Category: Covid-19 Vaccine

Though nearly 300 million doses of Covid-19 vaccines have been administered around the globe so far, the world still has a long way to go before we can think about declaring the pandemic over.

Vaccine distribution remains wildly inequitable, with wealthy countries vaccinating at far higher rates than low- and middle-income countries.

Meantime, with the scramble to ramp up manufacturing, there are concerns that the production of Covid-19 vaccines could cannibalize the ability of companies to make and distribute other vaccines, like those that protect against dangerous pathogens like rabies, tetanus, measles, and human papillomavirus.

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CEPI, the Coalition for Epidemic Preparedness Innovations, is among the organizations thinking critically about these issues. Its also one of the partners along with the World Health Organization and Gavi, the Vaccine Alliance in COVAX, an entity striving to expand access to scarce Covid vaccines on behalf of low- and middle-income countries.

As it has several times throughout the course of the pandemic, STAT spoke recently to Richard Hatchett, CEO of CEPI. Hatchett told us the group will later this week launch the strategy for its next set of goals and take part in an important discussion at the London think tank Chatham House aimed at finding ways to unblock the vaccine production bottlenecks without harming non-Covid vaccine production.

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Excerpts from the conversation are below, lightly edited for length and clarity.

In terms of CEPIs future, are you talking about the process of getting to next-generation Covid-19 vaccines? Or are you talking about the fact that there will be future pandemics and we need to start to prepare for them? Or both?

Its actually both. Were kind of poised between trying to think about how we can end the Covid pandemic, but also beginning to look at the institutions and things that we have set up and thinking about how we can carry those forward and the opportunities for pandemic preparedness in the period after.

Initially we were thinking about the next-generation vaccines as just offering attributes that you would want in vaccines for managing Covid for the long term. So, you know, low cost. Ideally in a single dose. Ease of administration might be factors. More thermal-stable products. But I think the introduction of the variants also forces us to think about multivalent vaccines [meaning they would protect against several strains of the virus] or vaccines that can be easily turned from one strain to another if we get into that kind of a dynamic.

But were also drawing lessons from this experience in turning toward the future and thinking about how we can systematically reduce or even eliminate the risk of future pandemics.

Flu vaccines have to be updated virtually annually, and their efficacy is far from ideal. It would be such a missed opportunity if the world follows that paradigm again and then never comes up with a pan-coronavirus vaccine. Wouldnt it be better to not follow the flu path if we didnt need to?

The answer is yes. And I think you will be pleased to hear that we are very shortly going to be putting out a call for proposals around were calling them fully protective betacoronavirus vaccines, which seem to be the main threat. [Both SARS-1, which caused a less widespread outbreak in 2003, and SARS-CoV-2, which causes Covid, are betacoronaviruses.]

Theres been quite a buzz about that recently. Our timing seems to have been good. I mean, weve been working on gearing this initiative up for some time and didnt know that all these efforts were going to be attracting the attention that theyve attracted in the last month or so. But there are at least 20 groups around the world that are trying to move in that direction. And were going to be putting out a major initiative, and hopefully by the end of this month, actually.

But obviously, we dont know what the art of the possible is. And I think certainly in the near term, we need to be thinking about different strategies for ensuring that we can provide protection against the emerging variants.

A number of wealthy countries have locked up a lot of vaccine doses more than theyll actually need for their populations. Is this getting in the way of the rest of the world accessing vaccine? Should countries like the U.S. be saying to some of the manufacturers: Were not going to need that order. You can sell it to somebody else or were donating it to COVAX.

COVAX would welcome that and we are working through making sure that we are ready to receive and use promptly any doses that are contributed.

But I was in the U.S. government during the 2009 H1N1 pandemic and actually I led the policy development process around vaccine donation, which led to the international donation program. H1N1 was nothing like SARS-CoV-2 in terms of its severity or impact. And yet the debate within a reasonably progressive administration in that pandemic was intense. And I can only imagine what it must be like inside governments now, which are struggling to get vaccine to meet their domestic demand.

