Category: Covid-19 Vaccine

LONGVIEW The number of COVID-19 vaccinations given in the state and Cowlitz County appears to be rising very slightly over the last couple weeks, after dropping in the spring and remaining flat since July, according to state Department of Health data.

As of Friday, 51.7% of Cowlitz County residents had initiated vaccination, and 46.5% were fully vaccinated. Statewide, 60.9% of residents had initiated vaccination, and 55.2% were fully vaccinated.

Many unvaccinated people have misconceptions about the vaccines safety, said Dr. Steve Krager, county deputy health officer.

During the Cowlitz County commissioner meeting Tuesday, many people speaking in favor of a resolution stating the board wont require COVID-19 vaccines for some employees commented that data from the Vaccine Adverse Event Reporting System (VAERS) showed an increase in injuries, medical problems and deaths caused by the COVID vaccines.

Krager said the vaccines are safe and effective, and many people are misinterpreting the VAERS data.

The national system is run by the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention and the U.S. Food and Drug Administration to detect possible safety problems in vaccines. VAERS is not designed to detect if a vaccine caused a specific event, but it can help identify unusual or unexpected patterns requiring a closer look, according to its website.

Anyone can report a health problem that happens after vaccination to the site.

Healthcare providers are required to report serious events, regardless of causality, including: death, a life-threatening event, hospitalization, persistent or significant incapacity, congenital anomaly or birth defect, or serious medical event.

Just because a problem is reported does not mean that the vaccine caused or contributed to it, Krager said.

According to a July county health department report, VAERS data must be interpreted with limitations in mind, including that reports may contain biased, incomplete, inaccurate, unverifiable information; individual adverse events may be reported repeatedly; an event occurring after vaccination is not necessarily caused by the vaccine.

VAERS data is absolutely being misinterpreted and misused. Its frustrating to see, Krager said. People taking every report and assuming causality with the vaccine is not how VAERS is meant to be used.

A perfect example of how VAERS is supposed to be used is when it caught the link between an increased risk of rare blood clots with low platelets and the Johnson & Johnson vaccine, Krager said. Vaccine use was paused when the problem was investigated, and officials determined the vaccine is still worth getting because risk of death from COVID is so much higher, he said.

Krager said health officials are not seeing increases in deaths linked to the COVID-19 vaccines.

Another misunderstanding of COVID-19 data is that the vaccine caused the delta variant and that vaccinated people are primarily spreading it, Krager said.

The delta variant, known as B.1.617.2, was first identified in India in October 2020 before vaccines were available, according to the CDC. The more contagious strain began spreading in the United States this spring and is now the most predominant variant in the country.

The COVID-19 vaccines dont shed the virus, according to the CDC. Preliminary evidence suggests that fully vaccinated people who are infected can spread it to others. Vaccination helps prevent severe illness and death.

Theres a clear correlation between lower vaccination rates and higher case rates, Krager said.

As of Wednesday, San Juan County had the lowest two-week case rate in the state, at about 150 new cases per 100,000 people. The county had the highest vaccination rate in Washington as of Monday, with 77.2% of residents initiating vaccination and 71.4% fully vaccinated.

The same trend is seen nationwide, Krager said, with less-vaccinated states seeing higher case numbers.

Most cases are being driven by unvaccinated people, he said. Its not that vaccinated people are not getting sick, but theyre not a primary driver. Thats even more true with hospitalizations and deaths.

About 80-85% of cases are in unvaccinated people, Krager said. The vaccines provide more protection against severe illness, hospitalization and death, he said.

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Cowlitz County health official addresses COVID-19 vaccine misinformation - The Columbian

"What's the goal of this vaccine? The stated goal by (CDC Director Dr. Rochelle Walensky) and others is to prevent serious infection, and all the data today, published by the CDC, presented by the CDC, is it's done exactly that," Dr. Paul Offit, a top vaccine expert and US Food and Drug Administration adviser said Friday.

"There's been no evidence of clear erosion of protection against serious disease," he said.

The conversation around vaccines has fluctuated because health experts are learning new information about the coronavirus and its variants.

But amid the debate, experts are consistent in noting the effectiveness of the Covid-19 vaccines.

"Remember, even the current doses of vaccines still protect you so well from hospitalization and death. We are not back in early 2020 or even early 2021 for those of us that have not received boosters yet. We are still protected against the worst effects of this virus," Dr. Megan Ranney, professor of emergency medicine at Brown University, told CNN on Friday.

And it's because of such a high degree of protection that Offit emphasized that America can make significant headway against the pandemic by simply vaccinating the unvaccinated.

He added that the federal government's messaging on booster shots has been confusing and frustrating.

