Category: Covid-19 Vaccine

FORT HOOD, Texas- Carl R. Darnall Army Medical Center will move COVID-19

vaccination and testing operations back to the main hospital.

Active-Duty Service members, family members, and retirees age 11 and older can seek

vaccinations for COVID-19 at the Hematology clinic on the second floor of the hospital beginning

February 28th, 8 a.m. 4 p.m. Monday Friday.

Abrams Gym has been the central location for COVID -19 vaccinations on Fort Hood since

early 2020 in response to the COVID-19 pandemic demand for vaccinations and will shut down

Friday, February 25th at 3:30 p.m.

COVID-19 vaccinations for children ages 5 11 are now available at the Pediatric clinic in the hospital on the first floor.

For appointments, please call 254-553-3523. Walk-ins are welcome.

Due to a significant decrease in testing needs, the COVID-19 Testing Site closed Wednesday,

February 23rd.

COVID-19 Testing transitioned back to primary care clinics on Thursday, February 24th.

To book appointments for ages 11 and older vaccinations or testing, log on to http://www.tricareonline.com or call the

Patient Appointment Line at 254-288-8888. Walk-ins are welcome.

COVID-19 48-hour testing for OCONUS permanent change of station and official travel

is available in the Emergency Department after regular duty hours. For more information, call 254-

288-8114.

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CRDAMC transitions COVID-19 vaccinations and testing to the main hospital Fort Hood Press Center - Fort Hood Press Center

Arriving fashionably late, Novavax is finally ready to rock with its COVID-19 vaccine.

The first doses of the Nuvaxovid vaccine have departed a distribution site in The Netherlands, bound for Austria, France and Germany, the company said on Wednesday. Supplies to other countries in the European Union are soon to follow.

The Novavax COVID-19 vaccine provides a differentiated option to bolster vaccination rates across Europe, Stanley Erck, CEO of Novavax, said in a release.

Unlike the highly successful mRNA shots from Pfizer-BioNTech, Nuvaxovid is a protein-based jab, much like the traditional flu shots that have been around for decades.

Novavax has a deal to provide 100 million shots to the EU and the bloc has an option to order 100 million more. The shot has been authorized for adults in Europe. Novavax said it will file for EU approval in kids ages 12 to 17 this quarter.

RELATED: JPM 2022: How Novavax plans to be a COVID-19 vaccine force in 2022

Getting shots delivered was a long time coming for the Gaithersburg, Md.-based company, which had never developed an approved vaccine.

After it was hailed as a rags-to-riches success for its rapid development of the vaccine, Novavax ran into a series of regulatory and manufacturing stumbles. The company originally projected its shot would be authorized and ready for delivery in the middle of last year.

Now, the company is piling up approvals around the globe, has solidified its production capabilities with its manufacturing partner the Serum Institute of India and is touting its ability to bring a differentiated shot to the market.

Novavax sees its shot filling a need as a primary series, a booster and as a pediatric answer. As a more traditional shot, the company believes it may be more accepted among vaccine holdouts. The shot also could be successful in middle- and low-income countries as it has less stringent cold-storage requirements.

Theres an emerging body of evidencenot only from studies done by others but from our own that we seek to growthat shows we can be used as a booster, Sylvia Taylor, Novavaxs EVP of global corporate affairs and investor relations, told Fierce Pharma last month.

RELATED: Novavax struggling to meet quality standards in COVID-19 vaccine production push: report

Novavaxs shot is one of seven being evaluated in COV-Boost, a mix-and-match trial in the U.K. The vaccine is also part of Com-COV2, another trial exploring the mixing of COVID-19 vaccines and boosters.

Last month, Novavax filed for emergency approval of the vaccine in the U.S.

Analysts at Jefferies believe there's lots of opportunity for Novavax's shot to thrive.

"(It) has high efficacy/immunogenicity and clean safety/tolerability, as well as convenient logistics and a well-validated protein-based technology," analyst Roger Song wrote. "As a result, we believe it could play a meaningful role in the future COVID-19 vaccine market."

Read the rest here:

Novavax begins delivery of its long-delayed COVID-19 vaccine in Europe - FiercePharma

PROVIDENCE Rhode Island will soon begin hosting vaccine clinics in schools with vaccination rates of less than 20 percent, Governor Dan McKee announced on Wednesday.

In a COVID-19 briefing with Rhode Island Department of Health Interim Director Dr. Jim McDonald, Education Commissioner Anglica Infante-Green and other state leaders, McKee said school clinics will first be hosted in Central Falls, Pawtucket, Providence, and Woonsocket.

