I have been a guest of Vail Resorts my entire life and a seasonal employee for the past two years, including working the 2019-20 season until the shutdown. I returned for the 2020-21 season with COVID-19 mitigations (masks, distancing, etc.) implemented. These types of mitigations were very different than the current Vail policy of jabbing a vaccine into my body.
COVID-19 has a 99% survival rate unless you are over the age of 65 per the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. An estimated 46 million Americans have recovered from COVID-19, according to the World Health Organization. Risk assessment is multifaceted, including experiencing mountain activities. Vails mission and code of ethics states to create the experience of a lifetime for our employees, so they can, in turn, provide exceptional experiences for our guests.
Those who chose to receive the jab did on their own, likely after communication with a licensed physician. Those who have recovered from COVID-19 have their own immunity, which Vail policy doesnt accept!
Vail is not recognizing natural immunity or bodily autonomy as protected by the Constitution. I was hired for a third season, but my jab exemption was subsequently denied, so I am unable to work. Vail is unethical and unconstitutional by forcing medical choices without a medical license in exchange for employment. Vail policy has greatly impacted me and my fellow employees and goes against the companys own mission.
Consider the excited young child learning to love mountain activities but who is unable to dine on the mountain with his or her parents because of Vails vaccination policy. My own grandchildren planned to enjoy my timeshare while I worked but would be discriminated against dining on the mountain because of Vails unethical policy.
Shame on you, Vail Resorts.
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Long before the COVID-19 pandemic and the concomitant vaccine, the anti-vaccination movement was mainly identified with one veryspecific myth:the idea that vaccines cause autism.
Aside from being patently offensive to neurodiverse and autistic people (including this writer), version 1.0 of the anti-vax movementwas also dangerousbecause its adherents made it easier for infectious diseases to spread. This wasn't just a theoretical fear:local measles outbreaks in places like Disneyland that occurred with greater frequency throughout the 2010s were tied to the increasing number of anti-vaxxers, who had collectively lowered the herd immunity numbers for diseases like measles which were once nearly eradicated in the United States.
Now that COVID-19 has changed the world, it is worth reexamining the legacy of that autism-related controversy, which may have proven to be the "original sin" that led us to this dismal moment in which anti-COVID-vaccination misinformation is rife.That means turning our eye to the inglorious career of a man named Andrew Wakefield.
Wakefield's wake
Once a British doctor, Wakefield is infamous for being the lead author of a 1998 case series that studied links between autism and digestive conditions and, heclaimed, documented changes in behavior in children who were given themeasles, mumps and rubella vaccine (MMR vaccine).Over time, this mutated into a claimthat MMR vaccines could cause autism, prompting an international panic.
Because Wakefield's study had been publishedin a distinguished medical journal (The Lancet), his claimsquickly circulatedand influenced millions of parents to not let their children get vaccinated at an age when, they believed erroneously, they could be at risk of developing autism. This trend persisted despite the fine print within the study: notably, itincluded no data about the MMR vaccine, its conclusions were speculative, it had been poorly designed, andthe researchers had only studied a small sample of patients. Other critics observed that, because autism is usually diagnosed at the same young age when MMR vaccines are supposed to be administered, the study could dupe impressionable parents into thinking the timing of their child's autism diagnosis was linked to the inoculation. These fears proved founded; measles outbreaks surged as more and more people followed Wakefield's uninformed advice.By2019, the United States was experiencing its worst measles outbreak since 1994.
Soon, the people who merely suspected something fishy in Wakefield's study were given more than mere clues. Other scientists were unable to reproduce Wakefield's findings, which is crucial for scientific studies to be considered valid. Then,in 2004, Wakefieldwas hit with a double whammy: An investigation by Sunday Times reporter Brian Deer demonstrated that Wakefield had financial conflicts of interest he had not disclosed when publishing his report.It was revealedthat Wakefield had established several autism-related medical businesses, but their success was predicated on establishing links between MMR vaccines and a likely-fabricated disease called "autistic entercolitis."On top of that, 10 of the 12 scientists who co-authored the paper retracted it on the grounds that "no causal link was established between MMR vaccine and autism as the data were insufficient."