Every government has to figure out for itself what it can do. For most of last year, we made the argument that there were two core pieces. One was that it was the right thing to do. The other was from enlightened self-interest, which was even if you protect your own population, all countries are interdependent on each other and entangled in a global economy that will continue to suffer if the pandemic isnt brought under control everywhere.

And the third argument that has entered the discussions and I think, somewhat to my surprise actually, seems to be the most impactful is the argument from biology that the virus is out there mutating. And it may be that your huge investment in vaccine is completely upended by variants that evade the immunity that the vaccine provides. And theres been a real sea change, with G7 and other wealthy nations really realizing they do need to figure out how to end the pandemic.

Do you think theres room to be a little bit more generous or a little bit more accepting of the notion that other people have a right to vaccine too?

Im fully in the choir. I might be your associate pastor.

One other thing that I dont know if its on your radar screen but were having a two-day meeting at Chatham House to talk about supply-chain concerns. Whats happening right now is that all of the vaccine manufacturers who have achieved some kind of positive Phase 3 result are now really dialing up their manufacturing. And I think there are nine or 10 vaccines that have been approved by some regulatory authority, somewhere. Theyre all dialing up their production simultaneously.

So what youve got is a potentially very concerning situation where the main types of vaccine depend largely on a relatively narrowly defined set of critical inputs, whether these are consumables or raw materials that theyre all depending on. And that actually other vaccines and other biological medical products depend on as well.

Vials and vial stoppers?

Exactly. The bags. The stoppers. The tubing. There are actually chemical raw materials and other things as well. And we were beginning to get signals from individual vaccine manufacturers that they are on relatively thin ice in terms of supplies to continue their manufacturing. Simultaneously we were having conversations with some of the upstream providers of these critical supplies, hearing about lengthening back-order times and compensatory behaviors of the companies that rely on these materials placing larger orders because they were concerned they were going to need to stockpile or hoard.

Which makes it worse?

Which makes it worse. Vicious cycle. And then youve also got the overlay of the countries being increasingly antsy and willing to impose export controls or in the case of the United States, to use the Defense Production Act. And so it was a concern seeing all of these trend lines that will intersect not too far in the future and could actually result in a compromise even of the existing capacity.

Its easy for world leaders to think that the solution is just creating more manufacturing capacity. And thats all well and good if the upstream supply issues are sorted out and you can make more vaccine. But just having more square footage isnt it going to result in more vaccine if the system has got a sort of upstream bottleneck.

Is there a risk theyre going to have to start siphoning off materials needed for the production of regular vaccines?

Well, I think its something that people are concerned about. The estimated global aggregate production of vaccines was in the range of 3.5 billion to 5.5 billion doses, pre-Covid. And what we are being told by the vaccine manufacturers, based on their projections, is that theyre aspiring to produce 10 billion to 12 billion or 14 billion doses of Covid vaccines alone in 2021. So youre looking at a huge uptick in terms of vaccine production.

There are concerns that the consumption of resources to produce those vaccines could have an impact on the production of non-Covid vaccines. And we obviously want to prevent that from happening.

We need the stakeholders to understand the different stresses that each one is under the countries, the vaccine manufacturers, the upstream suppliers and to think about possible solutions. The solutions that are available to governments, in particular, can be quite blunt instruments. And if they arent used carefully, they can potentially be counterproductive.

I havent yet been vaccinated. But I am looking forward to the day.

Me too.

Read the rest here:

A pandemic expert weighs in on the long road ahead for Covid vaccines - STAT

Massachusetts continues to press on in the effort to vaccinate state residents as quickly as possible to protect against COVID-19.

Officials have been providing frequent updates on the endeavor to get doses of the COVID-19 vaccines into the arms of state residents encountering more than a few snags along the way. Below, we have a summary of what you should know this week about the vaccination rollout in Massachusetts:

Gov. Charlie Baker announced last week that the state will allow educators to begin signing up for appointments at all vaccination sites starting Thursday, March 11. The update came after the federal government moved to make the COVID-19 vaccines available to teachers at pharmacies. The update from Baker also came as local pressure ramped up on the governor to put out a more aggressive teacher vaccination program, with the state pushing to require schools to begin fully reopening in April.

