Category: Covid-19 Vaccine

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More than 93 percent of NFL players are vaccinated. The Colts, Vikings and Bills trail behind other teams, though, and Indianapolis General Manager Chris Ballard conceded Wednesday that there are consequences to being unvaccinated.

The Colts already have had star players Quenton Nelson and Carson Wentz miss practice time for being high-risk close contacts. Unvaccinated players are required under the leagues COVID-19 protocols to miss five days; vaccinated players do not have to isolate.

Linebacker Darius Leonard opened up Thursday about being unvaccinated.

I think thats a personal decision of mine, Leonard said, via Zak Keefer of TheAthletic.com. Im just a down South guy. I want to see more. I want to learn more. I want to get more educated about it. Just got to think about it. Dont want to rush into it. Ive got to see everything. Im listening to all the vaccinated guys here. Im not you see on social media Im not pro-vaxx. Im not anti-vaxx. Ive got to learn. When you dont know about something, youve got to educate yourself more about it and figure out what it is, and youve got to make a decision from there. Youve got to make sure you understand your decision and understand whats going in your body and the long-term effects and stuff like that.

I think once I get a grasp of it just like the playbook youve got to get comfortable with something. You can say, OK, Im going to put this in my body.'

At this point, its unclear what any more information anyone needs. NFL teams have made medical experts available to address any questions or concerns. Many cited the fact that the vaccines are not FDA approved, but the Pfizer-BioNTech COVID-19 Vaccine became the first to get that stamp last month.

Football players play a dangerous game, knowing exactly what the cumulative effects of hits do to their brains, yet play it anyway. They take supplements that are not FDA approved. They take painkilling injections not knowing what those might do to their health long term. So the argument that a player needs more information about a vaccine is unfathomable to many.

But Leonard is right: The NFLPA has made the vaccine a personal decision. He has made his, and he and the Colts will have to live with whatever consequences come of that decision.

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Darius Leonard wants more information about the COVID-19 vaccine - NBC Sports

One of Zach Coatess favorite childhood memories is attending Ohio State football games in Ohio Stadium with his father. This year, Coates, a clinical assistant professor of optometry at Ohio State, will be back in the stadium again, this time as a grand prize winner of the universitys VaccinationPrizeDrawing.

Ive always loved Ohio State football growing up, Coates said. I had the opportunity to start going to the games, way back when I was a kid, with my father who was an alum. But since undergrad, I havent had a whole lot of chances to actually go to the games. I just love the atmosphere, the energy that comes with the home games. Its really unbeatable.

Coates is one of four grand prize winners in the final week of a university-wide incentive program to encourage vaccination against COVID-19. Each week in August, four grand prize winners won anA parking pass on the Columbus campus or pair of season tickets to Ohio State football home games.In addition to the grand prizes each week, two winners won $1,000 gift cards, four won $500 gift cards, eight won $250 gift cards and 20 won $100 gift cards. In all, more than 150 students, faculty and staff members who had been vaccinated won more than $50,000 in prizes.

As a health care professional, Coates was vaccinated in February.

The vaccine is our best chance at returning to any sense of normal, he said. And honestly, I did it not only to protect myself from COVID, but also to protect my friends and family and especially my patients.

A return to normal also mattered to another of this weeks grand prize winners, fourth-year student Jesse Nathanson. Nathanson, a security and intelligence major, said he is looking forward to taking some of his friends to football games this fall.

It is important for the university to incentivize vaccinations, but I believe it is more of a reward for those who have done their part as opposed to motivation for those to do it now, he said in an email. Hopefully seeing these giveaways will influence those who have not already been vaccinated to follow the new university guidelines and keep this school year as normal as possible.

Last month, after the U.S. Food and Drug Administrations decision to grant full approval to the Pfizer-BioNTech vaccine,Ohio State announced it would requireevery student, faculty and staff member to be vaccinated against COVID-19. Members of the Ohio State community must receive at least a first dose by Oct. 15. People receiving a two-dose sequence must receive their second dose by Nov. 15.

The university also requires people to report their vaccination status; 77% of the Ohio State community had received at least one dose as of Sept. 1. Ohio States community vaccination rate is higher than both the state and national vaccination rates.

