Sharon Amit
, Sharon Alexsandra Beni, Asaf Biber, Amir Grinberg, Eyal Leshem1, and Gili Regev-Yochay1
Tuesday, February 9, 2021
Post-Vaccination COVID-19 among Healthcare Workers, Israel
Walmarts in 34 Florida counties to offer COVID-19 vaccine
Walmart and Sam’s Club locations across the state of Florida will begin administering COVID-19 vaccinations on Friday as part of the Federal Retail Pharmacy Program.
Gov. Ron DeSantis made the announcement during a news briefing in front of a Walmart pharmacy in Jacksonville Tuesday afternoon, saying that 119 Walmart and Sam’s Club stores in 34 counties would be offering the vaccinations to people 65 and older.
“And this is over 30% of their total footprint in Florida, which is a really really good start.,” DeSantis said. “So around 25,000 doses for the Walmart portion of the mission. And I think that they have a great plan. They’re spreading it pretty far and wide.”
In all, Florida is set to receive 65,300 doses through the Federal Retail Pharmacy Program, 25,000 of which will go to Walmart and Sam’s Club locations. With 119 locations sharing about 25,000 doses, each location would get about 210 doses, if they are distributed evenly.
[Click here to see a list of participating Walmart and Sam’s Club stores]
“You do not have to be a member of Sam’s Club, to be able to get a shot at a Sam’s Club pharmacy, which we obviously very much appreciate because we want this to be as widely available as possible,” DeSantis said.
Orange County Mayor Jerry Demings announced Monday that 17 Walmart and Sam’s Club stores in Orange County will be part of the Federal Retail Pharmacy Program. At the time, the mayor said the stores would be vaccinating about 300 people per day.
Publix and Winn-Dixie will also receive more vaccine doses thanks to the federal program, according to the governor.
“Publix will also get more doses now than they had been getting just from the state and so they are also going to expand,” DeSantis said. “So right now they’re in 325 pharmacies across 23 counties. Starting by the end of this week, they will be in almost 600 public stores statewide across 41 counties.”
A release from the governor’s office clarified that there are currently 324 Publix locations offering vaccinations through its partnership with the state and 269 new locations would begin offering doses with its allocation from the federal government. In all 593 Publix locations across the state will be administering vaccinations. Publix operates 756 pharmacies throughout Florida.
DeSantis did not say how many doses Publix or Winn-Dixie would be getting from the federal government.
Publix’s website now lists appointment availability coming to Brevard, Flagler, Lake, Marion, Orange, Osceola, Polk, Seminole, Sumter and Volusia Counties. You can find more details on those appointments and locations here.
Winn-Dixie will offer vaccinations at 43 of its locations, including stores in Brevard, Lake, Marion, Sumter and Volusia Counties, according to the governor’s office. There is no word on how many doses the grocery chain is being allocated by the federal government. You can find a full list of locations offering appointments here.
The doses coming into Florida from the federal program will be on top of the 325,000 doses that the state is already allocated, according to the governor. That would bring the state’s total allocation to about 390,300 doses.
However, even with the added doses coming from this federal program, DeSantis predicted it would still be some time before the state’s vaccination plans expanded beyond health care workers, first responders and the state’s 65 and older population.
“That is putting us in a range where it’ll take a couple more weeks to really get through probably all the seniors who really really want it,” DeSantis said. “I know there’s folks who aren’t in the 65 and plus, who are... who are anxious to get it. We want to get it to you.”
People looking to make appointments at Walmart locations can head to walmart.com/covid or samsclub.com/covid for appointments at Sam’s Club locations.
The governor said Publix will be offering more vaccination appointments this week as well. The store said its online appointment registration portal will open at 7 a.m. Wednesday. Appointments can be made at publix.com/covidvaccine.
Appointments with Winn-Dixie can be made at winndixie.com/pharmacy/covid-vaccine.
Dermapharm to start making Pfizer shot at second site by May
Dermapharm DMPG.DE aims to start making the COVID-19 vaccine from BioNTech 22UAy.DE and U.S. partner Pfizer PFE.N at a second site in Germany in May, its chief executive said, as part of efforts to ramp up production to meet demand.
