Category: Covid-19 Vaccine

President-elect Joe Biden, here on Monday, says he plans to get vaccinated publicly for the coronavirus. Drew Angerer/Getty Images hide caption

President-elect Joe Biden, here on Monday, says he plans to get vaccinated publicly for the coronavirus.

High-ranking officials, including President-elect Joe Biden and Vice President Pence, are making preparations to get the COVID-19 vaccine, hoping to instill trust and confidence in the vaccine ahead of its widespread distribution as the death toll climbs to new heights.

Biden, who is set to be inaugurated on Jan. 20, said Tuesday it was recommended he get the vaccine "sooner than later" by infectious disease expert Dr. Anthony Fauci, who will become the Democrat's chief medical adviser.

"I want to just make sure we do it by the numbers. When I do it, you'll have notice, and we'll do it publicly," Biden said.

Pence, the outgoing Republican vice president, and his team are discussing options for how and when he will receive a COVID-19 vaccine, an aide to Pence told NPR's Tamara Keith.

President Trump, who has hailed the speed of vaccine development as among his greatest achievements in office, has not publicly said when he plans to be vaccinated.

A 2016 policy on continuity of government protocols provides for executive branch leaders to receive the vaccine quickly, and public health officials have said that public demonstrations of elected leaders getting the vaccine can help Americans hesitant about its safety overcome their fears.

But on Sunday, Trump tweeted: "People working in the White House should receive the vaccine somewhat later in the program, unless specifically necessary. I have asked that this adjustment be made. I am not scheduled to take the vaccine, but look forward to doing so at the appropriate time."

When asked Tuesday about the possible timing of when the president might get the vaccine, White House press secretary Kayleigh McEnany would not commit to when he would do so nor whether he would do it publicly.

She said Trump already has antibodies to the virus because of his treatment for COVID-19 in the fall, and he wanted to make sure that front-line health care workers and people who are vulnerable to the virus get the vaccine first.

McEnany said some senior administration officials would get the vaccine publicly, with announcements on that plan coming in the next few days. She said Trump would take the vaccine when health experts and his White House doctor tell him it's appropriate.

A recent poll by NPR/PBS NewsHour/Marist found that 61% of Americans plan to get vaccinated, up from 49% in September.

The Trump administration made a point of fast-tracking vaccine development, and the Food and Drug Administration last week authorized emergency use of the vaccine developed by Pfizer and BioNTech after endorsement by an advisory panel and clinical trials showing 95% effectiveness. The first vaccinations in the U.S. began Monday.

On Tuesday, the FDA reported that a separate vaccine from drugmaker Moderna was 94% effective overall.

See the original post:

Biden, Pence Prepare To Get COVID-19 Vaccine : Biden Transition Updates - NPR

Introduction

On December 11, the Food and Drug Administration (FDA) issued the first emergency use authorization (EUA) for a COVID-19 vaccine the Pfizer-BioNTech vaccine followed by the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC)s recommendation for use, clearing the way for delivery and administration of the vaccine throughout the country. Initially, supply will be very limited, meaning states have to make difficult decisions about who should get the first allocations.

To help guide these decisions, the CDCs Advisory Committee on Immunization Practices (ACIP) released an interim recommendation on December 1 for the highest priority group (Phase 1a) to include health care workers (HCWs) and long-term care (LTC) residents; we estimate that this populations together represents about 17.6 million people. ACIP also provided further guidance regarding sub-prioritization within these groups. While ACIP has yet to finalize recommendations on subsequent prioritization (expected soon), according to presentations and materials provided in recent ACIP meetings, the committee is likely to recommend that (non-health care) essential workers be the next priority group (Phase 1b), followed by persons age 65 and older and those with conditions that place them at high risk for severe illness from COVID-19 (Phase 1c). These groups are much larger, which will likely make the next stages of prioritization much more difficult given that supply will still be limited (according to ACIP, there are an estimated 87 million essential workers, 53+ million seniors and more than 100 million individuals with high-risk medical conditions).

