"India is literally gasping for oxygen,"Health Minister Greg Hunt said, beforeannouncingthat the Morrison government wouldquickly send donations of ventilators, masks, goggles and gloves to the country.
The announcement came as India faced a devastating surge in COVID-19 cases and deaths, with hospitals overrun, oxygen in high demand, and vaccines in short supply.
Closer to home, Australia recentlydonated8,000 doses of COVID-19 vaccines to neighbouring Papua New Guinea,strugglingwith its ownoutbreakand with only 500 doctors and fewer than 4,000 nursesto carry the load.
These donations are helpful but they alone are not an effective long-term strategy to fight COVID-19.
What India, Papua New Guinea and many other countries in the developing world need urgently is the ability to make more of their own vaccines, treatmentsand testing kits.
Right now, Australia is on the wrong side of the global tussle over access to the intellectual property to make COVID-19 vaccines and treatments.
Australia has not supported an Indian and South African proposal at the World Trade Organization that seeks to waive some intellectual property rights on COVID-19 vaccines, therapeutics and other medical products.
India's coronavirus surge has broken records, but the numbers reported are widely expected to be under representative of the actual figures.
Known as the "TRIPS waiver",since it seeks to adjust terms of the agreement on Trade Related Intellectual Property Rights (TRIPS), the proposal is backed by more than 100 mostly developing countries.
A small number of countries are stonewalling the proposal, including the United States, the EU and the UK.
Although other factors affect global supply, if this waiver was accepted it would untie the hands of producers everywhere, allowing them to contribute to efforts to massively scale up manufacturing of desperately needed tests, treatments and vaccines worldwide.
Instead of debating about how to ration vaccines better or more equitably, we could be rationing less.
If the TRIPS waiver had been adopted last October when it was first proposed, it could already be giving low and middle-income countries like India the ability to expand the production of life-saving medical products.
The devastating images coming from India over the past few weeks prove that Australia ignores this at its own peril. In this common goal of ending the worst pandemic in a century, no-one is safe until everyone is safe.
Photo by NARINDER NANU/AFP via Getty Images
Recognising the unprecedented nature of the crisis we face, Australian scientists and Nobel LaureatesPeter DohertyandElizabeth Blackburnrecentlyjoinedthe chorus demanding support for a TRIPS waiver, echoingformerworld leaders, USpoliticians, the head of theWorld Health Organization, faith leaders likePopeFrancis, and hundreds ofcivil society organisationsfrom around the world.
From free oxygen tanks andfood drives, to freeing up space formakeshift hospitals, many are helping the needy during India's overwhelming COVID crisis.
Like many other wealthy countries, Australiaprebookedfar more doses than it needed to cover its population of 25 million, placing orders totalling144milliondoses with multiple manufacturers.
In the past few weeks, wealthy countries includingFrance,New ZealandSpainand theUShave begun to donate some of these "surplus" doses to countries in need of vaccines.
The sooner we increase global vaccine supply, the sooner all countries can stop competing against each other for a vaccine supply and can co-operate and even share.
As a part of the Quadrilateral Security Dialogue, the heads of government of the US, Australia, Japan and India announced a jointplanto boost vaccine manufacturing and address delivery gaps in the region.
As a part of this effort, in which American vaccines will be manufactured in Indian factories with Japanese financial support, Australia promised $100 million focused on "last mile" distribution in South-East Asia.
Unfortunately, in the face of yawninginequitiesin global access, these kinds of charitable measures won't be enough.
In Australia, where there is limited community spread of the virus, about5 per cent of the populationhas been vaccinated, but that ratio drops to1 in 500in poorer countries. In many countries around the world even front-line health workers may need to wait months for their shot.
The World Trade Organization meets again on the issue in Geneva on Wednesday.
It is not too late for Australia to change course and finally listen to leading experts and elected representatives, by announcing support for the TRIPS waiver.
Akshaya Kumar is crisis advocacy director at Human Rights Watch
Just as in November, voters in Texas 6th Congressional District have once again been casting ballots in a special election that concludes Saturday. Montinique Monroe/Getty Images hide caption
Just as in November, voters in Texas 6th Congressional District have once again been casting ballots in a special election that concludes Saturday.
Texans around Dallas will finish going to the polls on Saturday to fill the seat of the late Rep. Ron Wright, deciding from a field of 23 candidates including Wright's widow to replace the Republican in the state's 6th Congressional District.
Wright, a second-term congressman, died in February after being diagnosed with the coronavirus. He was the first sitting member of Congress to have died of the virus.
Now, the race to fill his seat has become one of the year's most closely watched contests, representing the changing demographics of many suburban congressional districts in the South, and the influence of former President Donald Trump.
Recent polls show Susan Wright, wife of the late congressman, narrowly leading the pack. But neither she nor the next leading candidate, Democrat Jana Lynne Sanchez, appear set to capture the majority of votes required to win the seat outright.
If no candidate receives more than 50% of the vote, the top two vote-getters will go head-to-head in a runoff.
Trump has endorsed Wright in the race, giving her a much-desired boost among conservatives. But the district has trended more blue in recent years.