"It's confusing to people. I've had a number of calls and emails from people saying, 'Wait, so I'm not fully protected anymore?'" Offit said.

"I think the message that should come out right now is if you received two doses of mRNA vaccines, you have a very high chance of not having serious infection, and that that has lasted up until the present moment, that you should consider yourself protected against serious illness."

Plan for booster shots is 'confusing people,' top FDA official says

However, on Thursday, FDA Acting Commissioner Dr. Janet Woodcock said the administration still doesn't have enough safety data on booster shots.

"Why would you announce this? Well, we need to have a plan and the plan would involve the vaccination of very large numbers of people in the United States with a booster dose," Woodcock told Dr. John Whyte of WebMD during a virtual interview published online Thursday.

"We have to make a plan somewhat before we have all the data and I think that, John, is what's confusing people," Woodcock said.

"The trends that we're seeing in resistance to the virus in fully immunized people lend us to believe that at some point we're going to cross that threshold and we're going to see hospitalizations and more serious disease and when that happens, we want to be ready," Woodcock told Whyte.

On Friday, officials told CNN there have been conversations within the Biden administration about scaling back the booster plan due to concerns the FDA might only be prepared to recommend boosters for people who had the Pfizer/BioNTech Covid-19 vaccine. Currently, the agency doesn't have enough data on Moderna to make that recommendation, an official told CNN.

Pfizer/BioNTech applied for a booster shot FDA approval last month, and Moderna said it applied Wednesday.

Florida sees decline in Covid-19 cases

Meanwhile, there was some good news from Florida, which broke its own record for new Covid-19 cases multiple times last month. Over the past week, there was a decline in cases, according to data published Friday by the state health department.

The state averaged about 18,463 daily new cases last week, equivalent to 588.1 new cases per 100,000 people each day between August 27 and September 2. That is a drop from the prior week, when the average of daily new cases was 21,678.

Florida has fully vaccinated slightly more than half of its population, according to CDC data.

Meanwhile, the mask mandate feud between Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis and public school districts continues. DeSantis has been sparring with school officials for weeks because he banned mask mandates in schools, but some implemented them anyway.

Florida Education Commissioner Richard Corcoran sent individual letters to nine districts demanding the districts "document how your district is complying with Florida Department of Health emergency rule" as part of a non-compliance investigation. He also threatened to withhold state funds if districts did not fully comply with DeSantis' order to include a parent opt-out in school mask mandate policies.

CNN has confirmed all nine districts have now responded to Corcoran's August 27 letter.

CNN's Naomi Thomas, John Bonifield, Sanjay Gupta, Jacqueline Howard, Lauren Mascarenhas, Leyla Santiago and Sara Weisfeldt contributed to this report.

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Already vaccinated against Covid-19? Experts say you're protected, even without a booster shot - CNN

The Food and Drug Administration gave its full approval to Pfizers coronavirus vaccine for people 16 and older at the end of August. Within days vaccine doses in Illinois spiked from about 26 thousand Aug. 25, to more than 122 thousand doses administered Aug. 26, according to the Illinois Department of Public Health.

But some folks are still hesitant to be vaccinated against COVID-19.

Dr. Evelyn Figueroa, vice president of UI Health Medical Staff, says she hears some of these concerns firsthand.

The first thing that people talk about is that the vaccine is too new and that it needs more time to be tested in spite of it making it through all three phases of FDA trials, Figueroa said. But its actually been vigorously tested. Its been tested more than any other vaccine, upward of 10 times more than common vaccines.

About 80% of UI Healths patients are Latinx or African American. According to the Illinois Department of Public Health, about 14.2% of the people getting vaccinated are Hispanic or Latino. The Census Bureau shows that 17.5% of the population is estimated to be Hispanic.

People that come to the doctor are more likely to be willing to share the discussion and the decision with me, Figueroa said. There is a lag in Illinois and I do see that in the clinic. However, and fortunately, I can only count on one hand the amount of Latinx folks that Ive had in clinic that havent taken the vaccine.

Claudia Reyes, a former nurse who lives with Lou Gehrigs disease, also called amyotrophic lateral sclerosis or ALS. Reyes has been hesitant to get the COVID-19 vaccine because of the effects it may have. But shes also had trouble getting to a site.

I was more concerned with how it would affect me having ALS and with breathing altogether since (COVID) is a respiratory thing. Since I am disabled, I dont really go out a lot, Reyes said. Now at this point, its more of me just being taken to get it.

Reyes believes accessibility is a barrier for those who have challenges getting around.

Some people do have family that are able to take them, but a lot have family that works so its a difficult situation, Reyes said.

She believes a lack of useful information has kept people from getting the COVID-19 vaccine. And she says that it needs to come from the people they trust.

