In a week when the first COVID-19 vaccinations were administered in Massachusetts to front-line health care workers, there are questions over how the state plans to distribute extra doses of the vaccine to communities of color that have been battered by the pandemic.
Framingham and Milford are among those communities, as each has a sizable minority populationthat isexperiencing skyrocketing COVID-19 infection rates.
Last week, Gov. Charlie Bakers COVID-19 Vaccine Advisory Group announced plans for vaccine distribution, including an extra 20% supply to communities that suffered a disproportionate impact during the pandemic.
But there are questions about thatextra supply, including how will it be calculated and who will get it.
Sam Wong, Framinghams director of public health, has those questions.
While Wong praised the state for taking a stance on vaccine equity, he is unclear about what it will do for Framingham. The city has been classified as a"red" zone for months, the color suggesting the highest risk for COVID-19 in a spectrum developed by state public health officials.
Framingham will likely see extra doses, according Dr. Paul Biddinger, chairman of the states COVID-19 Vaccine Advisory Group, because it's one of 23 "Stop the Spread" communities. The state designated these communities to gettest sites that administer vaccines for free, because they're experiencing the highest infection rates. Marlborough is also a Stop the Spread community.
All 23 communities are "very likely" to see some level of extra vaccine, Biddinger said.
Milford, however, is not a Stop the Spread community, despite it sitting in the red zone for several weeks.
As of Tuesday, 27% of Milfords total positive COVID-19 cases to date (417 of 1,521) are classified as Hispanic/Latinx/Spanish origin. Milford Public Health Director Jacqueline Murphy cautioned that her departments data is incomplete.
Arrival of the extra doses should come duringthe second and third phases of the states vaccine distribution plan, Biddinger said.
The state is currently in Phase 1, which includes clinical and non-clinical health care workers who deal directly with COVID-19 patients;long-term care facilities;rest homes and assisted-living facilities; police, fire and emergency medical services; congregate care settings, including homeless shelters and correctional facilities; home-based health care workers; and health care workers providing indirect care to COVID-19 patients.
Phase 2 is expected to start in February. Thatgroup includes individuals with two or morecomorbidities who face ahigh risk for COVID-19 complications; early education, K-12, transit, grocery, utility, food and agriculture, sanitation, public works and public health workers; adults 65 years of age and older; and individuals with one comorbidity.
Phase 3, when vaccines are available to the general public, is expected to start in April.
Biddinger acknowledged the hardest part is how to put the extra-vaccine plan into action.
Officials will start by looking at two measurements.
One is the Social Vulnerability Index established by the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. The index uses U.S. Census data to measure a community's social vulnerability. Data points include poverty, access to transportationand housing conditions.
The other measurement is the prevalence of COVID-19.
Biddinger explained there will be an analysis of locations that generally administer vaccines in a community, including hospitals, community health centers, medical practices, pharmacies and public-health clinics.
The state will know how many vaccinations those locations are administering and who is getting them, because federal law requires institutions to file the information. Datawill be loaded into the Massachusetts Immunization Information System, providing real-time informationthat shows which institutions in the hardest-hit communities are most effective at vaccinating residents. Those doing the best job will likely receive extra doses, Biddinger said.
Mistrustof the vaccine could curtail the states inoculation efforts, especially in communities of color.
Some in Framinghams Brazilian community arent ready to take a vaccine.
The Brazilian community is divided, said Liliane Costa, executive director at the Brazilian American Center in downtown Framingham. Some people are a little afraid of the long-term effects (of the vaccine), but I also talk to people who are ready to get vaccinated.
A recent poll of 800 residents by MassInc Polling Group in Boston bears out the feelings of mistrust in minority communities. It shows major differences in who plans to be first in line when vaccines are available.
White, college-educated respondents are near the top of the spectrum 67%said they would take a vaccine as soon as possible. The rate dropped to 48% for college-educated black respondents and 45% for Latino residents with college degrees. The lowest mark on the spectrum 38% was associated with Latinos who do not hold a college degree.
According to the poll, the top two reasons why people said they didn't trust the vaccine were that it hasnt been thoroughly tested (65%) and an overall lack of trust in the government on health care issues (61%).
There is a taint of race in the health care system, said Michael Curry,a member of the states COVID-19 Vaccine Advisory Group and incoming chief executive officer of the Mass League of Community Health Centers.He addressed the mistrust of vaccines during a virtual discussion hosted by the Boston Museum of Science entitled, Race to the Vaccine Exploring Public Confidence in a COVID Vaccination.
Curry cited historical examples of unjust treatment in the African-American community to explain its mistrust of vaccines in general, including medical experimentation on slaves; the Tuskegee Syphilis Study, which was conducted over 40 years (1932-72) without the patients informed consent; and an absence of blacks in clinical trials that results in a failureto provide data addressingillnesses in black communities.
Anti-immigration policies that hurt black and brown communities also diminish trust in the health care system, Curry noted.
To combat mistrust, Curry said there needs to be direct messaging to communities of color that speaks to the science, data and efficacy of COVID-19 vaccines.
Its all about the messaging, he said. We have to answer questions while acknowledging the past.
The Brazilian American Center is getting the message out on the benefits of COVID-19 vaccines. The nonprofit offers a range of services to Brazilian immigrants, and is using its website to educate clients about the benefits of COVID-19 vaccination. Its also using its online radio station Scalabrini Internet Radio to spread positive messages about vaccination.
Were trying everything we can, but its not easy since were not seeing people in person because of the pandemic, Costa said.
The Framingham Department of Public Health is partnering with the Edward M. Kennedy Community Health Center and physicians groups to deliver messages about the safety of COVID-19 vaccines and the importance of taking them.
