Category: Covid-19 Vaccine

With potential COVID-19 vaccines on the horizon in the coming months or even weeks, for some state officials and local public health departments are making plans to vaccinate Minnesotans as soon as the inoculations become available.

In recent weeks, both Pfizer and Moderna have announced they have reason to believe theyve developed highly effective COVID-19 vaccines. Both may seek emergency authorization from the Food and Drug Administration to make them available soon. Data suggest both vaccines are roughly 95 percent effective, far more so than some in public health had dared hope.

From a scientific and potential public health standpoint, this is an extraordinarily important advance, Dr. Anthony Fauci, director of the National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases, told NPR earlier this week.

With this news, its possible some Minnesotans could be vaccinated as early as late December. But for the rest of us, it could be a bit. Here are some questions you might have about Minnesotas vaccination plans, answered:

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So Pfizer and Moderna both sound like they have promising vaccine candidates. What do we know about them?

Pfizer announced Wednesday that its data find the companys vaccine is 95 percent effective at preventing COVID-19. Modernas data suggest its vaccine is 94.5 percent effective. The FDA had initially said it would consider approving vaccines found to be at least 50 percent effective, and numbers at 90 percent and above would put these vaccines in line with most childhood vaccines. In a briefing with reporters Thursday, Minnesota Department of Health Infectious Disease Director Kris Ehresmann emphasized that the data are still not peer-reviewed but called the trial results very encouraging.

Both vaccines would require two doses, weeks apart, which creates some logistical challenges for health officials who need to track who got which doses, and when: they arent interchangeable, so you couldnt get your first round vaccine from Pfizer and the second from Moderna.

This all happened pretty quickly. How do we know the vaccines are safe?

These vaccines have been developed remarkably quickly: Its less than 11 months since the genome of the novel coronavirus was sequenced, and now were talking about a vaccine.

MinnPost photo by Peter Callaghan

Director Kris Ehresmann

While drug companies hurried to recruit participants for vaccine trials so theyd be lined up as soon as they were needed for each phase, the trials are happening as they would for other vaccines, Ehresmann said.

This vaccine has gone through the same safety evaluations that you would expect for any of the other regular vaccines, she said.

Another reason a COVID-19 vaccine is expected to be available so soon is that the federal government is footing the bill to manufacture promising vaccine candidates before theyre even approved. If a vaccine doesnt pass muster, the manufactured units wont be used. But for vaccines that do, doses will be ready.

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OK, so these vaccines sound like they might be approved. What has to happen for people in Minnesota to get them?

Minnesota will begin using a vaccine only after the Food and Drug Administration and the Centers for Disease Controls Advisory Committee for Immunization Practices (ACIP) give the green light, Ehresmann said.

Pfizer has said it plans to submit its application to the FDA within days, and Moderna could follow soon. Once applications are submitted, Ehresmann said she expects a two week timeframe for the agencys review.

If a vaccine gets the go-ahead from the FDA, it then goes to the ACIP, which is a committee that makes recommendations about vaccines use. The ACIP could make decisions within days, Ehresmann said.

While some states are planning to do their own safety evaluations, Ehresmann said Minnesota officials trust the ACIP based on experience. Ehresmann has served on the committee previously, and another MDH staffer currently serves on it.

Presuming the ACIP recommends a vaccine, it will also issue guidance on how to administer it. Ehresmann expects it would be a week before Minnesota would be able to get trained on the recommendations and start vaccinating.

Who gets the vaccine, and when?

Who gets vaccinated and when will come down to what the ACIP recommends. But right now, MDH is planning to roll out vaccines in three phases.

First, people who ACIP deems first priority would get the vaccine. The expectation is that this would include people who work in health care, though it might not include every group of health care workers right away.

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When we talk about who needs to be vaccinated, it doesnt mean that every single person who works in health care in an acute care setting would be a priority for vaccination before, say, long-term care, Ehresmann said. An allocation work group will help tailor federal guidance to Minnesota. Phase 1 vaccination will likely happen through workplaces, such as hospitals and clinics.