A lot of it is misinformation that they get, Reyes said. A lot of times doctors just tell you, You should get the vaccine, but they dont give you a reason why. They dont explain what the consequences are or that you might feel sick. If youre going to get a better crowd to do things its going to stem from people they know, like the churches if theyre involved there.

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How Health Care Workers are Handling Concerns Around COVID-19 Vaccine - WTTW News

To bring the pandemic under control, almost everyone needs to come to see getting vaccinated as the unquestioned, right thing to do for themselves and for others. What business leaders decide about Covid-19 vaccine mandates will go a long way toward fostering the social norms that can either mitigate or exacerbate this pandemic. When a company mandates Covid-19 vaccinations, the normative information they provide is that these vaccinations are safe and effective and that getting vaccinated is widely accepted and done. As more companies mandate vaccines, over time this becomes the shared understanding, and getting vaccinated becomes the default choice for employees and customers. Conversely, when companies dont mandate vaccination, it delegitimizes the Covid-19 vaccines by suggesting that the science is unsettled and that waiting to get vaccinated is prudent. By establishing and diffusing social norms that uphold science, company vaccine mandates can help get the pandemic under control.

Now that the FDA has fully approved Pfizers Covid-19 vaccine and President Biden has urged companies to require vaccination, many leaders will grapple with what to do. In making their decisions, theres a larger societal calculation they should consider: the role their organization can play in either normalizing or delegitimizing getting vaccinated.

Vaccine hesitancy is a growing social problem. In 2019, the WHO declared it a top-10 threat to global health, with clear economic implications. In response to this rising threat, what business leaders decide about Covid-19 vaccine mandates will go a long way toward fostering the social norms that can either mitigate or exacerbate this pandemic.

This power that leaders have is missing from the debate about vaccine mandates. Both proponents and opponents seem stuck on the legalistic view that mandates compel people to get vaccinated. But this ignores the potent symbolic value that mandates provide, especially in times of intense societal flux.

We face a novel disease, and were armed with a new vaccine created using a novel approach. With Covid-19 surging around the world and new variants emerging, we also face unprecedented uncertainty. This combination of novelty and uncertainty means that societal understandings of what we are or should be doing are up for grabs. Therefore, the faster we firmly establish social norms that uphold public health (e.g., getting vaccinated), the faster they become taken-for-granted ways to behave, and the faster we bring the pandemic under control.

Heres how company vaccine mandates can play a forceful norm-setting role in this social process.

The social problem we face is what social scientists call social mobilization. Social mobilization involves getting large numbers of people to perform a behavior that is only beneficial when done by the vast majority of people. Recycling is a quintessential example. If just one person recycles, their efforts are negligible. But if millions of people recycle, there are tremendous environmental benefits. The same logic holds for vaccination the real benefit occurs only when the overwhelming majority of the population is vaccinated. To address a range of social problems, the task is to get a significant number of people to engage in certain behaviors.

Research shows that social norms play a critical role in social mobilization. This is because social norms contain normative information about what people are or ought to be doing. When people see certain behaviors (e.g., getting vaccinated) as commonplace, they then believe there is widespread agreement that the behavior is the good or right thing to do and are more likely to act in accordance with the social norm.

And heres where mandates come in.

Mandates and laws not only have a legal function (you are required to do X) but also a symbolic function (signaling that doing X is a natural thing to do). What keeps most of us from committing crimes is not constantly thinking about the rules and the punishments we may suffer for breaking them. Rather, we automatically do things that feel normal. Take seatbelts as an example. Most of us wear them not because were afraid of being punished for violating the law, but because doing so has become natural. As sociological research has documented, laws and regulations help create social norms and shared understanding because its societal institutions governments, schools, and businesses that collectively construct the world we take for granted. In essence, through their policies, approaches, and procedures, social institutions help create a world where certain things become unquestioned.

When a company mandates Covid-19 vaccinations, the normative information they provide is that these vaccinations are safe and effective and that getting vaccinated is widely accepted and done. As more companies mandate vaccines, over time this becomes the shared understanding, and getting vaccinated becomes the default choice for employees and customers.

Conversely, when companies dont mandate vaccination, it delegitimizes the Covid-19 vaccines by suggesting that the science is unsettled and that waiting to get vaccinated is prudent. When companies like Southwest and American Airlines do not mandate vaccination, it signals an institutional lack of confidence in the vaccines. In turn, this stance fuels vaccine hesitancy among the 30% of unvaccinated adults in the U.S., thereby preventing the social mobilization needed to bring the pandemic under control. With their stance on vaccination, these companies become part of the problem.