Wong stressed that language barriers are not the reason for disproportionate COVID-19 suffering in minority communities.
Its more about inequities that existed before the pandemic. Wong ticked off several of them Black and Latinx residents generally have lower median household incomes, have less access to quality health care,and work in essential jobs that offer limited opportunities to work from home or remotely, which exposes them to increased risk of contracting COVID-19. Also, many Brazilian and Latinxfamilies live in multigenerational households, which can spread the virus if someone becomes infected.
All those reasons give a much higher risk for contracting disease, Wong said. Its more a pandemic of existing inequities and poverty than race or ethnicity.
The latest demographic information from Wongs department shows a wide gap between COVID-19 infectionsand deathswhen comparing white and minority communities in Framingham.
Hispanics represent 20% of the citys population, but have experienced42% of its COVID-19 cases. By comparison, non-Hispanic whites represent 60% of the citys population, but only 25% of COVID-19 cases.
The highest death rates of positive cases are among Hispanic, non-Hispanic Black/African and non-Hispanics other, all of which are more than double the death rates for non-Hispanic white and non-Hispanic Asian.
The Department of Public Health noted the disparity between whites and non-white populations would even be higher except many residents of Brazilian descent describe themselves as white.
COVID-19 has rocked Saint Mary of the Assumption Roman Catholic Church in Milford.
Weve been struggling with (COVID-19) for a long time, said the Rev.Peter Joyce, the churchs pastor.
About one-third of the churchs parishioners are from Latin-American countries, and Joyce said COVID-19 is a problem for many of them. It swept through their homes after relatives visiting from New York and New Jersey unknowingly had COVID-19.
Were all in this together, Joyce said, noting thechurch community will do whatever it takes to support those struggling in the pandemic.
Costa, of the Brazilian American Center, believes the centers older clients are ready to get the COVID-19 vaccine. But she worries about younger clients those in their 20s who are concerned about its long-term effects.
We have to work more on that. Talk more and convince them to take the vaccine, she said.
Ultimately, Costa sounded a hopeful tone.
I think in the end, everyone will get the vaccine.
Henry Schwan is the health reporter for the Daily News. Follow Henry on Twitter @henrymetrowest. He can be reached at hschwan@wickedlocal.com or 508-626-3964.
There are more than 50 clinical trials worldwide testing potential vaccines, known as candidates, against COVID-19. So far, two of the vaccine candidates have been approved by the US Food and Drug Administration (FDA) for emergency use.
The majority of vaccine candidates for COVID-19 are still in a preclinical phase. That means the candidate vaccines are being tested in animal experiments, for example, rather than with human patients.
Please note:To be displayed as approved in the chart, a vaccine needs to be either approved by the USFDA or the European Medicines Agency(EMA), or cleared for emergency use by FDA, EMA orWHO. More details can be found here.
When those tests are deemed successful, candidate vaccines can move into clinical trial phases. That's when they are tested with humans. There are three clinical trial phases for efficacy and safety before a vaccine can be approved for use by humans. The phases differ from each other, most significantly in their scale:
Some companies, such asBioNTech-Pfizerin Europe, and Sinovac in China, have tested their vaccine candidates in several trials in parallel. For example, they have tested the same vaccine but in different age groups or with different dosages.
If clinical trials are successful, a company can formally apply to regulatory bodies to have their vaccine approved for use by the general public.
Three regulatory authorities are considered to be particularly important in this context: The FDAin the US, the Europea EMA,and the Pharmaceuticals and Medical Device Agency in Japan.
When a vaccine is approved, it doesn't mean everybody can get it immediately.
First, the vaccine has to be produced on a mass scale. With COVID-19, manufacturers aim to produce billions of doses by the end of 2021.
Second, logistics experts have to ensure appropriate distribution of the vaccine, and political leaders haveto decide who gets the vaccine first.
Read more: Can a vaccine be given out fairly?
In the end, though, it will be up to each individual to decide. A survey of more than 13,000 people in 35 countries most affected by COVID-19 showed that the majority of people asked would choose to get vaccinated.
It can take several years to develop an effective and safe vaccine. On average, it takes between 10 and 12 years, but it can take longer. The search for a vaccine against HIV has been going since the early 1980s so farwithout success.
In the case of COVID-19, researchers are racing to shorten the time it usually takes because of the ongoing pandemic. Despite the pressure that that brings, vaccine developers, manufacturers and the World Health Organization (WHO) say there will be no compromises on safety.
Research teams are aiming to accelerate, or limit, the time it takes to get to approval during the pandemic to an average duration of 16 months.
However, that will only be the beginning. Once clinical trials are successfully completedand a vaccine is approved and produced, researchers start phase IV, during which they observe the progress of vaccinated patients.
Researchers are pursuing 12different approaches for vaccines against COVID-19.
Most of the vaccine candidates use a protein-based subunit so, instead of using a complete pathogenic virus, they are built on a small component of it, such as a protein found in its outer shell.
That protein is administered to patients in a high dose, with the aim of inducing a fast and strong reaction by the human immune system.
The hope is that the immune system will "remember" the protein and trigger a similar defense reaction if or when it comes into contact with the actual virus.
Vaccines against hepatitis B and HPV (human papillomavirus), for example, are based on this principle.
Four additional approaches have made it to phase III.
Non-replicating viral vectors are a type of so-called recombinant vaccines: Researchers modify the virus' genetic information by switching on or off or altering certain functions. By doing that they can, for example, reduce the infectiousness of a virus. Such genetic modifications, however, require that science already has detailed knowledge about which parts of a virus' genetic material are responsible for which functions in order for them to be able to manipulate them effectively. The term "non-replicating" means that the virus in the vaccine enters cells in the human body but is unable to reproduce there on its own.