The German drugmaker has been producing the shot at its factory in Brehna in eastern Germany since October and is in the process of converting a second site in Reinbek near Hamburg, Hans-Georg Feldmeier told Reuters in an interview.
"We are trying to start in May," he said. "The big advantage is that we can transfer our know-how from one site to the other. That also shortens the time."
Feldmeier said Dermapharm's two locations were part of a network of 13 production sites, including factories from pharma giants Novartis NOVN.S and Sanofi SASY.PA, that have been contracted by Pfizer/BioNTech to meet their 2021 production goal of 2 billion doses, up from a previous target of 1.3 million.
Dermapharm made a "significant share" of the 50 million doses produced in 2020 and is doubling its production capacity to help deliver 75 million extra doses to the European Union in the second quarter, Feldmeier said.
"With our voluntary increase, we are helping to produce this additional amount," he said, declining to go into more detail.
The company, listed on Germany's small-cap index, had no previous experience in making vaccines.
Instead, it was fortunate to have in-house experts on the niche business of putting the mRNA molecules into lipid nanoparticles to help them reach the designated cells in the human body without getting damaged.
"That was the bridge that led us to BioNTech," he said, adding they had received no state support.
The EU, under pressure over its sluggish vaccination roll-out, has said the limited availability of lipids and other raw materials is constraining COVID-19 vaccine production.
Feldmeier said lipids were like the lithium-ion batteries needed for electric cars. "You could build a lot more cars if there were more lithium-ion batteries," he said.
The main bottleneck for production was scaling up a previously niche technology and duplicating it across multiple locations, he said. "And that's what's happening right now, this rolling out into industrial scale."
Uber to offer free rides to Walgreens to expand Covid vax access to underserved
Walgreens and Uber are teaming up to make it easier for people who don’t have a car or a nearby pharmacy to get a Covid-19 vaccine.
The companies announced Tuesday that Uber will offer free rides to Walgreens stores and clinics for those who book an appointment and live in underserved communities. Uber will work with charitable partners, such as the National Urban League, to identify people who need the rides.
The pilot program will start in Chicago, Atlanta, Houston and El Paso, Texas. A Walgreens spokeswoman said free rides will be offered as early as next week in Atlanta and then expand to the other cities.
The partnership is part of a pledge Uber made in December to offer 10 million free or discounted rides to make sure transportation doesn’t prevent people from getting the Covid vaccine.
Walgreens, the country’s second-largest pharmacy chain, will take on an expanded role in the vaccine rollout later this week. Walgreens will give vaccines to priority groups — such as older Americans or those with preexisting conditions — starting Friday at some stores in 15 states and two cities, Chicago and New York.
The Biden administration announced plans last week to start sending direct shipments of doses to about 6,500 retail stores nationwide. It plans to eventually expand that program to 40,000 pharmacies.
The vaccine rollout has been slowed by limited supply. It has also reflected broader health-care inequities. The majority of the nearly 13 million people given at least one dose of vaccine within the first month of distribution were older, White and female, according to a study by the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. Many vaccine sites have relied on online systems, which can be complicated to navigate for older Americans or out of reach for people who don’t have a cellphone or reliable internet access.
Covid has had a disproportionate toll on Black and Hispanic Americans. Black Americans have died from Covid at 1.5 times the rate of White people, according to data compiled by the COVID Tracking Project.
Walgreens and Uber said they also plan to work together in other ways. Uber said it will add in-app features that make it easier for Uber drivers, delivery people and freight workers to book a vaccine appointment when they are more widely available. The companies are developing an educational program with the National Urban League to reduce vaccine hesitancy.
Biden administration eying negative COVID test requirement for domestic air travel
President Joe Biden's administration may soon require a negative COVID-19 test for all domestic air travelers, according to Pete Buttigieg, transportation secretary, CNN reported Feb. 9.
"There's an active conversation with the CDC right now," Mr. Buttigieg said when asked about the possibility during a Feb. 7 interview with Axios on HBO.
