Its official: The COVID-19 vaccine will be free for all, regardless of whether you have private health insurance, are uninsured, or are on Medicare.
That is, people in the United States wont need to shell over any cash for a coronavirus vaccine.
Many have wondered if the vaccine will come with unexpected costs, such as copays or administration fees. But private insurers and the Health Resources and Services Administration (HRSA) have confirmed the vaccine and appointment will be free, at least throughout the pandemic.
Its unclear how much the vaccine could cost on the other side of the pandemic, but health insurance experts suspect people privately insured or on Medicare will still be able to get vaccinated at no cost.
After the pandemic, there may be a higher price for uninsured individuals.
Heres what to know about paying for a coronavirus vaccine:
The vaccine will be covered for people with private insurance, according to guidelines released by the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services (CMS).
Health insurers whose plans are subjected to the coverage of preventive services without cost-sharing requirement under the Public Health Service Act are not allowed to bill patients for the administration of the COVID-19 vaccine, said Anh Nguyen, PhD, a health economics expert and assistant professor of economics at Carnegie Mellon Universitys Tepper School of Business.
Nguyen noted that this applies to both in-network and out-of-network providers.
Private insurers such as Blue Cross Blue Shield (BCBS) and Oscar Health confirmed members will pay $0 for the vaccine.
If the primary purpose of a patients visit is to receive the COVID-19 vaccine, BCBS companies will cover the vaccine, administration services, and the office visit at no cost-share to the patient, even if the appointment is out-of-network, per regulations issued by CMS, a BCBS spokesperson told Healthline.
If the doctors visit includes health services unrelated to COVID-19, the person may be charged.
If a patient receives additional, non-COVID-19 care at the same appointment, patients will be covered for those services in accordance with their health plan, the BCBS spokesperson said.
Oscar Health, too, has committed to providing the vaccine for free to its members. There will be no charge for the vaccine itself or for the doctors visit associated with the immunization, Oscar Health confirmed.
People receiving the COVID-19 vaccine will not be billed with copays or unexpected administrative fees, an Oscar Health spokesperson said. Based on guidance so far from the federal government, plans and issuers must cover COVID vaccines without cost sharing.
According to Nguyen, this coverage benefit doesnt apply to certain alternative healthcare plans, such as short-term limited duration insurance. Individuals on alternative plans may be subjected to copay or administration costs related to the vaccine.
Some states may require these plans to cover costs related to COVID-19 similarly to how they did with testing for the disease.
The CMS also states there will be no vaccine costs, administration fees, or deductibles for people on Medicare.
Any COVID-19 vaccine that receives Food and Drug Administration (FDA) authorization will be covered under Medicare as a preventive vaccine at no cost to beneficiaries, the CMS states on its website.
Uninsured people will also be able to get vaccinated for free during the pandemic.
People without health insurance or whose insurance does not provide coverage of the vaccine can also get COVID-19 vaccine at no cost, the CMS states.
Healthcare providers that administer the vaccine to uninsured people will need to submit a reimbursement claim to the Provider Relief Fund. The fund is handled by the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services (HHS), which will reimburse healthcare providers.
Providers who participate in and are reimbursed by the Provider Relief Fund, a part of the HRSA COVID-19 Uninsured Program, arent allowed to bill people without insurance.
Uninsured patients may be hit with a fee if the provider doesnt submit a claim to the relief fund.
If the provider doesnt submit a bill for COVID-19-related testing and/or treatment to the HRSA COVID-19 Uninsured Program, or the care was not eligible for reimbursement from the program, the patient may be responsible for full payment of the bill, an HRSA spokesperson said.
There are no steps uninsured people will need to take prior to getting vaccinated, the HSRA spokesperson confirmed.
Though its unclear what the COVID-19 vaccine will cost when the pandemic is over, itll likely be handled similarly to other important vaccinations, such as the flu shot and measles-mumps-rubella (MMR) vaccine.
