MADISON Input is continuing to be gathered to update the comprehensive plans of Madison and Pierce counties.
Earlier this week, the Madison County Board of Commissioners was given an update on the process from Lowell Schroeder, who represented Five Rule Rural Planning, which has been hired to oversee and lead the updates.
The Kearney-based company had done planning work in Pierce County in recent years and was selected to update the plan after proposals were sought.
Cities and counties are urged to update their comprehensive plans at least once every 20 years. A USDA Rural Development grant is paying for a significant part of the updates.
Schroeder, a community planner with Five Rule Rural Planning, said a website had been developed at http://www.riseourregion.com where people can get updates. The current work includes interviews with people.
Really what the project (consists of) is gathering information and hard data and getting public input and pulling all the information together for the county to meet the requirements to update the county comprehensive plan, Schroeder said.
Schroeder, who formerly worked for the Northeast Nebraska Economic Development District, said the comprehensive plan would provide useful information on which the planning commission can base its decisions, among other things.
Commissioner Ron Schmidt said one of his concerns would be that as cities and towns grown, their territorial jurisdiction grows. With Norfolk, for example, it extends 2 miles from the city limits. With towns, the limit is 1 mile.
Schmidt said the concern is that sometimes there can be feedlots or other intense agricultural uses established. But as the city grows, there is pressure to allow competing residential or other uses located next to the agricultural uses.
Schroeder said that is a concern, and there will be opportunities for public discussion with the updates. It also will include a public hearing before the Madison County Board of Commissioners for final approval.
Along with both Pierce and Madison counties, the communities in the counties are also updating their plans if they havent done so recently.
ECAP, or the Entrepreneurial Community Activation Process, is run by the University of Nebraska and will be conducting a strategic planning process for the communities.
Schroeder said part of the update includes updating the conditions of the bridges in the county. Schroeder said he would contact Dick Johnson, county roads superintendent, to start compiling that information for Madison County.
Mycobacterium abscessus is among the deadliest bacteria in the world, earning the nickname antibiotic nightmare among clinicians. With millions of cases of antibiotic-resistant infections each year in the U.S. alone, developing alternate therapies is ever more important to keeping the clinicians toolbox full.
A new paper from biologist Graham Hatfull,published today in Nature Medicine, advances the science behind bacteriophage therapy to help treat antibiotic resistant lung infections.While the case described in the paper did not result in a cure for the patient, it was an example of how researchers can learn from all circumstances to advance knowledge that will improve treatment for others.
Its not just M. abscessus infections: Graham Hatfulls team is also investigating whether phages could help people with tuberculosis, which is becoming increasingly resistant to antibiotics and which kills more than 1.5 million people each year worldwide. Ina March 2021 paper, Hatfulls group proposed a five-phage cocktail that was effective in killing a broad spectrum of Mycobacterium tuberculosis strains.
This case study certainly provides key insights into how best to use bacteriophages therapeutically, said Hatfull, who is the Eberly Family Professor of Biotechnology and HHMI Professor at Pitt.
Hatfulls lab has identified and sequenced the genes of thousands of phagesbacteria-killing virusesto see which can integrate with bacterial DNA and interrupt its expression, effectively stopping infection. In 2019,he proved this kind of treatment can really work.
A British teenager with cystic fibrosis was ravaged by an infection of M. abscessus. While researching experimental treatment options, her mother learned about Hatfulls lab and contacted him about giving phage treatment a try. The cocktail of intravenous and topical phages slowed the infection and saved her life.
Based on this success, Hatfull and his team earned international acclaim. When he presented the teens case at a 2019 seminar, it caught the attention of a pulmonologist at Johns Hopkins University, Keira A. Cohen, who had been caring for a man with a lung infection of M. abscessus. Could phages help this patient, too?
The new paper describes him as an older man with lung diseases stemming from two infections, M. abscessus and Mycobacterium avium complex. He wasnt responding well to traditional multidrug therapy, and he was also having side effects from his prolonged use of antibiotics including hearing loss, balance problems and weight loss. His infection and quality of life were so bad that he was referred to palliative care.
Hoping for a dramatic turn, Cohen sent a sample of her patients mycobacterial species to theHatfull Lab. It turned out that the mans M. abscessus strain was susceptible to the same three phages used in the London patient. After getting approval from their local institutions and compassionate use permission from the Food and Drug Administration, they gave the treatment a shot.
Unlike the antibiotics, the patient didnt have negative reactions to the therapy, which was delivered intravenously. However, he also didnt have a sustained reaction like the London patient. During treatment, his bacterial levels dropped, but on prolonged phage administration, they rebounded. His immune system had waged a strong response against the phages.
The researchers posit that the key lies in the immune reaction. The London patient had had a double-lung transplant and was on immunosuppressing drugs at the time of her phage therapy. Its possible, they theorize, that those drugs prevented or delayed her immune systems response to the phages, which gave them time to neutralize the infection.
Even though the phage therapy didnt provide lasting relief to this second patient, it still marks an important push forward in scientists search for treatments for drug-resistant lung infections.
First, they suspect that an aerosolized delivery, similar to an asthma inhaler, might be a good alternative to an injection to target disease in these types of patients. Cohen, whos co-author on the new paper, is currently trying that approach on the elderly patient. Second, the authors suggest that using the phages sequentially rather than altogether, could help to stay one step ahead of the immune system.Lastly, future trials could potentially employ immunosuppressing drugs to confirm whether that indeed is the factor that helped the London patients therapy succeed.
This story was written by Robyn K. Coggins, managing editor of Pittwire.
George Russell came agonisingly close to scoring his first point for Williams in the Austrian Grand Prix, and while the teams CEO Jost Capito was disappointed, he said that disappointment showed just how far the squad have come.
Williams havent scored a point since Germany 2019 37 Grands Prix ago but Russells finish of 11th from eighth on the grid brought them mighty close last weekend in Austria, and the Briton has been on a run of stellar races including P12 in France, and a 10th-place qualification next time in Styria that unfortunately led to a DNF.
READ MORE: Alonso says fight for P10 was like a title battle but admits he was a bit sad to snatch P10 from Russell
The teams CEO Capito said that the fact that everybody is disappointed that Williams only scored 11th and not better in Austria was a good omen.
Im very disappointed and Im very happy that everybody is disappointed because four weeks ago everybody would have triumphed for 11th place, he explained. Twelfth place in France was fantastic and now being disappointed with 11th shows the fire of the team and the enthusiasm the team has now, that they want more; they are not happy with a result that doesnt deliver points.
2021 Austrian Grand Prix: Russell and Alonso battle in Spielberg
Asked whether Russells P11 in Austria was better than his P12 in France, Capito replied saying that both were a fine achievement but more importantly, they served as an emblem of the teams rapid improvement.
READ MORE: They want to win New Williams management are not messing around says Russell
France was fantastic race for him and this was a fantastic race for him, as was last week [Styria]. I think if we would have, as I said before the triple header, what we would achieve in these three races, everybody would have said youre completely crazy never ever.
