Category: Covid-19 Vaccine

"This really couldn't be coming at a more needed time, the current state of the pandemic in the United States is really out of control."

BOISE, Idaho The Idaho Department of Health and Welfare anticipates receiving and distributing the Pfizer COVID-19 by mid-December, first to healthcare providers then to people living and working in long-term care facilities.

About 6.4 million doses of the vaccine will be available nationwide, but Idaho will only receive a sliver of that 13,650.

However, medical staffs at both Saint Alphonsus and St. Luke's say they've been waiting for the vaccine rollout and are ready for it.

"This really couldn't be coming at a more needed time, the current state of the pandemic in the United States is really out of control," St. Lukes Chief Medical Officer Dr. Jim Souza said.

During an internal meeting, St. Luke's staff discussed what the rollout would look like.

"The way we are deciding, or prioritizing people is really, where do you work, not so much what is your role so a great example would be, I think all of us would consider a covid until or if you work in the emergency room, that you are in a high-risk clinical area," Dr. Laura McGeorge said.

The doses will arrive in weekly shipments and won't just be a single shot.

"These vaccines have a prime, a first shot, and a booster, that's designed to really solidify the immune response to give us much longer-lasting immunity than natural infection," said Dr. Sky Blue, an infectious disease specialist.

Saint Alphonsus has a similar rollout plan based on prioritizing employees who have the highest exposure risk in the hospital.

"We have people that have been working hard, we have a certain number that are out on quarantine, and if we have any more of that it's going to be challenging for us to care for the people that need care so it's important to get those folks as immune as possible so that they can care for the general public as we start working on getting the public vaccinated as well," Dr. Patrice Burgess, the executive director for Saint Alphonsus, said.

But many are skeptical of the vaccine because of how quickly it was developed.

"I know some people just say well why don't we just get infected and get it over with well a certain percentage of people aren't going to do well with the infection and people that do have the infection, we've seen cases around the world where people get infected again and the vaccine seems to have a stronger immune response, so the more people we can get vaccinated, the less community spread we will have," Dr. Burgess said.

Although there is still a fair number of unknowns about the vaccine, medical experts said what they do know is promising.

"These vaccines, as far as their effectiveness, is very exciting, we don't see this very often a lot of our vaccines are 60, 70, 80 percent effective, these are 94 and 95 percent effective, so once we get enough people vaccinated, it's going to be a very exciting development," Dr. Burgess said.

"When we are talking about unknowns which there are and im not going to gloss over that, but we know the knows about what this natural infection does so when we compare tose, at the frontlines of being exposed and those of the community who are at severe risk of disease and death, those risks vastly overshadow the unknown risks that we are talking about in the one in a million vaccinated individuals here," Dr. Blue said.

The COVID-19 vaccine is will a couple of weeks away from being shipped to hospitals.

Both doctors said this bit of good news does not mean people can start to relax their social distancing and mask-wearing as the vaccine is still a ways away until its available to the general public.

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How Saint Alphonsus and St. Luke's plan on distributing the COVID-19 vaccine to healthcare workers - KTVB.com

Although a COVID-19 vaccine is on its way, it will be months until it is distributed to the general public and months more before enough people are vaccinated to diminish the threat of the virus.

Gov. Mike Parson submitted Missouris COVID-19 vaccine plan to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention in October, saying the state hoped to have a vaccine by December and make it available to all residents by April.

However, a vaccine does not mean that pandemic precautions, such as mask-wearing and social distancing, will no longer be necessary.

As misinformation about COVID-19 rages on and the death toll continues to rise, Christelle Ilboudo, doctor of pediatric infectious diseases at MU Health Care, explains how the vaccine will work and what life will be like when the general public is vaccinated. (The following has been edited for clarity and brevity.)

Q: What does the vaccine timeline look like right now?

A: The information that we have as of now is that it is going to go through an FDA approval process, which looks at safetyand reviews the data, in mid-December.And then after that, it's going to be reviewed by another entity which makes recommendations to the CDC about vaccines and whether or not they recommend it for the general public. Hopefully, after that meeting, we'll have an idea of a little clearer guidance on who should be prioritized. We have some guidance now, but maybe better guidance on who should be prioritized. And then after that is when its going to be available with the thought that initially those priority groups will be the first people to get it. And the hope is that or the consensus is that by next spring, these vaccines should be available more broadly to most people in general.

Q: What will life look like once the vaccine is generally available?

A: As of now, we are still recommending those public health measures. I think there's more and more data coming out about immunity. So the big question is, well, if I've had it, if I've had the disease, or if I get the vaccine, how long will I be protected from getting really sick if I was exposed again? And I think that their initial data were up to 90 days, because that's how far they had followed those people. But it seems like there's more and more data coming out to say that most people will have immunity for six months or longer. And if it's anything like some of the other coronaviruses that we've seen, people are estimating a year to two years.

But it's still a new virus, and so we're still learning about it every day. But I think some of that determination about public health measures will really depend on how long people have immunity that lasts, knowing that the thought is that they're going to continue to follow those patients or those people who are part of the vaccine trials initially, to actually measure how long they have immunity for us to get a sense by next spring of how much longer we'll need to continue these measures even after people get the vaccine.

