CDC: 75% in US Have High-Risk Factors For Severe COVID, Making Prioritization Hard

 People with certain pre-existing conditions, in addition to those over 65, fall into Pennsylvania’s currently eligible 1A COVID vaccination group.

Three out of four Americans have a risk factor for severe COVID-19.

A heart condition had Madysen Stauffer concerned.Because of asthma, Mike Chiappinelli wanted to get immunized.

“If you have pre-existing conditions it’s definitely important to get vaccinated,” Chiappinelli said.

“I was worried because I knew what happens when you get it, especially with my case,” Stauffer said.

“I didn’t know where I stood on the totem pole at first because of my age.

“I asked and I had appointments, and they’re like ‘yeah, try to get it as fast as you can.’

By CDC guidelines, as many as 75% of American adults have a risk factor, such as obesity, cancer, smoking, lung or kidney disease or pregnancy, among others.

“The folks with cancer, older age, heart disease, if you have that combination then it’s a very scary thing to get COVID,” Allegheny Health Network family medicine physician Dr. Amy Crawford-Faucher says.

A study in the Journal of Preventive Cardiology points to an especially high risk in people with heart problems, stroke, and high blood pressure.

“Because of overall poorer health status, for a whole variety of reasons, tend to get these diseases at younger ages,” Crawford-Faucher says.“If your heart and its associated vessels aren’t healthy, that just puts you at higher risk of not being able to tolerate the inflammation that can come along with a COVID infection,” Crawford-Faucher says.

The risk is also high for people with low income and low education.

With so many people at risk, this could make vaccine prioritization hard.

“It has been very challenging,” Crawford-Faucher says. “Some states are picking different priorities than others, and I think it’s partly how you parse that data.”

At her vaccine clinics, there is a system.

“If you had two or more of these risk factors, we prioritized reaching out to those patients first,” she says.

Mike has less anxiety after getting his vaccine and wishes more people with risk factors could, too.

“A lot of friends and family fall into that list,” he said.

https://pittsburgh.cbslocal.com/2021/03/18/cdc-americans-high-risk-factors-severe-covid-19-vaccination-prioritization/

Israeli Researchers: Pfizer Corona Vaccine Less Effective Against S. Africa Variant

 A team of researchers from Israel’s Ben-Gurion University of the Negev in Beersheva has found that the Pfizer coronavirus vaccine is seven times less effective against the South African variant of the disease, Israel’s Channel 13 reported.

The study, published on Monday by the scientific journal Cell Host & Microbe, examined British, South African, and other mutated variants of the virus.

Lead researcher Dr. Ran Taube of the Department of Microbiology, Immunology, and Genetics at BGU, said, “Our findings show that the effectiveness of the vaccine against the South African strain is less — although it still exists.”

While the study did find that the Pfizer vaccine provided less protection against the British and especially the South African variants, it noted that the vaccine was nonetheless effective at boosting immunity to the virus to a substantial degree.

In particular, the team found that the level of antibodies and ability to protect against infection were 11 times higher among those who were vaccinated than those who recovered from the virus without being vaccinated.

The study used blood samples taken from recovered patients and people who had received the Pfizer vaccine. The vaccinated subjects had blood taken 21 days after the first vaccine dose and ten days after the second.

https://www.algemeiner.com/2021/03/22/israeli-researchers-find-pfizer-corona-vaccine-seven-times-less-effective-against-south-african-variant/

Wisconsin dentists will be allowed to give COVID-19 vaccine

 Wisconsin dentists will be allowed to administer the COVID-19 vaccine after completing a training course.

Gov. Tony Evers signed a bill Monday that allows dentists to give COVID-19 and flu shots after finishing an eight hour course and training on storage, protocols, technique and emergency procedures. They’ll also have to learn about record keeping and must have liability insurance.