We have work to do here. And we encourage and ask people to help get that work done, said McKee during a press conference in the gymnasium of the Lillian Feinstein Elementary School in Providence. We need to boost our boosters. This is a preventable, treatable disease. We know a lot more today than we did a year ago.

The Sackett Recreation Center will host a vaccine clinic on Sunday from 11 a.m. to 2 p.m., the governor said. Theres an additional 17 school clinics scheduled in the city over the next month, said acting superintendent Javier Montaez.

Get Rhode Island News e-mailsSign up to get breaking news and interesting stories from Rhode Island in your inbox each weekday.

We cant predict whats going to happen, said Montaez when asked if hes concerned about a COVID-19 outbreak when schools reopen on Monday, after February break.

During the week of March 7, he said, all Providence high school students will have the opportunity to get a vaccine shot during school hours. Consent forms must be signed by a parent or guardian, Montaez said.

We dont think about polio anymore because we got vaccinated. Lets not politicize health care, said Infante-Green.

While the states mask mandate was lifted two weeks ago, Providence schools said it would keep kids masked. Infante-Green did not say when she plans on lifting the mask requirement in schools. Were focused on vaccinations right now, she said.

State data shows that 90.2 percent of all Rhode Island adults have completed their primary vaccine series, but only 45.8 percent of adults have received their booster dose.

In schools, about 48 percent of eligible students (which include children 5 and older) have completed their primary vaccination series. But each school district varies on vaccinations, such as in Woonsocket public schools, where only about 32 percent of eligible students have completed their primary vaccination series compared to Central Fallss 33 percent and Providence Public School Districts 35 percent.

At the Lillian Feinstein Elementary School, only 16 percent of eligible students have completed their primary vaccination series. The majority of the schools students (5 to 11 years old) became eligible for the vaccine on Nov. 3, 2021.

In the suburbs, the vaccination rates are much higher. In Narragansett, 70 percent of eligible students have completed their primary series, and in Barrington, 79 percent of eligible students have.

Were seeing the lag, said Infante-Green. We know our kids need to be in the classroom. We tried it the other way... This is what we need to do.

In early January, Montaez sent a letter to the districts families, pleading them to get their kids vaccinated.

Please act now. Vaccination against COVID-19 is the most important step you can take to protect your familys health, read the letter.

McDonald said a person is 55 times less likely to be hospitalized with COVID-19 if they are vaccinated and boosted compared to someone who has not received a shot.

This is the most well studied vaccine in the history of our planet, said McDonald, adding that he and his household are all fully vaccinated and boosted.

McKee also said Wednesday that he will be pushing vaccination clinics in places of worship and with among other community partners. He said Rhode Islanders can reach out to the governors office to coordinate a clinic.

Alexa Gagosz can be reached at alexa.gagosz@globe.com. Follow her on Twitter @alexagagosz and on Instagram @AlexaGagosz.

Read the rest here:

R.I. will host COVID-19 vaccine clinics in schools where vaccination rates are lower than 20 percent - The Boston Globe

1. In a large cohort study, infants whose mothers received the BNT162b2 vaccine during pregnancy were not significantly more likely to be born preterm.

2. There were no significant differences in infant mortality, congenital anomalies, or infant hospitalization based on maternal vaccination status.

Evidence Rating Level: 2 (Good)

Study Rundown: Pregnant patients were excluded from early trials of COVID-19 vaccinations, including Pfizer-BioNTechs BNT162b2 mRNA vaccine. The vaccine is now recommended and routinely administered in pregnancy in part due to early studies suggesting a high degree of safety. However, this is the first large-scale study reporting neonatal outcomes for this vaccine. Nearly 17,000 Israeli infants with prenatal vaccine exposure were compared to about 7,600 infants unexposed to vaccine. Median follow-up was about 4.5 months, with a minimum of one month. There was no association between vaccine exposure and rates of preterm birth, low birth weight, or very low birth weight. There were also no significant between-group differences in rates of all-cause infant mortality, all-cause neonatal or post-neonatal hospitalizations, or phototherapy during the study period. Infants whose mothers were vaccinated during the first trimester were not significantly more likely to have congenital malformations. Non-singleton births and stillbirths were excluded from the study, which could potentially prevent detection of some risks. The inherent limitations of observational data are difficult to avoid at this stage of COVID-19 vaccination given that pregnant women were excluded from initial preauthorization trials. However, this large cohort study provides broad and compelling evidence supporting the safety of the BNT162b2 vaccine in pregnant women with respect to infant outcomes. Providers can thus be even more confident in recommending this vaccine to pregnant patients.