Becca Persons, a graduate student pursing masters degrees in social work and public administration and leadership, was another grand prize winner this week; she chose the parking pass. She hopes the universitys incentive program helped encourage students who may feel young and invincible to reconsider and get vaccinated.

Jason Shaw, security educator in the Wexner Medical Center security division, also won a grand prize this week, and said he was selecting the season tickets.

Ohio State funded the vaccination incentive program through the universitys strategic cash reserves. No tuition, donor or tax dollars were used.

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Final winners announced in COVID-19 vaccination prize drawing - The Ohio State University News

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Prince Harry made a surprise virtual appearance to honor British COVID-19 researchers.

The Duke of Sussex appeared via video link at the 2021 British GQ Men of the Year Awards, which took place in London last night. Streaming live from his home in Montecito, California, Harry wore a tuxedo as he awarded GQ's Heroes of the Year: Professor Dame Sarah Gilbert, Dr. Catherine Green, and the entire team who developed the AstraZeneca COVID-19 vaccine.

"I'm deeply honored to be introducing our final awardees, who you'll immediately recognize for their landmark contribution to the fight against COVID-19," he said in his speech. "Their breakthrough research on the Oxford vaccine has brought the world one of our greatest tools for achieving vaccine equity."

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He continued, "Until every community can access the vaccine, and until every community is connected to trustworthy information about the vaccine, then we are all at risk. That's a common refrain my wife and I have heard in convenings with vaccine experts, heads of industry, community advocates, and global leaders."

In his speech, Harry also addressed the global imbalance in vaccine distribution, noting that less than 2 percent of people in the developing world have received a single dose so far. Further, he called out the widespread skepticism over the vaccine.

"Families around the world are being overwhelmed by mass-scale misinformation across news media and social media, where those who peddle in lies and fear are creating vaccine hesitancy, which in turn is dividing communities and eroding trust," he said. "This is a system we need to break if we are to overcome COVID-19 and the rise of new variants."

He added, "The Oxford team have done their part. They are heroes of the highest order who gave us an instrument to fight this disease. They are our nation's pride, and we are deeply indebted to their service."

Harry's appearance comes a month after Duchess Megan announced her 40x40 initiative to help women enter the workplace, with a special skit filmed partly in their Montecito home. The Duke and Duchess of Sussex also recently contributed to aid efforts in Afghanistan and Haiti through their Archewell Foundation.

"When any person or community suffers, a piece of each of us does so with them, whether we realize it or not. And though we are not meant to live in a state of suffering, we, as a people, are being conditioned to accept it. Its easy to find ourselves feeling powerless, but we can put our values into actiontogether," they said in a statement shared on their Archewell website.

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Prince Harry Donned a Tuxedo to Honor COVID-19 Vaccine Researchers - HarpersBAZAAR.com

The total waste is approximately 3% of total vaccines distributed, according to DOH.

Nearly 200,000 doses of the COVID-19 vaccine have gone to waste in Washington state since distribution began.

As of Sept. 1, 184,621 doses have been reported as wasted by providers, according to the Department of Health (DOH). Another 12,067 doses have been returned, which the Centers for Disease Control considers as waste.

The waste is approximately 3% of the total vaccines distributed, according to the DOH.

"It is important providers are vaccinating every single person who wants a COVID-19 vaccine. Which means that sometimes only a couple doses are drawn from a vial and the rest go to waste if they cannot be used in time," a statement from the DOH reads.

The DOH noted more providers are reporting waste, which is why those numbers have increased.

The COVID-19 vaccine is distributed in multi-dose vials. Once the vial is punctured, the vials must be used within a certain amount of time: 12 hours for Moderna, six hours for Pfizer and two hours at room temperature for the Johnson & Johnson vaccine.

Though there's a risk of waste after a vial is punctured, the DOH recommends providers should "not miss any opportunities" to vaccinate people, even if it means not having enough people to use every dose in the vial.

The issue of vaccine waste was top of mind as demand for it exceeded availability. Now, supply has increased while demand, at least in some areas, has dwindled.

However, vaccinations appear to be on the rise again over fears of the delta variant. Over the last full week of August, the DOH reported the vaccination rate was 21% higher than the previous week and 34% higher compared to early August.