Earlier in the week, some lawmakers were pressing Baker to give teachers priority access to the Johnson & Johnson vaccine. State Rep. Patrick Kearney and 20 other legislators requested that the roughly 72,000 public school teachers, as well as administrators and staff, be given the Johnson & Johnson vaccine so that when they are forced back into the classroom by DESE it is safe.

The letter was published a few days before Baker moved to open vaccine eligibility to teachers, but efforts to facilitate the quick inoculation of educators continue to be put forward this week. Unions representing teachers and firefighters are expected to meet Wednesday with the states health and human services secretary to present their proposal to have firefighters administer COVID-19 vaccines to school workers, The Boston Globe reports.

Baker said last week that the expectation is that an initial shipment from Johnson & Johnson to Massachusetts will include thousands of doses from the companys current 3.9 million-dose inventory. The governor said he expects those doses to be distributed pretty evenly across the network of small and large vaccination sites in the state. But the initial shipment will be followed by a pause in deliveries for a few weeks as Johnson & Johnson ramps up production.

You probably wont see really significant amounts of additional vaccine until later this month, Baker said.

Barnstable County officials announced last week that they will dispense 1,200 doses of the one-shot vaccine this week, starting with about 600 doses on Tuesday and about 600 more on Thursday at the Cape Cod Community College gymnasium.

The newly-approved vaccine doesnt need to be kept frozen or followed by a booster shot, like its Moderna and Pfizer counterparts. Officials, including Baker, are raising concerns that even if decisions to send the shots to harder-to-reach communities make practical sense, doing so could drive perceptions of a two-tiered vaccine system with marginalized communities potentially feeling they are getting an inferior vaccine. In a call between governors and Biden administration officials, Baker stressed the need for health officials to clearly communicate the benefits of the one-shot vaccine.

In what is becoming a weekly occurrence, the number of new vaccination appointments posted Thursday for Massachusetts were filled within hours after their release, which state officials blamed on a limited supply of doses from federal authorities.

No new first-dose appointments were available at three of the states mass vaccination sites Fenway Park, Gillette Stadium, and the Reggie Lewis Center last week. By 10:40 a.m., the state announced that all appointments at mass vaccination sites had been booked.

Unfortunately due to limited supply, it will take about a month for all eligible residents to secure an appointment, officials wrote on Twitter. Thank you for your patience. Please check back next week.

In the three weeks leading up to last week, Massachusetts had been posting upwards of 50,000 new vaccine appointments online each Thursday for the states mass vaccination sites. But last Thursday morning, just 12,000 such slots were available and none at three of the states largest sites.

Baker said last week the main reason for the change was that its time for residents who already got their first dose at those high-volume locations last month to get their second dose. And since there has been no major increases in total supply, those second doses are taking up an increasingly large percentage of the states available vaccines. Baker estimated that more than 70 percent of the shots being given at mass vaccination sites this week are going to be second doses.

The governor said the lowered number of first doses is going to be a constant issue until the states supply of vaccines increases.

Massachusetts spent almost two decades and millions of dollars developing a blueprint for how the state would mobilize its network of local public health departments in response to an emergency situation, but The Boston Globe reports the state quickly abandoned that plan after the first COVID-19 vaccine was approved, opting instead to hire private companies to run its mass vaccination sites.

The state has invested in this, Dartmouth public health director Christopher Michaud told the newspaper. They took the playbook, threw it in the dumpster, and privatized the whole thing.

Massachusetts is reportedly paying more than $1 million per week to the for-profit startup CIC Health that is running the mass vaccination sites at Fenway Park and Gillette Stadium.

Read the full report at the Globe.

Baker announced last week that the mass vaccination site at Fenway Park will be moved to the Hynes Convention Center later this month, ahead of plans to allow fans back at the ballpark for Red Sox opening day April 1.

According to the governor, the Hynes Convention Center site located a half-mile away in Bostons Back Bay will begin accepting patients on Thursday, March 18. Fenways last day as a vaccination site will be Saturday, March 27.

