Category: Covid-19 Vaccine

Netflix will require the casts and some crew on its productions in the US to be vaccinated against COVID-19, a measure that comes as the Delta variant continues to spread across the country.

Deadline first reported that the streaming giant recently notified its production teams that it would require casts and crew working in Zone A on US productions to be vaccinated. Deadline described this classification as including both cast members and those who are in close contact with them. According to the report, Netflix plans to make few exceptions to the new vaccination policy, with exclusions including age, medical, and religious reasons.

Netflix confirmed the measure to The Verge but declined to comment further.

Similar measures have been taken by companies including Facebook and Google for employees returning to their offices, and President Joe Biden is expected to announce on Thursday that federal employees will need to be vaccinated or consent to regular testing. Apple, meanwhile, is reportedly planning to delay a mandatory return to work policy. The company will also begin requiring masks in Apple retail stores for both customers and employees, regardless of their vaccination status.

This week, the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention issued new guidelines for some people who are vaccinated, including urging them to wear masks in public indoor settings in regions with high COVID-19 numbers. A surge in cases prompted the recommendation, reversing earlier guidance from May as the highly transmissible Delta variant continues to spread.

Netflix is the first major studio to announce a mandatory vaccination policy for its US productions.

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Netflix will mandate COVID-19 vaccinations on productions in the US - The Verge

Fans of Garth Brooks will have a chance to enjoy his music and get vaccinated all on the same day.

The country music stars Aug. 7 concert at Kansas Citys Arrowhead Stadium will also have a COVID-19 vaccination clinic on-site, the Kansas City Star reported on Wednesday.

During a media call on Monday, Kansas City Chiefs president Mark Donovan said the organizations "goal is to get as many people vaccinated as possible, on the business side as well as the community," as quoted by People magazine.

GARTH BROOKS WAS SCARED TO DEATH OF HIS MUSICAL RETURN AFTER 14-YEAR HIATUS: COUNTRY IS THE BEST

"Were going to continue to take advantage of every opportunity we can to create vaccination opportunities," he explained, as quoted by the outlet. "Weve got a little concert coming up here with Garth Brooks with about 70,000-plus fans, and were working on having a vaccination site on-site for the concert. Well continue to do that. Not sure if were going to be able to do it on game days. Were trying to work through that as well."

Garth Brooks is currently on a stadium tour. (Photo by Roy Rochlin/WireImage/Getty Images)

The outlet noted that Brooks is currently on a stadium tour with shows coming up in Tennessee, Nebraska, Ohio, North Carolina, Maryland and Massachusetts. On Wednesday, the 59-year-old added a stop in Seattle for Sept. 4.

Brooks impact on country music is arguably beyond compare, with a legacy of more than 160 million albums sold and a 90s run that redefined live country performances.

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On Tuesday, the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention reversed its masking guidelines and said that all Americans living in areas with substantial or high coronavirus transmission rates should wear masks indoors, regardless of their vaccination status.

In February of this year, a rep for Brooks confirmed that he tested negative while his wife Trisha Yearwood, 56, tested positive.

Garth Brooks and Trisha Yearwood attend the 53rd annual CMA Awards at the Music City Center on November 13, 2019, in Nashville, Tennessee. (Photo by Jason Kempin/Getty Images)

According to the release, the pair were already quarantining "at home on the heels of a recent positive Covid test by a member of their team."

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"The Queen and I have now tested twice," said Brooks at the time. "Officially, shes diagnosed as on her way out of the tunnel now, though, which Im extremely thankful for."

Fox News' Nate Day and The Associated Press contributed to this report.

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Garth Brooks concert in Kansas City will feature COVID-19 vaccine clinic on-site - Fox News

Full FDA approval for COVID-19 vaccines could come within the next couple of months, CNN reports. Federal officials told the outlet the Food and Drug Administration is working as fast as possible to review the applications, though it aims to avoid any appearance of political pressure. The Biden administration has hoped full approval could dampen vaccine hesitancy, giving people more confidence to get vaccinated, but it understands it wont necessarily be a game-changer. Yes, it will be another tool in the toolkit. We arent naive to think it will suddenly change all minds, a Biden adviser told CNN. The move could also give U.S. businesses the tool they need to implement vaccine mandates.