Q: Will people who have had COVID-19 still need to get the vaccine or will they have immunity?

A: That's a great question, and that's what we're also hoping to (know) by mid-December is to really understand people who had the disease and were vaccinated, or people who got vaccinated, did some of them end up having COVID-19? And if so, was it severe? I think that information is available. In some of the vaccine trials they have followed people with COVID-19. I just don't have that information yet, and I believe it's Dec. 10 or 11 when all of those questions or all of that information will be available to the public to understand that specific question, of people who had the disease or not and what the vaccine did or did not do for them.

Q: Once someone gets the vaccine can they go back to how they were living pre-pandemic, or will vaccinated people still need to wear masks and social distance?

A:What we know of the Pfizer and Moderna vaccines, which are the first two that we've heard a lot about, is that you need two doses. And it also looks like the latest one, the AstraZeneca vaccine out of the UK, looks like you also need a booster dose. I don't know exactly how far apart. And so you have to at least finish the complete series of whichever vaccine you are getting before you consider yourself protected at all. And so an example that I can give is for the flu vaccine. What we tell people is you need two weeks, your body needs two good weeks, to develop that immunity, to build that immunity after you've gotten it.

And so we will have a similar message about this coronavirus vaccine that is not going to be Im good to go from the moment I get the vaccine and I don't have to do anything else, that we might still need social distance and wear the mask and do all of that. Not only for ourselves but to have enough people in the community immunized to say that, even if I get the virus, because I now know that all of the people around me are vaccinated, we are all safe. Not only am I safe, but the people around me are safe, should one of us get exposed to the virus.

Q: Can you still carry and spread the virus once youve had the vaccine?

A: The thought with any vaccine is not that I'm never going to get exposed to the virus. The thought is that my body will remember that antibody, so my body is primed to fight it. But for some people, even when they get exposed to the virus, they can get an infection but not get as sick. And as we see now, there's a lot of people who have asymptomatic disease, meaning that they don't have any symptoms, but they can still shed the virus through the nose and through their mouth and still infect people around them.

So the thought is that, yes, you might still be able to infect other people around you, even if you are protected from getting seriously ill. So until we have more information, the masks and the washing hands and the social distancing will be crucial, until we have more data on exactly how well protected I am and also how well protected are other people around me from me vaccinated.

Q: When do you think well go back to normal life or do you think well always have some of these public health guidelines in place?

A: I think everybody should be washing their hands no matter what. I think if we learned anything, it is that we should be careful, stay home when we are sick, really avoiding to get people around us sick. I do think that our public measures will still be in place well into the springtime, because, remember, we have to immunize enough people to have that herd immunity. Enough people need to get the vaccine, and I don't know what that number is yet, but enough people need to get the vaccine first to say, okay, we've protected 70% or 90% of the population, and now we can start relaxing on some of those measures. So my prediction is that we're going to still continue to do these well into the springtime until enough people get the vaccine, and we have more data about how long our immune system reaction lasts to the vaccine.

Q: What else can people do to limit their exposure to COVID-19 after getting the vaccine?

A:I would go back to what we said in flu season. Yes, you get the vaccine, but, remember, you can still get the flu. So avoiding crowds is still necessary. Staying home when we are sick is still necessary. And then watching out for those that are most vulnerable around us, so our older people, people with chronic conditions, just being careful around them, washing our hands more thoroughly, go a long way whether we have the vaccine or not. Those are still good measures to have, good practices to have in place, and continue to do well beyond the vaccine coming out.

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Q & A: What we know about the COVID-19 vaccine - Columbia Missourian

Although a COVID-19 vaccine is on its way, it will be months until it is distributed to the general public and months more before enough people are vaccinated to diminish the threat of the virus.

Gov. Mike Parson submitted Missouris COVID-19 vaccine plan to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention in October, saying the state hoped to have a vaccine by December and make it available to all residents by April.

However, a vaccine does not mean that pandemic precautions, such as mask-wearing and social distancing, will no longer be necessary.

As misinformation about COVID-19 rages on and the death toll continues to rise, Christelle Ilboudo, doctor of pediatric infectious diseases at MU Health Care, explains how the vaccine will work and what life will be like when the general public is vaccinated. (The following has been edited for clarity and brevity.)

Q: What does the vaccine timeline look like right now?

A: The information that we have as of now is that it is going to go through an FDA approval process, which looks at safetyand reviews the data, in mid-December.And then after that, it's going to be reviewed by another entity which makes recommendations to the CDC about vaccines and whether or not they recommend it for the general public. Hopefully, after that meeting, we'll have an idea of a little clearer guidance on who should be prioritized. We have some guidance now, but maybe better guidance on who should be prioritized. And then after that is when its going to be available with the thought that initially those priority groups will be the first people to get it. And the hope is that or the consensus is that by next spring, these vaccines should be available more broadly to most people in general.