Once more vaccine is available, people with the second highest level of priority would be vaccinated. These are likely to be people who are in vulnerable populations, those who have been disproportionately impacted by COVID-19 or have more severe virus outcomes. In this phase, people may get vaccines through their health care providers.

Officials expect more vaccines to make it through the FDA and ACIP approval process at some point in this timeframe, which will increase supply. Once the people in priority groups one and two are vaccinated, the shots should be available to the general public. In addition to health care providers, counties and local jurisdictions are likely to help provide vaccination sites to make sure the vaccine is available to all.

Counties are already being asked to work on plans for vaccinating their residents in this phase of the efforts. Katie Albert, of St. Louis County Public Health, said much is still in the works, but St. Louis County has been drawing up plans for drive-through vaccination clinics during phase 3 of vaccination.

We would likely do drive-through clinics simply because of the risk of being indoors and trying to vaccinate people presents its own problems, especially with the need for PPE, she said.

Fauci has said a vaccine may be available to the average American as soon as April.

What if some people refuse to get the vaccine?

In recent years, skepticism towards vaccines has been on the rise, despite that scientific evidence overwhelmingly finds them safe and effective. But the degree to which Minnesota can reach herd immunity with an estimated 70 percent to 80 percent of the population inoculated will affect how widespread COVID-19 continues to be.

Ehresmann said having a vaccine that is 90 percent or more effective helps: If the vaccine was only 50 percent effective, you would expect a quarter of the population to have antibodies if half the population got the vaccine. But health officials are trying to get the message out that a COVID-19 vaccine that passes the FDA and ACIP will be safe.

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The higher effectiveness makes a difference in terms of the number of people needed to be vaccinated to really have an impact on disease transmission.

She also hopes that having a vaccine thats 90 percent or more effective bolsters the publics confidence in it, because if you get the vaccine, its highly likely youre protected.

Its a confidence boost for the public, if youre on the fence about getting vaccinated and you hear that the vaccine is 95 percent effective, that is certainly going to be weighed in the pro side of getting vaccinated as compared to I dont know if I should do this, the vaccines only 50 percent effective.

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With two COVID-19 vaccines potentially near approval, what is the plan for inoculating Minnesotans? - MinnPost

In a tweet, Sen. Rand Paul misleadingly suggested that immunity from [n]aturally acquired COVID-19 was better than that from a vaccine. But its not known how immunity from the two sources compares and the entire point of a vaccine is to offer immunity without the risk of getting sick.

Paul made his claim in a Nov. 17 tweet in which he listed interim efficacy figures from two ongoing vaccine clinical trials and then provided his own calculation of the effectiveness of natural infection with the coronavirus.

In a follow-up tweet, the Kentucky Republican shared a link to a New York Times article about a new unpublished study that found evidence of some immunity to the coronavirus in most people for at least six months. He commented: Why does the left accept immune theory when it comes to vaccines, but not when discussing naturally acquired immunity?

Paul, who has previouslyspread misinformationabout childhood vaccines, hasinaccurately argued during the COVID-19 pandemic that parts of the U.S. have reached herd, or community, immunity because of preexisting immunity to other coronaviruses.Herd immunityis when enough people in a population are immune to prevent spread of the disease.

Public health experts, however, have said that threshold is still a ways off and that allowing the virus to spread uncontrolled would lead to many needless deaths. A better approach, they say, is to stave off the spread of the virus until a vaccine is widely available.

A Paul spokesperson told us that the senator was not suggesting that immunity through natural infection with COVID-19 is better than getting immunity from a vaccine, but rather, highlighting research that says immunity is real.

We were directed to subsequent tweets, including one in which Paul said he was not arguing against vaccines but that COVID-19 patients can celebrate immunity if lucky enough to survive, as well as Pauls support for alternative options to speed along access to COVID-19 vaccines.

