BUFFALO, N.Y. (WKBW) The Child Care Resource Network (CCRN) has partnered with the Erie County Department of Health to host a COVID-19 vaccine pop-up for child care providers and their families.
The clinic will be held June 5 from 9:00 a.m. to 4:00 p.m. at the CCRN office located at 1000 Hertel Avenue, Buffalo. The single dose Johnson & Johnson vaccine will be offered at the clinic.
To register click here and use POD code 10020.
Too early to return to normal? Experts say more in Mississippi need COVID-19 vaccinations Jackson Clarion Ledger
The COVID-19 subcommittee of the WHO Global Advisory Committee on Vaccine Safety (GACVS) is reviewing reports of a small number of cases of myocarditis reported in individuals vaccinated with the COVID-19 mRNA vaccines. The subcommittee noted that in most of the reported cases, the individuals have recovered. The subcommittee is soliciting and monitoring for additional information to assess for any relationship to COVID-19 vaccination.
Myocarditis is an inflammation of the heart muscle and pericarditis is an inflammation of the lining that surrounds the heart. While it can cause serious illness, it is frequently mild and responds well to conservative treatment.
On May 17, the US Advisory Committee on Immunization Practices (ACIP) COVID-19 Vaccine Safety Technical (VaST) Work Group concluded that there are few reports of myocarditis to date and that these cases seem to occur predominantly in adolescents and young adults, more often in males than females, more often after the second dose of the vaccine, and typically within 4 days after vaccination[1]. Most cases appeared to be mild and follow up is ongoing.
The GACVS subcommittee noted that most of the information received so far is based on spontaneous, passive reporting. More rigorous studies using alternative data sources and more robust study designs including comparison of vaccinated and unvaccinated populations are needed to assess a potential causal association between the event and the vaccine. Some countries, such as Israel, the United Kingdom and the United States have embarked upon such studies. The GACVS subcommittee will review further as more data become available. The subcommittee also underscored the importance of having a harmonized case definition. A draft case definition for myocarditis has been developed recently by the Brighton Collaboration[2].
While acknowledging the clear benefits of the mRNA vaccines in reducing deaths and hospitalizations due to COVID-19 infections, the subcommittee encourages all health professionals to report all events of myocarditis and other adverse events observed with these and other vaccines. The WHO COVID-19 vaccine safety surveillance manual provides guidance to countries on the safety monitoring and adverse events data sharing for the new COVID-19 vaccines[3].
The GACVS COVID-19 subcommittee will continue to review the safety data from all COVID-19 vaccines and update any advice as necessary. Open, transparent, and evidence-based communication about the potential benefits and risks to recipients and the community is essential to maintain trust. WHO is carefully monitoring the rollout of all COVID-19 vaccines and will continue to work closely with countries to manage potential risks, and to use science and data to drive response and recommendations.
[1] https://www.cdc.gov/vaccines/acip/work-groups-vast/technical-report-2021-05-17.html
[2] https://brightoncollaboration.us/myocarditis-case-definition-update/
[3] https://www.who.int/publications-detail-redirect/10665338400
A lot of Americans are afraid of the COVID-19 vaccines. They believe the vaccines are killing people.
The statistics fueling this fear typically come from a 30-year-old database known as VAERS -- the Vaccine Adverse Event Reporting System -- which can be found on the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention website.
You may have heard about VAERS from popular Fox News host Tucker Carlson, who early this month devoted a segment on his TV show to death results associated with the COVID-19 vaccine.
If you havent had your shot, youre under enormous pressure to get your shot, Carlson said, arguing that unvaccinated Americans soon might not be allowed to get on an airplane or attend their neighbors backyard barbecue.
Between late December of 2020 and last month, a total of 3,362 people apparently died after getting the COVID vaccine in the United States, Carlson said on his prime-time program, citing VAERS. Three thousand, three hundred and sixty-two -- thats an average of 30 people every day.
(If you select COVID-19 vaccines and deaths in the database today, you will get just over 4,000 results.)
Stickers for Pennsylvania health-care workers after they receive COVID-19 vaccines.Saed Hindash | For lehighvalleylive.com
Carlson added that there is much that VAERS doesnt tell us, then said: But its clear that what is happening now, for whatever reason, is not even close to normal. Its not even close to what weve seen in previous years with previous vaccines.
