Category: Covid-19 Vaccine

Huntington, WV (WOWK) Valley Health Systems is embracing National Minority Health Month and its theme to Give Your Community a Boost. The health system will use its COVID-19 Vaccine Equity Grant to ensure vaccine access in disproportionately affected communities, including racial and ethnic minority groups.

The $178,920 grant issued by the State of West Virginia will be used to focus on Cabell, Lincoln, Kanawha and Wayne counties.

Valley Health recognizes that a patients environment significantly impacts their health. Conditions like chronic lung diseases, diabetes, and obesity are associated with an increased risk of severe COVID-19 illness, and all of these conditions are prevalent in these counties.

Valley Health will offer mobile vaccination clinics and vaccine education at churches, food banks, public housing complexes, homeless shelters, recovery homes and more. Pharmacists, nurses and other healthcare professionals will administer the vaccines.

If an individual needs to travel to get their vaccine, Valley Health can provide gift cards to help with transportation costs.

The health system will also collaborate with trusted local leaders to host listening sessions in which the community can voice their concerns regarding vaccine hesitancy.

Additionally, Valley Health will seek to understand the needs of each disproportionately impacted group.

By focusing our implementation on presenting a multi-faceted approach, we can utilize this grant to provide vaccine hesitancy outreach to overcome barriers to meet the needs of individuals in our communities. This is especially important given racial, ethnic, and other disparities seen throughout the COVID-19 pandemic, and our efforts will be undertaken with a particular focus on these disparities.

Valley Health operates over 40 health centers and public health programs in southeastern West Virginia and southern Ohio. To learn more, visit the Valley Health Systems website or call your local health center.

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Valley Health to expand COVID-19 vaccine access - WOWK 13 News

Throughout the COVID-19 pandemic, experts from Drexel Universitys Dornsife School of Public Health have researched disparities in testing, vaccination, health care access and other markers of the pandemic response. The latest study, this month in the American Journal of Epidemiology, harkens back to December 2020 through September 2021, when the United States first started distributing the COVID-19 vaccines, and looked at full vaccination rates in neighborhoods of 16 large U.S. cities, including Philadelphia, Austin, San Francisco, Chicago and New York City.

Researchers at Drexels Urban Health Collaborative used the CDCs Social Vulnerability Index a measure that includes socioeconomic, housing, minority status, language and other factors to assess a communitys resilience against human suffering and financial loss when faced with a crisis and looked at its association with COVID-19 vaccination in zip codes of the 16 cities. The team found wide disparities in vaccination, with neighborhoods with higher levels of social vulnerability having the lowest vaccination rates.

Shortly after the paper was published, Anthony Fauci, MD, the U.S. Presidents chief medical advisor, made a comment this week that our country is no longer in a pandemic, but a transitional phase, perhaps toward endemicity.

So, with a hopeful tone, the Drexel News Blog checked in with the papers lead author Usama Bilal, PhD, an assistant professor at Dornsife, about his teams recent findings and the current state of the pandemic locally and internationally.

We are in a better situation than one year ago, but we are still in a tough one. 362 daily deaths for a year is 132,000 deaths, which is thesame number of people that died from Alzheimers in 2019, and almost thrice the influenza/pneumonia deaths in 2019. The pandemic has also slowly moved further away towards the margin, affecting more rural and disadvantaged populations over time. Moreover, as a pandemic is a global phenomenon, it is still raging in many places, and will continue doing so at least until we achieve global vaccine equity.

We found that neighborhoods with higher levels of social vulnerability had lower likelihood of full vaccination. This pattern mirrors what we have described before with COVID-19 itself, which tends to be higher infection rates and its effect worse in those same areas. Given what we know about public health, that it affects the most vulnerable, poor and oppressed, this is not surprising. What was surprising is the degree of variability, as we found cities with much wider disparities than others.

We found that some cities in California, along with our own city of Philadelphia had a narrower gap between neighborhoods. We did not study factors driving these narrower inequalities, but we know that California has an extensive COVID-19 equity plan and that some of its cities (e.g., San Francisco) made an effort to vaccinate people in the more vulnerable neighborhoods.

Here in Philadelphia, there have been several efforts that would be great to evaluate and, if found to be effective, scale up in other locations, including the efforts of theBlack Doctors COVID-19 Consortium, thecoordinated effortsof community organizations to vaccinate Latino individuals, and some prioritization efforts towards low vaccinated zip codes in April 2021, when criteria for vaccination was more restrictive. We cannot know for sure with our data whether these efforts were the reason for Philadelphias narrower gap in vaccination, but they are definitely very important initiatives.

Many people that work in vaccines and communication were already talking about this at the beginning of the vaccination rollout, because these are issues we have seen with other interventions. If you think about the politization of mask use, vaccines have followed a similar trend.

However, I want to point out that we should not just focus on hesitancy and mistrust, but also on access. In many cities, getting an appointment to be vaccinated was challenging, vaccination sites were far away from where many people live and public transit options were scarce. There were also some immigrant populations being (incorrectly) asked for identification or insurance, which created very understandable concerns.

