SANTA FE, N.M. (KRQE) - Monday, November 30, 2020, Governer Michelle Lujan Grisham introduced a new policy to transition county-by-county reopening levels to a tiered system: red, yellow, and green. The county-by-county status map will be updated every two weeks beginning December 2, 2020.
According to the Governor, when a county moves to a less restrictive level, it may begin operation at that level immediately upon the map's update. If a county moves back to a more restrictive level, it will start operating at that level restriction within 48 hours after the map's update.
Pascal Soriot spent the long Thanksgiving weekend digging AstraZeneca out of a hole, promising to put an end to the questions around its interim Phase III vaccine data by conducting a new study while going to regulators with a large part of what it already has.
AstraZeneca and its partners at Oxford had initially touted high-level results from two studies conducted in the UK and Brazil as positive. But the enthusiasm was soon shadowed by confusion as observers probed into how the highest, 90% efficacy was seen in a dosing regimen given to a small group of volunteers due to an error. Among a larger cohort given the intended shots, the vaccine was only 62% effective, a rate that wouldve been respectable had Pfizer/BioNTech and Moderna not posted efficacy rates of 94%, 95% for their mRNA candidates. And many werent sure what to make of the average 70% number that AstraZeneca ran in headlines.
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Dr. Anthony Fauci said Sunday that it will be months before school-age children will be able to get the COVID-19 vaccine.
The Director of the National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases said its important to see how the vaccine performs first with adults before administering it to kids.
Its going to be months. And the reason is traditionally when you have a situation like a new vaccine, you want to make sure, because children as well as pregnant women, are vulnerable, Fauci told NBC anchor Chuck Todd on Meet the Press.
So, before you put it into the children, youre going to want to make sure you have a degree of efficacy and safety that is established in an adult population, particularly an adult, normal population.
Once thats established, then clinical trials can be run to determine whether the vaccine works for children, he said.
The process will involve whats called a bridging study that will look for similar results as the adult trials, Fauci said.
You can say, okay, now we have safety in the children. We have comparable immunogenicity, namely the same type of immune response, Fauci said.
We can get this expeditiously approved for the children before going through a 30,000 person trial that may take a longer period of time.
Fauci also said Sunday that its very likely that adults who have recovered from COVID-19 will be encouraged to take the vaccine.
Since we dont know the durability of protection from someone who has already been infected, how long that protection lasts, it would not be surprising that we would be vaccinating people who have recovered from COVID-19, Fauci said.
He noted that recovered COVID-19 patients were among some of the participants in trials for leading candidates such as Moderna.
When the trials were done, the Moderna trials and other trials, and we looked at the data, there were people who, when you looked at their antibody response, they actually gave indication that they had already been infected and actually recovered quite well, Fauci said.
And at the time of the vaccine study, they were actually well and normal, as it were, and yet they still got vaccinated.
With national experts finalizing their recommendations of who gets the first COVID-19 vaccines, physicians and community leaders on the Massachusetts COVID-19 Vaccine Advisory Group see frontline health care workers, first responders and older adults in congregate housing and with underlying health conditions as some of the first recipients.
Frontline health care workers who come into contact with COVID-19 patients and residents of long-term care facilities get the top priority, said Dr. Asif Merchant, a chief of geriatrics at Newton-Wellesley Hospital and a member of the group. He notes health care workers do not only include hospital staff, but also employees in nursing homes and those working in private homes as health aides.
The advisory group is also looking at emergency room staff, Emergency Medical Services personnel, residents age 65 or older and those with underlying medical conditions that increase their risk of falling severely ill due to COVID-19, based on recent recommendations that have come out from the National Academy of Medicine and the Advisory Committee on Immunization Practices, which makes recommendations on vaccine distribution to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.
Were trying to reconcile with some of that, too, matching that up with the priorities that we created, said Merchant, who serves as the medical director of four nursing homes in the MetroWest area.
Pfizer and BioNTech asked the federal government for emergency use authorization from the Food and Druvg Administration after the company said the candidate was 95% effective during Phase 3 clinical trials.
Moncef Slaoui, the head of the White Houses Warp Speed vaccination development operation told ABC News This Week that Moderna will also seek emergency use authorization from the FDA. Moderna announced earlier this month its trials had seen a 94.5% success rate.
