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In the US, COVID-19 vaccines are right around the corner, leaving the entire country staring out the window in anticipation of their arrival. Health officials and systems, already taxed by the skyrocketing cases, make sure everything is ready when they show up. Here are some things that are still on your vaccination to-do lists:
Save the dates: In the coming weeks, committees with the Food and Drug Administration will meet to decide whether or not to authorize candidate vaccines for Pfizer / BioNTech and Moderna. The Pfizer vaccine is the first, with a meeting scheduled for December 10. Moderna’s meeting will take place a week later, on December 17. The committee will meet to discuss the mountains of data from clinical trials and decide whether they are safe and effective enough to be distributed.
While the US is taking time to conduct extensive background checks on vaccines, others have sped up the process. This week, the UK authorized the Pfizer / BioNTech vaccine, pressuring the US to do the same.
Seating arrangement: Once the FDA has decided which vaccines are invited to the party, states must have a plan for the assigned doses. Friday, December 5, was the deadline for states to order the Pfizer / BioNTech vaccine. And earlier this week, a CDC committee met to finalize its recommendations on who should get the vaccine first. The VIPs most likely to get the vaccine first are healthcare workers and people who live and work in long-term care facilities.
Menu planning: Unsurprisingly, the first vaccines are the two two-dose vaccines, and the vaccines must be given weeks apart. This is a challenge for states that must now make sure everyone receives the right vaccine at the right time. They plan to use digital databases to track who got what vaccine and when they got vaccinated.
Clean the refrigerator (s): These vaccines must be kept very cold. Both can remain potent for a time at temperatures similar to that of a refrigerator, but for long-term storage, Pfizer / BioNTech’s needs to be cooled to minus 70 degrees Celsius. That prompts states to clean up cold storage and buy dry ice anywhere they can as they prepare for the vaccine to arrive. In Maine, community college freezers may enter service as the state begins vaccinating more people, said the director of the Maine Center for Disease Control and Prevention. Blackboard.
There is still a lot to do before the first doses start to arrive. First on the priority list, there is an increase in cases and hospitalizations that must be stopped. Next, plans and transparent communications should set the tone for a vaccination campaign. Vaccines must be administered fairly, and researchers will need to monitor the long-term effects of vaccines. But if all that can be accomplished, and this hastily planned vaccination effort can be carried out, it will be a triumph.
This is what is happening this week:
Investigation
Small data, big implications
How dangerous is it to dine inside a restaurant right now? There is still a paucity of data, but some fascinating studies are emerging, including a recent one from South Korea, broken down in this article by sociologist Zeynep Tufekci. Tufekci Newsletter View Worth reading: Another post this week highlights efforts by Chinese researchers to sound an early alarm about this virus.
(Zeynep Tufekci/View)
‘No one sees us’: test lab workers strive on demand
In US labs, scientists and lab workers are reaching a breaking point as demand for testing continues to grow.
(Katherine J Wu /The New York Times)
Why the CDC Changed Their Covid-19 Quarantine Guidelines
The CDC officially changed its guidelines for quarantine this week, shortening the time frame in certain scenarios. The reason why? He hopes that more people will stick to a shorter quarantine program. Later in the week, the agency called for ‘universal use of masks’ for the first time in a new report.
(German Lopez /Vox)
Developing
COVID-19 vaccines are a marvel of science. This is how we can make the most of them.
If you want a For real delve into how experts believe these vaccines should be used, this is an article for you. It sets out the challenges and opportunities we all face in this next phase of the pandemic.
(Helen Branswell /Stat)
COVID-19 Multi-Dose Vaccines Will Test Status Tracking Systems
The states plan to control who gets vaccinated and when they get their doses. This is how it will work.
(Nicole Wetsman /The edge)
The only dissent from the CDC advisory panel on why long-term care residents shouldn’t get the COVID-19 vaccine first
This week, when a CDC advisory panel met to decide who they thought should be the first to get vaccinated, there was only one person who opposed the recommendation. Here’s why he cast a vote against.
(Helen Branswell /Stat)
Hackers are targeting the COVID-19 vaccine supply chain, according to IBM
There is now evidence that phishing attacks are targeting the vaccine’s “cold chain”. Experts are still not sure what the ultimate goal of the infiltration might be or who is behind it.
(Monica Chin /The Verge)
Perspectives
Find your place in the vaccine line
To put things in perspective, check out this infographic that shows an approximation of where you are in line to get a vaccine.
(Stuart Thompson /The New York Times)
COVID doesn’t care how you vote, where you live, or if you die. The fire burns around us and we are dry grass, from sea to shining sea.
—Mark Morocco, a Los Angeles physician who writes in Los Angeles Times
For two hours that summer night, there were no sounds other than a soft piano and the soft beep beep beep of the monitors. Klein thought about how he would feel if the person in the bed was his own father and squeezed his hand tighter. Around midnight, Klein watched the man take one last ragged breath and die.
—Elaine Godfrey writes in her article “Iowa is what happens when the government does nothing” in The Atlantic
More than numbers
For the more than 65,760,928 people around the world who have tested positive, may your road to recovery be smooth.
To the families and friends of the 1,515,990 people who have died worldwide, 278,594 of those living in the US, their loved ones have not been forgotten.
Stay safe, everyone.