“Wisconsin has been consistently at the top as a leader in the nation in getting available shots in arms, and that’s in part because Wisconsinites are always ready to roll up their sleeves and help,” said Gov. Evers. “It’s all hands on deck and dentists have the right knowledge and experience to get shots in arms quickly and safely, and we know we can use their help to get this done and to put the pandemic behind us.”

CLICK HERE to read the law.

On Monday, Wisconsin opened up COVID-19 vaccination eligibility to two million residents who have medical conditions.

Unsure if you’re eligible for the COVID-19 vaccine? CLICK HERE to find out who can get the shot in Wisconsin.

Need to make an appointment? CLICK HERE for the First Alert Vaccine Team guide to getting a COVID-19 vaccine.

https://www.wbay.com/app/2021/03/22/wisconsin-dentists-will-be-allowed-to-give-covid-19-vaccine/

Human rhinovirus infection blocks SARS-CoV-2 replication in respiratory epithelium: implications for COVID-19

 Kieran Dee, Daniel M Goldfarb, Joanne Haney, Julien A R Amat, Vanessa Herder, Meredith Stewart, Agnieszka M Szemiel, Marc Baguelin, Pablo R Murcia 

Author Notes

 https://doi.org/10.1093/infdis/jiab147

PDF: https://academic.oup.com/jid/advance-article-pdf/doi/10.1093/infdis/jiab147/36659461/jiab147.pdf

Abstract

Virus-virus interactions influence the epidemiology of respiratory infections. However, the impact of viruses causing upper respiratory infections on SARS-CoV-2 replication and transmission is currently unknown. Human rhinoviruses cause the common cold and are the most prevalent respiratory viruses of humans. Interactions between rhinoviruses and co-circulating respiratory viruses have been shown to shape virus epidemiology at the individual host and population level. Here, we examined the replication kinetics of SARS-CoV-2 in the human respiratory epithelium in the presence or absence of rhinovirus. We show that human rhinovirus triggers an interferon response that blocks SARS-CoV-2 replication. Mathematical simulations show that this virus-virus interaction is likely to have a population-wide effect as an increasing prevalence of rhinovirus will reduce the number of new COVID-19 cases.

https://academic.oup.com/jid/advance-article/doi/10.1093/infdis/jiab147/6179975

W.Va. opens vaccinations to all over 16

 Gov. Jim Justice announced Monday that he’s opening COVID-19 vaccinations to everyone over the age of 16 in the Mountain State.

“Beginning right now,” Justice said at the beginning of his media briefing Monday on the virus.

Justice said registration of those new age groups can begin at vaccinate.wv.gov.

“Now is our time. Let’s go West Virginia,” Justice said.

Those over the age of 65 will continue to be a priority. Justice said new information shows 70% of those over that age have been vaccinated. Justice said those numbers include the state’s vaccination numbers, those from the Veterans Administration and those from the federal pharmacy program.

“We’ve had 221,739 residents 65 and older who have chosen to get vaccinated,” Justice said. “Out of those, 150,000 have been fully vaccinated.”

Justice said 70% is an impressive number.

“I don’t have any idea where other states are at but I can’t imagine they are at 70% of their 65 year olds or older,” he said. “We need this number to fly past 80%, fly past 85% and the only way we’re going to get there is for you to quit listening to this garbage people are feeding you about this vaccine.”

The state has fully vaccinated just short of 268,000 residents of all ages as of Monday’s state Department of Health and Human Resources’ report.

Justice said the overall number is good but not good enough.

“As we continue to lead the nation with our vaccine distribution we do not want to take our foot off the gas,” he said. “I encourage all West Virginians to take advantage of this opportunity and get vaccinated.”

Lists being cleared

State DHHR Secretary Bill Crouch said the state continues to contact older residents who have been on the vaccination list operated by the EverBridge system for more than three weeks.

“We’ve contacted those 80 and older on the list last week. This week we’re contacting those 70 and older and then 65 and older. We’re going to get these people into a clinic as quickly as possible,” Crouch said.

