Category: Covid-19 Vaccine

We asked you to tell us your biggest questions about the COVID-19 vaccines. Here are some answers. USA TODAY

A committee crucial for clearing a COVID-19 vaccine will hold an all-day meeting Thursday, and depending on how it votes, the nation's first doses could ship as early as Friday.

The external expert committee will review data from Pfizer and German startup BioNTech on their vaccine, called BNT162b2, and by day's end will vote whether the U.S. Food and Drug Administration should authorize the countrys first COVID-19 vaccine.

The companies are requesting an emergency use authorization, shy of a full approval. While they have compiled as much short-term safety and effectiveness data as is typical with any vaccine, the process has been compressed. But corners, FDA says, have not been cut.

If the independent Vaccines and Related Biological Products Advisory Committee recommends that authorization, the FDA is expected to sign off on the vaccine, possibly as soon as late Thursday.

'Very inconsistent': 2 allergic reactions in the UK to COVID-19 vaccine puzzle researchers

Another committee, convened by the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, will meet Friday and Sunday to officially determine who should receive the first doses. Depending on timing, the first Americans could start to be vaccinated by the weekend, though more likely Monday.

The VRBPAC meeting (pronounced verb-pack), is one of the final pieces in a process that began in January when workbegan on a vaccine to help end the global coronavirus pandemic. Just 10 months later, on Nov. 20, Pfizer and BioNTechbecame the first tosubmittheir application to FDA for general use in the U.S.

Another COVID-19 vaccine, developed by Cambridge, Massachusetts-based Moderna, will go through the same approval processnext week. Its candidate goes before the FDA committee Dec. 17.

No fully vetted vaccinehas ever been developed more quickly. The previous record was four years for one against the mumps.Vaccine developers saved time by conducting steps at the same time that are usually done in sequence.

Despite the swift pace, experts stress the process has been painstaking and methodical, and FDA's scientific experts will comb the data submitted by the companies.Everything is double-checkedand nothing is taken for granted.

They even go through it line by line and check all the math, do all the statistical analyses over again, saidDr. Gregory Poland, director of the Mayo Vaccine Research Group and editor-in-chief of the journal Vaccine.

"They're really making sure that no stone left goes left unturned in terms of evaluating the safety and the efficacy of these vaccines," said Dr. William Moss, an epidemiologist with the International Vaccine Access Center.

A vial of the COVID-19 candidate vaccine developed by BioNTech and Pfizer is displayed at the headquarters in Puurs, Belgium.(Photo: AP Images)

The unprecedented speed at which the COVID-19 vaccines have beenbrought to market belies the truth about vaccine development: Most efforts fail.

Only about 1 in 6 make it all the way through approval. Decades of tedious work can be upended by spectacular failuresand the most promising paths can turn into dead ends.

Nature gives up its secrets slowly and grudgingly. Its a constant struggle to prove that a product you think saves lives actually does, said Dr. Paul Offit,director of the Vaccine Education Center at Children's Hospital of Philadelphiaand a professor of vaccinology at the Perelman School of Medicine at the University of Pennsylvania.

Vaccines take years and sometimes decades to develop for a reason. There are so many hoops to jump thatits hard to even count the hundreds of points where something could go wrong and knock a candidate out of the running.

Getting a vaccine has been a huge undertaking. How all 50 states scramble to dole them out is the next massive challenge.

Everyone who works in the field knows they should never get their hopes up.

The nature of vaccine development is there are always surprises, said Poland. After four decades working the field, his advice is expect the unexpected.

Vaccines are first tested in cellsthen in animals.If things go well in animals, the company or researchers working on the vaccine apply to the FDA to test it in a very small number of humans to make sure it doesnt hurt people.

Those first humantests are wheremost vaccine creators hopes and dreams end. What works in animals, theyve learned the hard way, usually doesnt work in people.

The Phase 1 trial is where 90% of vaccines die, said Dr. Corey Casper, CEO of the Infectious Disease Research Institute in Seattle and a professor of global health at the University of Washington.

If a vaccine clears Phase 1, it still can be rejected in larger Phase 2 and the much larger Phase 3 human trials, which are guided by external expert committees with the power of life and death over the process.

Almost 15% of candidate vaccines get bad news when trials expand,according to research by the Massachusetts Institute of Technology.

Its one of the most dejecting feelings. Its like getting a holiday present and theres nothing in the box, said Casper. You feel horrible. Youve done all this work, youve spent all this and youve gotten people to volunteer their time and their bodies and they didnt benefit."