Public health is a collective effort, and its measures are collective by nature. Local public health departments, local and state governments, and the federal government itself, are the key agents driving public health measures. There has been a slow shift towards focusing just on personal responsibility, which is antithetical to the mission of public health. Pressuring your local governments to apply timely and adequate measures in times of high transmission, and supporting them when they do, may be a key strategy. If the last two years have taught us something, its that caring for each other is the only way out of this.

Media interested in talking with Bilal should contact Greg Richter, news manager, at gdr33@drexel.edu or 215-895-2614.

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Q+A: What Factors are Associated with Disparities in COVID-19 Vaccination Rates? - Drexel News Blog

The West Virginia Department of Health and Human Resources (DHHR) reports as of April 29, 2022, there are currently 882 active COVID-19 cases statewide. There has been one death reported since the last report, with a total of 6,856 deaths attributed to COVID-19.

DHHR has confirmed the death of a 76-year old female from Raleigh County.

We mourn the loss of this West Virginian and extend our deepest sympathies to the family, said Bill J. Crouch, DHHR Cabinet Secretary. Please schedule a COVID-19 vaccine and booster shot to protect yourself and those around you.

CURRENT ACTIVE CASES PER COUNTY: Barbour (8), Berkeley (78), Boone (11), Braxton (4), Brooke (10), Cabell (39), Calhoun (21), Clay (0), Doddridge (1), Fayette (23), Gilmer (3), Grant (5), Greenbrier (32), Hampshire (13), Hancock (12), Hardy (5), Harrison (22), Jackson (2), Jefferson (29), Kanawha (83), Lewis (6), Lincoln (14), Logan (25), Marion (32), Marshall (24), Mason (6), McDowell (10), Mercer (21), Mineral (5), Mingo (3), Monongalia (48), Monroe (10), Morgan (11), Nicholas (11), Ohio (49), Pendleton (2), Pleasants (1), Pocahontas (25), Preston (12), Putnam (27), Raleigh (63), Randolph (15), Ritchie (2), Roane (3), Summers (0), Taylor (3), Tucker (1), Tyler (0), Upshur (12), Wayne (4), Webster (0), Wetzel (8), Wirt (6), Wood (17), Wyoming (5). To find the cumulative cases per county, please visit http://www.coronavirus.wv.gov and look on the Cumulative Summary tab which is sortable by county.

Delays may be experienced with the reporting of information from the local health department to DHHR. As case surveillance continues at the local health department level, it may reveal that those tested in a certain county may not be a resident of that county, or even the state as an individual in question may have crossed the state border to be tested. Please visit http://www.coronavirus.wv.gov for more detailed information.

West Virginians ages 5 years and older are eligible for COVID-19 vaccination; after the primary series, first booster shots are recommended for those 12 and older. Second booster shots for those age 50 and over that are 4 months or greater from their first booster have been authorized by FDA and recommended by CDC, as well as for younger individuals over 12 years old with serious and chronic health conditions that lead to being considered moderately to severely immunocompromised. To learn more about COVID-19 vaccines, or to find a vaccine site near you, visit vaccinate.wv.gov or call 1-833-734-0965.

Free pop-up COVID-19 testing is available today in Barbour, Berkeley, Braxton, Cabell, Clay, Fayette, Gilmer, Grant, Greenbrier, Hampshire, Hancock, Jefferson, Lewis, Logan, Marion, Marshall, Mason, Morgan, Nicholas, Ohio, Raleigh, Randolph, Taylor, Upshur, Wayne, and Wood counties.

Barbour County

8:30 AM - 3:30 PM, Community Market, 107 South Main Street (across the street from Walgreens), Philippi, WV (optional pre-registration: https://labpass.com/en/registration?access_code=WVBBC)

1:00 PM - 5:00 PM, Junior Volunteer Fire Department, 331 Row Avenue, Junior, WV (optional pre-registration: https://unityphr.com/campaigns/wvlabs/covid)

Berkeley County

8:30 AM - 3:30 PM, Airborne Church, 172 Creative Place, Martinsburg, WV

8:30 AM - 4:00 PM, Shenandoah Community Health, 99 Tavern Road, Martinsburg, WV (optional pre-registration: https://unityphr.com/campaigns/wvlabs/covid)

9:00 AM - 3:00 PM, 891 Auto Parts Place, Martinsburg, WV (optional pre-registration: https://unityphr.com/campaigns/wvlabs/covid)

Braxton County

9:00 AM - 4:00 PM, Braxton County Memorial Hospital (parking lot), 100 Hoylman Drive, Gassaway, WV (optional pre-registration: https://labpass.com/en/registration?access_code=Braxton)

Cabell County

8:00 AM - 4:00 PM, Marshall University Campus (parking lot), 1801 6th Avenue, Huntington, WV (optional pre-registration: https://wv.getmycovidresult.com/)