Some leaders may be hesitant to enter the fray on vaccination, viewing it as a political issue. Yet companies have long led on important social issues, collectively constructing social norms through their policies and actions. For example, the early adoption of domestic partner benefits by corporations helped to normalize gay marriage. More recently, companies have taken stances on climate change and opposing voter suppression efforts in Georgia. In doing so, these company stances reinforce and uphold important norms like protecting the environment and supporting human rights. Indeed, the notion of apolitical management is a myth that has been widely discredited. The truth is that the politicization of our time requires leaders to take stances because failing to do so will allow anti-science and anti-democratic efforts to spread.

To bring the pandemic under control, almost everyone needs to come to see getting vaccinated as the unquestioned, right thing to do for themselves and for others. By establishing and diffusing social norms that uphold science, company vaccine mandates can help do just that.

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Why Business Leaders Need to Mandate the Covid-19 Vaccine - Harvard Business Review

One of two teachers at a Texas junior high school who died last week of COVID-19 was nervous about returning to school because of the delta variant, her sister told CNN.Natalia Chansler, a 6th-grade social studies teacher at Connally Junior High in Elm Mott, Texas, died of COVID-19 complications on Aug. 28, just days after testing positive for the virus, according to an email sent to parents by the Connally Independent School District.Chansler, 41, was not vaccinated because she had underlying health conditions and was trying to decide which vaccine would be best for her, her older sister, Annice Chansler, told CNN New Day on Friday.Video above: Fourth-grade teacher supports vaccine mandates"She was close to getting vaccinated and then of course this happened," Annice Chansler said. "And then she was really more thinking, 'Okay, when I get better I'm going to go ahead and get vaccinated.' But of course, she passed before that."Chansler was last on campus on Aug. 25, according to the district.Annice Chansler said her sister wore a mask even though there is no mask mandate in the district. Connally ISD does recommend masks for students and staff.She said her sister was nervous during the first wave of COVID-19 infections, adding, "When the variant came, she was even more nervous. But she had to work. She had no choice."Connally ISD closed every school in the district after classes on Monday in response to the deaths of Natalia Chansler and 59-year-old David A. McCormick, who taught 7th-grade social studies at the junior high.McCormick died from COVID-19 on Aug. 24 and had last been on campus on Aug. 18, which was the first day of school, according to the district.Neither teacher had been identified as having close contact with a COVID-positive person on campus and the district has no definitive evidence of how they contracted the virus, Connally ISD Assistant Superintendent of Human Resources Jill Bottelberghe told CNN in an email Wednesday night.The district serves the cities of Lacy Lakeview and Waco and the communities of Elm Mott, Chalk Bluff, and Gholson.The closure would give the district a chance to deep clean and sanitize all of its facilities and hopefully give anyone exposed to the virus a chance to isolate and recover, the district said in its announcement.It also canceled all extracurricular activities, including high school football games.In-person classes are scheduled to resume on Tuesday, after the Labor Day holiday.The district said the two teachers were beloved and described their deaths as heartbreaking. District administrators brought in counselors to support students and help them cope with their loss.Bottelberghe said that as of Aug. 30, there had been 165 positive COVID-19 cases reported and that more cases were identified in testing on Wednesday.A drive-through testing session held Wednesday morning for staff, students and community members had a 26% positivity rate, according to a post on the district's Facebook page.Annice Chansler said Natalia was the youngest girl out of their 10 siblings and described her as "fun-loving" and "the best baby sister I could ever have."She said her sister was quiet but had an inviting personality."Students, parents, anyone who came across Natalia, they immediately liked her and liked her personality," she said.McLennan County, Texas, where the district is located, has had 34,951 confirmed cases and 547 deaths, according to Johns Hopkins University.Annice Chansler says some of her family members who were reluctant to get the shot are now getting vaccinated."They've made that move and I'm so proud of them for doing that. I hate that it took Natalia's passing for them to understand how important it is, but I'm just glad they've done it," she said.

One of two teachers at a Texas junior high school who died last week of COVID-19 was nervous about returning to school because of the delta variant, her sister told CNN.

Natalia Chansler, a 6th-grade social studies teacher at Connally Junior High in Elm Mott, Texas, died of COVID-19 complications on Aug. 28, just days after testing positive for the virus, according to an email sent to parents by the Connally Independent School District.

Chansler, 41, was not vaccinated because she had underlying health conditions and was trying to decide which vaccine would be best for her, her older sister, Annice Chansler, told CNN New Day on Friday.

Video above: Fourth-grade teacher supports vaccine mandates

"She was close to getting vaccinated and then of course this happened," Annice Chansler said. "And then she was really more thinking, 'Okay, when I get better I'm going to go ahead and get vaccinated.' But of course, she passed before that."

Chansler was last on campus on Aug. 25, according to the district.

