(Updated 4 p.m.) Officials with Arlington County Public Health Division say they are not wasting coronavirus vaccine doses, but they also do not condone people getting vaccinated out of turn.
During a COVID-19 work session on Tuesday, County Board members told health division staff that their constituents frequently express concerns about line-jumping by those who do not currently qualify for vaccinations under Virginia Dept. of Health’s Phase 1b guidelines.
“Everyone knows someone who isn’t in the 75-plus category or the personnel identified yet but got vaccinated because their eye doctor, brother or psychiatrist,” Board member Katie Cristol said, listing the kinds of connections that people are allegedly using.
Carroll County has received an additional 500 doses of the Moderna COVID-19 vaccine as we move from phase 1A to phase 1B this week. Dr. Kyle Ulveling, Chief Medical Officer at St. Anthony Regional Hospital, explains that front-line healthcare workers in the region received the first and second doses of the Moderna vaccine while long-term care facility residents and staff received Pfizer’s. As we transition into phase 1B this week, he says they are looking forward to some good news on additional vaccines being FDA approved.
He expects at least one of those to be approved in the next month. Doubling the number of manufacturers, he says, will help alleviate one of the biggest issues with the rollout, and that is a shortage of doses. On Monday, the Iowa Department of Public Health issued a notice that the United Kingdom variant of COVID has appeared in Iowa. Ulveling explains they are being told the vaccines will protect against this new strain. But there are others coming to light as
Gershon Harrell and Chandler Boese
The Columbus Dispatch
As more and more central Ohioans get their coronavirus vaccinations or plan to, some concerns have been raised about the logistics around getting the second dose. Recent data showing Ohio was last in the nation for administering second shots has added to the anxiety.
The Dispatch recently asked readers to submit their questions about the vaccine. Confusion around the second dose was among the top concerns.
If you have other questions about the vaccine, you can submit them on the form below, at bit.ly/dispatchcovidqs or by emailing Audience Editor Chandler Boese, cboese@dispatch.com.
New COVID-19 Variant Detected In Guilford County by Paul Garber
2:02pm Jan 28, 2021 This 2020 electron microscope image provided by the National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases - Rocky Mountain Laboratories shows SARS-CoV-2 virus particles which cause COVID-19, isolated from a patient in the U.S., emerging from the surface of cells cultured in a lab. Viruses are constantly mutating, with coronavirus variants circulating around the globe. (NIAID-RML via AP)
Guilford County officials are reporting their first case of a more contagious strain of COVID-19, a variant known as B.1.1.7.
The confirmed positive case was detected Wednesday. No information about the infected person was released except to note that he or she is in isolation.