8:00 AM - 4:00 PM, Cabell-Huntington Health Department (parking lot), 703 Seventh Avenue, Huntington, WV (optional pre-registration: https://wv.getmycovidresult.com/)

Clay County

8:30 AM - 3:00 PM, Lizemores Volunteer Fire Department, 13175 Clay Highway, Lizemores, WV (optional pre-registration: https://labpass.com/en/registration?access_code=WVClayCounty)

Fayette County

10:00 AM - 2:00 PM, Fayette County Health Department, 5495 Maple Lane, Fayetteville, WV

Gilmer County

8:00 AM - 3:00 PM, Minnie Hamilton Health System (parking lot), 921 Mineral Road, Glenville, WV (optional pre-registration: https://labpass.com/en/registration?access_code=WVMHCT11)

Grant County

11:00 AM - 3:00 PM, Petersburg City Parking Lot, South Main Street (across from Walgreens), Petersburg, WV (optional pre-registration: https://wv.getmycovidresult.com/)

Greenbrier County

9:30 AM - 3:00 PM, State Fair of WV, 891 Maplewood Avenue, Lewisburg, WV (optional pre-registration: https://labpass.com/en/registration?access_code=WVGBC)

Hampshire County

10:00 AM - 5:00 PM, Hampshire Memorial Hospital, 363 Sunrise Boulevard, Romney, WV (optional pre-registration: https://unityphr.com/campaigns/wvlabs/covid)

Hancock County

10:00 AM - 12:00 PM, Hancock County Health Department, 100 North Court Street, New Cumberland, WV (optional pre-registration: https://roxbylabs.dendisoftware.com/patient_registration/)

Jefferson County

9:00 AM - 5:00 PM, Hollywood Casino, 750 Hollywood Drive, Charles Town, WV (optional pre-registration: https://unityphr.com/campaigns/wvlabs/covid)

Lewis County

8:30 AM - 3:00 PM, City Parking Lot, 95 West Second Street, Weston, WV (optional pre-registration: https://labpass.com/en/registration?access_code=WVMavLewis1)

Logan County

10:00 AM - 2:00 PM, Town of Man Fire Department, Administration Building, 110 North Bridge Street, Man, WV

12:00 PM - 5:00 PM, Old 84 Lumber Building, 100 Recovery Road, Peach Creek, WV (optional pre-registration: https://wv.getmycovidresult.com/)

Marion County

10:00 AM - 6:00 PM, Dunbar School Foundation, 101 High Street, Fairmont, WV

Marshall County

11:00 AM - 5:00 PM, Benwood City Building, 430 Main Street, Benwood, WV

Mason County

8:30 AM - 3:00 PM, Krodel Park, 1186 Charleston Road, Point Pleasant, WV (optional pre-registration: https://labpass.com/en/registration?access_code=WVMavCOUNTY12)

Morgan County

8:30 AM - 3:30 PM, The Blue (of First United Methodist Church), 440 Fearnow Road, Berkeley Springs, WV (optional pre-registration: https://labpass.com/en/registration?access_code=WVMavMorgan1)

11:00 AM - 5:00 PM, War Memorial Hospital, 1 Health Way, Berkeley Springs, WV (optional pre-registration: https://unityphr.com/campaigns/wvlabs/covid)

Nicholas County

9:00 AM - 3:30 PM, Summersville Regional Medical Center, 400 Fairview Heights Road, Summersville, WV (optional pre-registration: https://labpass.com/en/registration?access_code=WVNL)

Ohio County

9:00 AM - 3:30 PM, Ohio Valley Medical Center (back parking lot at the top of 22nd Street), 2000 Eoff Street, Wheeling, WV (optional pre-registration: https://roxbylabs.dendisoftware.com/patient_registration/)

Raleigh County

9:00 AM - 4:00 PM, Beckley-Raleigh County Health Department, 1602 Harper Road, Beckley, WV (optional pre-registration: https://labpass.com/en/registration?access_code=MavBeckleyRaleigh)

Randolph County

8:30 AM - 3:30 PM, Davis Health Center, 812 Gorman Avenue, Elkins, WV (optional pre-registration: https://labpass.com/en/registration?access_code=WVRDC)

Taylor County

10:00 AM - 12:00 PM, Grafton-Taylor Health Department, 718 West Main Street (parking lot at Operations Trailer), Grafton, WV (optional pre-registration: https://wv.getmycovidresult.com/)

Upshur County

8:30 AM - 3:30 PM, Buckhannon Fire Department (parking lot), 22 South Florida Street, Buckhannon, WV (optional pre-registration: https://labpass.com/en/registration?access_code=WVUSC)

Wayne County

10:00 AM - 2:00 PM, Wayne County Health Department, 217 Kenova Avenue, Wayne, WV (optional pre-registration: https://unityphr.com/campaigns/wvlabs/covid)

Wood County

8:00 AM - 3:00 PM, Vienna Baptist Church, 3401 Grand Central Avenue, Vienna, WV (optional pre-registration: https://labpass.com/en/registration?access_code=WVMavWood1)

Please check with the testing site, DHHRs social media pages and the COVID-19 website https://dhhr.wv.gov/COVID-19/pages/testing.aspx for any last minute cancellations, and to find other free testing opportunities across West Virginia.

