Pharmacy group touts vaccination acceleration
A trade group representing chain pharmacies says its members can “easily” meet President-elect Joe Biden’s goal of administering 100 million coronavirus vaccines in the first 100 days of his administration.
The National Association of Chain Drug Stores says “the existing retail pharmacy network – where 90% of Americans live within 5 miles of a store – can swiftly and efficiently accelerate the vaccination of priority populations.”
The group spoke a day after the Trump administration expanded the number of Americans who can receive vaccines to include all seniors and younger people with certain health conditions.
The drug store group called for activating an arrangement known as the Federal Pharmacy Partnership Program, under which the Trump administration had planned to enlist pharmacies later in the vaccination campaign. It means the government would have to start delivering vaccines to pharmacies.
The association estimated that each of 40,000 chain pharmacies would have to give seven shots per hour over a 12-hour day to meet the Biden goal. But the group says drug stores using several employees to provide shots would actually exceed that estimate.
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The U.S. topped 4,300 daily coronavirus deaths Tuesday, according to Johns Hopkins University data. The U.S. has more than 22.9 million confirmed coronavirus cases and 382,000 deaths. The global totals as of Wednesday were more than 92 million cases and 1.97 million deaths.
New York, the early epicenter of the pandemic in the U.S., became the first state to record 40,000 COVID deaths. Texas and California are next with 30,000-plus. Texas joined California as the only states to reach the 2 million-case mark.
Wisconsin health officials say a new, possibly more contagious form of the virus has been detected in the state. The variant was detected through routine genome sequencing of specimens collected during testing. The state didn’t say where it was found or when it was confirmed. The variant was first discovered in England in November and December. It’s since turned up in Colorado, California, Florida, Minnesota, New York and Georgia. Health officials have said the variant is more easily transmissible but isn’t any deadlier, and vaccines should be effective against it.
Los Angeles County is asking residents to wear masks at home if they go out for work or to get groceries, the LA Times reported.
Disneyland Resort in Anaheim will soon be transformed into a mass vaccination site for Southern California residents, Orange County officials announced. Gov. Gavin Newsom has promised 1 million health care workers, nursing home residents and staff will receive the vaccine by week’s end.
Lawmakers test positive
Multiple lawmakers have said they tested positive after last week’s riot in the Capitol. The latest is Rep. Pramila Jayapal, D-Wash.
“I just received a positive COVID-19 test result after being locked down in a secured room at the Capitol where several Republicans not only cruelly refused to wear a mask but recklessly mocked colleagues and staff who offered them one,” Jayapal tweeted.
Democratic Reps. Brad Schneider of Illinois and Bonnie Watson Coleman of New Jersey also tested positive.
On Sunday, the attending physician for Congress said elected officials and their staff were potentially exposed to someone infected while the Capitol was locked down. Dozens of lawmakers have been infected with the virus during the pandemic.