Shots in the arm and another grim marker
New cases keep accumulating as surge across USA goes unabated, while healthcare workers are among the first to receive the newly authorized Pfizer COVID-19 vaccine.
The USA recorded its 300,000th confirmed COVID-19 death on the same day that the first immunizations against the novel coronavirus outside of a clinical trial were administered. While the Pfizer vaccine goes into use starting today, we should see the data to support the Moderna vaccine tomorrow. The FDA advisors review that shot on Thursday.
Stories to note:
With vaccine supplies very limited, hospitals are scrambling to prioritize which of their staff are first-in-line for COVID-19 shots. Kaiser Health News explains how some are managing this.
The U.S. government plans to start a major advertising campaign to promote COVID-19 vaccinations starting in late January. Supplies of COVID-19 vaccines are expected to be tight until Spring, however. The CDC wants physicians to reassure their patients.
For a look at how European governments are planning to get vaccines deployed, read this article in The Economist.
New polls show some movement towards acceptance of the COVID-19 vaccine.
Australia scrapped one of its COVID-19 vaccine candidates after it triggered false positive HIV tests.
And, for a long read and excellent article to bookmark, STATNews has an encyclopedic look at the “vexing” pandemic of a novel coronavirus that is dangerous and deadly yet mild enough in most people for it to be “shrugged off.” That is our 2020 reality.
Keep those masks in use, please.