Officials say the vaccine could become available as soon as December, but that those at the top of the list would get first priority.
ACIP members outlined in a meeting this week who should get priority for Phase 1 of the vaccine distribution.
The ACIP recommended health care workers on the front lines and residents of nursing homes and other long-term care facilities get the vaccine first, followed by essential workers, followed by adults aged 65 or older and those with underlying medical conditions that make them high-risk for falling ill due to COVID-19.
Including essential workers in the first phase not only preserves key services, but also could address health inequities that could leave out low-income and nonwhite people, according to a presentation delivered by Dr. Kathleen Dooling. Dooling, a CDC medical officer, noted that racial and ethnic minority groups are overrepresented in essential industries and that roughly one-quarter of essential workers live in low-income families.
The National Academy of Medicine made similar recommendations for who should get the first phase of vaccines in the framework released in October. The academys Jumpstart Phase included high-risk health workers, first responders, people of all ages with underlying health conditions that increase their risk of getting sick and older adults living in congregate housing or overcrowded living conditions.
A vaccine could become more publicly available in March or April, Springfield health commissioner Helen Caulton-Harris told community leaders Nov. 23 at a Black Springfield COVID-19 Coalition meeting. She said the local board of health would help distribute the virus locally.
We will set up emergency dispensing sites so that we can vaccinate the general public, but I do not anticipate that happening until February, March and perhaps as late as April, said Caulton-Harris, adding that she had already gotten an idea of what groups get first priority in the state..
Its unclear whether every local board of health in Massachusetts plans to roll out public vaccination like Springfield does. When asked about Springfields plans, Merchant said its too early for the advisory group to coordinate public distribution.
The next challenge, beyond distribution, is convincing people to take the vaccine, even within the health care industry.
Everybody wants a good, effective solution that is also safe, he said. Ive had several CNAs, some nurses express concern saying Im worried about this vaccine.
When Merchant hears hesitance among colleagues, he tells them of his plans to take the vaccine as soon as its available to him.
Immediately after that they say Dr. Merchant is if you take it, Im going to take it, Merchant said. Theres relief when they know someone closely whos a medical professional will be taking it first.
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Tom Ryan, Boone County Health Dept. emergency preparedness coordinator, said the county expects to receive shipments of COVID-19 vaccines within two weeks.
Health officials expect the vaccines to be given to health care workers and vulnerable populations in Phase 1 of a plan outlined by the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. Health care workers include ER, ICU and CCU employees. Vulnerable populations include people with comorbidities.
On Dec. 10, the Food and Drug Administration will review a COVID-19 vaccine produced by Pfizer Inc., an American pharmaceutical company, and BioNTech SE, a German biotechnology company. The vaccine could be given emergency-use authorization soon after. Shipments will then be sent. Moderna, an American biotechnology company, also announced the FDA will review its vaccine for emergency-use authorization Dec. 17.
Within five days of the approval of the (emergency-use authorization), shipments will start going out to those identified hospitals and other areas, said Ryan, noting Witham Health Services would be among the hospitals.
Phase 1 could last into January, Ryan said. A site for vaccine distributions have not been finalized. Witham Health Services will distribute the vaccine, and Ryan said hospital officials are determining which site to use.
Phase 2 will include inoculating critical populations such as essential government workers, teachers and other essential workers outlined in the CDCs critical infrastructure sectors. The 16 critical infrastructure sectors are listed at cisa.gov/identifying-critical-infrastructure-during-covid-19.
Phase 2 will begin after the completion of Phase 1, but Ryan said it is unknown when that will be. He estimated that mid-February might be the earliest start of Phase 2 in Boone County.
Due to hospital staff shortages, Ryan said the BCHD asks for volunteers willing to help administer vaccines during Phase 1 and especially during Phase 2, when health officials expect more people will need to be vaccinated. Anyone interested in volunteering can contact the BCHD at 765-482-3942.
Those are details. The crucial step will be to break through vaccine anxiety, and the best way to do that is for vaccine developers, regulators and experts to share as much information as possible about the COVID-19 vaccines effectiveness, and about any shortcomings. Its fast development makes some people uneasy. The power of the anti-vaxx movement, based on bogus science, hurts credibility. Members of the Black community harbor distrust that dates at least to the infamous Tuskegee experiment, when Black men in Alabama were left untreated for syphilis as part of a study. Those concerns need to be addressed by the medical establishment and by doctors and nurses speaking frankly to individual patients.
