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First doses of new COVID-19 vaccine arrive in Minnesota

State expects to get 42,500 doses of the Johnson & Johnson vaccine this week

The first doses of the new Johnson & Johnson COVID-19 vaccine arrived in Minnesota on Wednesday, just days after receiving federal regulatory approvals.

An M Health Fairview facility in southeast Minneapolis took possession of 980 vials, enough to vaccinate 4,900 people.

Other health care providers in the state, including Essentia Health in Duluth, received the vaccine Wednesday as part of a shipment of 42,500 doses coming to Minnesota this week. Continue reading.

Dems tighten relief benefits, firm up support for virus bill

WASHINGTON — President Joe Biden and Democrats agreed to tighten eligibility limits for stimulus checks Wednesday, bowing to party moderates as leaders prepared to move their $1.9 trillion COVID-19 relief bill through the Senate.

At the same time, the White House and top Democrats stood by progressives and agreed that the Senate package would retain the $400 weekly emergency unemployment benefits included in the House-passed pandemic legislation. Moderates have wanted to trim those payments to $300 after Republicans have called the bill so heedlessly generous that it would prompt some people to not return to work.

The deal-making underscored the balancing act Democrats face as they try squeezing the massive relief measure through the evenly divided, 50-50 Senate. The package, Biden’s signature legislative priority, is his attempt to stomp out the year-old pandemic, revive an economy that’s shed 10 million jobs and bring some semblance of normality to countless upended lives. Continue reading.

Type 1 diabetes, rare diseases added to Minnesota COVID-19 vaccine priority groups

More qualifying medical conditions added to list.

People with Type 1 diabetes and some high-risk rare medical conditions, such as ALS and cystic fibrosis, were added to the state’s next phase of COVID-19 vaccine priority groups by health officials Tuesday.

Those diseases were not initially included when the qualifying medical conditions were announced last Thursday. Minnesota Health Commissioner Jan Malcolm said the changes were made to align the state with federal guidance.

The state also added workers in the court system and some public health jobs that were not included in earlier phases as it published seven pages of detailed guidance on who qualifies for COVID-19 shots after the 70% of those 65 and older are vaccinated by the end of the month. Continue reading.

Merck to help make Johnson & Johnson vaccine

President Biden will announce Tuesday that Merck will help make Johnson & Johnson’s COVID-19 vaccine, administration officials said, a partnership between rival companies that could help produce more doses.

Johnson & Johnson’s vaccine was authorized by the Food and Drug Administration over the weekend, adding a third vaccine to the U.S. arsenal, but supplies will be limited at first. The entire existing supply of 3.9 million doses are going out the this week, with none coming next week, and the company has faced production delays.

The partnership with Merck, a major vaccine manufacturer, could help address the shortages, though it was not immediately clear how many more doses Merck will be able to make or when they will be available. Continue reading.

Minnesota health systems to identify at-risk patients for next round of COVID-19 shots

More than 1.3 million Minnesotans will become eligible for shots in April.

People with health conditions that make them susceptible to COVID-19 complications most likely will be contacted by their health care provider when it’s their turn to get the shot.

“We’ll use our electronic medical record as well the expertise of our clinicians to help identify patients,” said Dr. John Misa, interim chief medical officer for the Allina Health Group.

Once 70% of the state’s seniors are vaccinated, perhaps by the end of March, the state’s rollout plan calls for the medically vulnerable and essential workers to become the next priority groups. Continue reading.

Biden: US will have vaccine for all adults by end of May

President Biden on Tuesday said that the United States will have enough vaccine supply to vaccinate all American adults for the coronavirus by the end of May, crediting a “stepped-up process” under his administration.

Biden made the announcement while outlining a partnership between Merck and Johnson & Johnson to produce the latter’s single-dose coronavirus vaccine.

“We’re now on track to have enough vaccine supply for every adult in America by the end of May,” Biden said in remarks Tuesday afternoon at the White House. “When we came into office, the prior administration had contracted for not nearly enough vaccine to cover adults in America. We rectified that.” Continue reading.

Rep. Dean Phillips (CD3) COVID-19 Vaccine Update

Hi Neighbors,

Two weeks ago, I sent you an email with information about Minnesota’s vaccine rollout. Thanks to your helpful feedback and response to that email, my team and I have added additional information and some updates since my last email. This information was compiled on March 3rd, 2021 and will change as more vaccines become available, so please check here for the latest information about COVID-19 vaccinations from the Minnesota Department of Health.

As you may know, the Food and Drug Administration (FDA) issued an emergency use authorization for a new, single-shot COVID-19 vaccine on Saturday, February 27th, 2021. This is now the third vaccine to receive authorization in the US. You can read about the FDA’s process for review and authorization here. While I expect that this will further accelerate the timeline for vaccine distribution, as President Biden noted earlier this week, please read on to find more information about the current state of vaccine distribution in Minnesota:

VACCINES FOR VETERANS

The U.S. Department of Veterans Affairs (VA) is currently offering and administering COVID-19 vaccines to veterans already receiving care from the VA, based on CDC and VA risk criteria. If you’re eligible to get a vaccine, the VA health care system will contact you. Veterans who are not enrolled or do not currently receive care at VA can visit VA’s Eligibility web page to learn more.

How (Most) Americans Rose To The Pandemic Challenge

This month, the United States recorded a horrific milestone: 500,000 deaths from COVID-19. Someday, historians will look back at the pandemic and note all the mistakes and failures that helped make it the most deadly outbreak of disease in more than a century. But if they are wise, they will also note this past year as one in which Americans were asked to rise to a challenge — and did so in impressive fashion.

It’s tempting to focus our attention on all the ways our leaders and people went wrong. The 45th president repeatedly lied about the severity of the threat, resisted basic measures to curb it and held out false hopes that only aided the virus. Some Americans protested against public health mandates and selfishly disregarded medical guidance, spreading disease in the process.

But the noise and fury in some quarters obscure the broad acceptance of unwanted changes. For the most part, Americans have recognized the danger and have embraced unprecedented obligations. Continue reading.

S.D. Gov. Kristi Noem says she nailed the pandemic response. Fauci: The numbers ‘don’t lie.’

South Dakota Gov. Kristi L. Noem (R), a conservative favorite, received a standing ovation at the Conservative Political Action Conference when she criticized Anthony S. Fauci, director of the National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases, for being “wrong a lot” — which the nation’s top infectious-disease expert said was unhelpful.

While making a dig at Fauci at the Orlando conference, Noem touted her personal liberties approach to the coronavirus pandemic, forgoing recommendations to mandate masks and instead allowing a massive motorcycle rally later tied to a national surge in infections. Despite Noem’s claims of success, her state has reported more infections per resident than any state besides North Dakota.

“South Dakota is the only state in America that never ordered a single business or church to close,” she said to applause and cheers. “We never instituted a shelter-in-place order. We never mandated that people wear masks. We never even defined what an essential business is.” Continue reading.

Governors lift COVID-19 restrictions despite risks of new spike

Governors across the country are lifting coronavirus restrictions, including mask mandates and capacity limits, despite warning signs ahead of a new spike from virus variants.

The moves in several states are risky, given that while cases and hospitalizations have declined dramatically in recent weeks, they are still at extremely high levels, and are showing signs of ticking back up again.

More infectious variants of the virus, particularly one first found in the United Kingdom, are adding to the threat of a new spike as they become more prevalent. Continue reading.

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