People need both doses of coronavirus vaccines, FDA officials say
CNN (1/4, Fox) reports, “Anyone who receives the Moderna or Pfizer [coronavirus] vaccine must get two full doses, two top U.S. Food and Drug Administration officials said Monday.” Additionally, FDA Commissioner Stephen M. Hahn, M.D., and Dr. Peter Marks, who heads FDA’s vaccine division, “dismissed other ideas for stretching the vaccine supply and said people who are speculating about the possibility of making do with just one dose or cutting doses in half are misinterpreting the data.”
Administration to accelerate plan to offer coronavirus vaccines in pharmacies
Politico (1/5,) reports that late Tuesday, the administration “said it’s accelerating a plan to begin offering coronavirus shots in pharmacies – a move that comes after federal officials faced fierce criticism for the slow pace of immunizations.” Over the next two weeks, Operation Warp Speed “estimates 3,000 to 6,000 pharmacies could begin administering COVID-19 shots, according to a senior HHS official.”
Blogfinger.net Medical Notes: Paul Goldfinger, MD. Blogfinger Editor
Ichilov hospital team members wearing protective gear as they work at the Coronavirus department of Ichilov hospital in Tel Aviv, on January 01, 2021. Photo by Tomer Neuberg/Flash90 Source: The Times of Israel. ©
“Israel leads the world in vaccination, inoculating 10 times more of its population than the US, but its mushrooming new outbreak is worse than America’s, and most everybody else’s. The Jewish state has now passed the US in new daily cases per million people on a seven-day average.”
Israel has vaccinated 15.8% of its population while the US had inoculated only 1.46% of its population.
“The US has a population of some 328 million compared with Israel’s 9.29 million.
New mutated strains of COVID-19 have contributed to huge increases in the disease around the world.
Although this seems to put a damper on the idea that more vaccinations will decrease the incidence of disease, Israel has some unique issues including the density of population and the failure to crack down enough on large gatherings. Some are advocating a complete “lockdown” there. Others say that Israel is doing fine where death rates are concerned, and that that number is more important than total positive cases.