Another day, another dig. Here's proof Ryan Reynolds and Blake Lively cannot celebrate one single occasion without trolling each other.
The spouses got their COVID-19 vaccines on Wednesday, March 31, and used the long-awaited moment to poke fun at (who else?) their significant other.
Ryan shared a photo of himself in a white tee and pink beanie as a medical professional administered the shot. The Deadpool star captioned the pic, "Finally got 5G."
However, he used the photo op as a chance to basically #HotorNot his wife of eight years. "Science is sexy. The hat? Perhaps not," he wrote on his Insta Story of his bright accessory. In another slide, he shared a side-by-side image of both spouses in beanies. Blake wore a blue hat on the set of her 2020 film, The Rhythm Section, not exactly looking red carpet ready, shall we say.
"Who wore it better?" Ryan asked, creating a poll for his followers. (They're nearly tied at 55 to 45 in favor of Ryan).
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Ducey says state staff members are stepping up to supplement existing paid staff and volunteers at vaccine sites. Nearly 90 additional National Guard personnel will also join the vaccination effort on Thursday.
Officials say Arizona is also adding additional paid staff at vaccine sites.
JUST IN: One day after showing the long lines to get the vaccine at State Farm Stadium, lots of changes.
The state is moving to a paid staffing model for the 'majority of staff.'
Volunteer shifts will be reduced from 8 hours to 6 hours.
The Arizona Department of Health Services (ADHS) is in the process of implementing the following changes, which they say will speed up lines at the state-run sites:
Closely monitoring throughput and wait times to rapidly implement adjustments and countermeasures;
Adding 30 additional paid staff per shift;
Moving to a paid staffing model for the majority of staff;
Working to reduce no-shows of people signed up to volunteer and stabilize volunteer participation levels;
Opening more slots for volunteers to improve volunteer yield;
Reducing volunteer shifts from 8 hours to 6 hours when the new overnight hours of operation begin at State Farm Stadium on April 4 at 5 p.m.;
Partnering with companies and organizations to increase volunteer yield;
Requiring patients to arrive closer to their scheduled appointment time — the site will no longer accept patients arriving more than 2 hours prior to their scheduled appointment times;
Improving traffic control in and around the state vaccine site; and
Adding a new separate entrance for staff and volunteers
At 11 a.m. every Friday, ADHS makes appointments available at state-run sites for the following week.
Registration for these and many other sites is available at podvaccine.azdhs.gov or by calling 844-542-8201 between 8 a.m. and 5 p.m.
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WEST DES MOINES, Iowa (KCRG) - Hy-Vee announced on Wednesday that COVID-19 vaccines are now available at all of their 270 pharmacy locations.
This week, Hy-Vee began vaccinating in Wisconsin, their eighth state, through the Federal Retail Pharmacy Program.
Prior to the Wisconsin expansion, Hy-Vee was already a partner of the Federal Retail Pharmacy Program in Iowa, Kansas, Minnesota, Nebraska and South Dakota, receiving the vaccine supply directly from the CDC. Hy-Vee is also vaccinating in Illinois using vaccines allocated from the state.
The free COVID vaccinations are available by appointment only. Patients should visit www.hy-vee.com/covidvaccine to register for an appointment once they are eligible according to their state’s guidance. Using the online scheduler, patients can also schedule their second dose appointment (if applicable) when they schedule their first dose appointment, with no account necessary.
Hy-Vee also offers free COVID-19 lab testing (molecular PCR), rapid antigen COVID-19 testing and rapid antibody testing to test for past COVID-19 infection. To schedule a testing appointment, patients can visit www.hy-vee.com/covidtesting.
Hy-Vee is currently searching for more than 1,000 pharmacy technicians to assist with COVID-19 testing and COVID-19 vaccine administration as more doses become available. Interested applicants are encouraged to apply at www.hy-vee.com/careers. Technicians who assist with the rapid antigen COVID-19 tests are eligible to receive a bonus.
Test positivity rates from the past week stand at 4.2%, a level not seen since Feb. 22.
