The 50th episode of The American Legion Tango Alpha Lima podcast brings the laughs and hot takes.
For starters, the co-hosts exchange opinions on the nearly 40 percent of Marines who have declined the COVID vaccination.
I am annoyed across the spectrum, says co-host Jeff Daly, a Marine veteran. I know that they got stuck so many times and have no idea what was going in their body. Now, all of a sudden, because this thing has been politicized (they question) what's in it and think Bill Gates is chipping us. It drives me crazy. To be honest, I think its really ridiculous.
Co-host Mark Seavey, who like Daly is vaccinated, jumps in to defend the Marines who refuse the protective shots. Seavey makes the point that some Marines may be denying the shots to avoid suffering the fevers or other issues after getting the shot.
We haven't made it mandatory for them yet and there's a longstanding tradition that you never volunteer for anything in the military, he said.
The group also discusses a story about a Navy officer in Japan who penned a letter referring to his enlisted neighbors as deviants and perverts.
You wont want to miss Seaveys reaction to what caused the officers action.
Join Seavey, Daly and Ashley Gorbulja-Maldonado as the co-hosts examine these and other stories of interest to the veterans and military community in this weeks episode of the Tango Alpha Lima podcast.Download and listen to the new episode on iTunes, Spotify, Stitcher or view it on YouTube. You can find every episode on the podcast webpage for this weeks Tango Alpha Lima, as well as links to all the previous episodes.
Getting a COVID-19 vaccination is as easy as going through a drive-thru for people who sign up for a special clinic going on Wednesday. Electrolux has partnered with the Medical University of SC to provide a drive-thru covid vaccination clinic at the Coveris warehouse across from the Electrolux main campus, located at 101 Masters Blvd, in Anderson. The clinic will run through 5 p.m.Health professionals from MUSC will be administering the Pfizer vaccine and will have at least 3,000 doses available. Anyone is welcome to schedule an appointment here.
Getting a COVID-19 vaccination is as easy as going through a drive-thru for people who sign up for a special clinic going on Wednesday.
Electrolux has partnered with the Medical University of SC to provide a drive-thru covid vaccination clinic at the Coveris warehouse across from the Electrolux main campus, located at 101 Masters Blvd, in Anderson.
The clinic will run through 5 p.m.
Health professionals from MUSC will be administering the Pfizer vaccine and will have at least 3,000 doses available.
Anyone is welcome to schedule an appointment here.
Burning Man festival organizers have said that they are considering requiring attendees to prove they have been vaccinated for COVID-19 if the organizers move forward with plans to hold this years counter-culture festival in the Nevada desert.
The organizers backed off an earlier statement indicating that they had already decided to make the shots mandatory. They say they wont decide for sure until the end of the month whether the event that was canceled last year because of the pandemic will take place this summer.
Burning Man CEO Marian Goodell said in a video message posted on the groups web site on April 8 that vaccines will be required to come to Burning Man. She erroneously said at that time that the state of Nevada requires that people have proof of being vaccinated at large gatherings.
She acknowledged last weekend in an updated statement on the groups web site that she misspoke.
Citing a backlash from many long-time attendees at the annual event that draws more than 80,000 people to the Black Rock Desert about 100 miles north of Reno, Goodell clarified that organizers had been formulating their own guidelines on mandatory vaccinations as part of the health and safety plan they must submit to state and county officials.
We are weighing the gravity of what that does, Goodell said. And we know that challenges the concept of `radical inclusion.
She said civic responsibility is an important part of organizers guiding principles but that they realize people in some countries havent had access to vaccines, nor have most children.
Thats not quite figured out yet. There are plenty of people that are challenging whether it is necessary, she said.
Goodell added: We hear you. The question of vaccines and how to basically require them, and even from a logistical standing, frankly all of that, were taking a look at.
Goodell said organizers also have not decided whether to require or provide testing at the event.
She said they hope to reach a decision by the end of this week and at the latest by April 30.
