Category: Covid-19 Vaccine

Former president Donald Trump speaks at the Conservative Political Action Conference (CPAC) Sunday, Feb. 28, 2021, in Orlando, Fla. (AP Photo/John Raoux)

WASHINGTON (NBC/WFLA) Former President Donald Trump and former first lady Melania Trump were both vaccinated against COVID-19 at the white house in January, a Trump adviser confirmed to NBC on Monday.

Speaking at CPAC on Sunday, Mr. Trump encouraged supporters to get vaccinated saying, Everybody should get the coronavirus vaccine.

This is the first time the former president has advocated for getting the shot though its not known which vaccine the Trumps received.

Both former President Trump and the former first lady had the COVID-19 virus.

Trump was hospitalized with COVID-19 in October, at which time he repeatedly downplayed the severity of the virus,claimingafterwards that he was immune.

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Trump received COVID-19 vaccine after claiming he was immune - WFLA

The Advisory Committee on Immunization Practices (ACIP), a federal advisory panel within the United States Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC), voted unanimously Sunday to recommend the countrys third COVID-19 vaccine for people 18 and older. With that announcement, Louisiana expects its confirmed allotment of 37,900 doses of the one-shot, easier-to-use Johnson & Johnson vaccine to be delivered sometime this week.

ACIPs decision follows the Food and Drug Administrations (FDA) action Saturday authorizing the vaccine for emergency use for people 18 and older. After rigorous trials and evaluation, the FDA has found the Johnson & Johnson vaccine to be safe and effective. It has been authorized for use, joining the Moderna and Pfizer COVID vaccines.

We are hopeful over the coming weeks and months that this third vaccine will help ease supply constraints and bring America and Louisiana one step closer to ending this pandemic, said Dr. Joseph Kanter, State Health Officer. This is a very good vaccine, and very exciting news. When it's your turn, I urge you to take whatever vaccine you can get your hands on. Passing up the opportunity could literally cost you your life.

Like the other COVID vaccines, the Johnson & Johnson vaccine is 100% effective at preventing hospitalizations and deaths our most urgent, important goal. To date, Louisiana has lost 9,608 residents to COVID.

Unlike the Moderna and Pfizer vaccines, the Johnson & Johnson COVID vaccine is given in one dose. A single-dose vaccine could be especially beneficial for people who have difficulty taking time off work, and may offer more protection faster than the other two vaccines, which require two shots three and four weeks apart.

Also the Johnson & Johnson vaccine is a more durable vaccine, which makes it easier to handle. It can last up to three months in the refrigerator, whereas the other vaccines must be stored at very cold temperatures.

Our goal is to ensure everyone in Louisiana has the opportunity to get the COVID vaccine, said Dr. Courtney N. Phillips, Secretary of the Louisiana Department of Health. I encourage all residents to ask questions, get the facts and begin conversations with your doctor or other medical professionals in your communities now so you are ready when its your turn.

The data and information underpinning the FDA's action can be found online:https://www.fda.gov/media/146217/download

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CDC recommends the first one-dose COVID-19 vaccine for use - Louisiana Department of Health - Louisiana.gov

HUNTSVILLE, Ala. The state of Alabama has increased the supply of COVID-19 vaccine allocated to Huntsville Hospital Community Vaccination Clinic.

Huntsville Hospital officials say beginning Monday, March 8, the hospital will receive enough of the Pfizer vaccine to administer 2,500 more doses per week.

In recent weeks, the clinic at John Hunt Park had received a smaller allocation.

Huntsville Hospital officials say there are more than 25,000 people on their waiting list.

With the new allocation starting next week, the hospital has reopened its online portal for eligible persons to be added to the waiting list.

Visit huntsvillehospital.org for more information.

You will be called when a vaccination slot is available. Hospital officials said it could take several weeks before an appointment is confirmed.

We will continue our efforts to vaccinate as many people as we can, but we continue to recommend that you explore every avenue available to get your vaccine, said Huntsville Hospital officials.

You can check the Alabama Department of Public Health website for information on who has been approved for administering vaccines in your area.

