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Biden to Elevate Science Adviser to His Cupboard

Biden to Elevate Science Adviser to His Cabinet

President-elect Joseph R. Biden Jr. announced Friday that he would strengthen the role of science in his cabinet to “refresh and reinvigorate our national science and technology strategy.”

Mr. Biden will appoint Eric S. Lander, director of the Broad Institute of MIT and Harvard, director of the Office of Science and Technology Policy and appoint him as scientific advisor to the president. For the first time, the position is raised at cabinet level.

The appointments signal a drastic shift from the role of science in the Trump administration. President Trump left the science advisor position blank for 18 months while his administration routinely ignored guidance from government scientists on topics such as the coronavirus pandemic, chemical pollution and climate change.

Mr Biden has made other appointments to the White House that could add science to decision-making, such as the appointment of John Kerry, former Secretary of State and Democratic Senator, a special envoy for the President on Climate Change, and the creation of a new White House Office of Climate Policy under the direction of Gina McCarthy, who served as Administrator of the Environmental Protection Agency under President Barack Obama.

“Eric Lander is a true Renaissance scientist with a deep understanding of the many fields of science and their interrelationships,” said Marcia McNutt, president of the National Academy of Sciences. “At a time when the nation and the world are facing complex challenges that require the full power of the natural, life, environmental, social, biomedical, and engineering sciences, Eric is an inspired choice of a scientist of international standing for ensuring that science guides sound policy. “

In Friday’s announcement, Mr. Biden also announced that Alondra Nelson, professor at the Institute for Advanced Study in Princeton, New Jersey and president of the Social Science Research Council in Washington, DC, would serve as assistant director for the Office of Science and Technology Policy.

Frances H. Arnold and Maria Zuber will serve as external co-chairs of the President’s Science and Technology Advisory Board, a council of prominent volunteer experts from outside the federal government. Dr. Arnold, a protein scientist at Caltech, won the Nobel Prize in Chemistry in 2018, just the fifth woman to do so. Dr. Zuber, vice president of research at MIT, was the first woman to lead a NASA spacecraft mission.

“Science will always be at the forefront of my administration – and these world-renowned scientists will make sure that everything we do is based on science, facts and the truth,” Biden said in his announcement. “Your trusted guidance will be vital as we come together to end this pandemic, bring back our economies, and make new breakthroughs to improve the quality of life for all Americans. Your insights will help America plan a better future, and I am grateful that you answered the call for service. “

In 2018, Mr. Trump appointed Kelvin Droegemeier, then vice president of research at the University of Oklahoma, as its director of the science and technology policy bureau. Although Dr. Droegemeier is highly regarded for his weather research, many scholars felt that he failed to convince Mr. Trump to stand behind a significant improvement in American science.

“I give him an A for effort and an F for performance,” a science policy expert told Science Magazine in October about Dr. Droegemeier.

During his two years in the White House, Dr. Droegemeier back in January and made headlines. He expelled two employees after they published brochures about climate deniers with a White House logo.

Mr Trump left the President’s Advisory Council on Science and Technology inactive for 33 months. When he restored it in 2019, only one of his appointees was an academic scientist, and private industry representatives filled out the council.

Dr. Lander, the candidate for the Scientific Advisor, is best known as one of the directors of the Human Genome Project. With his PhD in mathematics, he created elegant methods for sifting through genetic data, mapping genes and discovering their functions and roles in diseases.

Dr. Lander founded the Broad Institute, which became a premier research center for genome sequencing. Broad researchers have also done some of the pioneering work on CRISPR, the technology for manipulating DNA. Dr. Lander previously served as co-chair of Mr. Obama’s Scientific Advisory Board.

“Our country represents science and technology at the most important moment since World War II,” said Dr. Lander in a press release from the Broad Institute. “How we react will shape our future for the rest of this century. President-elect Biden understands the centrality of science and technology, and it is my great honor to have the chance to serve the nation. “

In a letter to Dr. Lander, which Mr Biden released on Friday, reminded the President-elect how President Franklin Delano Roosevelt had asked his science advisor Vannevar Bush a series of questions about how science could benefit the United States. Mr. Biden introduced Dr. Lander raised his own questions about improving public health, climate change, technology, and ensuring that the benefits of science are fully shared by all Americans.