As of last Wednesday, there remained more than 7,000 state residents 80 and older who have signed up for a vaccine on the EverBridge system but haven’t yet gotten one; more than 23,000 residents between 70-79 and approximately 18,000 residents between 65-69 years old.

Crouch made a promise Monday.

“That list is going to be cleared out completely,” Crouch said.

He also said the state would be moving away from the EverBridge system.

“The governor has already directed us to look at a better way to assist folks to get their vaccinations,” Crouch said.

Crouch said again Monday that EverBridge hasn’t been perfect but it accomplished its original goal of bringing relief to county health departments in relieving call volume.

“We now have over 390,000 individuals who have registered in the system who would have been calling folks on the local level,” Crouch said last week.

Crouch urges residents who haven’t heard from EverBridge to call the state hotline at 1-833-734-0965.

Justice said there are more and more locations to get a vaccine. He urged state residents to get one wherever and whenever they can no matter if they are on the list or not.

“Let’s go West Virginia and let’s get everybody in this state vaccinated. That ought to be our goal,” Justice said.

https://wvmetronews.com/2021/03/22/justice-opens-vaccinations-to-all-over-16-allows-fairs-festivals-beginning-may-1/

All Georgia adults will be eligible for coronavirus vaccines starting Thursday

 All Georgia adults can receive coronavirus vaccines beginning Thursday, Gov. Brian Kemp said as he announced a dramatic expansion of eligibility in a state still facing challenges in distributing the lifesaving doses.

The expansion, which will cover Georgians age 16 and over, comes less than two weeks after the state expanded eligibility to people age 55 and older and those suffering from “high risk” medical conditions — a category defined so broadly it encompasses more than two-thirds of the state’s adult population.

“Confirm your spot in line as quickly as possible,” said Kemp, who added that he, too, will get his vaccination on Friday. “This is our ticket back to normal, and we’re getting closer to that point every day.”

About 1.1 million Georgians are fully vaccinated in a state of nearly 11 million people, according to state data, and more than 2 million have received at least one dose, including roughly three-quarters of Georgia’s senior citizens.

Kemp’s announcement on Tuesday means that Georgia will join a small group of states, including Alaska and Mississippi, that have so far opened COVID-19 vaccinations to all adults. A growing number of other state governments have announced plans to quickly expand eligibility within weeks.

In early March, Kemp announced that Georgians as young as 55 and those with certain “high-risk” medical conditions would be eligible to receive the vaccine. Under the wide-ranging definition of those conditions, most Georgia adults became qualified to get the shots.

But supply of the vaccine remains tight in parts of the state, particularly in metro Atlanta, where many residents are traveling to other parts of Georgia to make appointments in areas where there’s less demand for the doses.

In a major step, the federally supported mass vaccination site at Mercedes-Benz Stadium on Wednesday will start working to administer 6,000 shots a day, and it is offering evening hours to reach more people.

And state leaders hope the federal government’s plans to send an additional 42,000 doses a week over the next few weeks to the stadium, the state’s largest vaccination site, will ease the demand problem. Overall, Kemp said Georgia received more than 450,000 doses of vaccines this week.

Meanwhile, doses continue to be available in South Georgia. Health officials said a state-run vaccination site in Albany closed last week because of limited demand — it was averaging less than 100 appointments a day — and the supplies were redistributed to other clinics.

Another state-operated vaccination site in Savannah had booked so few appointments when it opened last week that officials decided to open it up for drive-up appointments to help increase vaccinations.

“We cannot afford to have vaccines sitting in the freezers, whether it’s in metro Atlanta or in rural Georgia,” he said.

The state’s expansion comes as Georgia continues to struggle to vaccinate more residents. Data from the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention shows that Georgia is vaccinating people at one of the nation’s slowest paces.

Kemp has criticized news coverage of the vaccination rate, citing higher rates of vaccination for higher-risk Georgians, and cited CDC statistics that showed Georgia received far fewer doses of the vaccine per capita than other states.

