The United States reached a grim milestone Monday, surpassing 300,000 total coronavirus-related deaths since the beginning of the pandemic, according to a tally by NBC News.
On the same day, hospital workers across the country began unloading precious frozen vials of the Pfizer COVID-19 vaccine as the largest vaccination campaign in U.S. history got underway, with the first shots administered to health care workers in New York.
Early supplies are sparse, and health care workers are first in line, not just doctors and nurses but also janitors and other staff. So are nursing home residents. How well initial vaccinations go will help reassure a wary public when it's their turn sometime next year. Another vaccine candidate, one from Moderna, could be approved by the Food and Drug Administration as soon as the end of the week.
The vaccine campaign is offering hope in the fight against the pandemic that has infected over 16 million in the U.S. alone.
US Ramps Up Vaccination Efforts
Hundreds more U.S. hospitals will begin vaccinating their workers Tuesday as federal health officials review a second COVID-19 shot needed to boost the nation’s largest vaccination campaign.
Packed in dry ice to stay at ultra-frozen temperatures, shipments of Pfizer’s COVID-19 vaccine are set to arrive at 400 additional hospitals and other distribution sites, one day after the nation’s death toll surpassed a staggering 300,000. The first 3 million shots are being strictly rationed to front-line health workers and elder-care patients, with hundreds of millions more shots needed over the coming months to protect most Americans.
In Florida, government officials expect to have 100,000 doses of the vaccine by Tuesday at five hospitals across the state.
Vaccinations were also expected to kick off Tuesday in New Jersey, which is dividing some 76,000 doses among health workers and nursing home residents, NBC New York reports. The federal government is coordinating the massive delivery operation by private shipping and distribution companies based on locations chosen by state governors.
Following another initial set of deliveries Wednesday, officials with the Trump administration's Operation Warp Speed in Washington said they will begin moving 580 more shipments through the weekend.
The United States began its rollout of the coronavirus vaccine on Monday. Hear from health leaders across the country as frontline workers began receiving their vaccinations.
NFL Won't Be Cutting in Line for Coronavirus Vaccine
The NFL won’t be cutting in line to get the coronavirus vaccine.
“No one should be thinking about the vaccine going anywhere other than our first responders and the most vulnerable people right now,” said DeMaurice Smith, executive director of the NFL Players Association.
“We’re in complete harmony with the union in that we feel that it’s vital that frontline healthcare workers and another essential service workers are at the front of the line,” said Dr. Allen Sills, the NFL’s chief medical officer.
“The rollout of the vaccine is going to be driven by public health concerns and what medical and government officials determine to be the most efficacious for risk reduction across society as a whole. We’re prepared to support that effort,” Sills said.
On a recent media conference call, Smith and NFLPA president JC Tretter emphasized that football doesn’t deserve any favors or special treatment when it comes to COVID-19 inoculations.
The NFL will continue spending millions of dollars on daily COVID-19 tests, combined with social distancing and contact tracing to mitigate infections so they can get all 256 regular season games and 13 playoff contests in the books culminating in Super Bowl 55 on Feb. 7 in Tampa, Florida.
Alabama Loosens Licensing Rules for Doctors as Virus Rages
Regulators have loosened rules to make it easier for out-of-state doctors to work in Alabama as the coronavirus pandemic both fills hospital beds and strains medical staff by sickening doctors and nurses, officials said Monday as the first doses of vaccine arrived.
With an average of more than 2,100 people hospitalized daily over the last week with the illness caused by the virus, COVID-19, the Alabama Board of Medical Examiners and the Medical Licensure Commission decided to let qualified physicians from other states and Canada seek temporary emergency licenses to work in the state.
The Alabama Hospital Association has reported staffing shortages caused by both an inadequate number of beds in places and a lack of staff to treat patients, partly because medical workers are among the ill.
Under an emergency rule adopted by regulators during a weekend meeting, doctors licensed in other states or Canada can seek a license to work in an Alabama hospital for 180 days or until Gov. Kay Ivey ends the state’s public health emergency.
"wait" - Google News
December 15, 2020 at 03:49PM
https://ift.tt/3abSf5O
Virus Updates: US Ramps Up Vaccination Effort; NFL Will Wait for Vaccine - NBC Chicago
"wait" - Google News
https://ift.tt/35qAU4J
https://ift.tt/2Ssyayj
Bagikan Berita Ini
0 Response to "Virus Updates: US Ramps Up Vaccination Effort; NFL Will Wait for Vaccine - NBC Chicago"
Post a Comment