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Added on the 04/06/2021 18:47:28 - Copyright : France 24 EN
The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention has revealed who should be next in line to receive the recently released vaccine against COVID-19. The CDC said Sunday that frontline essential workers and people 75 and older should be next in line for coronavirus vaccines. Business Insider reports the US should have enough shots to complete the first two phases of vaccinations by sometime in February of 2021. Healthcare workers and residents of long-term care facilities have already started receiving their shots. The third round should go to those ages 65 to 74, those ages 16 to 64 with high-risk medical conditions, and any remaining unvaccinated essential worker.
In the rollout of the COVID-19 vaccination campaign in the US, many independent doctors offices say they've been left in the dark. According to Business Insider, they say they don't have access to COVID-19 vaccines. What's more, they've heard little from the federal or state governments about if or when they might receive doses. Independent primary care providers have been totally left out of distribution channels and have no line of sight for when they might receive a vaccine supply. Dr. Emily Maxson Chief Medical Officer, Aledade Sources say hospitals, large retail pharmacies, and federally-qualified health centers are the main distributors of the vaccine. The US Centers for Disease Control and Prevention says nearly 9 million individuals in the US have been vaccinated against the novel coronavirus. That's 11 million people less than the Trump administration's estimate of 20 million vaccinated Americans by the end of 2020.
UPI reports new research shows it's a very good idea to insist that healthcare workers get an annual flu shot. That's according to researchers from the University of Georgia, Montana State University and Monash University in Australia. They found that states with mandatory flu shots for hospital workers saw statewide reductions in deaths from influenza and pneumonia. They estimate that during the 2016-17 season alone, nearly 2,000 deaths were averted in the 15 U.S. states that had mandatory vaccination laws at that time. The findings suggest that health-worker vaccination laws may be a good way to protect the country's most vulnerable populations. The researchers say it's possible that similar benefits could also be seen with mandatory COVID-19 vaccination of hospital workers.
The Pfizer/BioNTech vaccine is expected to get emergency use authorization from the Food & Drug Administration. And according to Business Insider, the Pentagon is working with military precision to deliver the vaccine to US troops. The Pentagon announced plans on Wednesday to distribute a COVID-19 vaccine to US military personnel, starting with almost 44,000 doses. Initially, vaccination will be voluntary, as is standard practice with emergency use authorizations. However, it could eventually become mandatory.
When COVID-19 reached the US, the Centers for Disease Control and Protection tracked data related to its spread. However, President Donald Trump's coronavirus task force wrested control from the CDC, with the launch of HHS Protect. The main pandemic data tracking system is run by the Department of Health and Human Services. Federal and state officials use HHS Protect’s data to assess the burden of disease across the country and allocate scarce resources, from medicines to PPE. The problem is, HHS Protect’s data often diverge dramatically from those collected by other sources, including hospitals, states, and federal agencies. And according to Science Magazine, the data also varies from the apparent reality on the ground. A CDC internal analysis completed this month shows HHS Protect's data problems are a national problem. The HHS Protect data are poor quality, inconsistent with state reports, and the analysis is slipshod. And the pressure on hospitals is through the roof. Confidential Source, CDC
The CDC is recommending against any travel, no matter how limited, for Thanksgiving this year. On Thursday Dr. Henry Walke, the CDC's COVID-19 incident manager said the CDC is "alarmed" by the spiking infection rates. Walke and the CDC announced a new COVID-19 guidance would be released today. Many areas of the country are dealing with unprecedented case numbers and deaths. The virus often spreads quietly from people who show no symptoms. It has killed more than 250,000 people across the US so far.