For health insurance plans that are subjected to the coverage of preventive services without cost-sharing requirement, the CARES Act ensures that the COVID-19 vaccine will be added to the list of required preventive care coverage without the 1-year delay, Nguyen said.
People on private health insurance plans or Medicare Part B will most likely be able to get the vaccine for free.
After the federal public health emergency period ends, insurers will cover the COVID-19 vaccine in line with essential health benefit coverage rules, the Oscar Health spokesperson said.
The future vaccine costs for uninsured people is less concrete, but Nguyen suspects it may be pricier than other routine vaccinations.
For the uninsured, I expect the cost to be higher than that of a flu vaccine due to the cold storage requirement of the vaccine, Nguyen said. Furthermore, there is no regulation on how much providers can charge uninsured patients once the pandemic status is lifted.
During the pandemic, the COVID-19 vaccine will be free for all, regardless of whether you have private health insurance, are uninsured, or are on Medicare.
Administration fees for immunization-related appointments will be free as well.
After the pandemic, the vaccine will likely be covered as a preventative service for people on Medicare or private insurance. However, those who are uninsured may see a bigger price tag.
Austin Sarat, Opinion contributor Published 4:30 a.m. ET Dec. 11, 2020 | Updated 8:28 a.m. ET Dec. 11, 2020
Former FDA Commissioner Scott Gottlieb talks pandemic, vaccines and recovery with USA TODAY's Editorial Board. USA TODAY
With theimpending approvalof COVID-19 vaccines, the United Stateswill soon have some difficult choices to make about who gets priority for receiving inoculation. Debate among federal and state health officials about vaccine distributionis heating up, andlobbying efforts are intensifying.
Perhaps the most controversial question of priority concerns inmates in American jails and prisons. Given this country's generally unforgiving attitude toward the incarcerated, putting them toward the head of the vaccine line would not be an easy political choice.
Yet there are compelling reasons to do so.
The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention's Advisory Committee on Immunization Practices (ACIP) issued guidelines on Nov.23 that recognized the distinctive situation for prisons. It listed correctional officersas essential workerswho would be among the segment of the population to get the vaccine in the second wave of Phase 1, immediately following health care workers and residents of long-term care facilities. Those guidelines recognized that, like other essential workers, people who work in jails and prisons are "at increased risk and should be given the opportunity to be vaccinated early on."
A correctional officer escorts a group of recently arrived inmates through the Deuel Vocational Institution in Tracy, California.(Photo: Rich Pedroncelli/AP)
In line withthe ACIP recommendation, the Federal Bureau of Prisons quicklyannouncedthat it will give vaccine priority to its prison staff, according to a report by The Associated Press. The bureau already has started working to secure the vaccine. Wardens and prison staff could receive the vaccine within weeks.
But neither the ACIP guidelines nor the Bureau of Prisons said anything aboutinmates, even though their living conditions can pose even greater risks than conditions innursing homes and long-term care facilities. This silence raises what aNew York Times reportcalled the "chilling prospect"of"anotherprison outbreak thatkills scores ofinmates after the only preventive was reserved forstaff."
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State and local governments across the country face similar prospects as they decide the fates of jail inmates and prisoners held in state penitentiaries. They, too, are making choices and announcing plans.
The Marshall Projectreportsthat at leastsix states have decided that inmates and prisoners will be among the earliest vaccine recipients. North Carolina is one of them, treatingpeople who live in close quarters (including migrant farm camps and homeless shelters)equally.
Elsewhere, resistance is emerging. ColoradoGov.Jared Polis, a Democrat, recentlyannouncedhis opposition to recommendations that his state should follow North Carolina's example. Referring to the distribution of the COVID-19 vaccine, Polis said, "That won't happen. ...There's no way it's going to go to prisoners before it goes to the people who haven't committed any crime. That's obvious."He assured the state's residents that thepublic health department will deprioritize prisoners when it finalizes its vaccination plan.
His stance won plaudits from people across the state. As one newspaperexplained, the vaccine should go to Coloradans "who simplyneed a vaccination even more. Some of them are teaching school or running our schools ... while others are keeping various federal, state and local public services functional. Police and firefighters of course provide fundamental services we can't do without. ... Prison inmates, by contrast, contribute little to any of that activity. Their lives are on hold. The rest of us do not depend on them."
