Tag: COVID-19 vaccine

Biden’s new goal is 200 million COVID-19 vaccinations in first 100 days

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President Biden on Thursday announced an updated goal to administer 200 million COVID-19 vaccinations in his first 100 days in office during his first press conference.

During his first official press briefing, Biden laid out his new target after the U.S. reached his original goal of 100 million vaccinations on Friday, the president’s 59th day in office. 

“That’s right: 200 million shots in 100 days,” Biden said. “I know it’s ambitious, twice our original goal. But no other country in the world has even come close, not even close to what we are doing. I believe we can do it. Continue reading.

Executive resigns from hospital that offered early vaccines to employees at Trump’s Chicago hotel

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The chief operating officer of a small Chicago hospital resigned on Wednesday after reports that he used coronavirus vaccines meant for low-income residents to vaccinate employees at his luxury wristwatch dealer, his regular steakhouse and his condo building — which is former president Donald Trump’s Chicago tower.

The resignation of Anosh Ahmed was announced late Wednesday by Loretto Hospital, a hospital serving a majority-Black neighborhood on Chicago’s West Side.

Ahmed’s actions — reported over the past week by the news site Block Club Chicago — had raised concerns that Loretto executives were putting their friends ahead of their patients. The city of Chicago had already cut off Loretto’s supply of new vaccines while it investigated. Continue reading.

Johnson & Johnson under pressure to deliver promised vaccine doses to states

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Delays could undercut vaccinations in areas lacking access to deep freezers needed for one of the other authorized COVID-19 vaccines

Johnson & Johnson is under pressure to deliver its promised 20 million vaccine doses by next week, as several state public health officials indicate they are receiving few or no shots this week and have no idea how much they’ll get later.

The uncertainty comes at a time when the demand for vaccines continues to overwhelm supply, a weary country braces for the spread of viral variants and hundreds of people die from COVID-19 each day. It raises questions about how successful the company was in meeting a central goal of the massive U.S. investment in vaccine development: to manufacture sufficient supplies of shots before they were proven effective in order to hit the ground running. 

The delays could undercut vaccinations in rural and low-income areas without access to deep freezers needed for one of the two other authorized vaccines. Johnson & Johnson’s single-dose shot is helpful in those places since it’s durable for three months in the refrigerator. Continue reading.

National Guardsmen transporting Covid-19 vaccines held at gunpoint in Texas

The suspect is accused of stopping three National Guard vans, identifying himself as a detective, ordering the guardsmen out of their vehicles and demanding to search their vans.

National Guardsmen transporting Covid-19 vaccines through Texas on Monday were held at gunpoint, police said.

Larry Harris is accused of following a convoy of National Guard soldiers before attempting to run them off the highway with his truck several times in Lubbock County, according to Idalou police Chief Eric C. Williams.

Harris, 66, of Willcox, Arizona, eventually turned his truck into oncoming traffic, stopping three National Guard vans near Idalou, Williams said. He then pointed a gun at a soldier, identified himself as a detective, ordered the guardsmen out of their vehicles and demanded to search their vans, according to police.

The guardsmen were uniformed and transporting vaccines to Matador, Texas. Continue reading.

AstraZeneca accused of cherry-picking vaccine study data

WASHINGTON — AstraZeneca may have included “outdated information” in touting the effectiveness of its COVID-19 vaccine in a U.S. study, federal health officials said Tuesday in an unusual public rift that could further erode confidence in the shot.

In response, AstraZeneca said that it is working on more up-to-date information and that the more recent findings are consistent with its initial announcement that the vaccine offered strong protection. It promised an update within 48 hours.

In an extraordinary rebuke, just hours after AstraZeneca on Monday announced its vaccine worked well in the U.S. study, an independent panel that oversees the study scolded the company for cherry-picking data, according to a senior administration official. Continue reading.

GOP picks fight over states’ rights in coronavirus relief

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Republicans are aiming to stir up a legal battle over Biden’s pandemic relief bill, targeting a provision in the American Rescue Plan they say is an unconstitutional infringement on states’ ability to devise their own tax policies.