At this point, the government agencies involved in collaborating with us have been really super supportive and super helpful. They are not putting up any roadblocks. We are all looking at the resources to have to make it happen and get this done, Goodell said.
Goodell said the application organizers must submit for a special use permit to the U.S. Bureau of Land Management by April 23 seeks an attendance cap of 69,000, down from the 80,000 cap approved for some past festivals.
She said current input from leaders of the largest theme camps indicate about 20% to 30% so far are committed to returning to the playa in August, which would suggest overall attendance in the range of 60,000 to 65,000.
Vaccine, drugs, hospital care: If you're injured receiving any of these 'countermeasures for COVID-19, theres a program that says it can help.
ATLANTA They're almost like an epileptic seizure, except I'm completely alert, said Kristi Simmonds, who started battling tremors several days after receiving her first COVID-19 vaccine injection.
Roger Loiselle struggles to lift his right arm.
The pain was ridiculous. To even get something to drink, I had to hold my wrists with the other hand, he explained.
Loiselle also believes his injury is vaccine related. But for him, it was how the shot was given, an injury known as SIRVA, shoulder injury related to vaccine administration. SIRVA is most commonly associated with the flu shot and can range from muscle weakness and pain, to a torn rotator cuff if not diagnosed properly.
When they did the first one, I thought to myself, OK, that seemed pretty high. It was more up into the shoulder area, Loiselle said.
Both could qualify for Countermeasures Injury Compensation Program (CICP). Its a long, clunky name for a federal program that reimburses medical costs and lost wages for injuries associated with a treatment offered during a national emergency.
In this case, that emergency is COVID-19.
What the data says
The CICP was first used in 2009 with H1N1. About 90 million people received that vaccine. COVID-19 has easily surpassed that number.
Doctor Vito Caserta helped create the CICP and served as director until his retirement. He says the program isnt just about vaccine, but also injuries from the drugs or ventilators used as treatment.
If they get put on a ventilator and somebody set the settings a little too high and then they have a pneumothorax where the lung collapses and all these complications, well, then maybe they have a claim, Dr. Caserta explained.
But critics warn its not that easy.
Since the program started a decade ago, 701 claims have been filed. Only six percent approved. Thats just 39 cases, most for injuries associated with the H1N1 vaccine. Three were connected to the smallpox vaccine.
There is no historical data posted publicly on when claims were filed and for what, just a monthly data snapshot.
11Alive's investigative team, The Reveal, started tracking those posts in June 2020. Since then, 255 new claims have been filed. None have been approved. 45 claims have been denied, some likely from before the pandemic. 210 claims are still pending medical review.
The way Congress wrote the law that created the program, the evidence needs to be compelling and compelling is a high level of evidence, Dr. Caserta said.
The Reveal has tried for seven months to get information on the types of injuries alleged, and why so many claims were denied. Were still waiting.
There is so little transparency to it, you know, I think you've put your finger on one of the major problems of this coronavirus vaccine injury compensation program, it is tremendously secretive, said Peter Meyers, a retiredGeorge Washington University Law Schoolprofessor.
Meyers made his own public records requests and did receive several responses, offering insight into the first 48 COVID-19 related claims filed. About half of the claims involve the vaccine. Nine relate to the use of a ventilator. Among the top injuries claimed allergic reactions and death.
Meyers says the real story in the data is how few claims have been submitted.
If the Biden administration wants to get the trust of the American people to counter this hesitancy among millions of Americans to getting vaccinated, you would think that they would adopt an open and more forthcoming perspective, Meyers said.
Some of the claims seem absurd on their surface - like a shoulder injury from putting on a face mask, or even attempted murder.
That's OK, because, you know, it may turn out that wearing a mask causes psychiatric issues in certain people and so it may be a valid claim. Put in your request for benefits, Caserta explained.
Dr. Caserta says people shouldnt be alarmed by the number of cases waiting on medical review. He expects that number to grow as the people processing the claims wait to see what the science shows as possible outcomes.
There's a lag for the science. It takes time. You know, even with the H1N1, it took time for us to develop the science that Guillain-Barre was truly a result, sometimes rarely of that vaccine," Dr. Caserta said.