Click to read the study in JAMA Pediatrics

Relevant Reading: mRNA COVID-19 vaccines in pregnancy: A systematic review

In-Depth [retrospective cohort]: Data were obtained from a database including 26.7% of the Israeli population. 24,288 live births between March and September 2021 were included. Within the group unexposed to the vaccine, 2,241 infants were exposed to a maternal SARS-CoV-2 infection. Stabilized inverse probability of treatment weights (IPTWs) were used to balance the groups with respect to baseline maternal demographics, including maternal age, parity, and socioeconomic status. Rates of early preterm birth were significantly higher in the unexposed group with a risk ratio of 0.45 (95% confidence interval 0.29-0.70), though there was no significant difference in overall preterm birth. Analysis of risk of congenital anomaly was performed in a subgroup including only infants whose mothers were vaccinated in the first trimester, yielding a risk ratio of 0.69 (0.44-1.04) for vaccine exposure. In a sensitivity analysis excluding mothers who had SARS-CoV-2 infection during pregnancy, the only change in relative outcomes observed was a significantly increased risk of jaundice requiring phototherapy in vaccine-exposed infants (1.46; 1.06-2.06).

Image: PD

2022 2 Minute Medicine, Inc. All rights reserved. No works may be reproduced without expressed written consent from 2 Minute Medicine, Inc. Inquire about licensing here. No article should be construed as medical advice and is not intended as such by the authors or by 2 Minute Medicine, Inc.

See the rest here:

Maternal BNT162b2 (Pfizer-BioNTech) COVID-19 vaccination is not associated with adverse neonatal or early infant outcomes - Physician's Weekly

LAKE HALLIE (WQOW) - The COVID-19 testing and vaccination site that has been held at Jacob's Well Church for the past four months will have its last day on Saturday, February 26.

The site opened in September of 2021, becoming a hub for testing and vaccinations for the northwestern Wisconsin region.

The site operated with the help of the Eau Claire City-County Health Department, the WI Healthcare Emergency Readiness Coalition, Eau Claire County Emergency Management, Wisconsin National Guard, AMI Expeditionary Healthcare, Wisconsin Department of Health Services, and the Western Wisconsin Public Health Readiness Consortium.

COVID-19 testing and vaccinations will be available at Jacob's Well on Saturday from 11 a.m. to 6 p.m.

Read more:

Jacob's Well COVID-19 vaccination and testing site to close this weekend - WQOW TV News 18

One by one, the political talking points about the pandemic liberals are prolonging mask mandates to exert control over people, conservatives are acting with willful indifference toward their fellow men, etc. are melting away like a spring snowstorm.

As the restrictions begin to fade, this might mean that Americans are coming to their senses. However, it probably means that the battlefields of disunity are merely shifting.

Regardless, its instructive to begin reviewing the past two years, including what has to be regarded as a genuine miracle.

But first, a clarification. Were not bold enough to declare the pandemic over.

The New York Times reports that deaths remain at an average of about 2,300 per day nationwide. But the seven-day average of new cases has fallen to about 140,000, down from 164,418 in September, and hospital workers are beginning to turn their attention to more conventional ailments again.

Utah, according to Gov. Spencer Cox, will begin treating COVID-19 like any other seasonal disease on March 31. The state will transition from an emergency posture and into a manageable risk model, he said.

Other states, including California, have dropped their mask mandates. Even in liberal San Francisco, masks are no longer required indoors.

The nation may yet see another spike due to some new variant. People will get sick and die, but for years they have gotten sick and died from influenza. With luck, this new endemic stage should feature lower case counts, continued vaccine and booster shots and perhaps the development of more effective treatments.

The worst, we hope, is over.

But if global pandemics happen only once a century, the lessons from COVID-19 may never last. Just as we viewed the influenza epidemic of 1918-20 with quaint wonder, our descendants are likely to view this generation as technologically and medically backward. Then they are likely to scream about their own constitutional rights and fight against the very medicine that could cure them.

Its human nature, apparently. It happened 100 years ago. There is little reason to believe it wont happen again.

Unless, that is, the nation becomes more unified. Unless a century from now people trust their public servants and the folks who have dedicated their lives to medicine.

And yet, we suspect people today would be surprised to read what historians write about the last two years. We believe the centerpiece of that story will have to be the lightning speed in research and production terms in which effective vaccines were produced and approved for use.

The website statnews.com has labeled it a freaking miracle. That is an apt description.

If Covid vaccines had taken as long as the mumps vaccine to develop, the world would have had to face the Delta and Omicron waves with the vast majority of people on the planet armor-less against the virus that causes Covid, said writer Helen Branswell. Instead, it took just 66 days after the SARS-2 sequence was published for scientists at the NIH to begin enrolling people in a Phase 1 clinical trial of Modernas Covid vaccine.