Now we are even disappointed with these results and I think this shows the way we are taking with the team, he reiterated.
George Russell: 'Keeping a guy like Fernando behind was nigh on impossible'
With Russells home Grand Prix at Silverstone up next, Capito backed him for another solid result depending on the weather.
READ MORE: Carlos Reutemann an enigmatic genius remembered
Its very dependent on the weather conditions. I think everybody knows by now our car is very tricky in windy conditions and Silverstone is known [to be] very windy! he said.
I think if its very windy we might struggle; if its not that windy then we might have a chance to be somewhere close to where we were here, said Capito.
Cancun, Q.R. The government of Quintana Roo says with the reactivation of tourism in the face of the pandemic, the state has made considerable progress. Governor Carlos Joaquin says that 90 percent of the projects that were postponed due to the pandemic, have restarted.
There are currently 5,000 hotel rooms being built, he reports, in addition to shopping malls. According to state government information, the companies that have reactivated construction include AM Resorts, Grupo Posadas, Grupo Lomas and Grupo Tafer, with its Garza Blanca properties.
Joaquin says some of those projects will be completed by the end of this year, while others are anticipated to be finished in early 2022.
The governor reported that 122,000 jobs were lost last year, which represented 25 percent of all jobs in the state, however, they are expected to be recovered in July.
The governor also highlighted the reactivation in air connectivity, which he stresses, is nearing pre-pandemic figures with 518 daily operations, close to the 600 before covid. Tourism officials for the state are anticipating an 80 percent recovery for the upcoming summer months. He points out that the state is expecting around 2.8 million tourists, which for the same time in 2019, was 3.5 million.
AUSTIN (KXAN) The Austin Police Department, Austin Fire Department and Austin-Travis County EMS met with public safety commissioners on Tuesday afternoon to discuss the implementation and enforcement of Proposition B, the homeless camping ban.
APD Lieutenant Lee Davis, who oversees homeless community outreach, shared some data points: Since Prop B passed, there have been 114 people who have been connected to services during the education and outreach phase. As of July 1, 382 warnings have been delivered to those experiencing homelessness and there has been a 21% reduction of tents on city streets.
The big question that remains, Lt. Davis said, is where officers will direct people when citations are issued beginning July 11, the day Phase 3 is scheduled to begin.
If we are going to ask folks to leave, we ought to have a place to take them, Lt. Davis said.
Davis spoke to the complexity of establishing and enforcing a coordinated and consistent procedure that yields progress and also treats people humanely. He said APDs emphasis will continue to be on connecting people to services and resources. He also asked for patience and help from the community during the process.
APD cannot be the tip of the spear, but rather a link in the chain. And so we are going to be a wheel within a wheel. And our goal is to bring in as many folks who want to be a part of this as possible, Lt. Davis said.
Bill Brice, the Vice President of the Downtown Austin Alliance, was also invited to speak at the public safety commission meeting. The DAA did not have a direct role in implementing Prop B, but has paid close attention to daily operations on behalf of its clients who live and work downtown.
Brice said the DAA has begun sending ambassadors out on the streets once a month to count the amount of unsheltered homeless people living within the public improvement district, which encompasses most of the downtown sector. As of June 17, Brice said there were 808 unsheltered homeless individuals living on the street, in cars or in tents.
Brice expressed disappointment at the slow progress, which he says is driving people away from visiting Austin.
The reinstatement of the aggressive solicitation laws also went into effect as did the ordinance against sitting and lying in the public rights of way, we see little enforcement of those ordinances happening right now, Brice said. These are significant problems that are turning away visitors, that are concerning tenants, residents, people that are occupying office space and other buildings downtown.
Brice echoed Lt. Davis sentiment, saying the community needs to come to an agreement of finding a suitable place to send people once the next phase of the ordinance goes into effect.
Phase 3 of the ordinance begins July 11 and continues until Aug. 7. Austin Police have the power to issue citations to anyone not following the law. A 72-hour notice will be issued before an encampment clean up begins. During clean up, anyone still on the premises may be cited or arrested.
If we dont want people living unsheltered under bridges, in parks, in woods, greenspaces, high fire dangers, flood risk areas, then we have to say yes to have appropriate facilities for them to be, Brice said.
APD is still working on a diversionary program that will connect people to services before an arrest or citation occurs to keep from taking them to community court or jail.
Reach KXANs Education Reporter Alex Caprariello by emailatalexc@kxan.comor by phone at512-703-5365, or find him onTwitterandFacebook.
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A government watchdog group Thursday named Texas Attorney General Ken Paxton an "enemy of progress," citing his role in challenging the outcome of the 2020 presidential election, anti-immigration efforts and ties to the oil and gas industry.
The D.C.-based organization Accountable.USnamed Paxton a top target of its Enemies of Progress campaign, which aims to hold conservative attorneys general across the country accountable for preventing progress on some of the countrys toughest challenges, according to a press release.
The campaign highlights Paxtons role as an architect of conservatives failed effort to overturn the results of the 2020 U.S. presidential election and his numerous lawsuits challenging the Biden administrations changes to federal immigration laws. Paxton has launched these challenges as he awaits trial for criminal securities fraud charges from 2015.
Instead of fighting for their best interests, Attorney General Paxton is spending Texans taxpayer dollars on frivolous lawsuits against the Biden administration on behalf of his special interest donors, said Kyle Herrig, president of Accountable.US.
Paxton should consider focusing on his own legal troubles and get out of the Biden administrations way rather than spending taxpayer-funded resources obstructing much-needed relief for millions of Texas families, Herrig said.
Paxtons office did not respond to requests for comment.
"Paxton should consider focusing on his own legal troubles ... " - Kyle Herrig, Accountable.US
An Accountable.US report issued alongside the campaign announcement lists Paxton as first amongst a list of 13 attorneys general who have consistently acted on behalf of the industries and wealthy contributors backing their political aspirations.
The report highlights Paxtons ties to the Republican Attorneys General Association (RAGA), a conservative group whose affiliatedRule of Law Defense Fund helped organize the Jan. 6 U.S. Capitol protest. RAGA donated nearly $740,000 to Paxtons 2018 reelection campaign the second most of any individual donations to his campaign, according to the report.
The campaign comes as Paxton grapples with the latest developments in his legal disputes.
Last month, the State Bar of Texas launched an investigation into Paxtons efforts to overturn the election to determine if his actions violated its professional misconduct rules.
Around a month after Donald Trumps defeat in the 2020 election, Paxton filed a lawsuit with the U.S. Supreme Court, alleging unconstitutional changes to voting rules in key battleground states clinched the election for President Joe Biden. The court dismissed the suit three days later.
In a June appearance on Steve Bannons podcast, Paxton bragged that he used his office to secure victory for Trump in Texas during the 2020 election.
