At least 106 million cases of coronavirus (COVID-19) have been diagnosed worldwide as of Monday evening, including at least 2.32 million deaths. Healthcare officials in the United States have reported at least 27 million positive COVID-19 cases and at least 463,000 deaths. Source: Johns Hopkins University & Medicine
At least 132 million individual doses of COVID-19 vaccine have been administered worldwide as of Monday evening, including at least 41.2 million in the United States. Source: GitHub
U.S. sees 25% reduction in COVID cases
Healthcare officials in the United States are reporting a 25% drop in new cases of COVID-19, the biggest drop in newly active cases since the pandemic started, according to numerous reports. New cases of the virus have now fallen for four consecutive weeks to the lowest level since early November, according to Reuters, to approximately 825,000 last week.
The steepest drop by state was seen in California, where cases in the week ending Feb. 7 fell by 48%, according to reports. Only four states, Oregon, Puerto Rico, Arkansas, and Vermont, saw an actual rise in cases.
Additionally, the average number of COVID-19 patients in hospitals fell by 15% in the country to 88,000 last week, also a record percentage drop, according to the Reuters report, an analysis of data from the volunteer-run COVID Tracking Project. This too was the lowest average number in hospitals since late November.
Death fell by 2.5% last week as well to 22,193. Excluding a backlog of deaths reported by Indiana, fatalities were down 9.5% last week.
Despite the encouraging news, health officials are also saying that there’s worry that new variants of the virus could slow or reverse this progress.
Healthcare providers not always willing to be vaccinated
Not all healthcare professionals are agreeing to receive the COVID-19 vaccine, according to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. During the vaccine’s first month of rollout, only 38% of long-term care workers participated in a federally run vaccination campaign for residents and employees of these facilities during its first month. However, officials believe those numbers likely have risen in recent weeks, and there are other workers who have received vaccine outside of their workplaces.
A survey conducted in the first week of January found that 23% of healthcare workers said they would never accept the vaccine. Among unvaccinated employees, 38% said they feared long-term side effects. Healthcare workers appear somewhat more skeptical compared to the general public. A Henry J. Kaiser Family Foundation survey last month found that 13% of Americans said they will never get vaccinated against COVID-19.
But officials also report that surveys are also showing consistently increasing acceptance of the vaccines since they have become available.
Among reasons for not receiving the vaccine are inequities in how distribution is occurring countrywide as well as what some consider to be a lack of evidence related to potential side effects.
AstraZeneca vaccine no longer candidate in South Africa
Officials in South Africa have decided to press pause on their rollout of the Oxford-AstraZeneca coronavirus vaccine after a recent study showed that it offered only “minimal protection” against mild or moderate illness caused by the more contagious virus variant known as B.1.351 that was first identified in the country.
The findings come one week after the first million doses of the vaccine arrived in South Africa and at a time when new cases and deaths are said to be driven by the new variant.
The B.1.351 variant has been identified in at least 41 countries, according to CNN, including the United States. Other variants first spotted in the United Kingdom and Brazil have also been detected in dozens more countries.
The study has reportedly not yet been peer reviewed. AstraZeneca is expected to be continuing to work with Oxford University to adapt the vaccine against the variant, and several other manufacturers have said they are trying to address the issue of variants by developing booster shots.
Trial to test the mixing of vaccines
A study that has launched in the United Kingdom is attempting to become the first to prove whether or not different coronavirus vaccines can safely be used for two-dose regimens.
Participants in the 13-month study will reportedly be given the Oxford-AstraZeneca and Pfizer-BioNTech vaccines in different combinations and at different intervals, according to the UK Department of Health and Social Care.
Enrollment in the study is currently underway and preliminary results are expected to be released during the summer, according to UK health officials. Vaccine dosing will continue to occur as currently advised, with the same second dose brand being used as the first dose, while the study is ongoing.
The study will also reportedly seek to determine if vaccination is more effective with a 4-week or 12-week gap between the two doses. More than 800 people are expected to take part in the trial and will begin receiving their shots by mid-February, officials said.