Inactivated vaccines use a "dead" version of the pathogen. They tend to provide a lower level of protection than live vaccines. Some vaccines in this class have to be administered several times to achieve sufficient immunity. Examples of inactivated vaccines include ones against influenza and hepatitis A.
RNA vaccines follow a different strategy, without using any "real" component of the virus at all. Instead, researchers aim to trick the human body into producing a specific virus component on its own. Since only this specific component is built, no complete virus can assemble itself. Nevertheless, the immune system learns to recognize the non-human components and trigger a defense reaction.
Vaccines based on virus-like particles use another approach: Researchers only use the empty virus envelope without any genetic material inside of it to train the immune system.
At time of writing, there were well over 100 research teams worldwidedeveloping a COVID-19 vaccine. So far, 15 teams have advanced their candidate vaccines to the third phase of clinical trials.
Five teams stand out for conducting the most extensive clinical trials:
The COVID-19 pandemic has been a challenging time, and we know that you are ready for relief. We have been working hard to keep everyone safe during the coronavirus pandemic. We are finally turning a corner with the news of a COVID-19 vaccine, one of many important tools to help us stop this pandemic.
We know you may have questions about when and how you can be vaccinated. We are currently vaccinating our health care workers. We do not yet have a timeline for beginning vaccinations for patients, and we do not have any kind of waitlist.
We will keep updating this page as we get new information.
What we currently know about COVID-19 vaccines:
What we dont know yet:
+ Expand All
Were not sure yet. But we will follow all government guidelines regarding distribution of COVID-19 vaccines. Supplies will be limited initially, and California requires that shots be made available first to those facing the greatest risk. This includes health care workers and first responders who have close, prolonged and repeated contact with patients who have COVID-19.
UC San Diego Health is committed to ensuring an equitable and orderly vaccination scheduling process in line with recommendations from the CDC and the California Department of Public Health. We will expand vaccination to the rest of the health system employees, our patients and communities beyond starting with the most at-risk and vulnerable populations in the coming months.
It will take time to get everyone vaccinated. We understand this may be concerning, especially if you or a loved one is an essential worker or at risk of serious illness. Rest assured we are working hard with state and local officials to make sure everyone in our community has access to the vaccine.
We do not have a patient vaccine waitlist at this time. When vaccines are available for our patients, we will provide more information. Thank you for your patience and understanding.
No. UC San Diego Health is not currently offering the COVID-19 vaccine to the public, and we do not have a waiting list for the vaccine.
As soon as we receive guidance on when and how vaccines will be distributed to the public, we will share that information. We will continue to update this page with the latest information on vaccine distribution.
There are many benefits to getting vaccinated. A COVID-19 shot is your best chance to avoid becoming infected with the virus or possibly to avoid getting seriously ill even if you do get infected. It can also help prevent you from spreading the virus to others around you, including your loved ones and perhaps those more vulnerable or who haven't yet been or cannot be vaccinated.
No vaccine is 100 percent effective. So the more people in our communities who become vaccinated, the less the virus will circulate among us and the better protected we all will be.
So far, more than 295,000 people have died in the United States from COVID-19. Many of them were young and did not have underlying medical conditions. Many people who survived COVID-19 have debilitating breathing, cardiac, kidney and neurological problems, even months after recovering from the immediate infection.
The U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA) has granted emergency use authorization (EUA) to COVID-19 vaccines from Pfizer and Moderna. The first shipment of vaccine we received was the Pfizer vaccine, and we also expect to receive some Moderna vaccine when it is available.
Dozens of companies around the world are working on developing and testing vaccines. That includes AstraZeneca and Janssen, which are engaged in Phase III clinical trials for COVID-19 vaccines. (UC San Diego Health has been a testing partner for three of the four leading vaccines in Phase III clinical trials: Moderna, AstraZeneca and Janssen.)
The Pfizer, Moderna and AstraZeneca vaccines all require two injections, roughly 21 to 28 days apart. The Janssen vaccine involves a single shot.
The estimated full effectiveness rate for the Pfizer and Moderna vaccines after two shots is 95 percent, based on clinical trial data.
It is not known how the efficacy of the vaccine changes with longer intervals between injections. However, if there is a delay of a couple of weeks between doses, experts think the added time poses no safety or effectiveness issues.
Yes. We will continue wearing masks to keep ourselves and everyone safe, including many who haven't yet been or cannot be vaccinated. In addition, we should continue to follow social distancing, hand hygiene guidelines and all other recommendations and requirements from public health agencies.
Wearing a mask is mandatory at all UC San Diego facilities, from parking lots to testing tents to clinics.
We encourage you to get your flu shot to help prevent unnecessary hospitalizations during the pandemic.
Some people may experience side effects, such as injection site reactions, fatigue, headaches, muscle pain, joint pain and fever. These transient side effects, however unpleasant, should not be alarming. They are a good sign that your bodys immune response system is building future protection.
Please remember:
None of these side effects is unique to the COVID-19 vaccine.
Pfizer says there is a "remote chance"that its vaccine could cause a severe allergic reaction, which would usually occur within a few minutes to one hour after getting a dose of the vaccine. If you have a history of allergic reactions, please inform your vaccination provider before inoculation.
No, none of the current leading vaccines (Pfizer, Moderna, AstraZeneca and Janssen) contain the whole SARS-CoV-2 virus. They cannot give you COVID-19. Get more information from the CDC.
Different vaccines use different methodologies, both well-tested and new. By making antibodies, the vaccines increase our bodys immune response to SARS-CoV-2, the novel coronavirus that causes COVID-19. Then, if we are exposed to the virus in the future, our bodies are already prepared to fight the virus and help prevent us from getting sick.