Tuesday’s test positivity rate was 5%, the second day in a row at or above that threshold – which officials have said is an indicator that more testing is needed to identify cases and slow spread.
Officials at the Oregon Health Authority this week acknowledged concern over the latest metrics, although hospitalizations, after sharply rising, have stabilized for the past four days.
State officials will release new modeling on Friday about the potential for more spread in the weeks ahead.
Meanwhile, cases in Multnomah county are once again approaching 100, with 94 confirmed cases reported Wednesday. Case increases in Multnomah, Washington and Clackamas counties next week could push each back into a more-restrictive “high” risk category restricting capacity in restaurants and gyms, among other places.
Vaccines: Oregon reported 38,373 newly administered doses, which includes 23,834 doses administered Tuesday and 14,539 from previous days.
Where the new cases are by county: Baker (7), Benton (14), Clackamas (61), Clatsop (2), Columbia (10), Coos (7), Crook (2), Curry (2), Deschutes (13), Douglas (5), Grant (6), Harney (1), Jackson (30), Josephine (17), Klamath (14), Lake (1), Lane (35), Lincoln (3), Linn (18), Malheur (1), Marion (25), Multnomah (94), Polk (10), Tillamook (4), Umatilla (3), Union (3), Wasco (1), Washington (47) and Yamhill (5).
Who died: Oregon’s 2,382nd COVID-19 death is a 63-year-old Washington County woman who tested positive March 19 and died March 30 at Providence St. Vincent Medical Center.
Oregon’s 2,383rd COVID-19 death is an 84-year-old Douglas County woman who tested positive March 16 and died March 29 at Bay Area Hospital.
Both women had underlying conditions.
Hospitalizations: There are 139 people with confirmed cases of COVID-19 are hospitalized, the same total as Tuesday. There are 36 patients with COVID-19 in intensive care, also unchanged from Tuesday’s total.
Since it began: Oregon has reported 165,012 confirmed or presumed infections and 2,383 deaths, among the lowest per capita numbers in the nation. To date, the state has reported 1,806,528 vaccine doses administered.
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Elina Svitolina's best-ever run at the Miami Open has earned her another shot at facing the World No.1.
The Ukrainian advanced to a semifinal showdown against top-ranked Ashleigh Barty by virtue of a 6-3, 6-2 win over unseeded Anastasija Sevastova on Tuesday night, rounding out the top half of the singles draw at the WTA 1000 event.
The No.5 seed was largely dominant against the unseeded former World No.11 in just 69 minutes, improving her head-to-head record against the Latvian to 3-1 in the process.
"I've always wanted to play well here in Miami. It's one of the biggest tournaments and playing here is always amazing, so I'm really pleased with the performance tonight," Svitolina said on-court after the match.
"I know that she's a big fighter and she will try to come back, it doesn't matter the score, so I was expecting a tough battle. In the end, I think I played really good throughout the match and I'm really happy with the way I finished it."
2021 Miami Highlights: Svitolina eases past Sevastova, into semis
2021 Miami
After the pair traded breaks twice across the first six games, Svitolina ran off a string of seven straight to her side of the scoreboard from 3-3, saving break points in two holds over that span.
The two had previously gone the distance in each of their last two meetings, but Svitolina had no such designs on a hat trick: though she lost one of two breaks from her 6-3, 4-0 cushion, she won seven of the last eight points to seal victory.
"I practiced with her many times. I played against her so many times. She always tries to build the point, tries to use her spinny forehand slice. She's a tricky player to play against," Svitolina added.
"So I had to really adjust my game to not rush so much, because if you rush against her you can make too many mistakes."
In all, Svitolina struck 19 winners and was a near perfect 6-of-7 on converting break points, winning nearly 70 percent of the points played on Sevastova's serve.
Svitolina's previous best effort in Miami was a quarterfinal showing in 2018, and standing between the Ukrainian and a place in her first hardcourt final in 12 months will be the top-seeded Aussie, against whom she owns a 5-1 head-to-head record.
