Category: Covid-19 Vaccine

Marisa Seubert works for Lancaster EMS, making her eligible to get the COVID-19 vaccine.When she got the first shot on a Saturday, she was overcome with emotion.Joy, celebration and relief, she said.With the emotional reaction came a physical one: a sore arm and other symptoms.I started with a headache, chills. It just kind of progressed downward. I didn't feel anything alarming that I needed to call for 911 or anything, but I just felt sick, she said.The vaccines work by delivering a message to make the spike protein, which is the covering of the coronavirus.The body has an immune response. If the body later sees the live virus, the antibodies attack the spike protein and prevent infection.I wouldn't refer to it as a side effect. People are supposed to have a reaction to the vaccine. Thats the whole point of it, said Dr. Joseph Kontra, the chief of infectious diseases at Lancaster General Hospital.Kontra said not everyone is affected the same way.Seubert called in sick on the Monday after she was vaccinated, something she said she rarely does. She felt fine later, she said.It was like a lightbulb went off. Forty-eight hours later, I was back to myself, she said.Seubert wasnt deterred from getting her second dose. She experienced a similar reaction but doesnt want to discourage others.Its likely that you could get symptoms like myself, but at the end, its worth it, she said.She urged people to get vaccinated when its their turn.How to treat symptomsSeubert took Tylenol for her symptoms.Kontra said Tylenol is preferred because its not anti-inflammatory.He said ibuprofen's anti-inflammatory effects may reduce the effectiveness of the vaccine, although that has not been studied scientifically.The Food and Drug Administration said there are no contraindications or factors that would be a reason not to take pain relievers and fever reducers, but people should check with their doctor.Its not recommended that painkillers be taken prior to getting the vaccine.

Marisa Seubert works for Lancaster EMS, making her eligible to get the COVID-19 vaccine.

When she got the first shot on a Saturday, she was overcome with emotion.

Joy, celebration and relief, she said.

With the emotional reaction came a physical one: a sore arm and other symptoms.

I started with a headache, chills. It just kind of progressed downward. I didn't feel anything alarming that I needed to call for 911 or anything, but I just felt sick, she said.

The vaccines work by delivering a message to make the spike protein, which is the covering of the coronavirus.

The body has an immune response. If the body later sees the live virus, the antibodies attack the spike protein and prevent infection.

I wouldn't refer to it as a side effect. People are supposed to have a reaction to the vaccine. Thats the whole point of it, said Dr. Joseph Kontra, the chief of infectious diseases at Lancaster General Hospital.

Kontra said not everyone is affected the same way.

Seubert called in sick on the Monday after she was vaccinated, something she said she rarely does. She felt fine later, she said.

It was like a lightbulb went off. Forty-eight hours later, I was back to myself, she said.

Seubert wasnt deterred from getting her second dose. She experienced a similar reaction but doesnt want to discourage others.

Its likely that you could get symptoms like myself, but at the end, its worth it, she said.

She urged people to get vaccinated when its their turn.

Seubert took Tylenol for her symptoms.

Kontra said Tylenol is preferred because its not anti-inflammatory.

He said ibuprofen's anti-inflammatory effects may reduce the effectiveness of the vaccine, although that has not been studied scientifically.

The Food and Drug Administration said there are no contraindications or factors that would be a reason not to take pain relievers and fever reducers, but people should check with their doctor.

Its not recommended that painkillers be taken prior to getting the vaccine.

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COVID-19 vaccine reaction: Heres why it happens - WGAL Susquehanna Valley Pa.

Vaccine production giant GlaxoSmithKline announced Wednesday that it would partner with German biotech CureVac to help manufacture its messenger RNA vaccine and jointly develop a separate vaccine to target new variants of the SARS-CoV-2 virus.

The next-generation vaccine may be a multivalent, meaning it would protect against several strains of the virus. The companies hope to be able to introduce an updated vaccine in 2022, pending approval from regulatory agencies.

We believe that next-generation vaccines will be crucial in the continued fight against Covid-19, Emma Walmsley, GSKs CEO, said in a statement. This new collaboration builds on our existing relationship with CureVac and means that together, we will combine our scientific expertise in mRNA and vaccine development to advance and accelerate the development of new Covid-19 vaccine candidates.

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This year, GSK will make up to 100 million doses of the vaccine currently in development by CureVac, based in Tbingen, Germany.