“I look forward to receiving your recommendations – and to working with you, your team, and the broader scientific community to create solutions that will ease the burden on the American people, create new jobs and opportunities, and drive American leadership in the world restore stage, ”wrote Mr Biden.

Mr. Biden and Vice President-elect Kamala Harris will be Dr. Lander, Dr. Nelson, Dr. Arnold and Dr. Zuber at a live event on Saturday at 1:30 p.m. Eastern Time in Wilmington, Del.

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New Covid variant first present in UK might develop into dominant pressure in U.S. by March, CDC says

New Covid variant first found in UK could become dominant strain in U.S. by March, CDC says

The director of the Center for Disease Control and Prevention, Dr. Robert Redfield, holds up a CDC document that reads “COVID-19 Vaccination Program Interim Playbook for Jurisdiction Operations” while speaking during a Senate Subcommittee on Appropriations hearing on Capitol Hill Washington, United States, Sept. 16, 2020 .

Andrew Harnik | Reuters

A more contagious strain of the coronavirus, first found in the UK late last year, could become the dominant strain in the United States by March as the nation seeks to vaccinate people against the disease, according to a new study by the Centers for Disease Control fights contraception.

“The modeled trajectory of this variant in the USA shows Rapid growth in early 2021, which will become the predominant variant in March, “according to the CDC study published on Friday.

The researchers warned that increasing its spread could place a greater strain on the country’s hospitals and require greater public health action to curb transmission of the virus until enough people are vaccinated. Increased surveillance of the mutating viruses, coupled with better compliance with public health measures such as masks, hand washing and physical distancing, could help slow the spread of the virus.

“These measures will be more effective if taken sooner rather than later to slow the initial spread of variant B.1.1.7. Efforts to prepare the health system for further spikes in certain cases are warranted,” the researchers said.

So far, according to CDC data, which were last updated on Wednesday, the country has only found 76 Covid-19 cases with the highly infectious variant B.1.1.7. However, many of the identified cases involved people with no travel history, suggesting that the variant is spreading undetected in the community.

Global health experts have claimed that while the new strain found in the UK and a similar strain found in South Africa are more contagious, they do not appear to make people sick or make a person more likely to die.

However, more cases could ultimately lead to additional hospital stays if the nation is already home to record Covid-19 patients. The rapid transmission of the new variants could require more people to be vaccinated in order to achieve something called herd immunity, the researchers said.

Herd immunity is when enough of the population is immune to a disease, either through vaccination or natural infection, which makes it unlikely to spread and protect the rest of the community, the Mayo Clinic says.

The US has been sluggish in its vaccination efforts and missed its target of vaccinating 20 million people by the end of last year. The US has delivered more than 31.1 million doses to date, but only administered 12.3 million of them, according to CDC data.

There is also concern that the new variants, particularly the strain found in South Africa, may be more resistant to monoclonal antibody treatments, which have been shown to reduce the chances of someone ending up in hospital if infected early enough.

The CDC study

The agency’s investigation found that while the current prevalence of the variant in the US is still unknown, the analysis makes up less than 0.5% of cases. The US has not yet discovered the variant found in South Africa or any other strain identified in Japan in travelers from Brazil, the researchers said.

In their model, the researchers estimated that the variant was 50% more transmissible than the current strains. They also estimate that between 10% and 30% of people already have immunity to pre-existing infections and will be given 1 million doses of vaccine daily starting this month.

Although the prevalence of strain B.1.1.7 is estimated to be low due to its high transferability, it is likely to grow rapidly in early 2021, as the model showed. Even with vaccines, the variant will continue to spread, although the drugs showed the greatest effect in reducing the transmission of the strain in places where the disease was already regressing.

“Early efforts that can limit the spread of variant B.1.1.7, such as universal and increased adherence to public health containment strategies, will leave more time for ongoing vaccinations to achieve higher population immunity,” said it in the study.