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COVID-19 Daily Update 4-29-2022 - West Virginia Department of Health and Human Resources

Athens, AL (35611) Today

Partly to mostly cloudy. A stray shower or thunderstorm is possible. High 81F. Winds S at 10 to 20 mph..

Partly cloudy this evening. Scattered thunderstorms developing after midnight. Low near 65F. Winds S at 10 to 15 mph. Chance of rain 70%.

Updated: April 30, 2022 @ 5:53 am

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The FDA is reviewing COVID-19 vaccine applications for our youngest Americans. Do you agree with vaccinating babies and toddlers? - News Courier

If theres one point on which all the experts agree, it is this: The spring surge of COVID-19 in the United States, caused by the hyper-contagious BA.2 omicron subvariant, will be unlike any other phase of the pandemic thus far.

In just the last two weeks, infections have increased by more than 50%, according to the New York Times COVID data tracker, but hospitalizations due to COVID-19 have risen only slightly and daily deaths are at their lowest level since the pandemic began.

This surge feels qualitatively and quantitatively different from earlier surges in terms of the severity of disease and the mortality, says Megan Ranney, MD, MPH, an emergency medicine physician and academic dean of the School of Public Health at Brown University in Rhode Island. That is likely due to a combination of vaccines and boosters along with the fact that so many people were infected with the original omicron variant quite recently.

Yet, the United States and indeed, the global community is still in the grips of a pandemic that continues to pose substantial risks for those who are unvaccinated, the elderly, the immunocompromised, and those with certain medical conditions, such as obesity and diabetes.

AAMCNews recently spoke with several of the foremost academic experts on COVID-19 for their advice on how best to navigate this next phase of the pandemic.

While BA.2 seems to lead to less severe disease, it is not, in fact, benign especially for those who have not been vaccinated, or for those who were vaccinated but did not receive a booster shot.

If you havent been vaccinated and boosted, and certainly if youre over 50 or 60, or if you have some other significant medical issues, you should be very concerned, says Eric Topol, MD, founder and director of the Scripps Research Translational Institute in La Jolla, California. If youre fully vaccinated, including a booster, you should be pretty confident that youre not going to get very sick if you do get an infection.

But not getting very sick can still translate into flu-like symptoms including fever, body aches, sore throat, congestion, and fatigue for one or two weeks. And for a small subset of people Robert Wachter, MD, chair of the Department of Medicine at the University of California, San Francisco, puts it at 10% to 20% in unvaccinated patients and about half that in vaccinated patients a COVID-19 infection can lead to long COVID. This is a constellation of symptoms, including extreme fatigue, brain fog, and trouble breathing, that can persist for months to years.

[Plus], there has been a fair amount of research in the last six weeks about a bunch of bad outcomes a year out from a case of COVID that include heart attacks, strokes, blood clots, diabetes, and brain shrinkage, he says. The risks were higher for those hospitalized for COVID-19 but were present even in some who had a mild case of the disease.

Vaccination and a booster shot provide good protection against severe disease, studies show. Two large studies published in JAMA in January 2022 showed that three doses of an mRNA vaccine were 90% to 95% protective against severe disease or death from both the omicron and delta variants.

Anna Durbin, MD, an infectious disease physician at Johns Hopkins University School of Medicine in Baltimore, says that the first booster shot is particularly important in teaching the immune system to recognize and respond to the coronavirus. Its important to understand that when these vaccines rolled out, we were at the height of a pandemic. We wanted vaccines quickly and safely and that is what drove the primary immunization series to be two shots, three or four weeks apart. But any immunologist will tell you thats not the optimal timing for a two-shot regimen. We would have preferred to spread that out to two to three months apart, but that would have delayed authorization of the vaccines even further.

Instead, a third shot was needed several months after the first shots. By then, your immune system had calmed down from the original shots, and it was ready to rev up again, she says.

While protection against severe disease remains robust after three shots, protection against infection wanes substantially over time, in part because each new variant of virus contains more mutations that make it both more transmissible and better able to evade the bodys immune response. The BA.1 strain of omicron carries more than 50 mutations from the original coronavirus strain that originated in Wuhan, China, while the BA.2 strain contains an additional eight mutations that seem to make it about 30% more transmissible than BA.1.

About every couple of weeks, we learn that omicron has gotten a little bit smarter about how to infect people, Wachter says.

Because of mounting evidence of waning immunity after a first booster shot, the Food and Drug Administration in March authorized a second booster for anyone over 50 and for immunocompromised individuals who are at least four months past a first booster shot.