Annice Chansler said her sister wore a mask even though there is no mask mandate in the district. Connally ISD does recommend masks for students and staff.

She said her sister was nervous during the first wave of COVID-19 infections, adding, "When the variant came, she was even more nervous. But she had to work. She had no choice."

Connally ISD closed every school in the district after classes on Monday in response to the deaths of Natalia Chansler and 59-year-old David A. McCormick, who taught 7th-grade social studies at the junior high.

McCormick died from COVID-19 on Aug. 24 and had last been on campus on Aug. 18, which was the first day of school, according to the district.

Neither teacher had been identified as having close contact with a COVID-positive person on campus and the district has no definitive evidence of how they contracted the virus, Connally ISD Assistant Superintendent of Human Resources Jill Bottelberghe told CNN in an email Wednesday night.

The district serves the cities of Lacy Lakeview and Waco and the communities of Elm Mott, Chalk Bluff, and Gholson.

The closure would give the district a chance to deep clean and sanitize all of its facilities and hopefully give anyone exposed to the virus a chance to isolate and recover, the district said in its announcement.

It also canceled all extracurricular activities, including high school football games.

In-person classes are scheduled to resume on Tuesday, after the Labor Day holiday.

The district said the two teachers were beloved and described their deaths as heartbreaking. District administrators brought in counselors to support students and help them cope with their loss.

Bottelberghe said that as of Aug. 30, there had been 165 positive COVID-19 cases reported and that more cases were identified in testing on Wednesday.

A drive-through testing session held Wednesday morning for staff, students and community members had a 26% positivity rate, according to a post on the district's Facebook page.

Annice Chansler said Natalia was the youngest girl out of their 10 siblings and described her as "fun-loving" and "the best baby sister I could ever have."She said her sister was quiet but had an inviting personality.

"Students, parents, anyone who came across Natalia, they immediately liked her and liked her personality," she said.

McLennan County, Texas, where the district is located, has had 34,951 confirmed cases and 547 deaths, according to Johns Hopkins University.

Annice Chansler says some of her family members who were reluctant to get the shot are now getting vaccinated.

"They've made that move and I'm so proud of them for doing that. I hate that it took Natalia's passing for them to understand how important it is, but I'm just glad they've done it," she said.

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Texas teacher on the fence about COVID-19 vaccine dies three days after testing positive - KCRA Sacramento

U.S. health officials want you to get another shot of Covid-19 vaccine. But some experts in the vaccine world dont think we should be using the B word to describe that extra jab.

Dont call it a booster, they insist.

Instead they argue an additional dose of one of the messenger RNA vaccines should be termed a third dose, a part of the primary series of shots that awaken and arm immune systems to deal with the threat of the SARS-CoV-2 virus.

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Is it semantics? Does it make any material or practical difference what we call it? Does approving use of a booster shot put the country on a slippery slope toward annual Covid vaccinations? STAT asked a number of experts for their views. Lets explore what we learned in the process.

Earlier this week, Stanley Plotkin called in to a meeting of the Advisory Committee on Immunization Practices, which guides the Centers for Disease Control and Preventions vaccine policy.

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Plotkin needed no introduction to anyone who works in the fields of immunology or vaccinology. He developed the rubella vaccine now bundled in a measles, mumps, and rubella (and sometimes varicella, a.k.a. chickenpox) vaccine that has been used for decades. He is the minence grise of vaccine science, and the senior author of the definitive textbook on these preventatives, Plotkins Vaccines.

All that to say when Stanley Plotkin speaks, people listen.

During the meeting, Plotkin urged the ACIP to stop talking about Covid vaccine boosters. The third shot should be considered the final dose of the original series of vaccines, he argued. We may or may not need later boosters at a later date, Plotkin said. But for now, the third dose is finishing the job of generating a robust and lasting immune response.

Its well known in vaccinology that when using inactivated or non-replicating vaccines vaccines that dont use a live-virus to trigger an immune response multiple doses are needed. A priming dose (or doses) is followed four to six months later with an additional jab that helps the immune response to mature, he said. Many vaccines given in childhood are administered in a three-dose series, with a gap of several months between the second and third shots.

Does that mean the original two doses of the Pfizer and Moderna vaccines given three and four weeks apart, respectively were poorly timed? Plotkin, who consults with multiple vaccine manufacturers, was not ready to go there. The durability of the immune response would likely have been better had the doses been spaced out further, but going months between dose 1 and dose 2 might have led to more Covid deaths, he told STAT.

He suggested the word booster carries a connotation that is not helpful as the country struggles to increase Covid vaccine acceptance: My point, basically, was that calling them boosters implies that the first doses were failures.

Calling the third dose a booster is immunologically incorrect and also gives the wrong impression that somehow the vaccines failed when they could not really have been expected to give a long-lasting immunity from the first doses, Plotkin said.