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Huntsville Hospital to receive increase in COVID-19 vaccine allocation - WHNT News 19

Mandatory COVID-19 vaccines, or incentives: Right move for employers is a moving target  WWMT-TV

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Mandatory COVID-19 vaccines, or incentives: Right move for employers is a moving target - WWMT-TV

This includes law enforcement, prison guards and childcare workers to name a few

by: Jacob Thompson

Credit: Andriy Onufriyenko/Moment/Getty Images

YOUNGSTOWN, Ohio (WKBN) Governor Mike Dewine announced Monday his phase 1C for people who can get the COVID-19 vaccine.

This includes law enforcement, prison guards and childcare workers to name a few.

DeWine says now is the right time to add these groups of people because of the number of vaccines coming into the state.

I believe the time is really right, now, as we have more supply to be able to open up, said Dr. Jim Kravec, chief medical officer for Mercy Health.

With Johnson & Johnsons one-shot vaccine approved, Ohio will be receiving close to 100,000 doses this week, for a total of nearly 450,000, which is the states biggest increase since vaccinations started. But can our local health departments handle it?

Last week, we saw a slowdown in people reserving doses, at least at our clinic, and at the same time this is happening, today, said Laura Fauss, public information officer for the Columbiana County Health Department.

Thursday, the same day phase 1C opens up, people 60 and over can also sign up to get the vaccine. This is known as phase 2.

To get a shot at Mercy Health, you can call or use the MyChart app.

Fauss said they arent accepting registrations for these new phases until next week.

Trumbull County is going through the states website to schedule appointments.

If people do get a robocall or they get a text or an email, as long as theyre not asking for personal information, those are legitimate, said Trumbull County Health Director Kris Wilster.

The Johnson and Johnson vaccine is a single-dose shot that many will want to get because of the convenience. Mercy Health expects to get 900 of these vaccines either this week or next. Trumbull County and Columbiana County will get a few hundred as well.

The total effectiveness of the Johnson and Johnson vaccine is a little bit lower than we saw with Moderna and Pfizer, but what we do know is those serious cases, those that require hospitalization and very serious cases of COVID-19, are reduced, Kravec said.

Johnson and Johnsons vaccine is 72% effective against moderate to severe cases and 85% effective in preventing severe or critical illness, along with 100% against hospitalizations and death.

Health officials say to get any shot you can.

Really, we are taking the guidance from the Ohio Department of Health and guidance from the CDC, which really says give out all vaccines. We know theyre all safe and effective, Kravec said.

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COVID-19 vaccines ramping up for another large group, are health departments ready? - WKBN.com

As a young woman, pregnant and HIV-positive, Maurine Murenga did not have easy access to drugs that could save her life. Today she is an activist for equitable health-care. The global distribution of coronavirus vaccines is an issue of concern. Victor Chavez/Getty Images hide caption

As a young woman, pregnant and HIV-positive, Maurine Murenga did not have easy access to drugs that could save her life. Today she is an activist for equitable health-care. The global distribution of coronavirus vaccines is an issue of concern.

In 2001, Maurine Murenga was pregnant and HIV-positive. She was living in Kenya, and a counselor encouraged her to fill out a memory book. She wrote directions to her village, details about her family so that when she died, someone would know where to bury her and where to send her child.

"It was nothing like preparing," says Murenga. "It was actually preparing us for death."

What seemed so unfair to Murenga is that she knew that in the United States and in Europe, there were drugs that could save her life. Antiretroviral drugs, or ARVs, had been widely available in the West since 1997, but they were too expensive for most Africans on the continent. Murenga became a vocal advocate, publicly disclosing her status, lobbying the Kenyan government and the world to make the life-saving drugs more accessible.

"It took a lot of pushing and pulling and wishing we could inject them with compassion to save lives," she says.

Over the next few years, countries like South Africa took principled stands, fighting against patents that kept countries from making more affordable, generic versions of the drugs. AIDS activists across the world banded together to lobby rich countries to end what many scientists called a crime against humanity.

"At least the world listened," Murenga says.

In the early 2000s, the U.S. launched PEPFAR, and an international coalition launched The Global Fund. The programs pumped billions of dollars into buying ARVs to distribute in low-resource countries, saving millions of lives.