The frontrunning COVID-19vaccines got lucky.

Data fromPfizer/BioNTech's Phase 3 trial showed itprevented 95% of people from becoming sick. Moderna's vaccine, based on the same messenger RNA technology, showed similar effectiveness. The findings bode well for their FDA blessing.

Phil Dormitzer, chief science officer for Pfizers viral vaccine research and development division, received the good news Nov. 9.

He wasat home in Nyack, New York, when he opened his email at 6:15 a.m.and saw the subject line.

Ill be honest with you, it was somewhat overwhelming. I was stopped in my tracks, it was a real rush of emotion, he said.

Later in the day his team held a brief celebratory teleconference but then they went back to work.

To actually get this vaccine authorized, manufactured and distributed," he said, "theres still a huge amount that has to be done."

Contact Elizabeth Weise at eweise@usatoday.com

Answers to your vaccine questions: Are there side effects to a COVID-19 vaccine? What are the 'ingredients'? The cost?

More: Moderna becomes second company to request emergency FDA authorization for COVID-19 vaccine candidate

Pressure to create a coronavirus vaccine is increasing by the day, but for a safe vaccine to enter the market, it takes time. USA TODAY

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Pfizer's COVID-19 vaccine finally reaches its last step: FDA committee vote. Most vaccines never get that far. - USA TODAY

TAHLEQUAH, Okla. (KFOR) A tribal nation says it is set to receive its first doses of the COVID-19 vaccine next week.

The Cherokee Nation says it will receive 975 of the first doses of the Pfizer COVID-19 vaccine next week.

We have been working with IHS and following CDC guidelines to create a prioritization plan that will include our frontline health care workers and those who are at high risk of infection to be among the first to receive the vaccine so that we can get our most vulnerable and at-risk populations vaccinated, said Brian Hail, Deputy Executive Director of External Operations for Cherokee Nation Health Services.

Tribal leaders say they will vaccinate frontline healthcare workers, emergency responders, Cherokee speakers, Cherokee National Treasures, and elders over the age of 65.

Taking a COVID-19 vaccine is another step forward to saving lives among our Cherokee people and helping stop the spread of this deadly virus in our Cherokee communities, Cherokee Nation Principal Chief Chuck Hoskin Jr. said. I know some of our Cherokee elders may have reservations about taking the vaccine, but it will save our elders, our speakers, our National Treasures and frontline workers. As we continue our phased plan and get more doses into 2021 to begin vaccinating our employees and citizens, we can begin the process of healing from what we know is the worst public health crisis our tribe has faced in generations.

Officials say they have made several updates to their facilities in order to keep the COVID-19 vaccines stored properly.

The vaccine will be given in two doses with the second dose given exactly 21 days after the first.

The more of our frontline staff that receive the vaccine puts us in line to receive larger allocations in the future. Use of this first allocation and the time in which we administer it, is very important to benefit our communities moving forward, said Dr. R. Stephen Jones, Executive Director of Cherokee Nation Health Services.

Once the first group of Cherokee citizens is vaccinated, officials say they plan to provide vaccines to non- healthcare critical staff like teachers, childcare providers, food security staff, shelter staff, and those with underlying health conditions.

So far, the Cherokee Nation has had nearly 7,000 positive cases of COVID-19 and 50 deaths, including 20 Cherokee speakers within its health system.

As the COVID-19 vaccine becomes more readily available, the tribe encourages everyone to continue to wear a mask, wash their hands regularly and observe social distancing. The benefit provided by the vaccine will take several months before it decreases the amount of community spread and impact to Cherokee families and communities.

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Cherokee Nation to receive first doses of COVID-19 vaccine next week - KFOR Oklahoma City

Public health officials have confirmed that people will be given a COVID-19 Vaccination Record Card after they receive their first dose of the coronavirus vaccine, CNN reports. The documentation will help officials keep track of who has received the shot, and help people follow through with the second dose of their vaccination schedule, Kelly Moore, associate director of the Immunization Action Coalition, told the news outlet.

Everyone will be issued a written card that they can put in their wallet that will tell them what they had and when their next dose is due, Moore explained. Lets do the simple, easy thing first. Everyones going to get that.

Clinics that offer the vaccine will also log patient information in their state immunization registries to track which shot was given, as two vaccine candidates from pharmaceutical giants Pfizer and Moderna are currently pending emergency use authorization from the FDA. This will make it easier for doctors and healthcare providers to find that information if a patient was unsure of their vaccination details, Moore says.

