Can varicella vaccine cause chickenpox

One such pharmacy is Market Place Pharmacy in Little Rock. Kayely-Morganne Shields, a senior pharmacy student who works there, says the location was part of a regional news push for the vaccine, and was mentioned on a local TV station and in the Arkansas Democrat-Gazette. Soon after, phones started ringing, and it was “chaos,” with too many people coming in for social distancing to occur. Now, Market Place has a registration form on its website to book an appointment; when you call the pharmacy, the automated message also directs you to that form. At the time of reporting, the pharmacy had given out 223 shots to eligible people. … [Read more...] about How will you actually know when it’s your turn to get the COVID-19 vaccine?

This approach is the opposite of how most users will approach the system, which is likely with the question, “Where and when can I schedule an appointment?” There is no reason for systems meant to speed the vaccine rollout to slow users down by attempting to collect the amount of information someone might anticipate offering up as a clinical trial participant. That degree of data collection will be impossible for the general population. It is also unnecessary for vaccine recipients beyond healthcare workers. For the general public to consider using it, the system will need to be completely rethought and redesigned. We need to cut out those invasive questions. This is what we have done with contact tracing and exposure notification apps that I (Ramesh) and my team have built for six U.S. states and territories with PathCheck Foundation . … [Read more...] about ‘When can I schedule a COVID-19 vaccine appointment?’ Why the government can’t answer this simple question

Health experts worry that if second doses are delayed they may not be as effective. The current vaccine efficacy rates are based on subjects receiving a second dose three weeks (Pfizer) or four weeks (Moderna) after the first. Only one COVID-19 vaccine, from AstraZeneca, has tested spacing out its vaccine doses two to three months apart. It’s not clear what kind of protection a single dose of COVID-19 vaccine from Moderna or Pfizer offers before the booster is administered. Some experts are also concerned that an overly delayed second dose could lead to vaccine resistance. … [Read more...] about The U.S. plans to release its stockpile of COVID-19 vaccines. Experts are worried

So far, we haven’t experienced much large-scale immunity from those who have had the virus and thus some antibody protection. Current estimates are that about 20% to 25% of the U.S. have had the virus (we still don’t know how long immunity lasts; most estimates right now assume it’s more than eight months). If it’s on the shorter end, we can’t rely on that being a considerable factor in adding to the greater population’s immunity. “That’s playing a role, but that’s a moving target,” says Keri Althoff, associate professor of epidemiology at the Johns Hopkins Bloomberg School of Public Health. … [Read more...] about How many people need to be vaccinated before COVID-19 transmission starts to drop?

“Locked Out: Unemployment and Homelessness in the COVID Economy,” by the Economic Roundtable, looked at the impacts of the rise in unemployment on working-age people. It calls for a “massive intervention” to create jobs for unemployed workers now suffering from the worst year of job losses since World War II, with more than 9 million people thrown out of work. … [Read more...] about The pandemic recession could cause an enormous spike in homelessness