American coronavirus: Pharmacies prepare to administer one million Covid-19 vaccines. NIH official says doses can protect against variants

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One million doses have been assigned to 6,500 pharmacies – including some CVS, Walmart, Walgreens, and Rite Aid locations – in the first phase of the Federal Retail Pharmacy Program, and the stores began giving these shots on Friday.
As for pharmacy vaccines, many stores still don’t have the vaccine at this early stage of the new federal program. Walgreens will now have it in select stores in 15 states; Rite Aid has it in six states; Walmart and Sam’s Clubs have it in 22 states. But the coverage area is expected to increase as the supply increases.
The doses sent directly to pharmacies are unrelated to the millions a week that the federal government is already distributing to states – a few of which were already dispensing doses to a small number of pharmacies.
A person’s eligibility still varies by state. All states started with priority populations – often health workers and people in long-term care facilities – followed by seniors and / or essential workers, or those with certain health conditions.
While states have generally complained that supply is not meeting demand, the number of vaccinations per day has increased.
The US has delivered an average of nearly 1.6 million doses per day for the past week – higher than the daily average of about 1.3 million last week, according to a CNN analysis of data released Thursday. by the CDC.
By April, access could start to expand to the general public, and most Americans could be vaccinated by the middle or late summer, director of the National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases Dr. Anthony Fauci on NBC’s “Today” show this week. .
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The rise of vaccinations stems from concerns about the spread of more transmissible coronavirus variants. An important question is whether the vaccines will work on these mutated strains.

According to data from the CDC, at least 997 cases of more transmissible Covid-19 variants, first discovered in the UK, South Africa and Brazil, have been reported in the US so far.

Dr. Barney Graham, deputy director of the National Institutes of Health’s vaccine research center, told President Joe Biden on Thursday that the antibodies that make vaccines against the virus can still attack known variants.

“Antibodies have many places to bind. It may eventually lose their efficacy, but I think we’ll be fine for now until more mutations have accumulated,” Graham said.

Speed ​​up vaccinations

The rate of vaccinations should accelerate further in March and April, making a wider segment of the population eligible, Fauci said.

New York officials plan to redouble efforts to resolve racial disparities in vaccination coverage
“I imagine that by the time we get to April, that’s going to be what I’d be calling for, you know, for better wording, open season,” Fauci told NBC on Thursday. “Namely, almost anyone and everyone in any category could get vaccinated.”
Makers of the country’s currently approved two-dose vaccines – Pfizer / BioNTech and Moderna – have begun studies for children, starting with older age groups. Vaccines for young children could be approved in September, Fauci told ProPublica on Thursday.
Johnson & Johnson would complement the country’s offer if the Food and Drug Administration approves its one-time vaccination. The company has said it could provide 20 million to 30 million doses by the end of April if the authorization comes, and more after that.

Biden said Thursday that the US is on track to provide 300 million Americans with vaccines “by the end of July”.

“We’ve now bought enough vaccine supplies to vaccinate all Americans, and now we’re working to get those vaccines into the arms of millions,” Biden said in a speech at the National Institutes of Health in Bethesda, Maryland.

Fauci: Reopening of K-8 schools is ‘feasible’ in Biden’s first 100 days

The CDC’s guidelines on how to safely reopen schools are expected to be released Friday afternoon. Biden has pledged to reopen most US schools in office within his first 100 days, although some teacher unions have expressed concerns about reopening, while many educators have yet to be vaccinated.

On Friday, Fauci said reopening essentially all primary schools in the first 100 days of the Biden government is “doable.”

When asked what parents should know about whether it’s safe to open schools, Fauci told ABC’s George Stephanopoulos that he didn’t want to get ahead of the CDC guidelines.

“What you want to do is make sure it’s safe for the students and safe for the teachers and other staff involved in the education system,” added Fauci. Ways to make it safe include masking and good ventilation, and by vaccinating teachers as soon as possible.

States are relaxing their coronavirus restrictions

The number of new Covid-19 cases and deaths, and the number of Covid-19 patients in hospitals, are falling after peaks around the holiday. While doing so, some states are dropping social restrictions designed to stop the spread of the virus.

Nevada said it aims to phase out state-imposed capacity restrictions on businesses by May 1, although local governments can still enact their own restrictions.

As of Monday, Nevada state rules will allow most businesses and places of worship to have up to 100 people, or 35% of normal capacity. If coronavirus cases and hospitalizations continue to decline, capacity would rise to 50% on March 15.

“If we all want to see this transition to local control, let’s work together to continue to reduce the handover of our community,” Governor Steve Sisolak said Thursday.

Indoor meeting restrictions in Wyoming will be raised to 25% capacity or 500 people on Monday, and restrictions on sporting events, artistic performances, restaurants and gyms will be relaxed, Governor Mark Gordon said.

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Montana government Greg Gianforte signed a bill on Wednesday protecting companies and places of worship from legal liability for Covid-19 transmission, as long as they take steps to follow public health guidelines and announced that he would not renew the statewide mask mandate.

“The mask mandate expires on Friday,” said the governor, adding, “Since we’re not out of the woods yet, I’ll continue to wear a mask and encourage all Montanans to do the same.”

While the numbers have improved, health experts have warned that precautions are still important to limit the spread of more transferable varieties.

CNN’s Samira Said, Naomi Thomas, Deidre McPhillips, Maggie Fox, Andy Rose, Konstantin Toropin and Lauren Mascarenhas contributed to this report.

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