Health officials worry nation not ready for COVID-19 vaccine

[JacksinPA]

Health officials worry nation not ready for COVID-19 vaccine

Millions of Americans are counting on a COVID-19 vaccine to curb the global pandemic and return life to normal.

While one or more options could be available toward the end of this year or early next, the path to delivering vaccines to 330 million people remains unclear for the local health officials expected to carry out the work.

“We haven’t gotten a lot of information about how this is going to roll out,” said Dr. Umair Shah, executive director of Texas’ Harris County Public Health department, which includes Houston.

In a four-page memo this summer, the federal Centers for Disease Control and Prevention told health departments across the country to draft vaccination plans by Oct. 1 “to coincide with the earliest possible release of COVID-19 vaccine.”

But health departments that have been underfunded for decades say they currently lack the staff, money and tools to educate people about vaccines and then to distribute, administer and track hundreds of millions of doses. Nor do they know when, or if, they’ll get federal aid to do that.
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The expected roll-out of a virus vaccine nationwide might look more like a Chinese fire drill.

My suggestion; partner with major pharmacy chains like CVS or Walgreen who are already in the business of providing flu & shingles shots.

 

[Ethel2]

People should get ready to distribute a vaccine sooner rather than later. I have felt for months that the preliminary tests of several of the leading vaccine candidates have been so positive that its unlikely that all of them will fail. I think we will have decent data by November about which ones are working and they should be made available to front line workers by December and to high risk people shortly thereafter. Fauci has said as much in a recent interview.

Washington — Dr. Anthony Fauci, the nation's leading infectious disease expert, said clinical trials on a coronavirus vaccine could be stopped early if they provide positive results that show it is safe and effective.

In an interview with Kaiser Health News published Tuesday, Fauci, the head of the National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases, said a Data and Safety Monitoring Board, which is composed of research experts that review data from clinical trials, has the power to end the trials early.

The independent board, Fauci said, could decide "the data is so good right now that you can say it's safe and effective." If the clinical trials were to produce results that are overwhelmingly positive, scientists would have a "moral obligation" to stop the trial early and make the vaccine available to all participants in the study, speeding up the process to make it more widely available.

Fauci says coronavirus vaccine trials could be stopped early if they produce good results - CBS News

The studies would continue alongside the distribution of the successful vaccines. Hopefully the millions of doses that are already being produced are also being distributed in anticipation of the results.

 

[Greenbeard]

Probably depends on whether this administration is responsible or if we have a competent one by then instead. Remember remdesivir?

The Trump Administration Totally Botched Its Distribution Of COVID-19 Treatment to Hospitals

The Washington Post reports that after drug manufacturer Gilead Sciences donated 607,000 vials of remdesivir to the federal government, the Trump administration’s distribution of the first tranche of medication in early May left much to be desired. The drug was reportedly sent to facilities in 13 states, but without consulting state officials to determine where the medication should go. As a result, remdesivir was sent to hospitals without intensive care units (and thus, without patients eligible to receive the drug); hospitals without the proper facilities to properly refrigerate the drug in order to store it—and, in some cases, just the wrong hospitals altogether. Hospitals were also not alerted ahead of time that they would be given the drug, leaving many unprepared to receive it.

 

[Cardinal]

If you believe a report that comes out before November 3 that a vaccine has been found, you're an easily manipulated idiot.

If a vaccine is rolled out before November 3 and you take it, you're a candidate for the Darwin Award.

If an actual vaccine is unveiled during a second Trump term and you're wondering how a national rollout of the vaccine will work, look at the current national testing policy for yourself, and ask yourself how orderly and timely that rollout will be.

 

[Ethel2]

If you believe a report that comes out before November 3 that a vaccine has been found, you're an easily manipulated idiot.

If a vaccine is rolled out before November 3 and you take it, you're a candidate for the Darwin Award.

If an actual vaccine is unveiled during a second Trump term and you're wondering how a national rollout of the vaccine will work, look at the current national testing policy for yourself, and ask yourself how orderly and timely that rollout will be.

I trust Anthony Fauci. He indicated that an independent board has jurisdiction over vaccine studies and that only they will decide if the results of ongoing studies merit early release of a Covid vaccine. If the results are overwhelmingly positive I think people should be able to get the vaccine if they so choose.

 

[Cardinal]

I trust Anthony Fauci. He indicated that an independent board has jurisdiction over vaccine studies and that only they will decide if the results of ongoing studies merit early release of a Covid vaccine. If the results are overwhelmingly positive I think people should be able to get the vaccine if they so choose.

As long as you're listening to Fauci. Thus far he seems to have the fortitude to withstand the corruption all around him. Listening to the NIH or the CDC will probably get you killed at worst, and have you casting your vote for the wrong person at best.