Category: Covid-19 Vaccine

The Washington State Board of Health will not require COVID-19 vaccines for children to attend schools and day cares.

Earlier this year, the technical advisory group, made up of representatives from public health and education sectors statewide, had recommended that the board not require the COVID vaccine for school entry after considering nine criteria, studying the data and collecting input from experts.

That group concluded that the vaccine was safe and effective at preventing disease, and reducing the risk of transmission.

The group disagreed about whether the vaccine was cost effective and how a requirement might be a burden to comply with, and members had worries over public sentiment. It was for these reasons that the technical advisory group voted to not recommend the COVID vaccine be required for students. The vaccine is required for most teachers and child care workers in Washington.

Ultimately, the board agreed with their advisory group.

Board members said their decision is not a signal that vaccines are not effective against the virus.

The Department of Health very much supports the safety and effectiveness of COVID-19 vaccinations, and particularly, its been shown to prevent severe disease, hospitalizations and death, and we believe its safe and effective in all populations, Secretary of Health Dr. Umair Shah said on Wednesday.

But while board members agreed the vaccine is safe and effective, they also acknowledged that contending with public sentiment and the burden of compliance were too great.

Board members wanted to see some data that is not yet available, including studies showing how vaccines affect virus transmission in schools or how vaccinated children can bring down COVID hospitalization rates.

School districts across the state, as well as their representatives on the technical advisory group, expressed concerns about the work that would be necessary to enforce a newly mandated vaccine in the schools, especially when exemptions are accepted and must be processed. Some Board of Health members expressed support for increasing resources for school nurses and districts to be able to serve their students as a result.

Additionally, some parents, including some of those publicly commenting on Wednesday, threatened to pull their children out of public schools should a COVID vaccine mandate go into effect.

The effectiveness of a mandate in Washington state schools was also questioned Wednesday, especially with a survey from the Kaiser Family Foundation showing 28% of parents surveyed would definitely not vaccinate their children, with just 4% of that group saying a vaccine requirement would change their mind.

Even the Washington Chapter of the American Academy of Pediatrics did not endorse a COVID vaccine requirement for students.

Dr. Michael Barsotti, president of the chapter, told the Board he believes all children and teens should be vaccinated, but keeping kids in school is also a priority.

If the priority is for in-person school attendance, the vaccine mandate would create barriers to achieving that goal, Barsotti told the Board.

Equitable distribution of the vaccine and access to the vaccine was also a concern among board members, pointing to low vaccination rates among Hispanic and Black children in the state.

The board received thousands of public comments, both written and verbal, opposing the mandate of the COVID vaccine in schools.

During his 11-year tenure on the board, President Keith Grellner said he cannot recall a time when there was so much public response and reaction to the boards potential actions. And while people protesting vaccine mandates is nothing new, Grellner said the pandemic has been completely different.

Its nothing like what weve had the last year and a half or two years its nothing the scope, the depth, the intensity, this is warp-speed above anything else weve dealt with, Grellner said.

Earning back the publics trust was top of mind for board members.

We have to rebuild that trust and be able to show the residents we dont have enough information, but were willing to put this on pause until we have more information to make a more data-driven decision, said Elisabeth Crawford, who represents cities on the Board of Health.

The board also left open the door to revisit requiring the COVID vaccine in schools in the future if its necessary due to a new variant or more severe disease in children.

The Board of Health alone has the authority to require vaccinations for students for entry to day cares and schools in Washington state.

It has a multistep process to go through each time they consider requiring an additional vaccine in Washingtons schools, and board members praised the transparent process on Wednesday.

If science changes in the future, this recommendation might also change, said Dr. Tao Kwan-Gett, chief science officer at the Department of Health.

Original post:

COVID-19 vaccines will not be required for school entry in Washington state - The Spokesman Review

Boston The Baker-Polito Administration is partnering with local businesses across the state to host free, family-friendly COVID-19 vaccination clinics and offer giveaways for getting vaccinated during April school vacation week, April 18-22. With the support of the Massachusetts Department of Public Health (DPH), these clinics will be held in 10 cities and towns at various locations, including trampoline parks, zoos, bowling alleys, and the Six Flags New England amusement park, to encourage a family-friendly atmosphere in which eligible individuals of all ages can get vaccinated and boosted.

