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“Nothing in this news says we can’t beat this thing,” Andy Slavitt, White House senior advisor on the response to Covid, told CNN’s Wolf Blitzer. “It just means that we need more tools and we need to be more united to do it.”
“We’re going to have to stay one step ahead of these transfers,” Slavitt said. “We’re going to need processes to continue to develop tests, therapies and vaccines to make sure that as the virus mutates a bit, like the flu, we are able to keep it going. advanced.
Experts say they believe current vaccines will still be effective against the variants, but officials are still working to close the gap between the doses available and the number given to Americans.
“We are changing the laws to allow more people to get vaccinated. We are sending mailings directly to pharmacies,” Slavitt said. “We invoke the Defense Production Act and have done so to make more syringes and other equipment available to people. We are working hand in hand with states every day to find more vaccines.
“There is not an idea that we will not consider,” he added.
States strive to overcome the barrier of distribution
At the state level, leaders have taken different avenues to approach delays in vaccine distribution and administration.
For example, Connecticut officials administered 364,255 total doses – meaning that 35% of people 75 and older were inoculated in the state.
“Connecticut continues to be a leader in vaccinating people,” Connecticut Gov. Ned Lamont said Thursday during his press briefing on Covid-19, adding that the Biden administration’s pledge to ‘Raising the state’s allocation by 16% means more people will be vaccinated faster. .
Next week, Kentucky Horse Park in Lexington will become Kentucky’s premier regional vaccination site, Governor Andy Beshear said Thursday. The site will vaccinate 3,000 residents in the first week, giving priority to those aged 70 and over.
But in Ohio, officials will have to change plans because the state wants students to return to school in March.
While the vaccine supply in the state is limited, Ohio has removed vaccines from its allocation to set aside approximately 55,000 for staff at the state’s K-12 school each week, a said Governor Mike DeWine.
Meanwhile, Idaho is calling for more transparency in how its current distribution plan is unfolding, Gov. Brad Little said.
“Frankly, we need a clearer picture to further inform the administration of vaccines,” Little said at a press conference Thursday in Boise.
Its new ordinance requires both private healthcare companies and public health districts to tell the state every week how many doses it has received, how many doses have been used and how many doses are still in stock. The numbers will be displayed on the state’s online Covid-19 public dashboard.
Part of the goal is to ensure providers meet the state’s goal of using every available dose within seven days of giving birth.
Symptoms can last for months, say experts
As the pandemic approaches a year in the United States, health experts say they are learning more about the “long Covid,” a condition in which some patients experience symptoms months after contracting the virus.
“People with long-lasting Covid often present with persistent and severe fatigue, headaches and brain fog, which is defined as mild subjective cognitive and cognitive impairment, around four weeks after acute illness,” Dr Alfonso Hernandez -Romieu, a member of the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention’s Covid-19 Response Team, said Thursday during a CDC briefing.
Doctors have reported that the severity of Covid-19 disease may have little impact on whether patients have long-lasting symptoms of Covid, Hernandez-Romieu said. He noted that the CDC is working to better understand Covid over the long term.
Dr Allison Navis, assistant professor at Icahn School of Medicine at Mount Sinai in New York City, said brain fog was one of the most common symptoms. She said doctors had observed these symptoms in younger patients – including children and adolescents – who had mild coronavirus and were previously in good health.
She said patients can benefit from “symptomatic and supportive” treatment, including specific medications, cognitive rehabilitation, increased hydration and limited exercise. She stressed that patients should get enough sleep and take care of their mental health.
“While we don’t know what causes these symptoms, they are very real to patients, and we are seeing patients getting better,” Navis said.
CNN’s Lauren Mascarenhas, Maggie Fox, Sahar Akbarzai, Rebekah Riess, Andy Rose contributed to this report.
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