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The issue in Colorado and elsewhere is whether vaccine distributionshould focus onsaving the lives of those most at risk or should be based on the contributions of various segments of the population to the general welfare.
Such choices are by no means easy ones.
But the CDC guidelines rightly articulate the principle thatpriority should be given to saving the lives of those at highest risk. While those guidelines don't recognize it, people confined in the nation's prisons and jails are certainly in the high-risk category.
In fact, the likelihood of getting COVID-19 in prison is5.5 times higherthan for the general population. As of Thursday, nearly 252,000prisoners hadtested positive for the virus.
Some of the worst outbreaks in the USA have been in prisons, such as at California's San Quentin state facility, where the coronavirus infected 75% of the incarcerated population.
Because incarcerated people have higher rates of underlying conditions than the general population, prisoners are also more likely to experience severe complications or death if they contract the virus. Their COVID-19 mortality rates are higher than in the general population.
POLICING THE USA: A look at race, justice, media
The reasons are not hard to find. Many of America's correctional facilities are antiquated and notoriouslyovercrowded. InCalifornia, for example, more than a thirdof the state's institutions are operating overcapacity. In New York City, inmatessleep 40 people to a room, making social distancing an implausible form of protection.
Sanitation in jails and prisons is frequentlypoor. In many facilities, the plumbing regularly fails, ventilation is inadequateand food preparation fails to meet minimum standards of safety.
And given the disproportionate number of persons of color serving time in U.S. jails and prisons, delaying vaccine distribution will exacerbate COVID-19's alreadydisparate racial effects.
Life behind bars is hard enough without a deadly virus on the prowl. When COVID-19 strikes,additional restrictionsmake it even harder. Family visitation is often suspended, as are visits by lawyers. To prevent the spread of the virus, prison authorities order inmates locked down in their cells. Delay in vaccine distribution means that such restrictions and deprivations will continue.
The Supreme Courthaslong recognizedthat "when the State takes a person into its custody and holds him there against his will, the Constitution imposes upon it a corresponding duty to assume some responsibility for his safety and general well-being."
What this means is that we have an obligation to attend to the health needs of those whom we incarcerate and cannot treat them as less deserving of disease prevention measures like the COVID-19 vaccine.
Recognizing this obligation, last month the American Medical Associationsaidthat people behind bars "should be prioritized in receiving access to safe, effective COVID-19 vaccines in the initial phases of distribution."
Political leaders in Washington, D.C., and across the country need to muster the political courage necessary to heed that wise and humane recommendation.
Austin Sarat is associate provost and associate dean of the faculty andWilliam Nelson Cromwell Professor Jurisprudence andPolitical Science atAmherst College. He is the co-editor of "Life Without Parole: America'sNew Death Penalty?"Follow him on Twitter:@ljstprof
Read or Share this story: https://www.usatoday.com/story/opinion/policing/2020/12/11/heres-why-inmates-should-get-covid-19-vaccine-before-rest-us-column/3871449001/
The Shawnee Mission Post is making much of its local coverage of the coronavirus pandemic accessible to non-subscribers. (If you value having a news source covering the situation in our community,we hope youll consider subscribing here).
Kansas is expected to receive its first shipment of the COVID-19 vaccine sometime between Monday and Wednesday of next week, health officials at the University of Kansas Health System said Friday.
The University of Kansas Health System, located in Kansas City, Ks., is one of five storage facilities throughout the state that will be receiving initial shipments of the vaccine, which must be stored at extremely cold temperatures.
Dr. Tim Williamson, vice president of quality and safety at KU Medical Center, said during the University of Kansas Health Systems daily COVID-19 briefing that while the timeline is a bit of a moving target, the system will be prepared when doses arrive.
This is going to be a game changer, Willamson said.
Some of the first doses are expected to go to frontline healthcare workers who treat COVID-19 patients.