"I know Ash for a long time and we've played many times before," Svitolina said. "She's No.1 and it's an amazing achievement for her. She's improved massively in the last three, four years and she's been at the top of the women's game. It's going to be a challenging match, but I'm ready for it."
The two last played in the last match of the 2019 season, where Barty was a 6-4, 6-3 winner to take home the title at the Shiseido WTA Finals Shenzhen.
"I think we are both big fighters. I think when you're playing a really high-level player, you try to be extremely focused, more focused than anything else, because if you're playing a big match like that, you're not giving any free points and you are more on your toes," Svitolina added.
"You're trying to bring the best. So for sure, the match in Shenzhen was extremely tough for me after. I hate losing the [WTA] Finals, and especially Shenzhen, it's a huge event. I wanted to defend my title [from 2018], so it was extremely tough for me to lose that one, and hopefully, you know, I can play better and get the revenge."
Cases of vaccinated people getting COVID-19 confirmed in Washington state
The Washington State Department of Health is investigating reports of people in the state who tested positive for COVID-19 more than two weeks after they were fully vaccinated.
OLYMPIA, Wash. - The Washington State Department of Health is investigating reports of people in the state who tested positive for COVID-19 more than two weeks after they were fully vaccinated.
Scientists call these "vaccine breakthrough" cases, which officials said are expected with any vaccine.
Out of 1 million fully vaccinated people in Washington state, epidemiologists report evidence of 102 breakthrough cases in 18 counties since Feb. 1, State officials said Tuesday in a news release. That represents .01 percent of vaccinated people in Washington.
The majority of those in the state with confirmed vaccine breakthrough experienced only mild symptoms, if any, officials said.
However, since Feb, 1, eight people with vaccine breakthrough have been hospitalized and officials are investigating potential vaccine breakthrough cases in which two people died, officials said. Both patients were older than 80 and had underlying health issues, officials said.
"It is important to remember that every vaccine on the market right now prevents severe disease and death in most cases," said Umair A. Shah, MD, MPH, Secretary of Health. "People should still get vaccinated as soon as they are eligible."
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Shah said after testing positive for the virus, he advises people to continue with health and safety measures.
"Finding evidence of vaccine breakthrough cases reminds us that, even if you have been vaccinated, you still need to wear a mask, practice socially distancing, and wash your hands to prevent spreading COVID-19 to others who have not been vaccinated," said Secretary Shah.
The Department of Health confirms a breakthrough case with a positive PCR test or Antigen test in a person more than two weeks after they have received their final dose of the COVID-19 vaccine.
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People who are pregnant are now eligible to get the coronavirus vaccine in more than 40 states — typically ahead of their lower-risk peers. And more than 60,000 of them have already rolled up their sleeves, according to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.
Although the Covid-19 vaccines authorized in the US were not studied in pregnancy, early data is now starting to emerge suggesting — as researchers expected — that the vaccines are likely safe during pregnancy and confer protection not only to the recipient but also, potentially, the baby.
“It’s all very positive,” says Stephanie Gaw, a maternal-fetal medicine specialist at the University of California San Francisco Medical Center, of the findings so far.
There have been many reasons to suspect the vaccines should be safe in pregnancy, including the lack of major adverse events reported so far, solid studies in animals, and a good understanding of how the vaccines work in the body (they don’t contain live virus, and they are quickly broken down). “The data that we’re collecting on it so far has no red flags,” Anthony Fauci, the top US infectious disease doctor, said in February.
Second, in the USA more than 44,000 pregnant people have so far received an mRNA vaccine. Passive surveillance of these people has revealed no safety signal, and the same is true for active surveillance of 1,815 pregnant people through V-safe. 4/https://t.co/LrItWY3VOCpic.twitter.com/2YqHLUtKm8
Meanwhile, new research, published March 25 in the American Journal of Obstetrics and Gynecology, found that the vaccines offer strong immune protection for people who are pregnant, just like their non-pregnant peers.