Last year, according to Ballotpedia, Trump won the district by just 3 percentage points as Ron Wright won it by 9 points.
While Susan Wright and other Republicans are tying themselves to the former president, the field also includes an anti-Trump GOP candidate, Michael Wood.
Wright on Friday reached out to federal law enforcement after her campaign learned of robocalls baselessly claiming she had killed her husband. "There's not a sewer too deep that some politicians won't plumb," she said in a statement.
Early voting for the contest started April 19.
Taiwan Foreign Minister Joseph Wu attends a news conference for foreign journalists in Taipei, Taiwan April 7, 2021. REUTERS/Ann Wang
Taiwan's first batch of aid to India to help it fight a surging increase in COVID-19 infections left for New Delhi on Sunday, consisting of 150 oxygen concentrators and 500 oxygen cylinders, Taiwan's Foreign Ministry said.
Countries around the world have been rushing to help India alleviate the crisis. India recorded more than 400,000 new COVID-19 cases for the first time on Saturday as it battles a devastating second wave. read more
Taiwan's Foreign Ministry said the aid consignment left on a China Airlines (2610.TW) freighter on Sunday morning and would be received by India's Red Cross.
Taiwan will continue to provide aid as needed, it added.
"These oxygen concentrators & cylinders are love from Taiwan. More help for our friends in India is on the way. #IndiaStayStrong!" Foreign Minister Joseph Wu tweeted.
An oxygen concentrator reduces nitrogen from an air supply to produce an oxygen-enriched air supply to a patient.
While India, like most countries, has no formal diplomatic ties with Chinese-claimed Taiwan, the two have drawn closer in recent years thanks to their shared antipathy of Beijing.
Taiwan sees India as an important like-minded democracy and friend, and there are close cultural and economic links too.
Last year, Taiwan accused Beijing of trying to impose censorship in India after China's embassy in New Delhi advised local journalists to observe the "one-China" principle following advertisements in newspapers that marked Taiwan's national day.
Our Standards: The Thomson Reuters Trust Principles.
Uganda will suspend flights to and from India after midnight on Saturday amid the coronavirus surge in the Southeast Asian nation, the country's health ministry said on Friday, two days after neighbouring Kenya did the same.
Also on Friday, a senior Ugandan health official said the country has detected the Indian variant of the novel coronavirus, igniting fears the East African nation could suffer a resurgence of cases just when its outbreak has waned. read more
The head of the African Union's disease control body John Nkengasong told a news conference on Thursday that the raging state of the pandemic is India is a wake-up call for Africa that its governments and citizens must not let their guards down.NL1N2MM0XM
Our Standards: The Thomson Reuters Trust Principles.
REPUBLIC, Wash. -- About 10% of the population of Republic, a small city in north-central Washington, has tested positive for COVID-19 in an outbreak traced to large indoor events last month at the local Fraternal Order of Eagles hall.
Ferry County Memorial Hospital officials have confirmed more than 100 cases, with one reported death, since the April 9-11 events, including a membership drive that featured dinner, live music and a 1980s-themed karaoke night.
Some patients have had to be transferred to Wenatchee and Yakima because of a lack of capacity. Less than one-quarter of the countys residents have received a vaccine, according to the health district, but officials said the outbreak has increased interest in it.
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THE VIRUS OUTBREAK:
India wants to vaccinate all adults; sets record 400,000 daily virus cases
Olympic torch relay detour; diving test event opens in Tokyo
Las Vegas hitting jackpot with return of pandemic-weary visitors
London to Delhi stationary biking raises cash for Indias virus crisis
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Follow more of APs pandemic coverage at https://apnews.com/hub/coronavirus-pandemic and https://apnews.com/hub/coronavirus-vaccine
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HERES WHAT ELSE IS HAPPENING:
CARTHAGE, Mo. A gathering that traditionally has drawn tens of thousands of Vietnamese Catholics from across the U.S. to southwest Missouri has been canceled for a second straight year because of the pandemic.
The Joplin Globe reports that the city of Carthage and the Congregation of the Mother of the Redeemer in Carthage have decided that the risk of COVID-19 transmission is still too great to hold the Marian Days celebration. Before 2020, the event had taken place in the city every year since 1978, reuniting families and friends separated after the fall of Saigon.
The Rev. John Paul Tai Tran, provincial minister of the congregation, said the decision not to hold the celebration during the first week of August was again difficult.
Our people come from all over and there are a lot of states in the U.S. where the cases of infection are still booming, he said.
Carthage police Chief Greg Dagnan said the leaders of the congregation met with city officials Tuesday about the event but had pretty much decided beforehand that it would still be too dangerous.
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NEW DELHI India has opened vaccinations to all adults in hopes of taming a monstrous spike in COVID-19 infections.
The worlds largest maker of vaccines is still short of critical supplies the result of lagging manufacturing and raw material shortages. Those factors delayed the rollout in several states.
Only a fraction of Indias population likely can afford the prices charged by private hospitals for the shot. That means states and the federal government will be in charge of immunizing 900 million Indian adults.