One study from Israel found that a fourth shot of the Pfizer-BioNTech COVID-19 vaccine provided protection against infection with omicron among adults 60 and over, but that protection waned quickly peaking at 4 weeks and almost disappearing by 8 weeks post-shot.

The short-lived immunity from a second booster, combined with evidence that the first booster continues to provide protection against severe disease, has led to disagreement among experts, some of whom believe that second boosters are of limited value for most individuals.

With these vaccines and with all vaccines for respiratory viruses, to be honest, our goal is not to prevent infection, Durbin says. Until I see rising cases and evidence of more severe disease, I would not recommend a [second] booster right now for most people. Durbin does hope to see a reformulated vaccine developed in time for a fall booster campaign.

Topol believes if youre eligible for a second booster, you should get one, citing three studies that show that a second booster is safe and provides greater protection against severe illness and death in those over 50.

I think its a real mistake to be discounting the importance of [second] boosters, he says. Sure, if youre living in a cave, you dont need to worry. But if youre traveling and mixing with people, and youre in an area where cases are rising, then I think it would be good to get a booster.

Wachter says that people over 60 with a high risk of a bad outcome from COVID-19 should definitely get the second booster. But younger individuals in lower risk groups have a more difficult decision to make.

The facts about the second booster that people need to understand to make that choice are that first, your immunity after that first booster wanes considerably four to six months out. Thats unquestionable. The second booster raises your immunity about to the point where you were after the first booster. Where it gets complicated is the length of protection. Do the benefits of getting the shot now outweigh the risks?

One risk is that in a month or two, just when your immunity from a second booster is waning, the United States experiences a huge surge in cases or you decide to travel or attend a large gathering. In that case, you will have squandered your immune boost just when you need it most.

Its like a coupon, Topol says. Do you want to use it now or save it for later?

Durbin fears that those who wait too long to get a second booster would have to wait to get a reformulated vaccine in the fall. My great hope is that in the fall, well have a vaccine thats different from the one weve had.

There is some good news for those who are vaccinated and boosted who also had a breakthrough omicron infection, though. They do not need [a second booster], Durbin says. They have a little bit of an edge because they were infected.

Indeed, while reinfection with BA.2 after a BA.1 infection is possible, it is rare and occurs mainly in unvaccinated individuals, according to a small Danish study.

Wachter acknowledges that the temptation to throw up ones hands at this stage of the pandemic is real. I do this for a living and its confusing to me, he says. Many of his 263,000 Twitter followers have said: You tell me what youre doing. Ill do that.

Wachter is fully vaccinated and received his second booster about two weeks ago. He is wearing an N95 mask or the equivalent in crowded indoor spaces and whenever hes around people whose vaccination status or current symptoms he does not know, such as at the grocery store or on an airplane. I would feel kind of bad if I got COVID in a place where I really could have kept myself protected, he says. But he is going out to dinner with friends and having friends over to his home.

Ranney says the value of a high-quality mask cannot be understated. This is the moment where you should expect that if youre out and about, doing indoor activities, going to restaurants and concerts without a high-quality, good-fitting mask, you should expect that if you didnt have omicron in the first wave, that youre going to catch COVID, she says. [BA.2] is that contagious.

Her lab has developed a COVID-19 risk calculator MyCOVIDRisk.app that can help you determine your risk of catching COVID-19. You enter your planned activity, how many vaccines youve gotten, your location, whether the activity is indoors or outdoors, and other factors and the app spits out your risk of catching the disease. It also gives you options to change that risk.

If youre choosing to be out and about without a mask on, there is risk, Ranney says. You just need to be aware so you can make an informed choice."

Regardless of whether you receive a second booster or not now, there will likely be another booster shot in the fall.

Durbin predicts that well have a bivalent vaccine a vaccine that is designed to fight at least two strains of the coronavirus. Moderna recently announced that its bivalent vaccine containing strains of the beta and original coronaviruses performed better than its existing vaccine.

Ranney also believes well have a bivalent vaccine but is hopeful that the fall booster incorporates some elements of the omicron strain. Its going to be too early for some of the exciting types of vaccine, like the nasal vaccines, she says. But I would suspect that what were going to get in the fall is tailored to the strains that were seeing. There is a possibility that there will be a combined COVID-flu vaccine, but thats still up in the air.

One concern among all the experts is booster fatigue particularly if there are diminishing returns for subsequent booster shots.

With each new booster, were losing more and more people, Wachter says. Im not confident that if theres a surge coming and theres a campaign that says theres a new vaccine that that will lead to a massive uptake.

The use of antivirals and other therapeutics to counter the worst effects of COVID-19 will also be critical, Topol says.

The White House announced this week that it was doubling the number of pharmacies and clinics that would carry Paxlovid, an antiviral pill that has been shown to reduce the risk of hospitalization and death in infected people by almost 90%.

We have to have complementary strategies, Topol says. We cant keep going into the booster mode; its not an ideal way to counter a virus.