When enough people in the community have protection to fight off a virus called herd immunity it is unable to spread quickly and cause disease. Based on current knowledge, its estimated that herd immunity to COVID-19 would mean 60 to 70 percent of the population to have antibodies to the disease, either through vaccination or previous infection.
No. Data from the Pfizer and Moderna clinical trials show that protection from COVID-19 appears to begin approximately two weeks after the first injection. But it is strongly recommended that everyone complete the two-dose regimen to fully boost immunity and stronger, longer-lasting protection.
That remains to be seen. The novel coronavirus SARS-CoV-2, which causes COVID-19, emerged only late 2019. While much has been learned since then and development of vaccines has occurred with unprecedented speed there is much about the virus that remains a mystery, including how long vaccine protection lasts and how frequently SARS-CoV-2 mutates, necessitating vaccine adaptation. Influenza mutates routinely and often, requiring annual, reformulated vaccines. At this point, the novel coronavirus does not appear to mimic that behavior. Research is ongoing.
With COVID-19 vaccine being distributed to 21 Houston-area hospitals this week, medical professionals who have battled COVID-19 on the frontlines for nearly a year are finally receiving inoculations.
Houston's Memorial Hermann Infectious Disease Specialist Dr. Linda Yancey was one of the first local healthcare providers to receive the vaccine. Chron spoke to Dr. Yancey about her experience and what to expect from the new vaccine.
Yancey: My arm is sore, but other than that, I've experienced no fever or headaches. Just a sore arm. When I drove back from the hospital, it kind of hit me. I hadn't contracted COVID-19 yet. I had spent these past nine months watching my friends and colleagues get sick one by one. A few colleagues had to be hospitalized and one of them died. Every time I had a cough or a sneeze, 'I would think--is this it? Have I got it?' Then, it hit me that I didn't have to worry about that anymore.
VACCINES IN TEXAS: COVID-19 expert: "Take the first FDA-approved vaccine offered"
No, not at all. I realize that this is a new vaccine, and folks are a little wary. I'm very comfortable with the safety and the effectiveness of this vaccine. I'm expecting with the second one, with the booster, I may have side effects. But again, these would be relatively mild.
It's been a long, hard slog not knowing when the end was in sight. Every time we had another surge, we had more patients, more in the ICU. But now we have a new vaccine. Now there's a light at the end of the tunnel. The tunnel will still be long. This will be a long, hard winter for us. It will take time to get everyone vaccinated.
What I can tell you is that the first people to get the new vaccine back in March in the initial safety trial are still protected. So, a minimum of nine months, fingers crossed, three to four years. That would consistent with the animal data we have on other coronavirus vaccines. I realize that three to four years doesn't sound very long, but in the middle of the pandemic, it feels like an eternity.
It's safe, it's effective. One of the reasons why I wanted to be one of the first to get this, is that I wanted to lead by example. To show my nurses, colleagues that I'm not asking them to do anything that I wouldn't do myself. This is a scarce resource. It is ok if you have concerns to wait a month. I would rather people have confidence in this vaccine.
I just can't wait. I have four kids and a husband. I want them protected as soon as possible with this new vaccine. I want my parents protected. If I could give everyone in the country a dose of this vaccine today, I would.
FedEx will use Boeing 767 aircraft, like the one pictured here, to deliver COVID-19 vaccines.
Air cargo is vital to our lives. Planes swiftly deliver our food and mail, goods we buy online (like the laptop I'm writing this on) and flowers we order for Mother's Day. Approximately 35% of world trade travels in airplanes, according to the International Air Transport Association, accounting for $6 trillion worth of goods.
It's also critical to public health. Air cargo carriers will be at the forefront of distributing the Pfizer and Moderna COVID-19 vaccines around the planet. Transporting vaccines by air isn't new -- that's how flu vaccines get distributed every year -- but the significance and scope of the COVID-19 vaccine distribution is unmatched. Pfizer alone expects to produce up to 50 million vaccine doses in 2020 and 1.3 billion in 2021, and they'll all need to get somewhere.
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Familiar giants like UPS, DHL and FedEx will play a big role in the process, but so will passenger airlines with cargo operations, like American, United and Delta. Here's what they're doing to prepare to keep the vaccines safe and carry them to you.
Just keep in mind that even though vaccines are now being administered, the coronavirus pandemic is raging on, with almost 74 million cases and 1.65 million deaths around the world to date. Social distancing and mask wearing are still absolutely essential for fighting the spread of the virus and protecting the health of you and others. And they'll remain that way for many months, even after you're vaccinated.
Pfizer's vaccine, just approved for use by the FDA on Friday, needs to be stored at a temperature of minus 94 degrees Fahrenheit (minus 70 degrees Celsius). Cargo that must be kept extremely cold typically can be transported in "active" containers with built-in temperature controls (like a portable freezer) or "passive" containers that are cooled with dry ice. Either way, all containers used to ship the vaccines will have temperature recorders to ensure vaccine safety.
The advantage of passive containers is that they're lighter, making them more portable, and they don't require a power source. Intending to distribute its vaccine as fast as possible, Pfizer went with the passive option by designing its own containers (according to The Wall Street Journal, the containers are the size of a suitcase).
Airlines have more options for vaccines that don't need to be kept as cold, likeModerna's(which still needs FDA approval). United Airlines, for example, says that with 15 different cargo container options, "we can support a variety of temperature needs whether ambient, cool or frozen."
Delta employees offload vaccines from an aircraft.