And despite predictable problems distributing the vaccines equitably, at least 55% of the world has now been vaccinated.

Time brings perspective. In the future, the political hyperventilations of the past two years will boil away, and the real lessons will emerge. One is that science does tend to change as new data appears. The Centers for Disease Control initially said not to wear masks, then changed, then suggested heavier masks. This wasnt sinister. It was an example of being adaptive.

Another is that governments should avoid overreacting, and they should remember to hold the free exercise of religion, a constitutionally protected right, as more important than shopping. Too many jurisdictions tried to restrict church gatherings while allowing stores to remain open.

Some court decisions saved the day in that regard, including some memorable ones from the U.S. Supreme Court.

But the greatest of all lessons concerns those vaccines. It is that human beings have the potential to conquer amazing obstacles, even to fight a virus previously unknown to the world.

Whether everyone received it, and whether some people saw it as a sinister plot, will be unimportant. For many people, it kept them from getting sick and dying, and that is a miracle, indeed.

Link:

Vaccines are the biggest story of this pandemic |Opinion - Deseret News

Should I administer extra vaccine doses to my patients?

An additional dose is for patients who completed the initial vaccine series but didn't have a strong enough immune response. A booster dose is for patients when it's likely that their immunity after the initial vaccine series waned over time.

The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) and the Western States Scientific Review Workgroup recommend a booster dose for everyone 12 years and older.

CDC also recommended an additional dose of mRNA (Pfizer-BioNTech or Moderna) COVID-19 vaccines for certain immunocompromised groups. These patients may also get a booster (fourth) dose after getting the additional (third) dose.

Additional dose

People who are immunocompromised and got an mRNA COVID-19 vaccine.*

See the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention's (CDC) interim clinical considerations for a list of immunocompromising conditions.

Booster dose

People 12 years and older who got the Pfizer-BioNTech COVID-19 vaccine as their primary series.

At least five months after your second dose.**

For patients who are moderately to severely immunocompromised, at least five months after the patient's additional (third) dose.

People 18 years and older who got the Moderna COVID-19 vaccine as their primary series.

At least five months after your second dose.**

*Use the same vaccine brand as the patient's initial vaccine series, if possible. If you don't have it available, the other mRNA vaccine brand may be used.

**For booster doses, patients 18 years and older can get the same or a different vaccine for their booster dose than they received for their primary series. However, people ages 17 and younger may only get the Pfizer COVID-19 vaccine for their booster dose.

Please do not administer any doses of vaccine beyond the doses recommended by CDC, even if your patient requests it. Also, please do not administer any doses of vaccine to someone outside of the recommended age range for that vaccine or dose.

The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) recommends an additional dose of the Pfizer-BioNTech or Moderna COVID-19 vaccines only to certain immunocompromised groups, including patients who have:

You can find more information on additional doses for immunocompromised people in CDC's interim clinical considerations for COVID-19 vaccines.

The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) and the Western States Scientific Safety Review Workgroup recommend a booster dose for everyone 12 years and older.

We don't know the safety or efficacy of giving someone a COVID-19 vaccine authorized or approved in the United States after they received a COVID-19 vaccine not authorized or approved by the U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA).

Although they are not authorized by the FDA, the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) does not recommend revaccinating patients who completed a COVID-19 vaccine series authorized by the World Health Organization (WHO). However, CDC recommends providers offer an FDA authorized or approved COVID-19 vaccine to patients who:

For more information, see the interim clinical considerations for COVID-19 vaccines.

You may have patients who completed a COVID-19 vaccine series as part of a U.S.-based clinical trial involving a COVID-19 vaccine not currently authorized by the U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA).

Do not give the patient any additional doses.

Considered fully vaccinated two weeks after completing the series.

Not considered fully vaccinated.

Offer an FDA-authorized or FDA-approved COVID-19 vaccine. Encourage patients to follow current prevention measures.

Check if an independent group (e.g., a data and safety monitoring board) confirmed the vaccine's efficacy.

If confirmed, your patient is considered fully vaccinated two weeks after completing the series. Do not give the patient any additional doses.

Not considered fully vaccinated.

Offer an FDA-authorized or FDA-approved COVID-19 vaccine series. Encourage patients to follow current prevention measures.

For more information, please see the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention's (CDC) clinical considerations for COVID-19 vaccines.

Yes, the Johnson & Johnson (J&J) vaccine is authorized for use in Washington state; however, in December 2021, the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) recommended people choose to get an mRNA COVID-19 vaccine (Pfizer or Moderna) instead of the J&J vaccine. This is due to the rare risk of thrombosis with thrombocytopenia syndrome (TTS), a condition in which a low blood platelet level interferes with the formation of blood clots, as well as the risk of Guillain-Barr Syndrome (GBS), an autoimmune disorder which can result in permanent nerve damage.