The Pfizer-BioNTech partnership has strung together a series of firsts with Covid vaccines. It was the first vaccine to be put into use, the first to get full Food and Drug Administration approval, and is the first to apply to give a third dose which the company is calling a booster.

Pfizer is not asking the FDA to revise the license for Comirnaty, its Covid vaccine, to classify it as a three-dose vaccine.

We expect the primary series to remain at two doses for healthy individuals, the company said in an emailed reply to questions from STAT. Our application to the FDA requests approval of a booster dose for those 16 years of age and older.

[Its important to understand that this application relates to a third dose for everyone who got two doses of the Pfizer vaccine. Earlier the CDCs vaccine advisory panel, ACIP, recommended that people who are moderately to severely immunocompromised be given this vaccine in a three-dose series, because they do not respond adequately to two doses.]

Increasing reports of breakthrough infections in fully vaccinated people fueled the decision to use third doses of the mRNA vaccines. The Biden administration points to more infections among people who were vaccinated early in the vaccine rollout to suggest protection is waning. Scientists who are critical of the decision argue that the rise in breakthrough cases coincided with the surge of the more infectious Delta variant and declining support for social distancing measures, making it difficult to tease out what is really going on.

Kathleen Neuzil, director of the Center for Vaccine Developmentat the University of Maryland Medical School, thinks getting more adults vaccinated, both domestically and internationally, and getting children younger than 12 vaccinated would do more to control Covid than giving healthy Americans a third dose at this stage.

I am clearly in the get-vaccine-to-the-world camp, Neuzil said. It is absolutely the right thing to do, its also the smart thing to do. We are going to be chasing variants forever if we cant get the majority of the population vaccinated and convert this from a severe disease to hopefully just a nuisance disease.

Ali Ellebedy, who studies the immune systems response to infection and vaccination, isnt sure healthy adults currently need a third jab of the Pfizer or Moderna vaccines, based on what he is seeing.

His laboratory at Washington University in St. Louis, studies the lymph node and bone marrow of vaccinated people to see how their immune systems are engaging to generate protection against SARS-2. Most of the people his group has studied are still generating a response to their second dose of vaccine even six months after that dose was received, he said.

I dont think that will be hurt by additional immunization. I just think that well, we really didnt even reach the full potential of the second dose [yet], said Ellebedy, who is an associate professor of pathology and immunology.

Usually, you give an additional immunization to re-engage the system. But at least in most of the individuals we looked at, the system is already engaged, he said.

Ellebedy thinks a third dose will help the people who get it, though hes not sure whether a third-shot program will have a clinically important impact. By that he means it may not change the risk of severe disease that twice-vaccinated people face because they already have good protection. The immune memory we are seeing is really robust, he said.

We probably wouldnt be talking about third shots or boosters whatever you want to call them but for the emergence of the Delta variant, he said. Delta really changed the game.

For the record, Ellebedy will get a third shot when hes eligible. I do think there will be a benefit from having a third shot.

Pfizer CEO Albert Bourla has publicly raised the prospect that annual Covid shots may be required. The companys official line is that annual jabs may be needed, but there arent enough data yet to say one way or the other.

Plotkin agrees. The idea of an annual booster will depend on what happens to the antibody level after this third dose, he said. I would hope that the antibodies would persist pretty well. But if Im wrong and also if the virus changes considerably that like with influenza, you need to adjust the vaccine to the mutations of the virus then I guess I could imagine annual vaccination. But we just dont have the data yet.

Ellebedy said, having seen the immune responses reaction to vaccination, he doubts well need fourth shots in the near future. But he added the caveat that until the Delta variant emerged, he didnt think wed need a third dose so soon either.

Maybe not, said Jeffrey Duchin, health officer for the Seattle and King County public health department.

I dont think its that meaningful for the general public, said Duchin, who is also a professor of infectious diseases professor at the University of Washington.

What the general public wants to know and it needs to know is how many doses do I need? And when do I need to get them? And the scientists need to figure out whether those doses are going to be in the form of a primary series that would be relatively closely spaced together over a period of months or primary series and then a booster, which typically comes at a more delayed timeframe, down the road maybe years, he said.

Its also important for people to understand that the scientific and public health communities are still learning about the best way to use these vaccines, Duchin said. That means as new knowledge is acquired, recommendations on use of the vaccines including, potentially, boosters are going to evolve.

I do think that this is going to be an evolution in our understanding and fine tuning of how we use these vaccines based on what we learn. So, the next set of recommendations may not be the last, he said. Theyll be the best set of recommendations that we can make based on the information thats currently available. And I think as we learn more, we may find that we can make improvements. Maybe, maybe not. But I think time will tell whats the best way to use these vaccines.