Pfizer and Moderna, the two producers of mRNA vaccines approved for emergency use, have both filed for full regulatory approval. Johnson & Johnson, the only other vaccine approved, has not yet filed an application.

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Full FDA Approval for COVID-19 Vaccine May Come in 'Couple of Months,' Report Says - The Daily Beast

ARKANSAS (KNWA/KFTA) The American Health Care Association and National Center for Assisted Living (AHCA/NCAL) endorsed mandatory COVID-19 vaccinations for healthcare workers on Thursday, July 29, 2021.

AHCA/NCAL has issued a policy statement regarding COVID-19 vaccinations of long term care personnel, including support and guidance for providers that adopt mandatory COVID-19 vaccination policies for health care personnel.

Press release: https://t.co/DiV6Qwo9e2

The organization represents more than 14,000 long-term care and nursing homes nationally.

One reason for the endorsement is the Delta variant of COVID-19 and those who are unvaccinated. Unvaccinated individuals remain at high risk and can spread the virus to others, including vaccinated individuals, according to an AHCA/NCAL statement. Our residents are some of the most vulnerable individuals to the consequences of contracting COVID-19.

AHCA/NCAL encourages long term care providers who are implementing mandatory COVID-19 vaccination policies to:

On Monday, July 26, LeadingAge released a statement joining healthcare organizations in requiring vaccines for all staff in long-term care and other healthcare settings.

LeadingAge represents 5,000 nonprofit organizations in the United States.

Other organizations joining the call include the American Hospital Association (July 21) and The Society for Post-Acute and Long-Term Care Medicine (AMDA).

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Mandatory COVID-19 vaccinations backed by AHCA for healthcare personnel - KNWA

COVID-19: CDC recommends Americans wear masks indoors again

The CDC reversed course and urged even fully vaccinated Americans to wear masks indoors in areas of high COVID-19 transmission.

Staff video, USA TODAY

After steadily dropping for months, COVID-19 vaccinations are on the riseagain in Florida, a trendexperts say likely is driven byfears surrounding a new wave of infections and hospitalizations.

In the week ending Wednesday, some 249,750 Floridians receivedtheir first vaccine dose, a USA TODAY analysis of CDC data shows. That number's up about 59% in just two weeks, from 157,350 first-dose vaccines administered in the week ending July 14.

The improved number is still a faint echo of Florida's best week in mid-April, when about 943,000 first doses wereadministered, but it's a welcome sign and one that's to be expected when infections spike, experts say.

I comparethis to other times that weve had surges," said Cindy Prins, an epidemiology professor at the University of Florida. "We had a surge last summer. These correct themselves sometimes because people get worried and scared about whats going on."

During past surges, people resorted to mitigation measures such as social distancing and mask-wearing. Now they also have the option of getting vaccinated.

For some people who were doing the wait-and-see, I think this is the motivation that they needed to go out and protect themselves," Prins said.

Florida is anational epicenter of the current COVID-19 wave. The state accountedforroughly a fifth of all new infectionsnationwide earlier this month.

The Florida Department of Health reported a weekly tally of 73,199 new infections in the most recent report issued Friday. That's more infections than California, New York, Texas and Illinois had combined during the same time period.

Florida has reported more cases per week than any other state since June 16, and has led the nation most of the weeks since April 23.

The surge of infections is filling up hospital beds around the statewith COVID-19 patients andstraining the capacity of some health care providers, who say the vast majority of those hospitalized are unvaccinated.

Sarasota County COVID-19 vaccine tracker: 59% of people fully vaccinated

More vaccine news: Sarasota-Manatee restaurants find success vaccinating employees against COVID-19

Gov. Ron DeSantis touted the effectiveness of the vaccines at an event last week,saying: These vaccines are saving lives. They are reducing mortality.

DeSantis also hasresponded to the latest COVID-19 wave by reiterating his opposition to lockdowns and mask mandates, including in schools.He traveled to Utah Wednesday, where he slammed the latest mask guidance from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention in speech to the American Legislative Exchange Council.

Meanwhile, Florida's COVID-19case countcontinued to climb at a rapid pace this week.

