Category Archives: Health

Third Dose Of Covid Vaccine For Older Adults With Health Problems!

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North Carolina, Raleigh-The Wake County, North Carolina Department of Public Health is administering a third dose of the Covid-19 vaccine free of charge to people with moderately to severely compromised immune systems.

These people have already received the two doses of the Pfizer or Moderna brands.

This initiative follows the recommendation of the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC).

“We need to make sure that everyone, especially those who are most vulnerable to COVID-19, get the most protection possible from vaccination,” said Dr. Kim McDonald, medical director of county Public Health.

“With hospitalizations increasing more than 100% in the last two weeks and the Delta variant rapidly spreading throughout Wake County, we hope to be able to offer a third dose of vaccine to people with weakened immune systems, because it could help prevent serious illness or disease. Possibly death,” he added.Below are the answers to frequently asked questions that arise in this regard.The information is based on a statement issued by Wake County health authorities.

Why is a third dose necessary?

Moderately to severely immunosuppressed people make up about 3% of the adult population and are especially vulnerable to the new coronavirus as they are at greater risk of severe and prolonged illness.

Studies indicate that some immunosuppressed people, meaning those with weakened immune systems, do not always develop the same level of protection, even after receiving both doses of Pfizer or Moderna.

Additional analyzes show that fully vaccinated, immunosuppressed people account for a percentage of hospitalized “breakthrough cases,” suggesting that these people are more likely to spread the virus at home.

Who can receive the third dose?

Those interested should speak with their health care provider about their condition to determine if receiving that additional dose is appropriate.

The CDC recommends the third dose in the following cases:

Cancer patients undergoing active treatment for tumors or cancers of the blood
Organ transplant recipients who take medications to suppress their immune system
Stem cell transplant recipients who are less than two years from transplant and who take medications to suppress their immune system
Anyone with moderate or severe primary immunodeficiency (such as Di George syndrome, Wiskott-Aldrich syndrome)


People with advanced or untreated HIV infectionThose receiving high-dose corticosteroids or other medications that can suppress your immune response

It should be noted that the CDC has not recommended additional doses or booster shots for any other population, at this time, including those who received the single-dose Johnson & Johnson vaccine. However, in the middle of this week they indicated that they will do so soon.

How do you get the third dose of the Covid-19 vaccine?

Eligible individuals may enter any of Wake County Public Health’s immunization clinics or events .

These activities take place six days a week, and include night hours and Saturdays.

It should be noted that this third dose does not require an appointment. However, those who so wish may do so in the coming days, when the corresponding system is updated.

Another thing to consider is that walk-ins should not wait long for the application.

A third dose must be given at least 28 days after the second and must be of the same brand as the first and second.

Do I need to bring medical records or any proof?

No. When you arrive at a clinic, registration staff will look up your vaccination information in the North Carolina Covid Vaccine Management System to ensure you received your first Pfizer or Moderna doses.

The patient can bring his vaccination card. Then, he will be asked to testify or declare that he is immunocompromised through a digital form.

What comes next?
Next is to sign up for V-Safe, a symptom checker that will send you occasional text messages to check on how you’re feeling.

In addition, it will allow you to report any symptoms. It is very important and only takes about two minutes to answer.

Another no less significant detail is that even after receiving this third dose, immunosuppressed people must continue with the 3W (Use of a mask, social distancing, and frequent handwashing.

The Covid-19 Riots: Why Are They Happening In Europe?

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But this week saw a series of riots in cities across the old continent, as protests against the handling of the pandemic saw cars set on fire and riot police deployed against protesters.

What Is Happening In Europe?

Over the weekend, violent protests took place in the streets of several countries.

In the Netherlands, demonstrators clashed with police, throwing stones, throwing fireworks and setting vehicles on fire.

Authorities responded by using batons, dogs, horses, water cannons and even shooting.

Dutch Prime Minister Mark Rutte called the repeated nights of unrest “sheer violence”.

In Belgium, large protest marches turned violent: police vehicles were ransacked and demonstrators were greeted with tear gas and water cannons.

On Saturday, 40,000 people marched through the streets of Austria’s capital, Vienna, in a largely peaceful protest organized by the far-right Freedom Party.

Demonstrations also took place in Italy, Denmark and Croatia.

Why Are People Angry?

The Netherlands imposed a three-week partial lockdown after seeing a record spike in Covid cases. Bars and restaurants are due to close earlier, and crowds have been banned from sporting events.