Wood Co. (WAOW) -- The Wood Co. Health Dept. is asking residents to take a survey on the COVID-19 vaccine.
According to a release, the health department wants to try and anticipate resources necessary when the vaccine is available. They are also looking to better understand residents views on the vaccine.
"In addition, this survey will help us anticipate the resources necessary to prepare for COVID-19 vaccination clinics and develop community education and outreach materials," the health department survey reads.
The health department says the survey takes about 5 minutes. You can find it here.
NEW YORK (CBSNewYork) As the death toll continues to soar, hopes for ending the COVID-19 pandemic rest on vaccines that are nearing authorization by the Food and Drug Administration.
However, public health experts caution there are still many difficult hurdles to overcome before a vaccine can make a difference, CBS2s Dr. Max Gomez reported.
MORE:Fauci Says Herd Immunity Possible Reasonably Quickly If Enough Americans Take Vaccine
The scientific effort to produce what will likely be several COVID vaccines has been remarkable. Now comes the less glamorous, but still challenging work of vaccine manufacturing, distribution and public acceptance.
Public health systems have never faces the challenge of immunizing tens of millions of people in such a short time. Its actually in the billions since the pandemic is global.
Distributing them to states around the country, those states creating the vaccination programs in place to identify the high-risk target populations, to get those vaccines, to keep them at the appropriate temperatures, to complete the two-dose series, to keep track of all the records of these vaccines, said Dr. Jason Schwartz, from Yale School of Public Health.
MORE:Moderna Says COVID-19 Vaccine Highly Effective In Late Stage Trial
Dr. Schwartz and his colleagues at Yale just published an analysis of these complex logistical challenges.
While Operation Warp Speed in the U.S. has been working on those issues nationally, Dr. Schwartz said state and local levels are far behind in their preparations.
MORE: Study: Simple Temperature Checks And Question Screening Not Very Effective Catching COVID-19 Spreaders
Then, theres the thorny issue of whether enough people will actually get and COVID vaccine to stop the virus spread.
An educational program, a communications strategy nationwide to help resolve the questions and concerns that the public is reporting will be just as important as the scientific work thats been happening in recent months, Dr. Schwartz said.
Similar and even more challenging efforts will have to be mounted globally because the coronavirus does not recognize national boundaries, and since vaccine immunity is never 100% foreign hot spots can still spread.
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Having recently lost her job, she was hoping to make some money to tide her over until she was working again. She charged $15 an hour, but when I caught up with her on Tuesday morning, she had received only that single request for service.
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In the past few years, CityMD has colonized Brooklyn and Manhattan, often displacing beloved businesses that fell prey to rising rents. Now, suddenly, the whole enterprise seemed less like space filler. At another branch on Atlantic Avenue in Boerum Hill, the crowds were nearly as gargantuan. One couple had set themselves up in folding seats. By 10 on Tuesday morning, those toward the front of the line had been incrementally making their way forward since 6:45. In Manhattan, near Gramercy Park, the line for a CityMD on East 23rd Street was so long it nearly converged with a different one unfurling in front of Prohealth Urgent Care, on Third Avenue.
The problem with all this diligence, of taking space on a testing line for the prospect of enjoying pie and families-of-origin in Connecticut, is that anyone with an immediate and pressing need for a test result is left to wait that much longer. One man I met on the Atlantic Avenue line had been there for hours, hoping for the best after his son came home from school after being exposed to the virus.
No one from CityMD seemed to be outside prioritizing who should be let in sooner rather than later. A spokeswoman for the company told me that patients are triaged whenever possible, but that the demand for Covid-related visits and testing had never been higher.
It is hard to imagine a 25-year-old in, say, 1977, bearing all this sacrifice and discomfort for the purpose of sharing a meal with his family in November. As a child, I had an older cousin who consistently approached the holidays in the spirit of absenteeism. No matter what his job was in any given year, he always managed to work on Thanksgiving, something I regarded then as a sign of commitment but would later understand as a means of avoiding predictable disappointment and pain.