Q: What will life look like once the vaccine is generally available?

A: As of now, we are still recommending those public health measures. I think there's more and more data coming out about immunity. So the big question is, well, if I've had it, if I've had the disease, or if I get the vaccine, how long will I be protected from getting really sick if I was exposed again? And I think that their initial data were up to 90 days, because that's how far they had followed those people. But it seems like there's more and more data coming out to say that most people will have immunity for six months or longer. And if it's anything like some of the other coronaviruses that we've seen, people are estimating a year to two years.

But it's still a new virus, and so we're still learning about it every day. But I think some of that determination about public health measures will really depend on how long people have immunity that lasts, knowing that the thought is that they're going to continue to follow those patients or those people who are part of the vaccine trials initially, to actually measure how long they have immunity for us to get a sense by next spring of how much longer we'll need to continue these measures even after people get the vaccine.

Q: Will people who have had COVID-19 still need to get the vaccine or will they have immunity?

A: That's a great question, and that's what we're also hoping to (know) by mid-December is to really understand people who had the disease and were vaccinated, or people who got vaccinated, did some of them end up having COVID-19? And if so, was it severe? I think that information is available. In some of the vaccine trials they have followed people with COVID-19. I just don't have that information yet, and I believe it's Dec. 10 or 11 when all of those questions or all of that information will be available to the public to understand that specific question, of people who had the disease or not and what the vaccine did or did not do for them.

Q: Once someone gets the vaccine can they go back to how they were living pre-pandemic, or will vaccinated people still need to wear masks and social distance?

A:What we know of the Pfizer and Moderna vaccines, which are the first two that we've heard a lot about, is that you need two doses. And it also looks like the latest one, the AstraZeneca vaccine out of the UK, looks like you also need a booster dose. I don't know exactly how far apart. And so you have to at least finish the complete series of whichever vaccine you are getting before you consider yourself protected at all. And so an example that I can give is for the flu vaccine. What we tell people is you need two weeks, your body needs two good weeks, to develop that immunity, to build that immunity after you've gotten it.

And so we will have a similar message about this coronavirus vaccine that is not going to be Im good to go from the moment I get the vaccine and I don't have to do anything else, that we might still need social distance and wear the mask and do all of that. Not only for ourselves but to have enough people in the community immunized to say that, even if I get the virus, because I now know that all of the people around me are vaccinated, we are all safe. Not only am I safe, but the people around me are safe, should one of us get exposed to the virus.

Q: Can you still carry and spread the virus once youve had the vaccine?

A: The thought with any vaccine is not that I'm never going to get exposed to the virus. The thought is that my body will remember that antibody, so my body is primed to fight it. But for some people, even when they get exposed to the virus, they can get an infection but not get as sick. And as we see now, there's a lot of people who have asymptomatic disease, meaning that they don't have any symptoms, but they can still shed the virus through the nose and through their mouth and still infect people around them.

So the thought is that, yes, you might still be able to infect other people around you, even if you are protected from getting seriously ill. So until we have more information, the masks and the washing hands and the social distancing will be crucial, until we have more data on exactly how well protected I am and also how well protected are other people around me from me vaccinated.

Q: When do you think well go back to normal life or do you think well always have some of these public health guidelines in place?

A: I think everybody should be washing their hands no matter what. I think if we learned anything, it is that we should be careful, stay home when we are sick, really avoiding to get people around us sick. I do think that our public measures will still be in place well into the springtime, because, remember, we have to immunize enough people to have that herd immunity. Enough people need to get the vaccine, and I don't know what that number is yet, but enough people need to get the vaccine first to say, okay, we've protected 70% or 90% of the population, and now we can start relaxing on some of those measures. So my prediction is that we're going to still continue to do these well into the springtime until enough people get the vaccine, and we have more data about how long our immune system reaction lasts to the vaccine.

Q: What else can people do to limit their exposure to COVID-19 after getting the vaccine?

A:I would go back to what we said in flu season. Yes, you get the vaccine, but, remember, you can still get the flu. So avoiding crowds is still necessary. Staying home when we are sick is still necessary. And then watching out for those that are most vulnerable around us, so our older people, people with chronic conditions, just being careful around them, washing our hands more thoroughly, go a long way whether we have the vaccine or not. Those are still good measures to have, good practices to have in place, and continue to do well beyond the vaccine coming out.

Here is the original post:

Q & A: What we know about the COVID-19 vaccine - Columbia Missourian

Debate Heats Up Over Who Should Get COVID-19 Vaccine After Health Care Workers And Most Vulnerable  CBS New York

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Debate Heats Up Over Who Should Get COVID-19 Vaccine After Health Care Workers And Most Vulnerable - CBS New York

Debate Heats Up Over Who Should Get COVID-19 Vaccine After Health Care Workers And Most Vulnerable  CBS New York

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Debate Heats Up Over Who Should Get COVID-19 Vaccine After Health Care Workers And Most Vulnerable - CBS New York

Tennessee's first shipment of COVID-19 vaccine is expected to arrive at 27 hospitals across the state around Dec. 19, and those most at-risk from the serious and deadly COVID-19 infection will begin to access the revolutionary new drugs.