Florida reported 16,038 new infections to federal officials Tuesday, the largest daily total since Jan. 15. Yet while the state is sending datato the federal government, the Florida Department of Health is not releasingdaily reports to the public anymore, instead opting for weekly reporting.

Dr. Marissa Levine, a professor of public health and family medicine at the University of South Florida who leads the schools Center for Leadership in Public Health Practice, pointed to the increase in vaccinations to argue thatDOH should resume daily reporting.

Levine said the spike in vaccinations "is likely directly related to the increasing publicity of this next wave of the pandemic and the concerns related to the delta variant."

"In general, people are moved to action when the threat is more visible," Levine added. "This makes the case though for why the state should return to daily case reporting and hospital status.Both of these would enhance awareness and could lead to more protective actions by the public."

Pfizer to seek approval for a 3rd vaccine dose

Pfizer says it is about to seek U.S. authorization for a third dose of its COVID-19 vaccine, but U.S. health officials say a booster isn't needed yet. (July 9)

AP

The number of Floridians who have received at least one dose of the vaccine was 11.5 million as of late last week, which is 60% of the population eligible to receive a shot. The vaccines currently areapproved for individuals 12 and older.

The largeportion of unvaccinated individuals in Florida and elsewhere is concerning for health professionals, but Prins said it's not surprising that some people have waited to get the vaccine.

Hospital reacts: Manatee Memorial Hospital limiting many patients to one visitor as COVID-19 cases surge

Back-to-school: Masks and vaccinations will be optional in Sarasota-Manatee schools this fall

This is how it happens with a lot of new things, were always going to have some people who say at the beginning theres no way and then as time goes on they start to see the benefit," she said.

Prins said "it's a shame"that it's taking another wave of infections, hospitalizations and deaths to convince some people to get vaccinated.

I think its human nature, it doesnt mean its not frustrating," Prins said."Its just how we go, we tend to want to react instead of prepare. Thats what were seeing right now, were seeing people react instead of prepare."

"Better late than never," she added.

The uptick in vaccinations has been encouraging for those administering the shots.

At the Florida Department of Health office in downtown Sarasota, just 10 to 15 people a day were getting vaccinated in early July. The daily vaccination levelhas been creeping upthroughout the month, though. The high this week was 47 vaccinations on Wednesday, said department spokespersonSteve Huard.

"Were encouraged that more people in our community are making the decision to get vaccinated," Huard said.

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Vaccinations increase in Florida amid fears about rising COVID-19 cases and hospitalizations - Sarasota Herald-Tribune

Same ol' Cole.

Cole Beasley has been the NFL's most outspoken criticof vaccination around the league, and on Wednesday, he further tried explaining his stance on vaccination.

Beasley blames someone it's unclear who, exactly of withholding information from players in order for the player to get a vaccine.

Beasley's statement in full:

I'm not anti or pro vax. I'm pro choice. With that being said, the issue at-hand is information is being withheld from players in order for a player to be swayed in a direction he may not be comfortable with. When dealing with a player's health and safety, there should be complete transparency regarding information that is vital in the decision-making process. WIthout having all the proper information, a player can feel misguided and unsure about a very personal choice, makes a player feel unprotected and gives concerns about future topics regarding health and our ability to make educated decisions.

With regard to our overall safety, we have to know we are armed with full knowledge and understanding that those who are in position to help us will always do that based on our individual situation. Some people may think that I'm being selfish and making this a "me" thing. It is all about the young players who don't have a voice and are reaching out to me every day because they are being told if they don't get vaxxed, they'll be cut. Agents are being told by teams that if they have unvaccinated guys, they will not be given the opportunity as of now to be seen in workouts. So once unvaxxed players get cut, they're losing a dream they have worked their whole lives for over a vaccine that is proven to not keep people from contracting COVID as we've seen. Every doctor I've gone to with questions begins every sentence with, 'From what we know now,' which tells me we don't know enough. The NFLPA is working to have vaccinated players tested more frequently than what the NFL initially stated. A lot of players got the vaccination with the idea that these rules were already set in stone and they're not. It is common sense that if a vaxxed or unvaxxed player's tested less frequently, the likelihood of a player being pulled for COVID drops dramatically.

