Tag: vaccines

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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Germany recommends AstraZeneca COVID-19 shot only for under 65s

“There are currently insufficient data available to assess the vaccine efficacy from 65 years of age,” the committee, also known as Stiko, said in a draft resolution made available by the German health ministry on Thursday.

“The AstraZeneca vaccine, unlike the mRNA vaccines, should only be offered to people aged 18-64 years at each stage,” it added.

Stiko’s assessment was based on the same trial data published by medical journal The Lancet on Dec 8.

The European Union approved a vaccine developed by Pfizer and its German partner BioNTech in late December, and gave the green light to a shot made by Moderna in early January.

AstraZeneca did not immediately respond to a request for comment.

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Norway May Refine Vaccine Strategy After Elderly Deaths, PM Says

The Prime Minister of Norway, Erna Solberg, says her country may fine-tune the vaccination of its oldest, sickest citizens as it tries to make sense of a recent spate of deaths.

Having weathered the pandemic better than most, Norway suddenly made international headlines this month after revealing that more than 30 people — all over 70 and all already sick — died not long after being vaccinated against Covid-19. Solberg says the intense global interest in the news was “exaggerated” as she tries to ensure the development doesn’t put people off inoculation.

“We don’t believe there’s any problem with the safety of the vaccines,” Solberg said in an interview with Bloomberg Live that aired on Tuesday. “But we will maybe not give them to the most vulnerable of the elderly, because that might speed up a process where they were what we would say at the end of life phase anyway,” so, “that probably is not what we will continue to do.”

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39-year-old nurse aide dies ‘within 48 hours’ of receiving mandated COVID-19 shot

A 39-year-old woman with no known comorbidities died unexpectedly in northern Ohio within 48 hours of receiving a COVID-19 vaccine, which was reportedly required by her employer.

Janet L. Moore, a nurse aide at Admirals Pointe Nursing Home (APNH) in Huron, was found unresponsive in her car outside her apartment complex on December 31 around 8:00 p.m., her brother Jacob Gregory told LifeSiteNews.

“She was coming home from work and as soon as she drove into her parking lot she passed away,” he said. “According to her neighbors she wasn’t feeling good directly after the vaccine, and then ever since the vaccine she was actually feeling nauseated, she’d have like migraines and stuff like that. And then, within 48 hours, she ended up passing away.”

When asked if he knew the brand of the vaccine, Gregory, who lives in Akron, said, “According to my brother, it was by Pfizer, but I’m not absolutely sure on that.”

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Pfizer wants India to order COVID-19 vaccine before pursuing approval

Pfizer was the first company to seek emergency-use authorisation (EUA) for a COVID-19 vaccine in India, but the government this month approved two much cheaper shots – one from Oxford University/AstraZeneca and another developed at home by Bharat Biotech with the Indian Council of Medical Research.

India’s Central Drugs Standard Control Organisation (CDSCO) says Pfizer officials failed to turn up to meetings after the company’s application was made in early December. The regulator has also declined to accept the company’s request for approval without a small local trial on the vaccine’s safety and immunogenicity for Indians, Reuters has reported.

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Biden signs executive order seeking the feasibility of implementing ‘certificates of vaccination’ for international travel

President Joe Biden signed an executive order on Thursday which may be the precursor to requiring proof of vaccination for air travel.

The executive order was entitled “Promoting COVID-19 Safety in Domestic and International Travel.” Section 5 ‘International Travel’ subsection ‘e’ the order read:

“International Certificates of Vaccination or Prophylaxis.  Consistent with applicable law, the Secretary of State, the Secretary of HHS, and the Secretary of Homeland Security (including through the Administrator of the TSA), in coordination with any relevant international organizations, shall assess the feasibility of linking COVID-19 vaccination to International Certificates of Vaccination or Prophylaxis (ICVP) and producing electronic versions of ICVPs.”

The order also called for “agencies may impose additional public health measures for domestic travel.”

The order also mandates masks on airplanes, trains, ferries, ships, bus services and inside airports.

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