Previously, in April 2021, the Washington State Department of Health (DOH) briefly paused the use of the J&J vaccine amid reports of thrombosis, but soon cleared usage with approval from the Advisory Committee on Immunization Practices (ACIP).

No, the Advisory Committee on Immunization Practices (ACIP) does not recommend titer testing before vaccination

You should use the same vaccine brand to administer additional doses to immunocompromised patients. However, if you don't have the same brand available, the other mRNA vaccine brand may be used.

For booster doses, patients 18 years and older can get the same or a different vaccine brand than they received for their primary series. However, people ages 17 and younger may only get the Pfizer COVID-19 vaccine for their booster dose because it's currently the only vaccine authorized for this age group.

The Advisory Committee on Immunization Practices (ACIP) recommended the following age groups to receive vaccine:

The Pfizer and Moderna vaccines are recommended over the J&J vaccine due to the rare risk of TTS (Thrombosis with Thrombocytopenia Syndrome), a condition in which a low blood platelet level interferes with the formation of blood clots, and GBS (Guillain-Barr Syndrome), an autoimmune disorder which can result in permanent nerve damage.

Yes. You can vaccinate people ages 5 and over with the Pfizer-BioNTech vaccine. Youth who are 5 to 17 years of age may need consent from a parent or guardian to get the vaccine, unless they are legally emancipated.

If you have questions about what you can accept as parental consent, please consult your legal counsel. If your office or organization already has guidance on this for other vaccines, you may wish to consult those as well. You can use this sample consent for minor vaccination as a starting point.

Yes, data show that COVID-19 vaccines are safe during pregnancy. The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC), American College of Obstetricians and Gynecologists (ACOG), and Society for Maternal-Fetal Medicine (SMFM) recommend the COVID-19 vaccine for people who are pregnant, lactating, or planning to get pregnant. Some studies show that a vaccinated parent can even pass antibodies against COVID-19 along to their baby through pregnancy and lactation. Unvaccinated pregnant people who get COVID-19 are at increased risk of severe complications like preterm birth or stillbirth. In addition, people who get COVID-19 while pregnant are two to three times more likely to need advanced life support and a breathing tube.

You can read more about the recommendation from the American College of Obstetricians and Gynecologists (ACOG) and refer to resources on this list from ACOG. You can also use these talking points on reproductive health to answer patient questions.

Generally, the COVID-19 vaccines should not be given to anyone who is under the authorized age or has a history of severe allergic reactions to an ingredient or previous dose of the COVID-19 vaccines.

The Pfizer COVID-19 vaccine should not be given to anyone:

The Moderna COVID-19 vaccine should not be given to anyone:

See the Advisory Committee on Immunization Practices' (ACIP) interim clinical considerations for COVID-19 vaccines for more information.

The COVID-19 vaccines should not be given to people with a known history of severe allergic reaction, such as anaphylaxis, to any ingredient or a previous dose of the COVID-19 vaccines.

People who have had a severe allergic reaction to other vaccines or injectable therapies may still be able to receive this vaccine. However, providers should do a risk assessment and counsel them about the potential risks. If the patient decides to get the vaccine, providers should observe them for 30 minutes to monitor for any immediate reactions. People who report having mild or childhood allergic reactions to medications or vaccines may still get the vaccine.

See the Advisory Committee on Immunization Practices' (ACIP) interim clinical considerations for COVID-19 vaccines for more information.

People who currently have COVID-19 should wait to get vaccinated until they feel better and their isolation period is finished if possible. People recently infected with COVID-19 can choose to wait up to 90 days after their illness passes before getting vaccinated.

People who were recently exposed to COVID-19 should also wait to get the vaccine until after their quarantine period, if they are able to safely quarantine away from other people. If there is a high risk they could infect others, they may be vaccinated during their quarantine period to prevent spreading the disease. Providers should take steps to ensure the environment is safe to protect others during the vaccination.

Yes, the Advisory Committee on Immunization Practices (ACIP) recommends anyone who previously had COVID-19 to get the vaccine. A history of having COVID-19 doesn't affect the recommendation.

Yes. The Advisory Committee on Immunization Practices (ACIP) changed their recommendations on May 12, 2021. You can now administer COVID-19 vaccines and other vaccines to patients without waiting 14 days.

Yes, you can still get a COVID-19 test after recently getting vaccinated. It will not affect the results of a SARS-CoV-2 nucleic acid amplification or antigen test.