India set another global record Saturday with 401,993 daily cases, taking its tally to more than 19.1 million. There were 3,523 confirmed deaths in the past 24 hours, raising the overall death toll to 211,853, according to the Health Ministry.
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BEIJING Chinese tourists are expected to make a total of 18.3 million railway passenger trips on the first day of Chinas international labor day holiday.
Thats according to an estimate by Chinas state railway group. The start to the five-day holiday on Saturday included tourists rushing to travel domestically now that the coronavirus has been brought under control in China.
May Day is offering the first long break for Chinese tourists since the start of the year. A domestic outbreak of the coronavirus before the Lunar New Year holidays in February cancelled travel plans for many after the government advised people to refrain from traveling.
Border closures and travel restrictions mean tourists are traveling domestically.
China in recent weeks reported almost no cases of locally transmitted infections. Vaccinations in China, where over 240 million doses of the vaccine have been administered, have boosted confidence about travel.
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VATICAN CITY Pope Francis led a special prayer service in St. Peters Basilica on Saturday evening to invoke the end of the pandemic.
Francis, wearing white robes, sat in a chair and fingered the beads of a rosary, while about 200 people, including young children, sat spaced apart according to coronavirus safety protocols and recited the prayers aloud.
The pope prayed that this hard trial end and that a horizon of hope and peace return.
Every day, for the rest of the month, various Catholic sanctuaries in the world dedicated to the Virgin Mary will take turns holding a similar rosary service. The initiative ends on May 31, when Francis will lead the rosary recitation in the Vatican Gardens.
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TOKYO The Tokyo Olympics torch relay will take another detour this weekend when it enters the southern island of Okinawa.
A leg of the relay on Okinawas resort island of Miyakojima has been canceled with coronavirus cases surging in Japan. Other legs on Okinawa will take place. A 17-day state of emergency went into effect on April 25 in some areas in Japan.
Organizers on Saturday say six people helping with traffic control on April 27 in the southern prefecture of Kagoshima had tested positive. Two were identified as men in their 20s and 30s. This brings the total number of positive tests on the relay to eight, according to organizers.
The relay is made up of a convoy of about a dozen vehicles with sponsors names festooned on them: Coca-Cola, Toyota, and Nippon Life Insurance. The torch bearer follows, each running for a few minutes, before giving the flame to the next runner who awaits holding another torch.
Meanwhile in Tokyo, a six-day diving event, opened with 225 athletes from 46 countries but no fans. The Olympics are scheduled to open on July 23.
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PHOENIX -- Arizona reported 1,047 confirmed daily cases on Saturday, the largest single-day increase in three weeks amid slowing in deaths.
The cases and 14 additional deaths reported by the state increased Arizonas totals to 863,571 confirmed cases and 17,388 confirmed deaths.
The COVID-19-related hospitalizations in recent days hovered above 600, with 635 on Friday. The range was 500 to 600 during most of April, according to the state. The numbers remain well below the pandemic peak of 5,082 on Jan. 11.
Arizonas seven-day rolling average of daily cases rose in the past two weeks from 624 on April 15 to 736 on Thursday. The states rolling average of daily deaths dropped from 16 to 12 during the same period, according to Johns Hopkins University.
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LAS VEGAS Las Vegas has increased its casino capacity and more pandemic-weary tourists are arriving at the entertainment city.
Casino capacity on the Strip increased to 80% and person-to-person distancing drops to 3 feet on Saturday. The boom began in mid-March when casino occupancy went from 35% to 50% under state health guidelines.
Among the first arrivals were people ages 60 and older who were recently vaccinated with time and disposable income. Analysts said pent-up demand, available hotel rooms and $1,400 pandemic recovery checks from the federal government have contributed to the rush.
The Las Vegas Convention and Visitors Authority tallied more than 2.2 million visitors in March. The figure was down 40% from March 2019. Casinos closed from mid-March to early June last year, helping to drive the Nevada jobless rate in April above 30% -- the highest in any state. The current state rate is 8.1%.
Gov. Steve Sisolak has set a June 1 target for lifting nearly all coronavirus mitigation restrictions statewide. Mask mandates will remain in place indefinitely.
There have been 315,000 reported cases and 5,464 confirmed deaths in Nevada. The majority were reported in the Las Vegas area, where most people in the state live.
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WASHINGTON Mississippi has the lowest vaccination rate in the U.S., with less than 31% of its population receiving at least one anti-coronavirus shot.
Alabama, Louisiana, Idaho and Wyoming are the next four, according to an Associated Press analysis of Centers for Disease Control and Prevention data.
Those states vote reliably Republican in presidential races. So Republican leaders are stepping up efforts to persuade their supporters to get the shot, at times combating misinformation.
The five states with the highest vaccination rates backed Democrat Joe Biden in November. New Hampshire leads the nation with 60% of its population receiving at least one dose, followed by Massachusetts, Vermont, Connecticut and Maine
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PARIS Workers and union leaders have dusted off bullhorns and flags that had stayed furled during coronavirus lockdowns for boisterous May Day marches.
