of drugmaker AstraZeneca, which is developing a coronavirus vaccine widely expected to be approved by U.K. authorities this week, said Sunday that researchers believe the shot will be effective against a new variant of the virus driving a rapid surge in infections in Britain.

AstraZeneca chief executive Pascal Soriot also told the Sunday Times that researchers developing its vaccine have figured out a winning formula making the jab as effective as rival candidates.

Some have raised concern that the AstraZeneca vaccine, which is being developed with Oxford University, may not be as good as the one made by Pfizer already being distributed in the U.K. and other countries. Partial results suggest that the AstraZeneca shot is about 70% effective for preventing illness from coronavirus infection, compared to the 95% efficacy reported by Pfizer and its German partner BioNTech.

We think we have figured out the winning formula and how to get efficacy that, after two doses, is up there with everybody else, Soriot said. I cant tell you more because we will publish at some point.

Britains government says its medicines regulator is reviewing the final data from AstraZenecas phase three clinical trials. The Times and others have reported that the green light could come by Thursday, and the vaccines can start to be rolled out for the U.K. public in the first week of January.

Asked about the vaccines efficacy against the new variant of coronavirus spreading in the U.K., Soriot said: So far, we think the vaccine should remain effective. But we cant be sure, so were going to test that.

British authorities have blamed the new virus variant for soaring infection rates across the country. They said the variant is much more transmittable, but stress there is no evidence it makes people more ill.

Prime Minister Boris Johnson sounded an urgent alarm about the variant days before Christmas, saying the new version of the virus was spreading rapidly and that plans to travel and gather must be canceled for millions to curb the spread of the virus.

Authorities have since put increasing areas of the country affecting about 24 million people, or 43% of the population in the strictest level of restrictions. Nonessential shops have closed, restaurants and pubs can only operate for takeout and no indoor socializing is allowed.

Many countries swiftly barred travel from the U.K., but cases of the new variant have since also been reported in a dozen locations around the world.

Public health officials said on Dec. 24 that more than 600,000 people had received the first of two doses of the Pfizer vaccine.

Britain recorded another 30,501 positive COVID-19 cases and a further 316 deaths on Sunday, bringing the countrys total death toll to 70,752. Many hospitals are under pressure, including the largest hospital in Wales, which issued an urgent appeal on Saturday for health care staff or medical students to help care for coronavirus patients in intensive care.

The health board that runs University Hospital of Wales said Sunday that the situation has improved, but its critical care unit remains extremely busy.

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AstraZeneca: Shot will be effective against COVID-19 variant - Boston.com

It's best to wear a mask, even after you get vaccinated.

This month, the Pfizer and Moderna vaccines were authorized by the Food and Drug Administration for emergency use in the US. Since Dec. 14, the COVID-19 vaccine doses have started being administered throughout the states. If you think that after you receive both doses of the COVID-19 vaccine, you won't have to worry about wearing a mask or social distancing, think again.

The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention says it's important to continue following the protection guidelines in place while experts learn more about the protection the COVID-19 vaccines provide, the possibility of vaccinated people continuing to spread the disease and more about immunity and reinfection if someone has recovered from COVID-19.

Learn smart gadget and internet tips and tricks with CNET's How To newsletter.

Here's what health experts and the CDC have to say about why you need to continue wearing a mask and social distancing after you get the COVID-19 vaccine.

Read more: COVID-19 vaccines are safe, even without long-term data

Now playing: Watch this: Will a COVID-19 vaccine be a triumph of science or soul-searching?

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The Pfizer and Moderna vaccines come in two doses -- the first shot starts building protection, while the second shot is needed to get the most protection the vaccine has to offer against the coronavirus, according to the CDC.

The first shot has been proven to be highly effective, Dr. Iahn Gonsenhauser, chief quality and patient safety officer of Wexner Medical Center, told CNET. He said the second dose amplifies the protection and will extend the life of immunity.

After you receive the second shot, your body needs time to build the protection needed to fight the virus. It could take up to two weeks for your COVID-19 vaccine to begin protecting you against the coronavirus, according to the CDC. During that time, it's important to keep yourself and those around you safe by continuing to socially distance and wear a mask when around people outside your household.

You may not get full protection from the coronavirus right away.

Because the coronavirus and COVID-19 vaccine are both so new, there's not enough evidence at this point to know if people can still carry the coronavirus pathogens and pass them along to others without being infected themselves.