No, patients do not need to reschedule their screening mammogram if they were recently vaccinated. The COVID-19 vaccine may cause swollen lymph nodes, or unilateral lymphadenopathy, after administration and in some cases, it will be important to ensure further evaluation. You should:

You can read more about the recommendation from the Society of Breast Imaging.

Link:

Clinical Information for COVID-19 Vaccine Providers - Washington State Department of Health

1. Engage communities to inform vaccine prioritization and planning

We are committed to getting feedback from communities, partners, organizations, businesses, and governmental entities throughout all stages of vaccine planning and implementation.

During the fall of 2020, DOH led a comprehensive engagement effort to get feedback from disproportionately impacted communities, partners, and sectors about how we should prioritize and allocate the COVID-19 vaccine. We conducted 90 interviews, focus groups, and community conversations with 568 individuals and surveyed about 18,000 people in multiple languages. Read the full report to learn more.

These engagement efforts directly informed our interim vaccine allocation and prioritization guidance. Some specific examples of how we integrated community input into vaccine prioritization:

We are continuing to integrate a pro-equity approach into vaccine allocation and distribution. This includes looking at all the different ways vaccine is distributed, including via health care systems, pharmacies, state run mass vaccination sites, community pop-up clinics, mobile clinics, local mass vaccination sites, and employer based vaccination sites. For each of these, there are opportunities to support equitable vaccine access by:

Providers who are best positioned to serve communities disproportionately impacted by COVID-19 include:

If you are a health care provider who serves communities who are disproportionately impacted by COVID-19 and you are interested in enrolling to offer the COVID-19 vaccine, please visit our COVID-19 Vaccine Program Enrollment page or contact covid.vaccine@doh.wa.gov for technical assistance.

The Washington State Department of Health has an obligation to ensure equitable access to the COVID-19 vaccine. We recognize that community-rooted and community-led organizations and groups are better positioned and equipped to listen, understand, and respond to the needs of their community members in the most culturally relevant and linguistically appropriate way. They are also better equipped to use a trauma-informed lens or approach to their interventions so as to not perpetuate further harm, fear, and distrust that may be exacerbated by governmental entities in times of extreme crisis, like a pandemic.

In 2020,DOH and Desautel Hege launched a new community-based outreach approach to working with community media and organizations to address inequities around COVID-19. Through this program, DOH funds community media and organizations to develop communications and perform outreach to historically excluded and underrepresented audiences. The goal is to ensure priority communities receive culturally appropriate and accessible information about COVID-19 vaccines, prevention, and safe re-opening.

Based on population health data, risk and vaccination, priority communities are identified where additional mile-deep communications can help improve health outcomes. Mile deep (as opposed to mile-wide) communications are defined as activities that go beyond traditional advertising and public education to connect deeply with a community through trusted message carriers, culturally informed communications and outreach in a way that considers access, social determinants of health, systemic racism, and historical trauma.

Community Driven Messaging Contracts

Since the fall of 2020, we have partnered with DH to support direct investments in community/ethnic media outlets and community based organizations for community-driven messaging efforts.

Community Outreach Services Contracts

Between January and April of 2021, the project contracted with 48 partners 27 paid media vendors and 21 community-based organizations.

In March 2021 the project conducted a second round of outreach to additional partners to expand the project's reach to more communities to support vaccination and prevention messaging. The second phase of implementation has expanded to 122 partners 34 paid media vendors and 88 community-based organizations.

Additionally, Washington state has the All in Washington Vaccine Equity Initiative. This initiative supports equitable vaccine access by providing funds to trusted, community-based organizations that can provide linguistically and culturally-specific vaccine education and outreach. These organizations also address access, mobility and transportation barriers. Grant funds are flexible and distributed to organizations serving regions and communities with the highest need.

For a list of recently funded organizations, please visit Vaccine Equity Initiative Grants and Grantees All In WA.

Since September 2020, the Washington State Department of Health (DOH) has partnered with Desautel Hege (DH) to support community-driven COVID-19 outreach & communications. This effort specifically focuses on connecting with priority communities who have been disproportionately impacted during this pandemic and experience access barriers to COVID-19 information and services. The COVID-19 Community Media Outreach Progress Report Summary, May 21, 2021 (PDF) provides an overview of these efforts as well as insights for both the project and future public health communications efforts.

Information is one of the best tools we have in this fight against COVID-19, said Gov. Jay Inslee. But not every community has equal access to information. This plan helps ensure every Washingtonian is better able to stay safe and healthy by making sure our state agencies are providing information that is culturally-relevant and accessible.

In April 2020, the Washington State Department of Health Community Engagement Task Force worked with the Governor's Office to create a COVID-19 Response Language Access Plan. This created a foundation for language access that we continue to leverage for vaccine communications, education, and outreach efforts.