In countries that mark May 1 as International Labor Day, workers clamored Saturday for more labor protections and financial support in the midst of the pandemic that has impacted workplaces and economies.
In Turkey and the Philippines, police cracked down on May Day protests, enforcing virus lockdowns.
For labor leaders, the annual celebration of workers rights was a test of their ability to mobilize people in the face of the pandemics profound disruptions.
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NAIROBI Kenyan President Uhuru Kenyatta loosened infection-control measures Saturday after the number of coronavirus cases in the country dropped from an early spring surge.
Kenyatta announced in his May Day speech that a nightly curfew will move to 10 p.m., following a 72% reduction in new cases. On March 26, 2020, the president ordered the year-long curfew to start at 8 p.m. and prohibited travel in and out of five areas, including Nairobi. That ban also has been lifted.
Kenyatta says the government is allowing church services to resume at one-third capacity and restaurants can serve food on their premises instead of only takeout orders.
Sports events will resume under regulations issued by the Ministry of Health, he says.
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WARSAW Thousands lined for hours Saturday to get immunized with the one-dose Johnson & Johnson vaccine in hopes of engaging in activities and travel.
Polish authorities decided to use the long national holiday weekend to make shots more widely available.
Temporary vaccination sites were set up in Polands 16 main cities to speed up the immunization of the nation of some 38 million, where the rate of coronavirus infections and deaths was recently among Europes highest. Each site is equipped and staffed to vaccine 90 people per hour.
People waiting in line in Warsaw say they believed the vaccine will return some degree of normalcy to their lives. Lukasz Durajski, a doctor at the Warsaw location, says the massive public response was very good news.
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GENEVA The World Health Organization has given the go-ahead for emergency use of Modernas COVID-19 vaccine.
The mRNA vaccine from the U.S. manufacturer joins vaccines from AstraZeneca, Pfizer-BioNTech and Johnson & Johnson in receiving the WHOs emergency use listing. Similar approvals for Chinas Sinopharm and Sinovac vaccines are expected in the coming days and weeks, WHO has said.
The greenlight for Modernas vaccine, announced late Friday, took many months because of delays WHO faced in getting data from the manufacturer.
Many countries without their own advanced medical regulatory and assessment offices rely on the WHO listing to decide whether to use vaccines. U.N. childrens agency UNICEF also uses the listing to deploy vaccines in an emergency like the pandemic.
The announcement isnt likely to have an immediate impact on supplies of Modernas vaccine for the developing world. The company struck supply agreements with many rich countries, which have already received millions of doses.
In a statement Friday, CEO Stephane Bancel said Moderna was actively participating in discussions with multilateral organizations, such as COVAX, to help protect populations around the world.
Hes referring to a U.N.-backed program to ship COVID-19 vaccines to many low- and middle-income countries.
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NEW DELHI A fire in a COVID-19 hospital ward in western India killed 18 patients early Saturday, as the country grappling with the worst outbreak yet steps up a vaccination drive for all its adults even though some states say dont have enough jabs.
India on Saturday set yet another daily global record with 401,993 new cases, taking its tally to more than 19.1 million. Another 3,523 people died in the past 24 hours, raising the overall deaths to 211,853, according to the Health Ministry. Experts believe both figures are an undercount.
The fire broke out in a COVID-19 ward on the ground floor and was extinguished within an hour, police said. The cause is being investigated.
Thirty-one other patients at the Welfare Hospital in Bharuch, a town in Gujarat state, were rescued by hospital workers and firefighters and their condition was stable, said police officer B.M Parmar. Eighteen others died in the blaze and smoke before rescuers could reach them, Parmar said.
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ISLAMABAD Pakistans COVID-19 death toll is nearing 18,000 as the countrys continues to suffer through its third infection wave of the pandemic.
The military-backed federal body charged with controlling the spread of the coronavirus reported 146 more daily deaths. The number reported Saturday brings Pakistans overall death toll in the pandemic to 17,957.
Federal Minister for Planning and Development Asad Umar has warned citizens that the number of critically ill COVID-19 patients is rapidly increasing and the next few weeks are very critical for impoverished Pakistan.
He urged people to strictly adhere to social distancing rules to help the governments efforts to limit infections.
Pakistan has deployed troops in high-risk cities to stop people from violating social distancing rules and to close business at early evenings. Offices are also working with reduced staffs and for shorter hours.
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Posted: May 1, 2021 / 04:33 PM CDT / Updated: May 1, 2021 / 04:33 PM CDT
LITTLE ROCK, Ark.The Arkansas Department of Health released the new COVID-19 numbers for Saturday, May 1.
The ADH reported that 19,536 vaccine doses were given out over the last 24 hours.
The ADH reported 243 new cases for a total of 335,968 cases.
There are 2,036 active cases, which is an increase of 70 from Friday. 168 hospitalized, which is up 2 from Friday, and 29 on ventilators, which is up 1 from Friday.
Two new deaths were added today, for a total of 5,741.
The Health Department reported the top counties for new cases:
Governor Hutchinson released the following statement on todays COVID-19 numbers:
There are 243 new COVID-19 cases in Arkansas. Todays report shows much better vaccine numbers compared to last week. Im encouraged by the number of Arkansans who are getting vaccinated. Lets continue the progress weve made.