States look to and often follow ACIP guidance, but the federal recommendations are not binding and some states may choose to depart from the prioritization sequence outlined by ACIP, which could mean that initial access will depend on where people live. To see where states stand on prioritization, we collected and reviewed all statements and releases from state officials that reference the criteria they will use to prioritize vaccines during Phase 1 (these prioritization criteria build on and add detail to states initial vaccine distribution plans, which we already examined here). We did not assess how individual facilities (such as hospitals) will allocate vaccines once they arrive at their doors.

All states have released updated prioritization criteria for Phase 1, primarily in response to ACIP deliberations and guidance. Some had planned emergency meetings in anticipation of the FDAs announcement and ACIPs follow-on recommendation. Importantly, most indicate that these criteria could change depending on supply, vaccine characteristics, and other factors.

Most states are following ACIPs Phase 1a recommendation.

The majority of states are still developing criteria for subsequent Phase 1 prioritization, but there are already some differences from ACIPs preliminary framework.

Our review finds that almost all states hew to ACIP regarding initial allocations of a COVID-19 vaccine (Phase 1a) and have looked specifically at ACIP for decision-making. Beyond that, a good number of states are still developing criteria for Phases 1b-c. Given that ACIP has yet to issue recommendations for these phases, states may be waiting for further guidance. However, based on ACIPs preliminary framework, there are some differences between state priorities and where ACIP is likely to land, primarily related to the prioritization of seniors and/or those with high risk medical conditions relative to non-health essential workers. Moreover, these later prioritization decisions are likely to be more difficult given the large numbers of people in these groups and continued limits on vaccine supply.

Read more here:

How are States Prioritizing Who Will Get the COVID-19 Vaccine First? - Kaiser Family Foundation

`;articleContent = document.querySelector(".article-content");articleContent.innerHTML = articleContent.innerHTML + formbox;function waitForElement(id, callback){ var goStahp = setInterval(function(){ if(document.getElementById(id)){ clearInterval(goStahp); callback(); } }, 100);}waitForElement("JotFormIFrame-202185815209151", function(){var ifr = document.getElementById("JotFormIFrame-202185815209151"); if(window.location.href && window.location.href.indexOf("?") > -1) { var get = window.location.href.substr(window.location.href.indexOf("?") + 1); if(ifr && get.length > 0) { var src = ifr.src; src = src.indexOf("?") > -1 ? src + "&" + get : src + "?" + get; ifr.src = src; } } window.handleIFrameMessage = function(e) { if (typeof e.data === 'object') { return; } var args = e.data.split(":"); if (args.length > 2) { iframe = document.getElementById("JotFormIFrame-" + args[(args.length - 1)]); } else { iframe = document.getElementById("JotFormIFrame"); } if (!iframe) { return; } switch (args[0]) { case "scrollIntoView": iframe.scrollIntoView(); break; case "setHeight": console.log(`case: setHeight`); iframe.style.height = parseInt(args[1]) + 15 + "px"; break; case "collapseErrorPage": console.log(`case: collapseErrorPage`); if (iframe.clientHeight > window.innerHeight) { iframe.style.height = window.innerHeight + "px"; } break; case "reloadPage": window.location.reload(); break; case "loadScript": var src = args[1]; if (args.length > 3) { src = args[1] + ':' + args[2]; } var script = document.createElement('script'); script.src = src; script.type = 'text/javascript'; document.body.appendChild(script); break; case "exitFullscreen": if (window.document.exitFullscreen) window.document.exitFullscreen(); else if (window.document.mozCancelFullScreen) window.document.mozCancelFullScreen(); else if (window.document.mozCancelFullscreen) window.document.mozCancelFullScreen(); else if (window.document.webkitExitFullscreen) window.document.webkitExitFullscreen(); else if (window.document.msExitFullscreen) window.document.msExitFullscreen(); break; } var isJotForm = (e.origin.indexOf("jotform") > -1) ? true : false; if(isJotForm && "contentWindow" in iframe && "postMessage" in iframe.contentWindow) { var urls = {"docurl":encodeURIComponent(document.URL),"referrer":encodeURIComponent(document.referrer)}; iframe.contentWindow.postMessage(JSON.stringify({"type":"urls","value":urls}), "*"); } }; if (window.addEventListener) { window.addEventListener("message", handleIFrameMessage, false); } else if (window.attachEvent) { window.attachEvent("onmessage", handleIFrameMessage); }});//