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C.D.C. Warns New Virus Variant Might Gasoline Enormous Spikes in Covid Circumstances

C.D.C. Warns New Virus Variant Could Fuel Huge Spikes in Covid Cases

“We know this is an overestimation of current vaccination levels,” said Michael Johansson, a researcher at the CDC. “However, we hope that by the end of this period we will reach a higher level.” ”

All viruses accumulate mutations over time; Most mutations go away, but those that offer an advantage – such as greater contagion or faster replication – can take root and spread. In particular, a more transferable variant is likely to spread quickly among the population.

The new coronavirus has accumulated worrying mutations faster than many researchers expected. Some variants also contain mutations that can easily weaken vaccine protection.

However, the immunity induced by vaccines is extremely strong and should last for years, said Paul Duprex, the Jonas Salk Chair of Vaccine Research at the University of Pittsburgh. “It won’t go from 94 percent effectiveness to 32 percent vaccine effectiveness overnight,” he said.

The variant identified in the UK differs from previous versions of the virus by about 20 mutations, including at least two mutations that may add to its greater risk of contagion. As of Jan. 15, it had been detected in more than 70 cases from 13 states – most recently in Oregon – but the actual numbers are likely to be much higher, said Dr. Butler. “CDC expects these numbers to rise in the coming weeks,” he said.

The CDC has sequenced approximately 71,000 samples of the virus, a tiny fraction of the 23 million people who have been infected in the country to date. But the agency has increased its efforts six-fold in the past two weeks, given B.1.1.7 and other variants, said Dr. Gregory Armstrong, who leads the agency’s molecular surveillance efforts.

State and local health labs have pledged to sequence approximately 6,000 samples per week, a goal they are expected to achieve in about three weeks.

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UnitedHealthcare launches digital major look after employer plans

UnitedHealthcare launches virtual primary care for employer plans

This arranged photo shows a UnitedHealth Group health insurance card in a wallet in this image illustration dated October 14, 2019.

Lucy Nicholson | Reuters

UnitedHealthcare is expanding its telemedicine offering for employers to include a new virtual basic care service that gives doctors access to routine visits on their phones or computers who pay little or no co-payments.

“Before Covid, we worked with big primary care practices … and it was really difficult to get an admission. Patients wanted it, but doctors were really uncomfortable with the whole idea of ​​virtually seeing patients,” said Dr. Donna O’Shea, Chief Medical Officer, Population Health Management at UnitedHealthcare, the health insurance arm of the UnitedHealth Group.

Doctors have been slow to introduce telemedicine, as the reimbursement rates for virtual visits were often lower than for personal care. That has changed because of Covid. Government Medicare’s plans for seniors and private health insurers increased reimbursement rates during the pandemic last year, and inevitably increased adoption of virtual care by doctors and patients.

Now UnitedHealth is betting that patients are ready to take the next step towards a more convenient option.

“We know 25% of people don’t have a basic provider … maybe it’s really difficult to get out of work (to see one) and maybe if it were easier for you, you might have one,” said O’Shea .

The pandemic has also fueled the race to enter virtual basic services. Telemedicine provider Teladoc Health has tried to move beyond one-time urgent care visits to a basic care model for employers. So is Amazon, which is exploring the expansion of its in-house Amazon Care virtual health program for Washington state workers to include a service for other employers.

While non-traditional companies like Amazon can bring expertise to consumer engagement, that is not enough to gain a foothold with employers, said Steven Shill, national director of the BDO Center for Healthcare Excellence & Innovation.

“There must be complementary skills and part of the complementary skills must be healthcare,” Shill said, adding that half of the healthcare executives surveyed by BDO plan to consider new partnerships this year.

“I think these partnerships will come and go until you have the right partners together,” he said.

UnitedHealth is working with telehealth provider Amwell, who will provide the platform for virtual care and clinical services through its medical group. The virtual primary care program will initially be available to employers in 11 states, including Colorado, Texas, Maryland and Washington, DC.

Editor’s Note: This story has been updated to reflect that Donna O’Shea is the Chief Medical Officer for Population Health Management at UnitedHealthcare, the health insurance arm of the UnitedHealth Group.

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Learn how to Reimagine Your Relationship to Alcohol

How to Reimagine Your Relationship to Alcohol

So, identify other activities that you love and increase them. Whether you play sports or hang out with friends, “we need a different outlet to fill the void alcohol leaves,” said Dr. Murphy.

