The U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention has prioritized which groups will first receive COVID-19 vaccines.
During a emergency meeting Tuesday, Dec. 1, of the Centers’ Advisory Committee on Immunization Practices, the group voted to recommend: “When a COVID-19 vaccine is authorized by FDA and recommended by ACIP, vaccination in the initial phase of the … program (Phase 1a) should be offered to both 1) health care personnel and 2) residents of long-term care facilities.”
Bloomberg News reports that CVS and Walgreens pharmacies will administer coronavirus vaccines to people in nursing homes and assisted living facilities across the country.
Three pharmaceutical manufacturers, Moderna, Pfizer and AstraZeneca have developed COVID-19 vaccines. The Moderna and Pfizer versions are said to have 95% effectiveness and the companies have applied for FDA Emergency Use Authorization to distribute its vaccines.
On Dec. 10, the FDA’s Center for Biologics Evaluation and Research’s Vaccines and Related Biological Products Advisory Committee will meet in open session to discuss Emergency Use Authorization of the Pfizer-BioNTech COVID-19 vaccine for use in individuals 16 years of age and older.
The following week, on Dec. 17, the same advisory committee will discuss the request for emergency use authorization for a COVID-19 vaccine from Moderna Inc.
“In keeping with the FDA’s commitment to ensuring full transparency, dialogue and efficiency, the Vaccines and Related Biological Products Advisory Committee, made up of outside scientific and public health experts from around the country, will meet to discuss the totality of the safety and effectiveness data provided by Moderna for their EUA submission,” FDA Commissioner Stephen M. Hahn, M.D. said in a news release.
“The FDA understands there is tremendous public interest regarding vaccines for COVID-19. We remain committed to keeping the public informed about the evaluation of the data of a potential COVID-19 vaccine, so that once available, the public and the medical community can have trust and confidence in receiving the vaccine for our families and ourselves.”
COVID frustration mounts locally
While all of this is very encouraging news, pandemic fatigue and frustration with public health restrictions among some people continue to rise, along with the numbers of positive COVID-19 cases.
In St. Louis County Tuesday, five restaurants were forced to shut their doors after defying public health orders that do not allow indoor dining.
“The establishments — Acapulco Restaurant, Bartolino’s South, Final Destination, OT’s Bar and Satchmo’s — had their permit to operate suspended and were ordered to immediately cease operations,” a St. Louis County Department of Public Health statement said.
The restaurants have a right to ask for a hearing before the suspension becomes final.
While medical experts day wearing masks vastly reduces the chance of spreading the disease to others by limiting the sharing of air droplets and aerosols that carry the coronavirus, the DPH stated, “Indoor dining is a super-spread enabler because people take off their masks when they eat or drink. According to the CDC as well as numerous independent studies, eating indoors poses significant risk of spreading COVID-19.
“DPH contact tracers have identified a number of clusters of cases linked to eating or drinking indoors. A recent spot check showed that more than half of 74 restaurant workers who contracted COVID-19 had worked while infectious.
“Moreover, several studies demonstrate indoor dining with anyone outside one’s household is unsafe. COVID-positive patients were twice as likely as negative patients to eat at a restaurant in the two weeks prior to their diagnosis, one CDC study found. Also, increased spending at restaurants and bars predicts where COVID-19 outbreaks are likely to be found two or three weeks later, another study has found.”
Council political move
Some St. Louis County Council members are still trying to get around County Executive Sam Page’s authority given to him in the County Charter to make decisions during an emergency. On Tuesday, the council voted 4 — 3 on a resolution aimed at his public health orders.
“Thankfully, the resolution the Council voted on last night is not legally protected. It was a symbolic vote that expressed the Council’s opinion about the public health restrictions, but the resolution did not have the force of law,” Page said during his Wednesday morning briefing.
“St. Louis County will continue to follow the County Charter, as well as state statutes and regulations, that empower the public health director to issue the orders necessary to protect people from COVID-19.The election is over. It’s time to stop politicizing the pandemic. It should never have been politicized from the start,” Page said.
During the wait for a vaccine to be widely distributed, Page said the public cannot let up on efforts to keep this virus from spreading.
“So, it’s disappointing when we have people threatening our health inspectors, and they’re pushing legislation that will compromise the health and safety of our residents. If such legislation would make its way into the books, it simply means this: More people will get sick from COVID-19. More people will die.”
Health care workers implores individuals to continue to wear masks, keep a distance from others and to thoroughly wash hands, to help avoid the disease. Page said the decisions made regarding St. Louis County are based on science and from the advice of public health and hospital leaders.
“We are seeing record numbers of COVID-19 cases,” Page said.
In the nine months since St. Louis County’s first coronavirus case was reported in the spring, he said 1,000 residents have died from the disease and more than 50,000 persons have been infected with it.