By 2010 The Lancet fully retracted the paper, admitting that it was riddled with scientific errors and that the authors had behaved unethically, in no small partby studying children without the required clearances. Wakefield was ultimately stripped of his ability to practice medicine, although he continues to stand by his findings and insists he was mistreated.
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A direct line can be drawn between Wakefield's assertions about MMR vaccines and the rhetoric about COVID-19 vaccines (an issue where Wakefield is also anti-science, but has not emerged as a prominent voice). Studies have repeatedly found that general vaccine skepticism increased as a direct result of Wakefield's study; just last August, researchers writing for the scientific journal PLOS One again confirmed that vaccine hesitancy went up after Wakefield's paper came out.
"The Wakefield et al paper arrived at an interesting time in history," epidemiologist Dr. Ren Najera told Salon in June. "The internet was growing. The 24-hour news cycle was growing. People like Jenny McCarthy and others were becoming 'influencers.'His paper only brought to the forefront fears that many parents had: that vaccines caused developmental delays. Before 1998, you didn't have the internet as a bullhorn, or time to interview or showcase celebrities."
While hesitation about vaccines existed before Wakefield, the British doctor made it possible for misinformation to do something that had previously only occurred in the world of epidemics: achieving virality. Even after Wakefield himself sank into obscurity, other anti-vaccine activists emerged to take his place. By normalizing the practice of questioning vaccines without regard to reliable medical knowledge, they laid the foundations for the denial of the COVID-19 vaccines that is so prevalent today.
Wakefield may not be one of the so-called "disinformation dozen" social media voices today whocreate two-thirds of all anti-vaxxer content online but he is their forefather. Without Wakefield, it is hard to imagine that the anti-vaccination movement would have been so loudbefore the pandemicthat it would metastasizeduring it, to the extent thatmillions of Americans now view opposing vaccines as a crucial part of their identity.
Despite the claims made by Wakefield and others, there is no evidence that vaccines are in any way linked to autism. There is also no evidence that the COVID-19 vaccines are either unsafe or ineffective or, as some kooks claim, have microchips in them. Autismrefers to a broad range of neurological conditions that many doctors argue should not even be considered "unhealthy," and which certainly are not induced by vaccinations. Vaccineswork by training your immune system to protect the body against pathogens (microorganisms that cause disease) by either introducing a weakened or dead part or whole of that pathogen into the body, or by teaching the cells to make proteins associated with a specific pathogen so that the invader can be identified and eliminated.
According to a study in mice conducted by researchers at the University of Queensland and Griffith University in Australia, a vaccine administered via a skin patch could offer better protection against COVID-19 than those given via traditional needle injections.
The centimetre-wide (0.39 inch) patch contains 5,000 plastic spikes that are a quarter of a millimetre (0.009 inch) long. Each is coated with a dry version of the vaccine. Unlike the liquid form given in an injected vaccine, the dry version does not need to be stored at cold temperatures.
The researchers tested the skin patch with a COVID-19 vaccine candidate called HexaPro, which has been developed by researchers at the University of Texas at Austin. This vaccine is still undergoing clinical trials but has been shown to be more heat-stable than liquid vaccines. It remained stable for at least one month when stored on the patch at 25 degrees Celsius (77 Fahrenheit) and for one week when stored at 40C (104F). This makes it much more suitable for use in places without the cold storage facilities necessary for many liquid vaccines. It is also cheaper to manufacture than the existing approved vaccines.
According to the researchers, vaccines administered via a patch produced a better immune response becauseof the high density of immune cells on the surface of the skin. Mice treated with the patch developed more coronavirus antibodies than those injected with the vaccine and none showed any sign of sickness from the disease.
If these vaccines do eventually get the go-ahead, it will be music to the ears of those who are so needle-phobic that it has so far prevented them from taking up the COVID-19 vaccines.
Other advantages of this method of delivery include the ease of administering the vaccine, including the potential for self-delivery, or that it can be given by those who have no medical training. Unlike the Pfizer or AstraZeneca vaccines, the vaccine given as a patch does not have to be mixed or drawn up, and the fact that it can be stored at room temperature makes it easier to transport. The researchers also insist that it is painless.