"This gives enough time for the virus to grow in the respiratory passages and spread the infection to others, all while the body is fighting its own infection, aided by the vaccine," Gonsenhauser told CNET.

There's a lack of data that shows whether or not a vaccinated individual can spread the virus after becoming infected, and a person could potentially be an asymptomatic carrier, he added.

"While the vaccine is highly effective, there's still a slim chance -- 5 to 10% -- that after someone gets vaccinated, they could become infected," Gonsenhauser said. However, more data could become available as scientists and doctors learn more about the effects of the vaccine on COVID-19.

Read more: COVID-19 reinfection: Can you get the coronavirus more than once? What we know so far

Until experts fully understand the protection a COVID-19 vaccine provides, it's important to continue wearing a mask and following social distancing protocols, the CDC says. This can help prevent the coronavirus spread among communities of people until more of the population is vaccinated against the coronavirus.

Wearing a mask is "adding on the protection of the vaccination," Dr. Michael Osterholm, director of the Center for Infectious Disease Research and Policy, said Dec. 14 on a CBS radio affiliate. The CDC says that together, wearing a face mask and getting vaccinated will offer the best protection from getting and spreading COVID-19.

"The immune response, including duration of immunity, to COVID-19 is not yet understood," the CDC says.

More research is needed to determine how likely you are to get reinfected, and the CDC says "it's not known what antibody levels are needed to protect against reinfection."

The defenses the body gains against the virus during and after infection seem to fade relatively quickly, making it difficult to achieve herd immunity over a longer period of time, according to Dr. William Haseltine, a former professor of Harvard Medical School who is renowned for his work on the human genome and HIV/AIDS.

"The bigger concern is someone becoming reinfected with the same variant of COVID-19, not getting sick themselves, but still being contagious to others. You can get infected twice and be asymptomatic the second time around, and still carry it and transmit it to other more vulnerable people around you," said John V. Williams, professor of pediatrics at the University of Pittsburgh.

So far, there have been very few cases of reinfection of the coronavirus. In fact, reported cases of reinfection with COVID-19 remain rare, according to the CDC. However, if COVID-19 is like other types of coronaviruses, such as the common cold, reinfection will become more prevalent as time goes on, according to Scientific American.

Reinfection of COVID-19 is a possibility.

It's going to take months or longer for enough of the population to be vaccinated to start seeing case numbers go down substantially. Therefore, it's important to continue wearing masks whenever you're around people outside your household.

"If after getting vaccinated, people stop wearing their masks, other people who haven't been vaccinated could start thinking masks aren't necessary anymore," Gonsenhauser said of social behavior. If those unvaccinated people have the virus, they can spread it faster by not wearing a mask.

Read more: COVID-19 vaccine card is not an immunity passport. Here's the difference

People in smaller groups are less likely to wear masks when together, according to a Vox survey first published in November. Thirty two percent of respondents said they don't wear a mask when attending a sit-down gathering.

"Masks are a key measure to suppress transmission and save lives," the World Health Organization says. If 95% of the public wears a mask, tens of thousands of lives could be saved, according to a Nature Medicine study from October.

Despite the COVID-19 vaccines being proven safe, some Americans may avoid vaccination. Incorrect coronavirus vaccine myths and other misinformation have falsely claimed that the vaccine will include government-tracking microchips or be forcefully administered by the military. This is not true.

Some may be wrongly concerned that the vaccine was developed too quickly to be safe. Both vaccines in the US have undergone extensive clinical trials and have been proven to be 94% and 95% effective, well over the 90% efficacy threshold required.

While a vaccine won't completely stop the pandemic in its tracks, it's the direct route to herd immunity. However, in order to get there, more people will need to get the coronavirus vaccine. And, due to a limited number of doses, not everyone is able to get the coronavirus vaccine all at once. In fact, depending on which group you're in, you may be waiting until at least April to get the vaccine, according to Dr. Anthony Fauci, the top US infectious disease expert -- if not later.

If a significant portion of the population refuses to take the vaccine, we will likely not see numbers of new cases decrease as rapidly as we'd like, says Gonsenhauser. He says he and other medical providers are doing everything they can to remind people how safe the vaccine is -- from bringing relatable and accessible information to communities who have different oppositions to distrust the vaccine, to help them make better-informed decisions.

