The days are warming and more good coronavirus news is coming to Ohio.
After drugmakers Pfizer and Moderna on Tuesday announced big increases in vaccine production, Gov. Mike DeWine on Thursday said that the number of doses coming into Ohio would rise from about 230,000 this week to about 310,000 next week.
“We may see that push up to 400,000 by the end of the week,” DeWine said, referring to reports that a single-dose vaccine manufactured by Johnson & Johnson is likely to receive regulatory approval over the weekend.
Also augmenting vaccine availability is that the state is finishing up its push to get vaccines into the arms of adults who work in Ohio schools in advance of a Monday deadline.
“Eventually, we’ll get to the point where we’ll be getting more vaccine in here than we have people who want it,” DeWine said.
That day is still off in the distance, but results from prioritizing the most at-risk Ohioans are starting to manifest.
Hospitalizations and ICU stays because of covid are continuing to drop as greater percentages of older Ohioans have been vaccinated. So far, just over 60% of Ohioans 80 and over have gotten a shot, followed by 52% of those 75-79, 41% of those 70-74 and 27% of 65 to 69 year-olds, the youngest age group now receiving priority.
DeWine has said he wants a greater portion of all those age groups to get shots before dropping down to younger Ohioans.
The rationale behind giving priority to older folks and Ohioans with certain health conditions, DeWine has said, was to protect those most at risk of hospitalization and death. An exception has been for educators, because DeWine said getting kids back in school had become an overriding priority.
But as more vaccines are flowing into the state, a disturbing trend might be emerging.
A rumbling came in December, when DeWine said that just 40% of nursing home workers were agreeing to be vaccinated. On Thursday, DeWine said that he’s seen a plateau in vaccinations in the first age group to be prioritized — Ohioans 80 and over.
The percentage in that age group “got to 58% and it started creeping,” DeWine said. “It’s over 60, but it’s been slow.”
A glance at DeWine’s Twitter feed reactions shows there’s a constant flow of disinformation about the dangers of coronavirus and the safety of vaccines, but DeWine said he hopes more prosaic factors are to blame for the slowdown. This month’s snow, ice and deep freeze might have made older Ohioans reluctant to leave home to get vaccinated, so the governor said state officials are making efforts to get vaccines to people who can’t get to vaccines.
With the Johnson & Johnson vaccine likely to come online next week, DeWine and his coronavirus team are faced with new questions: That vaccine only requires one dose and is easier to store, so does it make sense to target certain populations, or to give people a choice as to which vaccine they prefer?
Federal officials are meeting Friday and through the weekend as they consider emergency authorization of the Johnson & Johnson vaccine. After that, we’ll get much clearer, more detailed information,” DeWine said.
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Also from Ohio Capital Journal:
Game-changing one-dose vaccine could be in states’ hands shortly
WASHINGTON — States struggling to provide enough COVID-19 vaccines are likely just a few days away from a pivotal development in the vaccination race: the availability of a shot that requires only one dose.
The game-changing Johnson & Johnson vaccine would differ from the two current shots by Pfizer and Moderna in several critical ways. By requiring just one dose, individuals won’t need to return several weeks later for an additional shot.
That will be significant help in rural areas, and other places where residents are far from vaccination sites.
It also has easier storage requirements than the current shots, which need extra-cold temperatures, and it can be kept in a standard refrigerator for at least three months
The Johnson & Johnson vaccine is awaiting emergency-use authorization from a critical Food and Drug Administration panel on Friday, followed by the agency’s final decision, expected shortly. READ MORE
Columbus child care worker speaks with Biden about needs of essential workers
A child care worker in Columbus spoke directly to President Joe Biden about the struggles she faces as an essential worker and single mother.
Carmen Palmer was one of four people who spoke with Biden and his domestic policy advisor, Susan Rice, during a recent roundtable about COVID-19 and Black worker struggles, along with legislation Biden says is likely to pass to bring relief.
After growing up in foster care, Palmer decided to move from Detroit to Columbus after high school, and works at Kiddie Academy, a child care center in Columbus. Palmer runs the food program there while also working as a substitute teacher and occasional bus driver, all while taking care of her own two children.
“My role is to ensure not only 0 to 5 (year-old) children eat, but our school-agers as well,” Palmer said. “I love providing for them nutritious meals, because I know what it’s like not to eat or know when my next meal is coming, especially growing up in foster care.” READ MORE
‘Aisha’s Law’ for domestic violence protections returns to Ohio legislature
Expansions to domestic violence protections have once again returned to the Ohio Statehouse, after passing the House last year but failing to see daylight in the Senate.
State Rep. Janine Boyd, D-Cleveland Heights, said in Thursday’s House Criminal Justice Committee that this was the 14th version of the bill attempting to enhance punishments for certain domestic violence crimes and tools for law enforcement to help prevent escalation of already high-risk situations.
The bill is nicknamed Aisha’s Law, after Aisha Fraser, a Shaker Heights teacher and mother killed by her ex-husband, former judge and state legislator, Lance Mason, during what was supposed to be a supervised exchange of their children.
Mason had previously served prison time on a previous domestic violence charge, leveled after another attack on Fraser. READ MORE