You are more likely to successfully quit alcohol if you have assistance. “Tell about it as many of your friends and family who feel as safe as you can,” said Dr. Murphy.

It also helps to connect with others who share your goal. In the pandemic, it has become difficult to access in-person support meetings, but online help has increased. Free Sobriety Support Communities with Virtual Meetings include Alcoholics Anonymous, SMART Recovery, SheRecovers, In the Rooms, Eight Step Recovery, Refugee Recovery, Recovery Dharma, and LifeRing, among others. Neither good lighting nor charisma are required or expected. Connect from your phone while walking in a park or sitting in your car.

“I go to two meetings a day now,” said Braunwyn Windham-Burke, a reality television star whose sobriety journey is currently on season 15 of The Real Housewives of Orange County. “It’s so easy because it’s in my bedroom.”

A Tempest member, Valentine Darling, 32, of Olympia, Washington, thinks virtual meetings are also more LGBTQ-friendly. “I feel safe when I sit next to my houseplants, so I am more present and authentic: I wear clothes and express my gender-specific characteristics without worrying about someone following me home.”

Many organizations have meetings specifically for people of color, certain age groups, or even professions. Ben’s Friends is a sobriety group aimed at restaurant workers. “We speak a common language in restaurants,” said co-founder Steve Palmer. “You find out he’s a line chef. She is a bartender. These are my people. ‘”

If your month of sobriety has been relatively easy to manage, consider it simply a reset. However, if you’re having trouble sticking to your plan, you may need more than group meetings. You may have AUD, a disease, not a moral failure, and it needs to be treated like any disease. The most effective form of recovery usually involves long-term behavioral therapy and community support, as well as medication as needed.

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New York Gov. Andrew Cuomo holds a press briefing on Covid pandemic

New York Gov. Andrew Cuomo holds a press briefing on Covid pandemic

[The stream is slated to start at 11:00 a.m. ET. Please refresh the page if you do not see a player above at that time.]

New York Governor Andrew Cuomo will hold a press conference on coronavirus Friday, where the state will provide coronavirus vaccines to people beyond healthcare and nursing home residents.

On Tuesday, following new instructions from the federal government, Governor Andrew Cuomo said residents 65 and older and other key workers such as teachers, police officers and transit workers could be vaccinated against the disease.

However, he warned that supplies would be an issue. The New York Department of Health announced this week that appointments for the vaccine will be booked for the next 3½ months and will fill up quickly after the state extends the eligibility.

To date, New York has received more than 1.8 million doses of vaccine, but administered around 37% of those, according to the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. The state has prepared to dispense the doses in larger quantities and to use convention centers and baseball parks as temporary vaccination sites.

Read CNBC’s live updates for the latest news on the Covid-19 outbreak.

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Biden Picks Former F.D.A. Chief Kessler to Lead U.S. Vaccine Efforts

Biden Picks Former F.D.A. Chief Kessler to Lead U.S. Vaccine Efforts

President-elect Joseph R. Biden Jr. has appointed Dr. David Kessler selected to lead Operation Warp Speed, the program to accelerate the development of Covid-19 vaccines and treatments.

Dr. Kessler, a pediatrician and attorney who headed the Food and Drug Administration during the presidencies of George Bush and Bill Clinton, was a key advisor to Mr. Biden on Covid-19 policy and is co-chair of the Covid transition team . 19 Task Force.

He will be Dr. Replace Moncef Slaoui, a researcher and former CEO of a pharmaceutical company who is becoming an advisor to Operation Warp Speed. Dr. Kessler will share primary responsibility for the initiative with General Gustave F. Perna, who will continue to serve as chief operating officer, according to a Biden interim spokesperson. Dr. Kessler’s responsibilities include manufacturing, distributing, and ensuring the safety and effectiveness of vaccines and therapeutics.

“DR. Kessler became a trusted advisor to the Biden campaign and President-elect Biden at the beginning of the pandemic and has informed Biden probably 50 or 60 times since March,” said Anita Dunn, co-chair of the transition team. “When employees are asked: “What do the doctors say?” We know that David Kessler is one of the doctors that President-elect Biden has asked us to do. “

Dr. Kessler will join Operation Warp Speed ​​at a critical time. Although the program is widely credited with enabling the development of two highly potent coronavirus vaccines in record time, it has been much less successful in actually delivering the shots to the public – a complex task that involves numerous federal, state and local authorities Splits.