Preliminary research also suggests vaccines might provide some protection to newborns, who are unlikely to have their own approved Covid-19 vaccine anytime soon (and are also vulnerable to more severe illness). The new AJOG paper joins other early findings that antibodies to Covid-19 generated by pregnant mothers after receiving their vaccines were passed through the placenta to the fetus.
But Covid-19 vaccine rollout to the pregnant population has been inconsistent around the globe.
“If a pregnant patient gets infected during pregnancy, her risk of intensive care admission is around 5 percent,” says David Baud, chief of obstetrics at Le Centre hospitalier universitaire vaudois in Switzerland, where he studies infections during pregnancy. “I do not know of any disease that put a 30-year-old woman at such high risk to be admitted to the ICU.” Furthermore, if the infection happens late in pregnancy, it increases the risk of preterm birth and the baby needing intensive care.
Why the disagreement? The clinical trials of the new Covid-19 vaccines explicitly excluded pregnant people, and we don’t yet have enough follow-up data from individuals who have opted to get the shots to say for sure they are safe for everyone during pregnancy.
Second, in the USA more than 44,000 pregnant people have so far received an mRNA vaccine. Passive surveillance of these people has revealed no safety signal, and the same is true for active surveillance of 1,815 pregnant people through V-safe. 4/https://t.co/LrItWY3VOCpic.twitter.com/2YqHLUtKm8
Add to this muddled landscape the persistent misinformation swirling around the Covid-19 vaccines and pregnancy and fertility, and it is little wonder some people are still confused or worried. And most organizations still stop short of advising all pregnant people to definitely get the vaccine.
Thankfully, these information gaps are starting to fill in. Numerous studies are underway following the outcomes of pregnant and breastfeeding people and their offspring after immunization. And a handful of them are now starting to report early, reassuring results.
In the meantime, however, a growing number of people have had to come to their own decision, with the optional help of their care provider, with some uncertainty. And no one needs an extra thing to stress about during a pandemic pregnancy.
So more information about the coronavirus vaccines in pregnancy can’t come soon enough.
One of the big reasons why, despite Covid-19’s known risks in pregnancy, not everyone has unequivocally recommended the vaccines that currently have emergency approval in the US for pregnant people is that the way they work is fairly new. But we do have some key pieces of information already:
1) These vaccines don’t contain live coronavirus. The only types of vaccines that are contraindicated in pregnancy contain live virus that has been weakened, such as the chickenpox vaccine. (Even fewer immunizations, such as the smallpox vaccine, are not recommended during lactation.) While these vaccines don’t pose a risk to most people, there is a small, theoretical chance they could cross the placenta and infect the fetus.
The Pfizer/BioNTech and Moderna vaccines, on the other hand, contain just a fragment of genetic material, called messenger RNA, that can tell human cells to build a tiny part of the virus’s outer shell, which the immune system learns to recognize and fight off. The Johnson & Johnson vaccine uses a different method, known as a viral vector (the same platform as the already-used Zika and Ebola vaccines), to get the body to build part of the virus’s shell.
In either case, there is no way the vaccine can cause a Covid-19 infection.
2) The main coronavirus vaccines are very fragile. Once the mRNA enters the body, it likely only reaches local arm muscle cells before the body breaks it down. This means it is unlikely to enter the bloodstream, and even less likely to make it as far as the placenta. Even if it does get that far, “one of the placenta’s main functions is to be an immune barrier to the fetus,” which adds another layer of protection, says Gaw. And although it contains genetic material, it doesn’t enter our cells’ nuclei, meaning that it can’t cause any mutations to our cells — or those of a developing fetus. This mRNA is so fragile, vaccine developers had to wrap it in nanolipids (which are also presumed to be safe for pregnancy) just to keep it intact long enough to reach muscle cells in the arm.
3) Animal studies look promising. Before any shots were given to pregnant humans, vaccine companies gathered safety data in other pregnant mammals. None of these developmental and reproductive toxicity (DART) studies from Pfizer/BioNTech, Moderna, or Johnson & Johnson suggest any safety concerns for use during pregnancy.