Boston rolled out a pilot version of the citys mobile coronavirus vaccine clinic on Friday, beginning at the MLK Building in Roxbury. The mobile clinic consists of EMTs and paramedics who set up sites inside the designated building where theyre stationed for the day.

Marty Martinez, chief of health and human services for the city, said last week the mobile clinics will first focus on Boston Housing Authority buildings, which house older adults and people with disabilities. As more doses become available and eligibility expands, the city will look to expand the program. With spring weather in the near future, Martinez said officials are also considering holding outdoor pop-up vaccination sites at parks and courtyards throughout Boston.

The number of people who have been fully vaccinated (as of Sunday): 703,676.

According to The New York Times vaccine rollout tracker, Massachusetts falls in the bottom half of states based on the percentage of residents who have received both vaccine doses (9.6 percent). But Massachusetts is in the top 10 based on the percentage of the state population who have received one dose (21 percent). See how Massachusetts compares to other states and U.S. territories here.

Heres who is currently eligible for booking appointments:

Phase 1

Listed in order of priority:

Phase 2

Listed in order of priority:

Effective March 11

Heres who will be eligible next:

Frontline and essential workers, including transit, grocery, utility, and sanitation workers, are up next. See the full list here.

Heres how to make an appointment:

Search for and book a vaccination slot through the states VaxFinder: https://vaxfinder.mass.gov/

Or visit: mass.gov/covidvaccine

Those who are 75 or older can connect with the states vaccine hotline operator by dialing 2-1-1 Monday through Friday from 8:30 a.m. to 5 p.m. (press 2 for the call center).

According to the state, the mass vaccination locations will post their new appointments on Thursdays when they update their schedules, while smaller locations offer fewer slots and tend to update their schedules daily.

A map and list of COVID-19 vaccination sites in Massachusetts:

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Link:

What to know about the COVID-19 vaccination effort in Mass. this week - Boston.com

With educators now eligible for the COVID-19 vaccine, 3,500 Arlington ISD staffers will be vaccinated Monday.

The Texas Department of State Health Services expanded vaccine eligibility Wednesday to include school employees and child care workers.

Registered Arlington ISD staff members will receive the newly approved one-dose Johnson & Johnson vaccine on Monday, according to a district news release.

The Arlington Fire Department will give the vaccine to district staff at the Esports Stadium and Convention Center vaccination site. Arlington ISD has around 10,000 total employees, including full-time teachers, substitutes and part-time workers.

As of March 1, the district had 36 active COVID-19 cases, including 19 staffers and 17 students. Since the school year began last August, the district has had 2,725 confirmed cases.

Read more here:

Thousands of Arlington ISD teachers to get COVID-19 vaccine today - The Dallas Morning News

Vaccination, particularly for the most vulnerable Americans, is the surest way for us to overcome the Covid-19 crisis. As physicians, we celebrate the light at the end of the tunnel, in large part due to Operation Warp Speed. But as members of Congress, we are becoming increasingly concerned that federal bureaucracy continues to stand in the way of rapid, widespread administration of Covid-19 vaccines.

The nation has gained a tremendous amount of knowledge about Covid-19 over the past year. Similarly, over the past few weeks, the scientific community has published encouraging analyses about the vaccines that are playing a starring role in leading us out of this crisis. Mountains of real-world evidence are showing that the two mRNA vaccines authorized by the FDA the first made by Pfizer and BioNTech, the other by Moderna, both of which are supposed to be administered as a two-dose regimen will provide substantial protection against Covid-19 even after only one dose.

Considering that nearly every state is facing shortfalls in the supply of Covid-19 vaccines, we believe this groundbreaking development can help remedy some of the vaccine supply issues the nation is facing. This new evidence indicates that the second doses currently administered to comply with the Food and Drug Administrations emergency use authorizations (EUA) could instead be used as initial first doses essentially doubling the supply.

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Unfortunately, governors who would like to follow this new evidence and provide protection for more citizens have their hands tied by the emergency use authorizations. The FDAs failure to revise it to allow single doses now with second doses administered when they become available may result in tens of thousands of additional deaths. According to recent data coming out of the United Kingdom, it is clear that second doses can be administered up to 12 weeks after the first dose, while maintaining efficacy.