His office successfully blocked Harris County from sending applications for mail-in ballots to all registered voters, a move he said clinched Texas for Trump. We would've been one of those battleground states that were counting votes in Harris County for three days and Donald Trump would've lost the election," Paxton said.
If found guilty of professional misconduct, Paxton could be disbarred and suspended.
Some two weeks after the State Bar announced its investigation, whistleblowers in a separate ongoing lawsuit against Paxton accused him in court filings of deliberately misconstruing their testimony in an attempt to get the case dismissed. Their accusation is the latest development in a case filed in February by four of Paxtons aides, who allege Paxton used his office to aid an allies business interests.
Meanwhile, Paxton is still awaiting a trial following 2015 felony fraud charges. Paxton is accused of persuading investors to buy stock in a technology firm without disclosing his financial interests in the firm.
Paxtons legal issues cloud his campaign for reelection in 2022 and have served as attack material for Land Commissioner George P. Bush, who announced his campaign for attorney general last month.
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Michael Murney is a reporting fellow at the Dallas Observer and a graduate of Northwestern Universitys Medill School of Journalism. His reporting has appeared in Chicagos South Side Weekly and the Chicago Reader.
United Steelworkers (USW) union members picket outside Exxon Mobil's oil refinery amid a contract dispute in Beaumont, Texas, U.S., May 1, 2021. Exxon locked out the plant's about 650 union-represented employees citing fears of a strike. REUTERS/Erwin Seba/File Photo
HOUSTON, July 6 (Reuters) - Exxon Mobil (XOM.N) and United Steelworkers (USW) said little progress was made in talks on Tuesday between company and union negotiators to end a nine-week lockout of 650 workers at a Beaumont, Texas refinery and lube oil plant.
Exxon made counter offers to proposals offered by USW Local 12-243, which represents workers at the 369,024 barrel-per-day (bpd) refinery and adjoining lube oil plant, said Hoot Landry, USW International representative.
"They made five counters, one was moving in the right direction," Landry said.
Exxon spokesperson Sarah Nordin confirmed the meeting.
"The company's bargaining team met with the union today," Nordin said. "After discussion, both sides remain far apart. The company's current offer remains available for a vote by the membership."
Exxon locked out the workers on May 1, citing the risk of a strike.
The USW has said the companys last proposal requires its members to give up long-standing seniority and would create a separate contract for workers in the lube oil plant from that for workers in the refinery.
Exxon has said the proposal would give it flexibility to be profitable in low-margin environments.
Reporting by Erwin Seba; Editing by Stephen Coates
Our Standards: The Thomson Reuters Trust Principles.
The world's largest pilot project trialling the four-day week has proved successful in Iceland but what about other countries?
Iceland has just completed the world's largest pilot project trialing the four-day week, involving more than 2,000 workers. This experiment has proved successful, and has reignited the debate surrounding a measure that has long been advocated as a way of increasing employee wellbeing and productivity. But what's the state of affairs in other countries?
Working less, but better, by switching to a four-day week. The idea may not be new, but it has been in the news again in recent days, with all eyes on Iceland. This northern country has just unveiled the results of a large pilot study conducted between 2015 and 2019 among 1 per cent of the Icelandic population. The idea was to propose a reduction in working hoursto 35-36 hours a weekwhile keeping the same salary.
This program was set up by the British and Icelandic think tanks Autonomy and the Association for Sustainability and Democracy (Alda), and involved 2,500 people living in Iceland and working in the public sector (schools, hospitals, social services, etc).
Four years later, the experiment has proved largely successful, with the researchers who conducted the study reporting an increased rate of productivity and wellbeing among most of the workers who took part. The trial even had beneficial effects for the wider population. According to the two think tanks behind the study, 86 per cent of Iceland's working population was able to benefit from new agreements signed between 2019 and 2021, allowing for more flexible working and a reduction in hours.
Related: 9 Work-Friendly Cafes With Wifi in Singapore
In light of these more-than-satisfactory results from the world's largest trial of the four-day week, there is every reason to be tempted. The idea has been discussed and debated for several decades. But how far have other countries gone to implement it?
While some companies around the world have been operating a four-day week for some time, no country has yet made it a general practice at the national level. However, the pandemic seems to have changed the situation. The idea came back to the forefront in Germany in 2020, for example, when several companies adopted a four-day week to avoid layoffs during the pandemic.
Spain, on the other hand, is following in Iceland's footsteps, and will launch a similar pilot project this fall, on the initiative of the left-wing party, Mas Pais. Although it is still in its early stages, it is already known that the project could involve 3,000 to 6,000 Spanish workers over a period of three years, and some 50 million in funding. About 200 companies are expected to participate, and an evaluation of productivity and employee wellbeing is scheduled to be carried out after one year.
The idea is also gaining traction in the United Kingdom. In 2020, various parties in the country (including the opposition Labour Party) signed a motion calling on the government to set up a commission to study the proposal.
Related: Work From Home Tips: 7 Productivity Mistakes to Avoid
As for France, the four-day week is far from widespread, although a law passed in 1996 allows companies to implement it. On the political scene, it is again on the left that the idea is advocated, notably by the MEP Pierre Larrouturou, founder of the Nouvelle Donne party and author of a 1999 book on the subject (Pour la semaine de quatre jourspublished by ditions La Dcouverte).
However, several companies in France have been operating a four-day week for some time. These include Welcome To The Jungle (Paris), Yprema (Ile-de-France) and Love Radius (PACA) and, more recently, the IT group LDLC (Auvergne-Rhne-Alpes).
PHILIPSBURG Eric Bordas, organizer for the recent cruise-in here, has already set his sights on an event for next year.
The cruise-in drew in a crowd as part of Philipsburg Fest on Saturday. Folks of all ages wandered the street, taking pictures of cars or visiting local businesses.
The turnout was overwhelming, said Bordas. Well do it again next year.
The date may fall in June in the future, Bordas noted.
Philipsburg Fest was a response to the cancellation of Philipsburg Heritage Days. Events, such as the cruise-in, gave residents and visitors something to do.
People were just so tired of not doing something that they were so happy to have something to do, said Clairissa Bordas, Erics wife.
Young car enthusiasts enjoyed the spread of vehicles. Collin Foster, 10, collected footage throughout the event with plans to create a video on YouTube. He has always had a love of cars.
When asked about his favorite car, Foster responded, Thats a hard choice. I have a little too many. I like classics, and I like newer vehicles.
Fire companies, including Chester Hill, Reliance and Hope, were at the cruise-in.
Just out here, enjoying the weather and supporting the event, Hope Fire Co. Assistant Chief Justin Butterworth said.
The fire company had a UTV at the event. The vehicle is primarily for fighting wildfires and rescuing victims in difficult to reach locations, according to Butterworth. The company also sold pre-sale tickets for their chicken barbecue set for July 31, Butterworth noted.
Local businesses benefited from the cruise-in.
Today was great, said Brandi McGarvey, owner of Thieves Market. Lots of foot traffic.