The Trump administration had promised to vaccinate 20 million people by the end of 2020, but by Thursday just over 11 million vaccinations had been given, according to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.

At some vaccination sites, long lines of elderly people have lined up for hours waiting for a vaccine. For others, a lack of willing recipients forces vendors to offer the shots to random passers-by before the cans expire.

In late fall, Dr. Kessler told Mr. Biden that Operation Warp Speed ​​was not prepared to get the shots into the arms of the people. The transition team announced last week that the president-elect intends to set up vaccination sites in high schools, convention centers and mobile units to reach populations at risk. Details of the plans are expected on Friday.

Dr. In addition to working to accelerate vaccine delivery across the country, Kessler will also focus more on developing therapies. According to transitional officials, he plans to launch an extensive antiviral development program to treat Covid-19. He also plans to build U.S. capabilities to manufacture vaccines against the coronavirus as well as against leading known pathogens.

Dr. Kessler is Dr. Anthony Fauci, the nation’s leading infectious disease doctor who became the leading government voice on the coronavirus pandemic. The two worked closely to accelerate the development and approval of drugs that changed the course of the AIDS epidemic of the 1990s.

Covid19 vaccinations>

Answers to your vaccine questions

If I live in the US, when can I get the vaccine?

While the exact order of vaccine recipients may vary from state to state, most doctors and residents of long-term care facilities will come first. If you want to understand how this decision is made, this article will help.

When can I get back to normal life after the vaccination?

Life will only get back to normal once society as a whole receives adequate protection against the coronavirus. Once countries have approved a vaccine, they can only vaccinate a few percent of their citizens in the first few months. The unvaccinated majority remain susceptible to infection. A growing number of coronavirus vaccines show robust protection against disease. However, it is also possible that people spread the virus without knowing they are infected because they have mild symptoms or no symptoms at all. Scientists don’t yet know whether the vaccines will also block the transmission of the coronavirus. Even vaccinated people have to wear masks for the time being, avoid the crowds indoors and so on. Once enough people are vaccinated, it becomes very difficult for the coronavirus to find people at risk to become infected. Depending on how quickly we as a society achieve this goal, life could approach a normal state in autumn 2021.

Do I still have to wear a mask after the vaccination?

Yeah, but not forever. The two vaccines that may be approved this month clearly protect people from contracting Covid-19. However, the clinical trials that produced these results were not designed to determine whether vaccinated people could still spread the coronavirus without developing symptoms. That remains a possibility. We know that people who are naturally infected with the coronavirus can spread it without experiencing a cough or other symptoms. Researchers will study this question intensively when the vaccines are introduced. In the meantime, self-vaccinated people need to think of themselves as potential spreaders.

Will it hurt What are the side effects?

The vaccine against Pfizer and BioNTech, like other typical vaccines, is delivered as a shot in the arm. The injection is no different from the ones you received before. Tens of thousands of people have already received the vaccines, and none of them have reported serious health problems. However, some of them have experienced short-lived symptoms, including pain and flu-like symptoms that usually last a day. It is possible that people will have to plan to take a day off or go to school after the second shot. While these experiences are not pleasant, they are a good sign: they are the result of your own immune system’s encounter with the vaccine and a strong response that ensures lasting immunity.

Will mRNA vaccines change my genes?

No. Moderna and Pfizer vaccines use a genetic molecule to boost the immune system. This molecule, known as mRNA, is eventually destroyed by the body. The mRNA is packaged in an oily bubble that can fuse with a cell, allowing the molecule to slide inside. The cell uses the mRNA to make proteins from the coronavirus that can stimulate the immune system. At any given moment, each of our cells can contain hundreds of thousands of mRNA molecules that they produce to make their own proteins. As soon as these proteins are made, our cells use special enzymes to break down the mRNA. The mRNA molecules that our cells make can only survive a few minutes. The mRNA in vaccines is engineered to withstand the cell’s enzymes a little longer, so the cells can make extra viral proteins and trigger a stronger immune response. However, the mRNA can hold for a few days at most before it is destroyed.

