Due to adverse winter weather conditions, COVID-19 testing sites operated by the Louisiana Army National Guard (LANG) are closed today in all regions except Region 1 (Greater New Orleans).
An announcement will be made on the availability of testing sites for Thursday, February 18.Check ldh.la.govlater today for further updates.
Pre-registration for COVID-19 testing is encouraged by going to Health.QuestDiagnostics.com/STLOU. Testing is for ages 3 and older. There is no cost, and no identification is needed. Test results are available by calling1-866-MYQUEST (1-866-697-8378), but note that wait times can be lengthy. Test results are also available through the Quest online portal or app.
If you are unable to make it to a LANG testing location, no-cost testing is available by appointment at select Walgreens locations through a partnership between Walgreens and the Department of Health. These locations offer testing 7 days a week to people ages 3 and older. Appointments are required; make yours atwalgreens.com/covid19testing.
Region 1: New Orleans
Governor Ned Lamont is scheduled to get his first COVID-19 vaccine on Tuesday morning.
State officials said Lamont is getting his first dose of the Pfizer vaccine at a clinic at the First Cathedral Church in Bloomfield. He is scheduled to get it around 9:45 a.m.
Lamont, who is 67 years old, became eligible to receive the vaccine last week when the state expanded Phase 1b of the vaccination program. Phase 1b now includes residents aged 65 to 74.
NBC CT went to one local mass vaccination clinic to see how the first day went of eligibility for residents 65 and older.
Other people joining Lamont include Conn. Supreme Court Chief Justice Richard Robinson, State Treasurer Shawn Wooden, State Representative Bobby Gibson and President and CEO of Trinity Health of New England Dr. Reginald J. Eadie, state officials said.
Note:To get a vaccine in Connecticut, you must either live or work in the state. If you typically visit a provider here but do not live or work in Connecticut, you are not eligible and must get vaccinated in your home state.
By phone: Call Connecticuts Vaccine Appointment Assist Line at 877-918-2224, seven days a week from 8 a.m. to 8 p.m. for scheduling at select sites.
Online: Schedule a COVID-19 vaccination appointment inVAMS, the Vaccine Administration Management System.
Cerner and Epic each announced this past week that they've hit milestones in their efforts to assist with COVID-19 vaccinations.
On Friday, Cerner announced that 175 clients across 11 countries had installed its Mass Vaccination solution.
Epic, meanwhile, said on Thursday that it was supporting 100 community-based vaccination locations across the country, with the capacity to administer 300,000 shots a day.
"We are proud to help the health systems supporting the national goal of vaccinating 100 million Americans in the [Biden] administration's first 100 days," said Judy Faulkner, founder and CEO of Epic, in a statement.
WHY IT MATTERS
As major players in the EHR space, Epic and Cerner are well-positioned to play key roles in the effort to get the population vaccinated.
Cerner, for instance, hosted a mass vaccination event in the Kansas City area earlier this month, joining a local countywide coalition dedicated to vaccinating residents. Currentlyinoculating 4,500 people every other week, the coalition says it is prepared to increase that number to 3,500 per day as supplies increase.
Cerner also pointed to the systems relying on its technology, including Cook County Health, which is administering about 18,000 vaccine doses every week, and the U.S. Department of Defense and the U.S. Coast Guard, which are using the company's Mass Vaccination tool.
"Having the right health technology is critically important to support health care professionals as they take on this monumental task," said Cerner representatives in the release.
Epic, for its part, noted that the company expects to add up to 100 additional sites in the next 30 days. The vendor also saidits software is being used to administer approximately 500,000 vaccinations daily, both at mass vaccination sites and traditional clinical settings.
It spotlighted the work of Novant Health, a North Carolina-based health system using Epic to administer nearly all of its 63,000 doses through MyChart, and UCHealth in Colorado, which is running a mass vaccination site at Coors Field.
"Because Epic is interoperable, it is used to share vaccination information with other electronic health record systems and with state public health departments, which in turn communicate with the CDC," said Epic representatives in a press statement.
THE LARGER TREND
Last year, Epic, Cerner and other top EHR vendors began to prepare their software for the highly anticipated COVID-19 vaccine rollout.