As the coronavirus spread, Murenga thought the West would have learned from the HIV experience. But that hasn't happened, she says. "As usual, we are waiting for them to finish vaccinating their people so that they can now bring aid to the people of Africa."

"I think we are repeating some of the mistakes, and that is truly unacceptable," says Allan Maleche, who advocates for the legal rights of Kenyans with HIV. He says right now, rich countries are hoarding vaccines, poor countries are paying higher pricesfor them and the central lesson of the HIV epidemic - that if one person is vulnerable, everyone is vulnerable - seems lost.

"If you don't address both the rich and the poor countries, you will not be able to win the fight, beat for HIV, beat for TB or beat for COVID," he says.

Steven Thrasher, whose upcoming book deals with how marginalized people are disproportionately affected by viruses, calls the development of antiretroviral drugs "one of the great miracles of modern science." It made HIV easier to treat than diabetes. (The Viral Underclass: How Racism, Ableism and Capitalism Plague Humans on the Margins will be published next year.)

But he views the global response the creation of organizations like PEPFAR and The Global Fund more critically. Millions of lives were saved, but "it's been 25 years, and almost a million people a year still die of HIV."

Thrasher says the same thing is happening with the COVID vaccine. Cheaper generic vaccines are not currently available, and Africa is being left behind. And unlike the days of the HIV epidemic, there doesn't seem to be popular pressure to end this disparity. He recalls Zackie Achmat in South Africa. He was a film director who refused to take ARVs until poorer people could access them. Thrasher says that kind of empathy is in short supply these days.

"We're certainly not saying as a country," says Thrasher, who is American. "We're not going to take it until we make sure the poorer countries get it. We've been set into a scramble of trying to everyone trying to get it as quickly as they can.

As for Maurine Murenga, she eventually got the ARVs. Today she directs the Lean On Me Foundation in Nairobi, which is dedicated to the health, education and human rights of adolescent girls and young women.

And now the coronavirus crisis is part of her fight.

"We don't rest until ... lives have been saved," says Murenga.

It's what she did during the AIDS epidemic. It is what she'll do now.

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COVID-19 Vaccine Inequalities Echo The HIV Crisis : Goats and Soda - NPR

If regulators give the go-ahead as expected in the next few days, there will be three vaccines available in the United States to prevent COVID-19.

A fourth is in widespread use in 50 countries around the world.

So, which shot should you get?

"Get the first vaccine you can," said Kathleen Neuzil, director of the University of Maryland Center for Vaccine Development and Global Health. "That's what I tell my family. They're all good."

The numbers vary somewhat on how well they all work, and new variants of the coronavirus that causes COVID-19 complicate the picture.

But for what matters most keeping people from dying or going to the hospital experts say they all do the trick.

Newcomer

Advisers to the U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA) will meet Friday to discuss the vaccine from health care giant Johnson & Johnson. The FDA is not required to follow their recommendation, but nearly always does.

Two other vaccines are already in widespread use in the U.S. from drug companies Moderna and Pfizer-BioNTech. A shot from AstraZeneca and the University of Oxford is in use in Britain, Europe, South Asia, Brazil, Mexico and elsewhere.

Johnson & Johnson's clinical trial data does not look quite as impressive on paper as the others available in the United States. It was about 66% effective against infections that caused from moderate to severe illness.

The Moderna and Pfizer-BioNTech vaccines both reported about 95% overall efficacy. But experts caution that the studies are not measuring quite the same thing and should not be directly compared.

The most important thing, Neuzil said, is how well all of the shots work against the most serious cases and death.

"That is what's keeping us in lockdown. That's what's filling up our hospitals," she said. "If we can prevent severe disease, or change severe disease to mild disease, we will be much closer to normalcy."

On that score, all of the vaccines excel. No one who received any of the four vaccines in any of the clinical trials died of COVID-19. There were no severe cases in the Moderna or AstraZeneca trials, and just one in the Pfizer study.

Variants

There were a handful of severe cases in the Johnson & Johnson trial. The shot was 85% effective against them.

However, unlike the Moderna and Pfizer-BioNTech vaccines that came out in December, the Johnson & Johnson shot had to contend with a more contagious variant that first appeared in South Africa.