The HexaPro is not the only vaccine being developed as a patch; Emergex, a UK company, has created a patch it says offers more long-lasting immunity than regular COVID-19 vaccinations. According to Robin Cohen, the chief commercial officer at Emergex Vaccines, their skin patch vaccine elicits high levels of T-cell immune cells that are important for long-lasting immunity and preventing transmission of the disease.
Emergex vaccines have been designed to be administered via the skin using microneedles and to be stable at ambient room temperature for more than three months, facilitating rapid and efficient distribution across the world and making administration of the vaccine more patient-friendly. The company is due to start Phase1 trials in 13 volunteers in Switzerland soon.
If these vaccines do eventually get the go-ahead, it will be music to the ears of those who are so needle-phobic that it has so far prevented them from taking up the COVID-19 vaccines.
The start of November saw pharmaceutical giant Pfizer announce the results of its trial for paxlovid, its experimental COVID-19 pill. According to its own trial results, which are yet to be peer-reviewed, the pill reduced the risk of hospitalisation or death by 89 percent compared with a placebo in non-hospitalised high-risk adults with COVID-19.
Less than two weeks after it announced this, Pfizer released a statement saying it had signed an agreement with the Medicines Patent Pool (MPP) which could make the treatment available to 53 percent of the worlds population. The MPP is a United Nations-backed public health organisation working to increase access to life-saving medicines for low- and middle-income countries.
The agreement will enable MPP to facilitate additional production and distribution of the investigational antiviral, pending regulatory authorisation or approval, by granting sub-licenses to qualified generic medicine manufacturers, with the goal of improving access to the pill. Pfizer will not receive royalties on sales in low-income countries and will waive royalties on sales in all countries covered by the agreement while COVID-19 remains classified as a Public Health Emergency of International Concern by the World Health Organization (WHO).
If the trial results are corroborated, then the pill designed to be taken by individuals who have tested positive for COVID-19 and have a higher risk of worsening symptoms because of underlying health conditions or weakened immune systems could help reduce the effect on healthcare systems in low- and middle-income countries.
There has been much criticism over the inequalities in access to COVID-19 treatments and vaccines. Wealthy countries have ordered and in some cases hoarded vaccines at the expense of poorer countries who are lagging behind in their vaccination programmes. Many developing nations are relying on charitable donations for their vaccines. Pfizer and other pharmaceutical companies have also pushed back against calls to lift patents on their COVID-19 jabs. So while this announcement is good news, there is much more that could be done, and while the deal with the MPP includes many countries in Africa and Asia, but countries such as Brazil, Argentina and Thailand, which have experienced significant outbreaks, are not part of it.
In October, pharmaceutical company Merck, announced a similar deal with the MPP to allow manufacturers to produce its own COVID-19 pill, molnupiravir.
Last week, UK Prime Minister Boris Johnson called a news conference to encourage people more than 40 to take up their COVID-19 booster jabs. He warned about rising coronavirus rates in mainland Europe which are being described as a fourth wave and said the UK needed to protect itself.
Storm clouds that are gathering over the continent. A new wave of COVID has steadily swept through central Europe We dont yet know the extent to which this new wave will wash up on our shores, but history shows we cannot afford to be complacent, he said.
With the exception of Russia, the UK has had more deaths from the virus than any other European country and still has high rates of infections.
Many argued that the prime ministers speech was his way of deflecting responsibility for the rising numbers of infections across the country since mandatory social distancing measures and mask-wearing in indoor public spaces were removed in the summer.
Many scientists and doctors across the UK, myself included, have repeatedly warned that not enough is being done to curb the spread of COVID-19. Simple measures such as mask-wearing in public indoor spaces and adequate air filtration and ventilation in schools and crowded workspaces would have reduced the spread of the virus while people were being given boosters.
The government has so far said there is no need for another lockdown but has referred to Plan B measures it has on standby, which include mask-wearing, COVID-19 passports and advice to work from home. Plan B is being kept in reserve should cases, hospitalisations and deaths rise to unacceptable levels, the government said. But what these unacceptable levels remain a mystery.
Despite all this, the prime minister did get one thing right: cases are rising in mainland Europe and even though the reasons for these increases may differ from the UKs, some countries are also implementing their own equivalents of a Plan B.