The clinics build on the success of vaccination clinics held earlier this year during February school vacation week, when more than 2,000 vaccinations were administered to children and adults in communities most disproportionately impacted by COVID-19.

The clinics are part of DPHs Vaccine Equity Initiative to increase awareness and access to the COVID-19 vaccine and mitigate the impacts of the pandemic among the hardest-hit populations and communities.

The best protection from COVID-19 infection remains vaccination and staying updated on all of the vaccine doses you are eligible for, said Public Health Commissioner Margret Cooke. These events are a convenient way for the whole family to get up to date on COVID-19 vaccinations, and we thank the businesses and local partners for joining us to offer vaccination at these family-friendly locations.

At participating locations, individuals receiving a first or second vaccine or a booster dose will receive a giveaway such as free admission tickets or an hour of trampoline or bowling time, depending on the specific location. In a special partnership with Six Flags, any Massachusetts resident who gets vaccinated at the Six Flags clinic will receive two admission tickets, free parking, and a meal.

April Vacation Family Clinics:

Municipality

Location

Schedule

Giveaway

Everett

Everett City Clean Up Day @ Rivergreen Park

April 23

$25 gift card

Lawrence/ Methuen

1 Broadway Street, Methuen

April 21-April 24

$25 gift card, prizes and ice cream

Malden

Mixer eSports Cafe

April 22-24

1 hour of free game play

Swansea/ Fall River

Get Air Trampoline Park (Parking Lot)

April 21-23

1 hour of free jumping

New Bedford

Buttonwood Park Zoo (Parking lot)

April 23 and 24

2 free entry passes

New Bedford

Wonder Bowl

April 22 and 23

1 hour of free bowling

Springfield

Eastfield Mall

April 20

$25 grocery gift card, free food, music and games

Springfield

Bounce! Trampoline Park

April 21

1 hour of free jumping

Springfield

Interskate 91

April 22

1 hour of free skating

Agawam and Western MA

Six Flags

April 22, 23, and 24

2 free entry passes + free parking and 1 free meal, snack, and drink (MA residents only)

Brockton

FunZ Trampoline Park

April 21-23

1 hour of free jumping

Brockton

Arnone School

April 19-22

$25 grocery gift card

Lowell

Khmer New Year Celebration, Clemente Park

April 23

$25 grocery gift card

Lowell

Nibbana Caf

April 23 and 24

$25 Nibbana gift card

Chelsea

Playground and Archery Games@ Boston Playground

April 20, 21, and 22

1 hour of free play voucher

Massachusetts leads the nation in COVID-19 vaccine administration, with over 82% of eligible residents (5+) fully vaccinated, and over 53% of eligible residents (12+) having received a booster.The best way to protect against severe illness from COVID-19 is to get vaccinated and boosted and remain up to date on shots.

To see a full list of these special clinics and giveaways, visit http://www.mass.gov/KidsClinic.

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Baker-Polito administration encourages COVID-19 vaccination and boosters at family-friendly events during April school vacation week - Mass.gov

Overall, the researchers found that stark disparities in vaccine and booster coverage persist in the state, leaving thousands vulnerable to severe illness as increasingly more transmissible forms of the virus circulate.

Despite a lull in COVID-19 infection rates, MA is in a precarious position, they wrote.

In the study, which was posted online Monday but not yet published in a peer-reviewed journal, the team analyzed state data on residents vaccinated and boosted by ZIP code through March 1. They also examined census-tract population estimates and ZIP-code-level socioeconomic and demographic data, including education level, household income, and profession.

When the researchers took education and age into account, they found that many communities with large concentrations of Black and Latino residents and essential workers had higher levels of vaccination than similar communities with many white residents and fewer essential workers.

For example, consider the towns of Randolph and Dartmouth. Both are south of Boston and have residents with similar age distributions and college graduation rates of roughly 27 percent. In Randolph, where Black and Latino residents make up about 53 percent of the population, 81 percent of the town had been vaccinated. Yet in Dartmouth, where 8 percent of residents are Black or Latino, just 60 percent of the community had been vaccinated.

This is not to say that race doesnt matter, said Jacob Bor, an assistant professor in epidemiology and global health at Boston Universitys School of Public Health and lead author of the study.

