Tag: covid-19

The coronavirus vaccine comes with more side effects than a flu shot. Experts urge people to get it anyway

The first coronavirus vaccine authorized in the United States may cause more side effects than the flu vaccine, but the most common reactions — soreness at the injection site, fatigue and headache — are mild or moderate in most people and fade after a few days, according to analyses of clinical trial data.

Infectious disease experts say most people can safely get the vaccine, but they should be prepared for some of these potential side effects.

“Any robust vaccine may generate some discomfort but it is worth the mild side effects — these side effects are not extraordinary — to be immune against this circulating new pandemic,” said Dr. Monica Gandhi, an infectious disease physician at UCSF.

The FDA granted emergency use authorization late Friday to the first vaccine in the U.S., developed by Pfizer and German firm BioNTech, which has been shown to be 95% effective at preventing COVID-19 illness.

Health care workers and residents of long-term care centers will be first in line to receive the vaccine in California, followed by essential workers. Mass vaccinations of the general public are expected in spring or summer 2021.

The Pfizer vaccine’s most common side effects were fatigue, headache, muscle pain and chills, according to an FDA analysis of Pfizer’s clinical trial data. Less common were joint pain, fever, diarrhea and vomiting. The vast majority of those symptoms were mild or moderate.

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California’s Health Secretary Concedes There Is No Empirical Basis for the State’s Ban on Outdoor Dining

This week a Los Angeles County judge ruled that a local ban on outdoor dining at restaurants, ostensibly aimed at reducing transmission of the COVID-19 virus, was “not grounded in science, evidence, or logic.” Around the same time, California Health and Human Services Secretary Mark Ghaly admitted that the same thing is true of a state ban on outdoor dining that currently applies to all of Southern California, including Los Angeles County. Ghaly said that ban, which is one of many restrictions that are triggered when a region’s available ICU capacity drops below 15 percent, is “not a comment on the relative safety of outdoor dining” but is instead aimed at discouraging Californians from leaving home.

“The decision to include, among other sectors, outdoor dining and limiting that, turning to restaurants to deliver and provide takeout options instead, really has to do with the goal of trying to keep people at home,” Ghaly said during a briefing on Tuesday. He noted that “we have worked hard with that industry to create safer ways for outdoor dining to happen.”

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Sen. Bernie Sanders says Democrats delayed COVID-19 relief

Sen. Bernie Sanders admitted that fellow Democrats, led by House Speaker Nancy Pelosi, were responsible for delaying urgently needed coronavirus relief by walking away from the White House’s offer of a $1.8 trillion coronavirus package.

In an interview with CNN’s Jake Tapper Monday, the socialist two-time presidential candidate noted Pelosi’s hypocrisy in endorsing a smaller bipartisan $908 million deal last week after rejecting the twice-as-large proposal from President Trump in October.

“Democrats walked away from that deal because they wanted $2.2 trillion,” Tapper said.

“That’s right!” Sanders (I-Vt.) responded, confirming it was Democrats, not Republicans, who were to blame for months of inaction.

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HOLLYWOOD DEPLOYED LOBBYISTS TO WIN EXEMPTIONS TO STRICT CALIFORNIA LOCKDOWN

LAST MONTH, California Gov. Gavin Newsom was caught violating his own warnings against multiple households dining together indoors. The Democratic governor was spotted at the French Laundry, an exclusive restaurant north of San Francisco, where he was celebrating the birthday of longtime friend Jason Kinney.

The dinner controversy was more than just an opulent display of political double standards — it also highlighted the backroom efforts to maintain special treatment during the pandemic. Kinney, a veteran political operative, is a lobbyist for a number of interests seeking to shape the rules governing life under the pandemic, including what kind of economic activities are deemed essential in order to stay in business.

The inside track may have paid off. One of Kinney’s clients, Netflix, has been allowed to continue to operate during the latest round of forced closures that began last week as intensive care hospital capacity has dwindled across the state.

The entertainment industry has been given extensive leeway to operate during the pandemic, even as California now faces a stay-at-home order. The state has deemed the television and movie production industry as “critical infrastructure” and has allowed Hollywood studios to continue filming projects, including in Los Angeles, which is facing the most strict lockdown order.

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Pfizer and Moderna could score $32 billion in Covid-19 vaccine sales — in 2021 alone

The imminent authorization of Pfizer’s Covid-19 vaccine in the United States is a momentous occasion for science, the economy and humanity. The milestone is also a major moneymaker for the companies that developed the vaccines.Wall Street analysts are projecting Pfizer and Moderna will generate $32 billion in Covid-19 vaccine revenue — next year alone.

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Biden Has No Legal Authority for an Actual National Mask Mandate

President-elect Joe Biden released his 100-day plan intended to combat the spread of the coronavirus (COVID-19) on Tuesday evening. That three-part proposal, however, features at least one unworkable premise: “Everyone wears a mask.”

Biden’s proposed national mask mandate was not elaborated on in the initial offering but the incoming administration made an effort to clarify that prong of their plan after several hours of nonstop and trenchant criticism online; from various shades of political opinion.

“My first 100 days is going to require–I’m going to ask for a masking plan–everyone for the first 100 days to wear a mask,” Biden explained in a video posted on Twitter late Wednesday morning.

The soon-to-be 46th president elaborated: “It will start with my signing an order on day one to require masks where I can under the law, like federal buildings, interstate travel on planes, trains, and buses.”

Overall, Biden’s proposal is a bit unclear, contains multiple caveats, and poses definite legal problems.

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Allergy risk on Pfizer jab: Day before FDA meet to give green light to vaccine UK regulators warn people with ‘significant’ food and medicine allergies NOT to take it after two health workers suffer ‘anaphylactic reaction’

There are fears over how safe Pfizer’s COVID vaccine is after two British healthcare workers who were among the first in the world to receive it on Tuesday went into anaphylactic shock hours later, prompting British authorities to tell anyone with a ‘severe’ allergy to food or medicine not to get it. 

The FDA is due to meet tomorrow to discuss green-lighting the vaccine in America after being lambasted for taking a week longer than the Brits to get it off the ground. 

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