When George Bush named him head of the FDA in 1990, AIDS was raging in the United States. During the tenure of Dr. Kessler issued the FDA new rules to speed up drug approval. The pharmaceutical industry developed a class of antiviral drugs called protease inhibitors to treat AIDS / HIV, some of which were approved within 40 days.

“Each of these drugs that I took with Tony,” said Dr. Kessler in an interview about Dr. Fauci. “We did it together. We approved more than a dozen antivirals and antibiotics. We expedited approval, but we got it right. “

As a commissioner, Dr. Kessler was also known for his fight against the tobacco industry, which until then was considered sacrosanct in American politics.

Under his direction, and with significant help from investigator Jack Mitchell, the FDA proved that the tobacco industry knew for 50 years that nicotine was an addictive substance and that cigarette manufacturers can control the levels of nicotine in their products.

This work formed the basis of the landmark 1998 Framework Settlement Agreement that forced the tobacco industry to pay states an estimated $ 206 billion in damages and to change the way they advertise and sell tobacco products. It also led to the passage of the Family Smoking Prevention and Tobacco Control Act of 2009, which eventually gave the FDA the power to regulate tobacco products.

Dr. Kessler’s other major government focus was improving the American diet. As FDA commissioner, he developed modern nutrition labels that are easy to read and contain basic nutritional information that was previously often left out.

After retiring from the FDA, Dr. Kessler Dean of the Yale School of Medicine, followed by a position as Dean and Vice Chancellor of the San Francisco Medical School of the University of California. After he whistled at the university for financial irregularities, he was dismissed as dean, but after an independent auditor concluded he was right, the university apologized and he remained a professor.

In 2018, Dr. Kessler Chairman of the Board of the Center for Science in the Public Interest, a monitoring group for nutrition and health, which often criticizes the health policy of the federal government.

For several years he was on the board of directors of Immucor, a provider of transfusion and transplant diagnostic products. In 2020, he joined the board of directors of Ellodi Pharmaceuticals, a spin-off from Adare Pharmaceuticals that specializes in gastroenterological drugs.

This week he stepped down from all three boards and is selling his shares in the companies. He said he didn’t own any vaccine or drug company stocks.

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China’s Covid outbreak nonetheless not at a turning level: Hospital director

China's Covid outbreak still not at a turning point: Hospital director

Medical workers collect swab samples from residents of a Covid-19 testing site in Qiaoxi Township in Shijiazhuang, capital of north China’s Hebei Province, on Jan. 7, 2021.

Yang Shiyao | Xinhua News Agency | Getty Images

BEIJING – Beijing remains on the lookout for a recurrence of Covid-19 infection as neighboring Hebei Province continues to report new cases every day.

Hebei reported an increase in cases earlier in the year. In the last week or so, the province closed its own capital and at least two other areas to contain the spread of the coronavirus.

“The turning point has not yet come (for Hebei),” Gao Yan, director of the Infectious Diseases Department at Peking University People’s Hospital, told reporters on Friday. That comes from a CNBC translation of her Mandarin-language remarks.

Due to previous outbreaks in China, it usually takes about a month to reach a tipping point.

Hebei Province reported 90 new confirmed cases on Thursday, bringing the total number of current cases to more than 550. The majority are in the capital, Shijiazhuang, about three and a half hours by car southwest of Beijing.

Targeted measures in Beijing, such as tracking down people in contact with Hebei cases, are sufficient for the time being, Gao said. She said the likelihood of the Chinese outbreak recurring last year was “very, very small”.

Covid-19 first appeared in the Chinese city of Wuhan in late 2019. The authorities did not lock the city until more than a month later. More than 4,000 people have died from the virus in China, according to Johns Hopkins University. The disease has killed more than 1.9 million people worldwide.

Beijing launched a city-wide vaccination campaign with more than 200 vaccination centers on January 1, 2021 to ensure critical staff are vaccinated before the New Year celebrations. Hundreds of millions of people usually travel the month around the public holiday, which officially falls in mid-February of this year.

