Does The Pfizer Booster Shot Have Side Effects
The CDC said those who received the Pfizer booster reported fewer side effects than after getting the second dose of Pfizer’s vaccine, with headach, fever, fatique, pain and chills the most frequently reported mild side effects.
The CDC said as of Nov. 14, 99% of those who received the Pfizer vaccine for the first two shots chose to receive a Pfizer booster, with the rest picking a Moderna or Johnson & Johnson booster. Here’s more on mixing and matching vaccines.
Allergies And Autoimmune Diseases
While current research efforts are focused on cancer and infectious diseases, the results of recent animal studies demonstrate the potential use of RNA vaccines to prevent or treat allergies and autoimmune diseases. Allergen-specific immunotherapy is an effective treatment for type I hypersensitivity reactions. Prophylactic intervention in young children to induce an immunological bias that prevents Th2 sensitization has been proposed to stop the increase in patient numbers . Mice vaccinated intradermally with mRNA encoding the grass pollen allergen Phl p5 exhibited a Th1-type response and IFN-γ production. Vaccination suppressed Th2 cytokine production, IgE synthesis, and lung eosinophilia, supporting the efficacy of an RNA-based vaccine in suppressing sensitization to type I allergic reactions .
Daily Reported Doses Given By Manufacturer
Each line shows the seven-day average.
In December, federal regulators gave emergency use authorization to two-dose vaccines developed by Pfizer-BioNTech and Moderna. Regulators authorized Johnson & Johnsons one-dose vaccine in February, but recommended a pause in its use on April 13 because of reports of blood clots in a small number of patients. All 50 states paused or recommended that providers pause those vaccinations. The government ended the Johnson & Johnson pause on April 23, clearing the way for states to resume vaccinations.
Johnson & Johnson doses that were already administered or distributed continued to appear in the federal vaccination data during the halt in use.
On Aug. 12, regulators gave emergency use authorization for people with weakened immune systems to get a third dose of the Pfizer and Moderna vaccines. On Aug. 23, the federal government approved the Pfizer-BioNTech vaccine for those 16 and older, the first full approval of a Covid-19 vaccine in the country. Emergency use authorization of the vaccine continues for those ages 12 to 15 and third doses for those with weakened immune systems.
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Where Can I Get A Covid
All adults in the U.S. are eligible to receive a COVID-19 vaccine, and children 12 years and older are able to receive the Pfizer vaccine. Visit Vaccines.gov to find out where vaccines are in stock near you and schedule an appointment.
You can also text your ZIP code to 438 829 to receive contact information for vaccine providers in your area.
Illustrated guide: What to expect before and after getting a COVID-19 vaccine
Populations used for U.S. state, District of Columbia and Puerto Rico calculations are from the U.S. Census Bureau’s 2019 state population estimates. Populations used for other territory and associated island state calculations are from the World Bank.
The share of distributed doses used in each state or territory is calculated by dividing the number of doses administered in that state or territory by the number of doses distributed to that state or territory. The percent of people vaccinated in each state, territory or county is calculated by dividing the number of residents of that state, territory or county who have been vaccinated by the population of that state, territory or county.
Because of reporting delays and other factors, the CDC data above may differ from that of states’ and territories’ own reports and dashboards. For more information, see the footnotes on the CDC’s website. To see the CDC’s log of changes and corrections to the data, check the historical updates.
Contributing: Mitchell Thorson, Mike Stucka and Shawn Sullivan
Least Vaccinated Us Counties Have Something In Common: Trump Voters
By Danielle Ivory, Lauren Leatherby and Robert GebeloffApril 17, 2021
About 31 percent of adults in the United States have now been fully vaccinated. Scientists have estimated that 70 to 90 percent of the total population must acquire resistance to the virus to reach herd immunity. But in hundreds of counties around the country, vaccination rates are low, with some even languishing in the teens.
The disparity in vaccination rates has so far mainly broken down along political lines. The New York Times examined survey and vaccine administration data for nearly every U.S. county and found that both willingness to receive a vaccine and actual vaccination rates to date were lower, on average, in counties where a majority of residents voted to re-elect former President Donald J. Trump in 2020. The phenomenon has left some places with a shortage of supply and others with a glut.
For months, health officials across the United States have been racing to inoculate people as variants of the coronavirus have continued to gain a foothold, carrying mutations that can make infections more contagious and, in some cases, deadlier. Vaccinations have sped up and, in many places, people are still unable to book appointments because of high demand. In Michigan, where cases have spiraled out of control, Gov. Gretchen Whitmer, a Democrat, recently urged President Biden to send additional doses.
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What If People Don’t Trust The Vaccines
Getting one or more vaccines through clinical trials to FDA approval is just the first leg of the journey. The next is convincing people to take it. Sixty-three percent of US adults expressed safety concerns over a coronavirus vaccine, according to a Harris Poll from Oct. 19, with 40% of respondents specifically worrying that development has been too fast. Some people are reportedly concerned about possible side effects.