HONOLULU (KHON2) Wilcox Medical Center on Kauai is opening its drive-thru COVID-19 testing site on Sunday, May 2, in response to community needs.
The specimen collection site will be open from 8 a.m. to 1 p.m. Sunday. The site is usually open Mondays through Saturdays.
[Hawaiis Breaking NewsDownload the FREE KHON2 app for iOS or Android]
Officials say that no appointment is needed Sunday, but a physicians order along with a photo ID and insurance card are required.
Wilcox is located at 3-3420 Kuhio Hwy. and the drive-up testing will be conducted at the rear entrance.
Click here for more information about COVID-19 testing at Wilcox Medical Center
The Columbia/Boone County Department of Public Health and Human Services is reporting nine new COVID-19 cases.
There are currently 90 active cases in the county.
The county now has a reported total number of COVID-19 cases of 18,286.
The county has reported the total number of cases removed from isolation is 18,110.
The Columbia/Boone County Department of Public Health and Human Services dashboard has reported the latest five-day average as 10.
The county continues to trend down as there have been 91 straight days of single or double-digit case increases.
The health department is reporting the total number of hospitalizations in Boone County is 12.
The health department is reporting one Boone County resident are in the hospital due to the coronavirus.
The dashboard is reporting two COVID-19 patients in the ICU and one patient on a ventilator.
The hospital status remains in 'Green' status. 'Green' status is when hospitals are operating within licensed bed capacity; accepting patient transfers from referring hospitals within standard care operating procedures.
The State of Missouri coronavirus vaccine dashboard is reporting that 78,761 residents have received their first dose in Boone County and 59,502 Boone County residents have completed their vaccine doses.
Boone County has the largest percentage of people in Mid-Missouri that have received at least one dose of the vaccine with 43.6%. The second closest in the state is St. Louis County with 39.8%.
Boone County has a reported 33% of residents that have completed their coronavirus vaccine doses, tied for first in the state. Atchison County also has 33% of residents having completed the the doses for vaccination.
Cole County has the second-highest first vaccination rate in Mid-Missouri with 34.3%. Montgomery County is third with 31.8%.
The Missouri Department of Health and Senior Services reported more than 500 confirmed new coronavirus cases Thursday and nearly 300 new probable cases.
The state logged 521 positive PCR tests, which are considered confirmed cases, on Thursday. Missouri reported another 274 positives on antigen tests, which are considered probable cases but not confirmed.
The number of new confirmed cases is more than 200 cases higher than the daily average of new cases reported on the department's coronavirus dashboard. The dashboard average is based on the date of the test, not the day the result was reported.
The state has now reported 501,106 confirmed coronavirus cases since the pandemic started last March. Missouri reported four new deaths for a total of 8,738 since the pandemic started.
The department reports Boone County is No. 17 for cases per 100,000 people over the last seven days and Callaway County is No. 19.
The state ranks No. 26 in the number of new cases per 100,000 people over the last seven days, according to the state dashboard. The positivity rate -- the percentage of coronavirus tests that come back positive -- increased slightly to 4.7%.
More than 37% of state residents have at least gotten one shot of the coronavirus vaccine, though the number of shots administered daily has dropped sharply this month. Boone County remains at the top for highest percentage of the population starting vaccination at 43.6%.
Americans have an easy way to crush Covid-19 -- one that would let businesses fully reopen safely, ditch the need for social distancing and restore a mask-free return to normalcy.
But many Americans don't want to get vaccinated as myths and misunderstandings spread.
"We were at 75% of adults saying they wanted the vaccine. Now we're down to, in those surveys, about 67%."
Vaccine hesitancy is a big problem for several reasons:
-- Health experts say we need at least 70-85% of the US population immunized to reach herd immunity.
-- The longer people stay unvaccinated, the more chances a virus has to mutate. And if the mutations are significant, they could lead to more troubling strains that might evade vaccines.
-- 'Long Covid' is real. Even young athletes have suffered brain fog, chest pains and shortness of breath months after infection.
"Even for young people who consider their risk of severe Covid to be low, the long-term consequences can be quite serious," said Dr. Francis Collins, director of the National Institutes of Health.
"So long Covid represents one more reason to encourage everyone age 16 and over to get vaccinated as quickly as possible."
But rampant myths and unnecessary concerns stand in the way. Here are some of the most popular arguments for not getting vaccinated and why doctors want to set the record straight:
'We don't know what the long-term side effects are'
Any adverse side effects from vaccines almost always "show up within the first two weeks, and certainly by the first two months," said Dr. Ashish Jha, dean of the Brown University School of Public Health.
That's why he and many other health experts asked the US Food and Drug Administration to wait at least two months after trial participants had been inoculated before considering whether to give emergency authorization to Covid-19 vaccines.
"If there were going to (be) problems ... they would become apparent within two months of people getting vaccinated," he said. "That's what the FDA waited for."