According to official figures, in about two weeks from 5 p.m. local time on Thursday, the capital administered 1.5 million vaccine doses. At least for a large vaccination center in the Chaoyang district – where large foreign companies and embassies are located – the vaccines came from the state-owned Sinopharm company.

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Some Medical College students Wait in Line for Covid Vaccine, Whereas Others Share Selfies of Photographs

Some Medical Students Wait in Line for Covid Vaccine, While Others Share Selfies of Shots

In early January, Nali Gillespie watched her social media feed fill with vaccine selfies: photo after photo of peers at other medical schools across the country proudly posing next to a syringe with their dose of either Moderna or Pfizer Covid-19 vaccine .

But Ms. Gillespie, who is in her third year at Duke University School of Medicine and focused more on research than clinical training, knew she wouldn’t be able to join them just yet.

Since she only volunteers to go to an ambulance once a week, she is less exposed to Covid patients and waits in line behind classmates who work in intensive care units and emergency rooms.

“You hear that in some schools, students are getting their second dose and then there are some of us who are not even scheduled for our first,” said Ms Gillespie.

When she does her weekly shift, she knows that she is still prone to exposure to the coronavirus. “You are becoming increasingly aware that an asymptomatic patient can come into the clinic and you see them in a small exam room,” she said. “The risk is very real.”

In December, the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention announced guidelines prioritizing who should receive vaccines first at the start of the rollout. Although the guidelines were broad, medical students learned that they could join the first wave of healthcare workers, particularly those involved in caring for Covid patients. However, the rollout has varied widely across the country’s 155 medical schools, each of which has prioritized based on the availability of vaccine doses in their state.

This has created stress for some medical students as they continue their clinical rotations. Although some schools prohibit students from treating Covid patients, enforcing this rule can be difficult, especially in asymptomatic cases.

Covid19 vaccinations>

Answers to your vaccine questions

If I live in the US, when can I get the vaccine?

While the exact order of vaccine recipients may vary from state to state, most doctors and residents of long-term care facilities will come first. If you want to understand how this decision is made, this article will help.

When can I get back to normal life after the vaccination?

Life will only get back to normal once society as a whole receives adequate protection against the coronavirus. Once countries have approved a vaccine, they can only vaccinate a few percent of their citizens in the first few months. The unvaccinated majority remain susceptible to infection. A growing number of coronavirus vaccines show robust protection against disease. However, it is also possible that people spread the virus without knowing they are infected because they have mild symptoms or no symptoms at all. Scientists don’t yet know whether the vaccines will also block the transmission of the coronavirus. Even vaccinated people have to wear masks for the time being, avoid the crowds indoors and so on. Once enough people are vaccinated, it becomes very difficult for the coronavirus to find people at risk to become infected. Depending on how quickly we as a society achieve this goal, life could approach a normal state in autumn 2021.

Do I still have to wear a mask after the vaccination?

Yeah, but not forever. The two vaccines that may be approved this month clearly protect people from contracting Covid-19. However, the clinical trials that produced these results were not designed to determine whether vaccinated people could still spread the coronavirus without developing symptoms. That remains a possibility. We know that people who are naturally infected with the coronavirus can spread it without experiencing a cough or other symptoms. Researchers will study this question intensively when the vaccines are introduced. In the meantime, self-vaccinated people need to think of themselves as potential spreaders.

Will it hurt What are the side effects?

The vaccine against Pfizer and BioNTech, like other typical vaccines, is delivered as a shot in the arm. The injection is no different from the ones you received before. Tens of thousands of people have already received the vaccines, and none of them have reported serious health problems. However, some of them have experienced short-lived symptoms, including pain and flu-like symptoms that usually last a day. It is possible that people will have to plan to take a day off or go to school after the second shot. While these experiences are not pleasant, they are a good sign: they are the result of your own immune system’s encounter with the vaccine and a strong response that ensures lasting immunity.

Will mRNA vaccines change my genes?