In regard to player safety, I will conclude by saying we all want to be safe. For so many players around the NFL, safety does not solely mean avoiding the COVID virus. Our health is the now and years beyond which we are trying to protect with our personal choice by doing all the things we did in our protocols during the very successful 2020 NFL season.

MORE: The NFL is taking a hard stance on players who don't vaccinate

The vaccines, in fact, do not prevent people from contracting COVID, as Beasley said: Rather, they offer proven protection against severe illness, hospitalization and death,and have also been proven to help reduce the rate ofspread of the virus from person to person.

Current data indicates that breakthrough cases symptomatic cases of COVID-19 among vaccinated individuals currently sits at 0.098 percent in the nation. Infections across the country have been on the rise with the spread of the Delta variant.

Vaccines are still effective against the Delta variant, and have shown no sweeping, long-term adverse side effects.

Beasley has ripped the NFL and their protocols surrounding COVID-19, so his claims of being pro- or anti-vax seem to be a bit of a deviation from prior comments.

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Cole Beasley tries to clarify stance on COVID-19 vaccine: 'Information is being withheld from players' - Sporting News

Doses of Cuba Abdala vaccine are seen at a vaccination center in Caracas, Venezuela July 1, 2021. REUTERS/Manaure Quintero/File Photo

HAVANA, July 28 (Reuters) - Iran will next week become the first country outside of Cuba to start producing one of the Communist-run island's homegrown COVID-19 vaccines on an industrial scale, Cuban state-run media said on Wednesday.

The allies are under fierce U.S. sanctions that they say have long encumbered access to medicines and medical inputs, motivating them to be self reliant. Both have produced a raft of experimental COVID-19 vaccines, some with patriotic names like Cuba's Soberana 2 - or Sovereign 2.

Preliminary Cuban data from late-phase clinical trials suggests Soberana 2 and its other most advanced COVID-19 vaccine Abdala are among the world's most efficient, with more than 90% efficacy, although critics say they will remain skeptical until it publishes the figures in international, peer-reviewed journals. read more

Iran's Pasteur Institute agreed earlier this year to collaborate with Cuba's Finlay Institute, which developed Soberana 2, to implement phase three clinical trials of the shot in the Islamic Republic, leading to its approval for emergency use early in July. NL8N2JK0BS

Iran and Cuba will produce millions of doses of Soberana 2 in the Middle Eastern country under the name PastuCovac, Finlay Institute chief Vicente Vrez Bencomo said during a visit to Tehran this week, according to Cuban state-run media on Wednesday.

"Usually you need 15 years to develop a vaccine from zero to the industrialization phase but we did all the steps in a year," he was quoted as saying, "and the evidence is that it works very well."

Cuba's biotech sector has a long history of vaccine development, producing 80% of vaccines used in the Caribbean island nation and exporting some of them.

Mexico, Vietnam, Argentina and Jamaica are among the countries that have expressed an interest in producing or buying its COVID-19 vaccines.

That could provide an economic and diplomatic boon to the cash-strapped country, which has faced recent criticism over its crackdown on unprecedented protests as well as support for its demand that Washington lift its trade embargo.

Cuba and Iran, listed among the world's 20 highest COVID-19 caseloads per capita, charge U.S. sanctions with hampering their pandemic response, including vaccine development. read more NL1N2OV1VS

The sanctions theoretically exempt medical products but often in practice put foreign pharmaceutical companies off trading with them and banks from processing transactions with them.

Washington last month issued guidance easing the way for delivery of products to combat the pandemic to some heavily sanctioned countries including Iran, though not to Cuba. read more

Reporting by Sarah Marsh; Additional Reporting by Nelson Acosta in Havana and Matt Spetalnick in Washington; Editing by Richard Chang

Our Standards: The Thomson Reuters Trust Principles.

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Cuba says Iran to start producing one of its COVID-19 vaccines - Reuters

Los Angeles Countys Department of Public Health recently produced a pamphlet titled: Fact Check: Getting a COVID-19 vaccine will not implant you with microchips or needles.

The document points out that the vaccines dont contain microchips or any kind of tracking device.

It goes on to assure people that the needle is not left in your arm when you get the vaccine and that videos claiming to show magnets sticking to peoples bodies after they were vaccinated is just a trick.