The most serious vaccine side effects in history have all been caught within six weeks, said Dr. Paul Offit, director of the Vaccine Education Center at the Children's Hospital in Philadelphia and a member of the FDA's Vaccines and Related Biological Products Advisory Committee.
"I would say, please tell me what vaccine has ever been shown to cause a long-term side effect that was not picked up in the first two months," said Offit, a co-creator of the rotavirus vaccine who has studied vaccinology for more than four decades.
"The smallpox vaccine could cause inflammation of the heart muscle. The oral polio vaccine was a rare cause of polio -- it occurred in roughly 1 in 2.4 million doses. ... The yellow fever vaccine is a rare cause of ... yellow fever. All those occurred within six weeks of getting a dose," he said.
There may be very rare side effects that aren't immediately found in clinical trials. But that's due to the extreme rarity of those side effects -- "not because it's a long-term problem," Offit said.
"Sometimes you're not going to pick it up initially because it's extremely rare, so you aren't going to pick up a one-in-a-million risk in a trial of 44,000 people," he said.
Pfizer/BioNTech and Johnson & Johnson had about 44,000 participants in each of their trials. Half the volunteers got vaccinated, and the other half got placebos.
The Moderna trial had about 30,000 participants, with half receiving vaccines and half receiving placebos.
And because coronavirus is highly contagious -- killing more than half a million Americans and leaving many survivors with long-term complications -- you're much better off getting the vaccine.
'The vaccine might hurt my fertility'
This is pure nonsense, Offit said.
There's no evidence that people have lost any fertility because of the Covid-19 vaccines.
The rumor apparently started with the myth that the coronavirus spike protein, which is mimicked when you get a vaccine, also mimics the protein on the surface of placental cells, Offit said.
"So the false notion was that when you're making an immune response to the SARS-CoV-2 spike protein, you also were inadvertently making a response to a placental protein -- which would then make you less likely to be fertile," Offit said.
"So it's all nonsense. It's not true."
The US Centers for Disease Control and Prevention also said there's no link between any vaccines and fertility.
"If you are trying to become pregnant now or want to get pregnant in the future, you may receive a COVID-19 vaccine when one is available to you," the CDC says.
"There is currently no evidence that any vaccines, including COVID-19 vaccines, cause fertility problems."
The benefits of getting vaccinated if you're pregnant or trying to become pregnant far outweigh the risks, because pregnancy puts a person at higher risk for severe Covid-19 illness.
And some research suggests Covid-19 vaccines provide some level of protection to newborns.
Refusing the Covid-19 vaccine actually impacts a lot of people -- yourself, your loved ones, even the country as a whole.
"When people say, 'What do you care? You're vaccinated. I'm going to choose not to be vaccinated. You're vaccinated, so you're good'" -- that makes three false assumptions, Offit said.
"First of all, the vaccines aren't 100% effective." So even if your friends and family are vaccinated, but you're not vaccinated, you can still carry and spread the virus to your loved ones.
And as Americans go back to crowded bars, concerts, sporting events and movie theaters, the need for mass vaccination becomes even more important.
Second, it's a mistake to think everyone who wants a vaccine can just get one. "Some people are on cancer chemotherapy. They can't be vaccinated -- they depend on the herd to protect them," Offit said.
So many of the most vulnerable Americans are counting on fellow Americans to get vaccinated.
"And third, by not being vaccinated, or being part of a reasonably sized group of people who are choosing not to get the vaccine, you're allowing the virus to continue to replicate. When it's allowed to continue to replicate, it will create mutations, which could then cause variants that are completely resistant to the immunity induced by natural infection or immunization."
In other words: Failing to get a vaccine could make the vaccines less effective. And that could ruin everyone's vaccinations -- throwing the country backward in this pandemic.
'I'm young and healthy, so I don't need to get vaccinated'
It's critical for young, healthy adults to get vaccinated. Many of those who refused have already paid a price.
A highly contagious strain is hitting young adults hard. The B.1.1.7 variant is now the most dominant strain of coronavirus spreading in the United States. And unlike the original strain, this one is heavily impacting young people.
"In the Upper Midwest, we're starting to see lots of younger adults getting sick and going to the hospital from Covid because of the B.1.1.7 variant," said Dr. Peter Hotez, dean of the National School of Tropical Medicine at Baylor College of Medicine.
"So remember that the B.1.1.7 variant is different from past types of Covid infections that we've seen -- more serious and possibly more severe disease among younger people."
Young adults can get long-term Covid-19 complications. Plenty of young, healthy people have turned into Covid-19 "long-haulers."
Many have suffered chronic fatigue, chest pain, shortness of breath and brain fog months after their infection.
And a recent study found that 30% of people who had Covid-19 still had symptoms up to nine months after infection.
"Covid-19 doesn't have to kill you to wreck your life," said Dr. Jonathan Reiner, professor of medicine and surgery at George Washington University.
Young adults can be easy transmitters of coronavirus. Several states recently reported spikes in young people with Covid-19. "A lot of the spread is happening among younger people," Jha said. "That's the group that is moving around, kind of relaxing, getting infected."