The blowback to Carlsons segment was immediate, with news outlets ranging from Reuters to The Wrap noting that Carlson had, at best, muddied the vaccine-information waters.
The problem, in part, is that VAERS is not the kind of database you might expect to find on the CDC website. It is a self-reporting system. As Reuters reported, anyone [in the public] can report events to VAERS, and so the database contains unverified information.
CDC disclaimers on VAERS point out that the database may contain information that is incomplete, inaccurate, coincidental or unverifiable, and that the inclusion of events in VAERS data does not imply causality.
The national public-health agency also has stated that its review of the medical records of those who died shortly after receiving the COVID-19 vaccine revealed no evidence that vaccination contributed to patient deaths.
A vile of Moderna's Covid-19 Vaccine.George McNish | For NJ Advance Media
In short, maybe some 4,000 Americans have died after receiving COVID-19 vaccines. Maybe a lot more than that have. But however many it is, VAERS doesnt tell us why they died. People die every day for many different reasons: heart disease, car accident, cancer, accidental choking, and so on. And some people, logically, are going to die not long after getting a vaccine shot for reasons that have nothing to do with getting that vaccine shot.
VAERS, that is, is a starting point for medical researchers, not an end point. Looking at this raw, unverified data offers very little insight.
But this is not immediately clear to people who, trying to do their own research, stumble upon the database. One video that went viral on Facebook shows a computer with VAERS filling the screen.
Im looking at an individual here, this is a 38-year-old in New Mexico that took [a COVID-19 vaccine] on the 12th of February but then died on the 18th of February, six days later, the unidentified person in the video says. They took the Pfizer. Anyway, you might be thinking, Oh, its just one person, but let me show you the list I got this from
The computer mouse scrolls down through the database, case after case after case.
The videos narrator says: This is the list of all the people who have died from the vaccines. What is concerning to me is this list is extremely long.
Such unsubstantiated claims and fears about vaccine-related deaths have spread far and wide on the internet. A British online publication called The Conservative Woman said in a headline that COVID-19 vaccines were linked to blindness, deafness, miscarriages and 5,000 deaths.
The opaque website called Swiss Policy Research, which has claimed that the QAnon conspiracy theory is an FBI operation, used VAERS and other data to state that covid vaccinations have already been associated with close to 10,000 deaths and several thousand non-trivial adverse events, including anaphylactic shocks, neurological and cardiovascular disorders and miscarriages.
The Falun Gong-affiliated Epoch News got the jump on Tucker Carlson by more than a month, using VAERS to conclude early in March that 966 people had died after having the Pfizer or Moderna COVID vaccines.
A syringe with Moderna COVID-19 vaccine. (AP Photo/Matt Slocum, File)AP
Its possible that this misinformation isnt simply the unfortunate consequence of non-experts coming upon confusing medical information online. The Wall Street Journal this week reported that Frances intelligence services are investigating the possibility that Russia tried to pay high-profile health and science bloggers [in France] to sow public doubts about the safety of the Pfizer-BioNTech coronavirus vaccine.
To be sure, none of this means the COVID-19 vaccines pose no risk at all. Every medical intervention involves some risk. A very small number of people (about two to five people per million vaccinated, Forbes magazine writes, citing CDC reports) will suffer a severe allergic reaction immediately after they receive a vaccine shot. This is why vaccine providers require people to remain under their observation for up to half an hour following the arm jab.
And the Johnson & Johnson vaccine was briefly paused after a rare blood-clotting problem, affecting about two-dozen people and causing three deaths, cropped up.
Heres what the CDC says about the three COVID-19 vaccines that have received emergency approval from the U.S. Food and Drug Administration:
Over 285 million doses of COVID-19 vaccine have been given in the United States from December 14, 2020, through May 24, 2021. COVID-19 vaccines are safe and effective. COVID-19 vaccines were evaluated in tens of thousands of participants in clinical trials. The vaccines met the Food and Drug Administrations (FDA) rigorous scientific standards for safety, effectiveness and manufacturing quality needed to support emergency use authorization.