It is not clear how well the Moderna and Pfizer-BioNTech vaccines work against the new variant. They do not work as well in test tube studies, but scientists are not sure whether that translates into lower protection for people.

More spreadable variants have also popped up in Brazil, Britain, the United States and elsewhere, worrying scientists worldwide. But experts do not think the mutations have rendered the vaccines useless.

One small study in South Africa raised concerns. It found that the AstraZeneca shot failed to prevent most infections with the new strain. The South African government scaled back plans to roll out the vaccine as a result.

But the study did not look at severe illness or death. Many scientists say the vaccine probably does still prevent the worst forms of the disease. Researchers are studying that now.

The World Health Organization still backs the AstraZeneca shot. It makes up the vast majority of doses delivered through COVAX, the WHO-backed program, to distribute vaccines equitably.

Real world

Elsewhere, real-world results are starting to come in from countries that have been using the vaccines for several weeks, and they all look promising.

A study in Israel found that protection from the Pfizer-BioNTech shot started to kick in about two weeks after the first shot. The vaccine was already 62% effective in preventing severe illness. After the second shot, it rose to 92% effective.

Hospitalizations fell by half among patients in a four-state study in the United States who received either the Pfizer-BioNTech or the Moderna shot. But those figures probably understate how well the vaccine works, because most of the vaccinated patients who were hospitalized had only received their first shot. The study has not yet been reviewed by other experts.

"It's a pleasant surprise" how well the vaccines are working, said study co-author Venky Soundararajan, co-founder and chief scientific officer of the data analysis firm nference.

The AstraZeneca-Oxford vaccine, which struggled in South Africa, excelled in Scotland. It was 94% effective at keeping people out of the hospital after just one dose in a study that has not yet been reviewed by outside experts.

The bottom line?

"Get the vaccine you can," Neuzil said, and not just to protect yourself. "The more people that are vaccinated, the more we are all protected, because we're protected by each other, as well."

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Which Is Best COVID-19 Vaccine? - Voice of America

But the country only started inoculating its population of 126 million people with Pfizer-BioNTech shots last week, more than two months after the vaccine rolled out in other major countries, including the United States and United Kingdom.The US has administered more than 68 million doses since its vaccination program started in December, according to Johns Hopkins University.

In Japan, only about 18,000 doses have been administered, according to the Japanese government.

Like the US, Japan is using the Pfizer-BioNTech vaccine as part of its program. Yet Japanese regulators took two more months to approve its use.

The government says it has been deliberately cautious. After a series of vaccine scandals stretching back 50 years, Japan has one of the lowest rates of vaccine confidence in the world -- so winning over a skeptical public is crucial.

However, the decision to move slowly has been criticized by some medical professionals, including Dr. Kenji Shibuya, a professor at King's College in London, who says Japan's delayed rollout and its lack of vaccination strategy will ultimately cost lives.

Cautious approval process

Japan's approval came six weeks later, on February 14, after a smaller in-country test of 160 participants showed results consistent with the international trials. By Japanese standards that approval came quickly -- normally the process can take anywhere from one to two years. But critics say the delay cost the government valuable time.

"With a sample size of 160 people, it doesn't give you any scientific evidence on the effectiveness or safety (of a vaccine)," said Shibuya, from King's College.

Taro Kono, the minister in charge of Japan's coronavirus vaccine rollout, said the country's clinical trial was conducted to build public trust in the program.

"I think it is more important for the Japanese government to show the Japanese people that we have done everything possible to prove the efficacy and the safety of the vaccine -- to encourage the Japanese people to take the vaccine," Kono said. "At the end of the day, we might have started slower, but we thought it would be more effective."

Scandal and skepticism

In the late 1980s, there was another scare with the introduction of a Japanese-produced measles, mumps and rubella (MMR) vaccine. Early versions of the vaccine were linked to aseptic meningitis, or swelling of the membranes around the brain and spinal cord. The problem was traced back to the mumps component of the MMR vaccine, which led to court action and a hefty damages payout.

The National Institute of Health Science discontinued the combined shot in 1993 and replaced it with individual vaccines.

After the MMR scandal, Shibuya says the Japanese government became "risk aware" and its national vaccination program became voluntary.

