Johns Hopkins University expert: All Americans may not be vaccinated against the coronavirus until at least this summer

All Americans may not be vaccinated against the coronavirus until at least this summer, experts at Johns Hopkins University Bloomberg School of Public Health said Thursday.

“We are in an extraordinary moment of scientific achievement. … Both vaccines have shown a high efficacy,” said Dr. Chris Beyrer, the Desmond M. Tutu professor of Public Health and Human Rights in the school’s departments of epidemiology, international health, and health behavior and society.

However, he said, “The rollout … has been too slow to have an impact on the American people. … There’s more demand than supply,” adding that it could be at least June or July until everyone is vaccinated.

The two vaccines available in the U.S. — Pfizer, which is supposed to be followed by a second dose within 21 days, and Moderna, which requires one in 28 days —  both have been developed at warp speed, Beyrer said, but Pfizer’s vaccine needs to be stored at “ultra-cold” temperatures right until it is used.

“Ultimately, we have to get as many people vaccinated as possible,” he said. “Vaccines sitting in freezers do not save people’s lives. Vaccines in people’s arms do.”

The Biden administration has recognized that distribution of the vaccine is as difficult and important as its development, said Dr. Monica Schoch-Spana, a medical anthropologist and Senior Scholar at the Johns Hopkins Center for Health Security. And President Biden’s choice for the new head of the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention — Dr. Rochelle P. Walensky — has been “very honest about these challenges,” Beyrer said.

There are more vaccines in late-stage clinical trials, he added, and if they prove to be safe and effective, the nation will have more vaccines available to people.

The vaccine Johnson & Johnson is working on would require only a single dose and, if effective, “could be a game changer,” Beyrer said.

Some states have used a lottery system to try to expedite vaccinations. But that will leave behind people without cars or computers and waste doses for those who can’t make their appointments, he said.

Schoch-Spana said a special focus needs to be on getting the vaccines to people of color, who have higher rates of infection and mortality.

The government needs to invest in community health systems, which are best poised to increase trust in the vaccines among people of color, Schoch-Spana said. Those administering the vaccines also need multi-lingual staffs, she said.

It’s also important to put the vaccine users, including the elderly and the disabled, at the planning table to suggest ways to improve vaccine delivery, she said.

Data, Schoch-Spana said, also equals equity and should drive decision-making.

The public wants to be able to trust that the vaccine is being distributed fairly and to people who most need it first, she said.

from Boston Herald https://ift.tt/2MzXu5G