It adds:
CDC recommends you get a COVID-19 vaccine as soon as possible.
-- Douglas Perry
dperry@oregonian.com
@douglasmperry
New England states lead the country in the rate of those who have received at least one dose
All six New England states are represented in the list of the top 10 most-vaccinated states in the US.
Vermont leads the country with 81.9 percent of people 18 and older who have received at least a first dose or a single shot of Johnson & Johnsons vaccine.
Next is Hawaii with 79.1 percent, followed by New Hampshire with 77.7 percent, Massachusetts with 77.4 percent, Connecticut with 74.3 percent, Maine with 73.4 percent, New Jersey with 72.5 percent, Rhode Island with 70.9 percent, and New Mexico with 70.2 percent.
New England states are also leading the country in terms of percent of total population with at least one dose of a vaccine, and are well above the countrys 49.5 percent rate.
Vermont leads with 69.9 percent, followed by Hawaii with 65.3 percent, Massachusetts with 65 percent, New Hampshire with 64.5 percent, Maine with 62.2 percent, Connecticut with 62 percent, and Rhode Island with 59.6 percent.
The regions states lead the country in the number of adults fully vaccinated, too
The United States on Tuesday reached the milestone of 50 percent of its adult population fully vaccinated against COVID-19, a metric that also applies to every New England state, according to the CDC.
In fact, the top five states in percent of adults who are fully vaccinated are all in New England.
Vermont leads the group with 64.3 percent, followed by Maine with 64.1 percent, Connecticut with 63.8 percent, Massachusetts with 62 percent, and Rhode Island with 61.1 percent.
New Hampshire is closer to where the country as a whole stands, with 50.6 percent of people 18 and older fully vaccinated.
People are deemed fully vaccinated two weeks after their final dose of the Pfizer or Moderna two-shot regimen or after the one-shot Johnson & Johnson vaccine.
There are five states in the country with at least 50 percent of its total population fully vaccinated and all of them are in New England. The region is well ahead of the country as whole, which has 39.5 percent of its total population fully vaccinated, according to the CDC.
Vermont has the highest percentage of its total population fully vaccinated with 53.1 percent, followed by Maine with 52.9 percent, Connecticut with 51.8 percent, Massachusetts with 50.8 percent, and Rhode Island with 50 percent.
A look at the states falling behind
While New England states are faring well in their vaccination campaigns, there are a number of states that are behind.
Across the country, Mississippi has the lowest percentage of its population who have had at least one dose of a vaccine with 33.6 percent.
Next is Louisiana with 35.1 percent, Alabama with 35.8 percent, Wyoming with 36.6 percent, and Idaho with 37 percent.
Amanda Kaufman can be reached at amanda.kaufman@globe.com. Follow her on Twitter @amandakauf1.
27 May 2021
Seyfarth Shaw LLP
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SeyfarthSynopsis:OSHA recentlyissuedadditionalguidanceaddressing whether employers need to record anemployee's adverse vaccine reaction on their 300 Log.
Earlier this year, webloggedabout OSHA's guidance that anadverse reaction to the COVID-19 vaccine is recordable if thereaction is: (1) work-related, (2) a new case, (3) meets one ormore of the general recording criteria in 29 CFR 1904.7 (e.g., daysaway from work, restricted work or transfer to another job, medicaltreatment beyond first aid), and (4) the vaccine is required foremployees.
As the COVID-19 vaccine initiative continues to be a toppublic-health priority in the United States, federal OSHArevisedthisguidance to say it "will not enforce 29 CFR 1904'srecording requirements to require any employers to record workerside effects from COVID-19 vaccination through May 2022." Inother words, employers now have no duty to analyze whether anadverse reaction to the vaccine is work-related and otherwiserecordable. In all cases across all industries, OSHA indicates itwill simply not enforce the recordkeeping standard with respect toadverse COVID-19 vaccine reactions.
Neither OSHA's prior nor its updated guidance addressreporting of serious illnesses, meaning the requirement foremployers to call OSHA and report an adverse vaccine reaction thatresults in a death within 30 days or an in-patient hospitalizationfor medical treatment within 24 hours. Presumably, OSHA wouldexercise the same discretion for voluntary vaccinations, but theissue is not entirely clear.