The Washington State Department of Health is the lead entity for distribution and allocation of vaccines. We provide guidance to prioritize populations for vaccine. We also enroll providers as vaccinators and determine weekly allocation of doses among those providers in consultation with local public health agencies. We are committed to strengthening our own efforts as well as supporting local public health agency efforts in centering communities in vaccine outreach and access.

Overall considerations for vaccine outreach

Overall considerations for vaccine access

Community-specific tools and resources

To ensure equitable and accessible outreach, education, and implementation strategies, the Department of Health is building a COVID-19 Vaccine Implementation Collaborative. The Collaborative launched in February 2021 but interested partners can join at any time. Collaborative members:

Our community engagement efforts have shown us how critical it is to lead vaccine conversations with cultural humility. For us, this means understanding that historical distrust, trauma, and broken relationships are a result of systemic inequities, racism, and medical harm many historically marginalized groups have experienced. We are developing and collecting anti-racism and trauma-informed tools, training, and resources for vaccine providers and partners. If you have resources to add and share with others, please email equity@doh.wa.gov.

Resources

See original here:

COVID-19 Vaccine - Equity and Engagement - Washington State Department of Health

Japan and UNICEF sign exchange notes to expand COVID-19 vaccination in Egypt

CAIRO - 21 February 2022: UNICEF and the Government of Japan signed and exchanged notes for a new collaboration between UNICEF and the Embassy of Japan titled Expanding COVID-19 Vaccination in Egypt at the premises of the Ministry of International Cooperation. This collaboration aims to support the COVID-19 vaccination in Egypt and to establish effective cold chain systems for vaccines storage.

The notes were signed by H.E. Mr. Oka Hiroshi, Ambassador Designate of Japan, and Dr. Fazlul Haque, Deputy Representative of UNICEF in Egypt, in the presence of H.E. Dr. Rania Al-Mashat, Minister of International Cooperation, and H.E. Dr. Khaled Abdel Ghaffar, Minister of Higher Education and Scientific Research and acting Health Minister and Population.

The project Expanding COVID-19 Vaccination in Egypt will be implemented by the Ministry of Health and Population (MoHP) throughout Egypt.The $3.4 million grantprovided by the Government of Japan will support increasing the number of vaccination centers and ensuring effective vaccination, while reinforcing regular immunization programmes in the country.

This project is building on a previous contribution from Japan when 700,260 doses of the Japanese-made AstraZeneca vaccine were provided to Egypt via the COVAX facility in December 2021. In addition, Japan has supported in facilitating the last one mile in the safe and steady delivery of vaccines to Egyptian people by the improvement of cold chain for vaccines to tackle human security crisis, posing threats to individuals survival, livelihood and dignity caused by the current pandemic.

Dr. Khaled Abdel Ghaffar, acting Health Minister pointed out on the importance of this tripartite agreement between Egypt, Japan and UNICEF; in strengthening the states plan to combat the pandemic, by establishing effective cold chains in 500 vaccination sites, securing vaccines storage and transportation, and training medical teams, in addition to urging citizens to be vaccinated against the Corona virus through social media platforms.

Dr. Khaled Abdel Ghaffar thanked the Ministry of International Cooperation for its continuous cooperation in the framework of supporting the ministrys efforts to combat COVID-19, as well as cooperation with the Japanese side and UNICEF in many aspects that support enhancing health care.

From her side, Dr. Rania Al-Mashat, Minister of International Cooperation, said: Multilateralism is now needed more than ever to set and implement global standards and frameworks across all stakeholders. Egypts active engagement with development partners has contributed to national efforts to mitigate the repercussions of the pandemic. Our collaboration with Japan and UNICEF is a case in point. Enhancing the vaccination distribution process reflects international cooperation that directly impacts human lives.

Fazlul Haque, acting UNICEF Representative in Egypt, said: UNICEF would like to express its gratitude to the Government of Japan for its continuous support to respond to the COVID-19 pandemic through the procurement of vaccination equipment, the upgrade of cold chain systems, training frontline health workers, and encouraging public demand for vaccination. We are committed to implement the interventions plans and to ensure that vaccines reach those who should be vaccinated.

Expanding COVID-19 Vaccination in Egypt project aims at establishing effective cold chain systems at 500 vaccination sites and ensuring vaccine security during storage and transportation. It also aims at training the medical team to safely administer COVID-19 vaccines. It will also highlight the importance of vaccination and encourage the use of preventive measures through social media platforms as well as strengthening the monitoring and reporting systems.