However, health care workers at the University of Kansas Health System will not be required to get the COVID-19 vaccine, said Williamson.
They are required to get the annual influenza vaccine, but Williamson said some of the reasoning behind the differing mandates is that the flu vaccine has a long history of FDA approval, while the COVID-19 vaccine is available through an Emergency Use Authorization.
After frontline health care workers and nursing home staff are vaccinated, doses will become available to the general public, though it is difficult to say exactly when that will be, said Dr. David Wild, vice president of performance improvement at health system. Individuals living with chronic illnesses and residents of long-term care homes will be first in line to get the vaccine.
I think it is probably safe to say no sooner than the spring time for the general public and probably the summer, Wild said.
Dr. Dana Hawkinson, medical director of Infection Prevention and Control at the University of Kansas Health System, said the system was noticing an upward trend in COVID-19 patients and currently had 101 patients with active COVID-19, including 45 in the ICU.
Hawkinson said they expected to see the need for hospitalizationscontinue to increase as infections following Thanksgivinggatherings present in the general public.
SYDNEYAs they prepare to roll out Covid-19 vaccines, governments world-wide are grappling with how to keep track of those who have been immunized.
Many developed countries maintain lists of who has received vaccines, but those registries can rely on incomplete data provided voluntarily by doctors, pharmacies and even health-care providers that distribute flu shots to corporate clients in winter. The U.S. doesnt have a national database, but states and some localities maintain their own.
Health experts say it will be crucial for governments to monitor accurately who gets inoculated, particularly because many vaccines are under development and some are expected to require multiple doses. Widespread tracking would also enable health officials to detect any adverse reactions, which is important because the vaccines are being developed much faster than usual.
It is mandatory to have this kind of information to protect the health of the population, said Terry Slevin, chief executive of the Public Health Association of Australia. Government health officials there plan to require health-care providers to report who gets a coronavirus vaccine to that countrys register.
Requiring reporting presents several challenges to authorities, including the security of patient health data. Early in the pandemic, an Australian government initiative to develop an app that would record whether someone was in contact with anyone infected with the coronavirus foundered when many people avoided it on privacy grounds.
The much hyped COVID-19 vaccines are set to be administered, but how soon do they give immunity?
So far the vaccine makers Pfizer, Moderna and Astra Zeneca, who have completed their trials and asked for approval around the world, offer their vaccine in two shots. But doctors said those who get it will have some protection after they roll up their sleeve the first time.
Dr. Richard Novak is chief infectious diseases at UIC.
Like all of these vaccines under development, it targets the spike protein of the virus, he said.
In the United Kingdom people lined up for Pfizers vaccine, the first to get the nod from health regulators there. The inoculation showed a 95 percent efficacy in trials. The vaccine does not contain live virus. It has mRNA from the spike protein of SARS CoV-2.
When it enters your cells, the cells read the mRNA of the protein which is expressed on the surface of the cell, Novak said. And then the immune system sees that and recognizes it doesnt belong there and starts to make an immune response to it.
The body recognizes the manufactured spike protein to learn how to react when the real thing takes hold and kick the immune system into overdrive.
But when that happens it can cause inflammation.
Vaccine recipients may begin to feel a response immediately including fever, headache, body aches and fatigue. But not everyone has a reaction.
Certainly the majority of people who get the vaccine dont feel anything, Novak said.
Novak ran the Chicago arm of the Moderna trial and monitored patients after their injections. He said just because people dont get side effects,their body is still working to search and destroy the novel coronavirus. And very rapidly,vaccine recipients have immunity.
Even after the first dose it was working, Novak said. It starts right away. It usually peaks at about two weeks after the injection.
Depending on the vaccine manufacturer, at three or four weeks after the first shot, a second injection is administered. Its a safeguard to make sure immunity lasts.
You get a second injection a month out, or in the case of Pfizer is three weeks after the first one, Novak said. And that boosts the response even further, so you have even more antibodies. We definitely know that the second shot boost the immune response. Thats a known fact so its more likely to last longer after you get both shots.