Rules for face masks have been tightened in Belgium, including in places such as restaurants, where Covid passes are already required, and most people will need to work from home four days a week until mid -December.

Similar measures have been or are about to be introduced in other countries in the region, such as Germany, Greece, and the Czech Republic.

However, it is in Austria that the measures are the most stringent.

In addition to a full nationwide lockdown – which forces people to stay at home except for essential reasons – Austria has become the first European country to make Covid vaccination a legal obligation, with the law due to come into force in February.

Despite strong opposition, Chancellor Alexander Schallenberg said the measures were necessary due to opposition to vaccination.

“Whipped up by radical anti-vaxxers, by fake news, too many of us haven’t been vaccinated,” he said.

“The result is overloaded intensive care units and enormous suffering.

Why Are These Restrictions Occurring Now?

These new rules follow a dramatic increase in Covid cases in the region.

Despite a high percentage of the population fully vaccinated compared to many parts of the world, Europe has seen the number of people testing positive for the coronavirus skyrocket in recent weeks.

In Germany and the Netherlands, the number of weekly cases has quadrupled since last month and in Austria it is five times higher.

The World Health Organization’s regional director for Europe, Dr Hans Kluge, told the BBC that 500,000 more deaths could be recorded by March if urgent action is not taken and it s is said to be “very worried”.

He supports most of the measures put in place by European countries but said compulsory vaccination measures, such as those planned in Austria, should be seen as a “last resort”. He wants a “legal and societal debate” to take place on this issue.

Dr. Kluge has advocated for the wearing of a mask and supported the Covid pass rules, which require people going to restaurants, gyms, and other similar places to be able to prove that they have been vaccinated.

Why Have The Cases Increased So Sharply?

It seems to be a combination of reasons in different countries.

Dr Kluge said factors such as the winter season, insufficient vaccine coverage, and the regional predominance of the more transmissible Delta variant of Covid-19 were behind the spread.

Many European countries relaxed Covid-related restrictions, such as social distancing and mask-wearing rules, earlier this year, as the number of cases declined and vaccination levels rose.

But even among those vaccinated, the Delta variant has been shown to still be able to spread rapidly when people return to situations where they are in close contact with each other with fewer restrictions in place.

Is The Number Of Deaths From Covid-19 Increasing As Quickly?

There seems to be some good news, at least.

Vaccines seem to prevent people from getting seriously ill and dying.

At the start of the pandemic, the spikes in cases were accompanied by a rapid increase in the number of deaths, but since the introduction of the vaccine, the number of deaths has fallen far below the number of people infected.

Covid-19: United States begins vaccinating children aged 5 to 11

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Injections of the Covid-19 vaccine to children aged 5 to 11 began on Tuesday evening, November 2 in the United States , a new stage in the immunization campaign hailed as a “turning point” by Joe Biden , with 28 million d ‘newly eligible children in the country.

The Centers for Disease Prevention and Control (CDC) officially recommended injections of Pfizer’s vaccine for this age group on Tuesday , after approval was granted Tuesday, October 26, by the US Medicines Agency (FDA). It is always given as two injections, three weeks apart. But the dosage has been adjusted to 10 micrograms per injection, compared to 30 micrograms for the older groups.

The vaccination “will allow parents to put an end to months of worry for their children” , welcomed the American president immediately after the announcement, welcoming an “important step forward” and a “turning point” in the fight against the pandemic. The government had largely anticipated the decision of the health authorities by procuring enough doses for this age group, and by starting to send millions of them to the four corners of the country. The vaccination campaign for young children “will reach full capacity the week of November 8,” said Jeff Zients, the White House pandemic coordinator.

90.7% efficacy against symptomatic forms
Among 5-11 year olds, more than 1.9 million cases of Covid-19, more than 8,300 hospitalizations, more than 2,300 cases of MIS-C (pediatric multisystem inflammatory syndrome) and around 100 deaths have been recorded in United States.

According to clinical trials conducted by Pfizer on thousands of children, the vaccine has been shown to be 90.7% effective against symptomatic forms of the disease. In addition to preventing them from falling ill, the expected benefits also include a decrease in the number of class closures, and a possible reduction in the transmission of the epidemic to the general population.

According to a survey presented Tuesday by the Centers for the prevention and control of diseases and carried out in September among 1,000 parents, 57% said that they would “without a doubt” or “probably” vaccinate their child. Among the hesitant, the main concern was the risk of myocarditis, an inflammation of the heart muscle, detected in adolescents and young adults after vaccination. Experts believe that this risk should be rarer in young children, especially thanks to the reduced dosage.