Germany is in the grip of a surge in coronavirus infections, with a record 68,366 cases on November 17. The countrys leaders have announced tighter restrictions for the unvaccinated, including banning them from restaurants, sporting venues and concerts. To protect the most vulnerable, they also agreed to introduce compulsory vaccinations for healthcare workers and employees in homes for the elderly. Unvaccinated people will also be banned from public areas in those parts of Germany where COVID-19-related hospital admissions are particularly high; these already include Hamburg, Lower Saxony, Schleswig-Holstein and Saarland.
Unlike the UK, which has high levels of double-vaccinated people, Germanys vaccination rates are relatively low, with only 68 percent of the population fully vaccinated. The situation is worst in Saxony, where just 57.6 percent of the population is double jabbed. The ruling parties are hoping these newly imposed restrictions will encourage those who have not yet had the vaccines to come forward for them.
Parts of Austria are also seeing a surge in new coronavirus infections and after an initial introduction of tough new restrictions for the unvaccinated, the country has now announced a full lockdown for all. The measures will continue until December 12 but will be reassessed after 10 days. Austria too has a low vaccine uptake rate with only 66 percentof the population having had both doses of the vaccines. Austrias federal government announced it would impose mandatory nationwide COVID-19 vaccinations from February 2022 onwards. Unsurprisingly, this caused an uproar among vocal anti-vaxxer groups, with protests against the measures in Vienna soon after the announcements.
In Prague in the Czech Republic, thousands of protesters also took to the streets to denounce the new restrictions that came into force there for unvaccinated people. The Czech government is introducing restrictions on those yet to receive the shots, banning them from public events, bars and restaurants from November 22, in a bid to drive up vaccination rates. The country has struggled with its vaccination programme, lagging behind its neighbours; as a result, it is now recording high rates of infections.
The Netherlands, Italy and Croatia also saw protesters gathering in the streets, some turning violent as they demonstrated their anger over what they feel are curbs on their freedom.
The next month will be critical in Europe. How governments act now will determine where this next phase in the pandemic will take us.
There is certainly a worrying picture developing in both mainland Europe and the UK as they again become the epicentre of the pandemic. Europe is grappling with low vaccine rates which cannot be tackled by restricting the unvaccinated alone.
We must target the misinformation that feeds into peoples fear about the vaccines; social media sites have a role to play in policing the content they allow to be shared and factual education from trusted sources must be promoted.
Vaccines cannot be relied upon alone, it has to be a multi-faceted approach. Mask wearing and better ventilation in indoor spaces are key to reducing the spread of this airborne virus. This is the part that has let the UK down; although it has a high vaccine rate it has all but abandoned other measures and is paying the price. High rates in the UK are most likely driven by a lack of mask-wearing, social distancing and ventilation as well as ambiguous messaging from the central government which continues to tell the public to use common sense rather than mandating measures that would reduce the spread of the virus and undoubtedly save lives.
The next month will be critical in Europe. How governments act now will determine where this next phase in the pandemic will take us.
I received a written complaint from a patient this week my first in over five years. I take pride in having such low numbers of complaints from patients, but I knew this one was coming the patient told me as much as he walked out the door, also saying he had sent a copy of his complaint to MP Sajid Javid, the health secretary for England.
The letter detailed how I had asked the patient to wear a face-covering in my clinic and said I had refused to see him unless he did so. To be honest, this was true.
We have a policy at the surgery: all people attending must wear a face-covering unless medically exempt. We, of course, have access to their medical records and know who is medically exempt. This particular patient was not.
He entered the clinic without a face covering and shouted at the receptionist when she asked him to wear one in the waiting room, which was filled with vulnerable people. When I went to call him from the waiting area, I offered him a free mask that we keep at the front desk. He told me he knew his rights and did not have to wear one if he did not want to. I explained to him that many of the people in the clinic were vulnerable and that we had a duty of care to them.
He agreed about the medical reasoning but still refused to wear a mask. His decision put my patients including him at risk, so I had to make a decision too. I told him he was welcome to stay and discuss his medical complaint, but only if he wore a mask; if he chose not to, I would not be able to see him.
He realised I was serious, so after a pause, he took the mask and put it on making a point of writing my name down and telling me to expect a complaint. The consultation went rather well, I thought. He left with a diagnosis and management plan for his ailment, and I thought we had resolved our differences. I was wrong. Two weeks later, the written complaint arrived and now I must waste time that could be spent with patients penning a response to it.