Dr. Yuho Horikoshi, an expert in infectious diseases, says the lawsuits led to a "vaccination gap," where no vaccines were approved in Japan for about 15 years.

More here:

Why Japan took so long to start Covid-19 vaccinations, even with the Olympics looming - CNN

About 600 military veterans went in waves to get shots in arms throughout the day Saturday as theDepartment of Veterans Affairs Pacific Island Healthcare System held the first in a series of mass COVID-19 vaccinations.

The veterans had to be at least 60 years old, be in a high risk health category or be an essential worker to make an appointment at the Keehi Lagoon Memorial event.

That gave many of them their first opportunity to get the vaccine since the state is only offering vaccines to first-responders and others who are at least 70 according to the general priority system. They will get their second doses in a follow-up event.

Army veteran Francis Ouye, 73, said he hopes the vaccinations will allow life to return to normal soon so he can visit Southeast Asia.

I feel very fortunate that the VA provides this service to us, he said after receiving his shot. Im looking forward to everyone getting vaccinated so that I can travel.

The VA inoculated 600 veterans at the Keehi Lagoon Memorial on Saturday during its first mass vaccination event in Hawaii.

Kevin Knodell/Civil Beat

Winter storms on the mainland disrupted the supply chain of vaccines to the island last week, explained VA Pacific Island Healthcare System Assistant Director Katherine Kalama.

As our supply increases, we need to increase our throughput. Bottom line is that the VA goal is to put as many vaccines in veterans arms as we can, Kalama said. Well be doing many more of these events in the future.

Kalama said they hope to hold the next event in Kapolei and are trying to coordinate with the National Guard to use one of their facilities there.

The VA Pacific Island Healthcare System is unique in that its responsible for veterans throughout Hawaii as well as the Pacific Island territories of American Samoa, Guam and the Northern Marianas. But it has no dedicated facilities of its own, instead relying on partnerships with military and civilian hospitals and clinics across the region.

Amy Rohlfs, a VA spokeswoman, said that has posed additional challenges for vaccination efforts in terms of finding locations that could accommodate large scale efforts.

On Oahu, the VA operates out of Tripler Army Medical Center, which can be hard to access for some veterans. The hospital recently got funding for badly needed new parking facilities from Congress. However the VA has expanded its clinic hours for those able to make it there for vaccinations.

Rohlfs also said it was difficult to schedule appointments for those with jobs, but holding a mass event simplified the process.This is like stop-and-go easy, she said of the mass vaccination.

However, it wasnt a drop-in vaccination event every veteran had to register in advance due to limited supplies. Anyone interested has to be a registered patient with the VA Pacific Island Healthcare System.

Thats really important that theres coordination with these guys, said Dr. Chaz Baritz, the Pacific Island Systems top pharmacist. He oversees the storage and transportation of the vaccines to facilities and to patients across the region.

At the event Saturday they kept the vaccines in powered refrigerated bags that can keep the vaccine cold for up to five days.

Were using them today to transport, said Baritz. These vials are good 12 hours out of the refrigerator at room temperature and (up to) puncture so for todays event we dont really need to keep them chilled, but we just like to have that practice.

The bags have played a much larger role in transporting the vaccine to veterans on the neighbor islands.

We are transporting the vaccine to our most rural areas. Were going to each one of our islands to ensure that all of our veterans have an opportunity, said Kalama. Were going to continue to do that until everybodys vaccinated.

The VA Pacific Island System has also continued vaccinations in the other Pacific Island territories and is working with the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services to administer vaccinations not just to veterans but to civilians in American Samoa.

While scarce supplies has meant a fierce competition over who gets to be vaccinated first, the next challenge will be persuading vaccine skeptics to get inoculated.

Ouye hopes everybody will get the vaccine when offered, either for themselves or for the next person.

To date, the VA Pacific Island Healthcare System said it has vaccinated1,070 employees and more than 6,280 veterans across the region.

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Hundreds Of Military Vets Get COVID-19 Vaccines In Hawaii - Honolulu Civil Beat

7,200 appointments for COVID-19 vaccine are to be canceled within the next 24 hours  KUTV 2News

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7,200 appointments for COVID-19 vaccine are to be canceled within the next 24 hours - KUTV 2News