Having a safe, effective vaccine on hand is a significant milestone and much-welcomed good news as the rapidly-spreading coronavirus that's so far killed nearly 270,000 Americans and more than 1.5 million people worldwide shows no sign of slowing. But public health experts know that injecting two doses of vaccine into the bodies of 4.8 million Tennesseans how many people it's estimated need to be vaccinated in order to ultimately control COVID-19 will not be easy.

"If we don't get about 70% of the population of Tennessee vaccinated against COVID-19, we don't stand a whole lot of a chance of moving beyond where we are right now with masks and distancing and holidays away from loved ones," Dr. Michelle Fiscus, medical director for the vaccine-preventable diseases and immunizations program at the Tennessee Department of Health, said during the state's COVID-19 Health Disparity Task Force meeting Thursday.

She said that although distributing COVID-19 vaccine will be a major undertaking for the department, it's something that officials have long anticipated.

"We have exercised for years the ability to vaccinate large numbers of individuals expecting what we thought would be a pandemic flu. It ends up that it's a pandemic coronavirus, but we know how to do this," Fiscus said.

To accomplish that goal, state and local officials will need to navigate complicated logistics, unexpected challenges and inevitable supply shortages. They will also be monitoring who gets the vaccine, tracking outcomes and trying to reach underserved populations with longstanding distrust for the health care system all while educating the public that getting vaccinated is in their best interest in the face of rampant misinformation on the internet and a raging pandemic.

"Vaccines are one thing. You got to get them in arms," said Mary Lambert, an advanced practice nurse and professor of epidemiology and public health policy at the Vanderbilt University School of Nursing who used to work at the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.

"This is so different, just because of where we are in time and the social media aspect that influences so many things. The trust that individuals have in scientists and health care providers has been eroded just a bit," Lambert said. "We've got some work to do. I'm most concerned about getting the messaging out there how we do that, who's going to do that, and how soon we can get started? We probably should have started yesterday."

Fiscus said that the name "Operation Warp Speed" the partnership between the federal government and the private sector to accelerate development of COVID-19 vaccines and therapeutics works against those tasked with instilling confidence in the safety of vaccines. However, people need to understand that the scientific process for developing these vaccines was not rushed, she said.

"This is the same scientific process that we use for measles and mumps and chickenpox vaccines," Fiscus said. "What changed is that the manufacturing side has happened alongside of the science."

When drugs are developed under normal circumstances, Fiscus said they go through three phases of clinical trials in order to evaluate safety, effectiveness, side effects and outcomes. Then, funding the mass production process begins.

"This process can take years, especially because the risk part of this is in the manufacturing of these vaccines, and it can sometimes be very difficult to raise the capital to manufacture vaccines," she said.

In the case of Operation Warp Speed, the federal government took on that financial risk and began scaling up manufacturing from the start, so that when the research side was complete and the vaccine made it through all the safety checks, it could be immediately deployed.

Fiscus said Tennesseans can find additional comfort in knowing that by the time the first vaccine reaches the state, millions of people will already have received it because Pfizer's COVID-19 vaccine has already been approved in the United Kingdom with the first round of shipments on the ground.

"Which puts us at some nice advantage to be able to look and be further reassured from the data coming out of the United Kingdom that these vaccines are going to be safe," she said.

R. Alta Charo, a professor of law and bioethics at the University of Wisconsin at Madison, said during a webinar for science journalists last week that state and local officials need to anticipate confusion with the rollout.

"Officials have to be really open and transparent about why some groups go first and another doesn't, how they're making these decisions, and then, crucially, that these are not fixed in stone," she said. "These will change as new vaccines come online with different profiles for risk and benefit for different groups, as we see outbreaks here and there ... we need to recognize there will be change, and change doesn't mean we were wrong. It means that we are adapting on the fly as the situation changes, which is what a responsible health department would do."

After the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention issued new vaccination allocation guidance last week, Tennessee revised its distribution plan by moving up residents and staff in long-term care facilities, which have been hit especially hard by the virus.

(READ MORE: Infection rates soar at Hamilton County nursing homes as COVID-19 surge continues)

Fiscus said that she expects it will take "the better part of 2021" before vaccines are widely available for all Tennesseans, so even after they arrive, residents should prepare to keep social distancing, wearing face masks and avoiding crowds.

Contact Elizabeth Fite at efite@timesfreepress.com or follow her on Twitter @ecfite.

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COVID-19 vaccines set to arrive in Tennessee after months of uncertainty - Chattanooga Times Free Press

AstraZeneca vaccine trial begins in Kenya

Over the last month, the Kenya Medical Research Institute Wellcome Trust (KEMRI) implemented phase one of a trial of AstraZenecas COVID-19 vaccine candidate. KEMRI kicked off the trial by injecting a collection of volunteers before moving on to health workers and front-line workers. KEMRIs principal investigator, George Warimwe, shared his excitement about the trial and its location in Africa, saying, We expressed interest in evaluating this vaccine in Kenya because we think that it is important for vaccines to be shown to work in all populations. This most recent trial is one of many in KEMRIs long history of leading evaluations of vaccines and other medicines for viruses such as yellow fever, Dengue fever, and Ebola.