Some people may think it's okay not to wear a mask after getting COVID-19.

Currently, there's not enough information at this time to determine if or when the majority of the population can safely stop wearing masks and avoid close contact with others to help prevent the spread of the coronavirus, the CDC says, but it will likely come down to the numbers.

When there are enough observable changes, such as cases dropping and the threat levels of community spread sharply falling. When that happens, medical experts can redetermine the need for mask-wearing. However, it could be well into 2021 before that happens.

"We would need to see a dramatic decrease in the number of new cases per 100,000 of the population after enough vaccines have been administered," Gonsenhauser said.

For more information, here are the COVID-19 vaccine side effects and what we know so far, and hidden medical charges you could encounter after getting the vaccine. Also, here's where you can get the COVID-19 vaccine when it's your turn.

Now playing: Watch this: Vaccines, antibody tests, treatments: The science of...

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The information contained in this article is for educational and informational purposes only and is not intended as health or medical advice. Always consult a physician or other qualified health provider regarding any questions you may have about a medical condition or health objectives.

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Why you should wear a mask even after getting COVID-19 or the vaccine - CNET

For many years, Martinique Moron had a fear of needles. But once the 32-year-old got a job that required her to be vaccinated against the flu each year, she had to adapt.

I found that talking through it usually helps, said Moron, who works as a therapist and social worker at LoveHugh LLC in St. Petersburg.

With daily headlines sharing the news about coronavirus vaccines being delivered and administered to thousands of patients in Florida and around the world right now, it could make someone who has a fear of needles a little on edge.

None of her Morons patients have expressed a fear of needles when discussing the coronavirus vaccines during therapy. Still, trypanophobia an intense fear of needles is common and may be a barrier to some who would otherwise get vaccinated against COVID-19.

According to study from the University of Michigan, roughly 16 percent of adult patients avoided the flu vaccine because of a fear of needles. Nearly 27 percent of hospital employees avoided it for the same reason. About 18 percent of nursing home employees chose not to get vaccinated because of this fear.

For patients with trypanophobia, healthcare workers recommend a variety of tips, from researching the vaccine needles to communicating with the medical professionals who will be administering the shot.

Moron said the fear of needles is typically a form of anxiety. Patients should try to investigate the deeper roots of this fear in order to understand and overcome it. Moron also recommended speaking with a physician who can walk the patient through the vaccination process and discuss what to expect.

Practicing ones reaction to the injection can help, Moron said, as well focusing on the long-term benefits one gets in exchange for the short term pain caused by a needle.

The long-term goal is that you got the vaccine, Moron said.

Two vaccines have received emergency use authorization from the U.S. Food and Drug Administration and are being administered in Florida. Pfizer-BioNTechs drug trial of 38,000 volunteers found that 95 percent of those who received the vaccine generated enough antibodies to protect them from coronavirus within seven days of receiving their second dose. Modernas vaccine was found to be 94 percent effective against coronavirus starting two weeks after the second injection.

Carleah East, a clinical psychotherapist and CEO of S.M.I.L.E. Psychology in St. Petersburg, said social and cultural attitudes toward needles can contribute to the fear.

You may have had a bad experience, she said. Some people may have had an allergic reaction or an unpleasant interaction with a health care worker that makes them wary of vaccinations, East said.

She recommended watching videos of injections to help overcome the fear. She also suggested comparing the short pain of a vaccination to other day-to-day pains such as back pain, muscle spasms and cramps in order to put things in perspective.

Before getting vaccinated, East also suggested thinking about ones personal reaction to shots: someone who has a history of fainting should try to tense up during the vaccine, while someone who tenses up during vaccines should practice breathing strategies to help them relax. Looking away from the needle and counting down to the injection can also help, she said.

Some of the fear of needles may come from feeling powerless, but patients do have control in deciding to take a vaccine, East said.

In actuality you are making the choice, she said.

For patients who have concerns about the safety of the coronavirus vaccines, East suggests researching them and the companies that make them, so they can be fully informed.

As a nurse practitioner with BayCare, Michele Smith has been involved in administering the Moderna vaccine in the Tampa Bay area. Smith said patients should talk to their doctor if have a specific need, like if theyre squeamish at the sight of blood or prefer to lie down when getting an injection.

Its important for them to communicate that, she said.

