Our nurses, doctors, technicians, and first responders have gone above and beyond to provide care and comfort to patients in this battle with COVID-19. @POTUS and I see you and recognize the work you have done to keep our communities safe and healthy. You are heroes. pic.twitter.com/aE3HSft4hx — Vice President Kamala Harris (@VP) October 23, …
COVID-19 Coronavirus Updates: Saturday / Sunday, Oct. 23-24Post + Comments (40)
Recipients of the Johnson & Johnson shot are rushing to get boosters. Some people are actually getting the shots, but others have encountered problems w/ pharmacies & clinics unprepared for the expanded booster rollout https://t.co/AL47Dzt33i
— delthia ricks ? (@DelthiaRicks) October 24, 2021
.@US_FDA's vaccines expert panel meets Tuesday to weight the benefits/risks of approving Pfizer's #Covid vaccine for kids 5-11. An FDA analysis suggests the benefit outweighs the risk of myocarditis currently, with lots of Covid spreading: @matthewherper. https://t.co/bji3nHc9hx
— Helen Branswell (@HelenBranswell) October 23, 2021
Please read this thread. If you’re following me you probably have been vaccinated, & the people who follow me who have kids are prob getting their kids vaccinated. But almost all of us know apprehensive parents, so this may help you to convince them to do the right thing https://t.co/Jxgu2rbMn3
— Dana Houle (@DanaHoule) October 24, 2021
There will be 28 million kids newly eligible for vaccination.
There is little doubt that they are at risk from COVID & Delta. 6 million kids have had COVID, over 1 million in the last 6 weeks. 2/
While few kids end up of dying of COVID, cases aren’t all mild, nor do they all end when the acute illness ends. MIS-C is quite problematic.
And cases can be severe in kids. This summer thousands of kids per week were being hospitalized. 3/
Kids are also not terminal COVID cases. Kids spread COVID unknowingly to teachers, parents, grandparents & other adults— as well as kids in school with childhood cancer.
Kids play a vital role in the chain of infection. 4/…
So vaccinating kids 5-11 takes on great importance in reducing spread & deaths & hastening the pandemic’s end with more blanket immunity.
Still for many these reasons may not matter in the face of the slight but non-zero risk of heart problems among some kids. 6/…
Unlike adult vaccinations, 25,000 pediatricians are signed up to vaccinate kids.
Pediatricians are used to communicating directly with parents 1:1 about vaccinations & answering their questions. They are best positioned for this conversation. 14/
Most pediatricians will be able to discuss the mild side effects & the much more rare serious cases & counsel parents about the school, sports & camping situations where they are at real risk— all while asking about family situations & other exposures. 15/…
Sadly not all kids have pediatricians— a more important underlying issue— so community clinics, schools & pharmacists must be armed with the information to answer questions. 16/
The case for vaccinating kids is powerful & doesn’t require shortcuts. It does call for nuance & a real appreciation of how parents will face & consider the question.
Let’s enlist pediatricians & match our scientific progress with great public delivery. /end
Let’s get it done.
Opinion: “Using carrots is politically expedient, but wielding sticks is what’s needed to finally put this pandemic behind us.” https://t.co/pXXeO6F89n
— The Washington Post (@washingtonpost) October 21, 2021
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A team of scientists in South Africa is assembling the equipment needed to reverse engineer Moderna's coronavirus vaccine. They are effectively making an end run around an industry that has prioritized rich countries in vaccine sales and manufacturing. https://t.co/C59SWxIW5o
— The Associated Press (@AP) October 24, 2021
In a pair of Cape Town warehouses converted into a maze of airlocked sterile rooms, young scientists are assembling and calibrating the equipment needed to reverse engineer a coronavirus vaccine that has yet to reach South Africa and most of the world’s poorest people.
The energy in the gleaming labs matches the urgency of their mission to narrow vaccine disparities. By working to replicate Moderna’s COVID-19 shot, the scientists are effectively making an end run around an industry that has vastly prioritized rich countries over poor in both sales and manufacturing.
And they are doing it with unusual backing from the World Health Organization, which is coordinating a vaccine research, training and production hub in South Africa along with a related supply chain for critical raw materials. It’s a last resort effort to make doses for people going without, and the intellectual property implications are still murky…
Some experts see reverse engineering — recreating vaccines from fragments of publicly available information — as one of the few remaining ways to redress the power imbalances of the pandemic. Only 0.7% of vaccines have gone to low-income countries so far, while nearly half have gone to wealthy countries, according to an analysis by the People’s Vaccine Alliance.
That WHO, which relies upon the goodwill of wealthy countries and the pharmaceutical industry for its continued existence, is leading the attempt to reproduce a proprietary vaccine demonstrates the depths of the supply disparities.