KEMRI views AstraZenecas vaccine candidate as logistically more suitable for distribution across the continent, as it can be stored at room temperature, unlike other leading vaccine candidates, meaning its effectiveness will not need to rely on cold storage facilities and reliable electricity sources. Nevertheless, logistics group DHL announced this week that it is able to meet the strict demands of the COVID-19 vaccines that need to be deep frozen during transport and, thus, deliver the vaccine across sub-Saharan Africa.

AstraZeneca released promising intermediate results of its vaccine trials in Brazil and the U.K. late last month that revealed the vaccine to be 90 percent effective. Notably, AstraZeneca is contractually obligated by Oxford University, the developer of the vaccine, to sell it at cost, meaning that it will be priced at around $3 or $4 per dose. This lower price point indicates that developing countries may not be subjected to a bidding war with richer nations over vaccine doses.

Last Saturday, Ethiopias military declared the end of its four-week offensive after indicating that it had gained full control of Mekele, the capital of the rebelling Tigray region. Despite the declaration, there are signs that the conflict is not over: In fact, Saturday night, explosions in Ethiopia could be heard across the border in the Eritrean capital of Asmara. There also have been reports of continued fighting in areas outside of Mekele. Despite signs of the conflict continuing, Zadig Abraha, Ethiopias minister in charge of democratization, sought to dispel such reports, saying, There is no war. Moreover, Sudanese forces on Thursday confirmed that Ethiopian forces had closed the border to Sudan, blocking more than a dozen people trying to cross into Sudan. As a result of this continued unrest, more than 45,000 Ethiopians, half of whom are children, have fled into rural Sudan.

When it comes to humanitarian relief, the United Nations said this week that it reached an agreement with Ahmeds government that allows humanitarian groups unimpeded, sustained and secure access to areas of Tigray that the federal government controls. United Nations officials are particularly concerned with shortages of food, fuel, and the safe passage of refugees. However, communications are returning only on a limited basis, making it difficult for the aid agencys officials to verify reports both by the federal government and those made on the ground.

Late last month, Burkina Fasos primary opposition leader conceded defeat in the countrys presidential election after preliminary results revealed that incumbent President Roch Kabore had won 58 percent of the vote, avoiding a second round and securing his second term. While many opposition supporters claim that the election results have been tainted by fraud and irregularities, independent observers report that they have not seen outright manipulation, though errorsincluding incorrectly distributed ballots and polling location irregularitieshave arisen. Notably, though, the threat of Islamist violence resulted in the closure of nearly one-fifth of polling booths countrywide that support nearly 7 percent of the electorate. Nonetheless, the electoral commission has dismissed the claims of massive fraud cited by the opposition. In advance of the vote, observers had praised the competitiveness of the election, which had 13 candidates, including Yeli Monique Kam, the second woman in the countrys history to run for the presidents office.

Kabore will begin his second term with the immediate challenge of warring extremist groups that are responsible for the deaths of more than 2,000 people this year and who are linked to al-Qaida and the Islamic State. Violence has rendered swaths of land in the countrys north and east ungovernable and forced at least 1 million people (around 5 percent of the population of Burkina Faso) to leave their homes. Just last month, the Islamic State carried out an attack on a military convoy that killed 14 soldiers and wounded eight more, one of the most deadly attacks the Burkina Faso military has seen in years.

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Africa in the news: COVID-19 vaccine, Ethiopia, and Burkina Faso updates - Brookings Institution

AstraZeneca vaccine trial begins in Kenya

Over the last month, the Kenya Medical Research Institute Wellcome Trust (KEMRI) implemented phase one of a trial of AstraZenecas COVID-19 vaccine candidate. KEMRI kicked off the trial by injecting a collection of volunteers before moving on to health workers and front-line workers. KEMRIs principal investigator, George Warimwe, shared his excitement about the trial and its location in Africa, saying, We expressed interest in evaluating this vaccine in Kenya because we think that it is important for vaccines to be shown to work in all populations. This most recent trial is one of many in KEMRIs long history of leading evaluations of vaccines and other medicines for viruses such as yellow fever, Dengue fever, and Ebola.

KEMRI views AstraZenecas vaccine candidate as logistically more suitable for distribution across the continent, as it can be stored at room temperature, unlike other leading vaccine candidates, meaning its effectiveness will not need to rely on cold storage facilities and reliable electricity sources. Nevertheless, logistics group DHL announced this week that it is able to meet the strict demands of the COVID-19 vaccines that need to be deep frozen during transport and, thus, deliver the vaccine across sub-Saharan Africa.

AstraZeneca released promising intermediate results of its vaccine trials in Brazil and the U.K. late last month that revealed the vaccine to be 90 percent effective. Notably, AstraZeneca is contractually obligated by Oxford University, the developer of the vaccine, to sell it at cost, meaning that it will be priced at around $3 or $4 per dose. This lower price point indicates that developing countries may not be subjected to a bidding war with richer nations over vaccine doses.