The card will be part of an overall vaccination kit, which will also include a needle and syringe, alcohol wipes, and a face mask.

U.S. Department of Defense

The cards were also mentioned in a press briefing with members of the federal governments Operation Warp Speed. Weve set up everything [in] a draconian process, where when we sent out the ancillary kits which have needles and syringes, weve included paper cards to be filled out and ... given to the individuals, reminding them of their next vaccine due date, Army Gen. Gustave Perna, Warp Speeds chief operating officer, said in the briefing. He added that people will be asked to take a photo of their vaccination cards or to keep them in their wallet.

This isnt a concept unique to COVID-19. Vaccination cards are already distributed when people are vaccinated against certain infectious diseases, including smallpox and yellow fever.

The World Health Organization (WHO) has an international certificate of vaccination or prophylaxis that can be carried by a person who has been vaccinated. I carry a yellow fever card around in my wallet, says infectious disease expert Amesh A. Adalja, M.D., senior scholar at the Johns Hopkins Center for Health Security.

There was a time when pediatricians were giving out vaccination cards to parents after routine childhood vaccines, but so many parents lost them and didnt keep up with them that people gave that up about 25 years ago, says William Schaffner, M.D., an infectious disease specialist and professor at the Vanderbilt University School of Medicine. Now, for certain diseases, you have to have a vaccination certificate or card if youre going to certain countries.

A COVID-19 vaccination card will feature a persons first and last name, birthdate, the vaccines name and maker, and the dates of when the first and second dose were received, according to a sample image from the U.S. Department of Defense. (Both vaccines pending approval will require two doses.)

U.S. Department of Defense

Back in April, Anthony Fauci, M.D., director of the National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases, said that there were talks of using vaccination cards or certificates for the COVID-19 vaccine. You know, thats possible, he said on CNNs New Day at the time. Its one of those things that we talk about when we want to make sure that we know who the vulnerable people are and not.

Its unclear at this point how COVID-19 vaccine cards will be used, but experts have confirmed that their main purpose is to simply make sure people follow through with the second dose of the vaccine. It will be very important ... for all Americans who get the Moderna or the Pfizer vaccine to have their first vaccine dose and then come back either three or four weeks later to get their second vaccine dose, to complete the immunization schedule, said Moncef Slaoui, M.D., Warp Speeds chief scientific adviser, per NPR.

Moore told CNN that vaccine distribution sites will likely ask you for your cell phone number, so you can also receive a text message to remind you to get your next dose.

Richard Watkins, M.D., an infectious disease physician and professor of internal medicine at the Northeast Ohio Medical University, says the cards might be especially useful for workers that interact with the public and vulnerable populations frequently, like healthcare providers, restaurant servers, and teachers.

Officials have not confirmed that the cards will be used for travel or large events.

Overall, experts say vaccination cards will bring us one step closer to ending the pandemic. Both Pfizer and Moderna have vaccine candidates that are reported to be more than 90% effective at preventing COVID-19 infection in people whole participated in phase 3 clinical trials. The White House Coronavirus Task Force expects the first doses to be administered to healthcare workers and elderly residents of long-term care facilities as soon as mid-December.

It is unlikely that the general public will have access to the vaccine until late spring to summer of 2021, Dr. Adalja says. But when it becomes available to you, its crucial that you get it. Nearly 300,000 Americans have died of COVID-19 so farand getting vaccinated will help save lives. I would be proud to show my coronavirus vaccine card to people, Dr. Adalja says.

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Heres Why Youll Be Given a Vaccination Card After You Get the COVID-19 Vaccine - Prevention.com

COVID-19 vaccines should dramatically drive down the rate of new cases, hospitalizations and deaths in the U.S. provided that enough people get the shots.

According to a new model, posted Nov. 30 to the preprint database medRxiv, vaccinating just 40% of the U.S. population would cut the attack rate, or new infections from the virus, more than four-fold over the course of one year. That reduction would occur both by directly protecting those who get the shots and indirectly protecting others in the wider community.

Without any vaccines, about 7% of susceptible people would get infected over the next year, the authors estimated. That's assuming people comply with measures like social distancing and mask-wearing; the attack rate would likely be higher without such precautions in place.