UNICEF is a key partner to the Ministry of Health and Population in the medical response to the COVID-19 pandemic. Since the outbreak of the disease, UNICEF provided Personal Protective Equipment to over 110,000 frontline health workers and a significant number of disinfectants, soap, ventilators, and other life-saving equipment to COVID patients in public hospitals. UNICEF has also reached more than 65 million people with COVID-related messages.

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Japan and UNICEF sign exchange notes to expand COVID-19 vaccination in Egypt - Egypttoday

In a recent study posted to the Research Square* preprint server and under consideration at a Nature Portfolio Journal, researchers assessed the effectiveness of coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) vaccines in patients experiencing long COVID.

Study: Efficacy of COVID-19 vaccination on the symptoms of patients with long COVID: a target trial emulation using data from the ComPaRe e-cohort in France. Image Credit: Starocean/Shutterstock

COVID-19 cases, caused by severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus-2 (SARS-CoV-2), have surpassed 420 million cases globally. Although the disease subsides within 14 days, some infected individuals experience a long-form of COVID-19 (long COVID) wherein the symptoms linger for a prolonged period, i.e., several months after initial infection.

Long COVID can cause multiorgan dysfunction and adversely impact the lives of patients. According to one study, over 85% of the long COVID patients complain of lingering symptoms even after a year post-onset. There is no treatment for long COVID other than general advice, multidisciplinary rehabilitation, and self-management. However, it has been speculated that vaccination against SARS-CoV-2 can help ameliorate long COVID, but there is little evidence to support this notion.

In the current study, researchers carried out a target trial emulation to evaluate the effects of vaccination on the symptoms of patients with long COVID in France. The authors used data from the ComPaRe (Communaut de Patients pour la Recherche) long COVID cohort, an ongoing prospective e-cohort of patients with long COVID.

Long COVID patients were categorized in the vaccination cohort if they received a COVID-19 vaccine between the study baseline and 60 days, and non-vaccinated subjects were classified as controls. Propensity score matching was performed between the two cohorts, and patients were assessed at two intervals during the study, first at 60 days and the other at 120 days post inclusion in the study. Patients were asked to complete an online questionnaire at these intervals enquiring about the symptoms.

Patients reporting the persistence of symptoms had to undertake subsequent assessments with long COVID symptom (ST) and impact tools (IT), which examine the 53 known symptoms of long COVID and six dimensions of lives impacted by the disease.

The researchers analyzed data from about 910 adults who had a confirmed or suspected infection and reported persistence of COVID-19 symptoms after more than three months of illness with at least one symptom associated with long COVID. The median age of the subjects was 47 years, and a large proportion (80.5%) of them were females, and more than 60% had a confirmed history of COVID-19.

Half of the subjects were vaccinated with at least one dose of COVID-19 vaccines. Among the vaccinated, around 359 (78.9%) individuals received the BNT162b2 vaccine, 48 subjects injected with ChAdOx1 vaccine, 47 patients with the mRNA-1273 vaccine, and just one individual received Ad26.COV2.S vaccine.

About 16.6 and 7.5 % of patients, respectively, in the vaccination and control cohorts, had remission of all long COVID symptoms at 120 days after study baseline. The long COVID ST score was slightly higher in the control group (14.8) than in the vaccination cohort (13). The long COVID IT score was lower for vaccinated subjects (24.3) than controls (27.6), implying that the impact on patients' lives due to long COVID was significantly lower in the vaccination cohort than in the control group.

Twenty-six patients (5.7%) from the vaccination cohort reported adverse effects following vaccination, with two of them being hospitalized for deep vein thrombosis and meningitis. Some of them (2.8%) reported relapse of long COVID symptoms, and others (1 %) developed known vaccination-induced local and systemic reactions (pain at the site of injection, mild fever, etc.)

The authors reported that COVID-19 vaccination could reduce the severity of long COVID and its impact on patients' lives. With just two serious adverse effects of vaccination in long COVID patients, they suggested that SARS-CoV-2 vaccines are safe for these patients. The participants were infected with COVID-19 before May 2021, and thus, the study could not account for infections due to the SARS-CoV-2 Delta variant as the first case of Delta variant was reported in June 2021 in France.

Moreover, the team postulated that long COVID might be due to any of the following three reasons: 1) persistent viral reservoir, 2) stimulation of immune system due to the presence of viral fragments, and 3) autoimmunity due to infection. Nonetheless, further research is required to investigate the exact mechanism of long COVID-19 and develop therapeutics and prophylactic measures for long COVID.

Research Square publishes preliminary scientific reports that are not peer-reviewed and, therefore, should not be regarded as conclusive, guide clinical practice/health-related behavior, or treated as established information.

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The effect of COVID-19 vaccination on long COVID symptoms - News-Medical.Net