Still, the efficacy figure Paul provides for natural COVID-19 infection isnt accurate. And the juxtaposition of the numbers implies a kind of superiority of natural infection over vaccination a dangerous notion, given that contracting the virus poses a serious risk.

As University of Florida biostatistician Natalie Dean pointed out in response to Pauls tweet, The key distinction is that vaccines are a SAFE way to achieve immunity. Getting sick with COVID-19 is inherently unsafe. We would never ever tolerate a vaccine that carried even a fraction of the risks of natural infection.

While Paul purports to offer a precise percentage for how effective natural infection is relative to vaccines, experts told us that the comparison is premature and faulty.

The efficacy figures for the vaccines come from interim results released in press releases by the two companies, Pfizer and Moderna, and refer to the ability of the vaccines to prevent symptomatic COVID-19 infection in phase 3 trials. (The day after Pauls tweet, Pfizer announced additional data reflective of the full trial, which showed 95% efficacy.) But the number for natural infection is a broad-strokes calculation Paul made based on reinfections.

We dont really know how many reinfections there have been, virologist Angela Rasmussen said in a phone interview, adding that many reinfections have not been confirmed and that efficacy of naturally-acquired immunity isnt a thing.

Its just really ridiculous to try to use the way that efficacy is calculated in clinical trials for vaccines and apply that to epi[demiologic] data across the entire population, she said.

Dr. Paul Offit, director of the Vaccine Education Center at the Childrens Hospital of Philadelphia and a member of the Food and Drug Administrations Vaccines and Related Biological Products Advisory Committee, agreed.

Clearly, there are people who can be reinfected. As a general rule, its usually more mild reinfection, he told us. But, he added, most people arent tested, so you dont really know whos getting reinfected and who isnt.

Its true that reinfections so far appear to be rare, which bodes well both for a vaccine and for people who may have immunity as a result of infection. But no one knows yet how the immunity from each will compare.

Most vaccines do not offer quite as good protection from a pathogen as a natural infection will but of course, a person has to survive or suffer through the infection to get that future protection, sidestepping the entire function of a vaccine. Its therefore largely irrelevant whether or not vaccine immunity is superior to that from natural infection.

There are some instances in which a vaccine does elicit a better immune response. Thats the case for vaccines against human papillomavirus, or HPV; tetanus; Haemophilus influenzae type b; and pneumococcus.

Whether COVID-19 will be one of them remains to be seen. Rasmussen said it was possible, but still hypothetical at this point. We dont really know. We only know that these vaccines typically induce levels of neutralizing antibody that are comparable to the higher levels of neutralizing antibody thats been observed in convalescent patients, she said, referring to the type of antibody that can prevent cells from becoming infected with the virus.

Based on the performance of the shingles vaccine, Offit speculated that some of the later-arriving vaccine candidates that include powerful adjuvants, or chemicals that are added to vaccines to boost the immune response, such as those from Sanofi-GSK or Novavax, might be better than natural infection.

For both the vaccine and natural infection, important questions about COVID-19 immunity remain.

We do know that most people who get COVID-19 do develop some kind of measurable antibody response, but we dont know what that really means in terms of protection against either reinfection or whether you will mount protective immune responses upon a re-exposure, said Rasmussen.

As a result, public health officials have cautioned that for now, even if people have previously contracted COVID-19, individuals should still follow the standard recommendations.

The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, for example, advises all people, including those who have recovered from COVID-19, to continue to physically distance, wear masks, wash their hands and avoid crowds.

Similarly, the CDC notes that it doesnt yet know if or when it will stop recommending masks or physical distancing after vaccination.

This is in contrast to Pauls assertion that people can celebrate immunity. In a Nov. 12 interview on Fox News, Paul used similar language and advocated that people drop these precautions.

