Polis: Up to 200K doses for state by year’s end
Gov. Jared Polis expressed hope Monday that some Coloradans will begin receiving a COVID19 vaccine by year’s end, as the virus’ spread continues to worsen, with hospitalizations and infections reaching record levels.
The governor’s optimism followed drugmaker Pfizer’s announcement that data from late- stage trials showed its vaccine was more than 90% effective in preventing COVID- 19, the disease caused by the novel coronavirus.
“I hope the good news about a vaccine inspires us to double down on social distancing in Colorado,” Polis said during a news briefing. “We just need the resolve. The resolve to not let this virus win. The resolve to save lives.”
It’s still not certain a vaccine is imminent. There also are uncertainties about
how long it will take to make any new vaccine available to everyone in Colorado, as well as how many people will need to take it before the “herd immunity” necessary to stop the virus’ spread can be achieved.
But Polis offered a possible timeline if the not- yetapproved Pfizer vaccine proves effective and becomes ready for distribution. If that happens, Colorado could receive between 100,000 and 200,000 doses of the vaccine before the end of the year.
“But for most of us, it means early next year for inoculation,” he said.
In the meantime, the governor continued to urge Coloradans to avoid gathering with people outside of their households and announced that state government employees in counties with the highest level of restrictions on the health department’s colorcoded dial system will work remotely through the end of November.
Polis also extended the statewide mask mandate for another 30 days because of the prevalence of the coronavirus.
Record number of hospitalizations
Over the weekend, hospitalizations from COVID19 across Colorado surpassed 1,000 people for the first time.
The surge in hospitalizations comes just days after Colorado surpassed the April peak. State officials warned last week that Colorado is headed into a critical phase of the pandemic.
On Monday, 1,060 people were hospitalized with confirmed COVID- 19. Previously, hospitalizations peaked in April with 888 people hospitalized, according to the Colorado Department of Public Health and Environment.
Currently, 82% of the state’s 1,984 available intensivecare unit beds are in use, a percentage that’s been creeping up since September.
Colorado reported 21,442 new cases of COVID- 19 last week, making it the fifth week in a row the state saw a record number of infections, according to data from the state health department.
The percentage of tests coming back positive over the past seven days is 11.47%. It’s recommended that the positivity rate stay below 5%.
The high positivity, along with hospitalizations, means transmission of the disease is increasing and that the rise in new cases is not simply due to more testing.
Colorado recorded 75 deaths among COVID- 19 cases during the week ending Nov. 1, making it the deadliest week for the pandemic since late May. Last week, there were at least 40 deaths among COVID19 cases, according to the data. That number is likely to rise, though, as there is a lag of several weeks in death reports to the state.
Overall, 2,408 people who had COVID- 19 have died in Colorado, with 2,179 deaths attributed directly to the virus, according to the Department of Public Health and Environment.
Denver is under a 10 p. m. curfew for residents and nonexempt businesses as of Sunday — a restriction implemented by city officials in an attempt to avoid another stay- at- home order.
Local officials announced Monday that Arapahoe County will move to the second- highest level of COVID- 19 restrictions on Wednesday, which reduces business capacity to 25%. Most of the Denver metro area is now at level orange on the state’s color- coded dial. The last stage, level red, brings a stay- at- home order.
What happens when there is a vaccine
The Pfizer results, which were analyzed by an independent data monitoring board, looked at 94 infections among an enrolled 44,000 people in the U. S. and five other countries.
Some participants got the vaccine, while others got dummy shots.
Dr. Anthony Fauci, the U. S. government’s top infectiousdisease expert, said the results suggesting 90% effectiveness are “just extraordinary,” adding, “Not very many people expected it would be as high as that.
“It’s going to have a major impact on everything we do with respect to COVID,” Fauci said.
The distribution of a COVID- 19 vaccine, including Pfizer’s, is not expect to occur until the end of the year — at the earliest. The company is expected to apply later this month for emergency- use approval from the U. S. Food and Drug Administration.
Pfizer is making the vaccine while doing the study to determine if it is effective, said Dr. Jon Andrus, a faculty member with the Center for Global Health at the Colorado School of Public Health.
He said one of the challenges with the vaccine is that it takes about six weeks to make a batch, so if one fails, that will put the company behind. The vaccine also needs to be stored at an ultra- low temperature that hospitals will need to prepare when it gets to the point of being distributed. Pfizer’s vaccine requires two shots.
“That’s also a challenge because people don’t often comply with directions,” Andrus said. “It will require an aggressive followup.”
The two shots will be spaced out by about a month, so it will take about two months for someone to develop immunity, Polis said.
When a vaccine does arrive in Colorado, those who work or live in nursing homes, hospital staff and first responders will likely get it first, according to the state’s vaccine distribution plan. The guide was submitted to the U. S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention in October.
Roughly 331,533 people make up that first tier of the vaccination plan. This means that if things go according to Pfizer’s plans, Polis’s estimate of 100,000 to 200,000 doses in December wouldn’t cover everyone who has first priority.
Under that scenario, most people will receive the vaccine early next year, possibly sometime between January and May, Polis said.
After those individuals — who are at a high risk for the virus — doses will go to people in congregate facilities, such as prisons, and essential workers.
Polis expressed optimism about Pfizer’s test results, but cautioned yet again that Colorado is in a dire situation, imploring people to cancel plans to gather in hopes of curbing the virus’ spread.
“This is going to get worse before it gets better,” he said.