Coronavirus: How the US is Losing Control of the Pandemic Again

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The warning comes from Anthony Fauci , the White House adviser on infectious diseases, who foresees a resurgence of COVID-19 cases in the country if corrective measures are not taken.

And is that the United States, the country with the most deaths in the pandemic , faces a dangerous outlook.

While in the last week of June the country registered some 92,000 new cases, in the seven days of last week the figure exceeded 500,000 confirmed infections.

And while malarial illness has been less lethal, less than 3,000 deaths per week in front of over 20,000 a few months ago, the spread of variant d elta of the SARS-CoV-2 virus is out of control in some states.

The focus of the problem: the unvaccinated

Earlier this week, Vivek Murthy, the US surgeon general – a position that accredits him as head of the Commissioned Corps of the Public Health Service – said that 99.5% of recent deaths from covid-19 in the country have occurred among unvaccinated people .

Dr. Marcus Plescia, director of the Association of State and Territorial Health Officials, explains to the BBC that the main problem of the increase in infections is concentrated in one region of the country.

“It’s particularly serious in probably six or seven states. The southeastern states and some states in the American Midwest,” Plescia says.

Alabama, Mississippi, Arkansas, Georgia, Tennessee, Oklahoma are states where less than 40% of its population is completely vacunad to (in contrast, in the region of the Northeast, such as Vermont and Massachusetts, the vaccinated population exceeds 65%).

In addition, the governors of the states with the lowest vaccination – mostly Republicans – have expressed skepticism about federal prevention policies since last year.

The spread of the delta variant

A problem that accompanies low vaccination rates in some US states has been the spread of the d elta variant of the SARS-CoV-2 virus, which causes covid-19.

Being more contagious than others , this variant has spread more quickly among people who have not received any dose, as explained by both authorities and public health experts.

“That’s where we are really seeing these significant increases. In other parts of the country where vaccination rates are higher, we are not seeing a big problem, although even in those states we are beginning to see it. Things are creeping up,” says the Dr. Plescia.

States that have not lagged so far behind in vaccination, such as Florida (48.5%), are among those that have begun to double or even triple infections and hospitalizations .

While at the beginning of the pandemic it was known that someone could be infected by being 15 minutes in front of a virus carrier without a mask, according to epidemiologist Celine Gounder, the delta variant spreads exponentially faster.

“The equivalent to that with the delta variant is not 15 minutes, it is one second, ” Gounder says in an article on the STAT health portal.

Fauci said health authorities are evaluating whether people vulnerable to the virus should receive an additional booster dose.

The disuse of masks

Unlike last year, this summer Americans are back on vacation, attending concerts and sporting events, or eating at crowded restaurants without the use of masks or much social distance.

The lifting of those recommendations advanced rapidly from May 13, when the president of the United States, Joe Biden, said that those fully vaccinated could return to their normal life without the use of the mask.

But as the pandemic has resurfaced, authorities have begun to wonder if it is necessary to return to the old policy .

“We are seeing that in Los Angeles. We are seeing that in Chicago. We are seeing that in New Orleans,” Fauci told CNN. “The officials there, many of them, say that even if you are vaccinated it is prudent to wear a mask indoors.”

Plescia, for its part, considers that the vaccine is the solution above the masks.

“As far as we know from science, that’s a solid policy. I mean people who are fully vaccinated, because we have very good vaccines. They are very, very effective, fortunately,” he tells the BBC.

“Even in those cases [of the delta variant], these people are unlikely to become seriously ill or end up in hospital or end up dying,” he adds.

The vaccine, mandatory?

Both public authorities and associations have begun to debate whether vaccination should be a requirement for workers in certain essential areas.

In a joint statement, dozens of medical associations on Sunday spoke in favor of the inoculation of health workers as a requirement to work in hospitals.

“Vaccination is the main way to leave the pandemic behind and avoid the return of strict public health measures,” the 60 signatory associations say in their letter.

Local authorities from New York to California have also raised it.

And this Monday the Department of Veterans Affairs became the first federal agency to issue a work requirement to its employees – which includes health personnel – the vaccine against covid-19.

Although the White House has ruled out imposing mandatory vaccinations for public employees, it has left open the possibility for companies to do so.

“We certainly support these actions by these hospital associations,” spokeswoman Jen Psaki said Monday.

And public opinion is divided: according to a survey of the Politico site and Harvard University published this month, one 66% support healthcare workers should be vaccinated to work.

Instead, they were almost equally divided on whether to require other workers to do so.

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