Rats, of course, are not humans, and DART study results do not always translate identically into humans. “Some results are similar to humans, and some are very different,“ Gaw says. Nevertheless, they are a good starting point — when combined with strong safety data in the clinical trials and public vaccinations so far.
4) Wehaven’t seen adverse eventsin pregnant people who have gotten it so far. For the Covid-19 vaccine trials, those of “childbearing potential” were screened for pregnancy before each shot, and those with positive tests were removed from the studies. However, a handful of people (12 who got the vaccine in Pfizer/BioNTech’s study and six who got the vaccine in Moderna’s study) ended up having been pregnant at the time of vaccination — and companies haven’t reported any negative outcomes from these individuals.
A newer and much larger data set is emerging from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, which is following pregnant people who sign up for its tracking platform V-safe after being vaccinated — and allowing them to sign up for a more targeted pregnancy-specific vaccine registry.
At the beginning of March, the CDC reported data from more than 1,800 pregnant people in the registry who had received Covid-19 vaccines. Among these individuals, there was not a statistically significant increase in adverse pregnancy or birth outcomes. Nor have they found any significant differences in side effects from the vaccine (such as fatigue or fever).
“From a scientific perspective, there’s no specific reason to think that pregnant individuals would have more adverse reactions to the vaccine or that there would be a risk to the fetus with the vaccine, while we know that there is risk with the Covid infection,” says Alisa Kachikis, an assistant professor of obstetrics and gynecology at the University of Washington.
A January study published in JAMA Internal Medicine, for example, analyzed the outcomes of more than 406,000 people who gave birth in hospitals between April and November 2020 and found that a significantly higher rate of those with Covid-19 had major complications. “The higher rates of preterm birth, preeclampsia, thrombotic [blood clotting] events, and death in women giving birth with Covid-19 highlight the need for strategies to minimize risk,” noted the authors.
So why are some, such as the WHO and the UK, still saying most pregnant people should not get the coronavirus vaccine yet? They are waiting for more data.
There are also, of course, other types of coronavirus vaccines in the works, such as protein-based vaccines (which is the basis for Novavax’s shots). This model of shot has been used for years — including for pertussis and hepatitis B — “and we are very comfortable with [their] safety profile,” Gaw says. Viral vector vaccines (which is how the Johnson & Johnson and AstraZeneca/Oxford shots work) have also been used safely in pregnancy, such as for the Ebola and Zika vaccines, although there is less historical data on these.
So, says Kachikis, if what’s hanging people up about getting a Covid-19 vaccine in pregnancy is mostly the novelty of the mRNA vaccines, having other types to choose from — as long as they’re just as effective — could be a good option.
The CDC continues to monitor for any adverse outcomes and side effects through its V-safe program — and related pregnancy registry (which will check in with participants in each trimester, after delivery, and when the baby is 3 months old).
Pfizer/BioNTech started giving vaccine doses in their pregnancy-focused, placebo-controlled clinical trial this February. They are first running a smaller safety study of just 350 healthy pregnant participants before scaling up to give the vaccine to a total of about 4,000 people who are at between 24 and 34 weeks gestation. (This study design, however, will still leave some questions about the safety and efficacy of the vaccine, especially earlier in pregnancy.)
Moderna has created a registry that people can sign up for after receiving their vaccine while pregnant. For its part, Johnson & Johnson plans to conduct trials of its vaccine in pregnant participants later (likely after it studies the vaccine in children).
In the meantime, other researchers are racing to collect and study data from the natural experiment that started in December, when many pregnant people began electing to get vaccines as they became eligible because of their high-risk work in hospitals or long-term care centers.
At the University of Washington, Kachikis is leading a study to also follow vaccination in people who are pregnant. Thousands of people from around the US and the world who have received the vaccine while pregnant have already signed up for the registry, she says. (People who are pregnant or lactating but have not yet gotten vaccinated can also sign up, as can people who are considering becoming pregnant within the next two years.) This research will help them track any adverse outcomes, as well as gather additional data, such as whether any vaccinated individuals (or their newborns) later get Covid-19.