UPS says it will monitor all shipments from a new dedicated command center. The facility will be staffed around the clock and will collect data from the temperature recorders in shipping containers. Each UPS package also will have a tag identifying it as a vaccine shipment. The company built its own dry ice manufacturing facility at its hub in Louisville, Kentucky, with a capacity of more than 24,000 pounds each day.
Other carriers will monitor shipments as well. American Airlines will do so from its Cargo Control Center at its headquarters in Fort Worth, Texas, and Delta Airlines will have a "Vaccine Control Tower" with centralized monitoring and customer reporting.
Cargo containers are loaded into a United Airlines Boeing 777 at San Francisco International Airport in 2018.
It depends on the carrier and the available aircraft it has in its fleet. But generally a bigger plane is better, since it can fit more shipments. United Airlines says one of its Boeing 777-200s, one of the largest aircraft in its fleet, has the ability to carry more than a million doses of vaccine. American also operates the 777, while Delta's largest airliner is the comparatively sizedAirbus A350.
With largely wide-body fleets includingBoeing's 777, 767 and 747; the Airbus A300; and the McDonnell Douglas MD-11, FedEx and UPS will be able to move large quantities of doses as well.
Now playing: Watch this: How United Airlines prepares a Boeing 777 between flights
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Yes. Though it depends on the route flown, United and American will use both all-cargo and passenger flights. The vaccines will be stored below the passenger cabin in the cargo hold.
A FedEx employee handles dry ice for a shipment.
Dry ice is solid carbon dioxide, the same molecule humans and animals breathe out. As long as it's handled properly, it'll keep everything from food to medicines cold for long periods without posing much of a health risk (that is, unless you touch it with bare hands).
The bigger danger is if dry ice warms above minus 78.5 degrees Celsius ( minus 109.3 degrees Fahrenheit). At that point it will sublimate, meaning it turns directly to an odorless and colorless gas, skipping the liquid state. Carbon dioxide is harmful when we breathe it in. A small amount can cause a loss of cognitive function, fatigue or unconsciousness (not ideal conditions for a pilot), and too much can lead to a coma or even asphyxiation.
Because those dangers are compounded in an enclosed space like an airplane, the Federal Aviation Administration on Dec. 10 issued a Safety Alert for Operators advising carriers to do the following (among other things):
American monitors flights from its operations control center in Fort Worth, Texas.
Given that the FAA manages the nation's air traffic control system, it'll have a big role. In an email to CNET, an agency spokeswoman said this:
"The FAA will handle flights carrying COVID-19 vaccines the same way we handled flights carrying personal protective equipment in the spring of 2020. Airlines will provide lists of flights carrying COVID-19 vaccines to the FAA's Command Center, which will alert air traffic facilities in the field that these are priority flights. The Command Center will closely track the flights along their routes to ensure they are given priority to the degree possible."
The FAA also issued an advisory for airports handling vaccine flights, with points like giving priority access to ground vehicles collecting the vaccine, and it relaxed rules on how much dry ice airlines can carry on their flights. (Even passengers can carry a small amount in checked baggage.) United said it can now carry 15,000 pounds of dry ice per flight -- five times more than normally permitted, and FedEx will be able to transport approximately 500,000 dry ice shipments a month.
Vaccines ready for shipment at a UPS facility.
Once a vaccine shipment arrives at an outbound shipping facility, airlines will need to keep it cold. This temperature-controlled cargo infrastructure already exists, though some companies will be expanding their network to meet demand.
FedEx says it's added more than 10 secure cold storage facilities over the past three years and now has more than 90 in North and South Americas, Asia, Australia and Europe. The company also added ultracold freezers, and expanded freezer and refrigerator capacity at some locations.
UPS has invested in a "freezer farm" in Louisville for ultracold storage and will supply portable freezers for vaccine dosing sites where dry ice isn't available.
American will use its existing temperature-controlled facilities at airports in Philadelphia, Miami, Dallas, London, Chicago and San Juan, Puerto Rico. Delta will rely on cold storage at airports in Atlanta, Detroit, Los Angeles, New York and Seattle.
The information contained in this article is for educational and informational purposes only and is not intended as health or medical advice. Always consult a physician or other qualified health provider regarding any questions you may have about a medical condition or health objectives.
Urban experts agree that cities like New York City, San Francisco and Chicago all need to adjust to this new post-pandemic world in order to survive. Wochit
SAN FRANCISCO Rory Cox shudders each time he steps outside the doors of his YuBalance fitness studio.
Its a damn ghost town, said Cox, 37, whose three studios have seen an 80% decline in business since the novel coronavirus hit inMarch. My number one marketing tool is people walking by. If theyre not out there, you lose.
Cox, like many of those he represents as founder of the San Francisco Small Business Alliance, loves this iconic and iconoclastic city, a place where tech start-ups havebrought both great riches and staggering inequality.
But if San Francisco, which this week joined much of Californiain a mandatory three-week lockdown, isnt able to rebound from the COVID-19 pandemic, he, along with his wife, Shala, and their 5-year-old son, may pack up and head to a small Virginia town where his mother lives andstart over.
Rory Cox, in black outfit, helps a lone client workout at YuBalance, one of three fitness studios Cox operates in San Francisco. The pandemic has seen business slide 80%. Cox is concerned that the recent exodus of big tech companies from town may permanently hinder the city's rebound from the pandemic.(Photo: Courtesy of Rory Cox)
If this city doesnt work hard to rebuild after the winter, youll have more boarded-up shops, more homeless people in doorways, more break-ins, he said. Detroit was the richest city in America in the 1950s. We could be candidates for that kind of fall.
With the COVID-19 vaccine beginning to roll out, how the biggest cities in the United States economic engines and cultural cauldrons such as New York, Los Angeles, Boston, Miami return from the deadliest global health crisis in a century mayin someways foreshadow how the United Statesbounces back.