I see almost 50 people a day in my clinic room, ranging from the elderly to newborn babies. I often see pregnant women and those with underlying conditions that make them more vulnerable to infectious diseases. I keep my window open at all times (despite it being cold here in the UK) to improve ventilation, and I wear a face covering the entire time I am there, which is usually about 12 hours. I do this to keep my patients, my staff and myself safe.
I understand that some people have medical reasons for not wearing masks such as respiratory conditions that affect breathing and I make exemptions for them. But for other patients, I ask them to wear a mask for the 10 to 15 minutes that they are in my room. Face coverings, along with other measures, can reduce the risk of passing on the virus to others and reduce the amount of the disease circulating in the air. The last thing I want is my room to become a hub of infection, causing illness and potential death to my vulnerable patients. That is why I insist that those who can wear a mask, do.
Christmas is around the corner and many people are looking forward to having friends and family over to share in the festive fun. This year, Christmas is especially poignant as winter COVID-19 restrictions in the northern hemisphere last year meant household gatherings were limited. People, I know are really looking forward to Christmas with the family this year and feel they have worked through the pandemic to allow for this.
However, in the northern hemisphere, winter has once coincided with rising numbers of coronavirus infections. Restrictions are coming back into place in a bid to drive infection numbers down and vaccination rates up in time for Christmas. There is a lot of focus on encouraging people to get vaccinated.
While vaccines are no doubt the most important way to protect ourselves against COVID-19, we cannot rely on that alone to save Christmas. We must look at other protective factors too: indoor environments, including schools, remain largely inadequately ventilated; this has to change to reduce the spread of disease. Mask wearing needs to be enforced again in indoor public spaces and people need to be reminded to socially distance themselves. These may all feel like backwards steps, but they are a small price to pay if we wish to spend some of the holiday period with people from outside of our households.
The fight against this virus is not over. And if we look at it through the lens of a war metaphor, vaccinations would be our general, but ventilation, masks, hand washing and social distancing are the all-important foot soldiers.
Hundreds of millions of Americans will gather Thursday to watch football, catch up with family and friends and eat themselves into a food coma and it will be a miracle.
One year ago, a return to traditional Thanksgiving celebrations seemed unimaginable. Covid-19 was still raging across the country. Vaccines had been developed, but no Americans had received them. The day after Thanksgiving 2020, there were around 160,000 Covid-19 cases reported, according to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. It was a time with close to 100,000 Covid-related hospitalizations and more than 1,500 Americans dying every day.
The progress that has been made on vaccinations is one of the most extraordinary accomplishments in human history.
Then, on Dec. 14, Sandra Lindsay became one of the first Americans outside a clinical trial to receive a coronavirus vaccine, and everything changed. Since then, more than 231 million people in the U.S. have received at least one dose of a Covid vaccine, according to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. More than 80 percent of Americans ages 12 and over have received at least one dose, and more than 69 percent are fully vaccinated. For those ages 65 and over, the age group most vulnerable to the ravages of Covid, more than 99 percent have received at least one dose.
Americans who refuse to get vaccinated continue to get sick and die. Each death is a needless tragedy. But the progress that has been made on vaccinations is one of the most extraordinary accomplishments in human history.
Of course, these advances are not just happening in the United States.
In less than a year, 7.78 billion doses of Covid vaccines have been given out, and a stunning 3.32 billion people worldwide are fully vaccinated.
China did not give full approval to a Covid vaccine until Dec. 30. But recently it reported that more than 1 billion of its citizens are fully vaccinated. India is second, with about 412 million fully vaccinated people. However, that number represents only about 30 percent of the population, which is a reminder of how much work still needs to be done to make sure everyone on the planet has the opportunity to be fully vaccinated.
We may never know how many lives the vaccines saved, but the figure would likely be in the millions.
As Christopher Nichols, a historian at Oregon State University who has written about past pandemics, told me, I can't think of a truly comparable world-historical event of the likely impact and import of the 2020-21 global race for effective Covid-19 vaccines and production and distribution to get this many shots in arms this fast.
