Injections Of Second Coronavirus Vaccine Doses Have Begun

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The vaccine clinic at PeaceHealth St Joseph Medical Center has started giving health care workers and others in the community their second shot of the vaccine. The hospital has saved up some doses in case of supply chain issues that could interrupt the vaccine dosing timeline.





Will Stone



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Will Stone





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Lina Castillo, who works in PeaceHealth’s urgent care clinic, says she had no hesitation about getting her first or second shot of the Pfizer vaccine. Castillo’s hospital PeaceHealth St Joseph Medical Center in Bellingham, Wash., has just started giving its health care workers their final shot, which makes the vaccine about 95 percent effective against COVID-19.





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Before the vaccine arrived at her hospital in northwest Washington, ICU nurse Kate Marn wondered if the delays would affect her chance of getting the shot quickly. This week, Marn received her final shot, calling it a «huge relief.





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Will Stone




Before the vaccine arrived at her hospital in northwest Washington, ICU nurse Kate Marn wondered if the delays would affect her chance of getting the shot quickly. This week, Marn received her final shot, calling it a «huge relief.


Will Stone

Florida has directed hospitals not to save up any doses, which puts more pressure on manufacturers to deliver the second doses according to schedule.

«Certainly it creates some angst, says Mary Mayhew, president of the Florida Hospital Association.

«Everybody wants to have the staff scheduled to administer the shots, the appointments ready, and it is just simply challenging to manage all of that without having the certainty of when that will arrive.

So far, the Pfizer second doses have arrived automatically according to the schedule and Mayhew says she is confident the Moderna shipment will also come as planned, although Florida hospitals have not yet received them.

With so many people already eligible to receive the shot in Florida, more than 4 million seniors, Mayhew says the state is quickly running through their supplies.

«We have a lot of hospitals that are either out of the vaccine or will be running out of vaccine in a handful of days, she says. «The bottom line is demand is absolutely far exceeding supply.

Because the U.S. vaccine rollout is going slower than promised, some scientists and health care leaders have argued the second shot should be skipped for now.

The U.K. and other countries are pursuing a one shot approach given the skyrocketing case counts and the emergence of a highly contagious variant of the coronavirus.

But the Food and Drug Administration has rejected the suggestion that the dosing schedule be modified, calling it «premature and not rooted solidly in the available evidence.

The agency authorized both the Pfizer and Moderna vaccines based on a two dose course.

The University of Florida’s Glenn Morris says there could be a compelling reason to delay the second dose, if the vaccine rollout is faltering in certain communities.

«We have gone with the strategy of every state for itself and within many states, every county for itself, and so within those circumstances, there may be instances where delaying a dose may make sense, Morris says.

There is already a longstanding dilemma with vaccines that require multiple doses. Research shows that introducing one extra step leads to fewer people following through, says Dr. A Mark Fendrick, who directs the University of Michigan’s Center for Value-Based Insurance Design.

«Since last summer, I’ve been concerned about this two shot problem, he says. Fendrick says the good news it that one of the biggest barriers, money, has largely been removed since the vaccine is being given for free, but there are still many other hurdles, whether that’s taking time off work, concerns about extra side effects or a sense of «complacency that one is enough.

He recommends giving people personalized reminders about getting the shot and small financial rewards for completing the final dose. «We can’t let the last leg of this remarkable COVID vaccine journey, this so-called two dose problem, stop us from the quest to get our lives back, he says.