Astra Zenecas shot made with Oxford University researchers was originally designed to be taken in one dose. But researchers decided two is better. Since we are facing a new illness, they wanted to take all precautions. In trials the efficacy was not as great for this vaccine, but doctors believe thats because they switched gears mid-trial. Once two shots were given, it provided 90 percent efficacy for those in Englands trial.
The Astro Zeneca vaccine is a very important vaccine, Novak said. And that it is very easy to manufacture and very easy to store and ship and its very inexpensive.
While not first to market, ease of distribution may lead this vaccine to be more widely used. Certainly it will be the choice for developing countries based on cost and refrigeration needs.
MEXICO CITY Mexicos medical safety commission has approved the emergency use of the Pfizer-BioNTech vaccine for the coronavirus.
Assistant Health Secretary Hugo Lpez-Gatell said Friday that Mexico is the fourth country to do so, behind Britain, Canada and Bahrain.
Mexico is set to receive 250,000 doses of the vaccine, enough for 125,000 people.
Lpez-Gatel has said that front-line health workers will get the shots first. Vaccinations are expected to begin as soon as next week.
Lpez-Gatel says the approval is of course a reason for hope, though the initial rounds of shots are not nearly enough for Mexicos health-care workforce.
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THE VIRUS OUTBREAK:
The White House is pressuring the FDA chief Stephen Hahn to grant an emergency use authorization for Pfizers coronavirus vaccine by the end of the day. The vaccine won approval Thursday from an FDA panel of outside advisers, and FDA signoff is the next step to get the shots to the public.
Gov. Andrew Cuomo has reinstated indoor dining restrictions indefinitely in New York City in an effort to limit the increase in coronavirus cases and hospitalizations. Starting Monday, only takeout orders and outdoor dining will be allowed in the city.
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Follow APs coverage at https://apnews.com/hub/coronavirus-pandemic and https://apnews.com/UnderstandingtheOutbreak
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HERES WHAT ELSE IS HAPPENING:
KALAMAZOO, Mich. The U.S. Justice Department is supporting Michigan faith-based schools in their court challenge to Gov. Gretchen Whitmers ban on in-person classes in high schools.
The departments Civil Rights Division filed an argument in favor of three Roman Catholic high schools and the Michigan Association of Non-Public Schools. A federal judge in Kalamazoo will hear arguments Monday.
The filing says schools and families have a constitutional right to practice their religion through in-person instruction. It cites a recent U.S. Supreme Court order that barred New York from enforcing certain restrictions on religious services in areas hit hard by the coronavirus.
Michigans health department argues the teaching restriction is necessary to control the spread of the coronavirus, especially after Thanksgiving gatherings.
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FLAGSTAFF, Ariz. The U.S. federal agency that provides health care to Native Americans says its expecting more than enough coronavirus vaccines to protect all the people working in the hospitals and clinics that it funds.
The Indian Health Service was treated much like a state for distribution purposes. It submitted a plan to vaccinate more than 2 million Native Americans and Alaska Natives.
The agency expects to receive 22,425 doses of the Pfizer vaccine next week and 46,000 doses of the Moderna vaccine by the end of the year. Those doses will cover the more than 44,000 people who work at hundreds of facilities that are receiving vaccine allocations through the Indian Health Service.
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UNITED NATIONS -- Eight mainly Western nations are accusing North Korea of using the pandemic to crack down further on the human rights of its own people, pointing to reports of an uptick in executions related to the coronavirus and strict controls on movements around its capital.
The statement was issued Friday after the U.N. Security Council privately discussed North Koreas human rights situation. Germany and others had sought an open session but Russia, China and other council members objected.
Seven council members -- Germany, Belgium, Dominican Republic, Estonia, France, Britain and the United States -- joined by Japan criticized North Korea for rights abuses. They also said the North Korean governments decision to prioritize its weapons programs is inevitably worsening the impacts of the pandemic on the North Korean population.