Race, ethnicity, age, and education levels overlap, he said. The team found that communities of color and those with a lot of essential workers are, on average, younger and have lower levels of education and lower incomes, which can affect peoples access to the shots.

These differences in income and education among Black, Latino, and Indigenous populations are a product of longstanding patterns of differential access to education, wealth, and opportunity, Bor said.

Income, the team found, was also a strong predictor of vaccination coverage. A $10,000 increase in a ZIP codes median household income was associated with higher vaccination and booster rates. From the lowest to the highest income levels, booster coverage increased from under 30 percent to over 60 percent.

Our analysis shows that education and income are better explanations for the patterns than race or ethnicity itself, said Dr. Jonathan Levy, who chairs the department of environmental health at BUs School of Public Health, and is senior author of the research.

But despite high, relatively equitable coverage for the original vaccine schedule in adults, researchers found large inequities in rates among children, and very large inequities for booster shots in all age groups.

In ZIP codes with the highest share of college-educated residents, about 70 percent of children have been vaccinated. Conversely, less than 40 percent of children have been vaccinated in the 10 percent of ZIP codes with the lowest percent of college educated residents, including those with the highest percentages of Black, Latino, and Indigenous populations.

We must redouble our ongoing efforts to overcome barriers related to poverty and education like collaborating with community partners who offer vaccination outside of health care venues, after hours, and on weekends, and provide clear and accurate information from trusted sources, said Dr. Bisola Ojikutu, Bostons Commissioner of Public Health, and a coauthor of the study.

The only way to address this inequity, she said, is through persistence.

Disparities were also pronounced when looking at who has received at least one booster shot, and controlling for education and age levels did not change that picture as it did for the primary vaccine series. The share of residents 65 and older who have received a booster was just over 50 percent in ZIP codes with the lowest share of college graduates and highest share of Black, Latino, or Indigenous people, the researchers found. Yet booster coverage was over 70 percent in more-educated ZIP codes and those with larger White populations.

A better understanding of the causes of the disparities should help policy makers address them, experts said.

This report highlights that people with complicated lives, and a lot of folks stereotyped as being hesitant, actually had high vaccination rates. And it really points to this being an access issue and we have to be better, said Atyia Martin, executive director for Next Leadership Development, a nonprofit that focuses on building resilience in Black communities.

While vaccines have been widely offered in local pharmacies and doctors offices, Martin and others said many lower-income essential workers often lack the transportation or time off, particularly if they suffer side effects after getting vaccinated.

We have to have strategies that are more sophisticated and account for peoples real lives and what theyre dealing with, Martin said. And we have to let the data be the guide for the decisions we are making.

The researchers suggested that strategies used successfully during the initial vaccine rollout, such as establishing more convenient places and times for essential workers to get the shots, should be widely extended for boosters. They also said Massachusetts should especially target this push in lower-educated communities, regardless of racial composition.

Brennan Klein, a post-doctoral researcher at Northeastern University who has studied COVID and racial biases, said the researchers careful statistical approach . . . offers [state policy leaders] a nice road map for how to direct vaccination efforts moving forward.

Nadia Abuelezam, an associate professor who specializes in biostatistics and health inequities at the Connell School of Nursing at Boston College, said the study offers very specific geographic information down to the ZIP code level for fine tuning public messages in future vaccination initiatives.

It allows us to think about where people live, work, and play, and how that influences their health, she said.

Michael Curry, chief executive of the League of Community Health Centers, was struck by the strong correlation the researchers found between education level and vaccination status. And he said that policy leaders, as well as health providers need to use that finding to guide ongoing and future vaccination efforts.

We have got to stop relying on people having a college degree or high school diploma to get what they need to make decisions on their health, he said.

We need employers to be in lockstep with providers and health plans, in constantly providing health information and wellness counseling that can prevent the high rates of morbidity and mortality in this pandemic, he said.

And, Curry added, that approach would be effective for other health initiatives, such as cancer screenings or diabetes care.

But the researchers expressed concern that the lessons from the pandemic, and the disparities revealed by their work, are not being heeded even now.