Life in the US will begin to return to normal once we reach what scientists call “herd immunity,” which, with regard to the coronavirus, means at least 60% to 70% of the population is immune. So long as enough people take the vaccine to reach that level, it won’t matter if a few people object or decline to take the vaccine for other reasons, for example, if they aren’t healthy enough to be vaccinated.
Us Has Already Seen More Covid Deaths In 2021 Than 2020 Before Vaccines Were Available As Experts Again Warn Pandemic Is Not Over
A memorial in Los Angeles comprises thousands of white flags honoring lives lost to COVID-19 in the county.
The U.S. has already suffered more deaths from the coronavirus-borne illness COVID-19 in 2021 than in 2020, even though vaccines that prevent serious illness and death have been widely available since April, according to data from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.
With more than a month to go to close out the year, the CDC has recorded 386,233 COVID deaths in 2021 through Tuesday, more than the 385,343 counted in 2020, as the New York Times reported.
The paper cited experts as saying the cause was not just persistently low vaccine uptake but also the relaxation of safety measures such as wearing face masks and avoiding indoor gatherings, with many people wrongly assuming that vaccines alone had effectively ended the crisis.
That has also led to a fresh rise in cases, hospitalizations and deaths in recent weeks after all three metrics had fallen from their early September peaks. New cases are averaging 94,335 a day, according to a New York Times tracker, up 25% from two weeks ago. Hospitalizations are up 9% from two weeks ago to an average of 50,942 and deaths continue to average more than 1,100 a day, meaning the U.S. is seeing casualties equal to those suffered in the terrorist attacks of Sept. 11, 2001, every three days.
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Latest tallies
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Vaccine Clinical Trial Process
Phase one: Checks the safety of a vaccine and determines whether it triggers an immune response in a small group of healthy humans.
Phase two: Widens the testing pool to include groups of people who may have the disease or be more likely to catch it, to gauge the vaccines effectiveness.
Phase three: Expands the pool up to the thousands to make sure the vaccine is safe and effective among a wider array of people, given that immune response can vary by age, ethnicity, or by underlying health conditions.
The COVID-19 candidates, like all vaccines, essentially aim to instruct the immune system to mount a defense, which is sometimes stronger than what would be provided through natural infection and comes with fewer health consequences.
To do so, traditional vaccines use the whole coronavirus, but in a killed or weakened state. Others use only part of the viruswhether a protein or a fragment. Some transfer the instructions for coronavirus proteins into an unrelated virus that is unlikely or even incapable of causing disease. Finally, cutting-edge vaccines under development rely on deploying pieces of the coronaviruss genetic material, enabling our cells to temporarily make coronavirus proteins needed to stimulate our immune systems.
After Detecting The Omicron Variant South Africa Feels Punished By Global Travel Bans
JOHANNESBURG As the United States and European countries close their borders over fears over the recently detected coronavirus variant, many South Africans say they feel as if they are being punished for alerting global health authorities.
Hours after South African scientists announced the existence of a new variant that they said displayed a big jump in evolution, Britain banned travelers from southern African nations. Other European nations and the United States quickly followed suit.
I do apologize that people took a very radical decision, said Tulio de Oliveira, director of the KwaZulu-Natal Research and Innovation Sequencing Platform and the scientist who announced the new variant on Thursday.
Fresh from a virtual meeting with global health leaders, including Dr. Anthony S. Fauci, President Bidens top medical adviser on the coronavirus, Mr. Oliveira told journalists he believed that international solidarity would be in favor of South Africas decision to publicize its findings.
The variant, named Omicron by the World Health Organization, was first detected in South Africa and in neighboring Botswana. The government in Botswana announced that four initial cases were all foreign diplomats who had since left, and that contact tracing was continuing.
We had been on the British red list and we worked our way out of it and with no notification we find ourselves back on the red list, Ms. Sisulu told a national television station.
Lynsey Chutel
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Other Promising Coronavirus Vaccines Around The World
Here’s a quick look at some of the frontrunners besides Pfizer and Moderna in the race to find a vaccine for COVID-19, including where the vaccines are being developed, where they are on testing them and when scientists think they might be ready for widespread distribution, if known.
Oxford University/AstraZeneca : AstraZeneca began testing on 100,000 human volunteers in at least three countries. Lead researcher Dr. Sarah Gilbert had initially said AstraZeneca is aiming for a fall 2020 release and, while that may be optimistic at this point after the trial was briefly paused to investigate a participant’s illness, it doesn’t appear to be significantly delayed.
Sinovac : Currently testing its vaccine on about 10,000 human volunteers in China and about 9,000 in Brazil and is set to begin testing on about 1,900 test subjects in Indonesia soon. Honesti Basyir, the president of Bio Farma, Sinovac’s Indonesian partner, has said he expects the vaccine to be ready by early 2021.