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BA.2, boosters, and the future of COVID-19 vaccination - AAMC

File photo of garbage being dumped at a landfill in Byron Township, Michigan.Photo: Mike Clark/The Grand Rapids Press (AP)

The U.S. has wasted millions of covid-19 vaccine doses since the pandemic began, with many more ready to be tossed in the garbage in the coming weeks and months as they expire, according to a damning new report from ABC News. Roughly 50,000 Americans are still getting their first dose each day.

The U.S. has vaccinated just 66.6% of its population against covid-19, the lowest rate among any wealthy country in the world. In fact, the U.S. is ranked 62nd in the world for covid-19 vaccinations, right behind Nepal (66.9%), Sri Lanka (67.4%), and Iran (68.4%), according to Johns Hopkins University.

The ABC News report notes that concrete figures are tough to come by and theyre changing every day, but the amount of waste, even when its just a ballpark figure, is staggering when you see how difficult its been for many poorer countries to even get access to the vaccines.

For example, North Carolina alone, where just 63% of the population has gotten at least two doses has seen 1.7 million covid-19 shots gone to waste. And in Michigan, where only 60.2% of the population has been fully vaccinated against covid-19, another 1.7 million shots have been sent to landfills. Over 100,000 more shots are set to expire in Michigan within the next two weeks alone.

And while its great the U.S. has doses to spare for anyone who wants one, it points to the tremendous inefficiencies and waste of the countrys private health care system. The problem, as experts note, is that once the doses have been delivered to pharmacies and clinics, they cant be easily rerouted to another part of the world that might have people who are more willing to take up the vaccines.

The U.S. reported 97,966 new cases of covid-19 on Wednesday and 684 deaths, with just 43 of the 50 states reporting totals. Florida alone reported 4,590 new cases on Wednesday, up substantially from weeks prior.

Vaccines have become a lightning rode of controversy not just in the U.S. but around the world, as countless people spread misinformation about supposed harms that befall people who get jabbed. All of the covid-19 vaccines that have been approved in the U.S. have been shown to be safe and effective. And if you havent gotten yours yet, theres still time. In fact, if you dont get your vaccine soon, its just going to wind up at the dump.

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Millions of Covid-19 Vaccine Shots Going to Waste in U.S. as Vaccination Program Fizzles: Report - Gizmodo

Which COVID-19 vaccines are available in the United States?

As of February 2022, two COVID-19 vaccines have been approved by the U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA), and one has been authorized for emergency use.

Pfizer, Inc., and BioNTech BNT162b2:On August 23, 2021, the FDA approved the Pfizer-BioNTech vaccine called Comirnaty for people age 16 and older. The vaccine is still available under emergency use authorization for children and teens 5 to 15 years old.View the infographic to see what is in the Pfizer COVID-19 vaccine.

ModernaTX, Inc., mRNA-1273:On January 31, 2022, the FDA approved this NIH-funded COVID-19 vaccine called Spikevax for people age 18 and older.View the infographic to see what is in the Moderna COVID-19 vaccine.

Janssen Pharmaceutical Companies of Johnson & Johnson:On February 27, 2021, theFDA authorized emergency useof this single-shot vaccine for people age 18 and older.Developed with support from NIH, this vaccine does not require special refrigeration.Women younger than 50 years old should be aware of therare risk of blood clotsafter vaccination.

Studies show that protection against SARS-CoV-2 begins to decrease over time after initial vaccine doses. Additional vaccine doses (booster vaccinations) provide longer-lasting protection against COVID-19.

The FDA has authorizedbooster vaccinations of all three COVID-19 vaccinesavailable in the United States. Theeligibility period for a booster doseis based on several factors, including which vaccine you originally received and how long it has been since you were fully vaccinated.

Eligible people can choose which vaccine they receive as a booster dose this is known as heterologous ormix and match dosing. Based on data from the National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases, the FDA has determined that the benefits of mixing doses outweighs any known or potential risks.

Studies show that COVID-19 vaccines arevery effective in preventing COVID-19, even for people at high risk for the disease.

Sometimes people who are fully vaccinated get abreakthrough infection, meaning that they test positive for SARS-CoV-2 or become ill with COVID-19. Fully vaccinated people areless likely to become seriously ill, even from COVID-19 variants.

Vaccines have very high safety standards, and COVID-19 vaccines are no exception.COVID-19 vaccines have undergone and will continue to undergo the mostintensive safety monitoringin U.S. history.

The timeline for creating COVID-19 vaccines was shorter than for other vaccines for many reasons, including:

NIH scientists have beenstudying mRNA vaccines and coronaviruses for decades. They had a head start because they already knew a lot about how mRNA vaccines work and how to make them.

Researchers, the federal government, and drug companiescame together like never beforeto cooperate and share resources, making the vaccine testing process more efficient.