Rates of new vaccinations and boosters have slowed as Massachusetts has exited the winter surge and as officials now project a return to normal, said Bor, the studys lead author. Without new efforts to expand coverage, these inequities are likely to persist.

The upshot, he said, is that there are going to be a lot of people in poorer, lower-education ZIP codes regardless of racial composition who are going to suffer in future COVID waves because of low vaccination and booster rates.

Kay Lazar can be reached at kay.lazar@globe.com Follow her on Twitter @GlobeKayLazar.

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New COVID-19 vaccine study challenges stereotypes of who is getting the shots - The Boston Globe

DeKalb County, GA This Thursday and Saturday, there are multiple opportunities to get your COVID-19 vaccine and theres a financial incentive to do so.

Everyone getting their shot will get a $100 gift card thanks to DeKalb County, the DeKalb Board of Health and Community Organized Relief Effort (CORE).

Here is the full announcement:

There are LOTS of COVID vaccination events in DeKalb County this Thursday & Saturday where you can get your 1st, 2nd or booster shot and get $100 cash card too.

Moderna, Pfizer vaccine available. Pediatric vaccine for ages 5+.

Everyone getting a shot will get $100 card.

2nd booster for ages 50+ must be 4 months since your 1st booster.

Brought to you by DeKalb County, DeKalb Board of Health and CORE. Event addresses listed below:

THURSDAY April 14th Locations:

10 a.m. 1 p.m. Oglethorpe University, Turner Lynch Campus Center 4484 Peachtree Rd NE, Brookhaven 30319

11 a.m. 2:30 p.m. Miller Grove Middle School 2215 Miller Rd, Decatur 30035

4 p.m. 8 p.m. East Lake YMCA 275 Eva Davis Way SE, Atlanta 30317

SATURDAY April 16th Locations:

9 a.m. 12 p.m. Transforming Faith Church 2831 Fairington Pkwy, Stonecrest 30038

11a.m. 1p.m. Battle of the Badges Basketball Tournament (FREE), Forrest Fleming Arena, 3037 Pleasant Valley Dr. Doraville 30340

10 a.m. 2 p.m. Latin American Association 2750 Buford Hwy NE, Atlanta, 30324

1 p.m. 5 p.m. Underground Marketing 3165 Midway Rd, Decatur 30032

Pre-register at dekalbvax.coreresponse.org

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This Thursday and Saturday: Get a COVID-19 vaccine and get a $100 gift card, too - Decaturish.com

Two years into the covid-19 pandemic, vaccines are essentially a luxury good available only to the worlds richer citizens.Thats because the poorest countries have been left behind in the efforts to vaccinate the world against covid-19. Governments of rich countries funded the development and testing of vaccines, coordinated manufacturing, and protected the intellectual property of drugmakersthereby ensuring that theircitizens would get the vaccines first, and that their economies could reopen faster.

We can easily see the disparity between the global rich and poor by comparing every countrys GDP per capita to its covid-19 vaccine doses per capita. (The chart below shows GDP on a log scale.)

In order to get a closer look atvaccination trends, we broke the data up by regions below, and organized the countries by rank, instead of absolute values. If vaccines were distributed purely according to how rich a country is, then countries ranks on the two measures would be similar. In the charts below that linkage appears as flat, parallel linesand unfortunately there are a lot of them.

To create these charts we used vaccination data collected by Bloomberg through April 8, 2022 and 2020 per-capita GDP figures from the World Bank. Countries without available figures in either metric were excluded.

Read this article:

The inequity of covid-19 vaccines, in charts Quartz - Quartz

Almost everyone vaccinated for Covid-19 over the last 16 months will remember that he or she received a quick prick in the upper arm. This is because most vaccines, including those for Covid-19, are most effective when administered through the intramuscular route into the upper arm muscle, known as the deltoid, experts say.

There are several reasons, but the most important one is that the muscles have a rich blood supply network. This means whenever a vaccine carrying an antigen is injected into it, the muscle releases the antigen, which gets dispersed by the muscular vasculature, or the arrangement of blood vessels in the muscle. The antigen then gets picked up by a type of immune cells called dendritic cells, which function by showing antigens on their surface to other cells of the immune system. The dendritic cells carry the antigen through the lymphatic fluid to the lymph node.