When Smith administers a vaccine, she tries to put the patient at ease by talking with them beforehand and preparing the injection out of their sight.

Its over before they have much time to think about it, she said.

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Fear of needles? Heres how to overcome it before getting a coronavirus vaccine. - Tampa Bay Times

Dr. Peter Salk was one of the first children to receive his dad's polio in 1953. Here's what he thinks could happen with the COVID-19 vaccines. USA TODAY

WHITE PLAINS, N.Y. RobertaO'Shaughnessy remembers the day she rolled up her little school-uniform sleeve and became a "Polio Pioneer," among the first to get Dr. Jonas Salk's polio vaccine trial.

It was June 1954 and O'Shaughnessy then known as Roberta Van Tassell was a 7-year-oldabout to finish the second grade inMount Kisco, New York.

Now 74 and living in New Hartford, New York,O'Shaughnessy's strongest memory from that day isn't how she felt about being a pioneer or if she was nervous about the shot or even whether her parents had been living in constant fear of her contracting polio. Back then, polio was a constant cloud hanging over summer months, the dreaded "polio season" that could mean paralysis and leg braces or life in an iron lung.

"If they were nervous, they never said anything to us children," she said.

Roberta O'Shaughnessy, of New Hartford, New York, holds the Polio Pioneer card she was given after she rolled up her sleeve to receive the new polio vaccine in June 1954. Then called Roberta Van Tassell, a 7-year-old second-grader at St. Francis of Assisi School, she remembers being marched down Main Street from the school to Mount Kisco Elementary School on Hyatt Drive, lining up in the school gym with classmates to be among the first to get Dr. Salk's polio vaccine.(Photo: Robert O'Shaughnessy)

As the coronavirus vaccine rolls out and goes into the arms of Americans starting with medical teams and senior citizens it's worth pausing to consider the trailblazing trial that made it possible.

The Salk vaccine lifted decades of fear, created the bedrock process for determining if a vaccine works, and gave rise to now-universal grassroots fundraising efforts employed in the fight against disease.

The vaccine also worked; it allbut wiped out polio.

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The coronavirus vaccine stands on the shoulders of Salk's work, saidDr. Rahul Gupta, senior vice president and chief medical and health officer at The March of Dimes, which began as a campaign by the National Foundation for Infantile Paralysis, founded by President Franklin D. Roosevelt.

Roosevelt contracted polio at 39, in 1921, and lost the use of his legs. He became a champion for finding a vaccine to prevent other outbreaks.

Between 1938 and 1955, when Salk's vaccine was approved, the March of Dimes raised $230 million and gave direct aid to more than 335,000 people with polio to pay hospital, medical and rehabilitation expenses, said March of Dimes spokeswoman Christine Sanchez.

Much of that was raised a dime at a time, and mailed to Roosevelt at the White House slipped into envelopes that were exempt from postage.

President Franklin Roosevelt and Basil OConnor, president of the National Foundation for Infantile Paralysis, count donated dimes at the White House, circa 1938.(Photo: March of Dimes)

Roosevelt did not live to see Salk's vaccine. He died on April 12, 1945, at Warm Springs, Georgia, site of his little White House and a rehabilitation hospital where he welcomed polio victims to playand spend time with others who shared their experiences.

From the first major American outbreak, in the summer of 1916, until the vaccine was approved, on April 12, 1955, polio was a terrifying reality every summer. Those stricken by the virus could lose the use of their arms and legs.

If their lungs were affected, it meant life in an iron lung, a pressurized tube whose whoosh became a fact of life, the breath of life. Archival photos show wards filled with rows of children in iron lungs.

Historian Geoffrey C. Ward remembers living under the terror as a boy in Hyde Park, on the south side of Chicago. The eldest of three children, he remembers newspapers printing the addresses of homes where polio cases were confirmed.

July to September was polio season. And everybody, the way people look up baseball scores, during that period, they looked every morning to see how bad it was. Parents did. Certainly my mother did.

Ward, the author of many books, including four on Franklin Roosevelt, has teamed with filmmaker Ken Burns writing award-winning documentaries including The Civil War to Baseball to The Roosevelts: An Intimate History, to name a few. He has won five Emmy Awards.

He describes his mother as a take-charge, but anxious woman who lived in fear of polio and laid down a long list of things that were off limits each summer.