"When it became clearer in October that an approved vaccine was likely in early 2021, we engaged with the CDC and some of its information technology suppliers in order to successfully interoperate with federal and state registries, said Dr. David Nill, vice president and chief medical officer at Cerner, to Healthcare IT News Features Editor Bill Siwicki. "We needed to make sure that our clients were ready on the IT front to handle such a monumental and important task."
The two were also among the heavy-hitters thatjoined together to form the Vaccine Credential Initiative, aimed at developing a standard model to create a digital record of vaccination status.
Still, the rollout hasn't been without hiccups. A Michigan-based health system last month flagged a vulnerability in the online vaccine scheduling available through its Epic EHR that allowed users to "skip the line" for vaccinations.
ON THE RECORD
"Doing what often takes months, health systems have moved in a matter of days and weeks to set up locations with the technology needed to conduct mass vaccinations," said Faulkner.
"Cerner has the privilege of bringing together knowledge gleaned from supporting global health care organizations and applying it to improve vaccination efforts in its local community and around the world," said Cerner representatives. "It is vital that communities across the globe join together to do their part to beat COVID-19," they added.
Kat Jercich is senior editor of Healthcare IT News.Twitter: @kjercichEmail: kjercich@himss.orgHealthcare IT News is a HIMSS Media publication.
Governor Andrew M. Cuomo today announced 102,907 first and second doses of the COVID-19 vaccine have been administered in the last 24 hours. The total week 9 federal allocation of vaccine delivery to providers will be complete today. As of 11AM today, New York's health care distribution sites have received 2,192,675 first doses and already administered 89 percent or 1,957,681 first dose vaccinations and 83 percent of first and second doses. The week 10 allocation from the federal government allocation from the federal government begins mid-week.
"We remain locked in a footrace between the infection rate and the vaccination rate, and while we are making significant progress on both fronts thanks to the hard work of New Yorkers, but can't become complacent - now is not the time to get cocky withCOVID,"Governor Cuomo said."With more than 10 million New Yorkers now eligible for the vaccine, we have the infrastructure in place to get it administered quickly and fairly but continue to only be held back by the supply. Thankfully, with real leadership now in Washington, we've begun to see that supply increase and expect that trend to continue until New York isCOVID-free."
The'Am I Eligible'screening tool has been updated for individuals with comorbidities and underlying conditions with new appointments released on a rolling basis over the next weeks. Starting next week, local health departments will also receive vaccine allocations for these individuals. New Yorkers can use the following to show they are eligible:
Approximately 10 million New Yorkers are currently eligible to receive the vaccine. The federal government has increased the weekly supply by more than 20 percent over the next three weeks, but New York's vast distribution network and large population ofeligible individuals still far exceed the supply coming from the federal government. Due to limited supply, New Yorkers are encouraged to remain patient and are advised not to show up at vaccination sites without an appointment.
Vaccination program numbers below are for doses distributed and delivered to New York for the state's vaccination program, and do not include those reserved for the federal government's Long Term Care Facility program. A breakdown of the data based on numbers reported to New York State as of 11AM today is as follows. The allocation totals below include 100 percent of the week 9 allocation which will finish being distributed to New York provider sites today. The total week 9 allocation is also inclusive of some excess vaccine doses that have been reallocated from the federal Long Term Care Facility program.
STATEWIDE BREAKDOWN
First Doses Received - 2,192,675
First Doses Administered - 1,957,681; 89%
Second Doses Received - 1,178,350
Second Doses Administered - 842,195
Region
Total Doses Received
(1st and 2nd)
Total Doses Administered
(1st and 2nd)
% of Total Doses Administered/Received
(1st and 2nd)
Capital Region
214,270
172,552
81%
Central New York
175,975
146,546
83%
Finger Lakes
202,135
177,546
88%
Long Island
418,005
358,825
86%
Mid-Hudson
316,155
249,035
79%
Mohawk Valley
95,255
72,354
76%
New York City
1,518,190
1,230,747
81%
North Country
104,715
96,677
92%
Southern Tier
105,035
95,317
91%
Western New York
221,290
199,077
90%
Statewide
3,371,025
2,798,676
83%
1st doses fully delivered to New York for Healthcare Distribution Sites
2nd doses fully delivered to New York for Healthcare Distribution Sites
TOTAL
CUMULATIVE
Week 1
Doses arriving 12/14 - 12/20
90,675
0
90,675
N/A
Week 2
Doses arriving 12/21 - 12/27
392,025
0
392,025
482,700
Week 3
Doses arriving 12/28 - 01/03
201,500
0
201,500
684,200
Week 4
A COVID-19 vaccine shipment that was delayed and ultimately pushed back appointments in San Diego is slated to arrive this week as the citys first vaccination super station remains closed due to the shortfall.