We have 11 million people in our country whove already had COVID. We should tell them to celebrate, he said. We should tell them to throw away their masks, go to restaurants, live again, because these people are now immune.

A huge question is how durable immunity will be. Although the study Paul highlighted suggests that most people will be protected for at least six months and might mean they are protected against severe disease for many years its still not definitive, and doesnt mean that those timeframes will apply to everyone.

Shane Crotty, an immunologist at the La Jolla Institute for Immunology and one of the senior authors of the paper, noted on Twitter that the team observed a wide range of immune responses in people, including a lack of a measurable response in some people.

That led us to speculate, he said, quoting his manuscript, that it may be expected that at least a fraction of the SARS-CoV-2-infected population with particularly low immune memory would be susceptible to re-infection relatively quickly.

The CDC, notably, has said that people who have had COVID-19 may still benefit from a coronavirus vaccine. And some experts envision a future in which multiple vaccines are on the table for everyone.

It strikes me as not unlikely that we will learn what the duration of protection is and people will need whether naturally infected or vaccinated to have booster shots over some period of time, once a year, once every two years, once every five years, Barry Bloom, an immunologist and global health expert at Harvards T.H. Chan School of Public Health, said in a press call.

In his tweet about the new immunity study, Paul also suggested that Democrats were somehow denying realities about immunity from natural infection.

Why does the left accept immune theory when it comes to vaccines, but not when discussing naturally acquired immunity? he asked.

Scientists, however, objected to Pauls characterization.

I dont think anybodys dismissing [immunity following natural infection]. I think what people are saying is, its a bad idea as a strategy for dealing with infection, said Offit, who noted that 30% to 40% of the population could be considered at high risk for COVID-19.

Both Offit and Rasmussen also pointed out that historically, there isnt a lot of precedent for building herd immunity through natural infection.

People were getting smallpox for millennia, Rasmussen said, and the herd immunity threshold was never really reached.

The much safer way of getting to herd immunity is to use a vaccine instead, especially when multiple candidates are on the horizon.

Trying to achieve herd immunity [without a vaccine] would result in hundreds of thousands more if not millions of unnecessary deaths and debilitating illness for millions more, Rasmussen said. So I think its not really right to talk about vaccine-induced herd immunity versus naturally-acquired herd immunity without mentioning the fact that one of them has a very, very large price tag in human lives and quality of life attached to it.

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Paul Misleads on Natural Infection and COVID-19 Vaccines - FactCheck.org

The scientists have designed the vaccine. Now, government bureaucrats must figure out how to quickly and fairly distribute the life-saving COVID-19 medication.

For Los Angeles County, this effort has already included acquiring 16 ultra-cold storage freezers to be installed across the region. They can store tens of thousands of doses at temperatures as low as minus 86 degrees Celsius.

But the bigger question involves where the vaccine will go from there. Its shaping up to be the largest and most complex public health effort in the countys history, and concerns are growing that officials are falling behind. The county has already struggled with another essential element of the pandemic response: providing widescale coronavirus testing.

Distributing the vaccine in a safe and equitable manner is an even more vital task, and some officials have already expressed their concerns.

Read the full story on LATimes.com.

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Distributing COVID-19 vaccine will be biggest health operation in L.A. history and county officials are expressing concerns - KTLA Los Angeles

The diminutive diva's $1 million donation to Covid-19 research was partly used to fund Moderna's promising Covid-19 vaccine -- something she didn't even know until her name appeared among other sponsors in a preliminary report on the vaccine.

In media appearances on Tuesday, Parton was beaming with pride and excitement at the news.

"Praise the lord!" she told "Today" hosts Hoda Kotb and Jenna Bush Hager. "I'm just very grateful that this is happening, and if I had anything to do with it, that's great."

"I just felt so proud to have been part of that little seed money that will hopefully grow into something great and help to heal this world," she said. "I'm a very proud girl today to know I had anything at all to do with something that's going to help us through this crazy pandemic."