No. Moderna and Pfizer vaccines use a genetic molecule to boost the immune system. This molecule, known as mRNA, is eventually destroyed by the body. The mRNA is packaged in an oily bubble that can fuse with a cell, allowing the molecule to slide inside. The cell uses the mRNA to make proteins from the coronavirus that can stimulate the immune system. At any given moment, each of our cells can contain hundreds of thousands of mRNA molecules that they produce to make their own proteins. As soon as these proteins are made, our cells use special enzymes to break down the mRNA. The mRNA molecules that our cells make can only survive a few minutes. The mRNA in vaccines is engineered to withstand the cell’s enzymes a little longer, so the cells can make extra viral proteins and trigger a stronger immune response. However, the mRNA can hold for a few days at most before it is destroyed.

In some facilities, such as the Duke School of Medicine, students working in intensive care units and emergency rooms were placed in priority group 1A with the highest level, while everyone else was told they would be vaccinated under group 1B. At the Yale School of Medicine, all medical students, regardless of their exposure to patients, were told that they would be vaccinated in reverse alphabetical order (“by the first letter of their last name starting at the end of the alphabet”).

“Those in the later stages of the alphabet were happy, but a little confused by how arbitrary it was,” said Sumun Khetpal, a fourth-year student.

Students at Texas College of Osteopathic Medicine in Fort Worth said they had received no notice from the school for weeks when they would receive their vaccines. Some drove around the state for hours looking for private pharmacists who would give them shots. And at the University of Pittsburgh Medical School, students said they also had to “take matters into their own hands” and contact private pharmacies to inquire about a vaccination since they were not told until last weekend how to get vaccines their school.

“The CDC guidelines did not have the granularity that hospitals and schools need to make decisions,” said Dr. Alison Whelan, Scientific Director, Association of American Medical Colleges. “There was considerable variability in the absence of a national plan.”

In addition to the confusion, vaccines have been assigned to states based on population, which does not always reflect the population of health care workers, added Dr. Janis Orlowski, Chief Health Care Officer of the association, added. There are 21,000 medical students in the country.

There is a sense of guilty relief for some of them to have received the vaccine knowing that some of their colleagues have not yet done so.

“One of my close friends is a dentist and has a regular mouth, but she didn’t get the Covid vaccine,” said Azan Virji, a sophomore at Harvard who got his first dose late December. “It feels like there is an inequality.”

Even so, Mr Virji said he had treated Covid-19 patients many times and felt a weight lift because he knew he was now vaccinated.

“My parents in Tanzania may not have access to this vaccine until 2022, and now I’ll be one of the first to have access,” he said. “It’s bittersweet, but it’s important that I feel calmer in the hospital.”

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Moderna seems to be to check Covid-19 booster photographs a yr after preliminary vaccination

Moderna looks to test Covid-19 booster shots a year after initial vaccination

One of the boxes containing the Moderna COVID-19 vaccine is prepared for shipment at the McKesson distribution center in Olive Branch, Mississippi, USA, on December 20, 2020.

Paul Sancya | Reuters

Moderna plans to test a booster shot of its Covid-19 vaccine a year after the first two-dose immunization, as the duration of protection from the new vaccines is still unclear.

The biotech company plans to start the study in July. This emerges from a company presentation at the JPMorgan Healthcare Conference on Monday. According to an email shared by one of those people, employees at the clinical trial sites have already started contacting participants in previous trials.

“From what we’ve seen so far, we’re assuming the vaccination will take at least a year,” said Dr. Tal Zaks, Moderna’s Chief Medical Officer, told investors and analysts at the conference. “To the extent that you need a booster shot, we make a data-based recommendation, and for that we need to pull the data.”

The first participants in Moderna’s human clinical trials received their recordings in mid-March. a second was given four weeks later. Since multiple doses of the vaccine were tested in previous studies, those with doses lower than the ultimately approved – 100 micrograms – would get their booster sooner, while those with 100 micrograms or higher would get their booster at the end of the year, according to an email to the Attendees.

The booster that is now planned is the same version of the vaccine that is on the market, but Stephane Bancel, CEO of Moderna, said it might be necessary to adapt the vaccine in the coming years to cover new variants.

“I think this is going to be a market like the flu,” he told CNBC. Moderna also recently started a seasonal flu vaccination program.

The booster study for Moderna’s Covid-19 vaccine will assess both safety and the immune response that an additional shot generates a year later, Bancel said at the conference.