"We couldn't go to the zoo. We couldn't go to the beach, for the most part. You didn't know where you would encounter it and she was absolutely terrified all the time," Ward said.

Ward's mother's worst fears were realized in the late summer of 1950, when her eldest son contracted polio at the age of 9.

During PBS The Roosevelts: An Intimate History session at the Television Critics Association Summer Press Tour in Beverly Hills, Calif., on July 22, writer Geoffrey C. Ward, left, and filmmaker Ken Burns discuss the interwoven stories of Theodore, Franklin and Eleanor Roosevelt. (Photo: courtesy photo)

"[My best friendand I] got it the same morning," Ward remembered."I went to the hospital for three months. He had no symptoms at all and had no effect. He is still my best friend."

"The word 'capricious' is really useful. It was a capricious disease. It could crush your lungs or have no effect at all. It just depended entirely on chance."

Ward's mother lived to be 100 andnever forgave herself, Ward said, trying to identify her lapse, "the one hole in the wall that allowed it to happen."

When the vaccine was unveiled, Ward was living with his family in India his father was an executive with the Ford Foundation.

I remember seeing Ed Murrow interview Salk and asking him if he was going to patent the vaccine and Salk said something like: How can you patent the sun?" Ward said. "I find Jonas Salk an incredibly impressive man."

Salk's polio vaccine wasn't a cure for polio, Ward pointed out. It could not reverse the debilitating damage it had done. But it could, and did, stop polio in its tracks.

"He didn't invent anything, he made it work. And somehow among snarky scientists, that means he's a lesser person. But he figured out how to make that stuff. And my brother and sister didn't get polio, so I'm grateful to him."

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A vaccine doesn't stop a virus. A vaccination does. People have to take the vaccine to make it effective. For polio, taking the vaccine was a national priority and a dream realized. There was no question that children would take the vaccine.

And there was no question it worked.

The year Ward contracted polio, 1950, there were 33,000 cases. Two years later, the virus hit its all-time high: 52,000 cases. Then came the vaccine in 1955. By 1962, there were just 886 cases.

Salk's science is now how vaccines are developed, said Gupta.

"The Salk field trialincluded the largest trial in U.S. history, with 1.8 million children," Gupta said.

Dr. Jonas Salk examines blood samples from the 1954 field trial at the Virus Research Laboratory of the University of Pittsburgh, 1954.(Photo: March of Dimes)

"And Salk created the standardized double-blind placebo process, that has become the bread and butter of every clinical trial. That's where it began. There was a placebo population and a vaccine population. It hadn't been that way prior to that."

When she took part in the trail, little Roberta Van Tassell received, for her troubles, a "Polio Pioneer" card that bore the name of Basil O'Connor, the head of The National Foundation for Infantile Paralysis. She still has the card.

O'Connor, a Wall Street lawyer, was an unlikely candidate to champion the cause except that he was a loyal friend, and former law partner, of Roosevelt.

Also ground-breaking was O'Connor's March of Dimes grassroots campaign not asking government to fund the research and care for those affected by infantile paralysis.

There were giant Roosevelt birthday galas held, as many as 6,000 one year, in cities and towns across the country. It was not a celebration of the president, but a way of helping others and boosting a cause that he championed.

Hollywood joined the fight, with magazine and newspaper ads and newsreels. Everyone from Mickey Rooney and Judy Garland to Eddie Cantor got involved. It was Cantor who coined the term "March of Dimes," a nodto a newsreel called "The March of Time."

Movies were paused to pass a pail for pocket change, anything patrons could spare.

Dr. Rahul Gupta, senior vice president and and chief medical and health officer at The March of Dimes, says the coronavirus vaccine owes much to Dr. Jonas Salk's polio vaccine, which was funded a dime at a time through a grassroots effort, not by government funds.(Photo: March of Dimes)

O'Shaughnessy said she has spent her life being inoculated against one disease or another, from all the regular childhood immunizations to the Salk trials to typhoid and typhus shots required when she traveled to Germany in the '60s.

She gets the flu shot every year, and has gotten shots for pneumonia and the old and new shingles vaccines.

It's surprising, then, to hear the polio pioneer say will wait before getting the COVID vaccine.

"I know this vaccine has probably been tested, but I guess the title 'Warp Speed' has thrown off a bunch of people," she said. "I thought it really did not go throughenough scientific testing like the others have, but maybe it did. I will probably get it in the summer after it has been tested on more people."