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LITTLE ROCK, Ark. Arkansas health officials on Friday reported a one-day record of 55 deaths due to COVID-19 and 2,770 new confirmed or probable cases.
We have once again reached a grave milestone in this pandemic, Gov. Asa Hutchinson said in a statement.
While we may have hope ahead from promising vaccine news, we cannot grow weary over the next few weeks, he said.
In a statewide address Thursday night, Hutchinson said the state is seeing a surge in cases after Thanksgiving and suggested Arkansans travel less for the coming Christmas holiday and take rapid tests both before and after travel.
The state Department of Health reported a total of 2,875 deaths due to the illness caused by the virus and 181,624 total cases since the pandemic began.
The health department reported 1,059 people hospitalized with the virus.
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WICHITA, Kan. A Wichita fitness studios owner and his business are suing Kansas for compensation for being forced to shut down and reopen with restrictions this year because of the coronavirus pandemic.
The lawsuit filed this week in Sedgwick County District Court by Ryan Floyd and Omega Bootcamps Inc. argues that the state used his and the business private property for the benefit of the general public when it and local officials imposed their restrictions. The lawsuit cites part of the states emergency management law that says people can pursue claims for compensation in court if their property is commandeered or otherwise used by state or local officials.
The Kansas attorney generals office declined comment, saying it was reviewing the lawsuit. Gov. Laura Kellys office did not immediately respond Friday to a request for comment.
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RALEIGH, N.C. The chief justice of the North Carolina Supreme Court says non-essential, in-person court proceedings will be halted starting Monday for 30 days due to a surge in COVID-19 cases. Chief Justice Cheri Beasley said Friday the pause is necessary to protect the health and safety of court personnel and the public. Since the start of the pandemic, judicial branch officials and employees have reported 291 confirmed positive cases. In addition, more than half of North Carolinas county courthouses have been partially or completely closed due to COVID-19, and 11 of those closures occurred this week.
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DENVER -- The Colorado Department of Public Health and Environment on Friday released the locations of health facilities in urban and rural Colorado to receive the first shipment of 46,800 doses of the Pfizer vaccine.
Facilities in Denver, Aspen, Colorado Springs and Fort Collins were some of the chosen locations for the first Pfizer vaccines. Initially, 46 health care facilities will receive Pfizer vaccine doses; 151 facilities will get subsequent Moderna vaccine doses; and 40 of them will get both.
The locations were selected for their abilities to store Pfizer vaccines in -60C to -80C temperatures and a willingness to redistribute vaccines to other providers.
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BISMARCK, N.D. North Dakotas death count per capita from the coronavirus has risen from 12th-highest in the country to fifth in just six weeks, according to Johns Hopkins University researchers.
The states death count has gone from 75 deaths per 100,000 people to 146 deaths during that time, according to The COVID Tracking Project.
The state Department of Health on Friday reported 27 new deaths, 12 of which were from November due to a reporting lag. The statewide death toll since the pandemic began now stands at 1,130.
State Health Department officials on Friday confirmed 513 new cases of the coronavirus.
North Dakota had for many weeks led the country in the number of virus outbreaks compared to population.
The state now ranks fourth, with 1,350 new cases per 100,000 people in North Dakota over the past two weeks. One in every 136 people in North Dakota tested positive in the past week., according to Johns Hopkins University researchers.
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NEW YORK Indoor dining restrictions will be reinstated in New York City on Monday, Gov. Andrew Cuomo announced. Only takeout orders and outdoor dining will be allowed.
Nearly 1,700 patients are hospitalized in the city with the coronavirus, triple the number a month ago.
The governments top infectious disease expert, Dr. Anthony Fauci, spoke with Cuomo by livestream this week, noting he expects hospitalizations to keep increasing until mid-January.
Cuomos order came despite opposition from the restaurant industry, which warned of holiday season layoffs as the federal government hasnt passed additional COVID-19 relief.
Public health experts have repeatedly warned that indoor dining -- particularly in small, crowded restaurants where individuals are drinking and can take off masks when not eating -- poses a risk for airborne transmission. The CDC recently described such indoor dining as high risk.