Through the course of research over the years, we have understood that the lymph nodes have T cells and B cells the bodys primary protector cells. Once this antigen gets flagged and is given to the T cells and B cells, that is how we start developing an immune response against a particular virus, which in this case could be any of the new viruses like SARS-CoV-2, the virus that causes Covid-19, or the previous viruses which we have been running vaccination programs for, said Dr Rahul Pandit, director of critical care, Fortis Hospital, Mumbai, and a member of the national Covid-19 task force.

The rich blood supply network also gives the muscles a protective mechanism. This means that additives to the vaccine, such as aluminium salts, do not lead to severe local reactions. Conversely, if the vaccine is administered into the subcutaneous fat tissue [between the skin and the muscle], which has a poor blood supply, absorption of the antigen vaccine is poor and therefore you may have failed immune response; similarly, the additives which could be toxic, could cause a local reaction, said Dr Pandit.

The same thing could happen when the vaccine is administered intradermally (just below the outermost skin layer, the epidermis). Hence, the route chosen now for most vaccines is intramuscular.

Also, compared to the skin or subcutaneous tissue, the muscles have fewer pain receptors, and so an intramuscular injection does not hurt as much as a subcutaneous or an intradermal injection.

But why the upper arm muscle in particular?

In some vaccines, such as that for rabies, the immunogenicity the ability of any cell or tissue to provoke an immune response increases when it is administered in the arm. If administered in subcutaneous fat tissues located at the thigh or buttocks, these vaccines show a lower immunogenicity and thus there is a chance of vaccine failure, said Dr Harshad Limaye, senior consultant, internal medicine, Nanavati Max Hospital, Mumbai.

Since the dosage of the vaccine is small (0.5mm) and there is little possibility of severe swelling of the injection site, resulting in inconvenience, its administered in the arm, said Dr Limaye.

Numerous studies on the fat layer between the skin and muscle have found that in most adults (both men and women), the layers seem to be the thinnest around the deltoid muscle. Although the muscle mass in the gluteal area (the buttocks) is much more than in the deltoid, the fat layer is also larger, so to deposit the vaccine inside the muscle may need a longer needle. However, men tend to have a lesser fat layer near the upper arm muscle as compared to women, so women sometimes may need a longer needle to deposit the vaccine into the deltoid muscle, said Dr Pandit.

Why not administer the vaccine directly into the vein?

This is to ensure the depot effect, or release of medication slowly over time to enable longer effectiveness. When given intravenously, the vaccine is quickly absorbed into the circulation. The intramuscular method takes some time to absorb the vaccine.

Wherever a vaccination programme is carried out, it is carried out for the masses. To deposit the vaccine, the easiest route would be the oral route (like the polio vaccine). However, for other vaccines that need to be administered intravenously or intramuscularly (enabling wider field-based administration), the intramuscular route is chosen from a public health perspective over the intravenous route, said Dr Pandit.

Which vaccines are administered through other routes?

One of the oldest vaccines, that for smallpox, was given by scarification of the skin. However, with time, doctors realised there are better ways to vaccinate beneficiaries. These included the intradermal route, the subcutaneous route, intramuscular route, oral, and nasal routes.

There are only two exceptions that continue to be administered through the intradermal route. These are the vaccines for BCG and for tuberculosis, because these two vaccines continue to work empirically well when administered through the intradermal route, said Dr Pandit.

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Explained: Why are Covid-19 vaccines administered into the upper arm? - The Indian Express

April 13, 2022 11:10 a.m.

Cow Creek Public Health is offering COVID-19 vaccines and boosters for the general public at its Roseburg vaccine drive-through site.

Its located at 2360 Northeast Stephens Street. Hours are Mondays through Wednesdays from 10:00 a.m. to 1:00 p.m. and from 2:00 p.m. to 5:00 p.m. First, second, third and fourth doses of Moderna and Pfizer for adults over age 18, of Phizer for those over age 12, and of pediatric Phizer for children ages 5 to 11 are available. Flu vaccine will be given out as well.

Those coming to the clinic should bring their photo identification and vaccine card, and plan to wait thirty minutes after vaccination.