Gupta, with the March of Dimes, said he realizes that our nation is divided, that there are some who question the speed with which the vaccine reached the market.

Yes, the vaccines were created quickly, he said, but "there is every indication at this point, despite a lot of scrutiny, that no corners were cut."

Still, he said, he fully expects setbacks and issues with the roll-out.

The storefront at Ack-Par Realty in Waldwick, New Jersey, became a billboard of gratitude to Dr. Jonas Salk for the polio vaccine, 1955(Photo: March of Dimes)

"Science is always messy," he said. "If you could get from point A to point B directly in science, we could do it easy, but the fact of the matter is, it's often a zigzag path. We're going to see issues of allocation. We're going to see issues of distribution. We're going to see some side effects. These things are expected. These are not unexpected issues."

When the polio vaccine was rolled out, it was administered to a united country, a community that came together, he said.

"We have to be able to unite around this particular success that we've had as a nation. This is nothing less than a success that we've had as a nation in having vaccines in less than a year."

Vaccinations shouldn't be politicized, he said.

"It's not a Republican vaccine. This is not a Democrat vaccine. This is a vaccine to save lives, lives that we cannot afford to lose. We're losing thousands a day."

Ward shows not a moment's hesitation when asked if he'll get the shot.

"You bet. I can hardly wait," he said. "When 80-year-olds come up on the thing, I'm there. We can't live like this. I've been to the dentist twice. That's the extent of my travel since March."

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What the COVID-19 vaccine owes to Dr. Jonas Salk and the end of 'polio season' - USA TODAY

Chipotle Mexican Grill CEO Brian Niccol said Tuesday that the company will "strongly encourage" employees to receive the coronavirus vaccine.

The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention recommended that foodservice workers are placed next in line to receive the inoculation during phase 1c of vaccine distribution. They fall behind the elderly and essential workers, like mail carriers and bus drivers, who are currently being prioritized for vaccination.

As of Monday morning, 614,117 doses of a Covid-19 vaccine have been administered, according to CDC data. Roughly 4.6 million doses have been distributed so far.

But some restaurants, like Chipotle, are wary about the legal implications of requiring their workers to receive the vaccine.

"As of right now, we're not going to mandate it," Niccol said on CNBC's "Closing Bell."

He added that the company will cover the costs associated with receiving the vaccine for employees.

Other chains that won't require a vaccination include Cousins Subs, a Wisconsin-based sandwich restaurant. The company cited concerns about infringing employees' medical rights.

Shares of Chipotle, which has a market value of $39.7 billion, have risen 69% so far in 2020. The company's investments in its digital business have paid off during the pandemic, helping it recover much faster than the broader restaurant industry.

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Chipotle will not require its employees to get the coronavirus vaccine - CNBC

With a coronavirus vaccine right around the corner, it feels like we are almost out of the woods. Don't get ahead of yourselfaccording to the BBC, healthy Americans under the age of 65 won't start getting the vaccine at least until April, with the inoculation efforts stretching throughout 2021. We still have months ahead of us and still have plenty of time to contract COVID-19 if we let our guard down, which is why it's important to find ways to combat the viruslike this one drink to weaken COVID.

If you happen to contract a milder form of the illness, you have some light treatment options at your disposal. According to Johns Hopkins, drinking fluids and taking over the counter medicine to reduce the fever can help get you feeling better, but if you want an extra holistic boost that can help reduce the symptoms of COVID, look no further than a daily glass of pumpkin seed milk.

Here's why, and for more tips during COVID, here's The One Vitamin Doctors Are Urging Everyone to Take Right Now.

"Your immune system right now is very busy filtering your cells to know which are the safe ones and which do not belong to your body," says Jason Hughes, RD and head coach of Vegan Liftz. "Thus, it needs a daily dose of vitamins and minerals from the foods you eat and the beverages you drink, to keep you active."

"[One] drink to weaken the symptoms of viruses such as COVID-19, and to strengthen your immune system, is Pumpkin Seed Milk," Hughes continued. "This drink consists of fresh and natural ingredients, which makes it very healthy, and at the same time, delicious. Pumpkin seed milk boosts your immune system, making it a lot stronger to fight viruses and infections. Pumpkin seed is a great source of zinc, and other vitamins and minerals, which are the nutrients you need to prevent COVID-19."