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PHOENIX Arizona has reported nearly 7,000 coronavirus cases, the third-highest number since the start of the pandemic.
The state reported 6,983 confirmed cases and 91 deaths on Friday.
Virus-related hospitalizations stood at 3,492. Thats just short of the hospitalization peak during the states COVID-19 surge last summer. Hospital officials and public health experts have warned that hospital capacity could be reached this month.
Arizona has reported 394,512 total cases and 7,245 confirmed deaths.
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RALEIGH, N.C. North Carolina reported more than 7,500 coronavirus cases, a single-day record.
More than 2,500 people are currently hospitalized with COVID-19, which represents a two-fold increase in the last 30 days.
The positivity rate has eclipsed 10% for nearly two weeks, reaching double digits for the first time since April.
Mandy Cohen, secretary of the states Department of Health and Human Services, attributed much of the uptick to people gathering over Thanksgiving.
Having more than 7,500 cases is staggering and alarming, Cohen says.
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MILAN Italy registered 761 deaths on Friday, according to the Health Ministry.
Another 18,727 people tested positive, slightly more than a day earlier when fewer tests were carried out.
While the death toll remains high, restrictions have helped ease the level of contagion and the pressure on hospitals. About 1,500 fewer people were hospitalized with the virus and 26 fewer patients were in intensive care. There were 208 new arrivals in ICU.
Two key regions, epicenter Lombardy and neighboring Piedmont, will have restrictions eased this weekend. Theyll be allowed to dine indoors until 6 p.m. for the first time in weeks.
Italy has more than 63,000 confirmed deaths, fifth highest in the world, and 1.8 million confirmed cases.
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BOSTON Doctors are reporting that a two-drug treatment is especially helpful for COVID-19 patients who need extra oxygen.
Adding the anti-inflammatory drug baricitinib to the antiviral medicine remdesivir helped these patients recover eight days sooner, in 10 days on average versus 18 for those given remdesivir alone, according to a study.
The medicines have been recommended since September, when early results from this U.S. government-sponsored study suggested the combination shortened recovery time for hospitalized patients by one day.
Full results published Friday by the New England Journal of Medicine show the benefit was even greater for those needing oxygen or other respiratory support short of a breathing machine. Serious side effects and new infections also were fewer in the combo treatment group.
The study involved more than 1,000 COVID-19 patients. All were given Gilead Sciences remdesivir, sold as Veklury, and half also received baricitinib, a drug Eli Lilly sells as Olumiant to treat rheumatoid arthritis, the less common form of arthritis that occurs when a mistaken or overreacting immune system attacks joints, causing inflammation. An overactive immune system also can lead to serious problems in some coronavirus patients.
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OKLAHOMA CITY The Oklahoma health department has added paramedics, emergency medical technicians and CVS and Walgreen staff who will administer the COVID-19 vaccine to those who will receive the vaccine first.
The state Department of Health announced the revised plan in a news release and said health commissioner Dr. Lance Frye would discuss it on Friday.
Others to receive the vaccine first are health care workers and long-term care providers and residents. Frye says the state expects 166,000 initial doses of the Pfizer vaccine by the end of December.
A U.S. government advisory panel on Thursday endorsed widespread use of Pfizers vaccine, putting the country just one step away from launching a massive vaccination campaign against the outbreak that has killed more than 292,000 Americans.
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HONOLULU A county on a Hawaii island believed to be the last one in the U.S. without any coronavirus cases has reported its first resident testing positive.
The Hawaii Department of Health on Thursday reported the case in Kalawao County on the island of Molokai. The health department says an adult resident tested positive after returning to the island on a local flight.
The person is in self-isolation and currently doesnt have virus symptoms. The health department says contact tracing was conducted and all other passengers on the flight are in self-quarantine.
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MOSCOW Authorities in Moscow are expanding the COVID-19 vaccination program to include those in the retail and service sector.
Last weekend, Moscow opened 70 vaccination facilities to start delivering Russian-designed Sputnik V vaccines to thousands of doctors, teachers, and municipal workers.
