Tag: vaccines

The pandemic could continue for seven years under current vaccination rate

It’ll be a long, seven years before the COVID-19 pandemic is over worldwide, if vaccine distribution continues at its current rate, a calculation from Bloomberg shows. 

The media outlet, which said it built the “biggest database” of COVID-19 inoculations given across the globe, crunched the numbers and found it could take most of a decade to reach herd immunity if distribution doesn’t ramp up for two-dose vaccines. 

Dr. Anthony Fauci has said 70-85 percent of the population will need the vaccine in order to achieve herd immunity and while the US is on track to reach that goal by the New Year in 2022, it could take countries like Canada ten years at their current pace. 

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Walgreens, CVS beef up protections against threat of ‘bot’ attacks on vaccine program

For over a decade, the retail industry has battled so-called “scalper bots,” programmed to cut digital lines and snap up limited-supply products within milliseconds of their release, that are resold at significant mark-ups.

The coronavirus pandemic exacerbated the problem because the boom in online shopping expanded scalpers’ sights to new categories from fitness equipment to essential goods like toilet paper and detergents. In Britain, scalpers using bots have also snatched online grocery delivery slots reserved for at-risk senior citizens.

The Joe Biden administration said this week that it will soon start distributing about 1 million doses per week directly to about 6,500 pharmacies in the first phase of a federal program that aims to expand access to vaccines.

Security companies that track this activity now warn that U.S. retailers and pharmacies enlisted to play a big role in COVID-19 vaccine dissemination could be the next target of bot attacks as they begin distributing as early as Feb. 11.

These fears stem from problems retailers have faced this past holiday shopping season, when the latest PlayStation and Microsoft Xbox consoles were nearly impossible to find because scalpers attacked major retailers.

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I’ve had my Covid-19 vaccine — now what can I safely do? Your questions answered

The day has finally come. You’ve received the second dose of a Covid-19 vaccine currently on the Western market — Moderna, Pfizer-BioNTech or Oxford-AstraZeneca.Does that mean you’re free to go about life as you did before the pandemic once immunity kicks in?

Sorry, there is no immunity passport yet, experts told CNN. There are still safety precautions you need to follow in order to keep you, your loved ones and everyone else safe and protected from the deadly coronavirus.Read on for answers from the experts on top questions such as when can you stop wearing a mask, eat inside a restaurant, travel, go to sporting events and concerts, and freely visit friends and family.

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Wisconsin Vaccine Saboteur Steven Brandenburg Is a Flat-Earther, FBI Document Reveals

The Wisconsin pharmacist who intentionally sabotaged hundreds of doses of the Moderna coronavirus vaccine because he thought COVID-19 was a hoax, also believes the earth is flat and the sky is actually a “shield put up by the Government to prevent individuals from seeing God.”

That’s according to a newly-unsealed FBI search warrant application obtained by The Daily Beast, which the bureau filed earlier this month requesting permission to analyze an iPhone, a laptop, and a thumb drive seized from Steven Brandenburg when he was arrested in late December.

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CDC Investigation

Today we begin with an investigation regarding the Covid-19 vaccine shortages. There are serious questions about an incorrect claim made by top scientists at CDC: the nation’s premiere public health institute. Critics call it misinformation. CDC chalks it up to an “honest mistake.” Whatever it is, it resulted in vaccines going to some who are said to need it the least depriving others who are said to need it the most.

Like a lot of Americans, Congressman Thomas Massie already had coronavirus and wanted to know if he should still get a Covid vaccine.

Most everyone who’s had Covid-19 is considered immune. But how long immunity lasts is unknown—whether it’s after infection or vaccination.

An award-winning scientist himself, Massie quickly found that vaccine studies showed no benefit to people who’ve had coronavirus. Vaccination didn’t change their odds of getting reinfected.

The controversy began when Massie noticed the CDC was claiming the exact opposite.

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Twelve dead and 51 infected in care home Covid outbreak

Twelve people have died following a coronavirus outbreak at a care home that had administered the first round of vaccine.

Thirty residents and a further 21 staff members have also tested positive for Covid-19 at West Park Care Home in Leslie, Fife.

NHS Fife’s health protection team and the Fife health and social care partnership have joined forces with the council’s environmental health service to support the home’s management to reduce further transmission of the deadly virus.

The health board said visiting has been suspended and the care home has been closed to new admissions.

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Playing favorites? Hospital boards, donors get COVID shots

While millions of Americans wait for the COVID-19 vaccine, hospital board members, their trustees and donors around the country have gotten early access to the scarce drug or offers for vaccinations, raising complaints about favoritism tainting decisions about who gets inoculated and when.

In Rhode Island, Attorney General Peter Neronha opened an inquiry after reports that two hospital systems offered their board members vaccinations. A Seattle-area hospital system was rebuked by Washington Gov. Jay Inslee after it offered COVID-19 vaccination appointments to major donors. And in Kansas, members of a hospital board received vaccinations during the first phase of the state’s rollout, which was intended for people at greater risk for infection.

Hospitals in Florida, New Jersey and Virginia also have faced questions about distributing vaccines, including to donors, trustees and relatives of executives.

The disclosures could threaten public confidence in a national rollout already marked by vaccine shortages, appointment logjams and inconsistent standards state to state for determining who’s eligible.

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Rep. Stephen Lynch Tests Positive for COVID-19

U.S. Rep. Stephen Lynch, D-Mass., has tested positive for COVID-19, his office announced Friday.

Lynch, who had already received both doses of Pfizer’s coronavirus vaccine, was tested for the virus after a staff member in his Boston office tested positive earlier in the week. The congressman received his positive test Friday afternoon.

Lynch’s office says that he did continue to follow COVID-19 safety protocols, such as social distancing and wearing a mask, even after receiving the vaccine.

A statement from Pfizer said that it can take seven days for protection from the second dose to kick in. However, the statement from Lynch’s office said the congressman received the second dose vaccine before attending President Joe Biden’s inauguration on Jan. 20, nine days before his positive test.

Lynch, who represents the state’s 8th Congressional District, also tested negative for COVID-19 prior to the inauguration.

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