Downtown San Diegos vaccination super station has been closed since Sunday because of the shortfall. The county made the announcement Friday that doses of the COVID-19 vaccine were not delivered to the region as planned, causing the city to delay and pause appointments that were already confirmed.
The pause will affect the regions largest vaccination site, the UC San Diego Health Petco Park Super Station, with no vaccinations taking place on Sunday, Monday and Tuesday, a statement released Friday by the county said. Petco appointments will be automatically rescheduled through UCSD MyChart.
County leaders added that the South County Super Station and East County Super Station both have enough supplies to get it through Monday. It is unclear why the shipment was pushed back.
Thousands of locals who were scheduled to be vaccinated for the COVID-19 shot in San Diego County will have to wait a bit longer since there was a delay in shipment. NBC 7s Audra Stafford explains how the incident has shut down downtowns super site.
Frustrations over securing what seems like an elusive appointment for the vaccine have troubled eligible residents. Online slots for the vaccination have typically been filled quickly, leaving some locals waiting for the shot, and Fridays delay further adds to their frustrations.
The county said in a statement last week that priority would be given to those who were due for their second dose of the vaccine.
TOKYO (AP) Japan on Sunday formally approved its first COVID-19 vaccine and said it would start nationwide inoculations within days, but months behind the U.S. and many other countries.
Japans health ministry said it had approved the vaccine co-developed and supplied by Pfizer Inc.
The announcement comes after a government panel on Friday confirmed that final results of clinical testing done in Japan showed that the vaccine had an efficacy similar to what overseas tests showed.
Many countries began vaccinating their citizens late last year, and Pfizers vaccine has been used elsewhere since December.
Under the current plan, about 20,000 front-line medical workers at hospitals in Japan will get their first shots beginning around Wednesday. About 3.7 million other medical workers will be next, followed by elderly people, who are expected to get their shots in April. By June, its expected that all others will be eligible.
Health ministry official Yuta Yamashita said inoculations can start as soon as a ministry panel on vaccination logistics gives the go-ahead.
The approval was granted in a special fast-track process for emergency use. It took two months compared to the usual one year in a country known for cautious and slow-moving approval processes.
Still, the rollout in Japan is months behind many other countries because the government had asked for clinical testing at home in addition to the multinational tests Pfizer conducted on more than 40,000 people from July to November. Many countries accepted Pfizers results and moved ahead.
In a country where many people are skeptical about vaccines, Japan sought additional tests to address safety concerns. But the tests were conducted on only 160 people, and some question whether it was worth it to delay the rollout.
Vaccines are considered key to holding the delayed Tokyo Olympics this summer. Japan is expected to receive 144 million doses from Pfizer, 120 million from AstraZeneca and about 50 million from Moderna before the end of this year, enough to cover its population.
Vaccines being developed by Japan are still in the early stages, so the country must rely on imports. AstraZeneca applied for approval in Japan only recently, while Moderna hasnt applied yet. Japans reliance on the imports, many of them subject to EU export controls, is also causing concerns about supplies.
Shigeru Omi, the head of the government coronavirus task force, earlier this month cited a lack of global competitiveness of Japanese pharmaceuticals as a reason for the delayed rollout.
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Follow Mari Yamaguchi on Twitter at https://www.twitrer.com/mariyamaguchi
Heather Osbourne|Austin American-Statesman
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Austin Public Health officials on Monday canceled all coronavirus vaccine and testing appointments scheduled for Tuesday because of thesevere winter weather affectingmost of Texas.
Austin-area residents on Monday were urged to stay indoors and avoid driving in dangerous road conditions, which ultimately led Austin Public Health to cancel vaccination appointments for the fourth day in a row.
Austin Public Health had canceled all vaccination appointments Saturday when roads began to ice over, leading to multiple vehicle crashes across Central Texas. ByMonday, Travis County's icy roads were covered in powdery snow as temperatures dipped into the single digits.