Young adults can be victims of their strong immune systems. Doctors have noticed some young, previously healthy patients suffer from Covid-19 cytokine storms. That's basically when someone's immune system overreacts -- potentially causing severe inflammation or other serious symptoms.
"We've certainly seen people come into our hospital, very young people (in their early 20s) ... need to be put on ECMO, which is basically a heart-lung machine, for days or even weeks because they come in with cardiomyopathy, which is a response to a cytokine storm," Reiner said.
If too few people get vaccinated, we'll never reach herd immunity. "It's important to vaccinate as many adults as possible as soon as possible," internal medicine specialist Dr. Jorge Rodriguez said.
"If you want to open up America, get vaccinated."
'These vaccines only have emergency use authorization, not full FDA approval'
It's true that the Pfizer/BioNTech, Moderna and Johnson & Johnson vaccines have emergency use authorization from the FDA and not full approval yet.
But that's only because not enough time has passed to show how long the vaccines stay effective, Offit said.
"Frankly, the only real difference was in length of follow-up," he said. "Typically, you like to see efficacy for a year or two years."
But with Covid-19 vaccines, "you couldn't do that. You couldn't do a one- or two- or three-year study ... because the virus was killing hundreds of thousands of people. So we wanted to get it out there."
He stressed that the vaccines' EUA status doesn't mean they're less safe. As a member of the FDA vaccine advisory committee, Offit said the vaccines are reviewed with the same level of scrutiny as they would to get full approval.
Offit said he's confident the vaccines will get full FDA approval.
"The effectiveness and efficacy data in the Phase 3 trials and now in the real world ... is excellent," he said.
'I've already had Covid-19, so I don't need to be vaccinated'
Even if you've had coronavirus, you should still get vaccinated because the immunity you get from vaccination will likely be longer or stronger than the immunity you got after getting infected, health experts say.
"That's true for a number of vaccines -- the human papillomavirus (HPV) vaccine induces immunity better than natural infection. The tetanus vaccine does," he said.
When it comes to the two-dose vaccines -- those from Pfizer/BioNTech and Moderna -- people who've already had coronavirus should still get both doses, emergency medicine physician Dr. Leana Wen said.
Those vaccines were studied in people taking both doses, and that's what experts know to be effective. It's not clear how long protection after just one dose might last.
"We also don't know how long protection will last after having coronavirus, so you should still be (fully) vaccinated," Wen said.
'I don't want to get Covid-19 from the vaccine'
It's literally impossible to get Covid-19 from any of the vaccines used in the US because none of them contains even a piece of real coronavirus.
Here's how each vaccine was made.
'My faith will protect me, so I don't need to get vaccinated'
Among religious groups in the US, "white evangelical Protestants stand out as the most likely to say they will refuse to get vaccinated (26%), with an additional 28% who are hesitant," according to a study by the Public Religion Research Institute and Interfaith Youth Core.
Some experts say anti-Covid-19 vaccine sentiment among evangelicals is fueled by a distrust in government, ignorance about how vaccines work and misinformation.
"If you believe that God created us in his image, including being able to think and reason, we've been able to think and reason a lot of these diseases away" thanks to vaccination, he said.
"We don't die from smallpox anymore. Children aren't permanently paralyzed by polio anymore in the United States. It's a good thing. That's because God gave us a brain to think and reason with. So use it."
'I might not be able to afford a vaccine'
"It's all free. The government is paying for this," Offit said.
This is one message public officials could do a better job explaining, he said.
"I never hear them described as free, I think because it's always assumed that people know they're free," Offit said.
But "maybe for all those commercials you see on TV ... they should make it clear you don't have to pay this."
For those who might lack internet access, Offit said it'd be a good idea for state or local health departments to send flyers in the mail explaining when and how people can get vaccinated -- and reminding them it's free.
The bottom line: Not getting vaccinated could set everyone back
If you want to protect yourself, your friends, your family and the economy, get vaccinated. Otherwise, you'll be part of the problem -- not the solution.
"This virus is continuing to mutate," Offit said. "The thing I'm most worried about is that this virus will mutate to the point that immunity induced by natural infection or vaccination doesn't work at all. That's the most important reason to vaccinate."
The longer a virus circulates among unvaccinated people, the more opportunities it has to mutate. And if the mutations are significant, they can lead to more problematic variants -- including some that could partially or fully escape vaccine protection.
"It's already starting to happen," Offit said, citing the B.1.351 and P.1 variants. While vaccines are still effective against those strains, "these variants have now started to escape from the immunity of natural infection or immunization. They don't completely escape, but they've started to escape."
So the key to ending this pandemic isn't just getting vaccinated. It's getting vaccinated as soon as possible, before the virus mutates into variants that we can't control with our current vaccines.
"The vaccine is the most important pathway to ending this pandemic. That means we've got to get everyone in our country vaccinated," US Surgeon General Dr. Vivek Murthy said.
"Now what we've got to do is, No. 1: Get the vaccine. No. 2: Turn around and look at our family and friends and ask if they're going to get vaccinated. If they need help, that's what we've got to do."
The-CNN-Wire2021 Cable News Network, Inc., a WarnerMedia Company. All rights reserved.