The deal, worth more than $180 million, is the latest in a string of moves in which major vaccine producers have joined forces with competitors to help them make Covid-19 vaccines.

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In recent days Novartis, which sold its vaccine business in 2014, announced it would use fill and finishing capacity in Switzerland to help Pfizer get additional doses of its successful vaccine to market. And Sanofi, which has suffered a setback with the vaccine it is making in partnership with GSK, has announced it will use some of its production capacity to make the Pfizer vaccine.

In the Sanofi-GSK partnership, the former is making the vaccine while the latter is providing proprietary adjuvants it has developed. Adjuvants are compounds that boost the power of the vaccine, sometimes allowing less vaccine to be used per person.

CureVac, which last month enlisted pharma giant Bayer to help it make vaccine doses, is currently conducting a Phase 2b/3 trial of its mRNA vaccine. This is the same type of vaccine made by Pfizer and Moderna, which use bits of genetic code to entice cells to make the protein on the exterior of the SARS-2 virus, known as the spike protein. That, in turn, provokes the immune system to develop antibodies and other immunity weapons with which to combat the virus.

CureVac plans to enroll 35,000 people aged 18 and older in the trial, which is being conducted in Europe and Latin America. It is testing a two-dose vaccine. The company says it expects to have interim data from the trial within the first quarter of this year.

CureVacs candidate vaccine can be stored for three months at 35 to 46 Fahrenheit, which is refrigerator temperature. That is a major advantage over both the Moderna and Pfizer mRNA vaccines, which both have more complex cold-chain requirements.

The recent emergence of variants in a number of parts of the world has raised concern about how long the first-generation Covid vaccines will be effective. A variant called B.1.351, first spotted in South Africa, in particular appears to lessen the protection conferred by a number of the vaccines in development.

GSK said next-generation Covid vaccines may either be used to protect people who have not been vaccinated before, or to serve as boosters in the event that immunity induced by first-generation vaccines is eroded by the evolution of the virus.

Under the terms of the agreement, GSK will be the marketing authorization holder for the next-generation vaccine, except in Switzerland, and will have exclusive rights to develop, manufacture, and commercialize the next-generation vaccine in all countries except Germany, Austria, and Switzerland.

GSK will make an upfront payment of $90 million and a further payment of $90 million, contingent on meeting specific milestones.

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GSK teams up with CureVac on Covid-19 vaccines - STAT

In West Virginia, health officials credited a reliance on independent pharmacies, rather than national chains, for the states ability to inject at least 7.4% of its population with a first dose, the best rate in the country, the Associated Press reported. Philadelphia, which reported 105,306 first doses administered as of Monday, has given an injection to about 6.6% of the citys population. While noting West Virginia is quite different from urban Philly, Garrow said the city does want the independent pharmacies help.

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Dozens of Philly pharmacies are willing to be COVID-19 vaccine providers. The city has approved just two. - The Philadelphia Inquirer

Here are 5 big problems with Arizona's COVID-19 vaccine rollout  The Arizona Republic

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Here are 5 big problems with Arizona's COVID-19 vaccine rollout - The Arizona Republic

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Oregon Health Authority: There aren't yet enough doses for all who want it

PORTLAND, Ore. (KTVZ) -- Starting next Monday, Oregonians age 80 and older can begin receiving the COVID-19 vaccine -- but as it ramps up distribution, the Oregon Health Authority warned Wednesday that there will be more seniors wanting the shot than doses now available.

"The Oregon Health Authority is committed to getting all older Oregonians vaccinated," the agency said late Wednesday, but added: "There will be more seniors who want to get vaccinated than there will be vaccines available to them."

Here's the rest of the OHA's initial information:

When will you be eligible?

Everyone 65 and older will be eligible for vaccine by the end of February. Here are dates that each age group becomes eligible for the vaccine:

Next week, OHA said it will launch a new toolthatwill allow people to determine if they are eligible for a vaccine and register to get email alerts or text notifications about vaccine events in their area.

The tool will be open to all Oregonians, and information will be available in 11 languages.We will provide information about how to access the tool in Coronavirus Update after it goes live.