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Dolly Parton learned she funded the Moderna Covid-19 vaccine when the rest of us did - CNN

Results on the effectiveness of the University of Oxford and AstraZeneca experimental COVID-19 vaccine are expected in the coming weeks. Justin Tallis/Agence France-Presse/Getty Images

The experimental COVID-19 vaccine being developed by AstraZeneca and the University of Oxford produces a robust immune response in older adults, data from mid-stage trials have shown.

The Phase 2 results, published on Thursday in medical journal The Lancet, suggest that the age groups most at risk of death or serious illness from coronavirus may be able to build immunity. The peer-reviewed findings, based on a study of 560 adults, showed that older adults aged 56-69 and over 70 had a similar immune response to younger adults aged 18-55.

However, with larger Phase 3 trials still ongoing, there was no update on the effectiveness of the vaccine candidate in preventing COVID-19. The university said the first efficacy data were possible in the coming weeks. Shares in the British drugmaker AZN, +0.03% edged 0.3% higher in early trading.

Read:Moderna shares soar premarket after COVID-19 vaccine candidate achieves 94.5% efficacy in Phase 3 trial

Earlier this week, U.S. drugmaker Pfizer PFE, +0.84%, which is working with Germanys BioNTech BNTX, +2.21%, said that a final analysis of Phase 3 trial data showed its COVID-19 vaccine was 95% effective. On Monday, U.S. biotech Moderna MRNA, +2.26% said its own experimental vaccine was 94.5% effective, based on interim data from late-stage trials. Both are expected to apply for U.S. regulatory authorization within days.

Researchers said Phase 2 findings from the Oxford and AstraZeneca vaccine were encouraging, as studies show people tend to have decreasing immune responses to vaccines with age.

Older adults are a priority group for COVID-19 vaccination, because they are at increased risk of severe disease, but we know that they tend to have poorer vaccine responses, said Dr. Maheshi Ramasamy, investigator at the Oxford Vaccine Group, in a statement.

Read:BioNTech and Pfizers COVID-19 vaccine is surprisingly effective, though experts question what effectiveness will look like in the real world

We were pleased to see that our vaccine was not only well tolerated in older adults; it also stimulated similar immune responses to those seen in younger volunteers. The next step will be to see if this translates into protection from the disease itself.

Volunteers in the Phase 2 trial received two doses of the vaccine candidate, called ChAdOx1 nCov-2019, or a placebo meningitis vaccine. No serious adverse health events related to the vaccine were seen in the participants, the researchers said.

The results were consistent with Phase 1 data reported for healthy adults aged 18-55 earlier this year.

The report on the AstraZeneca and University of Oxford vaccine was less likely to move the dial as, unlike the other major vaccine updates so far, there was no detail on its efficacy, said Russ Mould, AJ Bell investment director.

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AstraZeneca's COVID-19 vaccine shows 'encouraging' immune response in older adults - MarketWatch

There are almost a dozen coronavirus vaccines in final-stage testing, with Moderna and Pfizer showing promising preliminary results. Scientists welcome the crowded field because different types of vaccines will be needed to meet global demand. (Nov. 17) AP Domestic

Dr. Anthony Fauci, the nations leading infectious disease expert who has guided the U.S. through the pandemic, projectedAmericans could expect their first doses of an approved coronavirus vaccine as early as April.

Front-line health care workers are expected to get their first doses by the end of December or early January. After prioritizing people at risk of infection or severe disease, the healthy general populationcan expectfirst doses of a vaccine starting inApril and through July if all continues on track, Fauci told the USA TODAY Editorial Board on Wednesday.

If most of the population is vaccinated by summer and fall, Fauci said, people can start looking forward to returning to pre-pandemic normalcy.

Then you can start talking about this umbrella or blanket of protection on society that would diminish dramatically the risk of a person being exposed or even being infected, he said. When so many people are protected, thats when you get into the real herd immunity.

