COVID-19 Vaccinations in the United States​

CDC COVID Data Tracker:

• Total doses distributed are cumulative counts of COVID-19 vaccine doses recorded as shipped in the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention’s (CDC) Vaccine Tracking System (VTrckS) since December 13, 2020. Cumulative totals reflect data available as of 9:00am ET on the day of reporting.
• People initiating vaccination (1st dose received) are cumulative counts of individual COVID-19 vaccine first doses administered as reported to the CDC by state, territorial, and local public health agencies and five federal entities (Bureau of Prisons, Veterans Administration, Department of Defense, Department of State, and Indian Health Services) since December 14, 2020. Cumulative doses administered reflect current data available as of 9:00am ET on the day of reporting.
• Doses distributed and people initiating vaccination (1st dose received) are for both Moderna and Pfizer BioNTech COVID-19 vaccine.

New data favour administering COVID-19 vaccines as fast as possible, not reserving doses

New data favour administering COVID-19 vaccines as fast as possible, not reserving doses: Administering the vast majority of Canada’s COVID-19 vaccine doses right away would avert significantly more coronavirus infections than reserving half of the country’s allotment as second doses for the first recipients, according to new modelling from researchers at the University of Toronto.

Yet some provinces – including Ontario – are planning to keep half of their initial shipments in the freezer in case the vaccine supply chain breaks down, meaning fewer vulnerable people will be inoculated in the early weeks of the vaccine campaign.

NEW: Ontario is changing its vaccine policy and no longer reserving second doses, but getting all of the initial 90k out the door- they expect to finish them in the “next several days” - Health Minister’s office tells @globalnews. Change due to confidence in supply chain.

Today in Dutch efficiency: the Netherlands will be the last country in the EU to start vaccination. One of the reasons is that they were "surprised" by the size of the packages. They contain 1000 doses each while NL expected to use small facilities. 

Early evidence of effectiveness of digital contact tracing for SARS-CoV-2 in Switzerland

Early evidence of effectiveness of digital contact tracing for SARS-CoV-2 in Switzerland: A growing number of governments have launched or announced EN-based contact tracing apps, but their effectiveness remains unknown. Here, we report early findings of the digital contact tracing app deployment in Switzerland. We demonstrate proof-of-principle that digital contact tracing reaches exposed contacts, who then test positive for SARS-CoV-2. This indicates that digital contact tracing is an effective complementary tool for controlling the spread of SARS-CoV-2. Continued technical improvement and international compatibility can further increase the efficacy, particularly also across country borders.

Spain to keep register of those who refuse Covid vaccine

Coronavirus: Spain to keep register of those who refuse Covid vaccine: In an interview with La Sexta television on Monday, [the health minister] Mr Illa emphasised that vaccination would not be mandatory. 

"What will be done is a register, which will be shared with our European partners... of those people who have been offered it and have simply rejected it," he said. 

"It is not a document which will be made public and it will be done with the utmost respect for data protection." 

 He added: "People who are offered a therapy that they refuse for any reason, it will be noted in the register... that there is no error in the system, not to have given this person the possibility of being vaccinated."

2020 must be the last year of lockdown.

Lockdown: a deadly, failed experiment: It has been a global catastrophe. We must never go down this road again. ...

In the developing world, where Covid itself has had a much lesser impact than in the West, lockdowns have disrupted an estimated 80 per cent of programmes aimed at treating tuberculosis. In 2019, TB killed 1.4million people worldwide. But this year, thanks to a 25 per cent reduction in case detections, 1.7million deaths have been projected.

One of the greatest costs – which cannot be quantified in lives lost or dollar signs – has been to freedom. And this goes deeper than the (hopefully) temporary curbs on everyday life. Our entire culture of freedom has collapsed. We now need and expect the state’s explicit permission for whatever limited activities we can do. Even Christmas can now be cancelled by the state.