Tag: CDC

Categories
Health

CDC expands eligibility to everybody 65 and older

CDC expands eligibility to everyone 65 and older

The Trump administration on Tuesday issued new guidelines extending coronavirus vaccine eligibility to anyone aged 65 and over, as well as those with comorbid conditions such as diabetes.

States’ focus on vaccinating health care workers and nursing homes has created a bottleneck, a senior administrative official told CNBC, speaking on condition of anonymity ahead of the official announcement.

“States are being told immediately that they need to expand to include those over 65 as well as those under 65 with comorbid conditions,” the official said.

The government will also stop holding back millions of doses reserved for the second round of Pfizer and Moderna two-dose vaccines, the official said, adding that they had released doses that were held in reserve Sunday.

“The states should not wait to complete the prioritization of phase 1a before moving on to broader categories of eligibility,” said Azar on Tuesday the new guidelines. “Think of it like getting on a plane. You may have a sequential order in which you board people. But you don’t wait for literally every person in a group to board before moving on to the next . “

Approximately 53 million Americans aged 65 and over and 110 million people aged 16 to 64 with comorbid conditions can now get the vaccine if each state applies guidelines according to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.

President-elect Joe Biden’s transition team announced Friday that his administration plans to release all cans held in reserve.

The Trump administration was due to announce the change at a press conference Tuesday with representatives from Operation Warp Speed, the White House’s vaccination program.

US surgeon general Jerome Adams also confirmed the changes in an interview with Fox News on Tuesday morning.

“We will have clear instructions from the CDC to the governors that they should vaccinate people 65 years of age and older and those under 64 years of age with chronic illness,” he said.

US officials are trying to speed up the pace of vaccinations after a slower-than-expected rollout.

As of Monday morning, more than 25.4 million doses had been distributed in the US, but just over 8.9 million shots had been administered according to CDC data. The number is a far cry from the federal government’s goal of vaccinating 20 million Americans by the end of 2020 and 50 million Americans by the end of this month.

State and local health officials have said they are strapped for cash. They blame insufficient funding and inconsistent communication from the federal government for the slow roll-out.

Democrats and some public health experts have criticized the government for the slow pace. In a letter Monday, Senate Democrats urged the government to make changes, saying it “failed” states by not providing detailed guidance on how to effectively distribute the doses.

The US “cannot afford to have this vaccination campaign continue to be hampered by the lack of planning, communication and leadership we have seen so far,” wrote Chuck Schumer, chairman of the Senate minority, and 44 other Democrats. “The metric that matters, and where we are clearly moving too slowly, is vaccines in weapons.”

In an attempt to speed up the pace of vaccinations, the Secretary for Health and Human Services, Alex Azar, and the Commissioner for Food and Drug Administration, Dr. Stephen Hahn, last week urged states to start vaccinating lower priority groups against Covid-19.

The CDC recommends immunizing health care workers and nursing homes first, but states are free to distribute the vaccine at their discretion. Hahn told reporters that states should give shots to groups that “make sense” such as the elderly, people with pre-existing conditions, police, fire departments and other key workers.

“We heard in the press that some people said, ‘OK, I’m waiting for all of my healthcare workers to be vaccinated. We have a vaccine intake of around 35%.’ I think it makes sense to “extend this to other groups,” said Hahn on Friday. “I would strongly encourage states to give the states the opportunity to be more expansive about who they can give the vaccine to.”

It is unclear whether increasing the eligibility will accelerate the pace of vaccinations. Some states, including Texas and Florida, have already expanded their eligibility criteria.

Categories
Business

CDC says new Covid pressure in U.S. may stress ‘closely burdened’ hospitals

CDC panel recommends Pfizer Covid vaccine for people 16 years and older, clearing pivotal hurdle

CDC headquarters in Atlanta

Elijah Nouvelage | Bloomberg via Getty Images

Officials with the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention said Wednesday that a new strain of Covid-19 now circulating in the United States could further strain hospitals already overwhelmed with coronavirus patients.

Colorado health officials announced Tuesday that they had discovered the first known case of the new and contagious strain of the virus, which was first discovered in the UK. A second separate new strain, identified for the first time in South Africa, could already be in circulation in the US, CDC officials said.

“As the variants spread faster, they could lead to more cases and put even more strain on our already stressed health systems,” said Dr. Henry Walke, the agency’s Covid Incident Manager, in a conference call with reporters.

This is the latest news. You can find updates here.

Categories
Health

CDC says new Covid pressure in UK may already be circulating undetected in U.S.

CDC says new Covid strain in UK could already be circulating undetected in U.S.

Medical worker Christina Mathers attends to an unconscious patient who is holding the patient’s hand in the COVID-19 intensive care unit at the United Memorial Medical Center in Houston, Texas on December 21, 2020.

Go Nakamura | Getty Images

The new coronavirus strain, which was first discovered in the UK, could already be in circulation in the US without notice, the US Centers for Disease Control and Prevention said Tuesday.

While the variant has not yet been found in the United States, the CDC noted that scientists have not sequenced the genetic coding for many Covid-19 infections here. The agency said “Viruses have only been sequenced from about 51,000 of the 17 million US cases,” so the new strain could have failed.

“Ongoing travel between the United Kingdom and the United States, as well as the high prevalence of this variant in current infections in the United Kingdom, increases the likelihood of imports,” said a CDC statement. “Given the low proportion of US infections sequenced, the variant could already be in the US without being discovered.”

The new variant is currently known as “SARS-CoV-2 VUI 202012/01”, according to the CDC. It was spread across south east England in November and is reported to account for 60% of recent infections in London, the agency said. The CDC said it did not know why the new strain of the virus showed up, but it could have “just happened by accident”.

“Alternatively, it may arise because it is better suited to spread in humans,” said the CDC. “This rapid transition from a rare strain to a common strain has affected scientists in the UK who are urgently evaluating the characteristics of the variant strain and the disease it causes.”

The new coronavirus “mutates regularly,” the CDC found, but the vast majority of the mutations are insignificant. The significance of the new variant, first found in the UK, has yet to be determined, but the CDC noted that based on earlier data from the UK, the new strain “may be potentially more quickly transmissible than other circulating strains”.

The CDC noted that there have been multiple mutations of the coronavirus. Scientists are studying how this affects its ability to spread, or whether it has become more deadly or led to milder infections.

Scientists are also investigating whether the changes make testing less effective, the CDC said, adding that the Covid-19 tests are designed to detect the virus in different ways, “so that even if a mutation is one of the targets, the other PCR targets that are affected will still work. “

However, the mutations could potentially reduce the effectiveness of monoclonal antibodies in treating the virus, the CDC said. Monoclonal antibody treatments such as those received by President Donald Trump, former New Jersey Governor Chris Christie, and former New York Mayor Rudy Giuliani have been identified as some of the few life-saving tools to fight the virus.

“Of these possibilities, the last one – the ability to evade vaccine-induced immunity – would probably be the most worrying, since after vaccination of a large part of the population there is an immune pressure that could favor and accelerate the emergence of such variants through selection for ‘ Escape mutants, ‘”said CDC. “There is no evidence that this is happening, and most experts believe that escape mutants are unlikely due to the nature of the virus.”

The coronavirus vaccine zone of President Donald Trump, Dr. Moncef Slaoui said Monday he expected the Pfizer and Moderna Covid-19 shots to be effective against the new tribe.

Categories
Business

U.S. to require folks flying from the UK to check adverse for Covid, CDC says

U.S. to require people flying from the UK to test negative for Covid, CDC says

A view of the signage leading to one of the testing centers at Heathrow Airport on December 22nd, 2020 in London, England.

Joseph Okpako | Getty Images News | Getty Images

The United States will require people traveling from the UK to test negative for Covid-19 no later than 72 hours prior to departure, the CDC said in a statement late Thursday.

The announcement comes after the UK announced earlier this week that it had identified a new strain of Covid-19 that appears to be spreading faster. The CDC said President Donald Trump will sign the ordinance on Friday, Christmas Day, and the measure will take effect on Monday.

The CDC said passengers would be required to provide airlines with documentation of their laboratory results from polymerase chain reaction (PCR) and antigen testing.

The airlines would also have to confirm that the passengers tested negative before boarding, the agency said. They would also have to prevent passengers from boarding if they refuse to take a test.

Earlier this week, Delta Air Lines, Virgin Atlantic and British Airways urged passengers to conduct negative tests before boarding flights to New York’s John F. Kennedy International Airport.

The new strain prompted dozens of countries to quickly restrict travel from the UK to prevent the strain from invading their own borders. The US had already restricted entry from the UK in March, with the exception of foreigners who had been in the country in the past two weeks.

This is the latest news. Please try again.

Categories
Business

Who Will get the Vaccine Subsequent? Frontline Staff and Folks Over 74, CDC Says

Who Gets the Vaccine Next? Frontline Workers and People Over 74, CDC Says

A panel advising the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention agreed to a compromise between two high-risk population groups, recommending on Sunday that people aged 75 and over should get the coronavirus vaccine in the US next, along with about 30 million major ones Frontline Workers, ”including rescue workers, teachers and grocery store workers.

The debate over who should get the vaccine in those first few months has become more urgent as the daily caseload has grown to numbers unimaginable a month ago. The country has already started vaccinating healthcare workers, and on Monday CVS and Walgreens were due to launch a mass vaccination campaign in the country’s nursing homes and long-term care facilities. This week, around six million doses of the newly approved Moderna vaccine are expected to arrive in more than 3,700 locations across the country, including many smaller and rural hospitals.

The panel of physicians and public health experts had previously indicated that it would recommend a much broader group of Americans who are defined as essential workers – about 87 million people with jobs identified by a division of the Department of Homeland Security as being critical for Keeping society working – The next priority population and the elderly who live independently should come later.

However, in hours of discussion on Sunday, committee members concluded that given the limited initial vaccine supply and the higher Covid-19 death rate among elderly Americans, it makes more sense to allow the oldest of them to work with U.S. workers next Risk of exposure to the virus.

Groups of key workers, such as construction and catering workers, could qualify for the next wave. Members made it clear that local organizations are very flexible in making these determinations.

“I firmly believe that we need a balance between saving lives and maintaining our infrastructure,” said Dr. Helen Talbot, Panel Member and Infectious Disease Specialist at Vanderbilt University.

Covid19 vaccinations>

Answers to your vaccine questions

With a coronavirus vaccine spreading out of the US, here are answers to some questions you may be wondering about:

    • 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. Here’s why. The coronavirus vaccines are injected deep into the muscles and stimulate the immune system to produce antibodies. This seems to be sufficient protection to protect the vaccinated person from disease. What is not clear, however, is whether it is possible for the virus to bloom in the nose – and sneeze or exhale to infect others – even if antibodies have been mobilized elsewhere in the body to prevent that vaccinated person gets sick. The vaccine clinical trials were designed to determine if people who were vaccinated are protected from disease – not to find out if they can still spread the coronavirus. Based on studies of flu vaccines and even patients infected with Covid-19, researchers have reason to hope that people who are vaccinated will not spread the virus, but more research is needed. In the meantime, everyone – including those who have been vaccinated – must imagine themselves as possible silent shakers and continue to wear a mask. Read more here.
    • 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 in your arm feels no different than any other vaccine, but the rate of short-lived side effects seems to be higher than with the flu shot. Tens of thousands of people have already received the vaccines, and none of them have reported serious health problems. The side effects, which can be similar to symptoms of Covid-19, last about a day and are more likely to occur after the second dose. Early reports from vaccine trials suggest that some people may need to take a day off because they feel lousy after receiving the second dose. In the Pfizer study, around half developed fatigue. Other side effects occurred in at least 25 to 33 percent of patients, sometimes more, including headache, chills, and muscle pain. While these experiences are not pleasant, they are a good sign that your own immune system is having a strong response to the vaccine that provides 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.

Together, the two groups for which the committee set a priority on Sunday have about 51 million people; Federal health officials have estimated that there should be enough vaccines to keep them all vaccinated by the end of February.

The director of the CDC, Dr. Robert Redfield, will review the panel’s recommendation and is expected to decide by Monday whether it should be recognized as the agency’s official guidance to states. The panel, the Advisory Committee on Immunization Practices, stressed that its recommendations were non-binding and that any state would be able to adapt or adapt them to the particular needs of its population.

The 13-to-1 vote came as frustrations flared over the pace of vaccine distribution. This weekend, General Gustave F. Perna, who leads the Trump administration’s sales efforts, apologized for at least 14 states learning at the last minute that they would receive fewer doses of the Pfizer-made vaccine next week than they expected . Tensions have also arisen in some states over local decisions about which health workers should get their shots immediately and which should wait.

In addition to teachers, firefighters and the police, a sub-group of the committee suggested that “frontline workers” should include school support staff. Day care, proofreading, public transportation, grocery and postal workers; and those who work in food production and manufacturing. However, the group’s official recommendation is not that specific.

The committee had signaled last month that they were inclined to vaccinate 87 million vital workers in front of adults 65 and over. Many had expressed concern that key workers, often black, low-wage workers, were disproportionately affected by the virus and also disadvantaged because of their limited access to good health care.

In a strongly worded statement before the panel’s vote on Sunday, its chairman, Dr. Jose R. Romero, the Arkansas Secretary of Health, countered a spate of often malicious allegations that the panel gave priority to other racial groups over white people. “Our attempt has always been to achieve a just, ethical and fair distribution of this resource. We never selected any particular ethnic or racial group to receive the vaccine, ”he said.

Categories
Business

C.D.C. Panel Endorses Moderna Vaccine for Individuals

C.D.C. Panel Endorses Moderna Vaccine for Americans

Als das Coronavirus in den Vereinigten Staaten weiter anstieg, stimmte eine unabhängige Expertengruppe, die die Zentren für die Kontrolle und Prävention von Krankheiten beriet, am Samstag dafür, einen zweiten Coronavirus-Impfstoff für die Verwendung in den Vereinigten Staaten zu unterstützen.

Die Empfehlung des Ausschusses folgt einer am Freitag von der Food and Drug Administration erteilten Notfallgenehmigung. Die Bestätigung des Komitees wartet nun auf die endgültige Genehmigung durch Dr. Robert R. Redfield, Direktor der CDC, die in Kürze erwartet wird.

Etwa 5,9 Millionen Dosen des Moderna-Impfstoffs sollen ab Sonntag verteilt werden, und die ersten Impfungen werden voraussichtlich irgendwann am Montag beginnen.

Im Gegensatz zum Pfizer-BioNTech-Impfstoff, der zur Anwendung bei Personen ab 16 Jahren zugelassen wurde, ist der Impfstoff von Moderna nur für Personen ab 18 Jahren zugelassen. Während Pfizer im Oktober mit klinischen Studien zu seinem Impfstoff bei Kindern im Alter von 12 Jahren begann, begann Moderna erst in diesem Monat mit seinen pädiatrischen Studien und erwartet erst im nächsten Jahr vollständige Daten zur Sicherheit und Wirksamkeit.

Ein Großteil der Beratungen des Ausschusses konzentrierte sich auf die schweren allergischen Reaktionen, die in mehreren Fällen nach Injektionen des Pfizer-BioNTech-Impfstoffs gemeldet wurden, der ähnliche Inhaltsstoffe wie das Rezept von Moderna enthält.

Sechs Fälle von Anaphylaxie wurden inzwischen in den USA und zwei in Großbritannien dokumentiert. Es sind auch mehrere mildere allergische Reaktionen aufgetreten. Laut CDC wurden bereits am Samstag landesweit mehr als 272.000 Dosen des Pfizer-BioNTech-Impfstoffs verteilt

Allergische Reaktionen auf Impfstoffe treten typischerweise mit einer Rate von etwa einer von einer Million auf. Dr. Grace Lee, Kinderärztin und Impfstoffexpertin an der Stanford University, stellte auf der Ausschusssitzung fest, dass die bisherigen Schätzungen darauf hindeuten, dass das Risiko dieser mit dem Pfizer-BioNTech-Impfstoff verbundenen Ereignisse „qualitativ höher zu sein scheint als bei den meisten typischen Impfstoffen . ”

Dennoch fügte sie hinzu: “Für mich persönlich ändert dies nicht unbedingt das Risiko-Nutzen-Verhältnis des Covid-19-Impfstoffs zu diesem Zeitpunkt.”

Dr. Thomas Clark, Epidemiologe am CDC, stellte fest, dass Personen, bei denen nach einem Schuss eine Anaphylaxie auftritt, keine zweite Dosis erhalten sollten. Es ist immer noch unklar, ob ein Inhaltsstoff in Pfizers Impfstoff die direkte Ursache für die Reaktionen war.

Einige Experten haben auf Polyethylenglykol oder PEG hingewiesen, eine Chemikalie, die in vielen pharmazeutischen Produkten, einschließlich Abführmitteln wie Miralax, enthalten ist und die sehr selten allergische Reaktionen hervorruft. Sowohl die Pfizer-BioNTech- als auch die Moderna-Impfstoffe enthalten PEG, allerdings in leicht unterschiedlichen Formulierungen.

Dr. Sarah Mbaeyi, eine Ärztin bei der CDC, sagte, die Agentur empfehle Menschen, die wissen, dass sie schwere Allergien gegen einen der Inhaltsstoffe der Impfstoffe haben, vorerst auf die Aufnahme zu verzichten.

Personen mit einer Anaphylaxie in der Vorgeschichte gegenüber anderen Impfstoffen oder injizierbaren Therapien sollten ihren Arzt konsultieren und nach der Inokulation 30 Minuten vor Ort bleiben, um sich zu überwachen, falls sie sich krank fühlen. (Alle anderen – einschließlich Personen, die stark auf andere Substanzen wie Lebensmittel, Pollen oder Hautschuppen reagieren, und Personen mit leichten Allergien jeglicher Art – können nach 15 Minuten gehen.)

In den klinischen Studien von Moderna wurden drei schwere allergische Reaktionen berichtet, an denen mehr als 30.000 Erwachsene teilnahmen, von denen die Hälfte anstelle des Impfstoffs ein Placebo erhielt. Es wurde angenommen, dass keiner mit dem Impfstoff in Verbindung steht.

Covid19 Impfungen >

Antworten auf Ihre Impfstofffragen

Mit der Verbreitung eines Coronavirus-Impfstoffs ab den USA finden Sie hier Antworten auf einige Fragen, über die Sie sich möglicherweise wundern:

    • Wenn ich in den USA lebe, wann kann ich den Impfstoff bekommen? Während die genaue Reihenfolge der Impfstoffempfänger von Staat zu Staat unterschiedlich sein kann, werden die meisten Ärzte und Bewohner von Langzeitpflegeeinrichtungen an erster Stelle stehen. Wenn Sie verstehen möchten, wie diese Entscheidung getroffen wird, hilft dieser Artikel.
    • Wann kann ich nach der Impfung wieder zum normalen Leben zurückkehren? Das Leben wird erst wieder normal, wenn die Gesellschaft als Ganzes ausreichend Schutz gegen das Coronavirus erhält. Sobald die Länder einen Impfstoff zugelassen haben, können sie in den ersten Monaten höchstens einige Prozent ihrer Bürger impfen. Die nicht geimpfte Mehrheit bleibt weiterhin anfällig für Infektionen. Eine wachsende Anzahl von Coronavirus-Impfstoffen zeigt einen robusten Schutz vor Krankheit. Es ist aber auch möglich, dass Menschen das Virus verbreiten, ohne zu wissen, dass sie infiziert sind, weil sie nur leichte oder gar keine Symptome haben. Wissenschaftler wissen noch nicht, ob die Impfstoffe auch die Übertragung des Coronavirus blockieren. Selbst geimpfte Menschen müssen vorerst Masken tragen, Menschenmassen in Innenräumen meiden und so weiter. Sobald genügend Menschen geimpft sind, wird es für das Coronavirus sehr schwierig, gefährdete Personen zu finden, die infiziert werden können. Je nachdem, wie schnell wir als Gesellschaft dieses Ziel erreichen, könnte sich das Leben im Herbst 2021 einem normalen Zustand nähern.
    • Muss ich nach der Impfung noch eine Maske tragen? Ja, aber nicht für immer. Hier ist der Grund. Die Coronavirus-Impfstoffe werden tief in die Muskeln injiziert und stimulieren das Immunsystem zur Produktion von Antikörpern. Dies scheint ein ausreichender Schutz zu sein, um die geimpfte Person vor einer Krankheit zu bewahren. Was jedoch nicht klar ist, ist, ob es möglich ist, dass das Virus in der Nase blüht – und geniest oder ausgeatmet wird, um andere zu infizieren -, selbst wenn Antikörper an anderer Stelle im Körper mobilisiert wurden, um zu verhindern, dass die geimpfte Person krank wird. Die klinischen Impfstoffstudien sollten feststellen, ob geimpfte Menschen vor Krankheiten geschützt sind – und nicht herausfinden, ob sie das Coronavirus noch verbreiten können. Basierend auf Studien zu Grippeimpfstoffen und sogar mit Covid-19 infizierten Patienten haben Forscher Grund zu der Hoffnung, dass geimpfte Menschen das Virus nicht verbreiten, aber weitere Forschung ist erforderlich. In der Zwischenzeit müssen sich alle – auch geimpfte Menschen – als mögliche stille Streuer vorstellen und weiterhin eine Maske tragen. Lesen Sie hier mehr.
    • Wird es wehtun? Was sind die Nebenwirkungen? Der Impfstoff gegen Pfizer und BioNTech wird wie andere typische Impfstoffe als Schuss in den Arm abgegeben. Die Injektion in Ihren Arm fühlt sich nicht anders an als bei jedem anderen Impfstoff, aber die Rate kurzlebiger Nebenwirkungen scheint höher zu sein als bei einer Grippeschutzimpfung. Zehntausende Menschen haben die Impfstoffe bereits erhalten, und keiner von ihnen hat ernsthafte gesundheitliche Probleme gemeldet. Die Nebenwirkungen, die den Symptomen von Covid-19 ähneln können, dauern etwa einen Tag und treten nach der zweiten Dosis wahrscheinlicher auf. Frühe Berichte aus Impfstoffversuchen deuten darauf hin, dass einige Menschen möglicherweise einen Tag frei nehmen müssen, weil sie sich nach Erhalt der zweiten Dosis mies fühlen. In der Pfizer-Studie entwickelte etwa die Hälfte Müdigkeit. Andere Nebenwirkungen traten bei mindestens 25 bis 33 Prozent der Patienten auf, manchmal mehr, einschließlich Kopfschmerzen, Schüttelfrost und Muskelschmerzen. Obwohl diese Erfahrungen nicht angenehm sind, sind sie ein gutes Zeichen dafür, dass Ihr eigenes Immunsystem eine starke Reaktion auf den Impfstoff zeigt, die eine dauerhafte Immunität bietet.
    • Werden mRNA-Impfstoffe meine Gene verändern? Nein. Die Impfstoffe von Moderna und Pfizer verwenden ein genetisches Molekül, um das Immunsystem zu stärken. Dieses als mRNA bekannte Molekül wird schließlich vom Körper zerstört. Die mRNA ist in einer öligen Blase verpackt, die mit einer Zelle verschmelzen kann, so dass das Molekül hineinrutschen kann. Die Zelle verwendet die mRNA, um Proteine ​​aus dem Coronavirus herzustellen, die das Immunsystem stimulieren können. Zu jedem Zeitpunkt kann jede unserer Zellen Hunderttausende von mRNA-Molekülen enthalten, die sie produzieren, um eigene Proteine ​​herzustellen. Sobald diese Proteine ​​hergestellt sind, zerkleinern unsere Zellen die mRNA mit speziellen Enzymen. Die mRNA-Moleküle, die unsere Zellen herstellen, können nur wenige Minuten überleben. Die mRNA in Impfstoffen ist so konstruiert, dass sie den Enzymen der Zelle etwas länger standhält, sodass die Zellen zusätzliche Virusproteine ​​bilden und eine stärkere Immunantwort auslösen können. Die mRNA kann jedoch höchstens einige Tage halten, bevor sie zerstört wird.

Während des Treffens äußerten Experten auch Bedenken hinsichtlich vier Fällen einer vorübergehenden Gesichtslähmung namens Bell-Lähmung, von denen drei in der Impfstoffgruppe in der Moderna-Studie auftraten. (Vier Fälle von Bell-Lähmung traten auch in Pfizers Studien auf, alle in der Impfstoffgruppe.)

Es gibt noch keine Beweise, die die Lähmung direkt mit einem der beiden Impfstoffe in Verbindung bringen, und Dr. Jacqueline Miller, Senior Vice President bei Moderna, sagte, ihr Unternehmen habe die Impfstoffempfänger weiterhin auf Nebenwirkungen überwacht.

Mehr als die Hälfte der Personen, die den Moderna-Impfstoff in klinischen Studien erhielten, berichteten nach ihrem zweiten Schuss, der etwa vier Wochen nach dem ersten gegeben wurde, über unangenehme Symptome wie Müdigkeit, Kopfschmerzen und Schmerzen. Einige Freiwillige entwickelten auch Fieber oder Hautausschlag an der Injektionsstelle.

Vorfälle wie diese scheinen bei Modernas Impfstoff weitaus häufiger zu sein als bei Pfizer, der eine geringere Dosis der Wirkstoffe enthält. Die meisten Nebenwirkungen verschwanden jedoch innerhalb eines Tages nach der Impfung.

Vorübergehende Symptome nach der Impfung sind relativ häufig. Oft sind sie die äußeren Anzeichen eines hart arbeitenden Immunsystems, das den Körper darauf vorbereitet, Krankheiten in Zukunft abzuwehren.

Weder Moderna noch Pfizer haben bisher Daten zu schwangeren oder stillenden Personen erhoben. Aber keine der 13 Freiwilligen, die während der Teilnahme an den klinischen Studien von Moderna schwanger wurden, von denen sechs den Impfstoff erhielten, berichtete über schädliche Wirkungen.

Mehr als 500 Amerikaner, die eine Dosis Pfizers Impfstoff erhalten haben, waren zum Zeitpunkt ihrer Injektion schwanger.

Viele Wissenschaftler glauben, dass das Coronavirus ein weitaus größeres Risiko für schwangere oder stillende Menschen darstellt als der Impfstoff. Stephanie Langel, eine Immunologin und Virologin an der Duke University, die seit Juli ihren neugeborenen Sohn stillt, sagte am Donnerstag, dass sie beabsichtige, so bald wie möglich geimpft zu werden.

Sie wurde priorisiert, um den Schuss zu erhalten, weil sie das Coronavirus erforscht. Wenn es darum geht, sich impfen zu lassen, “ist es für mich nur ein Kinderspiel”, sagte sie, weil sie häufig dem Virus ausgesetzt war. “Es geht um Ihre Risikobewertung.”

Während des Treffens unterstrichen Wissenschaftler und Kliniker, wie wichtig es ist, Impfungen in Gemeinden zu bringen, die von der Pandemie überproportional betroffen sind, einschließlich Menschen in Justizvollzugsanstalten.

Experten haben wiederholt darauf hingewiesen, wie wichtig es ist, mit Vertretern von Farbgemeinschaften zusammenzuarbeiten, um die Sicherheit und Wirksamkeit des Impfstoffs für Menschen zu bestätigen, die zögern oder skeptisch gegenüber den Aufnahmen sind. (Überaus wenige Personen, die sich als Indianer, Ureinwohner Alaskas, Ureinwohner Hawaiis oder Inselbewohner im Pazifik identifizierten, nahmen an Modernas Versuchen teil.)

Dionne Brown, die Leiterin der Krankenpflege bei Summit Rehabilitation and Care Community in Aurora, Colorado, sagte der New York Times, sie sei “ein wenig besorgt über die Nebenwirkungen” gewesen. Nach langwierigen Gesprächen mit ihren Kollegen darüber, wie sicher und wirksam die Impfstoffe sind, sagte sie: „Ich fühle mich wohl mit der Einnahme“.

Frau Brown, Mutter von sechs Kindern, hofft, ein Vorbild für ihre Familie und Gemeinde sowie für die anderen Mitarbeiter und älteren Bewohner ihrer Langzeitpflegeeinrichtung sein zu können.

“Das ist mein Ziel”, sagte sie. “Dass sie sehen, wie ich es bekomme und mich hoffentlich wohl fühle.”

In einer zweiten Sitzung am Sonntag werden CDC-Beamte und Wissenschaftler mehr Leitlinien für die Zuteilung der neu zugelassenen Impfstoffe liefern und über die Priorisierung von Personen abstimmen, die Impfungen erhalten sollen.

Categories
Health

C.D.C. Panel Recommends Pfizer Vaccine for Sufferers as Younger as 16

C.D.C. Panel Recommends Pfizer Vaccine for Patients as Young as 16

An independent panel of experts advising the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention on Saturday afternoon voted to recommend the Pfizer coronavirus vaccine for people aged 16 and over. This confirmation, which only Dr. Robert Redfield, the director of the CDC, is an important signal for hospitals and doctors to continue vaccinating patients.

The confirmation follows the approval of the emergency vaccine on Friday night by the Food and Drug Administration, which oversees the licensing of medical devices.

The advisory board, which typically meets three times a year to review changes to routine vaccine schedules for children, adolescents, and adults, held numerous marathon sessions this fall to resolve a variety of gnarled questions related to the introduction of the novel vaccine to discuss, which is limited in availability during a pandemic.

In the Friday and Saturday sessions, the panel’s heated discussions focused on three main areas: whether the vaccine should be recommended for patients aged 16 and 17, for pregnant and breastfeeding women, and for patients with an anaphylactic reaction to other vaccines .

CDC officials and scientists will review the debate and provide more detailed guidance on these and other groups on Sunday and in the coming weeks as more information about the vaccine becomes available.

Shipments of nearly three million doses of the vaccine will go to the States this weekend. Most states are expected to follow CDC guidelines to reserve these doses for caregivers and residents of nursing homes and long-term care facilities.

Pregnant women were not included in clinical trials with the vaccine. The panel’s discussion on pregnancy centered on the fact that at least 330,000 health care workers in the first cohort of vaccine recipients are expected to be pregnant or breastfeeding women. While the committee urged that the decision on whether to fire the shot be left to pregnant women in consultation with their doctors, it also suggested that they object to the vaccine’s effectiveness and their personal risk of exposure to the virus the lack of data on weighing it up in relation to pregnancy.

The committee found it was not a live virus vaccine and therefore posed no risk to a nursing child.

Pfizer officials said Friday they had seen no evidence that the vaccine affects pregnancy or fertility. About two dozen women became pregnant during post-vaccination clinical trials, and the company is monitoring them.

Committee members responded to warning signs and instructions on anaphylaxis after two UK health workers had severe allergic reactions immediately after being vaccinated. Members tried to strike a balance: taking reasonable precautions without alarming a public who may already be upset about the vaccine. On Saturday, they tended to advise patients with “severe allergic reactions” like anaphylaxis to any component of the vaccine not to get the shot. They also recommended monitoring patients for 15 minutes immediately after vaccination and 30 minutes for patients with a history of anaphylaxis.

The road to a coronavirus vaccine ›

Answers to your vaccine questions

With a coronavirus vaccine spreading out of the US, here are answers to some questions you may be wondering about:

    • 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 asked whether the vaccine should be approved for 16- and 17-year-olds, several paediatricians on the committee expressed concern that Pfizer’s data to date on the youngest participants was “thin”.

However, other committee members pushed back, saying the physiological difference between a 16-year-old and an 18-year-old was minimal. People under the age of 18 who work in long-term care facilities and “important” jobs like groceries are at high risk of contracting the virus and would likely be recommended for initial admissions, they said.

Doctors determined that these teenagers may be disproportionately colored people. By disfellowshipping them, the doctors argued, the committee would inadvertently discriminate against them based on their age.

And, as they added, because the data on side effects and efficacy are so positive, the risk of teenagers getting the virus – as well as spreading it and disrupting their schooling – outweighed the known risks of the vaccine itself.

The committee also expressed its support for making the vaccine available to people who previously tested positive for the virus. Given the limited supplies, they asked those infected within 90 days to wait until that period had expired.

The CDC is expected to issue more detailed clinical recommendations on Sunday. In addition, a comprehensive “toolkit” for providers and patients has been published that is intended to provide detailed information on how to resolve potential concerns.

Categories
Business

CDC panel recommends Pfizer Covid vaccine for folks 16 years and older, clearing pivotal hurdle

CDC panel recommends Pfizer Covid vaccine for people 16 years and older, clearing pivotal hurdle

CDC headquarters in Atlanta

Elijah Nouvelage | Bloomberg via Getty Images

A key panel from the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention unanimously voted on Saturday to recommend Pfizer-BioNTech’s Covid-19 vaccine for people aged 16 and over. This cleared another crucial hurdle for the drug before the vaccinations begin in the coming days.

The CDC’s Advisory Committee on Immunization Practices, an external group of medical experts advising the agency, voted 11-0 in favor of recommending the vaccine for use in people aged 16 and over under the Food and Drug Administration’s emergency clearance. Three members withdrew due to conflicts.

The recommendation will now be sent to CDC Director Dr. Robert Redfield who must sign out before vaccinations can begin. A CDC spokesman was not immediately available for comment on when Redfield would sign the recommendation.

“This Covid-19 vaccine gives us hope,” said Veronica McNally, ACIP member and assistant dean of experiential education at Michigan State University College of Law. “It’s important to remember that while this vaccine was being developed at an incredible pace and incorporating new technologies, it went through all appropriate channels of regulation and the approval process was transparent.”

Dr. Beth Bell, an ACIP member and clinical professor of global health at the University of Washington, said she recognized people’s concern about this vaccine and new vaccines in general, but added that they were “safely” taking this vaccine when it is she will turn.

“I believe the process we have used here at ACIP to make this decision is transparent, science-based, fair-minded, and for this moment the absolute best we can do,” said Bell .

The vote marked the end of an hour-long meeting during which ACIP members heard presentations from CDC officials on clinical considerations for those vaccinated under the emergency license.

Dr. Sarah Mbaeyi, a CDC doctor, told the agency during a presentation that vaccines should be offered to people “regardless of a history of previous symptomatic or asymptomatic” coronavirus infection. However, Mbaeyi told the panel that a diagnostic or antibody test is not recommended to help decide whether someone should receive the vaccine.

More studies on the vaccine’s safety in pregnant women are ongoing, Mbaeyi said. However, if a pregnant woman is part of a group that is prioritized for the vaccine, Mbaeyi said she could opt for vaccination after making an informed decision with a health care provider.

The public was also asked to share comments and concerns about the vaccine and its dissemination. Claire Hannan, the executive director of the Association of Immunization Managers, told the committee that there needs to be more precise guidance on who is considered an essential worker, as definitions differ across the US.

On December 1, the group voted 13-1 for healthcare workers and residents of long-term care facilities to receive the first doses of vaccine once released for public use. The ACIP emergency meeting, postponed from Sunday to Saturday, followed the FDA’s decision to give Pfizer’s vaccine emergency approval on Friday evening.

Categories
Health

Some States Balk After C.D.C. Asks for Private Knowledge of These Vaccinated

Some States Balk After C.D.C. Asks for Personal Data of Those Vaccinated

“This is a new activity for us because we don’t typically report this level of detail to the federal government at this frequency,” Doug Schultz, a spokesman for the Minnesota Department of Health, said in an email. He added, “We will not provide a name, zip code, race, ethnicity or address.”

Tracking vaccinations, including collecting personal information, is not a new practice, and experts say this is especially important with a vaccine that requires two doses. But in the United States, it was a purely state effort. A push two decades ago to develop a federal registry that imploded after an uproar over patient privacy and the use of the data.

“The general philosophy in this country is that states manage public health. Therefore, the concept that we keep track of identified information at the federal level is important,” said Dr. Shaun J. Grannis, professor of medical informatics at Indiana University, who advised the CDC on data collection.

“We are 50 different states with a patchwork of regulations and different perspectives on privacy and security,” added Dr. Grannis added. “And I think people will ask the question: what does the CDC do that we cannot do regionally?”

However, the state registers differ in terms of sophistication and quality. Speaking at Monday’s briefing, Colonel RJ Mikesh of the Army, the information technology director for Operation Warp Speed, said the data collection was part of an “all America approach” to vaccine distribution.

And some experts say that amid a pandemic that has already cost nearly 284,000 lives in the US, privacy must give way to the public good and that vaccinating all Americans is a monumental task that requires federal intervention.

“We’re in a pandemic,” said Dr. Carlos del Rio, an infectious disease expert at Emory University in Atlanta. “Privacy has its role, but it can’t be what drives decision-making when you’re trying to do a monumental task like vaccinating millions of Americans with one vaccine that requires two doses.”