Moscow Mayor Sergei Sobyanin says a new shipment of the vaccine is due to arrive shortly, allowing the city officials to expand the immunization effort to those working in the retail and services sector starting next week.
Russias nearly 2.6 million confirmed cases is the fourth-largest caseload in the world behind the United States, India and Brazil. The government task force has recorded 45,893 virus-related deaths since the start of the outbreak.
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Many have asked if the vaccines being considered for COVID-19 could make recipients contagious to at-risk immunocompromised people like some past vaccines.
In this time of pandemic, many people have avoided loved ones who are frail for fear of possibly spreading COVID-19. The people most at risk include those whose immune systems have been weakened by chemotherapy or by other conditions.
In the past, some cancer organizations and health agencies have cautioned otherwise healthy people to stay away from immunocompromised people after receiving a virus due to a small chance they could infect them.
THE QUESTION:
After getting the COVID-19 vaccine, should I avoid people undergoing chemotherapy or who have compromised immune systems?
THE ANSWER:
According to Dr. William Moss of Johns Hopkins Bloomberg School of Public Health, the vaccine itself will not cause you to be contagious.
If you've been practicing social distancing or have been quarantined or are certain you aren't already infected with COVID-19, the vaccine will not give you the virus.
Keep in mind that recently vaccinated individuals can still be contagious if they've recently contracted COVID-19 from other sources and people should still practice social distancing and mask wearing when possible.
WHAT WE FOUND:
No matter which of the vaccines currently nearing FDA approval or emergency use authorization that you get, you wont pose a danger to people who are receiving chemotherapy or others with compromised immune systems, says Dr. Moss, who heads the International Vaccine Access Center at Johns Hopkins Bloomberg School of Public Health.
Thats because the vaccines dont contain replicating viruses that could pose harm to others, he said.
That differs from live-attenuated vaccines, often given to children to prevent measles or small pox (although its not small pox but a less harmful virus called vacciniain that immunization).
The leading contenders for the earliest approvals are the Pfizer and Moderna vaccines, both using mRNAtechnology, and AstraZeneca, an adenovirus-based immunization.
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The short answer is yes, you will still need to wear a mask even if you get a COVID-19 vaccine.
Face coverings will be necessary for some time even after you get inoculated because while the scientific research is pretty solid that the vaccine protects you from the virus, it's not entirely clear whether it stops you from spreading the virus to others, health officials say. It's not known whether the virus could still set up shop in your nose and lead you to pass droplets onto others, even though you might not be "sick."
The Food and Drug Administration is expected to approve Pfizer's COVID-19 vaccine this week and a second inoculation from Moderna could follow next week.
These vaccines were developed at record speeds with massive teams of scientists from across the world, and the trials only tracked how many vaccinated people became sick with COVID-19, said Dr. Monica Gandhi, an infectious disease expert at UCSF. They didn't look at whether some inoculated people could get infected without developing symptoms and then pass the virus onto others.
"Because of the expediency, they werent designed to rule out asymptomatic infection," Gandhi said.
Gandhi expects the need for masks won't go away until we reach population immunity, or herd immunity, the point when the spread of disease from person to person becomes so low as to be unlikely. As a result, the whole community becomes protected, not only those who are immune. Experts estimate population immunity will be reached when 70% of the population is protected from the virus.
Moncef Slaoui, head of the U.S. vaccine development effort, has estimated the country could reach herd immunity as early as May, based on the effectiveness of the Pfizer and Moderna vaccines. That's assuming there are no problems meeting manufacturers' supply estimates, and enough people step forward to be vaccinated.
Dr. Bob Wachter, chair of the department of medicine at UCSF, has followed the vaccine development effort closely and has a less optimistic timeline, putting the country at this point in September.
The mask recommendation is the same for those who tested positive and recovered from the infection. While preliminary research shows the risk of reinfection is extremely low, this virus is still new, and researchers still don't entirely understand how immunity works for it.
The Associated Press contributed to this story.