On March 2, President Joe Biden announced the United States will have enough doses of Covid-19 vaccines to allow every citizen to get vaccinated by May 31 under the current emergency use authorizations. Imagine if they were revised to increase the window for administering the second dose. Under this scenario, April 15 could be National Vax Day the day when every vulnerable or essential worker has gotten at least one dose of a Covid-19 vaccine instead of National Tax Day.

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As physicians who are also members of Congress, we are calling on the FDA to break down the bureaucracy and consider revising the EUAs. This call for revising the dosing schedule is bicameral and bipartisan, with seven members of the GOP Doctors Caucus joining two Democratic senators calling for such a change.

What is stopping this from happening? The bureaucracys failure to truly follow the science. The FDA claims the manufacturers themselves must apply for any change to their emergency use authorizations. But we know the FDA has been unwilling to look at real-world evidence in the past, especially if it comes from other countries.

Nonetheless, in this case the Health and Human Services (HHS) secretary has clear statutory authority to revise the EUAs using real-world experience and not wait for a manufacturers request if he or she finds the revision is appropriate to protect the public health or safety.

The large amount of real-world evidence collected from data analysis of the Covid-19 vaccines in Israel and Great Britain two countries whose scientific rigor is well appreciated clearly supports the revision we suggest.

Frustratingly, when Dr. Anthony Fauci was asked this week about changing the EUA, he noted it would be a messaging challenge.

With all the recent calls for patient-centered care, we should be willing to be honest with our patients and give them the choice to receive one dose now, with the knowledge that their designated second dose would be going to a vulnerable or essential person. They can receive a second dose later, and have nearly the same protection.

Calling it a messaging challenge is not following the science. Fauci also raised concerns that offering only a single dose of these Covid-19 vaccines would enable variants to spread. Yet a February report by the Center for Infectious Disease Research and Policy at the University of Minnesota reiterates our calls, and urges timely consideration of these new studies. That report actually came to the opposite conclusion of Fauci: the change needs to be made now in order to get ahead of the variants and potentially save up to 50,000 lives.

The Biden administration must cut through the red tape and ivory-tower arguments now and immediately consider revising the dosing schedule of the Pfizer and Moderna mRNA vaccines to allow for an extended second dosing interval. Any other action will cost lives that need not be lost.

U.S. Rep. Andy Harris (R-Md.) is an anesthesiologist and former head of obstetric anesthesiology at Johns Hopkins University. U.S. Rep. Greg Murphy (R-N.C.) is a urological surgeon who has practiced for more than 30 years. U.S. Rep. Mariannette Miller-Meeks (R-Iowa) is an ophthalmologist and former president of the Iowa Medical Society.

Go here to read the rest:

Don't let bureaucracy constrict the supply of Covid-19 vaccines - STAT

On Feb. 19, I received my second dose of the Pfizer COVID-19 vaccine. According to the nurse who gave me the injection and clinical trial results from the biotech company, the vaccine is about 95% effective against COVID-19 within seven to 14 days, a period that ended for me on March 5.

Now more than ever, Ive thought about how Ill live my life with Duchenne muscular dystrophy after getting my vaccine. While Im not suddenly throwing out my mask collection, attending a large party, or emptying my hand sanitizer, I have less fear about the virus. It will be safe for me to go out again. Everyone will have to face the world at some point. But because of the added difficulty of living with Duchenne, I plan to do it differently.

Imagine being stranded on an island where youre forced to eat coconuts, fruit, and fish, are separated from your family and friends, and are bored out of your mind. After a year of barely surviving, you are finally rescued. Obviously, you would be overjoyed to see the people you love again. But Im guessing the first thing you would want to do is stay at a five-star hotel and order room service all day long.

This is obviously not the situation with COVID-19, but part of me feels connected to that island rescue experience.

I have a newfound appreciation for the little things in life that I once took for granted: eating out for dinner, visiting more than one friend at a time, going to the grocery store (my parents have done this for my safety), watching live sports and movies, and traveling. Ill also rediscover how Duchenne makes all of that so much more difficult. It will be an opportunity, however, to move forward in my life, which had been put on hold by COVID-19.