Last Saturday, Ethiopias military declared the end of its four-week offensive after indicating that it had gained full control of Mekele, the capital of the rebelling Tigray region. Despite the declaration, there are signs that the conflict is not over: In fact, Saturday night, explosions in Ethiopia could be heard across the border in the Eritrean capital of Asmara. There also have been reports of continued fighting in areas outside of Mekele. Despite signs of the conflict continuing, Zadig Abraha, Ethiopias minister in charge of democratization, sought to dispel such reports, saying, There is no war. Moreover, Sudanese forces on Thursday confirmed that Ethiopian forces had closed the border to Sudan, blocking more than a dozen people trying to cross into Sudan. As a result of this continued unrest, more than 45,000 Ethiopians, half of whom are children, have fled into rural Sudan.

When it comes to humanitarian relief, the United Nations said this week that it reached an agreement with Ahmeds government that allows humanitarian groups unimpeded, sustained and secure access to areas of Tigray that the federal government controls. United Nations officials are particularly concerned with shortages of food, fuel, and the safe passage of refugees. However, communications are returning only on a limited basis, making it difficult for the aid agencys officials to verify reports both by the federal government and those made on the ground.

Late last month, Burkina Fasos primary opposition leader conceded defeat in the countrys presidential election after preliminary results revealed that incumbent President Roch Kabore had won 58 percent of the vote, avoiding a second round and securing his second term. While many opposition supporters claim that the election results have been tainted by fraud and irregularities, independent observers report that they have not seen outright manipulation, though errorsincluding incorrectly distributed ballots and polling location irregularitieshave arisen. Notably, though, the threat of Islamist violence resulted in the closure of nearly one-fifth of polling booths countrywide that support nearly 7 percent of the electorate. Nonetheless, the electoral commission has dismissed the claims of massive fraud cited by the opposition. In advance of the vote, observers had praised the competitiveness of the election, which had 13 candidates, including Yeli Monique Kam, the second woman in the countrys history to run for the presidents office.

Kabore will begin his second term with the immediate challenge of warring extremist groups that are responsible for the deaths of more than 2,000 people this year and who are linked to al-Qaida and the Islamic State. Violence has rendered swaths of land in the countrys north and east ungovernable and forced at least 1 million people (around 5 percent of the population of Burkina Faso) to leave their homes. Just last month, the Islamic State carried out an attack on a military convoy that killed 14 soldiers and wounded eight more, one of the most deadly attacks the Burkina Faso military has seen in years.

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Africa in the news: COVID-19 vaccine, Ethiopia, and Burkina Faso updates - Brookings Institution

More than half of New York City firefighters say they wont be vaccinated for COVID-19 when the potentially life-saving shot becomes available to first responders in a matter of weeks, according to a new internal survey.

About 55 percent of 2,053 smoke-eaters polled in the last three days by their union, the Uniformed Firefighters Association, answered No when asked, Will you get the COVID-19 Vaccine from Pfizer when the Department makes it available? UFA President Andy Ansbro told The Post. The responses account for about 25 percent of the UFAs 8,200 active members.

The stunning anti-vax response follows an August survey of MTA workers that showed only 30 percent of 645 respondents were definitely willing to be vaccinated. Thirty-eight percent were unsure and 32 percent said they would not take the vaccine, according to the poll of Transport Workers Union members conducted by the NYU School of Global Public Health.

If the survey results become the reality, it would mean thousands of NYCs first responders and other essential frontline workers would continue to be vulnerable to the virus and remain potential spreaders.

The FDNY announced last week it would not make the vaccine mandatory for its members, a policy expected to be followed by all city agencies and even hospitals.

The data comes as Trump pandemic advisor Dr. Anthony Fauci said that most healthy Americans should not expect to be vaccinated before the spring, as the first shots are rolled out to health care workers, the elderly and the medically vulnerable.

A healthy non-elderly person with no recognizable underlying conditions, will likely start . . . in the end of March, early April. Once you get into April, probably full blast with those individuals,Faucisaid during a CNN town hall Friday the same day the city reported positive coronavirus test results doubled in the past month.

Among firefighters, positive tests have tripled during that time, according to an FDNY source, who said that as of Friday there were more than 130 positive cases in the departments ranks. At least six firehouses have three or more cases.

Vaccine acceptance is a matter of trust, it seems.

NYU researchers said of the reluctant transit workers, The main reason for not taking it or being unsure was the lack of trust in its safety. Respondents said the main sources of trusted, reliable information included: personal healthcare provider, CDC, Governor Cuomo and the TWU leadership.

A sizeable portion said they no longer trust anyone, researchers wrote.

Many healthy firefighters in their 30s and 40s have become less fearful of the virus as theyve overcome it themselves or know of colleagues who bounced back after a diagnosis, Ansbro said.