Thieves Market rented out upstairs space at $20 a table for vendors during the day, McGarvey noted. The business typically hosts vendors during special events.
During Philipsburg Heritage Days, Thieves Market closes. The cruise-in, which allowed businesses to stay open and have easy in-and-out foot traffic, helped bring in customers, McGarvey stated.
This event was hands down way more successful than Heritage Days, said McGarvey.
The public feedback throughout the event was positive.
I heard great things from all people, McGarvey stated. All customers that came through said great things about this event.
WHEN THE news finally comes it triggers a range of emotions. Most people told when and where they will receive their first shot of covid-19 vaccine speak of their relief, delight, even their elation. One person danced around the room, another screamed a bit, yet another felt giddy. It feels, says one, that my lifes about to begin. But for some, there are other emotions in play: concern, fear, even anger.
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Almost as soon as biomedical researchers began working on vaccines against SARS-CoV-2, the virus that causes covid-19, people concerned with public health began to worry about vaccine hesitancy. It can sound trivial, even foolish, but it regularly costs lives. Hesitancy is a large part of the reason that few young Japanese women get themselves vaccinated against human papillomavirus, and thus are more likely than vaccine-accepting young women elsewhere to contract cervical cancer. Widespread hesitancy during worldwide campaigns against covid-19 could cost many lives, both among the hesitant and among their fellow citizens. Scott Gottlieb, who led Americas drug regulator, the FDA, from 2017 to 2019 (and who is also on the board of Pfizer, a vaccine-maker) argued in a recent opinion piece in the Wall Street Journal that the main challenge to vaccination efforts in America could soon move from supply and logistics to individual reluctance to be vaccinated.
In Britain, a country generally quite keen on vaccination, about 15% of those offered a covid jab so far have refused it. With 13m mostly elderly Britons vaccinated as of February 10th, that suggests almost 2m people who could have been vaccinated have not been. When, eventually, social distancing measures are reduced, those people will remain vulnerable to infection. What is more, that level of refusal, combined with the fact that children are not being vaccinated and that new variants of the virus are less tractable to vaccination, means the country may never see the herd immunity that population-wide vaccination programmes tend to aim forthe state in which people neither previously infected nor vaccinated are so few and far between that the virus is hard put to find them. And the level of refusal could grow in months to come; younger people, perhaps because they feel in less danger, seem less keen on the vaccine.
Hesitancy is promoted and spread by a hard core of proselytising anti-vaxxer voices whose misinformation and downright lies about microchips, infertility and damage to DNA have spread to the four quarters of the internet. They have been helped by large online misinformation campaigns run by China and Russia seeking to undermine confidence in Western vaccines. But hesitancy is a broader and more complex phenomenon than that. Some are worried, not opposed; some reject specific vaccines while accepting various others; some are adamant, some persuadable, some, in the end, willing to get vaccinated despite their reservations. People interpret vaccines in the light of their own experiences, relationships and trust in authority. Such subtleties make the molecular biology behind the vaccines seem simple in comparison.
There is nothing new about this complex set of fears. To introduce anything other than food into your body or blood is always likely to be an emotionally freighted experience. When Edward Jenner, a British doctor, began vaccinating people with cowpox to defend them against smallpox in the late 1790s there was immediate disquiet. Critics said the idea of vaccination was repulsive and ungodly; cartoonists showed people who had been vaccinated sprouting cows heads. But elite medical and political opinion fell in line. Thomas Jefferson was a fan. Napoleon vaccinated his armies, writing that Jenner...has been my most faithful servant in the European campaigns. In Sweden vaccination was compulsory in 1803, in Bavaria in 1807; both countries saw smallpox rates plummet.
In 1853 vaccination was made compulsory for all infants in England and Wales with parents who failed to comply liable to a fine or imprisonment. Opposition to this infringement on personal liberty promptly grew, even more so after the law was strengthened in the 1870s.
Victorian anti-vaxxers spread misinformation eerily similar to todays. In 1878 the National Anti-Compulsory Vaccination Reporter told its readers that vaccination could cause diseases including diphtheria, abscesses, bronchitis and convulsions. On the whole, it wrote, it is a greater evil to humanity than smallpox itself! In echoes of todays concerns about Big Pharma, the Reporter speculated that compulsory vaccination was a plot by the medical establishment and averred that faithful obedience to the sacred laws of health would provide superior protection. It is hard to put a sliver of organic carrot between this sanctimony and the notion that nasty viral pathogens can be warded off by raising children naturally and using alternative medicines.
Nevertheless smallpox vaccination became near universal. And then in 1977, 177 years after Benjamin Waterhouse, a Harvard professor and correspondent of Jeffersons, published his pamphlet A Prospect of Exterminating the Small-pox, it became obsolete. The disease was wiped out. No other human disease has yet followed it to oblivion, though polio is close. But many death tolls have been slashed.
Vaccinations have become the most successful public health measure in history. About 85% of one-year-olds around the world now receive all three doses of the combination vaccine that protects against diphtheria, tetanus and pertussis. Public support for this is high; nine in ten people worldwide think vaccines are important for children. But there are variations. Support for childhood vaccination is lower in North America, Europe and Russia than in Africa, Asia and South America, and there are pockets where it dips dangerously. What is more, the success of long-running childhood vaccination campaigns does not necessarily translate into acceptance of novel vaccines for adults.
Towards the last quarter of 2020 polls on vaccine hesitancy spurred mounting concern among public health officials. In September a significant number of British people said they were unlikely to get one. A month later, in a STAT-Harris Poll in America, only 58% said they woulddown from 69% a month previously. Though Britain bounced back, other countries have seen worrying drops since (see chart 1).
But such polls come with caveats. One is what psychologists describe as the intention-behaviour gap; humans are sufficiently complicated that what they say and what they do can be very different things. A second is that polls are snapshots of a process in flux. Vaccine hesitancy is extremely fluid in time and space, subject to all manner of influences. A poll is an instantaneous map of temperatures, when what you need is a moving forecast.
One of the main vaccine-weather forecasters is Heidi Larson, a professor of anthropology, risk and decision science at the London School of Hygiene and Tropical Medicine. She is also the founding director of the Vaccine Confidence Project, which monitors global concerns about vaccines. Looking at her latest survey of sentiment toward covid-19 vaccines in 32 countries Dr Larson sees storms brewing in Lebanon and the Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC)two countries in which the political climate is tense.
Hesitancy in the DRC might seem surprising; novel vaccines recently helped quash an outbreak of Ebola there. But Dr Larson says that unlike Ebola, which people have had to live with for almost half a century, covid-19 is new and brings new distrust. Matre Donat, a lawyer in Kolwezi, a mining city in the south of the country, bears out that case. Here everyone thinks covid is a scam, he says, dreamed up by the whites, by Americans.