In the meantime, Oregonians can:

Coronavirus / Government-politics / News / Oregon-Northwest

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Oregon to begin COVID-19 vaccinations for seniors on Monday - but there's a 'but' - KTVZ

If they receive both doses, watch and read educational materials and submit a form for approval, they could shorten their sentence, the Department of Corrections said in a memo.The incentive is made possible by a Massachusetts law, which states that prisoners are "eligible to earn deductions from sentences and completion credits, collectively known as good conduct deductions, for participation in and completion of programs and activities" outlined in the law.That's what Department of Correction Commissioner Carol A. Mici described as "earned good time" (EGT) in a January 28 memo addressed to inmates/patients.Prisoners who complete the required steps are eligible for a total of seven and a half days of EGT, according to the memo.

"I have determined that receiving the vaccine is significantly valuable to rehabilitation and will therefore be offering Earned Good Time," Mici wrote.

Prisons remain hot spots for Covid-19

As of January 28, when the memo was sent out, over 3,500 DOC inmates had received the vaccine, Mici wrote.

Prisons have been hot spots for virus infection from the early days of the pandemic.

Virginia also offers incentives to prisoners

Massachusetts is not the only state to offer incentives to prisoners eligible for vaccination.

Incentives besides EGT in Massachusetts have not been announced.

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Prisoners in Massachusetts are getting their Covid-19 vaccines -- and reduced sentences - CNN

Long Beach has so far distributed more than 44,000 doses of the COVID-19 vaccine, and the majority of them have gone to older, White residents on the citys east side, where rates of the virus are the lowest.

One of the reasons for the inequity is that fact that people over 65 have been prioritized because they are more likely to fall ill and die from the virus, even though they contract COVID at lower rates. And in Long Beach, residents on the east side tend to be White and older.

Frontline health workers, police and firefighters were in the first eligible groups, followed by those over 65. Newly eligible groups are teachers and food workers.

Demographic information on vaccination rates, presented Tuesday during a City Council meeting, mirrors whats happening elsewhere in the country.

Health officials are struggling to reach communities of color and densely populated areas where the virus has been most rampant.

Although vaccination programs are in the initial stagescities and counties everywhere have struggled to get vaccine suppliesearly data show that those who live in areas where cases are the highest are not getting the vaccine.

Nationwide, 17 states that are releasing data by race and ethnicity show similar disparities. The share of vaccinations among Black people is smaller than their share of cases in 16 of the states, and smaller than their share of deaths in 15 states, according to the Kaiser Family Foundation, which is tracking the data.

California is not yet reporting data by racial and ethnic groups, nor is Los Angeles County. State and county health officials said they hope to release that information next week.

We remain concerned that we will see, as we have seen with distribution of other health resources, a difference in race and geography, Barbara Ferrer, director of the county Department of Public Health, said Wednesday at a media briefing.

Ferrer said the areas of prioritization have been adults over 65, as this group accounts for roughly 60% of all deaths from COVID-19. Protecting people with a high risk of contracting the virus, such as food workers, is also a priority.

We are trying to protect the most vulnerable with the goal of reducing mortality, she said. It means understanding who is most likely to die.

In Long Beach, rates of COVID are starkly divided between east and west. The case rate for the Wrigley-area ZIP code 90806, for example, is 137 per 1,000 residents; in the Belmont Shore ZIP code of 90803, the rate is less than half that, at 53 per 1,000 residents.

Yet, Belmont Shore has one of the highest vaccination rates at 48 per 1,000 people, while the Wrigley vaccination rate is 29.7 per 1,000 people.

North Long Beach, meanwhile, has the highest disparity in cases-to-vaccinations, with 131 people per 1,000 contracting the virus, versus 47.1 people receiving the vaccine.

The same disparity can be seen when the numbers are broken down by race.

White people have a much higher vaccination rate compared to people of color, receiving nearly half of all first doses at more than 14,000.

White people have the lowest case rate at 33 cases per 1,000, but account for the highest vaccination rate at 114 per 1,000 people.

In contrast, Hispanic or Latinos account for the highest case rate at 85.5 per 1,000 residents, but have the lowest vaccination rate of 32.5 per 1,000. Overall, Latinos account for the largest racial group in the city at more than 40% of the population.

Long Beach Health Department Director Kelly Colopy on Tuesday said the racial and neighborhood inequities in vaccine rollout are reflective of the population, noting that about 55% of residents age 65 and over are White and live in the eastern part of the city. Long Beachs residents of color tend to be a younger population and live in more denser areas of the city.

Nonetheless, she said the city data shows concerning disparities in vaccine distribution and that the city is working on a number of efforts to focus on equity.