Go to http://www.cowcreek-nsn.gov/public-health for more information, or call 677-5535

See more here:

COW CREEK PUBLIC HEALTH OFFERING COVID-19 VACCINES AND BOOSTERS - kqennewsradio.com

Moderna is recalling one lot of its COVID-19 vaccine in Europe after a foreign body was found in one vial. Doses in the U.S. are not impacted.

Modernas coronavirus vaccine, which is now marketed as Spikevax, was approved by the U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA) for adults 18 and older on Jan. 31, 2022, making it the second to receive full FDA approval after Pfizers vaccine.

Now, Modernas vaccine has returned to the news cycle, with people sharing information about Moderna potentially issuing a recall of the vaccine. Google Trends data also show that U.S. residents are searching for information about "Moderna vaccine recall."

THE QUESTION

Was the Moderna COVID-19 vaccine recalled in the United States?

THE SOURCES

THE ANSWER

No, the Moderna COVID-19 vaccine was not recalled in the United States. The drugmaker has recalled some doses of the vaccine in Europe after a foreign body was found in one vial.

WHAT WE FOUND

Moderna announced on April 8 that it would recall one lot of Spikevax produced at ROVI, a manufacturing company in Spain, after a foreign body was found in one vial. The impacted vial was punctured and not administered, Moderna said in a news release announcing the recall. Moderna did not disclose what was found in the vial.

The lot consisted of 764,900 doses and was distributed in Norway, Poland, Portugal, Spain and Sweden from Jan. 13-14, 2022, according to Moderna.

Moderna said no safety concerns have been reported in people who received Spikevax from the recalled lot. Additionally, there are no indications that recalled doses that were already administered are less effective than others, according to Moderna.

The lot is being recalled out of an abundance of caution, Moderna said.

Moderna does not believe that this poses a risk to other vials in the lot and does not believe that this affects the significant benefit/risk profile of the vaccine, the news release says.

The company said it is communicating with health authorities as an investigation moves forward.

A spokesperson for the Food and Drug Administration (FDA) told VERIFY that there is no recall of Modernas vaccine in the U.S. The FDA also has lists of recalled vaccines by year on its website, and the two most recent were in 2021 and did not include any of the COVID-19 vaccines.

The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention says on its website that vaccine recalls are rare and typically done because of concerns about how well the vaccine is working or its safety.

The CDC says all approved and authorized COVID-19 vaccines are safe and effective, and the agency recommends that those who are eligible get vaccinated as soon as possible if they havent already.

The VERIFY team works to separate fact from fiction so that you can understand what is true and false. Please consider subscribing to our daily newsletter, text alerts and our YouTube channel. You can also follow us on Snapchat, Twitter, Instagram, Facebook and TikTok. Learn More

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No, the Moderna COVID-19 vaccine wasnt recalled in the US - WFAA.com

SUPERIOR, Wis. The AMI Community Clinic at Northwoods Technical College in Superior was at the center of a celebration marking one year of it vaccinating residents against covid.

The clinic was originally set up at Wessman arena at UWS on April 13th last year, then later moved to the Technical College.

Wisconsin chose AMI as one of the clinics around the state for vaccines and boosters for those who wanted them.

Marking the success of the clinics role in vaccinations is something those in Superior and Douglas County wanted to acknowledge.

I think its important to talk about how successful this clinic has been. Number one we dont get a lot of resources up in this area of the state so we really wanted to make sure that we thank the state, thank AMI, thank everybody involved in bringing this resource to such a county without a lot of other resources, Kathy Ronchi, Douglas County Public Health Officer said.

According to the Douglas County Department of Public Health, a little more than 30% of residents there have gotten their booster.

Staff says the clinic isnt going anywhere anytime soon, which is why its still offering vaccines and boosters to anyone who wants one.

Continued here:

One Year Anniversary of AMI Covid-19 Vaccine Clinic - FOX 21 Online

As the Biden administrations pandemic response evolves, most registered voters say they want the federal government to fund COVID-19 vaccinations in both the United States and overseas, according to a new Morning Consult/Politico survey.

The April 8-11, 2022, survey was conducted among a representative sample of 2,005 registered voters, with an unweighted margin of error of plus or minus 2 percentage points.

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Congress Took Funding for Global COVID-19 Vaccinations Off the Table. More Than Half of Voters Say It Should Be a Priority - Morning Consult