News Release
Thursday, April 29, 2021
To bolster research to help communities disproportionately affected by COVID-19, the National Institutes of Health is funding $29 million in additional grants for the NIH Community Engagement Alliance (CEAL) Against COVID-19 Disparities. This funding was supported by the American Rescue Plan. The awards will provide $15 million to 11 teams already conducting research and outreach to help strengthen COVID-19 vaccine confidence and access, as well as testing and treatment, in communities of color. An additional $14 million will fund 10 new research teams to extend the reach of COVID-19 community-engaged research and outreach.
The goal of this effort is to foster community-engagement research in communities which have been hit hardest by the pandemic, said Gary H. Gibbons, M.D., director, National Heart, Lung, and Blood Institute (NHLBI). The alliance is designed to meet people where they are with the help of trusted messengers, including family doctors, pastors, and community health workers, and to forge lasting partnerships to address health disparities.
Eleven research teams received $17 million in grants in 2020 to reach residents at risk of severe COVID-19 outcomes. Spread throughout the country, CEAL research groups have used different strategies to coordinate educational outreach, raise awareness about the importance of inclusive participation in COVID-19 testing, vaccine uptake, and clinical trials, and conduct research to understand barriers surrounding prevention and treatment. CEAL researchers also study the best ways to address these challenges and establish trust in the scientific process, while equitably distributing COVID-19 resources tailored to each community.
Its one thing to have strong national messages about the science behind vaccines, said Eliseo J. Prez-Stable, M.D., director, National Institute on Minority Health and Health Disparities (NIMHD). Its another to have those messages delivered by local, trusted sources, who can ensure questions from their communities are honestly and clearly addressed.
For example, mobile units in the Mississippi Delta helped rural residents access COVID-19 vaccines, while pop-up vaccine clinics played similar roles in California, Michigan, and other states. Focus groups in multiple CEAL regions identified information-based needs and perceptions about vaccines and treatment, including concerns about medical mistrust, which guided future outreach.
The most promising scientific discoveries benefit all populations and the way we ensure that is through inclusive research participation and community engagement, Prez-Stable added. CEAL researchers are creating the community-engaged model to transform research practice.
Throughout 2021, CEAL researchers will tap community leaders, trusted organizations, and experts familiar to their communities, including NIH Rapid Acceleration of Diagnostics (RADx) testing centers, state health departments, and certified diabetes educators, and community health workers. These community assets will partner with each other to strengthen a national response to COVID-19 by focusing on local outreach. As teams within the CEAL Alliance personalize these outreach strategies, they will also share their findings with each other and the broader community of those working to move the country past the pandemic.
The power of community-engaged partnerships extends beyond state borders, said Catherine Stoney, Ph.D., the CEAL Alliance scientific program lead and deputy director of the Center for Translation Research and Implementation Science at NHLBI. The CEAL Alliance provides a central research hub where findings from one region may inform or guide best practices in another.
CEAL, guided by community-engaged researchers and supported by trusted community organizations and messengers, is an NIH-wide effort co-led by NHLBI and NIMHD.
The 10 new research teams joining the CEAL Alliance include:
Jose Arturo Bauermeister, Ph.D., M.P.H.University of Pennsylvania, Philadelphia
Cheryl Himmelfarb, Ph.D., R.N.Johns Hopkins University, Baltimore
Matthew Kreuter, Ph.D., M.P.H.Washington University in St. Louis
Benjamin Linas, M.D.Boston Medical Center
Vivian Coln-Lpez, Ph.D., M.P.H.University of Puerto Rico Medical Sciences, San Juan
Molly Martin, M.D.University of Illinois at Chicago
Pearl McElfish, Ph.D.University of Arkansas for Medical Sciences, Little Rock
Donald Nease, M.D.University of Colorado Denver
Chau Trinh-Shevrin, DrPHNew York University School of Medicine, New York City
Lisa Cacari Stone, Ph.D.University of New Mexico, Albuquerque
For more information about the CEAL Alliance, visit theNIH COVID-19 communitiespage.
About the National Heart, Lung, and Blood Institute (NHLBI):NHLBI is the global leader in conducting and supporting research in heart, lung, and blood diseases and sleep disorders that advances scientific knowledge, improves public health, and saves lives. For more information, visitwww.nhlbi.nih.gov.
About the National Instituteon Minority Health and Health Disparities (NIMHD):NIMHD leads scientific research to improve minority health and eliminate health disparities by conducting and supporting research; planning, reviewing, coordinating, and evaluating all minority health and health disparities research at NIH; promoting and supporting the training of a diverse research workforce; translating and disseminating research information; and fostering collaborations and partnerships. For more information about NIMHD, visithttps://www.nimhd.nih.gov.
About the National Institutes of Health (NIH):NIH, the nation's medical research agency, includes 27 Institutes and Centers and is a component of the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services. NIH is the primary federal agency conducting and supporting basic, clinical, and translational medical research, and is investigating the causes, treatments, and cures for both common and rare diseases. For more information about NIH and its programs, visit www.nih.gov.
NIHTurning Discovery Into Health
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