vaccine

2Apr

By THEIRL1ADMIN01No Comments

COVID-19, VIDEO REELS

Racial Disparities In Booster Rates Persist – Low Vaccine Booster Rates Are Now A Key Factor In COVID-19 Deaths

More than 450 people are dying of COVID-19 in the U.S. each day as of late August 2022. When COVID-19 vaccines first became available, public officials, community organizations and policymakers mobilized to get shots into arms. These efforts included significant investments in making vaccines accessible to Black, Hispanic, American Indian and Alaska Native populations. These groups experienced exceptionally high COVID-19 death rates early in the pandemic and had low initial vaccine rates. The efforts worked. As of August 2022, vaccination rates for the primary series – or required initial doses of COVID-19 vaccines – for Black and Hispanic people exceeded those of white Americans. But boosters are a different story. Comparable booster vaccine promotion efforts have been lacking. Confusi...

4 Questions Answered – What Supreme Court’s Block Of Vaccine-Or-Test Mandate, For Large Businesses Will Mean For Public Health

14Jan

By THEIRL1ADMIN01No Comments

COVID-19

4 Questions Answered – What Supreme Court’s Block Of Vaccine-Or-Test Mandate, For Large Businesses Will Mean For Public Health

The U.S. Supreme Court on Jan. 13, 2022, blocked the Biden administration’s vaccine-or-test mandate, which applied to virtually all private companies with 100 of more employees. But it left in place a narrower mandate that requires health care workers at facilities receiving federal funds to get vaccinated. The ruling comes at a time when the number of COVID-19 cases and hospitalization rates continues to soar throughout the United States as a result of the omicron variant. We asked Debbie Kaminer, a professor of law at Baruch College, CUNY, to explain the ruling’s impact. 1. What did the Supreme Court decide? The court’s six conservative justices held that the Occupational Safety and Health Administration exceeded its power in issuing the mandate on private companies, which would have co...

Deep Roots Of Distrust Shape Vaccine Hesitancy In Polygamous Communities

13Dec

By THEIRL1ADMIN01No Comments

CULTURE

Deep Roots Of Distrust Shape Vaccine Hesitancy In Polygamous Communities

In polygamous communities, deep roots of distrust shape vaccine hesitancy. From the beginning of the COVID-19 pandemic, the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints, commonly known as the Mormon church or LDS church, followed government guidelines to protect members of their religious community. On March 25, 2020, the church closed its temples and encouraged members to wear masks. Leaders praised vaccination, which church President Russell M. Nelson, a retired surgeon, called a “literal godsend.” He and other senior members received vaccinations, calling on church members to follow their example. Fundamentalist branches of Mormonism, however – groups who began separating from the LDS church after it ended the institutionally sanctioned practice of polygamy in 1904 – took a different ro...

Offering Insight Into Vaccine Hesitancy – Unverified Reports Of Vaccine Side Effects In VAERS Aren’t The Smoking Guns Portrayed By Right-Wing Media Outlets

4Apr

By THEIRL1ADMIN01No Comments

HEALTH & WELLNESS

Offering Insight Into Vaccine Hesitancy – Unverified Reports Of Vaccine Side Effects In VAERS Aren’t The Smoking Guns Portrayed By Right-Wing Media Outlets

HEALTH Matt Motta, Oklahoma State University and Dominik Stecuła, Colorado State University Chances are you may not be not familiar with the Vaccine Adverse Event Reporting System, or VAERS. Co-managed by the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention and the Food and Drug Administration, VAERS was established in 1990 to detect possible safety problems with vaccines. Unfortunately, the anti-vaccine movement has used this once-obscure database to spread misinformation about the COVID-19 vaccine. VAERS is ripe for exploitation because it relies on unverified self-reports of side effects. Anyone who received a vaccine can submit a report. And because this information is publicly available, misinterpretations of its data has been used to amplify COVID-19 misinformation through dubious...

Pros And Cons Explained: US-backed Vaccine Patent Waiver

7May

By THEIRL1ADMIN01No Comments

COVID-19

Pros And Cons Explained: US-backed Vaccine Patent Waiver

The Biden administration has now agreed to back a proposal to suspend intellectual property protection for COVID vaccines. This is a break from US government’s long-held position on strong intellectual property protection, which has also been supported by many research-intensive countries in western Europe as well and the pharmaceutical industry. These protections are codified in the World Trade Organization’s Trade-Related Aspects of Intellectual Property Rights (TRIPS) agreements. India, South Africa, and many other emerging economies have been pushing for a waiver from patent protection, and have been supported in this effort by the director general of the WHO, Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus. While the waiver cannot be put into place until other WHO members agree (at which point manufactu...