OSHA justified this shift in policy as part of its efforts toencourage vaccination. The guidance states, "OSHA does notwish to have any appearance of discouraging workers from receivingCOVID-19 vaccination, and also does not wish to disincentivizeemployers' vaccination efforts."
This should be welcome news to employers, many of whom have alsomade employee vaccination a priority. Employers who might haveshied away from workplace vaccine mandates given the potentialrecordkeeping ramifications may now move forward with lessconcern.
The content of this article is intended to provide a generalguide to the subject matter. Specialist advice should be soughtabout your specific circumstances.
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New York, N.Y. (May 13, 2021) - After a year's worth of various executive orders addressing worker safety issues arising from the COVID-19 pandemic...
Louisiana Gov. John Bel Edwards said Tuesday he will likely create a vaccine lottery or other incentives to boost the states dismal COVID-19 vaccination rate, The News Star reports.
He said Louisiana will join other states like Ohio, New York and Maryland in offering prize money as an incentive to get one of the COVID-19 vaccines, though the details of the incentives are still being determined.
Louisianas vaccination rate of people receiving at least one dose is 35.1%. The governor has grown increasingly frustrated with the states lagging pace of vaccinations, repeatedly saying he is very disappointed.
States that have turned to lotteries to get more people vaccinated have shown sometimes startlingly successful results.
Almost 3 million residents have registered for Ohios Vax-a-Million lottery that offers the chance for a $1 million prize for adults or college scholarships for children.
An Associated Press analysis showed vaccinations jumped 33% in Ohio after Gov. Mike DeWine announced the program on May 12, and the White House gave its stamp of approval on vaccine lotteries during a news briefing Friday. Read the full story.
A Tennessee woman accused of driving through a COVID-19 vaccine distribution tent as a form of protest has been charged with seven counts of felony reckless endangerment, according to a police report.
Virginia Christine Lewis Brown, 36, was arrested after a Blount County deputy witnessed her driving through the tent at a vaccine distribution event Monday at Foothills Mall in Maryville, according to news outlets, which cited an incident report.
Witnesses said Brown was yelling no vaccine as she sped by, just missing seven workers within inches and feet of her vehicle, according to KTLA sister station WATE in Knoxville, Tennessee.
The report said more than a dozen health department and national guard personnel were inside the tent.
I had several victims tell me she almost hit them as she fled through the tent at high speeds, the deputy wrote in the report. I was advised that they were within inches and feet of the vehicle as it came through the tent. Several victims stated that they thought the driver was going to kill them.
After the deputy stopped Brown, she told him she drove through the site to protest the vaccine and was only traveling 5 miles per hour, the report said.
It wasnt immediately clear whether Brown has an attorney.
Some people have taken great lengths to get the COVID-19 vaccine.
There are Routt County residents who got their shot in Moffat County, chasing the open appointments just across the county line in Craig. People from the Front Range came all the way to Steamboat Springs to get a shot at the first county-run clinic in March.
It has always been a supply-and-demand issue, with the demand overwhelming the supply, making the coveted vaccination appointments hard to come by.
This is not really the case anymore.
We all have shots in our fridge now; what we need is for people to show up to get those shots, said Matt Johnson, owner and pharmacist at Lyons Corner Drug and Soda Fountain.
The number of residents who have received the first dose of the vaccine has been inching up at a slower pace now than it did in March and April, when each week saw the countys total grow by more than a 1,000 people each week.
Im not surprised that we are seeing the overall numbers down, said Dr. Brian Harrington, Routt Countys chief medical officer. But we are still very busy giving out vaccinations.
Before removing the local public health order last week, public health officials had been optimistic the county would reach the goal of 75% vaccination among those 16 and older by June 2. On Wednesday that number had reached 71%, according to the countys COVID-19 dashboard.
If the county could vaccinate 400 or more people each week, Harrington said he would be all right with that. The county needs about 800 more people to start the vaccine series to reach that 75% goal.
Harrington said the current pool of people eligible to get vaccinated is getting smaller as more of people get a shot. There are also people in that group who will never get the vaccine, so the number of eligible people willing to get a shot is even smaller.