NIH set up theCOVID-19 Prevention Network (CoVPN)to coordinate existing research networks and carry out large clinical trials in tens of thousands of people efficiently. Many Americans from diverse communities volunteered to participate in the studies.

The FDA analyzed data from the clinical trials right away.

The safety of the authorized COVID-19 vaccines is being tracked through theVaccine Adverse Event Reporting System, a unique safety system calledv-safethat was established specifically for COVID-19 vaccines, and other systems. Vaccine manufacturers submit monthly safety updates to the FDA. The FDA also inspects vaccine production facilities and checks the quality of vaccine batches.

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COVID-19 Vaccines - National Institutes of Health (NIH)

A large US study published by The BMJ today finds that fewer people die from covid-19 in better vaccinated communities.

The findings, based on data across 2,558 counties in 48 US states, show that counties with high vaccine coverage had a more than 80% reduction in death rates compared with largely unvaccinated counties.

This large benefit complements the growing body of evidence indicating individual level benefits of covid-19 vaccination. A linked editorial also proposes that encouraging people to keep up to date with vaccination saves lives.

As of 11 April 2022, more than 11 billion covid-19 vaccine doses have been administered globally and the World Health Organization's target is to vaccinate 70% of the world's population by mid-2022.

Yet while previous vaccine studies have shown benefits at the individual level, the wider population level impact of scaling up covid-19 vaccination remains largely unknown.

To address this, researchers at the US Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) set out to estimate how increasing county coverage of vaccines affected population level mortality and incidence of covid-19.

Their findings are based on more than 30 million cases of covid-19 and over 400,000 deaths linked to covid-19 across 2558 counties, which were reported during the second year of the pandemic, between December 2020 and December 2021.

They measured effectiveness by comparing reported covid-19 incidence and mortality rates in counties with very low (0-9%), low (10-39%), medium (40-69%), and high (70% or more) vaccination coverage - defined as the percentage of adults (aged 18 and over) who had received at least one dose of a covid-19 vaccine.

After taking account of potentially influential factors, the researchers found that increased vaccination coverage in counties was associated with reduced levels of covid-19 related mortality and cases.

For example, during the first half of 2021, when the alpha variant of coronavirus was dominant, the covid-19 mortality rate was reduced by 60%, 75%, and 81% in counties with low, medium, and high vaccination coverage, respectively, compared with counties that had very low coverage.

The corresponding figures for the reduction in cases were 57%, 70%, and 80%.

Similar reductions in mortality were also seen during the second half of 2021 when the delta variant became dominant in the US, although with smaller effects on case levels.

This is an observational study, so can't establish cause and the researchers say several limitations should be considered when interpreting these data. For example, additional markers of severe disease, such as hospital admissions, were not explored and they did not control for factors such as rules on wearing a face mask masking and physical distancing at the time, which may have affected their results.

Nevertheless, they point out that results were similar after further sensitivity analyses, suggesting that they withstand scrutiny. And they say: "Future research may benefit from evaluating macroeconomic effects of improving population health, such as changes in employment rates and gross domestic product resulting from reopening society."

This study adds to the evidence that vaccination can prevent infection and illness on a large scale, writes Professor Christopher Dye at the University of Oxford in a linked editorial.

The findings of this study also make clear that many more lives could have been saved, and will be saved, by encouraging people to keep up to date with vaccination in the face of waning immunity and new coronavirus variants and by achieving even higher population coverage."

Christopher Dye, Professor, University of Oxford

"How many lives is a matter for others to explore. Meanwhile, this new study is another confidence booster for covid-19 vaccines," he concludes.

Source:

Journal reference:

Suthar, A. B., et al. (2022) Public health impact of covid-19 vaccines in the US: observational study. BMJ. doi.org/10.1136/bmj-2021-069317.

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Study shows public health impact of covid-19 vaccines in the U.S. - News-Medical.Net

Health personnel are preparing injection syringes with Covid-19 vaccine in 2021 in Copenhagen, Denmark. the country has now announced it will suspend its vaccination program and will review whether it's needed later in the year.

Ole Jensen | Getty Images News | Getty Images

Denmark has become the first country to halt its Covid vaccination program, saying it is doing so because the virus is now under control.

"Spring has arrived, vaccine coverage in the Danish population is high, and the epidemic has reversed," the Danish Health Authority said in a statement Wednesday.

"Therefore, the National Board of Health is now ending the broad vaccination efforts against Covid-19 for this season," it said. People will not be invited for vaccines from May 15, it said, although everyone will be able to finish their course of vaccination.

Denmark's Covid vaccination campaign began soon after Christmas in 2020. Some 4.8 million citizens have been vaccinated, the health authority said, with more than 3.6 million people receiving a booster shot.

At the same time, many people have been infected since the omicron variant became the dominant strain of the virus, it said, meaning immunity levels among the population are high.

"We are in a good place," Bolette Soborg, unit manager at the National Board of Health, commented.