Read more:

First COVID-19 vaccine in Austin administered Tuesday, who is next in line? - KXAN.com

Unless someone has an unusual medical condition that would render vaccination contraindicated, the short answer is yes, it is unethical to refuse to vaccinated against COVID-19.

I am not a doctor, nor a philosopher studying normative questions of whether a particular course of action is ethical or unethical. However, I do study behavioral ethics the science of moral decision making which provides several reasons people might choose not to be vaccinated. None of them good.

Studies show that people are irrationally optimistic, tending to believe that the car wrecks, cancers and divorces that happen to other people are not going to happen to them. Why get vaccinated if you just know that you wont get COVID-19? Since March, I have watched countless interviews with people lying in hospital beds who explained how utterly shocked they were that they had contracted the coronavirus.

People also have a tendency to be overly confident regarding their abilities. The human mind is an overconfidence machine, writes columnist David Brooks in his book The Social Animal: The Hidden Sources of Love, Character and Achievement. Why get the vaccine if you are sure that medical experts are wrong?

In America, weve had an unfortunate tendency to divide into contentious groups. People tend to take their cues as to how to act from those in their in-group, a phenomenon called the conformity bias. For the past four years, theres been the Trump team and the never-Trump team. Why would you get vaccinated if your team believes that we have already turned the corner or that COVID-19 is going to just go away?

People love being right and hate being wrong. Their brains frequently help them preserve their self-image by rejecting new evidence that contradicts their preexisting beliefs. When cult leaders predict the end of the Earth and then the end doesnt come, followers often become even more fervent believers because their egos cant stand admitting theyve been wrong. If this phenomenon of belief persistence has enabled some to believe that COVID-19 is no big deal despite hundreds of thousands of deaths, why get vaccinated?

And people feel more blameworthy if their actions lead to bad consequences than if their inactions do, so they often tend toward inaction.

Those opposed to vaccinations who irrationally fear the side effects of drugs on their child but know that the disease being vaccinated against is also harmful often choose not to vaccinate. They would feel more responsible if their child suffered from the supposed side effects because they made the choice to vaccinate. But if they choose to do nothing, the bad consequences that follow from their inaction seem less their fault. Both courses involved a choice followed by consequences, but the choice not to vaccinate seems the less blameworthy path.

Simply put, there are many failures of human rationality, and they can lead to indefensible moral choices.

Consider this hypothetical: Your young daughter collapses for no apparent reason. After examination, a cardiologist strongly recommends immediate surgery for a heart condition. The surgery is not without risk, but the surgeon indicates the risks of not operating are far greater.

The following are such bad reasons not to elect to have the surgery that many would deem them immoral: 1. Shes OK; my family has always been healthy. 2. My online research tells me that the cardiologist is wrong. 3. A lot of my friends believe the president when he says, I dont think science knows, actually. 4. Something bad might happen during the surgery if I approve it, and Id never forgive myself.

People who dont get vaccinated need to muster the moral imagination to think of how that decision will fail to protect those who are vulnerable in our communities. If skeptics dont get vaccinated, they will undermine herd immunity, causing more people to die. And that is immoral. Enduring the mostly minor side effects expected from the vaccines is part of the contribution that people are reasonably expected to make for the common good.

Robert Prentice is director of the Ethics Unwrapped program in the Center for Leadership & Ethics at The University of Texas at Austin.

A version of this op-ed appeared in USA Today.