According to Healthline, pumpkin seed milk has officially been studied in U.S. clinical trials exploring zinc's effect on reducing coronavirus symptomsand has been proven to reduce inflammation and improve one's immune system. Even if you don't have COVID-19 symptoms, the drink helps promote bone, urinary, and prostate health among several other factors, making it an exciting, healthy drink to keep an eye on.

If you test positive for COVID-19, follow the advice of the Harvard School of Health and self-isolate as soon as you can and avoid contact with other family members or roommates. If you begin having trouble breathing or feel like you run out of breath easily, visit the emergency room as soon as possible.

If you have mild symptoms, a glass of pumpkin seed milk might have you back on your feet sooner than expected. Even when you start feeling better, incorporating a glass of this hot, new beverage might be just the thing you need to stay healthy.

For more healthy tips, be sure to sign up for our newsletter.

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Drinking This One Thing Every Day May Help Weaken COVID-19 - Eat This, Not That

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.

Texas prisons and jails have been coronavirus hot spots throughout the pandemic. At least about 200 Texas inmates have died with COVID-19. So have more than 30 people who worked inside the states prisons and countless others have spread the virus inside lockups and into the surrounding communities.

But its unclear when the still-limited doses of virus vaccines will be made available to the more than 186,000 people detained in Texas prisons and jails. That timeline is among several factors Texas prison officials either havent decided or havent publicly released more than nine months into the pandemic and weeks after leaders knew a vaccine was on the horizon.

And if the doses remain voluntary once they do arrive for inmates, lockup staff will need to convince incarcerated people many of whom are skeptical of prison medical care to get the shot.

In Texas, health care workers and people in long-term care facilities like nursing homes are at the front of the line to receive the vaccine. Several states have earmarked doses for the incarcerated soon after those initial groups of health care workers and first responders. Because of the disease-prone environment they live and work in, advocates in the state and throughout the country have urged officials to prioritize inmates and corrections staff to get the coronavirus vaccine rapidly.

But Texas officials have so far remained largely silent on when people behind bars may receive the doses.

At a press conference last week, Gov. Greg Abbott skirted a reporters question about when prisoners would get the vaccine. And a Texas Department of Criminal Justice spokesperson declined to answer questions on how and when the vaccine would be distributed in the state prison system, referring questions to the governors office and the University of Texas Medical Branch, which is handling vaccine distribution for the state prison system.

Though seven Texas prisons were set to receive 1,100 doses this week, according to the state health departments weekly distribution list, a UTMB spokesperson said that only health care workers at the units were in line to get the shot so far.

Spokespeople for the governor did not respond to repeated questions since last week, including whether the second-phase of people to receive the vaccine those 65 and older or with certain chronic medical conditions will include inmates that fall into those categories as well. A health department spokesperson said anyone 65 and older will be eligible for the vaccine.

Whenever the doses do arrive for inmates and other staff, however, the lockups will likely need to convince at least some of them to sign up for the vaccine if it isnt mandatory. A spokesperson for the state health department said Tuesday that the vaccine can't yet be required because it has so far only been authorized for emergency use. A Harris County jail spokesperson said last week that, at this time, vaccines will be voluntary for jail inmates when they become available. A spokesperson for TDCJ did not know as of Tuesday if the vaccine would be voluntary for its prisoners.

The governor has said previously that the shot will be voluntary for everyone. His office did not respond to questions on if that would apply to prisons and jails, too.

Prisoner advocates said there is a lot of fear and distrust of the vaccine from inmates and their loved ones on the outside. Its a wariness that many people in the free world feel as well with the rapidly developed vaccine. But prison health and condition experts said there are multiple reasons that exaggerate the skepticism, from a history of medical experimentation on prisoners to a lack of information in lockups.

It speaks to the incredible distrust that exists inside prisons of medical care and whether people feel like theyre being treated with dignity or respect and whether anyone cares about their safety, said Michele Deitch, a senior lecturer and prison conditions expert at the University of Texas' LBJ School of Public Affairs and law school. I dont think its justified, its just understandable.

Inmates and their family members have referred to prison experiments where, in the last century, prisoners in the United States have been infected with viruses or bacteria to monitor symptoms or test treatments. Often, among the Black community, the infamous Tuskegee syphilis study is cited, where Black men with syphilis were untreated and instead monitored to track the fatal path of the disease.

