I hate to be the bearer of bad news, but 2021 will not be so different from 2020 if the country (and the world, by the way) will not get their vaccine together.
As the UK moves forward with a questionable strategy of mixing different vaccines products, the new strain of COVID-19 first reported in the UK was found in COLORADO and California This week, Los Angeles continues to struggle with a devastating wave of coronavirus cases.
Despite the clearly still active spread of COVID-19, the hope that came in the form of two highly effective vaccines released at the end of 2020 is now tempered by a mess of launch issues.
Although more than 14 million doses of vaccines from Pfizer and Moderna have been shipped to the United States, reports the New York Times that only about 2 million people received even a first dose. The federal government has set a goal of vaccinating up to 20 million people by the end of 2020, but that target was far from being met and there is no single answer – or clear – why.
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Trump Administration Warp Speed Operation officials have suggested that the holiday season could have an impact on vaccination efforts, while Trump he blamed individual states for slow launch. In December, several state governors called the federal government for transporting fewer doses of vaccine to their regions than promised.
But an issue affecting vaccine uptake may also be the reluctance of health care workers who have been received online to receive protection from COVID-19. Both LA Times and Pr reports that front-line workers at hospitals in California and Chicago, respectively, avoid receiving vaccine doses.
In Riverside County, California, nearly 50% of eligible health care workers refused the vaccine. While some refusals came from front-line workers tasked with taking the vaccine ( The Centers for Disease Control says there are limited data on the safety of vaccines given to pregnant or lactating women), others avoid the administration of doses due to fear, as well as distrust of the government.
“It’s not shocking, given what the federal government has done over the past 10 months,” Sal Rosselli, president of the National Union of Health Workers, told the LA Times.
In a December poll led by the Kaiser Family Foundation, three out of ten health workers said they would “probably or definitely not” be vaccinated.
Then there are the incidents of health personnel deliberately sabotaging vaccines or preventing the distribution of doses to those who are actively seeking them.
In Tennessee, WRCB News Reports 3 that on Friday, Hamilton County Health Department officials dismissed dozens of people who had been lined up in cars for hours, waiting their turn for a shot vaccine, citing a limited amount. Later that day, health department officials turned out to distribute doses to “close contacts,” that is, people who were friends and family members of those who administered the vaccine.
Police also arrested a pharmacist who worked at Advocate Aurora Health Hospital in Milwaukee, Wisconsin, on New Year’s Eve, accused of removing 570 doses of Moderna vaccine from cold stores and letting them stay overnight. -intentionally “useless”.
According to a statement by Grafton police, who arrested the worker this week but have not yet named him, 57 doses of the spoiled vaccine were given to patients. Although hospital officials said there were no health problems related to the administration of the destroyed vaccines, the worker wrote a statement admitting that he intentionally spoiled the doses by taking them out of the refrigerator. Police say they also knew that people who received the destroyed doses would think they were protected against the virus when they were not.
The suspect has not yet been officially charged, but The Milwaukee Journal Sentinel has identified Steven Brandenburg, 46, a licensed pharmacist, was jailed on preliminary charges by Grafton police in his statement about the arrest.
President-elect Biden faces a major battle as he takes over the White House and the ongoing fight against the coronavirus pandemic – the head of which is to attract more people on board with a collective response to our protection against the disease.