A Doctor Explains What A Johnson & Johnson Vaccine Suspension Means For You

4Apr

By THEIRL1ADMIN01No Comments

HEALTH & WELLNESS, VIDEO REELS

A Doctor Explains What A Johnson & Johnson Vaccine Suspension Means For You

The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention and the Food and Drug Administration on April 13, 2021 halted use of the one-dose Johnson & Johnson COVID-19 vaccine that has been given to 6.8 million people in the U.S. The pause is due to reports of blood clotting in six people who have received the vaccine. One woman died, and another has been hospitalized in critical condition. Dr. William Petri, an infectious disease physician and immunologist at the University of Virginia School of Medicine, answers questions to help put this development in context. What is this potential side effect of the J&J vaccine for COVID-19? The potential side effect is a blood clot in the veins that drain blood from the brain. This is called central venous sinus thrombosis. In the vaccine-associated cas...

Even If You’ve Already Had The Coronavirus – Why You Should Get A COVID-19 Vaccine

29Mar

By THEIRL1ADMIN01No Comments

COVID-19

Even If You’ve Already Had The Coronavirus – Why You Should Get A COVID-19 Vaccine

A few weeks ago, a message popped up in the corner of my screen. “What do you think about people who have recently had COVID–19 getting the vaccine?” A friend of mine was eligible for a COVID–19 vaccine, but she had recently gotten over an infection with SARS–CoV–2. More people are becoming eligible for vaccines each week – including millions of people who have already recovered from a coronavirus infection. Many are wondering whether they need the vaccine, especially people who have already been infected. I study immune responses to respiratory infections, so I get a lot of these types of questions. A person can develop immunity – the ability to resist infection – from being infected with a virus or from getting a vaccine. However, immune protection isn’t always equal. The strength of th...

It May Undermine Trust In The Rollout – Skipping The Vaccine Line Is Not Only Unethical

12Mar

By THEIRL1ADMIN01No Comments

COVID-19

It May Undermine Trust In The Rollout – Skipping The Vaccine Line Is Not Only Unethical

The rollout of the COVID-19 vaccine has been accompanied by reports of line-jumping as people farther down the list attempt to get ahead of those deemed higher priority. In late February, for example, one health provider, One Medical, was stripped of its vaccine allocation after allegedly allowing people connected to the company and those paying for its “concierge medical service” to have the shots – despite not being eligible. Likewise in January, hospitals in Washington state and South Florida faced criticism for offering invitation-only vaccine slots to private donors. More recently, Texas has come under scrutiny for allowing people to be vaccinated without proving eligibility. The resulting unfairness of practices such as these has compounded other inequalities highlighted by the pan...

Here’s How To Make The Real And Risky Rollout Of Johnson & Johnson’s COVID-19 Vaccine A Success

5Mar

By THEIRL1ADMIN01No Comments

BUSINESS

Here’s How To Make The Real And Risky Rollout Of Johnson & Johnson’s COVID-19 Vaccine A Success

More than 50 million Americans have received at least one dose of either the Pfizer or Moderna COVID-19 vaccine. So far, Americans have been largely brand-agnostic, but that’s about to change as a new vaccine rolls out. The Johnson & Johnson vaccine has been hailed as a game changer. It requires only a single dose rather than two doses spaced weeks apart, and it does not need freezer storage, making it a natural fit for hard-to-reach rural areas and underserved communities with limited access to health care and storage facilities. But while many people are excited about the prospects of only one shot, the new vaccine is also getting backlash. Part of that is coming from lack of clarify about the vaccines’ efficacy numbers, and part of it is more nuanced. On March 2, the U.S. Conferen...

Maybe The End Of The Pandemic, What’s In A Name For A Vaccine Campaign?

3Mar

By THEIRL1ADMIN01No Comments

HEALTH & WELLNESS

Maybe The End Of The Pandemic, What’s In A Name For A Vaccine Campaign?

Nearly 50 million people in the U.S. had received at least one dose of the coronavirus vaccine by March 1, and millions of others have spent hours online trying to get an appointment. But soon, the demand could fall because of vaccine hesitancy. How is the government going to get people on board? From my research, I have found that an important part of a successful vaccine campaign is in the name. As a health communication scholar who studies the history of epidemics, I have been interested in the naming and public delivery of the COVID-19 government response. In many ways, this moment parallels crises of the past, as people in previous epidemics and pandemics also struggled to find ways to protect themselves against deadly disease. Abandoning the ‘Operation Warp Speed’ name In the week ...