L.A.s public health department has produced this information because it believes it has to. An Economist/YouGov poll this month found that 20% of Americans worry that the COVID-19 vaccines might contain microchips.

The supposed purpose of putting microchips in the vaccines: to allow Deep State actors and secretive corporations to control our thoughts and actions.

This is an old conspiracy theory that has evolved over the decades, pointing the finger first at the world-affairs discussion groups the Trilateral Commission and the Bilderberg Group, and now at the philanthropic organization The Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation.

The Trilateral Commission was a frequent target of the late perennial presidential candidate Lyndon LaRouche, who accused the commission of running the international drug trade. Larouche, who fielded candidates for local offices across the U.S. in the 1980s and 90s, called the Holocaust mythical.

Conspiracy theorist Lyndon LaRouche, who died in 2019, believed Queen Elizabeth was a drug pusher. (AP Photo/Joe Marquette, File)AP

Televangelist Pat Robertson agreed with LaRouches views on the Trilateral Commission, insisting in 1991 that it rose up from the depth of something that is evil.

Robertson warned that the commission represented a coming world government, a world police force, world courts, world banking and currency, and a world elite in charge of it all.

The Bilderberg Group attracted the same blinkered suspicion. Its critics, the BBC noted in 2011, have accused the Davos-like organization of everything from deliberately engineering the credit crunch to planning to kill 80% of the world population. The Bilderberg Group has been a favorite punching bag of popular internet fabulist Alex Jones.

Just how outlandish is this belief in elite villains in bespoke business suits gathering to plot against the rest of us?

One offshoot of the conspiracy theory insists that the all-powerful cabal is, in fact, not actually comprised of humans. They are just posing as such and are instead blood-drinking, flesh-eating, shape-shifting extraterrestrial reptilian humanoids. Among the lizard people: former U.S. Secretary of State Henry Kissinger, Queen Elizabeth and the late comedian Bob Hope.

Where to buy N95 and KN95 face masks, respirators on sale as COVID-19 cases surge

British former professional football player David Icke is a firm believer that the Reptilian Elite, as Time magazine jokingly called them, secretly run the world. Last year, Twitter permanently banned Icke from its social-media platform after he made a torrent of false claims, including that the coronavirus was somehow linked to the rollout of the 5G mobile network.

Fears that the coronavirus pandemic is being used (or had been purposely started) to aid a secret microchip program have been gathering steam for more than a year.

Philanthropist Bill Gates has been accused of playing a role in various nefarious conspiracies. (Ludovic Marin/Pool Photo via AP)AP

News outfits initially felt compelled to debunk it back in May 2020, when the vaccines were still in early development, after the head of the Russian Communist Party said that so-called globalists supported a covert mass chip implantation which they may in time resort to under the pretext of a mandatory vaccination against coronavirus.

Roger Stone, the long-time Republican strategist who former President Donald Trump pardoned last year following his conviction on charges related to 2016 election-interference allegations, has backed this Russian theory.

After Microsoft co-founder Bill Gates speculated in late 2020 that eventually there might be some kind of digital certificates to prove who had immunity to the coronavirus, The Gates Foundation publicly declared that the microchip-in-the-vaccines claims were false.

Such denials, of course, tend only to harden the views of those who believe this conspiracy theory.

In the Economist/YouGov poll, 5% of the 1,490 Americans surveyed said it was definitely true that the U.S. government is using the COVID-19 vaccine to microchip the population. Another 15% said it was probably true, and 14% said they were not sure.

Twenty-three percent of the polls respondents said theyd heard a lot about QAnon, the internet-birthed conspiracy theory that Satanic global elites run both an international pedophile ring and governments around the world.

-- Douglas Perry

dperry@oregonian.com

@douglasmperry

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False claim that COVID-19 vaccines contain microchips emerged from entrenched theory about world elite - OregonLive

The clinic has set Sept. 17 as the cutoff date for all employees to either have become vaccinated or undergo what it termed a "declination" process. Declination is a word meaning "refusal."