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The debate over Covid-19 vaccine boosters and what to call them - STAT

(The Bayou Facebook Page) The Bayou, a Salt Lake City bar and restaurant, faced protests on Saturday, August 28, 2021 due to their vaccination policy for dine-in service.

| Sep. 4, 2021, 12:00 p.m.

People calling The Bayou, a bar and restaurant in Salt Lake City, used to hear information on dining hours and takeout orders when called in but that has changed since they started a policy of only serving vaccinated customers.

If you would like to argue with us about how this is either unconstitutional, or illegal, or violates your misguided idea of what HIPAA stands for, please visit our website first, where we will have most certainly addressed your issue, The Bayous voicemail states, after explaining its policy. Our website should also dissuade you of any crazy idea that we are either discriminating or are somehow secret communists.

The Bayou was closed for dine-in service from late Feb. 2020 until May 2021, when their staff and ownership were able to be vaccinated against COVID-19. They decided to reopen their dining room with a requirement that customers show proof of vaccination.

But some people did not take the policy well, and last Saturday they marched in front of the restaurant, chanting, holding signs and yelling at the owners, who shouted back from the roof.

When the policy was first announced the group Utah Business Revival drummed up a bunch of protest and drama about the restaurants policy, according to Mark Alston, the co-owner of The Bayou. The attention came with death threats but The Bayou didnt back down.

Alston says the group which protested last week, Utah Patriots, was a spinoff of Utah Business Revival.

Last weeks protest fell flat in a crucial way, according to Alston. The Bayou was closed when the marchers arrived.

They werent disruptive to our business because they had clearly done about the same high quality of research on our business theyve done on the vaccine in the sense that they showed up when we were closed, Alston said.

Not only did they show up when we were closed, but they showed up with a significant number of small children, and were a bar. So Im not sure what the point of having small children protesting that they cant come into a bar is, but that was kind of how well they were researching.

Despite the protest and the threats, Alston said most of The Bayous customers supported their policy.

Across the street, the live music venue The State Room implemented a similar policy to The Bayous, requiring all patrons, staff, and artists to show proof of vaccination with corresponding ID or proof of negative test dated within 24 hours of attending an event.

Chris Mautz, a co-owner at The State Room, said he hasnt seen many customers, if any, requesting refunds.

We were working internally amongst our staff leading into [the new policy], so it certainly was no surprise on that front, Mautz said. Patrons, you know, overwhelmingly, the response has been very positive. You know, it does feel like if you are paying attention to whats happening out there in the touring world and the venue world, that the real momentum and movement is to be heading in this direction.

The State Room has done some research in possibly holding a vaccination event and Mautz feels they are encouraging vaccinations for their patrons.

For Alston at The Bayou, the point is that they dont want to contribute to the spread of the COVID.

Doing the right thing isnt supposed to be easy its not easy, Alston said. " Were basically losing money every day were open right now. But the alternative is for us to stay closed, at least for us. I mean, bars and restaurants are a huge spread point for the Coronavirus, and were not going to be a part of making everything worse, especially with as bad as it is in Utah right now.

Although The Bayou moved back to dine-in service with the vaccine, increasing case rates have put a damper on their expected return to normal. In the meantime, Alston says the situations created by the pandemic have been bad but thats just sometimes life sucks. And you have to deal with it.

What I will say about these protesters is that, especially in Utah, where theres no government mandate requiring this, but there are a handful, a very small handful of businesses trying to do the right thing, that [the protesters] claiming some sort of American freedom by protesting us operating our businesses the way we see fit, and the way we feel safe, is incredibly anti-American.

See the original post:

Businesses find protests and support in the wake of COVID-19 vaccine and testing policies - Salt Lake Tribune

Belmont needs to do better.

The release of the universitys COVID-19 vaccination rates Tuesday showed only 63% of students received vaccinations against the virus. The university strongly encourages the vaccine on a voluntary basis, but as case numbers start to rise once again at Belmont and beyond this time with deadlier, more contagious variants in the mix its clear that strong encouragement isnt enough.

The upward trends in case frequncy tell an all-too-familiar story, and last year, that story ended with campus abandoned and students isolated.

Belmont needs to take the next step when it comes to protecting our community by mandating the COVID-19 vaccine for students, faculty and staff.Taking into account legitimate medical and religious exemptions, every member of our Belmont community needs to get the vaccine; after seeing Tuesdays report and its dismal figures, a mandate seems to be the only thing that will make it happen.

As of Friday, over 700 colleges in the U.S., both public and private, require students to have theCOVID-19 vaccination in order to attend.

Belmont can take action now to join those ranks. In doing so, we can acknowledge what it truly means to love your neighbor and protect those who are most vulnerable.