An additional large-scale clinical trial, which has not started enrolling participants, aims to track 5,000 women and their offspring over the course of 21 months. Other smaller studies are in the works as well, such as one at Duke University.
At UCSF, Gaw and her team are in the midst of separate observational studies. They will more closely follow a smaller group of participants — 100 or so of whom are pregnant and roughly 50 of whom are lactating — “to determine whether the Covid vaccines are equally effective in pregnant and lactating women, how long antibody responses last, and whether immunity is transferred to the baby,” Gaw explains.
Other vaccines are routinely given in pregnancy, such as pertussis, in large part to provide protective antibodies to the fetus and protect the newborn until they are old enough to get the vaccine themselves.
Covid-19 antibodies have been shown to transfer across the placenta in women who were positive for the virus at delivery. The new AJOG study found that even higher levels of antibodies were present in the umbilical cord after Covid-19 vaccination than after natural infection. “The research shows really promising results,” Kachikis says.
If these antibodies prove to be protective, it could be especially helpful, as newborns and infants will likely be among the last to have an authorized vaccine — and have the highest rates for complications and death from the virus among children. “There is still a lot of data that needs to be assessed, but for individuals who are thinking of ways that the vaccine may benefit their newborn, this is really encouraging,” Kachikis says.
More nuanced research might also eventually help advise on optimal timing for the Covid-19 vaccine during pregnancy. For example, Gaw notes, “there needs to be sufficient time for the mom to develop a robust antibody response, and then pass [this] to the baby.” After extensive research, the Tdap vaccine is recommended around 27 weeks of gestation so as to provide the best protection for the infant after birth. Without such information for the Covid-19 vaccine, many experts are recommending that those who decide to get the shot treat it like the flu shot — getting it as soon as it’s available to them, regardless of where they are in their pregnancy.
People who are lactating were also excluded from the vaccine trials. So researchers at a number of institutions are now working to study how the vaccine might impact breast milk contents and a nursing child. A study from October 2020 showed that most people who had recovered from Covid-19, as well as those suspected of being infected, passed on antibodies to the virus in their breast milk.
The recently released AJOG paper found a high level of antibodies in breast milk from women who had received the Covid-19 vaccine. Gaw’s team also has new findings, which are currently in peer review, that show a solid dose of Covid-19 antibodies in breast milk samples after vaccination. This, they hope, will provide some protection from the virus for babies.
“It’s all reassuring,” Gaw says. But “all the studies have been small...[so] we can’t 100 percent determine safety until a lot more people have been vaccinated and it’s been reported on.”
Pregnancy has, for decades, been considered a “vulnerable” condition when it comes to researching new medical treatments and preventions, meaning people who are pregnant have been excluded from general trials in much the same way as have those who are unable to give informed consent, like children and those with severe mental disabilities.
Part of the reason for this might be due to the damaging legacy of thalidomide. This drug was given to pregnant women around the world starting in the 1950s as a way to ease nausea (although it was never approved specifically for use in pregnancy in the US). Soon, thousands of these babies were being born with devastating birth defects. This hammered home for scientists and the public that, when it comes to pregnant women and their fetuses, much more care ought to be taken in giving medications or vaccines.
But this conclusion, many are now saying, has it backward, as the oft-repeated phrase indicates: Protect pregnant people “through research, not from research.” If thalidomide had been carefully and systematically studied for pregnancy, it likely never would have been approved for use (or used unofficially) in this population, preventing the majority of these tragic outcomes.
“It can’t be emphasized enough that pregnant women should be included in vaccine trials from the get-go,” Kachikis says.
A pregnant woman seen wearing a hazmat suit in Queens, New York, on April 27.Johannes EiseleI/AFP via Getty Images
Gaw agrees: “We actually cause harm by not including [pregnant people] in early research, as they have to wait longer for good data to be published.”
One big challenge with researching anything to do with pregnancy is that it takes a long time: nine months, plus follow-up time to monitor infant outcomes. And subsequent study during lactation while you’re at it, and maybe preconception research, too.
