Lake COVID-19 vaccination megasites opened across the country this week, including at a casino in Missouri and at New York’s Yankee Stadium – where a long line formed when it opened to local residents Friday.
Legendary MLB player Mariano Rivera was there, encouraging people to take their shots. “Now is the time to support you and let you know that it’s okay to get vaccinated,” Rivera said.
More sites are on the way. In California, Santa Clara County’s Levi’s Stadium will become the state’s largest vaccination site when it opens early next week, according to the county and the San Francisco 49ers. The aim is to be able to vaccinate as many as 15,000 people per day there.
The news came after NFL Commissioner Roger Goodell told it President Joe Biden In a letter Thursday that the league is making all of its 32 stadiums available as vaccination sites for the general public, Michael George reported for “CBS This Morning: Saturday.”
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All that real estate may be needed. Another COVID vaccine could be on the way in the United States. Johnson & Johnson filed with the Food and Drug Administration on Thursday for emergency approval for its single-dose vaccine. Once given the green light, Johnson & Johnson said it expects to deliver 100 million doses to the country by June.
The vaccine is 85% effective against the most severe virus symptoms and 66% in general to prevent moderate to severe diseases. It would be the third vaccine available on the market, alongside the stressed deliveries from Pfizer and Moderna
“Obviously, at this point in time we don’t have enough of the Moderna, Pfizer RNA vaccines to tackle the pandemic in the US, let alone the world,” said former FDA chief scientist Dr. Jesse Goodman.
To date, more than 26 million COVID-19 cases have been reported in the United States and nearly 460,000 people have died as a result of the virus. More than 36 million vaccinations currently on the market have been administered nationwide and 7.5 million people are now fully vaccinated.
Coronavirus variants that are spreading rapidly can pose a threat to the progress made. A species that was first identified in South Africa has now been found in Virginia, one of three states that reported cases. Another species, first discovered in the UK, has been found nationwide and more recently in Kalamazoo, Michigan.
Health officials said the person with the first documented case of the variant in Kalamazoo County had no travel history.
The U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention is expected to announce updated guidelines this week for getting children back to school. CDC Director Dr. Rochelle Walensky said this week “There is growing data to suggest that schools can reopen safely and that safe reopening does not suggest that teachers should be vaccinated.”