The low attack rate with vaccines translates to fewer hospitalizations and deaths from COVID-19; with 40% of the population vaccinated, both ICU and non-ICU hospitalizations would fall more than 85%, according to the model. Deaths would fall by more than 87% compared with a year-long scenario with no vaccinations.

Related: 20 of the worst epidemics and pandemics in history

Does that mean we can throw caution to the wind and stop social distancing if 41% of the population gets vaccinated? No, not exactly.

About three-quarters of the population will likely need to be vaccinated before we can safely begin easing restrictions, given how easily COVID-19 spreads between people, said study author Meagan Fitzpatrick, an assistant professor and infectious disease transmission modeler at the University of Maryland School of Medicine. In addition, the new model has not yet been peer-reviewed, and in any case, it cannot perfectly predict what will happen once Americans are vaccinated.

But the study does give us reason for hope, Fitzpatrick said. With such highly effective vaccines under review, "the strategy now is to try to get these vaccines into as many people as possible," she said.

The two leading vaccine candidates one designed by Moderna and the other by Pfizer and BioNTech are both more than 94% effective at preventing COVID-19, according to early analyses. That level of efficacy is "so much higher than any of us had a right to expect one year into the pandemic," Fitzpatrick said. "What our research confirms is that these vaccines with extraordinarily high efficacy really do have the potential to make a huge impact," she said.

In their model, the study authors assumed that people with the highest risk of COVID-19 exposure and death would receive the vaccine first. These included a large proportion of all health care workers, people with existing medical conditions and individuals ages 65 and older. Individuals younger than age 65 received the vaccine next, and no individuals under 18 got the shots, since none of the leading vaccines have been tested thoroughly in children yet.

In addition, the authors assumed that 10% of the population had already caught COVID-19 and developed natural immunity to the virus. "Ten percent is fair, but may be an underestimate in some places" where case counts have been particularly high, Stanley Perlman, a professor of microbiology and immunology at the University of Iowa, who was not involved in the study, said in an email.

Related: Here are the most promising coronavirus vaccine candidates out there

Given these parameters, the model showed that vaccinating 40% of the population substantially reduced case counts, hospitalizations and deaths from COVID-19.

The most dramatic drop occurred in people ages 65 and older, who experienced an 83% to 90% reduction in potential cases. People ages 20 and younger had half as many new infections, even though no one under 18 was vaccinated. In other words, while older adults got direct protection from the vaccine, young adults and children were indirectly protected as immunity increased in the community at large, Fitzpatrick said.

After seeing the impact of 40% vaccination rates, the authors tested what would happen with only 20% of the population vaccinated. Again, the model prioritized vaccinating those at high risk of exposure and severe illness. Even with such low vaccine coverage, non-ICU hospitalizations fell by 60%, ICU hospitalizations by 62% and deaths by more than 64%. This suggests that, as vaccines begin to roll out, we may begin to see their positive impacts even before many people get the shots, Fitzpatrick said.

While the study highlights the power and promise of COVID-19 vaccines, the study authors cautioned that vaccines must be paired with other safeguards against the virus, such as masking, testing and contact tracing. If we drop those safeguards too soon, more people would need to be vaccinated to prevent a spike in new cases, they wrote.

"I think that we [will] need social distancing and masks for many months still," Perlman said. "Opening up restaurants and allowing mass gatherings will need to be done very cautiously until vaccination rates are high," he noted.

If anything, contact-tracing efforts should ramp up as vaccines roll out, so health officials can quickly spot new outbreaks and identify communities that should be prioritized for vaccination, Fitzpatrick said.

Reaching high-risk groups will be critical to stopping the pandemic, and this is one way in which the model might differ from reality. In the model, vaccination rates were assumed to be similar across the whole country, and those in high-risk groups always got their shots first. What's more, both of the leading vaccines require two shots given several weeks apart, and in the model, everyone in the model got both doses of the vaccine.

In reality, "vaccination programs often miss their targets," said Dr. Eric Schneider, senior vice president for policy and research at The Commonwealth Fund, a national organization that researches health and social policy issues, who was not involved in the study. "If, in reality, lower-risk individuals ... are more likely than higher-risk individuals to receive [a] vaccine, then the model overstates the effect of the vaccination program," Schneider said in an email.

In other words, the model will reflect reality only if the U.S. follows through with its plan to give high-risk groups the vaccine first. To work, this plan must be well-coordinated at all levels of the government and health care system, and paired with clear communication about the vaccine's risks and benefits, according to a recent report by The Commonwealth Fund.