"We have good control of the epidemic, which seems to be subsiding.Admission rates [to hospitals] are stable and we also expect them to fall soon.Therefore, we are rounding up the mass vaccination program against Covid-19."

Soborg insisted that the public can still be vaccinated over the spring and summer if they want, and that vaccination sites will remain open around the country.

He added that immunization was still recommended to people for whom Covid poses a heightened risk, such as those over the age of 40 and for unvaccinated pregnant women. "We also continue to recommend that you complete your started vaccination course," he said.

Denmark's move to suspend its vaccination program comes as the Covid situation around the world remains mixed. Europe and the U.S. have abandoned most Covid restrictions, but China is still imposing (or considering) lockdowns as the virus spreads in major cities like Shanghai and Beijing.

Far from scrapping its vaccination program altogether, however, the Danish Health and Medicines Authority said there will probably be a need to vaccinate against Covid-19 again in the fall as the virus continues to mutate.

New variants have emerged over the course of the pandemic, which is now into its third year. These have eroded the efficacy of the Covid vaccines that were developed in record time in 2020, although the shots authorized for use in the West remain effective at preventing serious infection, hospitalization and death from Covid-19.

With the vaccination program likely to restart in a few months' time, Denmark's health experts will be looking at who should be vaccinated, when the shots should be given and which vaccines should be used.

The Danish Health and Medicines Authority said it would continue to follow the development of the epidemic closely, and is ready to restart vaccination efforts again if there is a need to immunize additional target groups before the fall.

Read CNBC's latest global coverage of the Covid pandemic:

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Denmark becomes the first country to halt its Covid vaccination program - CNBC

Les, aged 72, has been living with rheumatoid arthritis for the last 25 years. It is a painful condition causing swelling and stiffness in joints, which over the years has limited Less mobility, including his ability to drive.

Even before COVID-19 struck, I was quite isolated. The arthritis affects my feet, fingers, wrists, shoulders and knees, so getting around can be really difficult, and there was a time I couldnt walk more than a few paces without being in agony.

Fortunately, Les was put on a new drug therapy which is now helping to control the condition and relieving some of the pain. But having an autoimmune disease still leaves him vulnerable to life-threatening viruses, such as COVID-19.

When pandemic restrictions were first introduced in March 2020, I was told by my hospital to self-isolate to not leave the house and to not come into contact with anyone from outside my household. What I didnt realize then was that I would remain in isolation for the next 2 years, and that it would put such a huge burden on my wife, who had to do all the tasks that needed doing outside of the home.

Indeed, even the thing he was most looking forward to celebrating his 70th birthday with friends and family, an event organized well before COVID-19 hit Europe had to be postponed twice due to the ongoing nature of the pandemic and the need to continue isolating.

I felt an immense sense of relief when COVID-19 vaccines became available. They not only offered me protection from a virus which could cause me real harm, but, just as importantly, gave me hope that I could one day soon end my isolation. Being immunocompromised meant that I was one of the first to get the jab and, apart from a small bruise on my shoulder, I had no side effects.

Les is now fully vaccinated and finally able to venture outside of his home, but he knows that while vaccines offer the best form of protection against the COVID-19 virus, they are not infallible as he discovered to his cost recently.

Most of the time, I wear a face mask and avoid large crowds, but in the last few weeks I had to attend a friends funeral, along with 50 other people. Most people were not wearing masks and I felt a bit silly putting one on, but now Im kicking myself that I didnt, Les explains.

The next day, I developed a severe headache, lost my appetite and sense of taste, and felt very weak and dizzy. I tested and found I had COVID-19. I felt awful for 2 weeks, and at one scary moment also found myself struggling for breath. The dizziness persisted for another 3 weeks and only now do I feel more back to normal.

Les continues, Im so angry with myself for letting my guard down that one time. But Im also incredibly grateful for the COVID-19 vaccines I got, because the consequences if I hadnt had them could have been much, much worse.

Despite the privations that Les has suffered over the last 2 years, he is philosophical about his experience. Disappointments like lost holidays and parties are trivial compared to dying.

He adds, One of my biggest challenges during the pandemic was looking after my elderly mother who needed daily care during the last year of her life. I am so thankful that we managed to protect her from COVID-19. Less mother passed away peacefully at the age of 97.

Across the WHO European Region, over 1.5 billion doses of COVID-19 vaccines have been administered in total. Hundreds of thousands of lives are known to have been saved as a result.

Despite the large number of COVID-19 cases currently in our Region, high population immunity, largely brought about by successful vaccination programmes, has helped to keep hospitalization and death rates down.

Getting fully vaccinated against COVID-19 and taking a booster dose when recommended is vitally important, particularly for people who are older, have underlying health conditions or are immunocompromised, because the virus is still circulating at high levels and lives are still being lost unnecessarily.

WHO continues to work with countries to help increase vaccine uptake, particularly among groups at high risk of severe disease.

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But for the COVID-19 vaccine, I might not be here now the difference the jab has made to someone at high risk of severe disease - WHO/Europe