NBC News -
March 17, 2021
Jerominski is one of an estimated 155,000 pharmacists working at chain drugstores who, over the past decade, have found themselves pushed to do more with less. They're working faster, filling more orders and juggling a wider range of tasks with fewer staff members at a pace that many say is unsustainable and jeopardizes patient safety. Now Covid-19 vaccinations are raising new concerns about what will happen if they aren't given enough additional support for yet another responsibility.
AP -
March 16, 2021
A cascading number of European countries — including Germany, France, Italy and Spain — suspended use of AstraZeneca’s COVID-19 vaccine Monday over reports of dangerous blood clots in some recipients, though the company and international regulators say there is no evidence the shot is to blame. AstraZeneca’s formula is one of three vaccines in use on the continent. But the escalating concern is another setback for the European Union’s vaccination drive, which has been plagued by shortages and other hurdles and is lagging well behind the campaigns in Britain and the U.S.
NPR -
March 16, 2021
How much social distance is necessary in the classroom? The answer (to that question) has huge consequences for how many students can safely fit into classrooms. … [A] new study published in Clinical Infectious Diseases suggests that 3 feet may be as safe as 6 feet, so long as everyone is masked. The authors compared infection rates at Massachusetts schools that required at least 3 feet of distancing with those that required at least 6 feet, and found no significant difference in the coronavirus case rates among students or staff in the two cohorts.
Vox -
March 16, 2021
A new CDC study delivers a different kind of good vaccine news: Americans have been incredibly diligent about getting their second Covid-19 shot. … Nearly 9 in 10 Americans, 88 percent, who were eligible to receive a second dose of either the Pfizer/BioNTech or Moderna vaccines had gotten their second shot as of mid-February. Almost all of them did so in the recommended time frame (17-25 days for Pfizer; 24-32 days for Moderna).
CNN -
March 16, 2021
The clinical trial, called the KidCOVE study, will enroll approximately 6,750 children in the US and Canada between the ages of 6 months and 11 years old. The trial is broken into two parts. In part one, different dosages of the vaccine are being tested on the children. …The findings of part one will be used to determine which dose will be used in part two. For part two, the trial will expand to include children who are given a saline placebo, which does nothing.
The New York Times -
March 16, 2021
A coronavirus typically gains mutations on a slow-but-steady pace of about two per month. But this variant, called B.1.1.7, had acquired 23 mutations that were not on the virus first identified in China. And 17 of those had developed all at once, sometime after it diverged from its most recent ancestor. Experts said there’s only one good hypothesis for how this happened: At some point the virus must have infected someone with a weak immune system, allowing it to adapt and evolve for months inside the person’s body before being transmitted to others.
HealthDay -
March 16, 2021
As of Monday, more than 37.4 million Americans are now fully vaccinated, 11.3% of the total U.S. population, according to the CDC. Meanwhile, over 107 million, 21% of the total population, have gotten at least one dose. Just over one-third of Americans age 65 and older are fully vaccinated, the agency reported.
CNN -
March 16, 2021
In the first week of March, more than 20% of blood donations from unvaccinated people had Covid-19 antibodies, according to data shared with CNN by the American Red Cross. Between mid-June 2020 and early March 2021, the American Red Cross tested more than 3.3 million donations from unvaccinated people in 44 states for the presence of Covid-19 antibodies. Overall, about 7.5% of the donations tested in that time frame were positive for Covid-19 antibodies, meaning the donors had likely been infected with the coronavirus at some point.
NPR -
March 15, 2021
As COVID-19 vaccines roll out across the U.S., more travelers are taking to the skies. Friday marked the busiest day for the nation's airports since the middle of March 2020, when COVID-19 caused air travel to plummet. About 1.36 million passengers passed through security checkpoints Friday, according to figures from the Transportation Security Administration. That is the highest volume since March 15, 2020, when checkpoints reported more than 1.5 million passengers.
STAT -
March 15, 2021
This television, radio, and digital advertising blitz, set to kick off within weeks, will focus on Americans outright skeptical of vaccines’ safety or effectiveness as well as those who are potentially more willing to seek a Covid-19 immunization but don’t yet know where, when, or how. Specifically, the campaign will target three groups in which access, apathy, or outright skepticism may pose a barrier to vaccinations: young people, people of color, and conservatives, according to a Biden aide.
Kaiser Health News -
March 15, 2021
After the rollout of covid vaccines, the number of new covid cases among nursing home staff members fell 83% — from 28,802 for the week ending Dec. 20 to 4,764 for the week ending Feb. 14, data from the Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services shows. New covid-19 infections among nursing home residents fell even more steeply, by 89%, in that period, compared with 58% in the general public, CMS and Johns Hopkins University data shows.
Kaiser Health News -
March 15, 2021
Pharmacists involved in the covid vaccination drive say it’s common to have half a dose left in a Pfizer vial after five or even six doses have been administered — and to have half a dose left after 10 doses have been drawn out of a Moderna vial. Combining two half-doses could increase vaccinations by thousands at a time when 2 million or so doses are being administered every day in the country. So, they want to use a single hypodermic needle to withdraw leftover vaccine from two vials from which all full doses already have been removed.
STAT -
March 15, 2021
As if Covid-19 were not bad enough, depression preceded by problems with mood, sleep, anxiety, and fatigue follow the infection in a significant proportion of people, a new paper suggests. Half of nearly 4,000 people who responded to an online survey — whose topic was disclosed only after entering — met criteria for moderate or more severe depression. People who reported headache as a symptom during their illness were more likely to have depressive symptoms; loss of smell and taste were not linked.
NPR -
March 15, 2021
Phelps is from one of the 80% to 90% of households expected to receive a stimulus payment from the government. And to the delight of many, that money is coming sooner than anticipated. Since only a day after President Biden signed the $1.9 trillion pandemic relief bill, people around the country have reported seeing deposits pending in their bank accounts. That money is expected to be made available as soon as Wednesday.
BBC -
March 15, 2021
Shops, restaurants and schools will be closed across most of Italy on Monday, with PM Mario Draghi warning of a "new wave" of the coronavirus outbreak. For three days over Easter, 3-5 April, there will be a total shutdown. Italy, which one year ago imposed one of the first national lockdowns, is once again struggling to contain the rapid spread of infections.
STAT -
March 12, 2021
The Biden administration has previously issued non-binding directions or recommendations on Covid-19 mitigation measures like mask use or school reopenings. But the aides stressed that, using the authority of the HHS, its vaccine order will be binding, and states’ compliance will be mandatory. The goal, Biden aides told reporters on a conference call, is to allow Americans to gather in relative normalcy by July 4.