A lot of them probably feel they are not in a risk category, they are younger, stronger, they may have already had it and gotten through it, and feel its not their problem, Ansbro said. They are more familiar with the coronavirus than they are with the vaccine.

Ansbro said he plans to receive it himself.

EMS workers, who will be among the FDNY members to receive the vaccine early, have also been vocal in their skepticism, according to Oren Barzilay, president of the Uniformed EMTs, Paramedics and Fire Inspectors union.

A few are anxious to get it, but there have been a few dozen responses saying, Thanks, but no thanks,' Barzilay said of online chatter. They were thankful it was not mandatory, because they dont want to be looked at as test subjects.

Barzilay said, I personally am going to wait and see what the side effects are, what the independent studies show before being vaccinated.

An veteran FDNY member expressed frustration with the naysayers, and believes first responders getting vaccinated is a public health necessity.

The 55 percent doesnt surprise me. Theyre called the Bravest, not the Smartest, the source said.

Its saving theirlives, and the lives of theirco-workers, families, friends, and the people they take care of. They respond to live-threatening medical emergencies. The last thing you want is a family member in dire straits being worked on by an unvaccinated firefighter.

Some policy experts believe mandatory vaccines which have been touted as safe and 95-percent effective by their manufacturers are the best way to protect the public.

It may become necessary to require that certain individuals or communities be vaccinated, such as health care workers and students, to protect the publics health, Mary Beth Morrissey, a research fellow at Fordham University and chair of the New York State Bar Associations COVID-19 task force, said in a statement announcing a resolution calling upon the state to consider mandating a vaccine.

Mistrust has also been apparent in the general population. According to a yet-to-be-released survey of New Yorkers taken by the city Health Department in October, just over 50 percent say they will be vaccinated.

Nationwide, the number is at about 58 percent, according to a September Gallup poll taken before drug companies Pfizer and Moderna made announcements in early November about the 95-percent efficacy of their vaccines.

Theres an underlying issue with rising vaccine hesitancy and within certain communities and groups, that percentage is much higher than what we see nationally, said Rachael Piltch-Loeb, a public health expert who worked on the TWU study.

Reasons for not wanting to be vaccinated are wide-ranging and depend demographics; religious, political and geographical affiliations; and experience with the virus thus far, Piltch-Loeb said.

Among beleaguered essential workers, levels of mistrust could be even higher, Piltch-Loeb said.

Theres been a lot of misinformation, a lot of mistrust in government messaging, how the pandemics been handled, and a lot of distaste among certain essential workers how they really were not prioritized to receive PPE, she said.

We want to encourage essential workers to get the vaccine, but we need to be super conscientious about how much we ask of essential workers.

Some teachers are also pushing back on any madatory COVID vaccine. A group called NY Teachers Against Vaccine Mandates for Educators has collected nearly 10,000 petition signatures.

Others said the group is the minority: Almost every teacher I know believes in science and would support mandatory vaccinations, said Liat Olenick, a Brooklyn elementary-school teacher.

The citys Health and Hospitals Corp. is preparing to distribute the vaccine as soon as it becomes available, but will not mandate workers at the citys 11 public hospitals take it.

The Police Benevolent Association, which represents 40,000 rank-and-file NYPD officers, said it is encouraging the city to distribute the vaccine to cops as soon as possible but on a voluntary basis.

As we did with PPE and testing, the PBA will press for the vaccine to be made available to our members as early as possible, said President Patrick J. Lynch. If the goal is to stop the spread everywhere, we should prioritize protections for the first responders whose duties take us into every corner of the city.

The state expects to receive 170,000 doses of the Pfizer vaccine on Dec. 15, pending emergency approval from the Food and Drug Administration. The company is scheduled to present the vaccine, which it says is 95 percent effective, to the FDA and Centers for Disease Control for approval on Thursday. Modernas vaccine is scheduled for review a week later.

Additional reporting by Susan Edelman

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More than half of FDNY say they'll refuse COVID-19 vaccine - New York Post

More than half of New York City firefighters say they wont be vaccinated for COVID-19 when the potentially life-saving shot becomes available to first responders in a matter of weeks, according to a new internal survey.

About 55 percent of 2,053 smoke-eaters polled in the last three days by their union, the Uniformed Firefighters Association, answered No when asked, Will you get the COVID-19 Vaccine from Pfizer when the Department makes it available? UFA President Andy Ansbro told The Post. The responses account for about 25 percent of the UFAs 8,200 active members.

The stunning anti-vax response follows an August survey of MTA workers that showed only 30 percent of 645 respondents were definitely willing to be vaccinated. Thirty-eight percent were unsure and 32 percent said they would not take the vaccine, according to the poll of Transport Workers Union members conducted by the NYU School of Global Public Health.

If the survey results become the reality, it would mean thousands of NYCs first responders and other essential frontline workers would continue to be vulnerable to the virus and remain potential spreaders.

The FDNY announced last week it would not make the vaccine mandatory for its members, a policy expected to be followed by all city agencies and even hospitals.