"What I can tell you is, it's going to be guided by data, by science, by medicine, and by the input of the people who are actually going to have to carry this out," Mr. Buttigieg added.
Currently, a negative test requirement applies to all international travelers boarding U.S. bound flights, according to the CDC. That order had been in effect since Jan. 26.
At a Feb. 8 news conference, Rochelle Walensky, MD, CDC director, said extending the requirement to domestic travel could be an added COVID-19 prevention measure, but didn't confirm any plans to do so, CNN reports.
"To the extent that we have available tests to be able to do testing, first and foremost, I would really encourage people not to travel," Dr. Walkensy said. "But if we are travelling, this would be yet another mitigation measure to try and decrease the spread."
Why side effects are more common with 2nd COVID-19 shot: 5 notes
Side effects appear to be more common after the second dose for both Pfizer-BioNTech and Moderna COVID-19 vaccines.
Both vaccines have received FDA emergency use authorization, and both companies' clinical trials recorded participants experiencing side effects.
But why is the second dose more likely to be tied to more side effects?
How COVID-19 mRNA vaccines work
Both Pfizer and Moderna vaccines are mRNA vaccines, which means they use a copy of a natural chemical — messenger RNA — to produce an immune response. There are spike proteins on the surface of SARS-CoV-2, the virus that causes COVID-19, which help the virus bind to other cells and replicate. mRNA vaccines work to induce an immune response against the spike protein, primarily through antibodies, so when a virus is detected in the future, it can be fought off more swiftly, according to The Atlantic.
Why some individuals experience side effects after receiving the vaccine
Side effects from the vaccine are normal signs the body is building protection against COVID-19, according to the CDC. Sometimes after vaccination, the process of building immunity can cause symptoms, though all side effects should go away within a few days.
Inflammation as an immune response can result in redness, swelling and tenderness at the injection site, along with broader systemic responses, such as fever, headache, muscle aches, joint pain or fatigue, reports Fox's WNYW.
"A number of things happen with regard to inflammation, but it's really a sign that our immune system is recognizing that there's a foreign protein in our body and is preparing to fight it and get rid of it," William Moss, MD, epidemiologist and executive director of the International Vaccine Access Center at Baltimore-based Johns Hopkins University, told WNYW.
The mRNA itself may provoke a reaction from the immune system.
"All of a sudden, you have a lot of new RNA that the cell didn't make," Donna Farber, PhD, an immunologist at New York City-based Columbia University, told The Atlantic.
Why some people experience more severe side effects after the second dose
The Moderna and Pfizer vaccines are administered in two doses, spaced apart by about 28 and 21 days, respectively. More users of V-safe, the CDC's tool to report vaccine side effects, reported side effects within a week of getting their second shot compared to the first, according to a Jan. 27 CDC update.
When hit with the second injection, the immune system is already primed.
"By the second vaccine, it's already amped up and ready to go," Jasmine Marcelin, MD, an infectious disease physician at Omaha-based University of Nebraska Medical Center, told The Atlantic.
Cells that make antibodies need several days to study the spike's features before they can respond. But by the second dose, adaptive cells are faster to react.
"Basically, that second dose is saying, 'Hey, I know a month ago you saw this spike protein. I'm going to remind you once more what it looks like so that you're really ready to attack it,'" Dr. Moss told WNYW.
Why the second COVID-19 dose is important
While there is some protection from a single COVID-19 vaccine dose, protection may be shorter, though it remains unclear. Extending the length of time between doses or skipping the second shot would be "premature and not rooted solidly in the available evidence," the FDA said Jan. 4. The agency emphasized the importance of continuing the two-dose regimen at the studied intervals.
Vaccinated individuals who aren't experiencing any side effects
People shouldn't be concerned by a lack of vaccine side effects, either.
"People who don't have moderate or severe side effects from the vaccine can still have a very protective immune response. They just didn't have, for various reasons, that intense inflammatory response," Dr. Moss told WNYW, citing a combination of genetics and prior history of exposure.
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)