An altered future seems inevitable. Just over half of those polled in September by the Pew Research Center said they expecttheir lives will remain changed in major ways after the pandemic. For some, that has meant moving; a June Pew survey revealed one in five said the outbreak made them or someone they know change residence.
But despite the budget shortfalls plaguing nearly every major city due to the pandemic, urban planners, economists and architects share a resoundingly positive consensus.They say that buoyed by a younger demographic drawn to jobs, social opportunities and public services, cities will survive this crisis much as they didthe Spanish Flu of 1918 and the terrorist attacks on 9/11, an echo ofEuropean capitals' resilience after the bubonic plague of the 1300s and cholera outbreakof the early 1800s.
Some even posit that a year from now the United Statesmight be in the midst of a new Roaring 20s, a reference to giddy good times that followedthe Spanish Flu.
Economists at the University of California, Los Angeles, released a study last week predicting a gloomy winter would be supplanted by a leap in gross domestic product from a weak 1.2% in the current quarter to 6% by next spring, with more growth in sight.
Part of that growth will depend on how quickly and effectively cities pivotin the wake of a landscape-altering pandemic. A lot of that will depend on how fast municipal financial coffers, depleted by lost real estate and sales tax revenue, fill back up or whether federal aidcomes to the rescue.
Consider these possible best-case-scenario changes most driven by employees continuing to work at least part-time from home that experts say could come to our urban centers as COVID-19 hits the nations rearview mirror:
The need for commercial real estate shrinks, with some office spaces converted into living quarters. A boom in available housing drives down ownership and rental costs, revitalizing downtowns.
Ridership grows for improved public transportation systems, as flexible work schedules mean a move away from traditional commuting hours and increased demand for all-day access.
Parks mushroom across cities as residents crave more open spaces as a reaction to both pandemic-era social distancing habits and more time spent outdoors over the past year.
Restaurants roar back as the need to socialize returns, leaning heavily on new habits that include using sidewalks and parking spots as outdoor eating options.
New York commuters, shown here in a 2017 photo, have long relied on the city's web of subway lines to move around of the world's greatest cities. Many urban planners expect New York to be able to return to its former bustling glory after the nation reaches a herd immunity to the COVID-19 virus, and in fact some predict city life could be more appealing than ever if buildings and open spaces are redesigned with a mission to provide residents even more room than before the pandemic struck.(Photo: Mark Lennihan, AP)
A bit less clear, experts add, is the prospect for social activities that formerly implied shoulder to shoulder contact with other patrons. Bars, concert halls and even museums likely will have to take a wait and see approach to operating their businesses.
But if managed correctly, the fundamental and enduring lure of city life could be at the heart of the nation's recovery, saidJanette Sadik-Khan, former commissioner of New Yorks Department of Transportation and principal with Bloomberg Associates, a philanthropic consulting group funded by former New York mayor and one-time presidential candidate Michael Bloomberg.
There are so many opportunities following the pandemic not just to restore what wasnt working before, but to move in a new direction, she said, adding thatthe energy, excitement and sense of place offered by major cities means there will be a natural desire to return to them.
Our streets can be used for so much more than moving and parking cars, such as front yards for residents or dining areas for restaurants, she said.
As cities morph in response to changing work habits and the memory of the pandemic, architecture will be pivotal toredesigning existing spaces so that they reflect new concerns surfaced by the pandemic, experts predict.
The most obvious change will involve improving both air flow and natural light in buildings, said Michael Murphy, CEO of Boston-based architecture firm, MASS Design Group. He added that restaurants and museums will need to be particularly watchfulgiven their tendency to attract the masses.
Architects and designers will need to play a large role in rebuilding systems of trust through the design of safe and healthy spaces that remind us of our shared humanity, he said.
Chicago's lakefront area is home to one of many bike lanes around the Windy City. Urban planners say that a post-pandemic city life should include a shift away from cars and toward more bikes lanes, parks and other open spaces, in part as a response to newfound social distancing tendencies.(Photo: LeoPatrizi/Getty Images)
If politicians at the highest level don't turn their attention and funding efforts toward big cities where the poor and people of color were physically and fiscally impacted disproportionately by the pandemic life in our leading metropolises is only likely to get worse, said Richard Florida, a professor at the University of Torontos School of Cities and author of The New Urban Crisis.
This is now in the hands of states and the Biden-Harris administration, Florida said of President-elect Joe Biden and his running mate, Kamala Harris. Were going to need a pretty massive federal effort in the form of a bailout and fast. Its not just an opportunity, its an obligation. If we miss it, there will be hell to pay.
Cities may well be on their own. Congress continues to debate the next coronavirus relief package as stimulus funds are set to expire. But only $160 billion of the roughly $1 trillion new package would be earmarked for state, local and tribal governments, far short of the $500 billion requested by the National Governors Association.
Biden recently laid out a $1.3 trillion infrastructure spending plan, to be helmed by Pete Buttigieg, that would include helping to get public transportation rolling againaround the country. The spending proposal could face a tough battlein the Senate if Republican Mitch McConnell keeps majority control of the chamber.
Former mayor and presidential candidate Pete Buttigieg, shown here last March with now President-elect Joe Biden, has been put forth by the president-elect as the nation's next transportation secretary. Biden hopes to allocate more than $1 trillion to the nation's infrastructure, which would include public transportation considered a key component in the revitalization of cities post-COVID-19.(Photo: Juan Figueroa, AP)
Some metro areas will have to rely even more heavily on natural selling points to build back stronger after the pandemic, said urbanist Florida.