But to get there, vaccine hesitancy must be addressed, he said, particularly among people of color who have a historic distrust of the nation's medical system.

Polls show that among racial and ethnic groups, Black Americans are the most hesitant to get a vaccine once one becomes available, and their skepticism is rising fast. In one September survey, only 32% of Black adults said they would get a vaccine, down from 54% in May.

That's why Moderna, the company developing a COVID-19 vaccine with the federal government, made a concerted effort toincludeminority representation in clinical trials, Fauci said.

We said that we want representation in the elderly, white, brown, Black, people with underlying conditions, so that we can get a feel if its effective across the board, he said,and not just a "white man's vaccine."

Outreach bytrusted community leaders also is key, Fauci said.

Traveling for the holidays?: Dr. Anthony Fauci urges Americans to 'think twice'

'It's not real': In South Dakota, which has shunned masks and other COVID rules, some people die in denial, nurse says

Fauci also stressed candidate vaccine data is reviewed by outside, independent advisory boards made up of career scientists, who then present objective findings to the Food and Drug Administration, whichauthorizes avaccine's use.Afterward,the data will be published for anyone to review.

Fauci emphasized the importance of transparency, consistency and effectively communicating that developing a COVID-19 vaccine is governed by independent science and data notoutside forces.

I understand because of a lot of that noise that comes out of Washington that some of these governors or mayors ... have concern about the process, he said, referring to states that have created committees to vet a vaccine as an extra layer of scrutiny.

When it gets approved by the FDA I would take the vaccine and I would recommend that my family take the vaccine.

Follow Adrianna Rodriguez on Twitter: @AdriannaUSAT.

Health and patient safety coverage at USA TODAY is made possible in part by a grant from the Masimo Foundation for Ethics, Innovation and Competition in Healthcare. The Masimo Foundation does not provide editorial input.

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Fauci says the average American could get vaccinated against COVID-19 as soon as April: 'I would take the vaccine' - USA TODAY

TOKYOBreakthroughs in Covid-19 vaccine trials are giving a boost to the organizers of next summers Tokyo Olympics, who are looking into vaccine suppliers and planning to encourage athletes to get their shots.

Still, local organizers remain publicly cautious about whether enough vaccines will be available in time, and they are leaving room for the Games to proceed regardless. If vaccines are in short supply, it would be hard to justify prioritizing young athletes with low risk of serious illness.

Australian...

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Covid-19 Vaccine Progress Gives Tokyo Olympics a Tailwind - The Wall Street Journal

The diminutive diva's $1 million donation to Covid-19 research was partly used to fund Moderna's promising Covid-19 vaccine -- something she didn't even know until her name appeared among other sponsors in a preliminary report on the vaccine.

In media appearances on Tuesday, Parton was beaming with pride and excitement at the news.

"Praise the lord!" she told "Today" hosts Hoda Kotb and Jenna Bush Hager. "I'm just very grateful that this is happening, and if I had anything to do with it, that's great."

"I just felt so proud to have been part of that little seed money that will hopefully grow into something great and help to heal this world," she said. "I'm a very proud girl today to know I had anything at all to do with something that's going to help us through this crazy pandemic."

Read the rest here:

Dolly Parton learned she funded the Moderna Covid-19 vaccine when the rest of us did - CNN

SIOUX FALLS, S.D. (KELO) Two companies have announced promising preliminary results of COVID-19 vaccines. However, there are still many questions surrounding the vaccine and getting it to South Dakotans.

One Sioux Falls doctor is sharing his perspective on the outlook of South Dakota receiving a COVID-19 vaccine. Dr. Wendell Hoffman is an Infectious Disease Specialist at Sanford Health.

The news about the Pfizer and Moderna vaccines is very, very encouraging. I mean, if these numbers play out in the 90 percent plus range, this will be nothing short of spectacular, Hoffman said.