Continued here:

Is It Unethical to Refuse a COVID-19 Vaccine? - UT News - UT News | The University of Texas at Austin

The first doses of the vaccine are only available to healthcare workers and may not be widely available until spring of 2021.

CHARLOTTE, N.C. People are officially getting the Pfizer COVID-19 vaccination after the first shipments were delivered to hospitals across the United States Monday.

But right now, its just available for healthcare workers and nursing home residents. The average, healthy American will have to wait a little longer.

So how much longer will it be until the general U.S. population gets the shot? The answer really depends on who you ask.

Alex Azar, secretary of the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services, says by late February and early March it will be as easy as getting the flu shot, with stores like Walmart and Walgreens giving the vaccine to the general population.

This is, of course, after members of the high-risk population get their vaccination.

Azars timeline is slightly different than Dr. Anthony Fauci, the nations top infectious disease expert, who says most people will have to wait until April before they get treated.

Dr. Fauci says that would mean approaching herd immunity by next fall.

Dr. Fauci is hopeful thats when we can start easing off some of the public safety measures, like face masks and social distancing. But health experts do estimate close to 70% of the American population will have to be vaccinated to reach herd immunity and that could take quite some time.

Originally posted here:

When will the average American be able to get the COVID-19 vaccine? - WCNC.com

CLEVELAND (WJW) As COVID-19 vaccinations begin in Ohio, for many people in the state, a vaccine will remain out of reach for several more months.

Questions on the minds of many as the first vaccinations are administered is when will the general public be eligible and if notifications will be sent to individuals directly explaining its their turn to get vaccinated.

A Cleveland Clinic spokesperson stated those details are still being planned, but they are preparing to vaccinate patients as supply and guidance allow, and are committed to keeping patients informed about who is eligible to get vaccinated.

The Ohio Department of Health will coordinate vaccinations in four phases beginning with health care workers and ending with the general public.

The state is following CDC guidance regarding priority populations.The state health department will be coordinating this phased approach and will work with vaccine providers to communicate vaccine eligibility to the general public, said the Ohio Department of Health press secretary, in a statement.

How quickly you move in those categories will depend on how much vaccine we get, said Summit County Public Health Commissioner Donna Skoda. The unknown is how much were getting to begin with and when its coming and how much of an up tick we have.

Next Tuesday, according to the Ohio Department of Health, a shipment of more than 200,000 of Modernas COVID-19 vaccine, which is still pending emergency use authorization by the U.S. Food and Drug Administration, could arrive at 98 hospitals and 108 health departments. This shipment would help vaccinate additional health care workers.

We will be notifying each group of the public through press releases, Skoda said. We will certainly be making the media request in putting stuff out there about when and how, when you can come and how you can come get a vaccine.

A Cuyahoga County Board of Health spokesperson said they are awaiting direction from the state department of health regarding vaccine notifications to the general public.

The latest headlines from FOX8.com:

Follow this link:

When will Ohioans know theyre eligible to receive COVID-19 vaccine? - WJW FOX 8 News Cleveland

The first FDA-approved COVID-19 vaccinations in the Bay Area were administered at a San Francisco hospital Tuesday morning.

The historic moment at Zuckerberg San Francisco General Hospital came as the region continued to grapple with a surge in COVID-19 infections and hospitalizations.

San Francisco Department of Health Director Dr. Grant Colfaxsaid five health care workers two nurses, two doctors and a radiology technician were vaccinated. Dr. Antonio Gomez, a critical care physician who has been treating COVID-19 patients, was the first.

"First of all, I want to say that the vaccine is safe," Gomez said. "It should be taken by everyone who can get it. Today marks a milestone in our efforts to combat COVID-19 in the city, in the state, in the country and the world."

San Francisco has received just over 12,500 doses of Pfizer's vaccine, Colfax said. Those doses will be administered to front line workers at hospitals across the city over the coming days and weeks. Only five vaccinations were administered Tuesday because officials wanted to make sure the process and system ran smoothly.

