Cdc

That’s why the big communication priority so far has been on vaccine safety education: ensuring people actually trust the science and plan to take the vaccine in the first place. The various state health departments have been running such campaigns, as has the non-profit Ad Council. Since the H1N1 vaccine rollout in 2009, she says, there is much more political divisiveness, an eroded trust in authority, and a dependency on social media. “So, I think it’s going to take some topical approaches that may be new,” she says, “and not based on an old playbook.” She adds that it’s important that the messengers are those trusted by certain minority and age groups, like religious or community leaders. … [Read more...] about How will you actually know when it’s your turn to get the COVID-19 vaccine?

Still, politicians around the world are considering prioritizing getting single doses into more arms over ensuring that everyone gets the two-dose regimen in the prescribed time. The U.K., for example, has decided to stretch the window for getting a second dose to 12 weeks, while the U.S. Food and Drug Administration has advised against changing the inoculation schedule. Biden’s team has not explicitly championed the first-dose approach, but it could end up employing it incidentally if the U.S. doesn’t get enough supply of the vaccine in a timely fashion. … [Read more...] about The U.S. plans to release its stockpile of COVID-19 vaccines. Experts are worried

That’s not to say that the current phasing structure is wrong. Older populations, who are first in line to receive vaccines, aren’t likely to drive down cases, because they’re more isolated and don’t interact as much with the rest of the public. But it’s possible that deaths will start leveling off and dropping once more and more people over 75s are vaccinated. “So, it’s about who are you vaccinating, and when,” Althoff says, “as to whether or not you will see specifically deaths go down, as to whether or not you will see specifically infections go down.” … [Read more...] about How many people need to be vaccinated before COVID-19 transmission starts to drop?

The letter quickly drew criticism on social media from both the left and the right, with some pointing out Amazon’s questionable record on labor practices and others questioning why the company seemed to have waited until Biden took office to offer assistance to the federal government. Amazon and its CEO, Jeff Bezos, who is also the owner of The Washington Post, were a frequent target of former President Trump’s ire, with Trump even calling Bezos “Jeff Bozo” in a tweet. … [Read more...] about Amazon offers President Biden help with COVID-19 vaccine distribution

Aanika Biosciences, scientists are working on new technology that can change the process: the tech places invisible, edible microbial tags on each head of lettuce. That makes the tracking process vastly more simple than combing back through records of the produce supply chain on paper, trying to untangle where lettuce came from after it’s been through processing centers that mix greens from multiple farms together. … [Read more...] about These invisible, edible biological tags help track down the cause of E. coli outbreaks