Dr Larson worries about this because she has found that, in general, concerns about vaccines that arise in Africa spread much more quickly than in higher-income countries: It is quite explosive. Last year a comment by a French doctor about using Africa as a testing ground for vaccines spread like wildfire across Francophone Africa. He apologised, but the damage was done. There are now reports of rising hesitancy, at least partly tied to trust in government, in South Africa and Nigeria, where plans are being laid to start vaccination.
Just as there is variation over time, so there is in space. Even in countries where there is a rush to get vaccinated, hesitancy can crop up in particular communities, particularly in marginalised groups: some groups distrust state authoritysometimes, given the history of medical experimentation, for sound historical reasons; some seek spiritual rather than temporal guidance on how to live their lives.
Naively, one might believe that education would be enough to change this. It is not. Take the reluctance of some American health-care workers to get vaccinated. This is not down to a lack of information or a failure to understand what vaccines offer. It can often reflect a lack of faith in their employers. As in many other parts of the world, nurses, long-term-care staff and others in similar jobs report feeling badly treated over the past year. They may have been put at risk of covid, or fallen ill, or struggled to obtain protective equipment. They will have seen a lot of death. They will mostly have done so on low pay. And they have either not succumbed to the disease or have survived it. This all disinclines them towards accepting the vaccines that their employers now want them to take.
A December survey of 16,000 employees of a health system in Pennsylvania revealed concerns about unknown risks and side effects. At the nadir 45% said they either did not want the vaccine at all or wanted to wait (see chart 2). One-fifth did not trust the rushed regulatory review. Others worried they were not actually at high enough risk for infection or disease. Hard refusals, though, soon began to wane.
In general, a feeling that the government is cutting corners seems to drive hesitancy up. When Donald Trump appeared to be trying to rush approval along before the election Americans became more hesitant. Concerns have risen in Indonesia and India at the same time as there have been controversies about aspects of government vaccination programmes.
Another factor in hesitancy is peer-group sentiment transmitted through social networks. Parents who choose not to vaccinate children have a much higher percentage of people in their social networks with similar views. The same will be true of people who intend not to get vaccinated against covid-19.
Understanding how the hesitancy weather changes offers ways to modify it. Some are well known to advertisers. People are encouraged by the sight of happy people eagerly lining up to receive vaccines, or by politicians, royalty and celebrities rolling up their sleeves. They may also respond to the notion that something is in scarce supply. Since scares about the H1N1 flu vaccine in 2009 the French have been very dubious about vaccination. But since realising that their country has few doses to offer, their opinions have been changing. To refuse is one thing; to be denied another. Marine Le Pen, a right-wing nationalist who had previously said she would wait and see before getting vaccinated now says she will do so, a decision which is expected to be influential (and which will better position her to attack Emmanuel Macron on the issue in next years election campaign).
The bad news about changing the weather in this sort of way is that it can quickly change back again. Vinay Nair, boss of Lightful, a tech firm that works in the charity sector to enhance its use of technology, says that because vaccine sentiment is dynamic, so the response to it has to be too.
It is also important to reach vaccine-hesitant communities directly rather than through the media. In 2017 Patricia Stinchfield, a nurse practitioner at the Childrens Minnesota Hospital, told Modern Healthcare, a magazine, about intervening this way among Somali-Americans in Minneapolis after their under-vaccinated community suffered a serious measles outbreak. We spend a great deal of time meeting imams in the community and ask them to partner with us. Even with the help of social-media campaigns aimed at younger parents, it is slow, painstaking work. But it is effective.
Unfortunately, help through social media is far from the norm. The Centre for Countering Digital Hate (CCDH), a not-for-profit group, is tracking 425 anti-vaccine accounts on Facebook, Instagram, Twitter and YouTube that it says spread covid misinformation; they have 59.2m followers between them, and the number is rising rapidly. The organisation says that while a minority of these anti-vaxxers act on the basis of profoundly held beliefs, about four-fifths have a financial motive as well, or instead. Half are entrepreneurs with businesses that promote alternative or oddball remedies such as homeopathic immunisation or a bleach nebuliser with a 100% success rate. The other half are conspiracists who profit from the online-advertising revenue their sites attract and the merchandise they sell.
The work of these groups is a lot easier than that of public-health workers: fear and uncertainty are easier to foster than trust and confidence, and inaction easier to encourage than action. In October last year representatives of the CCDH were present at a private online conference held by influential opponents to vaccination who, it says, saw a historic opportunity to reach larger numbers of supporters, and drive long-term vaccine hesitancy. They outlined three basic tools with which to do so: sow doubt about the seriousness of the threat posed by covid-19; spread concern about the safety of the vaccines; stress the untrustworthiness of experts.
These three basic messages will be adapted with selective reportingmaking sure, for example, that Brazilians know that their president has said he will not be vaccinatedhalf-truths and lies. Ethnic minorities will be told that covid vaccines are unsafe for them, or part of a plot or experimentsomething that will resonate in communities that remember stories of this in the past. Young people will be told taradiddles about fertility. The religious groups will hear that vaccines are not halal or contain fetal material. (It is true that the vaccine produced by AstraZeneca is grown in a cell line derived from material taken from a fetus in the 1970s; it is also true that the pope has deemed the use of such cell lines morally acceptable.)
A recent study in Nature using data from 2019 created a network map of 1,300 Facebook pages carrying pro- and anti-vaccine messages and their followers. Anti-vaccine pages were more numerous, faster growing and increasingly connected to pages containing undecided users. If current trends continue, the researchers predicted, anti-vaccine views will dominate online discussion in a decade. A new preprint by many of the same authors reports that the strengthening of online bonds that has been seen during the pandemic has given conspiracy theories greater access to mainstream parenting communities.
On February 8th, in the teeth of ongoing criticism, Facebook said it would remove false claims related to covid vaccines (see article). Many think the move has come too lateand that to shift the balance of power decisively will require further action. Mr Nair believes that tech companies need to amplify positive messages, stories and campaigns
A mix of factors will challenge our plans to defeat covid-19, from new variants to supply issues. But vaccine hesitancy is a significant threat to population protection against covid-19, says Dr Larson. And after emotional contagion has taken hold it is difficult to tamp down. As the French experience with the H1N1 vaccine has shown, once widespread a negative impression about a vaccine can be hard to shift.
At the moment, people are leaving vaccination centres happily, and tweeting and posting about their good fortune and success. They proudly display the badges and stickers that show they have received the vaccine. For now, public health is winning. But continued good news cannot be taken for granted; in this struggle, fair weather has to be fought for, not counted on.
Dig deeper
All our stories relating to the pandemic and the vaccines can be found on our coronavirus hub. You can also listen to The Jab, our new podcast on the race between injections and infections, and find trackers showing the global roll-out of vaccines, excess deaths by country and the viruss spread across Europe and America.
