March 11th, 2021
Johnson and Johnson has received the Emergency Use Authorization from the FDA for their version of the vaccine. Their vaccine differs slightly in comparison to Moderna and Pfizer vaccine that has already been in use. Johnson and Johnson has designed their vaccine to be given in one single dose. There are some concerns in the sense of only having one dose and not being protected as much in comparison to the two dose vaccines. The Johnson and Johnson vaccine was tested and proved to be protect with a single a dose, meanwhile other studies are in progress to see the two dose vaccines might provide more protection. In comparison to Moderna and Pfizer the percentage of efficiency of the vaccine was lower but still provers to be effective and did not lead to any Covid-19 related deaths. It also proved to help weaken the body’s recognition of the virus with the concerning new variants that appeared even after vaccination. In creating this vaccine Johnsons and Johnson used viral vector technology, while others might use the mRNA to create the vaccine, like you have seen with other companies. Also this version of the vaccine can be kept at simpler refrigerator temperatures for up to 3 months making it slightly easier for storage and delivery. Lastly, just like the other vaccines there are no additives that would cause any sort of reaction to the vaccine after received, and the CDC has reported very few cases of anaphylaxis in people after receiving the vaccine (only occurred with Moderna and Pfizer).
February 16, 2021
Everyone's thoughts are what is new or has changed about being able to get their vaccines. Some new updates for the vaccines and distribution have come to Florida. As of this past weekend there are specific updates for South Florida. Certain Publix, Walmart and other like business locations will be now having Covid-19 vaccinations but appointments are limited. There is no county residency requirement in place to get the vaccine. So Florida residents and snowbirds will be allowed to get the vaccine in any county as long as they show proof of residency. Also the proof for snowbird or part-time residences must be in the form of two documents like lease agreements or utility bills no more than 2 months old. As for a numbers update, in the state of Florida (as of February 12th), 1,262,300 people have received the first dose of the vaccine and 963,004 people have received both doses of the vaccine. In South Florida the numbers of residents that received both doses goes as follows, Miami Dade County about 119,889, Broward about 92,829, Palm Beach County about 90,553 and Monroe County about 4,491. As there are still some state run vaccination sites, the local government is allowing for more county specific vaccination sites to be more easily accessible to residents.
February 4, 2021
Covid-19 continues to affect each and every one of our lives on a daily basis. With continuing efforts to keep the world safe two major major companies, Moderna and Pfizer, had taken the lead with vaccine trials by mid-summer. After trials the next step was to apply for the Emergency Use Authorization (EUA) with the Food and Drug Administration (FDA) and get approved. Once the companies had received approval they were ready for production and distribution shortly after. Once distribution began is when the real nightmare started. Doses of the vaccines were going to be given in phases, the different phases included healthcare works, immunocompromised, elderly, etc.
Distribution is currently being handled by the local governments. For the state of Florida distribution of the vaccines to hospitals and other locations became a mess very quickly. Websites for appointments were quickly crashing or locations were not having enough vaccines allotted to them to be able to accommodate for all those appointments made. Also the complete opposite was occurring locations were getting too many vaccines and whatever was left over after a certain number of days had to be discarded. Despite all the complications Florida Governor Ron DeSantis hopes to have the top priority group mostly vaccinated by February and have easy ways to tackle this distribution.
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