My parents and I traveled a lot before I got busy with college and life, and Duchenne doesnt make traveling easy. We must haul my scooter in and out of various vehicles, find excursions that arent physically taxing, and negotiate cultures unfamiliar with the rare muscle condition. Traveling has made us experts at working around whatever obstacle we face, and Im hoping to bring that skill back as I reenter society.

Because Ill have more autonomy with my vaccine, Im planning on traveling with friends, going camping again, and enjoying the things we lost because of COVID-19. Each adventure will be a new idea for a workaround and an opportunity to be open-minded about doing life with a disease thats taken my muscles away.

Im going to be socially outgoing, because after extra introspection and time at home, I realized that I missed out on so much before COVID-19 because I was self-conscious about what I could and couldnt do in my wheelchair. Post-COVID-19 me is going to make more friends, ask people I like on dates, and say yes to social events even if I dont feel like going. Ill stay an introvert, of course, but being around people and loving them reminds us that we are human. Its a connection that a lot of us, including me, have lost, however much weve interacted with others online.

COVID-19 has given me an excuse not to pursue my career in journalism with the vehemence I once did. Lets just say the lack of structure I developed during quarantine isnt going to get me any prestigious job offers. The vaccine will give me a pathway to get back on my post-college trajectory and focus on my future.

With added time because of the coronavirus, Ive had time to think about what I want my adult life with Duchenne to look like. Its currently comfortable to live with my parents, who know what I need sometimes even better than I do. With this vaccine, I have the confidence to find an aide and live on my own, no matter how uncomfortable it might be. Ive done it before in Sacramento, California and Washington, D.C., and plan to do it again.

The fear of COVID-19 has been debilitating, and my hope is that I wont be afraid anymore with the vaccine. I wont be afraid of living my life and seizing the day. Ive been blessed with an opportunity to hit the reset button and come out of COVID-19 ready to make my life and the lives of those around me that much better.

***

Note: Muscular Dystrophy News is strictly a news and information website about the disease. It does not provide medical advice, diagnosis or treatment. This content is not intended to be a substitute for professional medical advice, diagnosis, or treatment. Always seek the advice of your physician or another qualified health provider with any questions you may have regarding a medical condition. Never disregard professional medical advice or delay in seeking it because of something you have read on this website. The opinions expressed in this column are not those of Muscular Dystrophy News or its parent company, BioNews, and are intended to spark discussion about issues pertaining to muscular dystrophy.

Hawken is a recent graduate from the University of Southern California and a young journalist with Duchenne muscular dystrophy. He has previously worked for the Washington Post, Sacramento Bee, KTLA 5 News and at USC Annenberg Media. When not writing columns, hes reporting on rare disease-related news for the publisher of this website, BioNews.

See the article here:

After My 2nd Dose of the COVID-19 Vaccine, I'm Ready to Go Forward - Muscular Dystrophy News

RALEIGH, N.C. (WNCN) When theyre not working on your teeth, dentists in North Carolina can now help fight the coronavirus. The North Carolina Dental Board recently announced dentists are now approved to administer COVID-19 vaccines in the state.

If youve ever had a cavity filled, your dentist has probably given you a shot of numbing medication.

Now they can also administer a different kind of shot, the COVID-19 vaccine.

Its welcome news to Dr. Tammy Severt, Dr. Annu Sood, and Dr. Waka Kadoma. The three Chapel Hill dentists want to do something to help fight the pandemic.

As dentists, we have a lot of training in injections. Wed love to be able to help get the vaccine into the arms of people who want it as quickly as possible, said Severt.

I consider it a great opportunity to extend the role of dentists as health care providers and to help, added Sood.

Dentists have already learned a lot about preventing COVID-19.

The infection-control measures we take in our offices are above anything weve done before, noted Severt.

Being able to give the vaccine will allow them to take a more active role in fighting the virus.

Dentists will have to go through training specific to COVID-19 vaccines before they are allowed to administer the doses.

Kadoma is ready. Give me a time and place, and then I will be there, she said.

Dr. Sood and Dr. Kadoma hope to vaccinate people at local vaccine clinics while Dr. Severt is considering offering the vaccine in her office.