But without more transparency, Meyers says the program is fundamentally flawed. Claimants never get a hearing, theres no compensation for pain and suffering, or reimbursement if you hire an attorney to help with the forms.
According to the data obtained by The Reveal, of the 39 claims approved, only 29 had expenses eligible for reimbursement. The most common injury in those cases, was Guillain-Barre syndrome. The other injuries to receive compensation were anaphylaxis, shoulder pain, bursitis and one death.
Meyers says clearly, some people need an attorney to assist. Of the initial COVID-19 claims, the CICP couldnt determine what countermeasure caused the alleged injury in nearly 20% of the cases.
No lawyer would ever file a petition that was so obscure and so, you know, unintelligible that the agency cannot even figure out what is it, the vaccine or what are you complaining about, Meyers said.
Where do you go from here?
There is another injury program that will pay pain and suffering related to complications from vaccine, but right now the products being manufactured by Moderna, Pfizer, and Johnson & Johnson are not part of it.
Dr. Caserta says for the COVID-19 vaccine to be put into the VICP, as it's called, the vaccine currently being administered under an emergency use authorization would have to be approved for routine administration in children. Caserta says thats two layers of authorization that will take months, if not years.
Still, some say theyre holding out, hoping the process will move faster. If youre one of them, the CICP warns you only have one year from the date of your injury to file a claim and the CICP is the only program that will consider claims related to COVID-19 injuries beyond vaccine.
Simmonds knows severe reactions are rare and it's unclear, outside of timing, how doctors will prove her seizures are related to the vaccine. But while science does the research, she believes the government must be passionate about helping those potentially injured.
It should be a simple, you know, cut and dry issue, Simmonds said.
She hasnt been able to return to work since getting the vaccine in late January. She says her only income is the money raised through a GoFundMe set up by her sister.
She has yet to file a claim with the CICP; neither has Loiselle. He says his arm is slowly starting to feel better.
I have complete, you know, range of motion with my left. On my right (arm) it's totally different. I mean, it's pulling in my neck, my shoulder down my arm. But at least I'm able to do things," Loiselle said.
Despite his injury, Loiselle did go back for his second shot and says that dose was uneventful. He says he never lost confidence in the vaccine itself.
We figured to go overseas, we're going to have to have some proof that we've been vaccinated. We were eager to do it, Loiselle explained.
But Loiselle does question how eager the government will be to stand by those injured trying to get through this pandemic.
The Reveal is an investigative show exposing inequality, injustice, and ineptitude created by people in power throughout Georgia and across the country.
MORE FROM THE REVEAL:
WASHINGTON (AP) Half of all adults in the U.S. have received at least one COVID-19 shot, the government announced Sunday, marking another milestone in the nations largest-ever vaccination campaign but leaving more work to do to convince skeptical Americans to roll up their sleeves.
Almost 130 million people 18 or older have received at least one dose of a vaccine, or 50.4% of the total adult population, the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention reported. Almost 84 million adults, or about 32.5% of the population, have been fully vaccinated.
The U.S. cleared the 50% mark just a day after the reported global death toll from the coronavirus topped a staggering 3 million, according to totals compiled by Johns Hopkins University, though the actual number is believed to be significantly higher.
The countrys vaccination rate, at 61.6 doses administered per 100 people, currently falls behind Israel, which leads among countries with at least 5 million people with a rate of 119.2. The U.S. also trails the United Arab Emirates, Chile and the United Kingdom, which is vaccinating at a rate of 62 doses per 100 people, according to Our World in Data, an online research site.
The vaccine campaign offered hope in places like Nashville, Tennessee, where the Music City Center bustled Sunday with vaccine seekers. High demand for appointment-only shots at the convention center has leveled off enough that walk-ins will be welcome starting this week.
Amanda Grimsley, who received her second shot, said shes ready to see her 96-year-old grandmother, who lives in Alabama and has been nervous about getting the vaccine after having a bad reaction to a flu shot.
