Tag: pandemic

U.S. will allocate $1.7 billion to fight variants as new global infections almost double

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The White House announced Friday that it will allocate $1.7 billion to fight coronavirus variants as the nation races to vaccinate people before the pathogen can mutate in new and concerning ways.

The funding, which will come from the most recent federal stimulus package, will target the detection, surveillance and mitigation of the variants. The original strain of the coronavirus now makes up only about half of infections in the United States. Continue reading.

CDC finds less than 1 percent of fully vaccinated people got COVID-19

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The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) said the agency has documented about 5,800 “breakthrough” COVID-19 cases among the millions of Americans who are fully vaccinated, totaling far less than 1 percent of fully vaccinated people.

“Vaccine breakthrough infections make up a small percentage of people who are fully vaccinated,” the CDC told The Hill in a statement. “CDC recommends that all eligible people get a COVID-19 vaccine as soon as one is available to them.”

The CDC told The Hill on Thursday that about 7 percent of the recorded breakthrough cases resulted in hospitalization and about 1 percent of the people who contracted breakthrough infections died.  Continue reading.

Gov. Walz and Lt. Gov. Flanagan Update: April 16, 2021

A Message on Daunte Wright 

The Governor and First Lady are praying for Daunte Wright’s family and loved ones as Minnesota mourns another life of a Black man taken by law enforcement. The death of Daunte Wright is a tragedy. He was a young man, a father, a friend, and a son. We must take meaningful action to fight systemic injustice, pursue bold police accountability reforms, and make lasting change.

In these challenging times, the Governor’s duty is to preserve the First Amendment right of peaceful protests while protecting public safety. We must ensure communities have the space they deserve to grieve and call for change.

Continue reading “Gov. Walz and Lt. Gov. Flanagan Update: April 16, 2021”

Woman blames Trump for anti-vaxxer friend’s COVID-19 death: ‘He could have saved so many lives’

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After a West Virginia woman died from COVID-19, her best friend blames former president Donald Trump’s refusal to enthusiastically embrace vaccinations.

The former president got his shot in private before leaving office and has offered meager approval since leaving the White House, and Anastacia Kelley feels certain her college roommate would have gotten one for herself if Trump had gotten his in the public eye, reported The Daily Beast.

“Absolutely, without a doubt,” Kelly told the website. “If he had come out and even taken a picture of himself getting it, he could have saved many lives.” Continue reading.

Johnson & Johnson vaccine suspension – a doctor explains what this means for you

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A panel of experts met on April 14, 2021, to review evidence on blood clots that have been reported in seven people after they received the one-dose Johnson & Johnson COVID-19 vaccine. The panel, the Advisory Committee on Immunization Practices, or ACIP, advises the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention on immunization. It delayed voting on a recommendation to the CDC so that members can further evaluate risk and data. The clotting, which resulted in one woman’s death, led the CDC and FDA on April 13, 2021, to pause use of the J&J vaccine. Dr. William Petri, an infectious disease physician and immunologist at the University of Virginia School of Medicine, answers questions to help put this development in context.

What is this potential side effect of the J&J vaccine for COVID-19?

The potential side effect is a blood clot in the veins that drain blood from the brain. This is called central venous sinus thrombosis. In the vaccine-associated cases of this, platelets in blood, which are important for making clots, have been lower than normal. This same side effect has been seen in the AstraZeneca COVID-19 vaccine that also uses an adenovirus to deliver the coronavirus spike glycoprotein. In the case of the AstraZeneca vaccine, the clotting disorder has been linked to antibodies against platelet factor 4 (PF4) that are apparently induced by the adenovirus backbone of the vaccine. This antibody causes the clotting disorder by activating platelets to clot. 

Continue reading “Johnson & Johnson vaccine suspension – a doctor explains what this means for you”

Texas Gov. Abbott says state is ‘very close’ to herd immunity. The data tells a different story.

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Texas Gov. Greg Abbott said “simple math” is behind the recent decline of coronavirus cases in his state: Take the number of people who have been vaccinated and combine it with the number who have been infected. The result, he argued, is something “very close” to herd immunity — the point at which enough of the population is immune that the virus can no longer easily spread.

“We remain very vigilant and guarded and proactive in our response, but there is simple math behind the reason why we continue to have success,” Abbott, a Republican, said on “Fox News Sunday.” The equation “means, very simply, it’s a whole lot more difficult for covid-19 to be spreading to other people in the state of Texas.”

Experts have said that immunity from vaccinations and prior infections may have partly contributed to declining cases nationwide after the virus’s winter surge. But in Texas, the numbers Abbott cited don’t add up to herd immunity, according to estimates of that threshold. Continue reading.

Biden eyes bigger US role in global vaccination efforts

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The Biden administration is taking initial steps toward an expanded role in global COVID-19 vaccination efforts, while stopping short of sharing excess doses on a wide scale.

The federal government has been amassing doses, growing its supply into what will likely become a surplus as the rest of the world struggles with shortages.

In fact, the U.S. has purchased enough vaccines to immunize every adult in the country three times over. Aid groups now say it’s past time to start giving away the surplus. Continue reading.

FDA expects J&J vaccine pause to last “a matter of days”

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The U.S. FDA on Tuesday recommended an immediate halt of the use of Johnson & Johnson’s COVID-19 vaccine, citing cases of a rare blood clot disorder that six women developed within two weeks of receiving the shot.

The latest: Acting FDA Commissioner Janet Woodcock said at a briefing that she expects the pause to only last “a matter of days,” as health officials investigate the data surrounding the “extremely rare” blood clots.

Driving the news: The FDA’s recommendation was issued “out of an abundance of caution” and to prepare health providers to recognize and treat patients appropriately, since these types of blood clots require a different kind of treatment. Continue reading.

DeSantis takes legal action against the CDC — but some legal experts believe it’s a ‘political stunt’

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Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis (R) is pushing back against the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention’s (CDC) extension of the pandemic-related “no-sail” order for cruise lines.

According to the Miami Herald, DeSantis has filed a lawsuit against the public health agency in an attempt to expedite cruise ships returning to sea. In a press conference held on Thursday, April 8, DeSantis was joined by Florida Attorney General Ashley Moody (R), U.S. Rep. Carlos Gimenez (R), and Miami-Dade County Commission Chairman Jose “Pepe” Diaz (R) as he explained his reason for taking legal action.

“Today Florida is fighting back,” said DeSantis. “We don’t believe the federal government has the right to mothball a major industry for over a year based on very little evidence and very little data. I think we have a great chance for success.” Continue reading.

Nearly 20 percent of the U.S. population is fully vaccinated. Many countries may not hit that target this year.

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In the United States, the good vaccine news keeps coming. For much of the world, things look bleak.

As of Thursday, just short of 20 percent of the U.S. population was fully vaccinated, giving some 66 million people a strong measure of protection against a disease that has already killed more than 500,000 Americans.

By contrast, Covax — a World Health Organization-backed push for equitable distribution — aims to secure enough doses to cover up to 20 percent of the people in participating countries by the end of 2021, but it may not meet that relatively modest goal, experts warn. Continue reading.