We know we have work to do, she said.

Colopy said disparities are complicated by layers of race, poverty and access. Many people in the inner city may not have access to transportation to vaccine sites or internet access to sign up for vaccine notifications. Many of the citys Latino residents are immigrants who may be mistrustful of the vaccine or government involvement.

The city in the coming weeks will work on outreach with five local nonprofit groups to target high-risk communities using census tract data that shows neighborhoods with the highest rate of COVID cases, she said.

The effort will include mobile vaccination clinics in neighborhoods and information campaigns in Spanish, Khmer and Tagalog.

Other numbers released Tuesday:

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Whos getting the COVID-19 vaccine locally? Mostly older, White residents in East Long Beach - Long Beach Post

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Who is eligible for the COVID-19 vaccine through Austin Public Health right now? - KXAN.com

Posted: Feb 3, 2021 / 01:42 PM CST / Updated: Feb 3, 2021 / 01:42 PM CST

(AP Photo/Elise Amendola)

Start here by checking whether you are eligible in your county based on which vaccination phase is being served and other information. In Shelby County, people over 75 are eligible, along with health care workers and some other professionals. In most other Tennessee counties, people over 70 are eligible.

Check this list of pharmacies to see where you can get the vaccine in your county. Several Walmart locations in Shelby County and a few other counties began giving the vaccine Wednesday.

Health departments in each county also have doses of the vaccine. Check here to see phone numbers for those offices, and which phase of vaccination each county is in. County health department information is listed below:

Start here to check eligibility and see complete vaccine information from the state. Adults age 65 and older, people over 16 years of age with a chronic health condition, and health care workers are eligible.

Check this list of providers across Mississippi that have COVID-19 vaccines. Addresses and phone numbers are included. This list includes locations in Alcorn, Lee, Marshall, Panola, Tate and Tippah counties.

The state is offering drive-through vaccinations at the following sites in our area, listed below. Click here to make an appointment or call (877)978-6453. This list is valid through February 5.

Arkansans who are 70 or older and those who work in education will be eligible to get the COVID-19 vaccination beginning on January 18.

Check this map of providers across Arkansas offering the vaccine. Addresses and phone numbers are included. Providers are listed in Crittenden, Cross, Mississippi, Poinsett and St. Francis counties.

Call the number listed for each provider to make an appointment.

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Where to get the COVID-19 vaccine in West Tennessee, North Mississippi, eastern Arkansas - WREG NewsChannel 3

Pfizer and Moderna Phase III vaccine trials had a combined 70,000 participants, and under rollout efforts, more than 27 million Americans have had at least one dose.

CHARLOTTE, N.C. As health officials scramble to get vaccines into arms as quickly as possible, they are also still facing a healthy dose of vaccine hesitancy.

"Occasionally, I'll get some patient who'll say, 'I don't want to be a guinea pig and be the first one to get it,'" Dr. David Priest, an infectious disease specialist with Novant Health, said.

Some people have noted that these reservations come from the vaccines' quick development.

However, doctors assure that years of science helped lay the groundwork for these vaccines, and thousands of people helped test them.

According to Food and Drug Administration briefing documents on the Pfizer and Moderna vaccines, Pfizer's Phase III trial had roughly 40,000 participants. Moderna's had approximately 30,000.

"They were the same size as we would typically do, even if a vaccine was on a not-accelerated path," Dr. Tony Moody, a professor of pediatrics with the Duke Human Vaccine Institute, said.

According to a Centers for Disease Control and Prevention outline of how a new vaccine is developed and approved, vaccine trial sizes grow with each subsequent phase, with Phase I trials usually enlisting dozens of participants, Phase II trials getting hundreds and Phase III trials tapping hundreds or thousands of people to volunteer.

"No steps were skipped," Priest said. "All the usual regulatory things were there. They just had all the resources, a common enemy, and a lot of people to help develop the vaccine more quickly."

So what does Priest tells his patients who fear being a "guinea pig" if they get the vaccine?

"I say, 'That horse has left the barn. You can't be a guinea pig now because millions of people have gotten the vaccine the world over,'" said Priest.

Wednesday, the CDC said at least 27 million people in the U.S had received at least one dose of the vaccine already -- more than 6 million have gotten both doses.

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How the COVID-19 vaccine trial sizes compare to other vaccines - WCNC.com