Additionally, the deadline for those required to be fully vaccinated against COVID-19 is right around the corner. State employees, health care workers, and educators must be fully vaccinated by Oct. 18 to keep their jobs, meaning they need to receive their final dose of the vaccine by Oct. 4.

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Nearly 200,000 doses of COVID-19 vaccine wasted in Washington state - KING5.com

FORT SMITH, Ark. (KNWA/KFTA) The University of Arkansas Fort Smith has announced a vaccine incentive program called Lions Vax to encourage UAFS students to get vaccinated against COVID-19.

According to a news release from the university, the program will join numerous other COVID-19 safety programs as part of the UAFS Protecting The Pride plan.

UAFS says it will hold bi-weekly drawings for prizes worth up to $1,000 throughout the fall semester to encourage students to stay healthy and safe by getting the COVID-19 vaccine.

Students who have received both doses of the Pfizer and Moderna vaccines or the Johnson & Johnson vaccine, regardless of when they received their vaccine, will be eligible to win as long as they have completed the vaccination schedule by November 8, 2021.

The first drawing will be held September 14. Entries must be received by September 13 at 11:59 to enter the first drawing.

Entry to the drawing can be found here.

Places to receive a vaccine can be found here.

Eligible students have a chance to win one of 27 prizes including:

Link:

University of Arkansas Fort Smith to offer COVID-19 vaccine incentive - KNWA

GRAND RAPIDS, MI The arts groups that perform at DeVos Performance Hill will require attendees to show theyre fully vaccinated against COVID-19 or tested negative for the virus within the past 48 hours.

The arts groups Grand Rapids Ballet, Grand Rapids Symphony and Opera Grand Rapids will also require attendees of all ages to wear a mask during performances. Attendees must provide a photo id to show that their proof of vaccination card matches their id.

The requirements were announced jointly Thursday, Sept. 2 by the three organizations in a press release from ASM Global. ASM Global is the company the manages DeVos Performance Hall as well as DeVos Place and Van Andel Arena.

The news release said Broadway Grand Rapids will announce its health and safety policies at a later date, and that protocols for audience members attending Broadway Grand Rapids performances will be determined by each separate touring show in collaboration with local and state health authorities.

Heres the admission protocols as described in the news release:

The organizations will continue to monitor the COVID environment and may change policies at any time, if necessary, the news release said. Please note that protocols may vary for individual performances.

The Grand Rapids Symphony kicks off its season with a performance titled BRAVO! at DeVos Place on Sept. 15, while Opera Grand Rapids begins its season with a performance with Don Giovanni on Oct. 22 and 24. Meanwhile, the Grand Rapids Ballet returns to DeVos Performance Hall with The Nutcracker on December 10-12 and 17-19.

Broadway Grand Rapids starts its season on Nov. 29 with Mannheim Steamroller Christmas by Chip Davis.

For a complete list of events at DeVos Performance Hall, click here.

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Proof of COVID-19 vaccination or negative test required to watch arts groups at DeVos Performance Hall - MLive.com

More U.S. businesses have started requiring employees to get theirCOVID-19 shots, leaving the unvaccinated with a stark choice: Get jabbed or seek work elsewhere.

A range of large companies, from CVS Health to United Airlines, have announced vaccine mandates since the Food and Drug Administration last week gave final approval to the Pfizer-BioNTech vaccine. So what happens when a worker refuses to get vaccinated?

Under labor laws, employers have the right to set their terms and conditions of employment if a worker doesn't comply, a company can give them the ax. This also applies for COVID-19 vaccinations, according to the Equal Employment Opportunity Commission.

"The EEOC has made clear that individuals can be required to take the vaccine as a term and condition of employment. That is subject to requests for accommodation based on medical reasons or sincerely held religious belief," Helen Rella, a workplace attorney at New York-based law firm Wilk Auslander, told CBS MoneyWatch.

Such exemptions may apply if an employee has either a medical condition or a sincerely held religious belief that prevents them from being vaccinated.

"Once an employee makes an accommodation request, the employer has an obligation to engage in an interactive discussion with the employee to determine whether or not accommodation is possible," Rella explained.

In nearly every other instance, an employee who refuses the vaccine may be terminated. For example, a judge in July threw out a lawsuit from a group of 117 unvaccinated Houston Methodist employees over the Houston hospital's vaccine requirement. More than 150 employees who refused to get the COVID-19 vaccine either resigned or were fired after the suit was dismissed.