“Obviously, metro Atlanta is going to be a little bit more of a challenge,” said Dr. Carlos del Rio, an Emory University medical professor and public health expert. “But I think it’s not insurmountable. And I think we’re doing quite well.”

Georgia health officials are in a race against the clock to vaccinate as many people as possible before coronavirus variants take hold that could be more contagious and, potentially, reinfect people who have recovered from the disease.

The state recently detected its first case of a particularly worrisome variant first found in Brazil, and health officials have reported dozens of other cases of variants that originated in the United Kingdom and South Africa.

Complicating the effort is a vaccination sign-up system that can be confusing for some Georgians.

Barbara Barnhart of Tucker, a retired flight attendant, got her second dose last month, and she now spends a few hours a week helping others navigate the various vaccine sites. She’s picked up tips over the past few weeks, such as checking early with pharmacies that open slots at 7 a.m.

By now, she’s helped about 50 relatives and friends — and dozens of others who have asked for help on a Georgia Vaccine Hunters Facebook group. She welcomed the governor’s announcement and urged Georgians to sign up as quickly as possible.

“I don’t want any more people to get sick,” she said. “I just want us to get back to normal life, and I believe this is going to make a difference in how quickly we can get there.”

Getting an appointment: Key things to know

Georgia earlier this month expanded from Phase 1a+ of its distribution plan for the COVID-19 vaccines to include anyone over age 55 and anyone who has a medical condition that is deemed high risk by the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. On Thursday, the pool will expand to anyone 16 and over.

If you are eligible, and the majority of Georgia adults now are, you may want to look for appointments in more than one county, especially if you live in metro Atlanta. Any Georgia resident can receive a vaccine at any available site in the state.

For state and county vaccination appointments, check these two websites first:

• Georgia Department of Public Health: https://gta-vras.powerappsportals.us/
• My Vaccine Georgia, (https://myvaccinegeorgia.com/), operated by the Georgia Department of Emergency Management.

If you have a doctor or doctor group that you normally see for annual checkups, check its website; some are now offering vaccination appointments to more patients.

The massive COVID-19 vaccination site at Mercedes-Benz Stadium is open for appointments and will start administering the vaccine Wednesday. The site will have the capacity to administer 6,000 vaccines a day, seven days a week. They will include evening appointments until 8 p.m. Monday through Friday.

Please be considerate: If you sign up for more than one appointment, cancel any that you are not going to use. Otherwise, you might keep someone else from getting an appointment or cause a dose to go to waste.

Crowd sourcing: Because the process is potentially confusing, unofficial groups and individuals are using Facebook and other social media to help people find appointments. One example is the Georgia Vaccine Hunters Facebook group, which numbers more than 7,000 members.

https://www.ajc.com/politics/all-georgia-adults-will-be-eligible-for-coronavirus-vaccines-on-thursday/S2TLG4G3CBDNJBUPPRROV5ROSI/

CureVac COVID Vax Protects from S. Africa Variant in Preclinical Challenge Study

 CureVac N.V. (Nasdaq: CVAC), a global biopharmaceutical company developing a new class of transformative medicines based on messenger ribonucleic acid (mRNA), today announced the publication of preclinical data demonstrating that their COVID-19 vaccine candidate, CVnCoV, protects against challenge infections with the SARS-CoV-2 Variant of Concern B.1.351 (also referred to as the “South African” variant) and a strain of the original SARS-CoV-2 B1 lineage (BavPat1) in a transgenic mouse model. Consistent with available variant studies, the neutralization capacity of robust antibody titers was shown to be impacted by the B.1.351 variant compared to the original strain. However, vaccinated animals were fully protected from lethal challenge infections with both strains. The full manuscript of the preclinical data is available on the bioRxiv preprint server.

https://www.curevac.com/en/2021/03/23/curevacs-covid-19-vaccine-candidate-cvncov-demonstrates-protection-against-sars-cov-2-b-1-351-variant-south-african-variant-in-preclinical-challenge-study/