Consider that it took vaccine makers just 10 months to develop the Covid-19 vaccines and ensure they were safe and effective in adults. But with formal studies in pregnant people just getting underway (and with many having not yet started, and others, like Pfizer’s, currently limited to late pregnancy), it could be late 2021 or beyond until we have comprehensive, robust safety data for all stages of pregnancy. And even later to assess long-term outcomes for babies.
Follow-up to the early work Gaw and colleagues are doing at UCSF will take “at least six to nine months, as we have to wait for a sufficient number of babies to deliver,” Gaw says.
Kachikis and her team at the University of Washington plan to follow the outcomes of people who sign up for their list for about a year, with hopes to continue more long-term follow-up. For example, they plan to test babies months after birth to see how long antibodies from vaccines given during gestation persist — and if these antibodies are equally as effective at fighting off the coronavirus as those found in the vaccinated adults.
But they aren’t waiting that long to start sharing what they learn. “The focus is on getting any data out,” Kachikis says. And “if multiple groups can get some data out, that will be better than having absolutely nothing,” which has been the situation, she notes.
For now, much of the official guidance in the US stresses the need for people to conduct their own analysis of the known increased risks of Covid-19 in pregnancy with the remaining unknowns of the vaccine. And this calculus is not the same for everyone.
I got my first shot of COVID-19 vaccine 2 days ago! I wanted to share my story in case another pregnant woman stumbles across this and can benefit from it. (oh yeah, for those who know me, we're expecting!) pic.twitter.com/x6zrSZtxkz
“As more evidence is coming out, it’s tilting to more benefit of getting the vaccine,” Gaw says. “But every individual has a different level of risk they’re willing to take” — as well as the amount of risk they might have of contracting the virus or getting extremely sick from it. The bottom line, based on the latest Covid-19 vaccine research in pregnancy, she says, is that “it’s looking more and more like it does work, it does pass antibodies to the baby (although we don’t know yet how protective they are), and there doesn’t look like there’s any harm at this moment.”
Additionally, even those who are reluctant to advocate the vaccine for all pregnant people just yet, such as the WHO, do suggest it should be available to those at high risk of exposure to the virus or underlying health conditions that increase their risk of severe Covid-19.
And some might elect to wait until there is more solid data. So to help move along the plodding process, people who are pregnant and have gotten the vaccine — or are considering it — can contribute to getting more and better guidance sooner by opting in to registries and studies.
Katherine Harmon Courage is a freelance science journalist and author ofCulturedand andOctopus!Find her on Twitter at@KHCourage.
Doctors are warning the next COVID-19 surge is not on the horizon, but already here. Cases are rising in 27 states, including New York, Connecticut and Louisiana.
Nationwide, infections are up by double digits in the last week compared to the week before.
The rise in pediatric cases is especially troubling. In Michigan, per capita COVID cases among those aged 10 to 19 are rising faster than any other age group, more than doubling in the last month.
"We're seeing the increase in transmission in young kids, primarily in the upper Midwest, in the Northeast right now. But that's just a matter of time before we see it go throughout the entire United States," said Dr. Michael Osterholm, the director of the Center for Infectious Disease Research and Policy. "Unfortunately, we are going to see a rise in pediatric hospitalizations and serious illness."
"We are almost at the finish line, but we're not there," Osterholm said.
The head of the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention spoke with the nation's governors on Tuesday, asking them to enforce mask mandates in their states.
"I encouraged all governors to include a mask mandate in their states. And to the extent that states were not having a mask mandate ... I would ask citizens to mask, regardless of the mandate," Dr. Rochelle Walensky said.
Arkansas is the latest state to lift its mask order.
Meanwhile, the U.S. and 13 other countries issued a joint statement criticizing the World Health Organization's investigation in China about the origins of the coronavirus outbreak, saying the study "was significantly delayed and lacked access to complete, original data and samples."
As the U.S. continues the race to vaccinate, a number of temporary Federal Emergency Management Agency sites are set to close next month as the Biden administration works to make retail pharmacies the main distribution point. The FEMA site in Los Angeles County has administered more than 269,000 doses in a month and a half.
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