Hitting the biggest one-day death total since mid-May, the U.S. was struck with over 2,000 deaths today, swamping emergency rooms, hospital beds and Intensive Care Units [ICUs] around the country. Today, the U.S. hit the grim total of 12,995,007 cases and 265,891 deaths, rising everyday, with no end in sight other that Pfizer, Moderna and AstraZeneca’s vaccines, slowly making their way to market. But in the gulch between vaccine approval and meeting the logistical hurdles to deliver the vaccines to the bulk of 330 million American citizens, Covid-19 cases and deaths could continue to rise at alarming rates. President-elect Joe Biden and his 56-year-old Vice President-elect Kamala Harris are about to find out the hard way that there are no easy fixes to the 11-month old global pandemic that they rode as their major campaign issue all the way to the White House.
Trump was unceremoniously bounced out of office because the Covid-19 crisis happened on his watch, including producing numerous vaccines in record time, something Biden and Harris used against Trump. Both told voters repeatedly you can’t trust any vaccine developed on Trump’s watch, buffaloing enough voters to believe their nonsense. Yet here they are now on the threshold of taking office with all the same consequences as Trump, maybe worse for running down the vaccines, saying they couldn’t be trusted because somehow Trump got his hands on them. Now that they’ve denied Trump his second term, both sing a different tune about Trump’s vaccines. Suddely, they’re both true believers in the vaccines hoping that every man, woman and child gets vaccinated at the earliest possible time. Today’s 2,000 deaths underscore the urgency of getting vaccines to market.
Awaiting vaccines with great anticipation, the public doesn’t yet know the side-effects, that range from mild to fairly severe flu-like symptoms for 24 to 36 hours, maybe longer. “We really need to make patients aware that this is not going to be a walk in the park,” said Dr. Sandra Fryhofer of the American Medical Association [AMA]. Pfizer and Moderna’s vaccines require two doses, drawing some concern that once patients get the adverse side effects they won’t be inclined to get the next injection. “They are going to know they had a vaccine. They are probably not going to feel wonderful. But they’ve got to come back for a second dose,” Fryhofer said, concerned that some patients will stay away. Patients in Phase 3 trials experienced high fever, body aches, bad headaches, daylong exhaustion and other debilitating symptoms, discouraging them from taking the second dose.
Center for Disease Control and Prevention [CDC] Dr. Nancy Messonnier, director of National Center for Immunization and Respiratory Diseases, said her agency would work with health care workers on the frontlines of getting vaccines. “How does that impact planning on a hospital level in terms of which staff gets vaccinated which day?” asked Messonnier, knowing that hospital personnel may not be able to work for 24 to 48 hours or more after vaccination. Hospital personnel have already been strapped with extra long hours but some workers going down with Covid-19, unable to work. Messonnier wants hospitals, clinics and government agencies to know what might happen after vaccination to their workers. Dr. Grace Lee, professor of pediatrics at Stanford University said, whatever the temporary downside to the vaccines, it’s far better than getting Covid-19 with all its unpredictable complications.
Patsy Sinchfield, a nurse practitioner at Children’s Minnesota, said CDC officials should explain the side effects as normal immune reactions. “These are immune responses,” said Sinchfield, hoping the CDC would let prospective vaccine recipients know that any side effects were part of the positive immune response. Whether its positive or not or far better than getting Covid-19, vaccines recipients need to know what to expect, including all the adverse side effects, possibly requiring time off from work. “If they have to miss 14 days of work, that’s a huge amount to miss,” said Dr. Lee, a member of Advisory Committee on Immunization Practices [ACIP]. Dr. Lee thinks the benefits from the vaccine far outweigh any temporary side effects. “I think we do have to think about that the vaccine itself . . “ saying the benefits of immunity outweigh temporary reactions.
With Pfizer and Moderna applying for emergency use authorizations, ACIP plans to meet in emergency session to roll out a timetable for vaccine delivery to first responders sometime in December. Working with the FDA, ACIP is expected to make recommendations on vaccine delivery in the next two months. Meanwhile, President-elect Joe Biden’s Covid-19 Task Force has consulted with New Zealand Prime Minister Jacinda Ardem about how New Zealand achieved some of the lowest infection and death rates around the globe. “I offered to him and his team access to New Zealand’s health officials in order to share their experience on thing we’ve learnt on our Covid-19 journey,” Ardern told reporters in Wellington. New Zealand has a population of 4.886 million, a fraction of the 328.2 million U.S. population. New Zealand locked down the country, no easy feat in the U.S.