New Yorks global appeal will bring back residents as soon as the worst of the pandemic is over, with perhaps younger families replacing retirees.In Florida, Miamis weather and no-tax-state status will prove a boon in the coming years, as will Los Angeles sunny climate, cultural offerings and nearby natural escapes.
Florida points to how some cities have been adding bike lines and closing streets to car traffic as evidence that the pandemic will only accelerate urban trends that already are underway. Hes bullish on the growth of so-called 15-Minute Neighborhoods, a concept wherein residents of a revitalized city will be able to shop, work and socialize within a few minutes walk of where they live.
Much more serious and deadly pandemics have not really even dented the arc of urbanization, said Florida. I think were in the infancy of this.
Urban experts all agree on one thing: all of these changes will be influenced directly by the degree to whether working from home becomes ingrained as a new normal.
While some businesses, notably technology companies, have signaled a permanent retreat from an office setting, most experts predict a hybrid model.
The answer to just how many days we return to an office will drive a lot of change, said Christopher Mayer, professor of real estate at the Columbia University Business School in New York.
WeWork, a co-working space concept that took off like a rocket before running into financial problems last year, could be among the newly hot solutions for city-based employers, who are facing a wholesale change to their commercial real estate needs after the pandemic energized the working from home concept.(Photo: Spencer Platt, Getty Images)
Overall, a diminished demand for office space one of the most prominent by-products of COVID-19 as well as the sense that new offices will require more room for each employee will bring a series of changes to the workplace environment.
These will include a boom in so-called hot-desking, where employees coming to an office space on different days use the same work stations, said Carlo Ratti, professor of Urban Technologies and Planning at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology and director of the SENSEable City Lab.
Zoom, that pandemic work darling, isnt going away. But city businesses may start providing areas to conduct virtual meetings as a way of generating added revenue,Ratti said.
The way Starbucks became a place for email, these could be new places to patronize while Zooming, said Ratti.
The fact that the nation, admittedly some states more than others, has had to endure a collective quarantine for nearly a year means that as the vaccine takes hold there will be almost a frenetic desire to gather in public.
But those public spaces now will need to meet a new, higher standard, one that is safer and inspiring,said Rogier Van Den Berg, director of urban development at the World Resources Institute Ross Center for Sustainable Cities in Washington, D.C.
Tech giant Oracle, a longtime fixture in the Bay Area and most recently sponsor of the San Francisco Giants' stadium downtown, recently announced it would be moving its operations to Texas. Local business owners fear that such departures will make it harder for the city to rebound from the COVID-19 pandemic.(Photo: Kyle Terada, USA TODAY Sports)
People will want urban spaces to be more appealing, more green, more walkable, more biking, he said, adding that the default attitude will be to give our city leadersthe benefit of the doubt.After disasters of any kind, people do tend to forget very fast what theyve been through. They recover and move forward.
First, they have to stop losing residents, not to mention employers.
A SeptemberLinkedIn survey based on user profile zip code changes shows Hartford, Connecticut, leading the pack in citizen losses, largely due to jobs evaporating, while Austin, Texas, tops the list of cities gaining the most residents during COVID-19.San Francisco is third in resident departures, just behind New York.
While many experts predict a Big Apple return once a vaccine lets life resume, they are less bullish on the prospects of San Francisco, whose boom and bust cycles date back to the 1850s Gold Rush. The main reason: fleeing technology companies, which for the better part of 20 years have fueled the region's soaring standard and cost of living.
In the past week alone, Tesla and Oracle both announced they would be leaving the Bay Area for Texas, eager to avoid paying Bay Area wages and pricey office rents.
"I'm worried about San Francisco," said urban expert Florida. "Cities like Austin have been eating its lunch."
Terzo in San Francisco has kept its door open thanks to seating people in former parking spaces. Owner Laurie Thomas says its vital city officials continue to allow the appropriation of such spots if local businesses are to survive and the city is to bounce back from COVID-19.(Photo: Courtesy of Laurie Thomas)
Beyond being expensive San Francisco's median home price is now $1.3 million some residents have started to leave due to a pressing homelessness issue exacerbated by the pandemic, said Tom Radulovich, executive director of transportation advocacy group Livable City and a former director of Bay Area Rapid Transit.
The city has in many ways rested on its laurels while the tech economy boomed, he said. Now we might find ourselves in a position smaller cities are familiar with, needing to up our game in order to attract business.
San Francisco's downtown financial and tech district, home to its new but sparsely populated Salesforce Tower, has been hollowed out by the pandemic. Conventions and tourists have vanished. Many storefronts are boarded up. Residential rents have dropped 25%.
In the second quarter of this year, sales tax revenue slid43%. More recently, credit card receipt data suggested that 85% of restaurants in this foodie mecca had shuttered.
Will there physically be people in town to even come to our places to eat? asked Laurie Thomas, owner of Roses Caf and Terzo restaurant and executive director of the Golden Gate Restaurant Association. If not, that will just kill us.
Thomas said she has survived by cutting back to a skeleton staff, providing outdoor dining and doing take-out. She said being able to keep offering patrons outdoor dining in what used to be parking spaces will be crucial to her future survival.
We need locals, but we also need tourists and conventions andtheres no telling when those come back. We need help, she said.
For San Francisco, as with other major American cities, the question "seems to be, What is the value of a city after a pandemic? said Ted Egan, San Franciscos chief economist. A major worry for us is if people who have mastered Zoom and have gotten used to being at home just dont feel they really need that in-person interaction anymore.
For the past two decades, this bay citys boom at the hands of tech giants such as Twitter, Google and Facebook has flooded the city with young workers with better than average salaries craving those very in-person interactions. They spent money on great restaurants, hip cocktail lounges, stylish boutiques and personal training.