The data comes as Trump pandemic advisor Dr. Anthony Fauci said that most healthy Americans should not expect to be vaccinated before the spring, as the first shots are rolled out to health care workers, the elderly and the medically vulnerable.

A healthy non-elderly person with no recognizable underlying conditions, will likely start . . . in the end of March, early April. Once you get into April, probably full blast with those individuals,Faucisaid during a CNN town hall Friday the same day the city reported positive coronavirus test results doubled in the past month.

Among firefighters, positive tests have tripled during that time, according to an FDNY source, who said that as of Friday there were more than 130 positive cases in the departments ranks. At least six firehouses have three or more cases.

Vaccine acceptance is a matter of trust, it seems.

NYU researchers said of the reluctant transit workers, The main reason for not taking it or being unsure was the lack of trust in its safety. Respondents said the main sources of trusted, reliable information included: personal healthcare provider, CDC, Governor Cuomo and the TWU leadership.

A sizeable portion said they no longer trust anyone, researchers wrote.

Many healthy firefighters in their 30s and 40s have become less fearful of the virus as theyve overcome it themselves or know of colleagues who bounced back after a diagnosis, Ansbro said.

A lot of them probably feel they are not in a risk category, they are younger, stronger, they may have already had it and gotten through it, and feel its not their problem, Ansbro said. They are more familiar with the coronavirus than they are with the vaccine.

Ansbro said he plans to receive it himself.

EMS workers, who will be among the FDNY members to receive the vaccine early, have also been vocal in their skepticism, according to Oren Barzilay, president of the Uniformed EMTs, Paramedics and Fire Inspectors union.

A few are anxious to get it, but there have been a few dozen responses saying, Thanks, but no thanks,' Barzilay said of online chatter. They were thankful it was not mandatory, because they dont want to be looked at as test subjects.

Barzilay said, I personally am going to wait and see what the side effects are, what the independent studies show before being vaccinated.

An veteran FDNY member expressed frustration with the naysayers, and believes first responders getting vaccinated is a public health necessity.

The 55 percent doesnt surprise me. Theyre called the Bravest, not the Smartest, the source said.

Its saving theirlives, and the lives of theirco-workers, families, friends, and the people they take care of. They respond to live-threatening medical emergencies. The last thing you want is a family member in dire straits being worked on by an unvaccinated firefighter.

Some policy experts believe mandatory vaccines which have been touted as safe and 95-percent effective by their manufacturers are the best way to protect the public.

It may become necessary to require that certain individuals or communities be vaccinated, such as health care workers and students, to protect the publics health, Mary Beth Morrissey, a research fellow at Fordham University and chair of the New York State Bar Associations COVID-19 task force, said in a statement announcing a resolution calling upon the state to consider mandating a vaccine.

Mistrust has also been apparent in the general population. According to a yet-to-be-released survey of New Yorkers taken by the city Health Department in October, just over 50 percent say they will be vaccinated.

Nationwide, the number is at about 58 percent, according to a September Gallup poll taken before drug companies Pfizer and Moderna made announcements in early November about the 95-percent efficacy of their vaccines.

Theres an underlying issue with rising vaccine hesitancy and within certain communities and groups, that percentage is much higher than what we see nationally, said Rachael Piltch-Loeb, a public health expert who worked on the TWU study.

Reasons for not wanting to be vaccinated are wide-ranging and depend demographics; religious, political and geographical affiliations; and experience with the virus thus far, Piltch-Loeb said.

Among beleaguered essential workers, levels of mistrust could be even higher, Piltch-Loeb said.

Theres been a lot of misinformation, a lot of mistrust in government messaging, how the pandemics been handled, and a lot of distaste among certain essential workers how they really were not prioritized to receive PPE, she said.

We want to encourage essential workers to get the vaccine, but we need to be super conscientious about how much we ask of essential workers.

Some teachers are also pushing back on any madatory COVID vaccine. A group called NY Teachers Against Vaccine Mandates for Educators has collected nearly 10,000 petition signatures.

Others said the group is the minority: Almost every teacher I know believes in science and would support mandatory vaccinations, said Liat Olenick, a Brooklyn elementary-school teacher.

The citys Health and Hospitals Corp. is preparing to distribute the vaccine as soon as it becomes available, but will not mandate workers at the citys 11 public hospitals take it.

The Police Benevolent Association, which represents 40,000 rank-and-file NYPD officers, said it is encouraging the city to distribute the vaccine to cops as soon as possible but on a voluntary basis.

As we did with PPE and testing, the PBA will press for the vaccine to be made available to our members as early as possible, said President Patrick J. Lynch. If the goal is to stop the spread everywhere, we should prioritize protections for the first responders whose duties take us into every corner of the city.

The state expects to receive 170,000 doses of the Pfizer vaccine on Dec. 15, pending emergency approval from the Food and Drug Administration. The company is scheduled to present the vaccine, which it says is 95 percent effective, to the FDA and Centers for Disease Control for approval on Thursday. Modernas vaccine is scheduled for review a week later.

Additional reporting by Susan Edelman

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More than half of FDNY say they'll refuse COVID-19 vaccine - New York Post