In Nichols view, the vaccination and distribution race likely saved us all from a pandemic much closer to the 1918 flu pandemic, in which a far smaller global population had an estimated 50 million deaths.
We may never know how many lives the vaccines saved, but the figure would likely be in the millions.
What is perhaps even more extraordinary than the numbers were seeing is the safety and efficacy of the vaccines. No major or minor side effects are being reported in any significant numbers. Moreover, the vaccines are extraordinarily successful.
Covid deaths among vaccinated people are vanishingly rare. A person who has been vaccinated is about 14 times less likely to die from Covid than someone who has not.
Indeed, right now, even with Covid cases increasing, the levels of hospitalization and deaths remain low. In New Jersey, for example, cases have jumped by 66 percent in the past two weeks, but the states hospitalization rate is around 830, approximately five times lower than in January.
With the increase in protection, our lives are slowly but surely returning to normal. Kids are back in school; college students are back on campus; even workplaces are being populated again. The normal rhythms of life are returning.
Travel is opening up as the U.S. travel ban on Europe has been lifted, and even New Zealand, which had one of the most stringent lockdowns in the world, is preparing to allow tourists to return.
Professional hockey and basketball teams have played more than 550 games in indoor arenas to an estimated 8 million fans. There has been nearly three months of professional and college football. Tens of thousands of concerts and plays have taken place. There are virtually no reports of any being a superspreader event.
All of this is made possible by the vaccines.
As if that werent enough, we appear to be getting closer to a therapeutic treatment for Covid. Earlier this month, Pfizer applied for emergency use authorization of a Covid treatment pill that the company said can reduce the risk of hospitalization and death by 89 percent in people who are at high risk of severe illness.
In the immortal words of Jesse Pinkman: Yeah, science!
Of course, for all the progress thats been made, there are still tens of millions of people in the United States who are refusing to get the shot. Their actions are prolonging the pandemic and contributing to Covid spikes. Worst of all, approximately a thousand people are still dying every day. In addition, around half of the people on the globe remain unvaccinated. The next year must bring renewed effort to ensure everyone has access to a vaccine.
But the progress weve made suggests we can get there and we must not let ourselves be distracted by the know-nothing contingent. Billions of people around the world struggled and suffered, but most have done their part. They wore masks, socially distanced and demonstrated empathy, decency and resilience in the face of a once-in-a-lifetime global plague. When the time came to get vaccinated, billions acted. Its a hopeful reminder of our shared humanity, no matter our differences.
As we gather this week, that is reason enough to give thanks.
The City and Borough of Juneau in partnership with Juneau Public Health Center, Bartlett Regional Hospital, Juneau School District, local pediatricians, and other community organizations is hosting free pediatric Pfizer vaccine clinics for all Juneau youth ages 5-11 on Monday, November 29; Tuesday, November 30; and Saturday, December 4. Register your 5-11 year-old now atjuneau.org/vaccineor 586-6000.
Pediatric vaccine clinics are on:
The Pfizer pediatric vaccine requires two doses administered three weeks apart. This clinic is for first doses and second doses. If your kid needs a first dose, register at juneau.org/vaccineor 586-6000. If youve already registered your child for their second dose, theres no need to register again. If you havent though, do make an appointment atjuneau.org/vaccineor 586-6000.
Please note the following:
Learn more about COVID-19 vaccines for children from this CDC webpageor thisAlaska Health and Social Services information sheet.
For more information, call 586-6000 or emailCOVIDquestions@juneau.org.
Last Friday, the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) joined the U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA) in authorizing a single booster dose of the Moderna and Pfizer mRNA vaccines for all adults 18 years andolder. This recent action allows individuals 18 years and older, who have completed their initial COVID-19 vaccine series to receive a booster shot at least six months after completing their initial vaccine series.
The CDC had previously approved booster doses of the Johnson & Johnson vaccine for all adults 18 years and older at least two months after their initial dose. CDC guidance allows individuals to seek a COVID-19 booster based on individual benefits and risk and to choose which type of vaccine booster they receive, allowing for mixing and matching of vaccines, subject to that vaccines timing and eligibility recommendations for booster doses.
The CDC says that all people 50 and older, as well as people 18 and older in long-term care settings, should receive a COVID-19 vaccine booster shot. People under the age of 18 are not eligible to receive a booster shot.