She noted thatthe Johnson & Johnson shot would be ideal for administering in the office due to its easier storage requirements and the fact that its a one-dose vaccine.

As far as a community service right now, theres not really anything greater than we could do than trying to get the population vaccinated, she said.

See the original post here:

Now approved to administer COVID-19 vaccine, NC dentists eager to help fight pandemic - WAVY.com

A startup behind the Covid-19 vaccine developed by the University of Oxford and AstraZeneca PLC is planning an initial public offering that backers hope will be the biggest market debut of an Oxford spinoff in years.

One hurdle: the university itself.

Nine-hundred-year-old Oxford is wrestling with how to rewrite its rules for fostering companies created by its academics or born in its labs, while in a standoff with one that has been thrust into the spotlight by the pandemic. The startup, Vaccitech Ltd., has been pitching to potential investors and laying groundwork for a stock listing in New York as early as this year, according to people close to the plans and marketing documents reviewed by The Wall Street Journal.

Investors are aiming for an IPO valuation of around $700 million, with expectations that Vaccitech could be a $1 billion company by year-end. Big investors such as pharmaceutical giant Gilead Sciences Inc. and Lilly Asia Ventures, a venture-capital arm spun off from drugmaker Eli Lilly & Co., have expressed interest in investing, according to people familiar with the matter and documents reviewed by the Journal.

Vaccitechs chief executive, Bill Enright, declined to comment, as did a Gilead spokesman. Lilly Asia Ventures didnt respond to a request for comment.

Original post:

Oxford-AstraZeneca Covid-19 Vaccine Startup in Conflict With University Ahead of Planned IPO - The Wall Street Journal

COVID-19 vaccine distribution has not gone as smoothly as we all would like. With health systems and physician practices across the country expressing their frustrations, the message is clear: More vaccines are needed to meet the growing demand.

COVID-19 vaccine rollout and distribution was discussed at the inaugural AMA Insight Network virtual meeting. The network aims to help AMA Health System Partner Program members save time and money, gain early access to innovative ideas, get feedback from their peers, network, and learn about pilot opportunities. Learn more.

These meetings are meant to bring together AMA subject-matter experts and health care leaders from around the country to share insights, best practices and also address questions or challenges that many are sharing on key issues, said James Gilligan, AMA vice president of health systems and group partnership. The networks meetings may be held up to 10 times a year and will cover a variety of topics such as satisfaction and sustainability, health equity, advocacy andchronic disease prevention.

Our team keeps a close eye on trends in health care that are relevant to our group partners, said Gilligan. Additionally, with several health system leaders reaching out about key vaccine questions, it led to the topic of planning and executing on strategies to distribute vaccines quickly and effectively to your communities.

Weve been hearing from physician offices that theyre not able to get the vaccines with the amount that they would like to be able to get, said Margaret Garikes, AMA vice president of federal affairs.

Focusing on COVID-19 vaccination rollout and distribution, the AMA Insight Network meeting in February featured presentations from physician leaders at Hattiesburg Clinic, Marshfield Clinic Health System and The Permanente Medical Group.

They all reported a similar problem: The supply of vaccines they are receiving is far below their capacity to administer them to eligible patients. The average weekly vaccine allotment from their individual states is only 20% as much as they could administer if they got more doses. The physician leaders attending said that states should look more to health systems already equipped to operationalize distribution.

Find out more about these health systems and others are moving medicine at theAMA partner spotlight page.

During the meeting, Garikes also shared the AMAs recent and ongoing COVID-19 advocacy efforts to help health systems and physician practices.

The AMA offers a COVID-19 vaccines guide for physicians to help build trust in vaccine safety and efficacy. This guide contains background and actions, evidence-based messaging guidance and best practices for consideration in external communications on COVID-19 vaccine topics.

Learn more about how the AMA is helping health systems face 2021s biggest challenges.

Continued here:

Health systems swap insights on COVID-19 vaccine rollout - American Medical Association

JACKSON, MI -- A Jackson community center is becoming the site of a weekly COVID-19 vaccination clinic.