A provision in the bill that forbids states from using billions in aid to offset any tax cuts they might implement has sparked a backlash from Republican lawmakers and state attorneys general. Their criticisms could lay the groundwork for a court battle over states’ rights and government overreach akin to the Supreme Court case over the fate of ObamaCare.

This time, the GOP appears to be framing the issue as the Biden administration getting in the way of state and local leaders cutting taxes for their own residents. Continue reading.

U.S. to send AstraZeneca vaccine to Canada and Mexico

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The U.S. will send around 1.5 million doses of the AstraZeneca coronavirus vaccine to Canada, and 2.5 million to Mexico, Reuters reports.

Why it matters: This is the first time President Biden has agreed to share doses purchased by the U.S. with other countries.

  • The U.S. has come under increasing pressure for refusing to export doses, including the AstraZeneca vaccine, which has not yet been approved in the U.S. and is not expected to play a major role in the U.S. vaccine rollout.

Details: The deal comes in the form of a loan, with the U.S. sending doses to Canada and Mexico now with the expectation that they will return doses to the U.S. later this year. Continue reading.

European regulator says AstraZeneca coronavirus vaccine is ‘safe and effective,’ but link to rare blood clots cannot be ruled out

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BERLIN — Europe’s medical regulator concluded Thursday that AstraZeneca’s coronavirus vaccine is “safe and effective,” but it could not rule out a link to a small number of rare and unusual blood clot cases — an assessment that opened the way for European countries to restart paused inoculation programs, while not fully allaying fears surrounding side effects.

The European Medicines Agency said it investigated 25 cases, including nine deaths, that involved particularly rare blood clots: one type of brain clot and another condition that clogs multiple veins in the body. The agency noted that was out of the 20 million people in Europe and Britain who have received the vaccine developed by AstraZeneca and the University of Oxford.

“A causal link with the vaccine is not proven, but is possible and deserves further analysis,” the agency concluded. Continue reading.

The Trump-Tucker cold war has begun

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One of the mysteries that lingers around President Donald Trump’s final days in office is why he chose to downplay the deployment of the coronavirus vaccine.

Granted, his last days took place in the shadow of the insurrection on Jan. 6 that followed his constant insistences that the 2020 presidential election had been stolen. But at some point that month, Trump himself quietly got the vaccine and, despite having nearly nothing else on his schedule, he never undertook any substantial effort to promote vaccination. No events focused on it. There was little mention of the vaccine publicly, in part because he was so focused on injecting his election-fraud nonsense into his followers.

Part of the impulse may have been one central to Trump’s approach since he took office. Trump always likes to give himself wiggle room for people to interpret his position however they want. He’ll say things vaguely enough to send one message to his base while maintaining deniability when questioned by the media. He’ll add quick caveats that, as needed, can be built into primary defenses or new rationales for support. For all of the praise Trump gets from his base for his directness, he is always careful to leave some escape routes allowing people to take different paths. Continue reading.

House passes Rep. Liebling bill to increase COVID-19 vaccine payment rate for MA enrollees

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SAINT PAUL, MINNESOTA – Today the Minnesota House passed legislation, authored by Rep. Tina Liebling (DFL – Rochester), to raise the payment rate for administering COVID-19 vaccinations to Medical Assistance (MA) enrollees. Administration of COVID-19 vaccines is more complex than other vaccines such as the flu shot, resulting in higher costs for providers. The bill takes advantage of recent federal action to give providers the higher rate available under Medicare.

“As more doses of COVID-19 vaccines become available, this bill takes advantage of the American Rescue Plan passed by Democrats in the U.S. Congress to help more Minnesotans get vaccinated,” Rep. Liebling said. “Some of the COVID vaccines have unique requirements, including very cold storage. This bill will help cover costs for pharmacies, clinics, and other providers, with the goal of increasing the number of providers administering the vaccine as supplies increase.”

The rate currently paid for Medical Assistance enrollees is $12.84 per dose. The Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services (CMS) recently updated the Medicare rate to an average of $40 per dose. Under the American Rescue Plan, the federal government will provide 100% matching funds for COVID-19 vaccine administration to MA enrollees at the higher Medicare rate.

The bill next goes to the Minnesota Senate for its consideration. Video of the floor session will be available on House Public Information Services’ YouTube channel.