Trust, motivation and access are the three barriers to getting a vaccine, Harrington said, and its becoming more important to address these issues as that pool gets smaller.
In order for someone to choose to get the vaccine, they have to trust it, Harrington said.
There are a myriad of reasons someone might say they dont want to get the vaccine, though many of them dont hold up to scrutiny. The vaccine wont affect fertility, it is impossible for the vaccine itself to give someone COVID-19 and just having had COVID-19 doesnt mean getting the vaccine isnt a good idea, all according to Johns Hopkins Medicine.
There are also many reasons why the vaccines were developed quickly, as both Pfizer and Moderna have been working on mRNA vaccine technology for years before the pandemic. The development had an immense amount of resources, and some steps to make the vaccine were done on an overlapping schedule to gather data quicker, according to Johns Hopkins.
Then there are people out there that have pretty good trust of the vaccine, they are willing to get it; they just are not motivated to get it, Harrington said.
Younger people are more likely to fall into that second group, maybe feeling it isnt a big deal for them to get the shot if 7 of 10 of everyone else has it. It is a big deal, Harrington said, and everyone who can should get the vaccine.
Those counties that have the highest vaccination rates have the lowest case rates, Harrington said, noting that Routt County has one of the higher vaccination rates in the state. We are seeing the benefits of it.
Socioeconomic status also correlates with vaccine distribution, and despite the increased supply, there are still access issues for some people, especially those who do not speak English as their first language, Harrington said.
A way to improve access in Harringtons mind is to make it easier to get the vaccine for primary care clinics typically where someone would get a vaccination before the pandemic. Manufacturers may eventually produce the vaccines in smaller vials making it easier to store and administer in smaller quantities.
The logistics of doing this vaccine are not yet ideal, Harrington said.
At Lyons, Johnson said he has stopped holding his Sunday morning clinics, which he had done each week since December. Now he is taking walk-ins and doing vaccinations Monday through Saturday. Johnson said he has all three shots available Pfizer, Moderna and Johnson & Johnson.
Pfizer shots are even being sent to providers from the state via courier to ensure they reach their destination, Johnson said
Unless people just dont know about us, it is very hard to make an excuse where we couldnt get you a shot, Johnson said.
State health officials are having providers like Johnson prioritize getting people a shot rather than maximizing the vaccine in each vial, meaning he would give one person a shot, even if it means throwing out the rest of the vial.
That is the message from the state get the arms when you can, dont worry about the waste, Johnson said. That is kind of heartbreaking. That is a completely different song than two months ago, but that is what they are telling us they are OK with.
To reach Dylan Anderson, call 970-871-4247 or email danderson@SteamboatPilot.com.
By Tom Lappas | on May 27, 2021
Thursday is the final day of COVID-19 vaccinations at Richmond Raceway, where officials have administered more than 160,000 shots during the past four months.
Henrico County is shutting down the site after Thursdays walk-up event concludes at 6 p.m. The final session will offer the Pfizer vaccine to anyone 12 or older who attends. Attendees should enter at Gate 7 of the raceway, 600 East Laburnum Avenue.
In total, Henrico residents now have received a total of more than 306,000 doses of vaccine; more than 176,000 have received at least one dose, and nearly 142,000 (nearly 43% of all county residents) are fully vaccinated.
Having offered vaccinations to everyone on the pre-registration list several weeks ago and having held a number of walk-up events since then, the Richmond and Henrico Health Districts are continuing to shift their strategy away from mass vaccination events and into smaller community-based efforts. Those efforts, health officials hope, will allow them to simplify the process for people who want to be vaccinated but who werent able to pre-register, didnt want to pre-register or simply couldnt find the time to make it to a mass vaccination event.
The growing vaccination numbers have slowed the incidence of confirmed COVID-19 cases in Henrico to a mere trickle; the county is averaging only 12 new confirmed cases per day during the most recent seven-day period its lowest rate since the pandemic began 14 months ago.
Positivity percentages among those who have been tested for COVID in Henrico during the most recent seven-day period were similar minuscule as of May 23: 2.4% for PCR testing encounters and 3.1% for rapid testing encounters.