"We are proud of our staff's high vaccination rates and are grateful that the vast majority have embraced the opportunity to get vaccinated," said Mayo Clinic President and CEO Dr. Gianrico Farrugia in a statement Monday, July 26. "Our patients expect to be safe when they come to Mayo Clinic, and we need to do everything we can to protect everybody."

There will be religious and other exemptions, according to Mayo spokesperson Ginger Plumbo, details of which will be provided on a declination form available to employees on Aug. 23.

Staff who decline to be vaccinated for COVID-19 "must complete education modules and will be required to wear masks and socially distance when on campus," the statement read.

MORE ON HOSPITAL EMPLOYEE VACCINATIONS:

Education modules will include answers to some of the typical questions about COVID-19 vaccinations," said Dr. John O'Horo. "Education will also include instruction on appropriate masking and distancing practices and strategies for the unvaccinated to stay as safe as possible.

Plumbo said 95% of its doctors and 75 to 85% of Mayo staff are vaccinated for COVID-19.

WIth 34,000 employees at Mayo Clinic Rochester, that means as many as 8,500 local employees will need to decide whether to get the shots or adopt new restrictions accompanying declination status.

Plumbo said they will entail two required videos followed by comprehension quizzes.

The announcement comes five days after Sioux Falls-based Sanford Health became the first hospital in the region to mandate vaccination for employees beginning Nov. 1. While the Sanford policy gives holdouts longer to comply than has Mayo, it takes a harder line on the price for going unvaccinated, with those who do not become vaccinated for COVID-19 risking the loss of their jobs.

"It will be a condition of employment at Sanford Health," chief physician Dr. Jeremy Cauwels told reporters last week. "If you dont have a religious exemption or otherwise, we will be requiring it to work at Sanford."

Nationally, Houston Methodist was the first major hospital in the United States to require vaccination for COVID-19 from its employees, a step it took nearly four months ago. After enacting the policy April 1, then surviving a court challenge, the medical center subsequently dismissed or accepted the resignations of 153 workers who refused to comply.

Since then, dozens of hospitals from across the country have enacted similar policies, including Dana-Farber Cancer Institute, Henry Ford Health System, Mass General, Duke, the University of Chicago, Mercy St. Louis and the UC system.

Vaccination has become a subject of intense focus for health officials from across the U.S. as the vastly more transmissible delta variant becomes predominant and as data reveal that nearly everyone being treated in the hospital for COVID-19 has been unvaccinated.

Schools have required vaccination for enrollment since the beginning of the 20th century and all states have had laws requiring vaccination to attend school since the early 1980s.

Calling it "the logical fulfillment of the ethical commitment of all health care workers to put patients ... first," a coalition of 56 medical specialties recently issued a joint statement calling for mandatory vaccination within health care.

That coalition included the American Medical Association, the American College of Physicians, the American Nurses Association and the American Academy of Pediatrics.

The participation of those societies suggest that health care workers who oppose a COVID-19 vaccination mandate may find it challenging to enlist academic leadership in support of their cause.

Traditionally, unions have supported vaccination for health care workers but opposed mandates as a condition of employment.

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All Mayo Clinic employees required to get COVID-19 vaccine, or face training and restrictions - PostBulletin.com

Companies are encouraging their workers to get vaccinated as Covid-19 cases climb again. Yet relatively few workplaces are making shots required.

On Monday, the U.S. Department of Veterans Affairs became the first federal agency to require employee vaccinations, and California became the first state to do so for its public workers. In New York City, Mayor Bill de Blasio said that all municipal employees will be required to be vaccinated by Sept. 13, or get tested weekly, and urged the citys private employers to push similar measures.

President Biden said Tuesday that a vaccine mandate for all federal employees was under consideration.

Some companies, including Morgan Stanley, Goldman Sachs and Wells Fargo, have mandated that all workers must get vaccinated or divulge their vaccination status before returning to the office. United Airlines requires Covid-19 vaccines for new employees.

Overall, though, Covid-19 vaccine mandates at work remain rare, partly because doing so can be a legal minefield for companies, employment attorneys say. In some cases, mandates have resulted in employee lawsuits and termination of workers. And in a tight labor market, employers also risk losing workers who balk at such requirements.

Read more:

Why Workplace Covid-19 Vaccine Mandates Arent WidespreadYet - The Wall Street Journal