And of course, once a vaccine becomes available, those offered access must agree to take it, Fitzpatrick said. "A vaccine only works if people take it."

Recent surveys hint that many U.S. residents would probably or definitely get a COVID-19 vaccine if offered one today, but a smaller proportion say that they probably or definitely would not. These reports should be taken with a huge grain of salt, though, because "what someone says they're going to do in a survey doesn't always represent what they're actually going to do," Fitzpatrick said.

Thankfully, while we wait to see what happens, "I think there's a lot of reason to be hopeful," she added.

Originally published on Live Science.

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When will COVID-19 vaccines start to make a difference? - Livescience.com

Long-term care facilities are set to be included in the first group of COVID-19 vaccinations in New Hampshire. On Wednesday, new information was revealed on the timeline and number of vaccine doses coming to the state.>> Download the FREE WMUR appThe first shipment of vaccine could be in New Hampshire by the middle of next week, in limited amounts. There will be 12,675 doses of the Pfizer vaccine allocated to start, with a larger allocation of the Moderna vaccine the week of Dec. 21, according to Dr. Beth Daly of Health and Human Services. Then we will continue to receive weekly allocations thereafter, Daly said. We do not know the exact amount of what that will be.Reaffirming to long-term care facilities on the weekly call, that they will be prioritized, along with at-risk health workers and first responders, also as early as the week of Dec. 21. We are meeting regularly with the pharmacies to understand their plan for New Hampshire, what does that mean for Dec. 21, what is that going to look like, how many facilities are they planning to do each week, Daly said. The safety of the vaccine was discussed and the most common side effects from pain, redness and swelling at the injection site. To fatigue, headache, muscle and joint pain, chills and fever. A complicating factor because people are screened for fever before they enter facilities.So, if somebody was vaccinated 24 hours before it seems to be that 14% of those may have some fever so essentially be screened out, Dr. Elizabeth Talbot said. The state is working on a strategy for that, along with other information to be released in the days ahead.And officials issued a reminder, with little known about the transmissibility of the virus, once someone has gotten the vaccine, we need to keep our guard up.Tempering our collective enthusiasm, theres really good news here, but we still need to maintain all the different strategies weve put in place to prevent transmission, Talbot said.

Long-term care facilities are set to be included in the first group of COVID-19 vaccinations in New Hampshire. On Wednesday, new information was revealed on the timeline and number of vaccine doses coming to the state.

>> Download the FREE WMUR app

The first shipment of vaccine could be in New Hampshire by the middle of next week, in limited amounts. There will be 12,675 doses of the Pfizer vaccine allocated to start, with a larger allocation of the Moderna vaccine the week of Dec. 21, according to Dr. Beth Daly of Health and Human Services.

Then we will continue to receive weekly allocations thereafter, Daly said. We do not know the exact amount of what that will be.

Reaffirming to long-term care facilities on the weekly call, that they will be prioritized, along with at-risk health workers and first responders, also as early as the week of Dec. 21.

We are meeting regularly with the pharmacies to understand their plan for New Hampshire, what does that mean for Dec. 21, what is that going to look like, how many facilities are they planning to do each week, Daly said.

The safety of the vaccine was discussed and the most common side effects from pain, redness and swelling at the injection site. To fatigue, headache, muscle and joint pain, chills and fever. A complicating factor because people are screened for fever before they enter facilities.

So, if somebody was vaccinated 24 hours before it seems to be that 14% of those may have some fever so essentially be screened out, Dr. Elizabeth Talbot said.

The state is working on a strategy for that, along with other information to be released in the days ahead.

And officials issued a reminder, with little known about the transmissibility of the virus, once someone has gotten the vaccine, we need to keep our guard up.

Tempering our collective enthusiasm, theres really good news here, but we still need to maintain all the different strategies weve put in place to prevent transmission, Talbot said.

Link:

Limited amounts of COVID-19 vaccine expected to start arriving in NH next week - WMUR Manchester

COVID 19 vaccine: Principal investigator in Moderna study on why she thinks you should trust the vaccine  WTVD-TV

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COVID 19 vaccine: Principal investigator in Moderna study on why she thinks you should trust the vaccine - WTVD-TV

Modernas COVID-19 vaccine, one of two expected to come on line before the end of the year.

As federal experts determined that known and potential benefits outweigh the related risks when it comes to Pfizers COVID-19 vaccine, New Jersey officials are poised in the coming weeks to launch their part of what is likely the largest immunization campaign in history.