The city of Jackson is partnering with Henry Ford Allegiance Health to host the clinic at the Martin Luther King Jr. Recreation Center, 1107 Adrian St., to help reach the citys Black population, city officials said.

Henry Ford Allegiance Health began administering COVID-19 vaccines at the center on March 4 and will continue to do so from 11 a.m. to 6 p.m. on Thursdays for those eligible under latest state guidelines. Currently, anyone age 50 and older with pre-existing conditions is eligible for the shot, along with previously approved groups like those in certain essential occupations.

The hospital sought a location on the citys south side to address COVID-19 pandemic inequities, Director of Community Engagement Myeshia Jones said. The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention have identified evidence that some minority groups are disproportionally affected by COVID-19, and social determinants of health, such as poverty and healthcare access, can change some peoples health outcomes.

Related: New Michigan vaccine data shows disparities along racial lines

The MLK Center is a trusted location in the community where we know Black and brown people feel comfortable and safe coming to, Jones said. Equity is at the center of our work and this shows that our health system cares about our entire community.

Residents who want to be vaccinated at the MLK Center should sign up through their health care provider, officials said. Henry Ford Allegiance Health patients should use the Henry Ford MyChart online platform. However, walk-ins at the MLK Center vaccination site are welcome, officials said.

Jackson resident Ricky Hurst got his COVID-19 vaccination at the first distribution event on March 4, and said he thought access to the vaccine at the community center would encourage others to get it.

I think some people might be afraid to get the shot, but the more we show African Americans like me getting it, I believe more people in the community will be at ease, Hurst said.

In Jackson County, 9,371 residents have contracted COVID-19 since the beginning of the pandemic, according to the Jackson County Health Department, and 217 residents have died.

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Read the original:

COVID-19 vaccination clinic open weekly at King Center for Jackson residents - MLive.com

Researchers is Italy say a new study shows body weight may be a factor with bodys ability to build antibodies after COVID-19 vaccine.

Obesity worsens outcomes from COVID-19, according to the Centers for Disease Control. A new study out of Italy now says adults with excess body weight may respond differently to COVID-19 vaccines.

Researchers at Istituti Fisioterapici Ospitalieri (IFO) analyzed 248 healthcare workers one week following a second dose of the Pfizer-BioNTech vaccine and observed antibody changes based on age, gender, and body mass index. It found that participants at normal - or below normal - weight had a stronger immune response than obese participants.

Dr. Anup Kanodia is a Functional Medicine Specialist at KanodiaMD and a Doctor of Family Medicine at OhioHealth. Kanodia says this research shows the immune response to the vaccine is tied to weight and not pre-existing conditions such as heart disease, Type-2 diabetes, hypertension, kidney and liver disease.

If someone is obese with no other medical problems, they have more inflammation in their body, said Dr. Kanodia. There are changes in their metabolism, they have changes in how they breathe. All those things do what? Affect the immune system. When you affect the immunes system the vaccine doesnt work as well. When you affect the immune system, you cant fight off COVID-19 as well.

In August, Obesity Reviews published a study that found people with a BMI in the obesity range have a 113% higher risk for hospitalization, a 74% higher risk for ICU admission and a 48% higher risk of death with COVID-19.

A study in the Journal of Infection says people with a BMI of more than 30 were more likely to see moderate or severe reinfection of COVID-19 if they had already contracted the virus before.

Dr. Kanodia says there are ways to reduce your weight if you are unable to exercise at a gym, such as a full nights rest.

Number one place to lose weight is when you sleep at night. Get enough hours of sleep at night. If you dont your weight goes up dramatically, said Dr. Kanodia. Number two is to cut the sugar, carbs, all of those things put weight on us.

Changing your diet to anti-inflammatory foods or supplements or foods that support a healthy immune system.

Sugar, alcohol and tobacco all lower the immune system, said Kanodia. Things that boost the immune system are high in colors. Blueberries, raspberries, some of the fruits raise the immune system. When you walk around the outside of the grocery store, not the middle of the grocery store, those things raise the immune system.

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Obesity linked to lower immune response to COVID-19 vaccines - 10TV