There has been considerable debate regarding mandatory vaccine uptake among the general population, excluding those who have medical exemptions. The World Health Organization states that “policy-makers should consider specifically whether vaccines authorized for emergency or conditional use meet an evidentiary threshold for safety sufficient for a mandate.” Ontario’s chief medical officer, Dr […]
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Safer Activities for You and Your Family If you are fully vaccinated, you can participate in many of the activities that you did before the pandemic. To maximize protection from the Delta variant and prevent possibly spreading it to others, wear a mask indoors in public if you are […]
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Last Thursday, the CDC announced its support for third doses of COVID vaccine for our immunocompromised patients. However, these much-needed boosters cannot be given until the FDA gives its approval. As physicians who care for patients with weakened immune systems, we are holding our breath and hoping the FDA will follow the […]
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Children under age 12 could be eligible for a COVID-19 vaccine “soon” and potentially within the next few months, President Joe Biden said Wednesday. Pfizer and Moderna are conducting vaccine clinical trials for ages 6 months to 12 years, and the results are expected sometime this fall. “Soon, in the […]
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Summary What is already known about this topic? Residents of long-term care facilities (LTCFs) and health care personnel (HCP) who work in these facilities were prioritized for early COVID-19 vaccination. Achieving high coverage in this setting is critical to preventing additional outbreaks. What is added by this report? During March […]
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Last week we interviewed Dr. Winston Timp about advances that have enabled the acquisition of robust viral sequencing data during the COVID-19 pandemic. That conversation showcased the role of less visible data streams as the United States combats the anticipated development and viral variants including the Delta variant and other COVID-19 […]
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TEL AVIV — Israel’s Ministry of Health on Monday began offering a third dose of the Pfizer coronavirus vaccine to severely immunocompromised adults in what health experts say could be the first phase of an experiment to provide coronavirus booster shots for older people and the most vulnerable. The recommendation, […]
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Editor’s note: Find the latest COVID-19 news and guidance in Medscape’s Coronavirus Resource Center. The Pfizer-BioNTech and AstraZeneca vaccines — the primary vaccine options in the United Kingdom — were less effective against symptomatic COVID-19 when people were exposed to the Delta variant of SARS-CoV-2 compared with the Alpha variant (known […]
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The messenger RNA vaccine BNT162b2 (Pfizer–BioNTech) has 95% efficacy against coronavirus disease 2019 (Covid-19).1 Qatar launched a mass immunization campaign with this vaccine on December 21, 2020. As of March 31, 2021, a total of 385,853 persons had received at least one vaccine dose and 265,410 had completed the two doses. […]
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