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Morning Briefing

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Wednesday, Apr 7 2021

Full Issue

Open Eligibility For Covid Vaccines: How's It Going?

As you might expect: crowds. But in some places, supply exceeds demand.

Excitement gave way to frustration outside a mass vaccination site in Hagerstown, Md., on Tuesday, as hundreds of people seeking the coronavirus vaccine without appointments were turned away and others were left waiting as long as seven hours for their shots. (Tan, 4/6)

On Florida's first day of open vaccine eligibility, a line wrapped around the Tampa Greyhound Track, one of the state's four federally supported vaccination sites. As people poured out of the vaccination tents smiling, the relief was palpable. "Me and my family have been kind of living in a bubble and really quarantining hard for like 16 months. So it felt like hope for the future for the first time,ā€ said Jasmine Keyes, of Land O’ Lakes. (Miller, 4/6)

In stark contrast toĀ earlier thisĀ year, Clark County has plenty of COVID-19 vaccine this week, as well as staff to administer it and space in which to do so. Local public health officials now face a different challenge. ā€œNow we need people to come and get vaccinated,ā€ JoAnn Rupiper, chief administrative nurse for the Southern Nevada Health District, said on Tuesday. The health district, county government and partnering agencies have ramped up to vaccinate thousands of residents who are newly eligible for doses. Monday marked theĀ first day that anyone 16 or olderĀ could get a shot in Nevada. (Hynes, 4/6)

ā€œWe’ve hit the low-hanging fruit of people who are very anxious, ā€˜I want to be vaccinated yesterday,ā€™ā€ said Dr. Jeffrey Elder, LCMC Health medical director of emergency management who oversees the system’s mass vaccination effort at the Ernest N. Morial Convention Center. ā€œNow, we’re in the trenches.ā€ The change in vaccine demand and supply represents a shift that public health experts knew was coming, but did not expect this soon, said Elder, a situation spurred by the supply increase. And it could be a sign that Louisiana may have a lot of work ahead. (Woodruff, Rddad and Gagliano, 4/7)

Three rival Georgia carpet companies took a break from their floor-covering competition to focus on a foe that united them: COVID-19. Mohawk Industries, Shaw Industries and Engineered Floors collaborated on a COVID vaccination eventĀ for the workers at their Dalton-area plants recently. Almost 5,000 shots were administered over two weeks in the northwest Georgia city that’s called the ā€œcarpet capital of the world.ā€ (Miller, 4/6)

Once upon a time, when the Covid-19 vaccines first started being distributed, the states and drug store chains set up websites to book appointments that were so glitchy and so maddeningly hard to use that many people were plunged into despair. Then, like magic, the ā€œvaccine fairiesā€ appeared. (Siemaszko, 4/5)

In updates about side effects of the covid vaccine —

Wyatt McGlaun, a teenager in The Woodlands, said he got Guillan-Barre syndrome a few weeks after his first dose of the COVID-19 vaccine. ā€œI wanted to get the vaccine. I felt it was the right thing to do,ā€ McGlaun said. ā€œI wanted to travel and enjoy my last summer before college.ā€ However, he said, he got extremely weak and had difficulty walking when he was admitted to CHI St. Luke’s in The Woodlands where he was diagnosed. (Hernandez, 4/5)

Getting COVID-19 can cause all manner of odd skin reactions. A new studyĀ finds some of them, including COVID toes, a measles-like rash and shinglesĀ also can beĀ rare, and thankfully brief, side effects of getting the Pfizer-BioNTech or Moderna vaccines.Ā The minor, though sometimes itchy and annoying, reactionsĀ were seen in aĀ database of 414 cases of delayed skin problemsĀ linked to theĀ vaccines and reported to health care professionals. The cases were collected between December and February before the Johnson & Johnson vaccine had been authorized, so it was not included. (Weise, 4/7)

This is part of the Morning Briefing, a summary of health policy coverage from major news organizations. Sign up for an email subscription.
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