According to the Associated Press, Pfizer said its vaccine was more than 94% effective in adults over age 65, though it is not clear how the company determined effectiveness in older adults, with only eight infections in the vaccinated group to analyze and no breakdown provided of those peoples ages.

Moderna, Inc. also announced that its experimental vaccine appears to be 94.5%effective as well.

But just because a vaccine is produced doesnt mean everyone will receive it right away.

According to the South Dakota Secretary of Health Kim Malsam-Rysdon, the vaccinations will go first to frontline health care workers who care for COVID patients in hospitals and long-term care settings. She went on to say the next group will include residents in long-term care facilities.

The problem is that were not going to have widespread vaccine available into the broad population for a number of months. We may have some vaccine by the end of the year, but 20 to 30 million doses, even if we get that much, in a population of 350 million potentially who might benefit from a vaccine. So thats my point about building a bridge to the vaccine, and the bridge is those mitigating strategies, Hoffman said.

The mitigating strategies Hoffman is referring to includes social distancing, wearing a mask, good hand hygiene and staying home when youre sick.

I mean youd almost have to be living under a rock not to have heard this, Hoffman said.

Hoffman said having a vaccine would eliminate a multitude of concerns for people both financially and health-wise.

Its devastating. People are suffering, and its not that theyre so much afraid of dying. Its that theyre afraid of, How am I going to pay my bills? How am I going to get back to work?' Hoffman said.

Keep reading

Your Guide To Coronavirus

KELOLAND News is covering the COVID-19 pandemic. This is your guide to everything you need to know to prepare. We also have the latest stories from across the globe feeding into this page.

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The reality of getting a COVID-19 vaccine in South Dakota - KELOLAND.com

SIOUX FALLS, S.D. (KELO) Two companies have announced promising preliminary results of COVID-19 vaccines. However, there are still many questions surrounding the vaccine and getting it to South Dakotans.

One Sioux Falls doctor is sharing his perspective on the outlook of South Dakota receiving a COVID-19 vaccine. Dr. Wendell Hoffman is an Infectious Disease Specialist at Sanford Health.

The news about the Pfizer and Moderna vaccines is very, very encouraging. I mean, if these numbers play out in the 90 percent plus range, this will be nothing short of spectacular, Hoffman said.

According to the Associated Press, Pfizer said its vaccine was more than 94% effective in adults over age 65, though it is not clear how the company determined effectiveness in older adults, with only eight infections in the vaccinated group to analyze and no breakdown provided of those peoples ages.

Moderna, Inc. also announced that its experimental vaccine appears to be 94.5%effective as well.

But just because a vaccine is produced doesnt mean everyone will receive it right away.

According to the South Dakota Secretary of Health Kim Malsam-Rysdon, the vaccinations will go first to frontline health care workers who care for COVID patients in hospitals and long-term care settings. She went on to say the next group will include residents in long-term care facilities.

The problem is that were not going to have widespread vaccine available into the broad population for a number of months. We may have some vaccine by the end of the year, but 20 to 30 million doses, even if we get that much, in a population of 350 million potentially who might benefit from a vaccine. So thats my point about building a bridge to the vaccine, and the bridge is those mitigating strategies, Hoffman said.

The mitigating strategies Hoffman is referring to includes social distancing, wearing a mask, good hand hygiene and staying home when youre sick.

I mean youd almost have to be living under a rock not to have heard this, Hoffman said.

Hoffman said having a vaccine would eliminate a multitude of concerns for people both financially and health-wise.

Its devastating. People are suffering, and its not that theyre so much afraid of dying. Its that theyre afraid of, How am I going to pay my bills? How am I going to get back to work?' Hoffman said.

Keep reading

Your Guide To Coronavirus

KELOLAND News is covering the COVID-19 pandemic. This is your guide to everything you need to know to prepare. We also have the latest stories from across the globe feeding into this page.

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The reality of getting a COVID-19 vaccine in South Dakota - KELOLAND.com