The booster dose offers additional protection against the virus, as immunity from COVID-19 vaccines wane over time. The COVID-19 vaccines continue to be remarkably effective in reducing risk of severe disease, hospitalization, and death. Individuals should bring their COVID-19 vaccination card with them when they receivetheir booster dose. COVID-19 vaccines are provided at no cost.
In observance of the Thanksgiving holiday, several COVID-19 vaccination sites will revise their hours. The Coconino County Health and Human Services (CCHHS) vaccination site located at the Flagstaff Mall, 4650 US Highway 89, will be open on Wednesday, November 24 and will resume serving adults and children ages 5 17 at the Wednesday and Friday clinics as follows:
The site will be closed on Friday, November 26 for the holiday and will reopen on Wednesday, December 1.
To find a vaccination location and holiday closure information, please visit https://www.coconino.az.gov/2580/COVID-19-Vaccination-Locations.
CCHHS recommends the following precautions to minimize COVID-19 risk during theholidays:
Following these recommendations will help to ensure a safe, healthy, and happy Thanksgiving.
(WISH) Help is on the way for a handful of Indiana counties running low on supply on pediatric COVID-19 doses.
Claire Haughton, public health educator for the Boone County Health Department, said, We definitely ran out a lot faster than we thought we would. I think we did not realize that the demand would be so overwhelming.
The Boone County department says it ran out of COVID-19 vaccines for kids 5 to 11 approximately two weeks ago. Theyve recently received about 700 more doses. The Boone County Health Department says it also expects to receive more pediatric doses.
So, we have been getting calls from parents who were concerned like, Hey, are you going to have enough by the time my kid has this appointment coming up next week? and we will, Haughton said.
Our clinic will be opened next Wednesday and Thursday, and Im already seeing that we have over a hundred people booked on those days, Haughton said.
The Hamilton County Health Department says it expects to receive more pediatric doses early next week. The demand for vaccines at the Hamilton County Fairgrounds clinic in Noblesville had exceeded the supply.
The Hamilton County Health Department says its sticking with scheduled appointments for kids 5 to 11 to ensure they dont have to turn anyone away.
The Madison County Health Department, based in Anderson, says it received 700 additional doses last week.
Former U.S. surgeon general and News 8 medical expert Dr. Jerome Adams encourages everyone to get vaccinated. He says the vaccines benefits outweigh the risks for these children.
We can live with this virus. We can have a sense of normalcy if everyone does their part and it starts with getting vaccinated, Adams said.
Both the Marion County Public Health Department and the Hendricks County Health Department, based in Danville, say they have not yet experienced a shortage of doses for ages 5-11.
The vaccines against Covid-19 are working. The best evidence of this is data from Spain showing that the unvaccinated in the 60-80 population are 25 times more at risk of dying from Covid-19, compared to those who have been fully immunized in the same age group. Whats more, with nearly 80% of the population in Spain fully vaccinated, the incidence rate among the unvaccinated is nearly triple that of those who have received their shots.
The Spanish Health Ministry on Tuesday revealed for the first time an in-depth picture of how the coronavirus affects the vaccinated and unvaccinated population differently. This data received a lot of attention on social media, particularly two graphs that showed the level of protection among the vaccinated versus the unvaccinated. One of the most shared and retweeted images on Twitter was published by journalist Eduardo Sarez. This graph uses the same data as the one in Sarezs table.
Last week, new data also highlighted the effectiveness of Covid-19 vaccines at preventing serious illness and death. Some 60% of Covid-19 patients in Spains intensive care units (ICUs) are unvaccinated, according to figures provided by the regions. This led many to raise questions about the other 40%, which was argued to be an extremely high figure. This argument, however, did not take into account the fact that in Spain, many more people are vaccinated than unvaccinated. In other words, the 60% of unvaccinated ICU patients must be seen in the context of a much smaller group of people. This is better understood visually, for example, in the graph posted on Twitter by Belgian journalist Nol Slangen. Since being shared on November 19, it has been retweeted more than 5,800 times. The graph at the top of this article has been formulated using a similar design, but with data specific to Spain.
