{"id":3165,"date":"2020-11-18T16:47:46","date_gmt":"2020-11-18T16:47:46","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/peoriamag.com\/?p=3165"},"modified":"2020-12-14T16:49:04","modified_gmt":"2020-12-14T16:49:04","slug":"questions-and-concerns-surface-as-covid-19-vaccine-nears-approval","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/peoriamag.com\/?p=3165","title":{"rendered":"Questions and concerns surface as COVID-19 vaccine nears approval"},"content":{"rendered":"

Even officials like Ingham County Health Officer Linda Vail have had moments where they\u2019ve questioned the efficacy of a fast-tracked COVID-19 vaccine for residents in Greater Lansing.<\/span><\/p>\n

Vail is a staunch believer in vaccination. She understands the science behind how they work and has been involved in the development of drugs (and the FDA approval process) as a former employee at Pfizer. Still, the rapid development of the vaccine has given her pause, she said.<\/span><\/p>\n

Dr. Adenike Shoyinka, Ingham County\u2019s chief medical officer, has also had her reservations about the vaccines as they were driven through clinical trials and testing. And her professional specialty is in infectious diseases, which for decades have been well controlled by vaccinations.<\/span><\/p>\n

Then, last month, Dr. Anthony Fauci, director of the National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases, and other leading health professionals threw support behind the vaccine trials.<\/span><\/p>\n

\u201cAs soon as they came out strongly in support, and strongly supporting the efficacy, the safety, the process that this vaccine has gone through, I don\u2019t have any concerns anymore,\u201d Vail said.<\/span><\/p>\n

Vail and Shoyinka, who have led Ingham County\u2019s response to the pandemic, participated in a\u00a037-minute video interview with City Pulse last week.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

Despite two vaccines \u2014 one produced by Pfizer and the other by Moderna \u2014 on the cusp of approval by the FDA, polling still shows that over half of Americans harbor some reluctance about the coronavirus vaccine, much like the original hesitations voiced by Vail and Shoyinka.<\/span><\/p>\n

Trial data shows that each vaccine is at least 95% effective in preventing an infection with the virus. And even for those who contracted the virus after vaccination, the disease was less severe.<\/span><\/p>\n

Those vaccines could begin being administered in Michigan as soon as Tuesday (Dec. 15), officials said.<\/span><\/p>\n

And even as federal regulators prepared to approve the Pfizer vaccine for an emergency-use authorization this week, the country was still facing some of the largest spikes in COVID-19 cases and numbers of those hospitalized (and put on ventilators) since the pandemic began.<\/span><\/p>\n

This week, Michigan confirmed 410,295 cases of COVID-19 and 10,138 deaths \u2014 including 16.629 cases in Greater Lansing and 219 deaths in Ingham, Clinton and Eaton counties.<\/span><\/p>\n

Who\u2019s first in line?<\/strong><\/span><\/p>\n

Last week, the federal Centers for Disease Control vaccine advisory board voted to provide the vaccine first and foremost to frontline medical workers. Residents and staff at long-term care facilities were next in line.<\/span><\/p>\n

\u201cOur first priority will be to keep our healthcare systems operating, and to protect those who are the most vulnerable,\u201d according to the Michigan Department of Health and Human Services.<\/span><\/p>\n

State officials still aren\u2019t sure how many doses of the vaccine will be available in Michigan, but they already know it won\u2019t cover everyone on the CDC\u2019s priority list. A spokeswoman said the hope is to have vaccines for all staff at congregate care facilities \u2014 like group homes for those with disabilities and skilled nursing facilities \u2014 by January. At-risk populations will be prioritized.<\/span><\/p>\n

With limited initial supplies, those first batches will go to frontline healthcare workers. Broad community availability is not expected until late spring 2021. That will delay a return to \u201cnormal,\u201d state officials said, until 2022. Vail was optimistic for a return to \u201cnormal\u201d in mid-2021.<\/span><\/p>\n

Shoyinka disagreed; only time will tell. And public acceptance of the vaccine will be paramount.<\/span><\/p>\n

\u201cLet\u2019s just say I\u2019m trying to be realistic and optimistic at the same time,\u201d Shoyinka added. \u201cAgain, like we said, we don\u2019t know how well or how long this vaccine will induce immunity.\u201d<\/span><\/p>\n

The process requires two shots a month apart. Shoyinka suggested that \u201cfull immunity\u201d won\u2019t kick until the second dose. Even then, the duration of that immunity is uncertain, she said.<\/span><\/p>\n

\u201cIs this something that we\u2019re going to have to take annually or biannually? We still don\u2019t know,\u201d Shoyinka added. \u201cSo yes. We still have a long way to go. I would say a minimum is a year.\u201d<\/span><\/p>\n

The distribution plan for the coronavirus vaccine is also different from the H1N1 vaccine in 2009. That vaccine was sent from the state to local health departments, and then to patients and long-term care facilities. This time around, the vaccine will be distributed directly to the long-term care facilities by the federal government through partner pharmacies, officials said.<\/span><\/p>\n

Vail said the coronavirus vaccine also won\u2019t be distributed in congregate settings like flu clinics.<\/span><\/p>\n

\u201cWe still need to vaccinate people rapidly. We can\u2019t bring people into rooms in large groups and cram them together in lines in order for us as a system to vaccinate them rapidly. So, in a sense, you do have to make sure that it gets out to a number of different places,\u201d Vail added.<\/span><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Even officials like Ingham County Health Officer Linda Vail have had moments where they\u2019ve questioned the efficacy of…\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":3166,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_monsterinsights_skip_tracking":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[56],"tags":[],"yoast_head":"\nQuestions and concerns surface as COVID-19 vaccine nears approval - Lansing Report<\/title>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/peoriamag.com\/?p=3165\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"Questions and concerns surface as COVID-19 vaccine nears approval - 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