Sinopharm : Currently testing about 15,000 volunteers in the Middle East in a trial the state-owned company expects to last three to six months. Early results suggest the drug is safe and at least somewhat effective. Sinopharm recently built a second facility to manufacture the vaccine, doubling its capacity to about 200 million doses per year.
Map: How Many People Are Vaccinated In Each County
County-level data is most accurate in states that report county of residence to the CDC for a high percentage of people vaccinated. In states that report the county of residence at a lower rate, the vaccination rate for counties may appear to be lower than it actually is.
For this reason, data is not shown for states that included a county of residence for less than 80% of people vaccinated there. Some states, such as Texas and Hawaii, do not report county-level information to the CDC.
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Fda To Authorize Third Booster Shot For The Vulnerable
The Food and Drug Administration is working with Pfizer and Moderna to authorize a third shot of the companies coronavirus vaccines for certain vulnerable populations with weakened immune systems.
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F.D.A. is working with Pfizer and Moderna to allow boosters for these vulnerable people. An additional dose could help increase protection for these individuals, which is especially important as the Delta variant spreads. Following F.D.A.s decision, C.D.C. will hold a meeting of its advisory committee on immunization practices tomorrow to discuss this issue and offer their expert insights and recommendations. We do not believe that others, elderly or non-elderly who are not immunocompromised, need a vaccine right at this moment, but this is a dynamic process and the data will be evaluated. The one thing we are doing is we are preparing for the eventuality of doing that. So if the data shows us that, in fact, we do need to do that, well be very ready to do it and do it expeditiously. Ill just emphasize what Dr. Fauci ended with, which is if and when theres a decision, we are prepared, we have the supply and people will be able to get a booster in a fast and efficient way.
At the same time, government scientists and regulators are grappling with whether more Americans will need booster shots, a hotly debated move that many scientists argue is not yet supported by data. Other countries such as Israel and Germany have implemented booster policies.
Where Can I Get The Moderna Booster Shot
According to the White House, boosters will be available at roughly 80,000 places across the country, including over 40,000 local pharmacies. Some 90% of Americans have a vaccine site within 5 miles of where they live. You can check Vaccines.gov to see which vaccines are available where, or call 800-232-0233 for vaccine information.
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Im Young Healthy And At Low Risk Of Covid Why Not Take My Chances With That Rather Than Get A Rushed Vaccine
The experts were unanimous in their answer: Covid-19 is by far the more dangerous option.
Its clear that one is less problematic for the body to recover from them than the other theres more risk with natural infection, said Marion Pepper, an immunologist at the University of Washington in Seattle.
People who are obese, or who have diseases like diabetes are particularly susceptible to severe cases of Covid-19. On average, the virus seems to be less risky for younger people, and women tend to fare better than men. But beyond those broad generalizations, doctors dont know why some people get very sick and die while others have no symptoms.
For example, people who harbor certain mutations in immune genes are more susceptible to the disease, several studies have shown. So theres a risk factor that has nothing to do with age, Dr. Gommerman said.
In a study of more than 3,000 people, ages 18 to 34, who were hospitalized for Covid, 20 percent required intensive care and 3 percent died.
Its true that most people arent going to be hospitalized, most people arent going to get in the intensive care unit or die, said Dr. Yvonne Maldonado, who represents the American Academy of Pediatrics at the meetings of the federal Advisory Committee on Immunization Practices.
But nobody is immune to severe disease, she said. And even if people are not at high risk of Covid themselves, their friends or family could be.
How Has Development Been Sped Up Amid The Pandemic
Under normal circumstances, during which the stages of vaccine development occur sequentially, a vaccine takes eight to fifteen years on average to get from the lab into the hands of health-care providers. The fastest a vaccine had ever been developed before this pandemic was four years. Following the emergence of COVID-19, however, researchers around the globe accelerated the process by carrying out stages of development simultaneously and by looking to new vaccine technologies. I think what were seeing is remarkable, says Paul Offit, director of the Vaccine Education Center at the Childrens Hospital of Philadelphia. It is a scientific tour de force.
The U.S. Operation Warp Speed timeline hinged on overlapping stages of development mass production started for strong candidates even while clinical trials were ongoing. Before their vaccines were approved, Moderna received $2.5 billion in a deal under Warp Speed that included the purchase of one hundred million doses, while Pfizer and BioNTech signed a $1.95 billion contract to manufacture and distribute one hundred million doses of their vaccine. Shortly after President Joe Biden took office, his administration bought another hundred million doses each from these companies.
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How Well The Vaccine Works
- Based on evidence from clinical trials, in people aged 18 years and older, the Moderna vaccine was 94.1% effective at preventing laboratory-confirmed COVID-19 infection in people who received two doses and had no evidence of being previously infected.
- The vaccine was also highly effective in clinical trials at preventing COVID-19 among people of diverse age, sex, race, and ethnicity categories and among people with underlying medical conditions.
- CDC will continue to provide updates as we learn more about how well the Moderna vaccine works in real-world conditions.