"In the employment context, we're talking about private employers who have an absolute right to set the terms and conditions of employment," Rella said.

Still, there may be other risks to firing unvaccinated workers, including internal turmoil. As a result, only 7% of businesses say they're firing workers who are not vaccinated, according to a recent survey of 583 companies across a range of industries by Aon, a provider of financial and health products. Indeed, 38% of respondents said they're extending work-from-home options for unvaccinated workers, while 20% said they're requiring periodic COVID-19 tests.

But that reticence appears to be changing fast, spurred both by the growing acceptance of the vaccine and the latest coronavirus wave linked to the highly contagious Delta variant.

"Employers are back at the decision-making table and are revisiting those decisions around vaccine mandates," Aon Chief Medical Officer Dr. Neal Mills said. "They realize we're in a public health emergency, and they've decided to step up to the leadership mantel and revisit the decisions they need to make to adequately address the public health emergency."

The number of U.S. employers requiring workers get vaccinated is expected to multiply in the coming months. More than half of employers could have a vaccine mandate in place by the fourth quarter of 2021, according to a survey from Willis Towers Watson, a risk management firm.

"The Delta variant has made employers take new actions to keep their workers and workplaces safe and healthy. We expect even more employers to institute vaccine mandates in the wake of FDA approval of the Pfizer vaccine," said Dr. Jeff Levin-Scherz, population health leader with Willis Towers Watson.

Meanwhile, many firms may not have to resort to firing noncompliant workers. In some cases, corporate vaccine mandates have pushed the vaccine-hesitant over the edge, compelling workers who wish to remain employed to roll up their sleeves.

According to the Axios-Ipsos Coronavirus Index,published Tuesday, opposition to getting vaccinated against COVID-19 has waned to its lowest ever level. More than three-quarters of Americans either have been vaccinated or say they are likely to be, up two percentage points from mid-July, according to the index.

Among unvaccinated individuals, roughly half say they are open to getting inoculated. Among these, half say an employer mandate or incentive, such as a raise or bonus, would convince them to get the shot.

Starting September 30, for instance, COVID-19 vaccination will be a condition of employment at Bonanno Concepts, a Denver, Colorado-based restaurant group. The restaurant group said the mandate has already swayed folks to get jabbed.

"We have had 20% of our nonvaccinated employees almost 20% signed up to get vaccinated within 24 hours of us rolling out this policy," said Jessica Kinney, director of people for Bonanno Concepts.

Continued here:

COVID-19 vaccine requirements: Can you be fired for refusing to get the shot? - CBS News

A 24-year-old woman from Illinois was arrested on Sunday while trying to enter Hawaii with a fake covid-19 vaccination record card. How did authorities know it was fake? For starters, the counterfeit card said the woman had received the Maderna vaccine rather than the Moderna vaccine.

The woman, identified as Chloe Mrozak, was arrested at the Daniel K. Inouye International Airport on the island of Oahu, according to local TV station KITV. Mrozak faces a maximum sentence of a year in prison and is reportedly being held on $2,000 bail.

All visitors to Hawaii must self-quarantine for 10 days upon arrival, but that requirement is waived for people whove been fully vaccinated. By bringing a fake vaccine card, Mrozak was allegedly hoping to bypass mandatory quarantine and endanger the health of Hawaiis 1.4 million people in the process.

While Hawaiis mandatory quarantine program has kept cases relatively low since the covid-19 pandemic began, the state has seen a troubling rise in new infections over the past month. The state reported 553 new cases on Tuesday alone, a serious uptick over June when cases in Hawaii hovered at roughly 30 per day.

Governor David Ige has asked tourists to delay any vacations they might have in Hawaii until November in an effort to get those daily case numbers downa startling request from a state so dependent on tourism.

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I have asked that all non-essential travel for residents and visitors to Hawaii be delayed or curtailed through the end of October, Ige told the Star Advertiser last week.

Ive been on calls with all the airlines and Ive talked with the hotel industry to support this requirement. I think its important that we reduce the number of visitors coming here to the islands, Ige continued.

Hawaii has 63.26% of its residents vaccinated, according to Johns Hopkins University, the seventh best rate in the country. And thats far higher than the national covid-19 vaccination rate, which sits at a stubbornly low 55.9%.