Rory Cox and his wife Shala pose in one of a trio of YuBalance fitness studios they own in San Francisco. The couple is concerned the city will have a hard time bouncing back from the pandemic after residents and tech companies have left over the past months.(Photo: Courtesy of Rory Cox)
If they and their discretionary dollars aren't a part of a post-COVID-19 plan, fitness studio owner Cox may be among those leaving the big city life behind.But for the momenthe remains hopeful city officials will listen to merchants like him and empower an urban renaissance that attracts businesses, tourists and new residents to a greener, culturally energized andwork-life friendly San Francisco.
I met my wife here, I started my business here, we started our family here, its where wewant to be, said Cox. Many of uswantto keep this city alive and vibrant after this pandemic is over. People dont move here for Target and Chipotle, they move for the cool small businesses. We need to come back strong, and we'll need help."
Follow USA TODAY national correspondent Marco della Cava: @marcodellacava
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They were educators, music teachers and community activists who served tirelessly for those living in poverty.
In less than two weeks, eight Roman Catholic sisters died of illnesses related to Covid-19 at a Wisconsin retirement home this month, a gut-wrenching loss that highlighted the risks of infection in communal residences, even as administrators said they took precautions against infection.
The deaths took place at Notre Dame of Elm Grove, about eight miles west of Milwaukee, in Waukesha County. Like most of the United States, Wisconsin is struggling to contain the spread of the coronavirus, and it has recorded at least 482,443 cases and 4,566 deaths since the beginning of the pandemic, according to a New York Times database. There have been 34,176 cases in Waukesha, it shows.
The home was converted into a residence for elderly and sick sisters on a site historically used as an orphanage for children in the area in 1859. The first of the eight women died on Dec. 9, and the others in the days that followed, through Tuesday, Trudy Hamilton, a spokeswoman for the School Sisters of Notre Dame Central Pacific Province, which established the home, said on Friday.
Sisters Rose M. Feess, 91, and Mary Elva Wiesner, 94, a religious educator and liturgist, died on Dec. 9, according to the homes site. Sister Dorothy MacIntyre, 88, died two days later, and Sister Mary Alexius Portz, 96, died two days after that, on Sunday. Sisters Joan Emily Kaul, 95, Lillia Langreck, 92, and Michael Marie Laux, 90, died on Monday. Sister Cynthia Borman, 90, died on Tuesday.
It was quite a shock in a short amount of time, Ms. Hamilton said. Their full biographies were not immediately available, she said, as administrators were trying to deal with the grim loss of so many dying in such a short period of time. We are playing catch up, Ms. Hamilton said.
Experts say that aging populations are particularly vulnerable to the virus, which thrives in transmission anywhere people are in close contact. The sisters lived communally, just as residents living in nursing homes, which have especially been hard hit by the pandemic.
The deaths at the residence reflected losses at similar facilities. At the Presentation of the Blessed Virgin Mary, in Livonia, Mich., 12 Felician sisters died in April and May, followed by a 13th sister in June, of Covid-19, the disease caused by the new coronavirus.
In Wisconsin, at least five sisters at Our Lady of the Angels Convent, in a suburb of Milwaukee, died, starting in April. All five nuns were discovered to have the virus only after their deaths.
Dec. 19, 2020, 12:28 a.m. ET
In Waukesha County, the Medical Examiners Office does not require mandatory reporting of Covid-19 deaths, said Linda Wickstrom, a spokeswoman for the Department of Health and Human Services. It is the prerogative of a business or congregate setting to either confirm or deny an outbreak or health status of individuals, she said in an email.
Sister Debra Marie Sciano, the provincial leader for School Sisters of Notre Dame Central Pacific Province, said in an interview that the eight sisters at the Elm Grove campus had retired there after decades of service, in fields that included teaching, music education, crafts and poetry.
(A ninth sister, Sister Marcene Schlosser, 82, died at a separate S.S.N.D. campus in Mankato, Minn., on Dec. 14.)
Sister Debra said that the Elm Grove residence had followed federal guidelines to try to keep the sisters safe, with masks and social distancing protocols such as spacing a few at a time at dining tables, and curtailing the number of visitors.
Then on Thanksgiving Day, she was informed that one of the sisters had tested positive for the coronavirus. She was separated from the rest, and when others started to become sick, the group was cared for in one wing. Right after that, we began testing twice a week, Sister Debra said.
The 88 others who still live at the facility are required to stay in their rooms, where they eat and watch Mass on closed circuit televisions.
It has been rough, it has been very rough, she said. It is kind of like a gut-punch moment. The first was hard enough, and when it kept happening, there was a sense of deep loss.
Detailed biographies for some of the women, including quotes from them that were recorded on occasions celebrating 25 years of service, reflected lifetimes of work in education and in taking care of others.
Sister Mary Portz was a music teacher who said her greatest joy was teaching children piano lessons.
Sister Rose Feess loved teaching and working on the Indian Reservation in South Dakota with the Sioux Indians. Likewise, I have always been happy to work with the poor and underprivileged like the people of the streets who knock on my door, or Louie, the homeless man, who became our charge until God called him, she said, according to her profile on the site.
Sister Debra said Sister Dorothy was a teacher, as well as a dental assistant, and loved to do arts and crafts. Sister Michael taught in Guam, Alaska and Kenya. Sister Lillia was a poet, a special needs teacher and a strong advocate for peace and justice, Sister Debra said.
It really hurts, she said. But even as hard as it is for us, we try to celebrate their lives as well.
'We don't know where that peak is': Hospitals stretched thin by post-Thanksgiving COVID-19 surge AZCentral.com
