Dec 18, 2020
FDA action expected within 24 hours or less
For the second time this month, the FDA’s Vaccines and Related Biological Products Advisory Committee overwhelmingly voted to recommend that the FDA issue an Emergency Use Authorization (EUA) for a vaccine to combat SARS CoV-2 infection and thus end the Covid-19 pandemic.
By a vote of 20 with one abstention, the VRBPAC members said “yes” to this question: “Based on the totality of scientific evidence available, do the benefits of the ModernaCOVID-19 Vaccine outweigh its risks for use in individuals 18 years of age and older?”
There was a brief hiccup as the FDA initially displayed last week’s question concerning the Pfizer/BioNtech vaccine instead of the question concerning Moderna’s vaccine, before one committee member pointed out the error.
It has moved into Michigan.
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When Michigan announced its first two known cases on March 10 both
travelers the Gov. Gretchen Whitmer declared a state of emergency, saying: “The main goal . is to slow the spread of the virus, not to stop it. It has moved into Michigan.
In fact, a recent study examined blood donations from nine states, including Michigan, and found there may have been COVID-19 infections earlier than previously identified. In Michigan, COVID-19 antibodies were present in a handful of American Red Cross blood donations from as early as January, the study found.
Emily Martin, an associate professor of epidemiology at the University of Michigan School of Public Health, believes the public health community focused
By GINA KAUFMAN, ELISHA ANDERSON AND KRISTI TANNER | Detroit Free Press | Published: December 18, 2020
Stars and Stripes is making stories on the coronavirus pandemic available free of charge. See other free reports here. Sign up for our daily coronavirus newsletter here. Please support our journalism with a subscription. DETROIT (Tribune News Service) The sound of oxygen hissed as she stared into the camera on her phone and started recording. “I’m going to make this short and sweet,” Monique Baldridge announced from the hospital. As she had during her other Facebook Live dispatches using them to express her love and vowing never to give up Monique updated her condition, which was deteriorating. It was March 23, 2020, her sixth day in the hospital. Messages of prayers and well-wishes poured in. Monique said she was having difficulty talking.
High levels of cadmium, a chemical found in cigarettes and in contaminated vegetables, are associated with higher death rates in patients with influenza or pneumonia, research finds.
High cadmium levels may also increase the severity of COVID-19 and other respiratory viruses, according to the study.
“Our study suggests the public in general, both smokers and nonsmokers, could benefit from reduced exposure to cadmium,” says lead author Sung Kyun Park, associate professor of epidemiology and environmental health sciences at the University of Michigan School of Public Health.
Long-term exposure to cadmium, even at low levels, may undermine our defense system in the lungs, and people with high levels of the chemical may not be able to cope with influenza virus attacks, Park says.
Dec. 16, 2020
A Black Jamaican-born woman became the first person in the nation to be vaccinated against the novel coronavirus, flickering emotions of pride and skepticism against the backdrop of the federal government’s rollout of vaccines against a virus that’s killed over 300,000 Americans.
Sandra Lindsay, a critical care nurse at Long Island Jewish Medical Center, told Washington Post reporters shortly after receiving her shot that it was important for her as a Black woman to get the vaccine. She says she wanted to send a message to marginalized groups about trusting science despite the country’s checkered past of using enslaved Black women for medical advancement and deceiving poor Black men about medical care.