Authorities have recently cracked down on people selling and using fake vaccination cards, with prosecutors in Manhattan announcing on Tuesday that 31-year-old Jasmine Clifford was charged with selling 250 fake vaccine cards over Instagram. Clifford, whose handle is @AntiVaxMomma on the social media service, is expected to be charged with two felonies over the scheme, according to the New York Times.

The moral of the story? Dont mess around with fake vaccine cards. These arent like trying out a fake ID in college at the local bar. You can face felony charges and prison time for making or using fake covid-19 vaccine certificates because being vaccinated is a serious matter of public health. Youre endangering dozens, if not hundreds and thousands of people, when you run around with counterfeit vaccine cards. Were in a global pandemic and at least 100,000 more Americans are expected to die from the disease between now and December, according to the latest modelling.

Just get vaccinated and stop messing around with fake cards. The vaccine is free and its literally the least you can do for yourself and those you love.

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Woman Arrested Trying to Enter Hawaii With 'Maderna' Covid-19 Vaccine Card - Gizmodo

Third dose of COVID-19 vaccines available in Boulder County for immunocompromised individuals  Boulder Daily Camera

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Third dose of COVID-19 vaccines available in Boulder County for immunocompromised individuals - Boulder Daily Camera

As the coronavirus continues to surge across the United States, hospitals are again filling up with ill COVID-19 patients. And the vast majority of those patients are unvaccinated, as two new charts help make exceedingly clear.

One of those charts shows that from January 24 to July 24, vaccinated individuals were hospitalized with COVID-19 at a much lower cumulative rate than unvaccinated individuals. And the difference in rates between the two groups has only grown over time. By late July, a total of about 26 adults per 100,000 vaccinated people had been hospitalized for COVID-19. Thats compared with about 431 hospitalized people for every 100,000 unvaccinated individuals a rate roughly 17 times as high as for those who were vaccinated. The datacome from 13 states, including California, Georgia and Utah.

That trend held when the researchers charted hospitalization rates on a weekly basis too. From January to July, weekly hospitalization rates among unvaccinated people were six to 31 times as high as those in vaccinated people, the researchers report August 29 at medRxiv.org.

The accumulation of hospitalizations in each group over time, which that first chart shows, illustrates the risk of developing severe COVID-19 overall. And its message is clear: If youre vaccinated during this pandemic, your risk of hospitalization is much, much lower than if youre not vaccinated. The weekly rate, on the other hand, is a bit like the speedometer on a car providing a glimpse of whats happening week by week as the coronavirus spreads. Its message is also clear: The risk of a vaccinated person becoming hospitalized remains low at any given time, while the risk for unvaccinated people can fluctuate, probably as a result of community transmission.

The findings, along with other recent research out of Los Angeles County, remind us that if you are not yet vaccinated, you are among those highest at risk, Rochelle Walensky, director of the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, said August 24 in a White House news briefing. Please do not underestimate the risk of serious consequences of this virus.

As of August 26, more than 100,000 people are hospitalized for COVID-19 in the United States, according to the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services a level not seen since January amid the winter surge.

A separate study, described August 24 in Morbidity and Mortality Weekly Report, that focused on Los Angeles County also showed that while COVID-19 vaccines dont always stop infections, the shots still prevent people from landing in the hospital. Thats even with the spread of the highly contagious delta variant, which has raised concerns among public health officials because some vaccinated people who get infected can transmit the coronavirus to others (SN: 7/30/21).

On July 25, when the delta variant was prevalent in the county, unvaccinated people were nearly 30 times as likely to be hospitalized as vaccinated people, the researchers found. Only one vaccinated person for every 100,000 people was hospitalized for COVID-19. Among unvaccinated people, there were around 29 hospitalizations per 100,000 individuals. In that same study, unvaccinated people were five times as likely to be infected as vaccinated people.

While the vaccines dont protect against infection as well as they do against severe disease, the shots are keeping people off ventilators and from dying, Kathryn Edwards, an infectious disease pediatrician at Vanderbilt University School of Medicine in Nashville, said August 26 in a news briefing sponsored by the Infectious Diseases Society of America. We cannot lose the forest for the trees.

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These charts show that COVID-19 vaccines are doing their job - Science News Magazine