Almost all serious and fatal COVID-19 cases now occur among the unvaccinated. At the beginning of the pandemic, it was age and underlying conditions that determined your risk of hospitalization or death from COVID-19. Now, its vaccine status.

Fully vaccinated individuals account for only 6.5% of new COVID-19 cases, according to a Houston study referenced by the CDC. Breakthrough infections happen, but, in the vast majority of cases, people who have been vaccinated avoid a trip to the hospital.

In addition, many routine shots are already required by the university. Mandating a vaccine to protect against COVID-19 would not be unprecedented in the slightest. Before they are allowed to attend, students are required to file immunization records showing vaccines against hepatitis B, meningitis, chickenpox, measles, mumps, rubella, tetanus, diphtheria and whooping cough.

Point being, vaccine mandates at Belmont already exist and are observed with no issue.

There is no excuse not to require another fully approved vaccine that can prevent a disease responsible for 4.55 million deaths worldwide in less than two years.

Upper administration strongly encourages all students to get the COVID-19 vaccine, so what is holding up a mandate? The answer is politics, and as excuses go, that one is pretty lousy. COVID-19 is an issue of public health, not public opinion, and the best way to slow the spread of the virus and to prevent infection by delta or other variants is to get vaccinated, according to experts at the CDC.

People use politics to justify a lot of bad decisions. If we allow fear of controversy to dictate our own safety, we are setting a precedent for the university to make decisions not because they are in our communitys best interest, but because they will invite the least amount of backlash. That is dangerous.

In refusing to mandate the vaccine at the university, we are giving oxygen to the thoroughly disproven dialogue coming from the most polarizing vaccine deniers. That is dangerous.

With city-wide restrictions lifted and the booming Nashville social scene open again, the bars are open and bands are back in town. It is inevitable that Bruins will want to live this year up to its full potential, but without the vaccine to protect our community, students risk being carriers in a chain of transmission that could end with someone losing their life.

That is dangerous.

Masks and social distancing served as the tourniquet to stop the bleeding, but vaccinations are what will close and heal the wound.

We have to stop living in the past when it comes to this pandemic.

We have to mandate the vaccine. We have to move forward.

This op-ed was written by Anna Jackson and Sarah Maninger. More information about Belmonts current health and safety policies can be found on the university webpage for COVID-19 data reporting.

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OPINION: Belmont must join other US universities in mandating the COVID-19 vaccine - Belmont Vision

Texas A&M announced university COVID-19 vaccination incentives for staff and students in a university wide email on Sept. 3.

Fully vaccinated students and staff can submit proof of vaccination to enter to win large prizes by Oct. 14. The drawing for prizes will take place on Oct. 15, overseen by Ingram, Wallis & Co., P.C.

According to the email, five graduate or undergraduate students will receive $14,500 to use toward educational purposes including tuition and fees. Additionally, five faculty members have the chance to receive a variety of prizes.

Meanwhile, five Texas A&M or A&M System employees will be able to choose from two football Flex Packs, a $500 gift card to Barnes & Noble, a campus parking permit, membership to the Student Recreation Center or season tickets for OPAS or the Brazos Valley Symphony, the email reads.

A&M is still offering COVID-19 vaccines free of charge on campus for those wishing to get immunized before they are due for the drawing.

According to the email, the following requirements must be met in order to enter the random drawing:

"Individuals must be fully vaccinated against COVID-19 either one or two shots depending on the type of vaccine and manufacturer.

Individuals must submit their entry form directly to A&M's incentive program.

Individuals must be either enrolled or employed at A&M or one of the A&M System agencies, which are outlined in the programs terms and conditions."

If you have lost your vaccination card, you can contact your vaccine provider and ask for a copy of it from the Texas Immunization Registry, which keeps vaccine records for the Texas Department of State Health Services.

Read more:

A&M announces COVID-19 vaccine incentives | News | thebatt.com - Texas A&M The Battalion

AURORA, Colo. (KDVR) People visiting the Southlands Shopping Center on Saturday had the opportunity to get the COVID-19 vaccine.

I thought it was going to be a bit longer, but it wasnt, just in and out, Thomas Fallon of Westminster said.

The states mobile vaccination site parked at the shopping center from 8 a.m. to 4 p.m. Its part of a statewide push to get more people vaccinated as hospitalizations surge.

I feel a lot safer, I also feel like the people around me are a lot more safe, Elijah Goldberry said.

The mobile vaccination site will be back at the Southlands Shopping Center on Saturday, Sep. 25.

Click here for more information on Colorado mobile vaccine clinics.

Continued here:

COVID vaccination bus stops at Southlands Shopping Center - FOX 31 Denver