The U.N.-backed effort to even out global vaccine distribution, known as COVAX, has failed to alleviate dire shortages in poor countries. Donated doses are coming in at a fraction of what is needed to fill the gap. Meanwhile, pressure for drug companies to share, including Biden administration demands on Moderna, has led nowhere…
Arguing that American taxpayers largely funded Moderna’s vaccine development, the Biden administration has insisted the company must expand production to help supply developing nations. The global shortfall through 2022 is estimated at 500 million and 4 billion doses, depending on how many other vaccines come on the market…
China says 76% of population have received complete doses of COVID-19 vaccines https://t.co/7wL8pewtYi pic.twitter.com/pgJrpaAd7E
— Reuters (@Reuters) October 24, 2021
India reports 15,906 new COVID-19 cases in last 24 hours https://t.co/mENo6fJ5Oc pic.twitter.com/qS6E6kNLvA
— Reuters (@Reuters) October 24, 2021
Melbourne to ease more COVID curbs as 80% vaccination rate nears https://t.co/yKkiJPoycJ pic.twitter.com/5xSKUQpzi3
— Reuters (@Reuters) October 24, 2021
While the pandemic is receding in many countries, Russia's outbreak is worse than everhttps://t.co/xS19vQCFoO
— The Moscow Times (@MoscowTimes) October 23, 2021
Ukraine’s coronavirus infections and deaths have reached all-time highs, prompting authorities to close schools in the capital for two weeks. Similar measures were ordered in other hard-hit parts of the country, which is only about 15% fully vaccinated. https://t.co/iVE2TAV2tW
— The Associated Press (@AP) October 23, 2021
As outbreak worsens, COVID-19 cases in eastern Europe near 20 million https://t.co/tPTJ3gmmOk pic.twitter.com/xIpSfz3b7N
— Reuters (@Reuters) October 24, 2021
Austria's chancellor says unvaccinated people in the country could face new lockdown restrictions if coronavirus case numbers continue to rise. https://t.co/X48u0TuGCI
— AP Europe (@AP_Europe) October 23, 2021
France is recommending Covid and flu vaccinations in the same visit. https://t.co/hepj3xPFPS
— delthia ricks ? (@DelthiaRicks) October 23, 2021
Covid-19: Irish health service facing 'one of the most difficult winters' https://t.co/4X6FeIAy3g
— BBC News (World) (@BBCWorld) October 23, 2021
Namibia has discontinued the use of Russia's Sputnik V Covid-19 vaccine following concerns raised by neighboring South Africa https://t.co/L3WFb5jNw1
— The Moscow Times (@MoscowTimes) October 23, 2021
Across the Andes, a region that has reported some of the world’s highest covid-19 death rates, teams are traversing deserts, mountains, rainforests and rivers to vaccinate isolated communities. https://t.co/iEfqgzk9cy pic.twitter.com/3BjxnY19p8
— The Washington Post (@washingtonpost) October 22, 2021
In this remote part of the northern department of La Guajira, home to the country’s largest Indigenous population, there are no paved roads, no electricity, no running water and no other access to the vaccines that would protect their communities. https://t.co/iEfqgz2yl0 pic.twitter.com/JWFjkqAiR5
— The Washington Post (@washingtonpost) October 22, 2021
IPSI Palaima, an organization founded in 2007 by an Indigenous woman who grew up in the area, is one of the only vaccine providers in Alta Guajira with a permanent refrigerator, in a medical center powered by solar panels. https://t.co/iEfqgz2yl0 pic.twitter.com/pctrv3yDQg
— The Washington Post (@washingtonpost) October 22, 2021
Travel is only part of the challenge confronting the team.
There is also a lack of information about the coronavirus, hesitation around vaccines and a general mistrust of authorities. https://t.co/iEfqgz2yl0 pic.twitter.com/2Dts4S3NYW
— The Washington Post (@washingtonpost) October 22, 2021
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What happens when teens are not vaccinatedhttps://t.co/UtBCmgJ7bf pic.twitter.com/0NyyJWX4Ob
— Eric Topol (@EricTopol) October 23, 2021
Not good news for antivaxxers.
Those who plan on never getting the vaccine should expect to get COVID every 1.5 years for the rest of their lives. Which, incidentally, may not be very long on average, considering the increased risk of MI, PE and stroke with every infection. pic.twitter.com/keXUzsMlZg
— Justin Pearson (@Jeffersoniandoc) October 20, 2021
?Behold—homemade 100 Corsi-Rosenthal air filter boxes!
?100 x 30 students/class = 3,000 students who will have another layer of protection from #COVID19 at school.
Great job @BkPhilanthropy! Let’s everyone make them for our kids. This will save lives—#COVIDisAirborne. pic.twitter.com/pY90eXsCtS
— Eric Feigl-Ding (@DrEricDing) October 23, 2021
3) here is how to build a Corsi-Rosenthal box… special thanks to @CleanAirCrewOrg – tag them with any photos of boxes you build yourself / with your school. https://t.co/0s3VXJhUIX pic.twitter.com/veomEw43lD
— Eric Feigl-Ding (@DrEricDing) October 23, 2021
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Cities, states and businesses have reported that more than 9 out of 10 of their workers are complying with vaccine mandates. But other American workers opposed to the requirements are deciding whether to quit their jobs over them. https://t.co/WJk7zpM3yB
— The Associated Press (@AP) October 23, 2021
“I can unequivocally say [it was] the best decision we ever made.”
^^^a Texas CEO on implementing a vaccine requirement.
https://t.co/2FJUi0h71E— Ben Wakana (@benwakana46) October 16, 2021
The elite anti-vaccination crusade, which is a combination of manufacturing grievances to juice ratings and an attempt to politically damage Biden by abetting a deadly pestilence, is one of the most breathtakingly cynical and nihilistic things I've seen in my life https://t.co/Tdska60sY2
— Stephen Judkins (@stephenjudkins) October 22, 2021
The study isn't claiming that being vaccinated against Covid-19 protects you from other things that can kill you. It's talking about how people who got vaccinated are more likely to have better risk assessment and health consciousness than those who are unvaccinated. https://t.co/M3lYCunMdP
— Conspiracy Bullshit (@ConspiracyBull1) October 23, 2021
A game of horseshoes. https://t.co/pwWNPBs7Nm
— Ragnarok Lobster (@eclecticbrotha) October 24, 2021