Its a little emotional. I havent been able to see my grandmother in a year and a half almost, said Grimsley, 35. And thats the longest my entire family has ever gone without seeing her. And well be seeing her in mid-May now.
The states with the highest vaccination rates have a history of voting Democratic and supporting President Joe Biden in the 2020 election: New Hampshire at the top, with 71.1%, followed by New Mexico, Connecticut, Massachusetts and Maine, CDC data show.
The demand has not been the same in many areas of Tennessee particularly, rural ones.
Tennessee sits in the bottom four states for rates of adults getting at least one shot, at 40.8%. Its trailed only by Louisiana, Alabama and Mississippi three other Southern states that lean Republican and voted for Donald Trump last fall.
Vaccination rates do not always align with how states vote. But polling from The Associated Press-NORC Center for Public Affairs Research has shown trends that link political leanings and attitudes about the vaccines and other issues related to the pandemic, which has killed more than 566,000 people in the U.S.
A poll conducted in late March found that 36% of Republicans said they will probably or definitely not get vaccinated, compared with 12% of Democrats. Similarly, a third of rural Americans said they were leaning against getting shots, while fewer than a fourth of people living in cities and suburbs shared that hesitancy.
Overall, willingness to get vaccinated has risen, polling shows.
In January, 67% of adult Americans were willing to get vaccinated or had already received at least one shot. The figure has climbed to 75%, according to the latest AP-NORC poll.
Nationwide, 24% of Black Americans and 22% of Hispanic Americans say they will probably or definitely not get vaccinated, down from 41% and 34% in January, respectively. Among white Americans, 26% now say they will not get vaccinated. In January, that number was 31%.
Dr. Anthony Fauci, the nations top infectious disease expert, said the goal is to get community figures, from athletes to clergy, to encourage vaccinations, particularly as the seven-day national average of cases remains over 60,000 new infections per day.
What we are doing is were trying to get, by a community core, trusted messages that anyone would feel comfortable with listening to, whether youre a Republican, a Democrat, an independent or whomever you are, that youre comfortable, Fauci said Sunday on ABCs This Week.
Fauci also indicated Sunday that the government will likely move to resume use of Johnson & Johnsons COVID-19 vaccine this week, possibly with restrictions or broader warnings after reports of some very rare blood clot cases.
In a series of news show interviews, Fauci said he expects a decision when advisers to the CDC meet Friday to discuss the pause in J&Js single-dose vaccine.
I would be very surprised if we dont have a resumption in some form by Friday, he said. I dont really anticipate that theyre going to want it stretch it out a bit longer.
Fauci, who is President Joe Bidens chief medical adviser, said he believed federal regulators could bring the shots back with limits based on age or gender, or with a blanket warning, so the vaccine is administered in a way a little bit different than we were before the pause.
The J&J vaccine was thrown into limbo after the CDC and the Food and Drug Administration said last week that they needed more evidence to decide if a handful of unusual blood clots were linked to the shot and if so, how big the risk is.
The reports are rare six cases out of more than 7 million U.S. inoculations with the J&J vaccine. The clots were found in women between the ages of 18 and 48. One person died.
Authorities stressed that they have found no sign of clot problems with the most widely used COVID-19 vaccines in the U.S. from Moderna and Pfizer.
___
Mattise reported from Nashville, Tennessee.
More new coronavirus cases were reported around the world last week than in any seven-day period since the beginning of the pandemic, according to new data published on Tuesday by the World Health Organization.
Last weeks figure 5.24 million new cases broke the previous record set at the beginning of 2021, when 5.04 million new cases were reported in the week ended Jan. 4.
The latest surge is being driven largely by an outbreak in India, where the authorities reported nearly 300,000 new cases on Wednesday alone. The countrys health care system is showing signs of buckling under the countrys second major wave of coronavirus infections, and an accident this week at a Covid-19 hospital in India killed more than 20 people.
India accounts for almost one-third of all new cases worldwide, according to the W.H.O. data. New cases are rising in all regions tracked by the organization except Europe, where they declined by 3 percent last week.