Spanish Health Minister Carolina Darias repeated on Tuesday the key message of her department: Vaccinate, vaccinate and vaccinate continues to be the best path. An earlier October study from the Health Ministry found that vaccination reduces the risk of hospitalization and death from Covid-19 by more than 90% in most age groups.
The Covid-19 vaccination drive in Spain has been one of the most successful in Europe. Nearly eight in 10 residents are fully vaccinated in Spain, compared to the EU average of 65%.
English version by Melissa Kitson.
The majority of those hosting Thanksgiving dinner on Thursday will not be requiring guests to have received the coronavirus vaccine or wear masks, a new Hill-HarrisX poll found.
The poll shows 65 percent of Thanksgiving hosts are not requiring the vaccine or masks, with only 11 percent requiring both.
Twenty-one percentsay they will be demanding that guests be vaccinated,and 4 percentsay they will require masks at gatherings.
There is apartisan divide in the decision with 78 percent of Republicans in the poll saying neither the vaccine or masks are required at Thanksgiving with only 47 percent of Democrats saying the same.
The poll also found 79 percent will be spending Thanksgiving with family or another group of people, with only 13 percent saying they dont plan to be with others for the holiday.
Health officials have encouraged those gathering in groups to get their shots, with Anthony FauciAnthony FauciOvernight Health Care Feds, military top 90 percent vaccine rate Fauci says changing definition of fully vaccinated to include boosters is 'on the table' Jim Jordan reveals he had COVID-19 this summer MORE previously saying those who are fully vaccinated can have a normal holiday season.
Almost the samenumber of Republicans and Democrats are spending Thanksgiving with family or others, at 84 percent and 81 percent, respectively.
Only 10 percent of Republicans and 11 percent of Democrats are not planning to be with others for the holiday.
The poll was conducted between Nov. 18 and Nov. 19, surveying 939 registered voters. The margin or error is plus or minus 3.2 percentage points.
2021-11-25
It has now been 49 weeks since the first shipments of the COVID-19 vaccine were sent out to states, kicking off the largest vaccination campaign in human history. As of November 23, the U.S. has sent 569,050,695 doses of the vaccine across the country equivalent to 173.4% of the U.S. population.
While the initial distribution of the vaccine took longer than federal projections had indicated, in recent months the U.S. has made great leaps in the worldwide race to administer vaccinations and some states are faring far better than others. Under the current system, led by the White House COVID-19 Response Team, the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention sends states limited shipments of the vaccine as well as funding and tasks them with distributing the vaccine in accordance with relatively loose federal guidelines. The distribution of the vaccine is based on the size of the adult population in every state, which according to some experts can create inequities in states where the spread of COVID-19 is worse and a larger share of the population is at risk.
Washington has received a total of 13,841,085 doses of the COVID-19 vaccine as of November 23. Adjusted for population, Washington has received 181,763.4 vaccines per 100,000 residents more than the national average of 173,364.5 vaccines per 100,000 Americans and the 15th most of any state.
While Washington has so far received more vaccines per capita than the nation as a whole, the state has a lesser need for vaccines than the rest of the country. As of November 23, there were 10,008.3 confirmed cases of COVID-19 per 100,000 residents in Washington lower than the national rate of 14,451.3 cases per 100,000 Americans and the sixth lowest of all 50 states.
While the federal government distributes vaccines to states, it is up to state governments to administer the vaccine creating variations in both the percentage of vaccines that have been administered and the percentage of the population that has been vaccinated. In Washington, 80.9% of allocated vaccines have been administered to residents, in line with the national average of 79.6% and the 17th largest share of all states.
The administered vaccines amount to 147.0% of the state population, greater than the 137.9% national figure and the 12th largest share of all states.
While a majority of Americans remain unvaccinated due to a lack of supply, there are some who have no plans to receive a vaccine at all. According to a survey from the U.S. Census Bureau, 59.2% of U.S. adults 18 and over who have not yet received the vaccine will either probably not or definitely not get a COVID-19 vaccine in the future. In Washington, 69.8% of adults who have not yet received the vaccine report that they will probably not or definitely not get a vaccine in the future, the 10th largest share of any state. The most common reason cited for not wanting a vaccine was being concerned about possible side effects. Other commonly cited reasons include not trusting COVID-19 vaccines, not trusting the government, and that they were planning to wait and see if it is safe.