Gov. Phil Murphy said Tuesday that state officials have fine-tuned their vaccine plan and are working with a network of public and private health-care providers and other stakeholders to be ready. They aim to begin immunizing priority individuals within a day or so of a final federal approval, which could come as early as Thursday.

Its safe based on everything we know, Murphy said Tuesday during a public conversation with SkyBridge Capitals founder and partner Anthony Scaramucci, who briefly served as President Donald Trumps communication director. (Both Murphy and Scaramucci worked at Goldman Sachs.)

The state hopes to get 70% of the eligible population, some 4.7 million adults, immunized within six months of the vaccine becoming available to the general public, likely April or May 2021. Thats a reach, but were going to try, Murphy said.

As of Tuesday afternoon, heres where the process stands:

Mass vaccinations have already begun in the United Kingdom, where Monday marked the start of what is being called V-day, just a year after the novel coronavirus first emerged in Wuhan, China. In Britain, vaccines will be administered at roughly 50 public hospitals and the priority is residents over age 80 who are hospitalized or have outpatient appointments at the facility, according to news reports.

First up was grandmother Margaret Keenan, due to turn 91 next week, the AP reported. Its the best early birthday present I could wish for because it means I can finally look forward to spending time with my family and friends in the New Year after being on my own for most of the year, Keenan said.

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The COVID-19 vaccine: What we know - NJ Spotlight

As one of two COVID-19 vaccines go up for FDA approval, can employers mandate you get thevaccine when its available?

The County Executive and director of the Health Department both encourage employers to push for their employees to get the covid-19 vaccine when it becomes available.

The more people that are vaccinated, the quicker we are going to get out of this pandemic and the faster we will get to a recovery stage,says Melissa Lyon, director of the Erie County Department of Health.

County Executive Kathy Dahlkemper adds that the vaccine could be a proactive measure to the economic downfall of the pandemic.

A healthy population, good public health is absolutely essential to good economic development and to a thriving economy,says Dahlkemper.

There is no official word on if a coronavirus vaccine would be mandatory for workers.

In general, yes an employer would have the right to require vaccine of their employees; particularly an at-will employer,says lawyer Timothy McNair.

Exceptions to a potential vaccine mandate would include medical issues or religious beliefs.

They would have to be accommodated either by working separately, working off site, whatever the employer can do that is reasonable,says McNair.

However, it does not guarantee the employee would keep their job.Also, if company employees are represented by a union, a vaccine mandate could become an issue for collective bargaining.

As the general public waits for the vaccine to roll out for distribution, we decided to talk to members to see if they are readyto get the dose themselves.

Yes, I work in healthcare. Im excited for it, I hope it helps everyone, says healthcare worker Tracy Wentz.

Yeah, Ill get it. I think it works according tonews,says Erie Resident James Kerney Jr.

Idontknow if I would because I think theres people that would need it more and I respect that,says Erie Resident Stefanie Seath.

Secretary of Health Dr. Rachel Levine says there is not a mandate in place for public school students to get the COVID-19 vaccine.

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Can the COVID-19 vaccine be mandated? - YourErie

When 91-year-old Martin Kenyon stepped out of Guys Hospital in London and in front of a CNN camera Tuesday, not even his family knew he was one of the first people in the world to receive a COVID-19 vaccine.

His charming interview recalling his vaccination experience quickly went viral and soon even his relatives over here across the pond knew of Kenyons online fame, including his cousin, Cape Cod state Rep. Dylan Fernandes.

A link to Kenyons appearance with CNNs Cyril Vanier made the rounds in Fernandess family group chat, the Falmouth Democrat toldthe State House News Service.

It was hysterical and totally vintage Martin. Hes a character and an awesome guy who you can always count on to speak his mind, Fernandes told the outlet. I literally just got off the phone with him and I let him know that he is trending all over America, and that millions of Americans have seen his interview. He got a kick out of that. He didnt have any idea. He didnt even know it was CNN. So he got a real kick out of it.

The rollout of Pfizers COVID-19 vaccine to the general public began Tuesday in the United Kingdom, where officials have received 800,000 doses, or enough to vaccinate 400,000 people. People who are over the age of 80 who are hospitalized or have outpatient appointments scheduled, nursing home workers, and vaccination staffers are among those receiving the first batch of shots.

Kenyon said on CNN he called up the hospital and, after answering some questions, was told to come in.