The rate at which new coronavirus-related deaths are being reported is also accelerating, according to the W.H.O. More than 83,000 deaths were reported last week, compared with 76,000 the week before.
By the organizations reckoning, the overall death toll for the pandemic surpassed 3 million last week. A spokeswoman for the W.H.O., Margaret Harris, noted that it took nine months for the world to reach 1 million pandemic deaths, then four months to pass 2 million, and now three months to reach 3 million.
Coronavirus latest: Alzheimer's and heart disease overtake Covid as leading cause of death in England Financial Times
Coloradans who have been fully vaccinated against the coronavirus are more than 90% less likely to develop COVID-19 and vastly less likely to be hospitalized, state health officials said on Tuesday.
The numbers provide local confirmation of data seen in the vaccines clinical trials and also support officials oft-repeated statements that the vaccines will end the coronavirus crisis.
Vaccination is going to be our ticket out of this pandemic, Dr. Rachel Herlihy, the states top epidemiologist, said.
Through Monday, 1,489,481 people in Colorado were reported to be fully immunized against the coronavirus. Of the 106,965 positive cases for COVID-19 since Jan. 21 in Colorado, 819 of them occurred in people who were fully immunized.
The Colorado Department of Public Health and Environment conducted two analyses to estimate the vaccines efficacy.
The latest from the coronavirus outbreak in Colorado:
>> FULL COVERAGE
In the first, the agency looked at case rates during the week of April 4. Vaccinated people were 94.6% less likely to be a reported case during that week.
In the second analysis, the agency examined two-week incidence rates among the unvaccinated, partially vaccinated and fully vaccinated populations. Herlihy said the analysis showed full vaccination corresponds to about 93% protection against becoming a reported COVID-19 case. Partial vaccination have only the first shot of a two-shot series, for instance corresponds to about 66% protection, according to the analysis.
A very small percentage of the cases in the state are occurring among fully vaccinated individuals, Herlihy said. This is very consistent with the studies that were seeing nationally.
Its also highly unlikely that fully vaccinated Coloradans who catch COVID-19 will be hospitalized because of the disease. Colorado has seen an increase in people hospitalized with the disease in recent weeks. But fully vaccinated people make up a tiny fraction of those hospitalized. On a typical day, Colorado might see 40 or 50 people hospitalized with COVID-19, but at most only one of those would be someone who is fully vaccinated.
The vaccine is working exactly as it is supposed to in Colorado, Gov. Jared Polis said.
Colorado remains in the throes of the pandemic as more transmissible coronavirus variants drive an increase in cases across the state. There are more people hospitalized because of COVID-19 in Colorado now than there have been since January.
Polis encouraged all Coloradans to get vaccinated even those who have held off because they thought finding an appointment was too difficult or because they didnt want to take a spot from someone more at risk from the virus.
For those of you who have been putting it off, now is the time to get it, Polis said. Maybe youve thought: Hey, Im 24. Im healthy. I want to let my elders get it. Well, guess what? Now its your turn.
The state is opening up three of its mass vaccination sites to walk-in appointments.
Its easier than ever before and we want to get that message out, Polis said.
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In his remarks on Wednesday afternoon, President Biden will say the United States will reach over 200 million vaccine shots this week, according to a White House official, shared by the White House press pool. As of Wednesday morning, 51.1% of U.S. adults had received at least one vaccine dose and 33.3% were fully vaccinated, according to the Centers for Disease Control and Preventions data. Here are some of the other recent headlines you might have missed.
State Department Spokesperson Ned Price said on Tuesday that the department had delivered vaccines to all of its posts abroad, as of Sunday. This announcement represents over 190,000 doses distributed to 220 postings around the world, allowing us to offer the vaccine to all direct-hire employees, locally engaged staff, and eligible family members, he said. Thanks to the work of countless people our diplomatic couriers, post representatives, logisticians, and clinicians both here in the United States and around the world not a single dose was lost in transit since we began our vaccine rollout in December of last year.