In this particular habit he was joined by many co-conspirators, especially and perhaps historically so in the 1970s, when the divide between parents and their grown children seemed vast and unconquerable. A generation of mothers and fathers lost to their vices and distractions had left their young feeding at an empty trough. So there was something distinctly hollow about gathering for an occasion grounded in a holy reverence for nourishment and gratitude.
But things are different now, obviously. The modern parent spends years clearing the path for children, who cling to them unremittingly. A pandemic was no longer a welcome excuse for retreating from obligation because obligation itself had been recast as longing. What once might have been viewed as opportunity a free pass to skip familial duties was now a reason for defiance. Against the advice of Dr. Fauci and the entire medical establishment, the kids were on their way home, and there was nothing to be done over the river and through the obstacle course, assuming they hadnt moved in already.
Infectious disease experts say the misconception that coronavirus is "just like the flu" is both dangerous and wrong.
Between 2014 and 2018, influenza and pneumonia on average killed 1,632 Tennesseans and 1,466 Georgians each year, according to the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. So far in 2020, at least 13,862 people combined in both states have died due to the coronavirus, according to the COVID tracking project.
"It is a more worrisome virus, and to say [the coronavirus] is just the flu is both wrong and contributes to the problem," said Dr. Mark Anderson, an infectious disease specialist at CHI Memorial Hospital. "It lessens people's concern about it they're less likely to adopt the proper precautions, and that leads to wild, unchecked spread."
Anderson said that although there are similarities in how the two respiratory diseases present, there are also some distinct differences between the viruses.
For one, medical professionals have much more experience recognizing and treating influenza, Andrson said. And more importantly, they are able to prevent the flu through vaccinations something that's in the works but not yet available for COVID-19.
"We have vaccinations that in some years are highly effective for influenza, some years not. But almost every year, there's some degree of protection," he said. "We have drugs that work against influenza pretty well, and that can radically alter the clinical course, and those can also be used in certain circumstances for prevention, as well."
Andrew Pekosz, a virologist at the Johns Hopkins Bloomberg School of Public Health, said in an online article that COVID-19 is more serious because it can cause more severe illness and most of the population has no immunity.
"Many more people are susceptible to COVID-19 because there is little preexisting immunity to the virus that causes it SARS-CoV-2. Through vaccinations and previous infections, a portion of the population has some immunity to influenza, which helps limit the number of cases we see each year," Pekosz said.
While both are highly contagious and primarily spread from person to person through infected respiratory droplets, influenza infections typically follow a similar course abrupt onset of muscle aches and fever, with cough developing a day or two later. Symptoms usually last five days to a week, and possibly less for people who got their flu shots.
On the other hand, disease progression for the coronavirus is much more unpredictable, Anderson said.
Although COVID-19 can present like the flu, it can also mimic the common cold, causing sinus congestion, sore throat and a cough that may or may not be associated with a fever, as well as loss of taste and smell. Some people experience gastrointestinal illness, and in rare cases, clotting issues that can lead to stroke or inflammation of the tissue that surrounds the brain and spinal cord.
Pekosz said another factor is that more COVID-19 survivors report long-term effects of the virus than influenza survivors.
"Lingering symptoms like weakness, shortness of breath, trouble focusing and, in some cases, kidney and heart problems are much more common after COVID-19 than after influenza," he said.
Although many COVID-19 patients experience mild or no symptoms, Anderson said that complicates our ability to control the coronavirus.
"A huge thing is the fact that it's transmitted by asymptomatic people, and a small percentage of them transmit it dramatically," Anderson said, adding that in general, people are able to transmit COVID-19 in the two days leading up to showing symptoms. "Once we gained this appreciation of the pre-symptomatic spread, that's when I think people began to get much more concerned about what this virus was going to do."
Knowing what we know now, Anderson said people should have been more concerned about the coronavirus when it first emerged. He thinks Americans may have been too complacent, because the world managed to avoid a pandemic with SARS and MERS two other coronaviruses that cause severe illness and came before COVID-19.
"I think we were lulled a little bit by the fact that we've had scares before which didn't materialize into a pandemic," he said. "As we often say in medicine, things just look so clear through the retrospective scope."
Contact Elizabeth Fite at efite@timesfreepress.com or follow her on Twitter @ecfite.
