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Added on the 12/01/2021 18:55:41 - Copyright : Wochit
The US Department of Health and Human Services expanded COVID-19 vaccine availability. The agency said they will now include people age 65 and older in the initial phase of distribution. According to UPI, the changes also give priority to those with underlying health conditions. People of any age with underlying health conditions are at higher risk for serious illness from COVID-19 infection. In addition to expanding the priority population, HHS will also be releasing the nation's "entire supply" of vaccines. As of Tuesday, just 9 million of the 25 million vaccine doses distributed had been administered.
Across the country, some non-healthcare workers are getting their COVID-19 vaccines earlier than expected. In a scattershot practice, non-priority people are getting vaccinated ahead of schedule when pharmacies have extra doses thawed that must be used. Both the Pfizer-BioNTech and Moderna vaccines need to be stored at cold temperatures and used within hours of thawing. Business Insider reports the phenomenon occurs when vaccine providers must either throw out extra doses when they expire or give them to random people. In other instances, confusion about the amount of doses per vial and rumors of excess supply have led to mishaps in vaccine allocation. The US federal government hasn't specified what should be done when there are more thawed doses than eligible recipients.
It's generally thought that once the COVID-19 vaccine becomes available, front-line healthcare workers and nursing home residents will be first in line. But according to Gizmodo, bank tellers may get to skip the line--past them, and past the over-65's and those with underlying conditions. The industry trade group American Bankers Association has asked federal health authorities to designate consumer-facing bank employees as 'essential workers.' Such a designation would give them vaccine prioritization once the Federal Food and Drug Administration grants emergency-use authorization. To date, the U.S. has seen nearly 15 million COVID-19 cases and 280,000 deaths--the most in the world. The CDC predicts 19,500 new deaths will be reported during the week of Christmas, and that another 300,000 COVID-19 cases will be added in December.
Thousands of demonstrators from across the US march in Washington, DC, to decry Covid-19 mandates. Mostly maskless, the protesters walk from the Washington Monument to the Lincoln Memorial in a city that has adopted mask and vaccine mandates. IMAGES
A nurse was arrested in Palermo, Sicily, for pretending to administer a Covid-19 vaccine to consenting patients, in particular to two spouses. In the video surveillance images, the nurse empties the content of a syringe into a gauze before giving the injection. IMAGES
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