The Defense Department said on Tuesday it expects to start receiving 390,000 vaccine doses weekly, which is up from an average of 155,500 per week. [Eighty-three] percent of vaccines received by the Defense Department have been administered, exceeding the U.S. average of 78%, and more than 28% of our total force is now vaccinated, Pentagon Press Secretary John Kirbysaid during a briefing on Monday.
The Defense Department inspector general published a quarter two update on its 2021 coronavirus oversight plan on Tuesday. One of its ongoing audits is looking at how effective the departments vaccine distribution and administration was.
The House Oversight and Reform Committee and Select Subcommittee on the Coronavirus Crisis launched an investigation earlier this week into the $628 million contract the manufacturing plant Emergent received in June 2020 to produce Johnson & Johnson and AstraZenecas vaccines. Specifically, we are investigating reports that Emergent received multi-million-dollar contracts to manufacture coronavirus vaccines despite a long, documented history of inadequately trained staff and quality control issues, the committee chairs wrote. Dr. Robert Kadlec, who served as Assistant Secretary for Preparedness and Response under President Trump and previously worked as a consultant for Emergent, appears to have pushed for this award despite indications that Emergent did not have the ability to reliably fulfill the contract.
The Food and Drug Administration issued a report on Wednesday morning about its inspection of the Emergent facility that finished on Tuesday. Observations from the FDA included, failure to conduct thorough investigations into unexplained discrepancies; cleanliness, sanitary and operational issues; and inadequate written procedures to handle drug substances, lack of employee training and improper equipment. At the request of the FDA the facility has paused production while it works with the agency to fix the issues and vaccines that have already been manufactured there will undergo further review before being distributed, said acting FDA Commissioner Dr. Janet Woodcock and Dr. Peter Marks, director of the FDAs Center for Biologics Evaluation and Research. They also reiterated that the FDA has not authorized this facility to manufacture or distribute any of Johnson & Johnsons COVID-19 vaccine or components and, to date, no COVID-19 vaccine manufactured at this plant has been distributed for use in the United States.
A year ago the Trump administration awarded almost $1.3 billion in contracts and loans to a Connecticut company for vaccine syringes, and none have been produced, NBC News reported on Wednesday. As the U.S. vaccine rollout hits full stride, with about half of adults in the U.S. having already received at least one injection, the need for ApiJect's device has waned, leaving the contracts and loans in question, said the report. According to ApiJect, two vaccine makers have requested FDA approval to use its syringe with their products, but neither federal regulators nor any of the vaccine makers would confirm any approval requests. The company didnt give the names.
The Government Accountability Office said in a report released on Tuesday that the Small Business Administration is making progress on curbing potential fraud in its pandemic relief programs and oversight of them. The watchdog noted its review of the Paycheck Protection Program and of Economic Injury Disaster Loans is ongoing.
Due to the ongoing risks from the pandemic, the State Department announced earlier this week that it strongly recommends not traveling abroad. This update will result in a significant increase in the number of countries at Level 4: Do Not Travel, to approximately 80% of countries worldwide, said the department. This does not imply a reassessment of the current health situation in a given country, but rather reflects an adjustment in the State Department's Travel Advisory system to rely more on CDC's existing epidemiological assessments.
Many in the federal acquisition community hope the governments procurement changes for the pandemic remain permanent, Federal News Network reported on Tuesday. We have a lot of young people, theyre comfortable with this, and theyre going to continue to want to move and use these tools to procure these things, Andrew Jernell, Food and Drug Administrations director of information technology acquisitions, said during a panel. Theres now a new level of expectation. Its like, Well, you guys did an acquisition in a month during the pandemic, and now youre gonna tell me it takes nine months? Thats just not going to fly as we move forward.
Upcoming:
Help us understand the situation better. Are you a federal employee, contractor or military member with information, concerns, etc. about how your agency is handling the coronavirus? Email us at newstips@govexec.com.
Coronavirus: United Airlines sees 'strong evidence' of demand for air travel as it happened Financial Times