This article appeared in the Briefing section of the print edition under the headline "Broken arrow"
In an October 22, 2020, briefing, GAO informed Congressional staff that the Department of Veterans Affairs (VA) had made progress toward implementing its new electronic health record (EHR) system by making system configuration decisions, developing system capabilities and system interfaces, conducting end user training, and completing system testing events. However, GAO noted that the department had not yet resolved all critical severity test findings (that could result in system failure) and high severity test findings (that could result in system failure, but have acceptable workarounds), as called for in its testing plan. Specifically, 17 critical severity test findings and 361 high severity test findings remained open as of late September 2020. As a result, VA was at risk of deploying a system that did not perform as intended and could negatively impact the likelihood of its successful adoption by users if these test findings were not resolved prior to initial deployment. Accordingly, GAO recommended that VA delay deployment of the new EHR until the (1) critical severity test findings were closed, and (2) high severity findings were closed or otherwise addressed with workarounds.
VA deployed its new EHR system in Spokane, Washington, on October 24, 2020, with no open critical severity test findings and with 306 of the 361 high severity test findings closed (see figure). Of the 55 remaining, 47 had workarounds that were accepted by the user community, seven were associated with future deployments, and one had a solution identified at the time of initial deployment. VA's actions reflect implementation of GAO's October recommendations.
The Department of Veterans' Affairs Electronic Health Record Modernization Open Critical and High Severity Test Findings May 2020-October 2020
Nevertheless, as the department moves forward with deployment of additional capabilities at new locations, VA will likely identify new critical and high severity test findings. If VA does not close or appropriately address all critical and high severity test findings prior to deploying at future locations, the system may not perform as intended.
VA relies on its health information system the Veterans Health Information Systems and Technology Architecture (VistA)to deliver health care to 9 million patients annually. VistA contains the department's EHR and exchanges information with many other applications and interfaces. However, VistA is a technically complex system, has been in operation for more than 30 years, is costly to maintain, and does not fully support VA's needs. In May 2018, VA contracted to acquire a commercial EHR system as part of its EHRM program over 10 years at a maximum cost of $10 billion.
GAO was asked to review VA's EHR deployment. This report discusses progress VA is making on implementing the new EHR system, among other topics.
To perform its review, GAO assessed VA's progress toward making system configuration decisions, developing system capabilities, developing system interfaces, completing end user training, and resolving system test findings. GAO also interviewed relevant officials.
GAO is making two recommendations, including that VA should postpone deployment of its new EHR system at planned locations until any resulting critical and high severity test findings are appropriately addressed.
VA concurred with the recommendations and described actions the department plans to take to address them.
For more information, contact Carol C. Harris at (202) 512-4456 or harriscc@gao.gov.
Last year's Akron Public Schools State of the Schools address took place in front of hundreds of people, with a buffet lunch andSuperintendent David James laying the groundwork for the community leaders to soon support a levy.
"What a difference a year makes," James said Thursday, in the same address one year later.
This one was held virtually, with just board members and a handful of district staff in the room, the event broadcast over YouTube.
A request for a levy has been tabled, possible for the next year or two, due to an influx of federal stimulus dollars meant to help offset costs of COVID-19. And in addition to highlighting the progress the district hasmade, James had to reflect on a tumultuous year of challenges through the coronavirus pandemic.
As it is his last State of the Schools address before he retires this summer, James also took the liberty of reflecting on his last 13 years as the district's leader, and 29 years with Akron schools overall.
"No leader can be everything an organization needs," James said. "Because over time, the organization changes and so does the leader. And with reflection, a leader will know when it is time to go, to turn over the role to another, so the organization can grow and achieve higher levels of performance."
As such, his speech didn't announce any new major initiatives or strategies, because soon he won't be the one executing him.
The district is also still at the beginning of its transition from remote-only learning to fully in-person, at least as an option for all students.
James recapped his plan to return everyone who wants to come back this year to their school building. His administration released the plan Monday night. It calls for students in kindergarten through second grade and students with significant special needsto come back March 15, and for everyone else to return March 22.
As long as the vaccine rollout stays on track, with all APS employees who want the vaccine able to get the first of two shots by the end of this weekend, they will have had enough time to build as much immunity as possible from the vaccine before returning to buildings.
"It is hard to believe that we have been virtual since March," James said."Yes, I do acknowledge that it is best for our students to be back to in-person school.However, I would like to point out that with 21,000 students, and nearly 4,000 employees it is very difficult to reconcile all of the risks, opinions and competing interests."
In the areas of progress, James touted the four-year graduation rate, which ticked up from79.8% to 80.2%.In the 2018-19, Akron students earned7,764 college credits while still in high school. In 2019-20, that increased to 9,297 credits earned.
As far as regrets for his tenure other than losing a cooking contest to a colleague in 2011 James said despite the 30-plus community learning centers built in the last 15 years, he wished he could have secured funding to replace the last five older school buildings in the district, some of which lack air conditioning.
He said he was also disappointed the state legislature did not take up the Fair School Funding Plan, which would have revamped the way schools receive money. Akron's CFO and Treasurer Ryan Pendleton was heavily involved with the initiative. James said he is hopeful it will circle back to the top of the list of priorities for the state in the near future.
But James also spent a great deal of his speech highlighting many of the partnerships the district has formed under his watch, including the more than 250 businesses and organizations that are invested in College and Career Academies.
"To everyone that I have met with, collaborated with, and even argued with, I say thank you," James said."Because through those discussions we have indeed made progress, and I believe the district poses a great opportunity for its next leader."
Contact education reporter Jennifer Pignolet at jpignolet@thebeaconjournal.com, at 330-996-3216 or on Twitter @JenPignolet.
SPRINGFIELD, Mass. (WWLP) After complaints were made about the Eastfield Mall vaccination site, it looks a little different Thursday than it did earlier this week.
People have been happy with the changes at the site, which is now giving shots to a lot more people after the states move to get companions of seniors vaccinated.
A week ago, people 75 and older were waiting outside in the snow and cold temperatures before they could get inside for an appointment. There were also reports of it being extremely crowded, with little room to social distance.
Curative said theyve corrected these issues, and the site is running smoothly. Thursday people spoke highly of their experience.
Hermenia Grayson from Ludlow, got vaccinated as a caregiver, Its much better now. Its a better day, its warmer, they are moving people more quickly in and out. You can stay in the mall so you dont get have to get cold.
People now go inside the mall to wait for their appointment rather than outside. There is an entrance to the left of the former Macys building with arrows following the site inside the mall.
Curative staff will greet patients and call them in when theyre ready to administer the shot. They continue to ask people to enter the mall no earlier than 15 minutes before their time slot.
This coverage is made possible through Votebeat, a nonpartisan reporting project covering local election integrity and voting access. The article is available for reprint under the terms of Votebeats republishing policy.
Georgia lawmakers are set to begin debating election security measures proposed following unfounded allegations of fraud in the 2020 election.
The Senate Ethics Committee currently has more than 20 voting-related bills under its consideration, and Thursday the first four were assigned to subcommittees for a first round of vetting early next week.