Of course, I couldnt damn well find anywhere to park my car, so I was late, Kenyon said in the interview. Anyway, Im here now and I got inside and they duly put me down the list and I went off and had a rather nasty lunch and then came back. And they were ready for me.

He hoped to be vaccinated so he could hug his grandchildren again in the coming weeks.

No point in dying now when I have lived this long, is there? he quipped. I dont plan to anyway.

Fernandes said hes related to Kenyon through his grandmother. He told the news service he sees Kenyon at large family events like major birthdays and weddings. Kenyon has stayed with him in Woods Hole before and has taken in some of Fernandess hockey games in Falmouth.

The local lawmaker revealed the family connection on Twitter Tuesday and boasted some fun facts about Kenyon, who Fernandes said was the first person I ever saw take a flaming shot.

This was 16 years ago, so he was around 75, he wrote.

Fernandes also highlighted Kenyons really impressive career in international affairs.

He worked to combat the South African apartheid regime and is the godfather of one of Desmond Tutus daughters, he wrote.

Kenyons moment in the spotlight continued Wednesday morning as he appeared on ITVs Good Morning Britain.

Co-host Piers Morgan, who watched Kenyons CNN clip when it was live on air, remarked to Kenyon the Americans clearly had no idea what to make of you as you gave a quintessentially stiff upper-lip English interview.

And Kenyon admitted he cant make sense of his overnight popularity.

Its rather ridiculous, isnt it? he said. I rather hoped it was a sort of 24-hour nonsense but anyway, here we are.

Watch the full interview on Good Morning Britain:

Material from the Associated Press was used in this report.

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A London man who went viral after his COVID-19 vaccination has a surprising Mass. connection - Boston.com

GRAND RAPIDS, Mich. Wednesday afternoon, the Black Impact Collaborative held a virtual discussion about the longstanding distrust that African Americans have regarding the medical field. Moderator Dr. Walter Brame noted that officials in the United Kingdom have already begun distributing the vaccine there. However, he believes concerns need to be addressed in the Black community in the United States before its distributed.

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It is my hope that the discussion will shed light on some of the issues and will provide answers to some of the issues related to the vaccine, Dr. Brame said during a Zoom interview. Given the history of African Americans and the medical community, there are some stumbling blocks that well have to overcome in terms of trust.

Officials with Spectrum Health, Cherry Health and Kent County were a part of the discussion. One of the major stumbling blocks discussed was the history between the Black community and the medical field, which dates as far back as the colonial days when enslaved Africans were used for various experiments, he said. Since then, Black people have been put on display in exhibitions and zoos as animals, and continue to be used in tests and trials for diseases like syphilis.

RELATED: How officials will encourage the public to take both COVID-19 vaccine doses

The Tuskegee Experiment is where the CDC of the American government sponsored, over a long period of time, the impact of syphilis on the human body supposedly trying to discover what differences if any existed between the treatment of Blacks and Whites, when in fact no Whites were involved, Dr. Brame said about the 1932 experiment. Given this history with bad experience with the medical community, it is easy to understand that people are questioning whether or not this is another jinx.

Dr. Brame added that the experiment lasted for decades and ended the year his son was born in 1972. According to the CDC website, hundreds of men participated in the study in exchange for meals and a nice burial. He believes the trial continues to impact the Black community today and has led to further untruths in the medical field.

RELATED: Only about 50% of Americans want a COVID-19 vaccine, poll says

The notion that Black people dont experience pain for example in the very same way that others experience pain, he said is a common misconception. This, coupled with the disparities that exist from infant mortality, which weve made some improvements on in recent years in the Kent County area. But we had problems with infant mortality to over-representation in major diseases even when the diseases in some instances were discovered earlier, the death rate for Blacks is greater than for other groups.

Dr. Brame also mentioned other incidents that led to further distrust, like Henrietta Lacks whose cells were used by scientists and medical professionals for research and her family was not compensated, and civil rights leader Fannie Lou Hamer receiving a hysterectomy without her consent. Considering all of this, he said he understands Black peoples apprehension. However he hopes discussions like the one conducted by the Black Impact Collaborative will empower people to make intelligent decisions about their participation.

When I talk to my friends in the medical community and when I see physicians that are taking it, Im likely to line up to take it also, Dr. Brame said. But I understand why some people will have reservations about using medicine given our history.

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Many in Black community question whether COVID-19 vaccine could be 'another jinx' - Fox17