"I think it's important to emphasize that we're starting at the acute care hospitals," Colfax said. "This is going to be a long process. Vaccine supply is extremely limited."

If Moderna's vaccine is approved for emergency use, the city expects to receive a limited amount of doses next week, Colfax said. A second shipment of Pfizer's vaccine is expected "soon," he added.

Colfax, Gomez and Mayor London Breed emphasized that despite the vaccination milestone, people need to continue to wear masks, practice social distancing and avoid holiday gatherings.

"Let this not give us a license to change our behavior and think now that there's a vaccine, we can do whatever we want to do," Breed said. "The fact is, we are not out of the woods, but there is a light at the end of the tunnel."

The United States began its rollout of the coronavirus vaccine on Monday. Hear from health leaders across the country as frontline workers began receiving their vaccinations.

The first COVID-19 vaccinations in the United States, including in Southern California, began Monday with health care workers rolling up their sleeves.

Vaccinations for the general public aren't expected to be available until "many months from now," according to Colfax.

"That is not a timeline from San Francisco," he said. "That is a timeline from the federal and state government."

While some have voiced trepidation and raised concerns about the speed at which Pfizer's vaccine was approved, Gomez reiterated its safety and encouraged everyone to take it.

"All of the available evidence that we have about those who have taken this vaccine is that it's very safe and that it's highly effective," he said. "I think that alone should really be very encouraging for everyone...I wouldn't have administered on myself if I didn't think it was safe."

See the original post here:

First COVID-19 Vaccinations in Bay Area Administered at SF Hospital - NBC Bay Area

Dr. Corina Marcu of Hartford Hospital receives one of Connecticut's first COVID-19 vaccinations on Dec. 14, 2020. Fifteen doses were administered to health care providers and environmental services workers after the Pfizer BioNTech vaccine arrived at Hartford Hospital that morning. Hartford Healthcare officials called it "the dawn of a new day." (Mark Mirko/Mark Mirko)

See the article here:

Employers can require COVID-19 vaccination, but there are exceptions - Chicago Tribune

FILE PHOTO: U.S. President Donald Trump departs on travel to West Point, New York from the South Lawn at the White House in Washington, U.S., December 12, 2020. REUTERS/Cheriss May

WASHINGTON (Reuters) - U.S. President Donald Trump will absolutely encourage Americans to take COVID-19 vaccines, and will receive a vaccine himself as soon as his medical team determines its best, White House Press Secretary Kayleigh McEnany said on Tuesday.

But the Republican president also wanted to show that vulnerable Americans are the top priority to receive the vaccines, she told reporters at a White House briefing.

McEnany said some career national security staff would have access to vaccines to ensure a continuity of government, along with a very small group of senior administration officials for the purpose of instilling public confidence.

Reporting by Andrea Shalal, Editing by Franklin Paul

Follow this link:

Trump to receive COVID-19 vaccine as soon as medical team say it's best - McEnany - Reuters

President Trump tweeted Sunday night that he's stopped an administration directive to give White House staff the COVID-19 vaccine as a priority, but he will get inoculated against the virus "at the appropriate time."

Why it matters: NIAID director Anthony Fauci says 75%80% of Americans need to get vaccinated against the coronavirus to achieve herd immunity. Vaccine adoption is a matter of trust, and trust in most institutions has hit generational lows.

Of note: President-elect Joe Biden said before the FDA issued an emergency use authorization for Pfizer-BioNTech's coronavirus vaccine he would get inoculated once it was deemed safe.

The big picture: The first batch of Pfizer's COVID-19 vaccines left Michigan earlier Sunday.

By the numbers: Cases and deaths from the virus are continuing to soar across the U.S. Nearly 300,000 Americans have died from COVID-19 and almost 16.3 million have tested positive, per Johns Hopkins.

Go deeper: Middle America is still racking up a ton of new coronavirus cases

Read more here:

Trump says he will take COVID-19 vaccine, but reverses plan to give WH staff priority - Axios