Two of the bills center on the most contentious voting policy debates between Georgia Republicans and Democrats, who have vowed to fight any perceived threats to voter access. One proposal would require voters to submit photo identification or a drivers license number with an absentee ballot, although unlike another proposal it does not require voters to make a copy of their ID. The other would only allow Georgians to vote absentee with a valid excuse, eliminating the states current no-excuse absentee ballot system.
Republicans argue added security is necessary because of a lack of voter confidence in the system. This comes after many Republican elected officials supported unfounded claims of fraud after former President Donald Trump narrowly lost the state, despite repeated assurances from Georgias own Republican state election officials that the election was secure.
I think bottom line is we did not see any widespread or systematic fraud we didnt see any foreign interference, or changing of votes, reaffirmed Ryan Germany, a lawyer for the secretary of states office at a state election board meeting Wednesday.
Democratic officials have said such laws are unnecessary because there is no proof of fraud and they will discourage voters. Democrats have introduced their own legislation in the name of expanding voter access and encouraging high voter participation, including proposals for more ballot drop boxes, a permanent absentee voter list, and funding for more early voting in rural counties.
Slightly more than half of the bills in the Senate Ethics Committee were sponsored by Republicans, whose ideas center around placing additional restrictions on absentee voting and rolling back voting options that were expanded in response to the pandemic, like ballot drop boxes.
Another of the Senate bills scheduled for consideration next week would ban mobile polling locations, such as those used in Fulton County, except when original facilities are unusable. The other would establish the position of chief elections assistance officer in the secretary of states office to provide additional oversight to county elections departments, including the ability to suspend elections directors the state election board deems to be underperforming.
Other proposals that have already been introduced by Republicans in the Georgia Senate would eliminate ballot drop boxes, end the practice of automatically registering eligible voters when they apply for a drivers license, prevent third-party groups from distributing absentee ballot applications and give poll-watchers greater access to vote counting.
On the House side, the Special Committee on Election Integrity has also been assigned more than two dozen pieces of legislation in the first few weeks of the session, and on Tuesday passed its first bill onto the full House for a vote.
The bill would move the deadline to submit an absentee ballot application from the Friday before an election, to 10 days before an election. At the committee hearing, county election officials testified that as it stands, the law sets voters up for failure, because if voters wait until the Friday before an election, it is highly unlikely they will be able to receive a ballot and return it in time.
Senate Republican leadership is expected to release a comprehensive voting package next week that is expected to consolidate many of the partys priorities that have already been laid out in some of the above individual bills.
Clearfield County Recreation and Tourism Authority members heard an update on the Lumberjack Chainsaw Carvers Festival schedule for May 22-23 as part of the More in May event scheduled at the Clearfield Driving Park.
The event partners the annual Groundhog Wine Festival on May 22 only with the Lumberjack Chainsaw Carvers Festival and the Food Truck and Craft Show event set for May 22-23. The Groundhog Wine Festival requires a paid ticket for admission. Admission is free to the Lumberjack Chainsaw Carvers Festival, the food truck and craft show.
Jones said Wednesday the schedule of carvers slated to appear over the two days is nearly full. Plans are for 20 carvers to participate. Each of the artisans will receive two eight-foot logs to create a masterpiece to be included in an auction. Each will also have other items for sale during the event.
We have 17 carvers signed up. There are only three spots left. We will take five more as a reserve, Jones said.
The Lumberjack Festivals hours on May 22 will be 10 a.m. to 8 p.m. and May 23 from 10 a.m. to 2:30 p.m. An auction featuring items crafted during the festival will be held at 3 p.m on May 23.
Im really excited about it, he told the authority. He said there will also be non-profit organizations participating.
Jones said at a previous meeting he is working with both Kenn Starr, coordinator of the Groundhog Wine Festival, and Clearfield County Fair Manager Greg Hallstrom, who is setting up the food truck festival and the craft fair. The three want to to offer a cohesive event.
We are pulling together to offer visitors a really nice event with lots of things to see, Jones said.
For additional information about participating or sponsoring the event, those interested should visit the website, http://www.lumberjackcarving.com or VCCs Facebook page.
Visit Clearfield County and the Clearfield County Recreation and Tourism Authority sponsored an inaugural Lumberjack Chainsaw Carvers Festival in June 2020. Last years festival featured four chainsaw-wielding artisans and was held on the lot adjacent to the VCC office beside Rural King.
Policies that reduce waste, increase consumer choice and save families money should be a no-brainer and fortunately, more states are beginning to see it that way.
Thanks in large part to the advocacy of our national network and our coalition partners, 2021 is shaping up to be a big year for state legislation that guarantees consumers the right to fix their stuff. Fourteen states are considering right to repair bills this year, and the movement's new momentum has major implications for our country's waste crisis.
Americans throw out 416,000 cell phones per day, and only 15 to 20 percent of electronic waste is recycled. That could change if consumers were able to take their devices to the repair shop of their choice, rather than being forced to throw them away and buy new ones.
"We imagine a different kind of system, where instead of throwing things out, we reuse, salvage and rebuild," said Nathan Proctor, director of our network's Right to Repair campaign. "We know it works now it's time to win right to repair for all electronic products."
Read the full coverage.
Learn more about our Right to Repair campaign.
Photo: Our national network's Right to Repair director, Nathan Proctor, testifies at the Federal Trade Commission's "Nixing the Fix" workshop in July 2019.Credit:Metroid Video
Pennsylvania is closing in on 1.5 million inoculations, the state Department of Health reported Thursday.
The department reported about 335,000 people have completed the two-dose courses of Pfizer or Moderna products and nearly 1.5 million are halfway through.
Not all are Pennsylvania residents. The department reports that out-of-state residents have received 26,964 full and 80,359 partial.
There are no county and state lines with respect to receiving a vaccine. All avenues are available, if qualifying.
It's unknown how many Pennsylvania residents have crossed state lines to receive an inoculation. The state doesn't provide a breakdown for the number of vaccinations done at hospitals or nursing homes or retail clinics.
About 1,000 more Berks County residents entered or completed the vaccination process, the department said Thursday.
For the entire vaccination effort, a total of 10,758 residents have received both doses and 20,825 have received one, according to the state.
Last week, all the doses distributed to Berks outlets were listed as the Moderna product. The state has not yet listed the sites in Berks that are getting the vaccines this week, but the candidate sites are listed.
This map shows the eligible providers for vaccines in Pennsylvania:tinyurl.com/1gmxvajw. The state has instructed residents to contact the providers to determine if there is an opportunity for an inoculation.
Those without internet access can call 1-877-724-3258.
The state remains in Phase 1A vaccinations, which includes health care workers, nursing home residents and anyone age 65 and older or age 16 to 64 with these preexisting conditions: cancer, chronic kidney disease, COPD, Down syndrome, heart failure, coronary artery disease, cardiomyopathies, weakened immune system, obesity, pregnancy, sickle cell disease, smoking and Type 2 diabetes mellitus.
By the end of the week, the state expects that 2.44 million doses of the vaccines will have been allocated or received by providers. That's all doses. Each course counts as two doses.