Lovinah Igbanis fianc, a Texas inmate, is among the wary.

He feels like he may become a victim to the science, Igbani said.

Igbani has been trying to convince her fianc to get the vaccine, but she said he goes back and forth. She faults the eroded relationships between prison medical staff and inmates and the rumor mill that can spread misinformation as quickly as the virus.

In prison, theres so much conversation about it right now, and so many of them are like, Dont do that, its just a trick, theyre trying to kill us, she said. Its not enough to try to just educate one person.

Igbani and prisoner advocates have urged the prison agency to hold an education campaign to prelude the vaccination. She said they need to know theyre not going to be guinea pigs and that this vaccine has been tested.

[My fianc] heard my doctor here of 10 years saying hes going to get it next weekend and encouraged me [to get it], she said. To me, that can be very reassuring.

After she talked to him about the doctors appointment, her fianc said he would get the shot when it was available. But two days later, hed changed his mind again, after hearing too much fear from other prisoners inside.

A spokesperson for TDCJ said last week the prisons communication department was creating a campaign to tout the vaccine as the best way to stop the virus. Several advocates have suggested the prisons already existing peer education program, where inmates are given the tools and knowledge to inform and engage with other prisoners on issues like sexual assault reporting and Hepatitis C.

They cultivate a clear line of distrust between officers and staff and incarcerated individuals, said Doug Smith, senior policy analyst at the Texas Criminal Justice Coalition who also worked as a peer educator when he was imprisoned in TDCJ. Peer to peer is going to be critical setting up, preparing peer educators to just do education about what the vaccine is.

But just as experts say the skepticism of the vaccine is exaggerated in prison, so is the desperation for it. Many prisoners have been largely kept to their cells for months during outbreaks, they have been unable to see their friends and families in person since March and they have often been sickened themselves and witnessed the virus fatal impact first hand.

Theres enough experience that a lot of people have to be really distrustful, but a lot of them have seen friends die, Smith said.

Some experts are more worried about staff resistance to the vaccine. Deitch said questions remain on whether corrections officers will need to be vaccinated to be able to work with vulnerable populations of inmates. And units often become infected because of officers who bring the virus in, noted John Eason, an associate professor of sociology at the University of Wisconsin and director of the universitys Justice Lab who is studying prison and community spread of the virus.

Were seeing a move from community, to staff, to prisoners and then back from prisoners to community, he said.

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Texas inmates don't know how or when they will get the coronavirus vaccine - The Texas Tribune

MONONGAHELA, Pa. (KDKA) As coronavirus vaccines reach the arms of more health care workers across the country, Pennsylvania Secretary of Health Dr. Rachel Levine is encouraging hospitals to take the next steps of their role in the supply chain.

My message today to hospitals is to start to reach out and to work together with EMS providers and agencies, as well as other non-affiliated health care providers and work to get them vaccinated as soon as possible, she said at a Wednesday press conference.

Levine says the Pennsylvania Department of Health is encouraged by the number of vaccines available, especially with the recent authorization of the Moderna vaccine for emergency use.

The states vaccination plan is taking off in the Mon Valley and already getting vaccines to local first responders.

A spokesperson for Monongahela Valley Hospital told KDKA that the hospital had adequate doses of the vaccine to give to employees and distributed vaccines to first responders in the community.

The Charleroi Fire Department is one of the agencies that received the vaccine from the hospital.

Its a light at the end of the tunnel, said Chief Robert Whiten Jr.

Whiten said he got a call from Mon Valley Hospital telling him that doses were available. Nineteen firefighters within the department received the first of two coronavirus shots while 16 others are still waiting.

You want to keep the guys safe, and we sanitize our fire station twice a week, Whiten says of running the department over the past nine months. It does get frustrating, but Im hoping with the shot, maybe well get back to some normalcy here.

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COVID-19 In Washington County: First Responders Say Vaccine Is Light At The End Of The Tunnel - CBS Pittsburgh

"This is the first variant I've seen during the whole pandemic where I took a step back and said: 'Whoa,' " he remembers.

Health officials have downplayed the possibility that the coronavirus vaccines won't work against the UK strain, but Worobey and other scientists thinks it's a possibility -- and it's just a possibility -- that this new variant might, to a small extent, outsmart the vaccines.

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Genetics experts worry coronavirus vaccines might not work quite as well against UK variant - CNN