More: Take a drone tour over Austin after snowfall amid freezing temperatures
Dr. Mark Escott, interim Austin-Travis County health authority, and Austin Public Health Director Stephanie Hayden-Howard on Fridaysaid their staffs would work with individuals to reschedulevaccination appointments onceweather conditions improved.
Austin Public Health officials again on Monday afternoon said the power outages did not affect the vaccine doses and that they will not expire beforelater this week when appointments are rescheduled.
Before Saturday, Austin Public Health was working to administer 12,000 first doses and 12,000 second doses it received from the state last week. It's unclear when the Texas Department of State Health Services willdeliver more doses to Central Texas because of the road conditions.
Austin-Travis County residentssuch as 77-year-old Jerry Griffin on Monday said they werealready struggling to sign up for a first doseof the coronavirus vaccine even before the winter stormrolled into Austin.
More: Who is next for COVID vaccine in Texas? Abbott advisor says maybe middle-aged people
Those who currently qualify for a coronavirus vaccine, many of whom are 65 and older, have remained frustrated and confusedabout Austin Public Health's distribution efforts, including problems with its registration website. SinceAustin Public Health receives only about 12,000 first doses everyMonday, vaccineappointments bookquickly.
Griffin said he wasn't surprised that Austin Public Health pushed back appointments because of the snowstorm, but he just hoped it wouldn't delay doses for him and his wifetoo long.
"My wife and I are both still struggling," Griffin said. "We are registered at a couple of places. I really want to receive a vaccine, but every time someone gets a shot it helps.
"We tend to shut down pretty quickly around here when we have weather conditions like this. We'll just hangin there, keeping our fingers crossed and hoping for the best."
MOUNT VERNON Winter weather has once again forced local public health officials in Knox County to change the date for a COVID-19 vaccination clinic for more than 700 people.
Tuesday's drive-thru clinic at Cooper Progress Park (the former Siemens Energy campus), sponsored by Knox Public Health, has been canceled due to the impending winter storm expected in central Ohio.
The second-dose clinic has been rescheduled as a walk-in clinic on Sunday, Feb. 21 from 10 a.m. to 4 p.m. at the Mount Vernon High School Energy Fieldhouse (101 Yellow Jacket Dr.). This is the same site as the first-dose clinic. There are no appointments, and attendees can come anytime from 10 a.m. to 4 p.m.
Clinic participants are being notified by phone with a pre-recorded message from the Knox County alert system. Clinic details are also posted on the Knox Public Health website, knoxhealth.com, and social media.
Originally scheduled for Feb. 13, the new date for the second-dose clinic extends the normal 21-day period between the first and second doses for the Pfizer-BioNTech COVID-19 vaccine. However, public health officials indicate this will not affect the window of opportunity for the vaccine to be fully effective.
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HORRY COUNTY, S.C. (WBTW) The South Carolina Department of Health and Environmental Control (DHEC) sent a letter to Horry County over reports of ineligible people receiving COVID-19 vaccines.
The letter was sent Sunday after DHEC said it received reports of people outside of the Phase 1a group receiving vaccines from Horry County Fire Rescue. The letter asks for a record of who has been vaccinated by the program in Horry County as well as how the distribution was planned.
DHEC is asking whether or not Horry County Fire Rescue vaccinated county employees not part of the 1a group.
DHEC said 1,818 first doses and 123 second doses have been administered by Horry County Fire Rescue as of Sunday.
A county government can register its EMS to be a vaccine provider. Horry County Fire Rescue is one of three EMS groups in the state approved to administer vaccines. The other two are Clarendon County Fire and Rescue and Cherokee County Fire and Rescue, according to DHEC.
DHEC said it continues to monitor reports of providers vaccinating people outside of the 1a group.
News13 obtained the letter Horry County Fire Rescue sent to DHEC in response. In the letter, Horry County Fire Rescue said it spoke with Alexandra Hayes and Donna McNeil of DHEC before any vaccines were administered and were told to vaccinate people as quickly as possible and with as little waste as possible.
In consideration with that guidance, employees who opted to receive the vaccine were granted a designee to also receive a vaccine with an emphasis on those who met Phase 1a criteria, the letter says. We recognize and appreciate the criteria system and will continue to assist the state in this critical mission.
Horry County Fire Rescue said it is committed to working with DHEC and partner agencies in the vaccination rollout and said it is willing to discuss the matter further with DHEC.
Read the full letter below:
