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Israel’s Covid vaccine rollout is the quickest on the earth

Israel's Covid vaccine rollout is the fastest in the world

A health care worker administers a Covid-19 vaccine at Clalit Health Services in the ultra-Orthodox Israeli city of Bnei Brak on January 6, 2021.

JACK GUEZ | AFP | Getty Images

As the US, UK and Europe try to speed up their own Covid vaccination campaigns, one country is surpassing them all: Israel.

Israel’s vaccination campaign began on December 19 with Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, the first person to be vaccinated in the country. Priority will be given to people over 60, healthcare workers and all clinically vulnerable people – reportedly making up around a quarter of the 9 million population.

It is ahead of other countries that have also started introducing vaccinations. To date, experts have said that around 1.5 million people in Israel received their first vaccine shot as a new lockdown came amid an increase in coronavirus cases.

According to Dr. Boaz Lev, chairman of the Disease Control and Coronavirus Vaccines Advisory Committee, has now vaccinated around 60% of the priority groups for the vaccine, although some of them are difficult to reach, such as those who only live at home by Israel’s Ministry of Health. The country is vaccinating around 150,000 people daily, he added, and intends to have vaccinated most of the country by April.

“The main goal of our vaccination program is to vaccinate as many people as possible as quickly as possible,” said Lev.

Lessons for the rest of the world

From logistics to public information campaigns, there are a number of lessons other countries could learn from trying to speed up their own vaccination campaigns.

“First of all … plan ahead. Be prepared, run a big information campaign and gain people’s trust, that’s on one side,” Lev told CNBC on Wednesday.

“Then you create a good flow of vaccines, a good flow of people … with a good administrative background so you can register them and let them know when to come for their next push. So there are a lot of things that which is basically about planning ahead and rolling it out to make it flow. “

In this aerial photo, taken in Tel Aviv, Israel, on Monday January 4, 2020, people are queuing outside a Covid-19 mass vaccination center in Rabin Sqaure. Israel plans to vaccinate 70% to 80% of its population by April or May. Health Minister Yuli Edelstein has said.

Bloomberg | Bloomberg | Getty Images

Israeli officials weren’t sure how many vaccinations the country ordered, but vaccine manufacturers reported that they received 8 million doses of the Pfizer / BioNTech vaccine and 6 million doses of the Moderna vaccine (the first batch of which was due to it) Arrival Thursday). It was not disclosed how much Oxford University / AstraZeneca vaccine the country ordered.

All of these vaccines require that each have two doses; There are reports that Israel paid higher vaccine prices than it competed to supply larger countries.

Lev said Israel’s ambitious goal of vaccinating the majority of its population through its public hospitals and vaccination centers requires careful planning. “We have to set up the logistics for this, and that takes a huge effort,” he said.

“The next is to be in the correct order in vaccinating people. Unless we have an abundance of vaccines … we need to have a very orderly queue so we know who is being vaccinated, and that should be loud some Principles, “he added. “It should be safe, it should be flexible, it should be as simple as possible, but it should also follow the principle that those who are more vulnerable should get it first … to avoid mortality and morbidity (of the pandemic) . “

Logistics and sales

Public health experts told CNBC that there were a number of factors that made it possible for Israel to vaccinate so efficiently, including the small population and geography and the efficiency of its health system.

Israel has a public health system in which everyone has to belong to one of four health organizations (HMOs) that work a bit like the UK’s National Health Service. Vaccine supplies were distributed to these HMOs, who in turn distributed them to their respective members.

Ronit Calderon-Margalit, professor of epidemiology at Hadassah-Hebrew University’s Braun School of Public Health, told CNBC on Wednesday that the vaccination campaign exceeded their expectations. “It’s amazing, it’s way beyond my wildest dreams and I don’t get to say that often,” she said.

People will receive a dose of the Pfizer-BioNTech Covid-19 vaccine at a Covid-19 mass vaccination center on Rabin Square in Tel Aviv, Israel on Monday January 4, 2020.

Bloomberg | Bloomberg | Getty Images

She attributed part of this success to the efficiency of the four HMOs: Clalit, Maccabi, Meuhedet and Leumit or “Kupot Cholim” as they are collectively known.

“They all have vaccines from the government to vaccinate the population, and they are very good at the logistics of distributing services that vaccines,” she said. Experts told CNBC that at the end of the day, hospitals and clinics are also giving the vaccines to people outside of the priority groups so as not to waste supplies.

The Israeli health system is heavily digitized, so anyone who receives the vaccine is registered as such by the Ministry of Health.

Israel recorded 466,916 cases of the virus and 3,527 deaths as of Thursday, according to Johns Hopkins University. As in other countries, there has been an increase in infections over the winter.

On Wednesday, Netanyahu blamed a new, more transmissible strain of virus, first identified in the UK (what he called the “British mutation”), responsible for an increase in cases in the country. Due to the wave of infections, Israel will enter a new strict lockdown for two weeks on Thursday at midnight.

In addition to vaccination centers and clinics, hospitals are of course at the forefront.

Yoel Har-Even is Director of International and Resource Development at Sheba Medical Center, the largest hospital in the Middle East (and by the way, where Netanyahu was vaccinated in December).

He told CNBC on Wednesday that his hospital had vaccinated around 45,000 people in the past two weeks.

These people range from the most at risk, including police officers and Holocaust survivors, an experience that Har-Even said was very moving, to teachers. He said everyone he met was happy to have received the vaccine (sentiment against vaccines is low in Israel) and the mainstream media of all political lines supported the vaccination campaign.

“We understand that this is a crucial time and everyone here agrees,” said Har-Even. “It reminds us a little of a time of war in Israel and when there is war there is unity.”

He added that people’s acceptance and willingness to receive the vaccine is a cause for great pride.

“You just have to see the lines and the queues of people standing still, there is no pushing or screaming,” he said. “The time of the corona means (the vaccination campaign) that it runs faster, quieter and with much, much more order and efficiency in the process.”

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Hospital group presses Trump administration for ongoing federal assist with vaccine distribution

Hospital group presses Trump administration for ongoing federal help with vaccine distribution

Seniors 65 years and older wait in line at the Sarasota Department of Health’s COVID-19 Vaccination Clinic in Sarasota, Florida, the United States, Jan. 4, 2021.

Octavio Jones | Reuters

The American Hospital Association on Thursday urged Health Secretary Alex Azar to provide more support and coordination for the federal distribution of Covid-19 vaccines. The slow rollout has raised questions about how quickly they can vaccinate the public.

The group, which represents nearly 5,000 hospitals and health systems across the country, said the rollout “raised concerns about whether the task of vaccinating everyone who is able to take the vaccine will come as soon as it can it was suggested by the federal leaders “. According to a letter sent Thursday to Azar, the secretary of the Ministry of Health and Human Services.

According to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, more than 17.2 million doses of vaccine had been distributed as of Wednesday, but in fact just over 5.3 million doses had been given. This is nowhere near the targets previously set by federal officials to vaccinate 20 million people in December.

Richard Pollack, CEO of the AHA, said in the letter to Azar that the vaccine’s slow initial rollout casts doubt on whether the country will be able to vaccinate enough Americans to achieve herd immunity by the summer. In the first few weeks of the rollout, unforeseen issues arose, he added, calling on Azar to provide more leadership and coordination between states to address the issues.

Representatives from HHS have not returned CNBC’s request for comment.

According to Pollack, some hospitals have received fewer doses than requested, while others have received more than they need “with no explanation for this mismatch”. Pollack added that other differences between the state’s plans are also creating headaches for hospitals and adding to the complexity of the massive vaccination campaign.

“We hear from hospitals and health systems that serve more than one state that it is difficult to manage vaccine distribution when their patients live in jurisdictions with different rules about which patients are prioritized and who have different levels of priority,” wrote Pollack . “As this rollout is evolving rapidly, it is absolutely essential that effective situational real-time guidance is provided at the national level.”

He urged Azar and HHS to communicate more frequently and clearly with state, local, and hospital officials.

And many hospitals across the country are currently overwhelmed with treating Covid-19 patients. Pollack says hospitals cannot vaccinate the public without help. He said hospitals suffer from staff shortages and limited protective equipment such as masks and gloves. Pollack asked for more details about the government’s plan to include pharmacy chains in the wider vaccine rollout.

Pollack stressed that the aim of the vaccination campaign is to achieve herd immunity and bring the outbreak under control. By some estimates, that could be around 246 million Americans, or around 75% of the population.

“That would mean vaccinating 1.8 million people a day between January 15 and May 31, including weekends and holidays,” wrote Pollack of the attempt to vaccinate 246 million Americans by the summer. “There are currently 64 different micro-plans being developed by states, some major cities, and other jurisdictions [HHS] assess whether these plans are overall able to achieve this level of vaccination? “

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After Fast Vaccine Success, Israel Faces New Virus Woes

After Quick Vaccine Success, Israel Faces New Virus Woes

JERUSALEM – Just last week, Israel was seen as a model coronavirus country, well ahead of the rest of the world in vaccinating its citizens.

But the virus had other ideas.

This week, Israel faces a tightened lockdown as infections surge to more than 8,000 new cases a day. Officials fear that the more transmissible variant of the virus, first identified in the UK, is spreading rapidly and Israel’s vaccine supplies are running low.

The prospect that Israel would have the virus under control by spring, which was once promising, now seems uncertain. Health officials say the vaccine campaign can’t compete with rising infection rates, at least in the short term.

And the Palestinian Authority, which operates its own health system in the occupied West Bank, has asked Israel for vaccines, which has sparked a debate about Israel’s responsibility to the Palestinians at a time when Israel’s vaccine supplies are dwindling.

“We are at the height of a global pandemic that is spreading at record speed with the UK mutation,” Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said in a video statement late Tuesday, explaining the government’s decision to impose a full national lockdown that will Closing most schools and schools will all non-essential jobs for at least two weeks.

“With every hour that we delay, the virus is spreading faster and it will cost a very high price,” he added.

The lock decision was made after Prof. Eran Segal of the Weizmann Science Institute in Rehovot, Israel, presented the government with the dire prognosis that without such measures, Israel’s infection rate could rise to 46,000 new cases per day by February, an astonishing number Country with about 9 million inhabitants.

Government officials cited the variant discovered in the UK as one of the main reasons for imposing tighter restrictions. Mr Netanyahu said the line had “jumped forward”, although not at the same pace as the UK.

At least 30 cases of the variant have been identified in Israel through special samples spread across 14 different cities. However, officials and experts said these tests were aimed at identifying the presence of the variant, not quantifying it, and the actual number of cases was likely much higher.

Many scientists believe that the variant is more transmissible, which means that it can more easily spread from one person to another.

Professor Segal said the variant could be a factor in the rising rate of infection in Israel’s ultra-Orthodox Jewish community. In the past four weeks, infections among the ultra-Orthodox have increased sixteen-fold.

He estimated that the variant now accounts for around 20 percent of morbidity in ultra-Orthodox cities and neighborhoods.

During the coronavirus crisis, there was constant tension between the ultra-Orthodox, who make up around 12.5 percent of the population, and the incumbent Israelis, especially because some ultra-Orthodox rabbis insisted on keeping their educational institutions open during the crisis, violating previous lockdowns and regulations generally disregarding the restrictions on large gatherings and social distancing.

Israel’s vaccine supplies cast another shadow over the tempting prospect of an early emergence from the crisis. Vaccine supplies were running low and officials said they may have to slow their widely touted vaccination program until mid-January if they can’t convince drug companies to ship more vaccines sooner than promised.

A few days ago, the Israelis celebrated the successful start of their vaccination campaign, which has surpassed the rest of the world. Approximately 1.5 million Israeli citizens, or more than 16 percent of the population, have received an initial dose of the Pfizer BioNTech vaccine since the vaccination program began on December 20.

Updated

Jan. 7, 2021, 6:03 ET

The shortcoming, according to the authorities, could be due to the success of the program: the first phase of the program went faster than most thought possible.

Israel has not disclosed the number of vaccine doses received as the agreements with the pharmaceutical companies are confidential. The government has promised to reserve enough vaccines so that anyone who received a first dose can get their second dose as planned after about 21 days. This should include the majority of Israel’s high-risk population of health workers and citizens 60 and older.

Quiet negotiations are being held with the drug companies to improve their supplies, but the shortage could lead to delays in implementation. Mr Netanyahu, whose political future may depend on the success of the program, said he “continues to work around the clock to bring millions of vaccines to Israel”.

Mr. Netanyahu said Wednesday that a small initial shipment of Moderna vaccines should arrive on Thursday and that more would follow. Pharmaceutical companies now see Israel as an interesting test case for vaccination effectiveness and possibly the first country to be fully vaccinated. Officials and experts stated this, which gives him an advantage in securing additional shipments.

Israel has been criticized by human rights groups for failing to expand its vaccination program to most Israeli-controlled Palestinians, despite the fact that Israelis living in settlements in the West Bank have been vaccinated.

Palestinian officials have recorded hundreds of Covid-19 cases daily in the occupied West Bank and Hamas-led Gaza Strip, the overcrowded Palestinian coastal enclave whose borders are tightly controlled by Israel and Egypt, and health officials believe the real numbers are much higher . Palestinians in these areas have not yet received vaccines.

On Wednesday, two Palestinian officials said the Palestinian Authority had asked Israel for up to 10,000 doses of the vaccine to immunize Palestinian frontline workers.

Hussein al-Sheikh, the top Palestinian official in charge of coordination with the Israelis, said Israel refused.

An Israeli official, who spoke on condition of anonymity for not having the authority to speak to the news media, said Israel secretly delivered “dozen” vaccines to the Palestinians this week but has not yet responded to the larger request. Several Palestinian officials denied having received vaccines from Israel.

The Oslo Accords, the provisional peace accords signed between Israel and the Palestine Liberation Organization in the 1990s, commit both sides to work together to fight epidemics and provide each other with support in emergencies.

The Geneva Conventions also oblige an occupying power to ensure medical care for the local population and preventive measures to combat contagious diseases and epidemics.

Alan Baker, a former Israeli ambassador and international law expert who helped draft the Oslo Accords, said he believes this would “represent a commitment for Israel to provide vaccines to fight Covid 19 help “but that was it” a one-way street. “

Hamas, he said, holds Israeli hostages in Gaza and is obliged to release them by the same humanitarian standards.

Israel Health Minister Yuli Edelstein said last week it was in Israel’s best interest to contain the virus on the Palestinian side, but Israel’s first obligation was to its own citizens. (Palestinian citizens of Israel and residents of East Jerusalem receive vaccinations through the Israeli program.)

Dr. Ali Abed Rabbo, a senior official in the agency’s health department, said the Palestinians hope to receive two million doses of the Oxford-AstraZeneca vaccine in February. They also expect the Covax global vaccine-sharing system to deliver 60,000 doses in the first quarter of 2021 and nearly two million more later this year.

United Nations officials have asked Israel to provide the Palestinians with some vaccines to protect their medical workers, said Gerald Rockenschaub, head of the World Health Organization’s mission to the Palestinians.

But Israel advised United Nations officials that it cannot send vaccines to the Palestinians just yet because of a lack of shots for its own citizens, Rockenschaub said.

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‘Dangerous’ to delay second Covid vaccine photographs within the UK: ex-FDA director

'Risky' to delay second Covid vaccine shots in the UK: ex-FDA director

Postponing the second dose of Covid-19 vaccines is “very risky” because the efficacy data was based on a specific dosage schedule, a former FDA director told CNBC on Thursday.

His comments came after the UK’s decision to give a second shot of the coronavirus vaccine 12 weeks after the first dose, contrary to vaccine manufacturers’ recommendations. Germany is reportedly considering a similar move, while Denmark approves a six-week gap between doses.

The vaccines approved for use in the UK both require two doses.

American pharmaceutical company Pfizer and German biotechnology company BioNTech recommended giving the second dose of their vaccine 21 days after the first. British-Swedish pharmaceutical company AstraZeneca said the vaccine, jointly developed with Oxford, requires two doses to be given one month apart. The UK initially said it would follow this timetable.

It’s a very risky endeavor because if it fails, you will be worse off.

Norman Baylor

Former FDA director

Any decision to change dosing schedules should be based on data, said Norman Baylor, a former director in the US Food and Drug Administration’s bureau of vaccine research and testing.

“It is very risky to try to extend [the gap between two doses] or give a dose if there is no data, “he told CNBC’s Street Signs Asia on Thursday.

“I can see some reasons for this, but again, it’s not really data-driven,” said Baylor, who is also president and chief executive officer of Biologics Consulting. “It’s a very risky endeavor because if it fails, you will be worse.”

The UK’s controversial decision came as the country continued to grapple with a new strain of the coronavirus that is spreading faster, despite no evidence that it is more severe or deadly. 62,322 cases were reported on Wednesday, and more than 2.8 million people have tested positive for the virus to date, according to government figures.

A nurse prepares the Oxford-AstraZeneca vaccine at Pontcae medical practice in Merthyr Tydfil, Wales on January 4, 2021.

Matthew Horwood | Getty Images News | Getty Images

Delaying the second dose of the vaccine means more people can get their first dose. However, Baylor said it was ideal to follow the dosing regimen from the vaccine’s effectiveness studies.

“If you don’t have the data, you are taking a risk there,” he said. “That is the point, the risk you are taking.”

Weigh vaccine manufacturers

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A pharmacist accused of sabotaging vaccine doses is a conspiracy theorist, the police say.

A pharmacist accused of sabotaging vaccine doses is a conspiracy theorist, the police say.

A pharmacist arrested for deliberately sabotaging more than 500 doses of the Covid-19 vaccine in a Wisconsin hospital was “a licensed conspiracy theorist” who believed the vaccine could harm people and “alter their DNA”, so the police in Grafton, Wisconsin, where the man was employed.

Police said Steven Brandenburg, 46, who worked the night shift at Aurora Medical Center in Grafton, twice removed a box of Moderna vaccine from the refrigerator for 12 hours, rendering it “unusable.” .

“Brandenburg admitted to having done this on purpose, knowing that it would reduce the effectiveness of the vaccine,” said police.

The attempt to destroy valuable doses of the vaccine came over the holidays as the state worked to quickly deliver vaccines to the health front. As of Saturday, the state had received 159,800 doses of vaccines and administered 64,657, according to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. Although the Moderna product is sometimes described as a “genetic” vaccine, it does not alter a person’s genes in any way.

The vials, which held 570 doses of vaccine and were valued at $ 8,000 to $ 12,000 according to prosecutors, were discovered on Dec. 26. Five days later, Mr Brandenburg was arrested for crimes of reckless endangerment and property damage, although prosecutors said Monday the charges could be dropped on a single misdemeanor if the vials, which have yet to be tested, are still usable.

Prosecutor Adam Gerol said Mr. Brandenburg was “quite cooperative and admitted everything he did”. He said that, according to employees, Mr. Brandenburg had already brought a gun to work twice.

In a decision signed on Monday, a family court temporarily granted his wife Gretchen Brandenburg sole custody of the two daughters of Mr Brandenburg and determined that the children were in “immediate danger of physical or mental harm”.

Ms. Brandenburg filed for divorce last June. At a hearing in July, her lawyer testified that his client was afraid of Mr. Brandenburg’s temper.

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India coronavirus vaccine candidate from Cadila Healthcare

India coronavirus vaccine candidate from Cadila Healthcare

SINGAPORE – Indian drug maker Cadila Healthcare is about to start a phase 3 clinical trial for a potential coronavirus vaccine, its chairman told CNBC.

“We are now entering the third phase, which will begin very, very soon,” Pankaj Patel told CNBC’s “Street Signs Asia” on Tuesday.

He said the process will involve around 30,000 volunteers and take around three to three and a half months.

The pharmaceutical company, also known as Zydus Cadila, announced on Sunday that it had received approval from India’s Medicines Agency to begin its Phase 3 clinical trial after previous studies found its DNA vaccine candidate was “safe, well tolerated and immunogenic “.

“We saw that the antibody response was very, very good, in the range of 20 to 80-fold increases in antibodies after the vaccine was given,” said Patel, adding studies that so far indicated that the volunteers the vaccine responded well to it. “We also saw good virus neutralization with it and we didn’t see any side effects to be concerned about.”

“Overall we have very good results and we believe that phase three should actually show us the exact effectiveness of the vaccine,” said Patel. Cadila’s candidate will likely become India’s second domestically developed Covid-19 vaccine when it receives regulatory approval following its phase three study.

Ground staff walk past a container that is being held at Freight Terminal 2 at Indira Gandhi International Airport and will be used as a COVID-19 center for vaccine handling and distribution on December 22, 2020 in New Delhi, India, according to officials becomes.

Anushree Fadnavis | Reuters

Unlike some other Covid-19 vaccines that require extremely cold storage temperatures, Cadila’s candidate can be kept stable at room temperature, according to Patel. That would make it easier to distribute to remote parts of India.

Patel stated that the company already has a distribution system in India and has invested in expanding its manufacturing capacity. He added that the company is also in advanced talks with several other countries to deliver the potential vaccine once it’s ready, but declined to name the nations.

South Asia’s largest country currently has more than 10.35 million reported cases of coronavirus infection, second only to the US. According to the Johns Hopkins University, almost 150,000 people in India are said to have died of Covid-19. However, official figures suggest that the number of cases of active infections is decreasing.

The Indian Medicines Agency on Sunday approved the restricted use of two coronavirus vaccines in emergency situations. One of them is a vaccine developed by AstraZeneca and Oxford University and made locally by the Serum Institute of India. The other was developed by India’s Bharat Biotech in partnership with the Indian State Council for Local Medical Research and received emergency approval if clinical trials continue.

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Moderna will increase minimal 2021 Covid vaccine manufacturing by 20% to 600 million doses

Moderna increases minimum 2021 Covid vaccine production by 20% to 600 million doses

A health worker holds a Moderna COVID-19 vaccine bottle on the first day Orange County residents 65 and older can be vaccinated on December 29, 2020 at a drive through at the Orange County Convention Center in Orlando, Florida.

Paul Hennessy | NurPhoto | Getty Images

Moderna is increasing its Covid-19 vaccine production this year, increasing the expected minimum dose by 20% to 600 million, the company said on Monday.

The company says it is working to produce up to 1 billion doses of its Covid vaccine this year. The U.S. is well on its way to securing 100 million shots of Moderna’s vaccine by the end of March and an additional 100 million by June, the Massachusetts-based company said in a statement.

The U.S. Food and Drug Administration granted Moderna’s emergency coronavirus vaccine approval to anyone age 18 and older in the U.S. in December and started the drug’s first launch.

The federal government has agreed to buy 200 million doses of Moderna’s vaccine, with an option to secure an additional 300 million, the company said.

Moderna’s Covid-19 vaccine, which uses the new mRNA technology and requires two doses four weeks apart, has also been approved in Canada for people aged 18 and over. The company has agreed to supply this country with 40 million doses of its vaccine, with the option to provide an additional 16 million.

“Our effectiveness in delivering early supplies to the US and Canadian governments, as well as our ability to increase baseline production estimates for 2021, are both signals that our increase in mRNA vaccine production is a success,” said Juan Andres, director made a statement to Moderna’s technical department.

The U.S. government, under the Trump administration’s Operation Warp Speed, said it would distribute close to 6 million doses of Moderna’s vaccine in an emergency once FDA approved.

The introduction of the vaccine in the nation has been slower than originally planned. So far, the US has only distributed more than 13 million doses of vaccine, but given only 4.2 million “shots in the arms,” ​​according to data from the US Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, last updated on Saturday. By the end of December, officials wanted to vaccinate 20 million people with Pfizers and Moderna’s two-dose vaccines against Covid-19.

Minister of Health and Human Services Alex Azar defended the operation’s vaccine distribution Monday on ABC’s Good Morning America. He said there was a delay in getting the cans first made available, ordered by the states, and then delivered, all of which was slowed down by the holidays.

However, the US has seen a “rapid uptake” of vaccines in the past few days, Azar said.

“We said our goal is to actually have 20 million first doses available by December. Those are available,” said Azar. It is unclear what Azar meant when he said the cans were “available” as only 13 million were distributed in the US on Saturday morning.

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Windfall Hospital System defies America’s gradual vaccine rollout development

West Virginia mistakenly gives 42 people Regeneron IV Covid treatment instead of vaccine shot

Covid vaccination efforts in the US are well below original estimates. More than 15.4 million doses have been given to states, but only 4.5 million Americans have received their first shot, according to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.

However, the Providence Hospital System has bucked the country’s slow roll-out trend, providing the first dose of the vaccine to more than half of its 120,000 employees in 51 hospitals in seven states.

Dr. Amy Compton-Phillips, clinical director of Providence, told The News with Shepard Smith that “planning is the antidote to panic.” She said Providence began developing strategies in September to identify caregivers at greatest risk and incorporate technology such as email and text to streamline the rollout process.

She told Shepard Smith that one of the solutions is to create a “validation and verification” tool to manage vaccine rollouts in the vendor’s hospitals. The tool included the “roles” that consisted of specific jobs, and it also included places of work for those within the Providence system. People would then in turn reach and validate the data.

“By doing this, we avoided much of the dismay you’ve heard from other organizations that, despite their best intentions, accidentally left out important groups of people who should be vaccinated,” said Compton-Phillips. “I think the biggest lesson we’d have is not to hesitate to do something. Some vaccinations are better than none. Ask your people too, make sure you hear from them, not just them Trust data. “

Minister of Health and Human Services Alex Azar estimated that 20 million Americans could be “vaccinated” by the end of December and another 50 million could be “vaccinated” by the end of January. He added that “we expect” a total of 100 million vaccinations by the end of February.

CDC officials have attributed the slow rollout to complex vaccination stores, overburdened public health departments and health care providers, and the timing of the vaccination rollout during the holidays.

Federal officials have required states to run vaccination campaigns. On Monday, New York Governor Andrew Cuomo admitted that hospitals in his state need to give vaccines faster and threatened with fines.

“Any vendor who does not use the vaccine could be fined up to $ 100,000 in the future. They must use the allocation within seven days. Otherwise, they can be removed from future distribution,” said Cuomo.

Florida Governor Ron DeSantis issued a similar warning to hospitals, saying the state could try converting test sites into vaccination centers. California Governor Gavin Newsom has pledged US $ 300 million for vaccination measures in his current budget proposal.

Providence’s successful rollout still identified areas that needed improvement. According to the Los Angeles Times, one in five frontline nurses at the Providence Holy Cross Medical Center in Mission Hills, Calif., Turned down the shot.

Compton-Phillips noted that the hospital is in an area that is underserved and caters to a large immigrant community. She said that Providence seeks to understand the barriers to vaccination in order to better serve the community.

“We know vaccines are hesitant, especially in certain underserved communities, color communities that have less confidence in the health system. So we’re working very closely with them to understand these concerns and make sure we address them.” them so we can really convince people to do what is in their best interests and protect themselves from this virus, “said Compton-Phillips.

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UK choice to delay second Covid vaccine shot endorsed by advisors

West Virginia mistakenly gives 42 people Regeneron IV Covid treatment instead of vaccine shot

A pharmacist dilutes the Pfizer COVID-19 vaccine as he prepares it for administration to staff and residents at Goodwin House Bailey’s Crossroads, a senior community in Falls Church, Virginia, on December 30, 2020.

Brendan Smialowski | AFP | Getty Images

LONDON – Health experts have condemned the UK’s decision to delay the administration of a second dose of the coronavirus vaccine developed by Pfizer and BioNTech, warning that the need to suppress the new strain of coronavirus “cannot be overstated “.

Shortly after the UK announced that the second dose of the Pfizer BioNTech jab, in addition to the newly approved Covid-19 vaccine developed by AstraZeneca and the University of Oxford, will now be given up to 12 weeks after the first dose.

The National Health Service had previously planned to give a second dose of the Covid-19 vaccine three weeks after the first to ensure a high level of protection against the virus.

The UK’s Independent Scientific Advisory Group on Emergencies (SAGE) said in a statement released on Sunday that it was “a very difficult and balanced decision” but was in favor of the UK government’s move to cover as high a proportion of the population as possible.

However, the change in policy would have to go hand in hand with several other measures. These included: publishing a detailed and compelling strategy to scale up vaccination, developing a rigorous assessment process, real-time assessment of ongoing virus variation, and the need to restrict movement to and from the UK to the rest of the world.

SAGE is made up of health professionals and scientists and is jointly managed by the UK Government’s Chief Scientific Advisor and Chief Medical Officer.

Meghana Pandit, Chief Medical Officer of the NHS Trust, Oxford University, right, speaks to Trevor Cowlett, 88, before receiving the Oxford University AstraZeneca Plc and Covid-19 vaccine at Churchill Hospital in Oxford, UK on Monday. January 4, 2021. UK regulators approved the shot last week, giving it its first approval anywhere in the world.

Steve Parsons | PA wire | Bloomberg | Getty Images

The comments come despite the British Medical Association criticizing the UK’s decision to postpone the second dose of Pfizer BioNTech vaccine. It described the move as “grossly unfair” to thousands of high-risk patients in England.

“The BMA is of the opinion that the existing commitment of the NHS and local doctors to these patients should be respected. If the GPs decide to keep these booked appointments in January, the BMA will support them,” said Dr. Richard Vautre, Chairman of the BMA GP Committee. said in a statement on December 31.

In response to these concerns, the SAGE Committee said, “Under normal circumstances, we would advocate continuing our previous plans of administering two doses of Pfizer BioNTech vaccine 21 days apart. However, these are not normal circumstances and it is are other important public health considerations. “

The German Ministry of Health asked an independent vaccination commission for advice on Monday whether it should follow in the UK’s footsteps.

A ministry spokesman confirmed to CNBC that the federal government had asked the Robert Koch Institute’s Standing Committee on Vaccination if the country should delay a second vaccination with the Pfizer vaccine. “Such a decision requires scientific consideration,” they added.

“Hard” measures required

British Prime Minister Boris Johnson said Monday the government could soon announce stricter public health measures to prevent the coronavirus from spreading.

Johnson said “tough” measures could come for weeks. Currently, more than three quarters of the UK population is in Tier 4 – the highest level of restrictions.

The opposition Labor Party said the government must impose a national lockdown within 24 hours and warned the virus was “clearly out of control”.

The UK recorded more than 50,000 new confirmed Covid-19 infections for the sixth consecutive year on Sunday. The country continues to fight a new strain of the virus that is spreading faster.

To date, the UK has reported more than 2.6 million coronavirus cases with 75,137 deaths, according to Johns Hopkins University.

“It is now clear that the new variant of the virus that appears to have surfaced in south-east England is 40-80% significantly more transmissible than previous variants,” SAGE said in a Jan. 3 statement.

“It is also clear that the current Tier 4 restrictions cannot contain their spread even if schools and universities are closed.”

“The pandemic is now out of control and the NHS is struggling with some hospitals being forced to cease non-COVID activity. The NHS is no longer protected. For these reasons, there is a strong case for maximizing population coverage with at least one dose of vaccine although this requires a change in the dosage regimen, “added the group.

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UK rolls out AstraZeneca-Oxford vaccine

UK rolls out AstraZeneca-Oxford vaccine

Brian Pinker, 82, will receive the University of Oxford / AstraZeneca COVID-19 COVID-19 vaccine on January 4th, 2021 from Nurse Sam Foster at Churchill Hospital in Oxford, South West England. –

STEVE PARSONS | AFP | Getty Images

LONDON – UK has started rolling out the coronavirus vaccine developed by AstraZeneca and Oxford University. This is another step in the fight against the coronavirus pandemic.

The country’s National Health Service (NHS) is the first in the world to use the push after it was approved for use in the UK by the Medicines and Health Products Regulatory Agency (MHRA) last week. The NHS said 82-year-old Brian Pinker became the first person in the world to receive the bump on Monday morning.

The approval and use of the Oxford-AstraZeneca vaccine are seen as a boon in the race against Covid-19 as it is cheaper than the alternatives developed by Pfizer, BioNTech and Moderna.

In addition, unlike other vaccines, it can be stored, transported, and handled under normal refrigeration conditions (2 to 8 degrees Celsius or 36 to 46 degrees Fahrenheit) for at least six months.

When the vaccine was approved last week, AstraZeneca stated its goal of “delivering millions of doses in the first quarter” under its contract with the UK government to deliver up to 100 million doses in total.

As a two-dose vaccine, according to the agreement, it could vaccinate up to 50 million people in the UK of around 66 million people.

In a statement on Monday, the UK government said there are now more than half a million doses available, “with an additional ten million doses to be delivered over the coming weeks and months once batches have been quality checked by the MHRA.”

The Oxford AstraZeneca vaccine complements a Covid-19 vaccination program launched by the UK back in December, when the Pfizer BioNTech vaccine launched with two doses. According to the government, more than a million people in the UK have already been vaccinated with the Pfizer shot. It was announced on Monday that more than 730 vaccination sites have been set up across the UK and that hundreds more will be opening this week.

As with the Pfizer vaccine, the Oxford-AstraZeneca shot will be introduced first for priority groups, including residents and employees of nursing homes, people over 80 and health and care workers, and then for the rest of the population in order of age and risk, including those who are extremely clinically vulnerable.

“Decisive moment”

UK Health Secretary Matt Hancock said: “This is a pivotal moment in our fight against this terrible virus and I hope it gives everyone renewed hope that the end of this pandemic is in sight”.

Another vaccine may not come early enough for the UK, which is grappling with an increase in infections, largely due to a mutation in the virus that is making it easier to spread. Britain has now registered over 2.6 million cases of the virus and over 75,000 deaths, according to a record by Johns Hopkins University.

British Prime Minister Boris Johnson said Sunday that further restrictions on public life were likely as Covid-19 cases continue to rise.

On Monday, Hancock told Sky News that the UK cannot roll out the vaccine any faster than supply allows. However, experts agree that the UK needs to step up its vaccination program as soon as possible. Last week, a study by the London School of Hygiene and Tropical Medicine concluded that the UK must vaccinate two million people a week to avoid a third wave of the coronavirus outbreak.

On Saturday, The Times newspaper anonymously quoted a “key member of the Oxford AstraZeneca team” as saying the drug company would increase production so that it would produce two million pounds each week by mid-January.

This goal is achievable, but challenging, says Dr. Andrew Freedman, Infectious Disease Reader at Cardiff University School of Medicine. He told CNBC on Monday that the speed of the rollout will depend on “the availability of the vaccine, vaccine production, but also its distribution and establishment of new vaccination centers and the recruitment of new vaccines”.

“It’s a goal, but it’s realistic and I think it can be achieved by the end of the month,” he told CNBC’s Squawk Box Europe.

The most vulnerable are first vaccinated with shots initially taken in hospitals before the bulk of the shipments are sent to hundreds of doctor’s offices and nursing homes later in the week.

Somewhat controversial, the MHRA, the Joint Committee on Vaccination and Immunization (JCVI) and the UK’s four chief medical officers agreed to move the gap between the first and second dose of coronavirus vaccines that are now being given to the public . The change in strategy was to get most people protected in no time.

The British Medical Association said the decision to postpone the post-dose of the Pfizer vaccine and to cancel appointments for patients who had already been given the second dose was “grossly unfair” for thousands of high-risk patients. However, experts like Freedman said that with a vaccine like the Oxford-AstraZeneca candidate, a longer gap between doses could increase the effectiveness of the sting.

The government last week insisted that “the priority should be to give as many people in risk groups as possible their first dose, rather than delivering the required two doses in as short a time as possible”.

“Everyone will continue to receive their second dose within 12 weeks of the first. The second dose completes the course and is important for longer term protection,” he added.