All symptomatic Coloradans, essential workers can get coronavirus test as capacity ramps up

May 18 2020

Colorado now has enough coronavirus testing supplies to test anyone with flu-like symptoms or any essential workers who interact with the public. Gov. Jared Polis announced Monday morning that Colorado now has the testing capacity to run 10,000 tests per day, meeting the state’s goal of being able to test all symptomatic Coloradans by mid-May.

Source: Coloradoan

The idea of a vaccine to prevent the novel coronavirus brings mix of comfort and fear

May 18 2020

Across the country, states are beginning to reopen to try to create a new normal as the number of COVID-19 patients level off. States are ramping up their testing capabilities, asking people to continue social distancing measures and increasing hospital capacity in case there is another surge of patients. Official after official has spoken out saying this will be the new normal until a cure or vaccine to combat the novel coronavirus is created.

Source: The Denver Channel

Coronavirus Vaccine Study Yields Positive Preliminary Results

May 18 2020

Initial results from a study of a COVID-19 vaccine suggest it is safe, and capable of generating the kind of immune response that may protect patients from getting the disease.

Source: NPR

Can reminder messages improve HPV vaccination rates?

May 18 2020

The use of autodialer centralized reminder and recall (C-R/R) messages from state immunization information systems has been seen to raise the rate of childhood vaccination. Whether a similar tactic would have an impact on human papillomavirus (HPV) vaccination rates has remained unstudied. A new study in Pediatrics examines the potential impact.1

Source: Contemporary Pediatrics

Opinion: Here’s how we can keep kids healthy during the coronavirus pandemic

May 17 2020

The good news: few kids get seriously ill with COVID-19. The bad news: the pandemic is indirectly threatening critical support for children, specifically access to care and life-saving vaccines. Recently, Italian authorities reported in The Lancet a series of distressing pediatric cases of delayed access to care in March 2020, during the height of their COVID-19 surge.

Source: Colorado Sun

Colorado’s pro-vaccine bill sounds like an easy sell in a pandemic. Here’s why it’s not.

May 17 2020

Of the more than 350 bills left on the vine when Colorado paused its legislative session March 14, perhaps none is more relevant now than the one that attempts to tighten vaccine exemptions in an effort to boost the state’s worst-in-the-nation child immunization rates.

Source: Denver Post

Here's why a vaccine is needed for COVID-19 but wasn't for SARS

May 16 2020

Some people question why the current coronavirus has brought the world to standstill while a previous deadly coronavirus, SARS, did not. Others have questioned why a vaccine is so urgently needed now to stop the spread of the current coronavirus when a vaccine was never developed for SARS.

Source: Philly Voice

A coronavirus vaccine may take longer than 12 to 18 months

May 15 2020

As much of the world remains at home due to the coronavirus, a lot of people have put their hopes of a big economic reopening on a vaccine. With more than 100 vaccine candidates for Covid-19 in production, things seem to be looking up — and the conventional wisdom, often restated by White House officials, is that this medical reprieve could come within 12 to 18 months. Secretary of Defense Mark Esper outright promised that “we will deliver, by the end of this year, a vaccine at scale to treat the American people and our partners abroad.” But some experts caution even 12 to 18 months might be optimistic for a Covid-19 vaccine: The previous record for getting a vaccine was four years, and a cliché in the field is that vaccine development is measured in years, not months.

Source: Vox

Trump says he would mobilize military to distribute coronavirus vaccine when it's ready

May 15 2020

President Trump says he would "rapidly" mobilize the U.S. military to distribute a coronavirus vaccine once it's ready, focusing first on nursing homes and the elderly most vulnerable to deadly complications from the virus. Mr. Trump made the comments during an interview with Fox Business' Maria Bartiromo. "We're mobilizing our military and other forces but we're mobilizing our military on the basis that we do have a vaccine. You know, it's a massive job to give this vaccine. Our military is now being mobilized so at the end of the year we're going to be able to give it to a lot of people very, very rapidly," the president said.

Source: CBS News

COVID-19 Fears Tied to Dangerous Drop in Child Vaccinations

May 15 2020

The social distancing and sheltering in place mandated because of the COVID-19 pandemic are keeping parents and kids out of their doctors' offices, and that has prompted a steep decline in recommended routine vaccinations for US children, according to Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) researchers.

Source: Med Scape