There were 135 more COVID cases credited to Berks County in state Department of Health reporting on Thursday, raising the pandemic total to 34,009.
The seven-day average dipped to 129. The average smooths the uneven reporting of test results.
Each day's report is a look at statistics from the prior day, except for Monday, which is for Saturday and Sunday statistics.
The state reported the deaths of six more Berks residents Thursday for a pandemic total of 860. That was part of 115 total deaths of Pennsylvanians, and made the state pandemic total 22,860.
Overall, the state reported 3,978 additional cases for a pandemic total of 884,269.
In COVID hospitalizations, the state count fell 102 patients to 2,687, with a Berks component of 113. The strong downward trend statewide continued from nearly 6,400 patients a few days before Christmas.
Reading Hospital and Penn State Health St. Joseph updated their dashboards by midday Thursday to show 83 and 20 patients, respectively, for a combined total of 103, an uptick of two from Wednesday.
The county coroner's office on Thursday added three deaths for a new pandemic total of 835. All were Berks residents, and the age range was 79 to 97. Two were men.
The coroner's count includes 40 nonresidents who won't appear in the state report for Berks.
JOHNSTON Days after state officials met with White House staff to better understand why Iowa ranks lower than expected in getting allocations of the coveted COVID-19 vaccine, Gov. Kim Reynolds said Wednesday her administration continues its efforts to accelerate the rate of inoculations.
Iowa remains among the roughly half dozen states with the lowest vaccination rates in the nation. Approximately 9 percent of adult Iowans have received at least the first of two shots, according to federal data.
Reynolds said her administration is working with counties that are facing challenges distributing the vaccine, with pharmacies to ensure long-term care staff and residents are vaccinated and that any leftover doses are given to the state and now with Microsoft to develop a website where Iowans will, some weeks from now, be able to register for a vaccination.
Iowa currently is in phase 1B of the vaccine rollout, aimed chiefly at people older than 65 and several priority groups including teachers and first responders.
The program has not opened up yet to a broad section of the public.
Reynolds said a continuing issue is that Iowa is just not receiving as many doses of the vaccines as other states.
The biggest problem of all of this has been the amount of vaccine that we receive, Reynolds said Wednesday during a news conference at Iowa PBS studios. I dont care what kind of system you had in place, thats just not enough vaccines to really do what we needed to do. So as we see that ramp up, were going to continue to enhance and make our systems more efficient, more effective work with our partners and every day were seeing that get better and better.
Still, Iowa has administered just 68.2 percent of the vaccine doses it has received, according to federal data. That puts Iowa in the middle of the pack, with the 26th-highest rate among all states.
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Reynolds said some counties distribution efforts have been slowed by inclement weather, and others by a lack of resources. She said the state is working to help any counties that need it.
Just in a week the amount of efficiencies that weve been able to put in place and the increase in the percentage of vaccines administered is good, Reynolds said. We can be better. Were working on it. But when you consider weather and what weve had to deal with were going to keep working on those numbers and were going to keep getting better at the process.
Reynolds previously raised concerns that Iowa is receiving fewer vaccine doses when compared with its population than other states.
Wednesday, Reynolds said she has discussed the issue with Gen. Gus Perna, head of the federal governments vaccine distribution program.
Iowas U.S. senators have jumped into the fray as well: Chuck Grassley and Joni Ernst said they have called on the federal government to ensure Iowa is receiving its fair share.
In a letter Tuesday to the director of the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, Grassley and Ernst asked the agency to release its weekly formula for state allocations to build confidence in the vaccine distribution process.
State officials have told local public health agencies they plan to change the way Iowa orders COVID-19 vaccine doses from federal officials after the U.S. vaccine allocation tracking system showed Iowas rankings in the number of allocations per capita among the worst in the nation are lower than actuality.
Iowa Department of Public Health officials sent a memo earlier this week to county public health departments informing them they will order doses allocated to the state sooner each week than they had.
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However, state officials could not say whether this would result in shots reaching Iowans sooner, instead noting this helps streamline the allocation process for the states vaccine providers.
In the memo obtained by The Gazette, the department told local agencies that state officials met with White House officials last Friday over the states poor ranking. As of earlier this week, data from the CDC put Iowa at the bottom of states for vaccines administered per 100,000 population.
State officials indicated in the memo the poor ranking stemmed from the timing of the states vaccine orders. Doses became available for states to order through the federal system VTrckS on Thursday evening, but unlike most states, Iowa waited until a few days later to place an order.
According to the memo, this has caused a significant public misperception that Iowa is either not receiving or not ordering all available doses.
State officials waited days to orders because of inconsistencies Iowa experienced in federal allocation projections in December, the memo states, referring to shifting planning numbers from U.S. officials.
Starting this week, Iowa officials will now order COVID-19 vaccines on Thursday evening.
State officials noted that Iowa already orders every dose available to it.
Westergaard said the drop is likely due to a number of factors, including immunity among the more than half-million people in the state who have contracted the disease who may be protected for three to six months a wider adoption of preventative measures like wearing masks and social distancing, and better capacity by local health officials for contact tracing and containment after being overwhelmed by the November surge.
Were actually better able to respond to local clusters, to local cases, than we were before, he said, because weve really strengthened that muscle. Our local containment efforts have been improved over time so that when we do have cases we can do the things we needed to do.
According to Westergaard, its probably too early the vaccine effort to credit it with significantly lowering COVID-19 case numbers in the state. And he cautioned that the new variants could potentially fuel a new surge.
Were very vulnerable and we need to take the risk seriously that this progress could be undone because of novel variants, he said.
As of Tuesday, nearly 800,000 vaccine doses had been administered in the state, 174,000 of those being second doses, completing the vaccination process. More than a third of people 65 and older have received at least one dose.
According to the CDC, Wisconsin now ranks eighth among states for the rate of vaccines administered after recently being near the bottom of the pack. Officials have attributed the early slow start to several factors, including a large share of the states allotment from the federal government being reserved for the federal program for vaccinating nursing home residents and long-term care patients.
DEDHAM, MA Dedham's police dog is living up to her name and proving to be a gem in the department. Ruby, the Dedham Police Department Community Resource Dog, is officially a licensed therapy dog and has successfully completed her public access test.
Ruby joined the department last year in January, through a Grant from the Norfolk County District Attorney's Office. She was named through a contest by the students at the Dedham Middle School. The DA's Office developed the grant program with students and children in mind, to provide a resource dog trained to help respond to trauma and stress, and to build relationships with local law enforcement.
Ruby is still working on her training but is also busy with her visits to Dedham schools.
"A lot of kids know her and love when she shows up in class," said Officer Sullivan, the School Resource Officer based out of Dedham Middle School.
Officer Jason Sullivan will take Ruby to each of the schools every week and have her interact with the students.
"Ruby has been a great ice-breaker and conversation starter with the kids and has helped to develop bonds with the Dedham Police," said Officer Sullivan.
