Texas has become the first state to administer one million COVID-19 vaccines, according to Gov. Greg Abbott.

The announcement comes Thursday, exactly one month to the day that the first doses of the vaccine arrived on Dec. 14.

Currently, the Texas Department of State Health Services says 1,021,511 doses have been administered as of 11 a.m. and more than two million doses have been allocated.

“Texas is leading the way for our nation once again,” said Abbott. “This is the biggest vaccination effort we have ever undertaken, and it would not be possible without the dedication and tireless efforts of our healthcare workers.”

In Texas, people who fall into the state’s Phase 1A and Phase 1B categories are eligible to receive the COVID-19 vaccine, including healthcare workers, residents of long-term care facilities, anyone over age 65, and anyone 18-years or older with a chronic medical condition. Chronic medical conditions include cancer, kidney disease, COPD, heart conditions, solid organ transplant recipients, obesity, pregnancy, sickle cell disease and type two diabetes.

https://www.ksat.com/news/local/2021/01/14/texas-is-the-first-state-to-administer-1-million-covid-19-vaccines-gov-abbott-says/

India is gearing up for one of the largest mass vaccination exercises in the world starting Saturday.

The South Asian country plans to inoculate some 300 million people, or more than 20% of its 1.3 billion population, against Covid-19 in the first phase of the exercise.

Indian airlines have started delivering the first doses of vaccines to Delhi and other major cities, including Kolkata, Ahmedabad and tech hub Bengaluru, tweeted Civil Aviation Minister Hardeep Singh Puri earlier this week.

Priority for the shots will be given to health-care and other frontline workers — an estimated 30 million people. That would be followed by those above 50 years of age and other younger, high-risk individuals.

The rollout will involve close collaboration between the central government and states.

India has also developed a digital portal called Co-WIN Vaccine Delivery Management System. It will provide real-time information on “vaccine stocks, their storage temperature and individualized tracking of beneficiaries,” according to the health ministry.

“India’s expertise in vaccine manufacturing and experience with mass immunization campaigns has prepared it well for ‘phase 1’ vaccinations set to begin this weekend,” Akhil Bery, South Asia analyst at Eurasia Group, wrote in a report this week.

“India has a long history of immunization campaigns, including its Universal Immunization Program that inoculates 55 million a year, and will rely on this expertise to distribute coronavirus vaccines,” he added.

https://www.cnbc.com/2021/01/14/india-kicks-off-massive-covid-19-vaccination-drive-on-saturday-jan-16.html

Johnson & Johnson’s one-dose coronavirus vaccine is safe and appears to generate a promising immune response in both young and elderly volunteers, according to trial data published Wednesday in the New England Journal of Medicine.

J&J scientists randomly assigned healthy adults between the ages of 18 and 55 and those 65 and older to receive a high or low dose of its vaccine — called Ad26.COV2.S — or a placebo. Some participants in the 18-to-55 age group were also selected to receive a second dose of the vaccine.

Most of the volunteers produced detectable neutralizing antibodies, which researchers believe play an important role in defending cells against the virus, after 28 days, according to the trial data. By day 57, all volunteers had detectable antibodies, regardless of vaccine dose or age group, and remained stable for at least 71 days in the 18-to-55 age group.

The most common side effects were fever, fatigue, headache, muscle aches and pain at the injection site, according to the trial data. Side effects were less common in the older age group, who received only one dose of the vaccine, as well as those who received a lower dose of the vaccine, according to the data.

The phase one and two clinical trial data shows a single shot of the vaccine “gives sustainable antibodies,” Dr. Paul Stoffels, chief scientific officer at J&J, told CNBC’s Meg Tirrell in an interview. He added it gives the company “confidence” the vaccine will be highly effective against the virus.

https://www.cnbc.com/2021/01/13/covid-vaccine-johnson-johnson-one-shot-safe-generates-immune-response.html

People who recover from coronavirus have a similar level of protection against future infection as those who receive a Covid vaccine – at least for the first five months, research suggests.

A Public Health England (PHE) study of more than 20,000 healthcare workers found that immunity acquired from an earlier Covid infection provided 83% protection against reinfection for at least 20 weeks.

The findings show that while people are unlikely to become reinfected soon after their first infection, it is possible to catch the virus again and potentially spread it to others.

“Overall I think this is good news,” said Prof Susan Hopkins, a senior medical adviser to PHE. “It allows people to feel that prior infection will protect them from future infections, but at the same time it is not complete protection, and therefore they still need to be careful when they are out and about.”

PHE recruited healthcare workers from hospitals across the UK and divided them into two groups: those who had coronavirus before and those who had not. Between June and November last year, the participants underwent fortnightly PCR tests for the virus, and monthly tests to examine the antibody levels in their blood.

https://www.theguardian.com/society/2021/jan/14/recovering-from-covid-gives-similar-level-of-protection-to-vaccine

The number of COVID-19 vaccine doses administered in Canada has surpassed one per cent of the country's total population.

There had been 387,899 vaccinations given in Canada as of end-of-day Tuesday, according to data compiled by CTV News. That’s equivalent to 1.021 per cent of the population.

That does not mean more than one per cent of Canadians have been vaccinated, as some of those 387,899 vaccinations have been recipients' second doses. The two vaccines approved for use in Canada both involve two shots, given weeks apart.

https://www.ctvnews.ca/health/coronavirus/canada-has-now-given-enough-covid-19-vaccine-doses-to-cover-1-per-cent-of-the-population-1.5264794

It is possible to get an extra dose out of vials of AstraZeneca’s COVID-19 vaccine as well as the one made by Pfizer, the head of immunisation at Public Health England (PHE) said on Wednesday.

In December, the health service gave doctors advice that they could use extra doses of the Pfizer vaccine at their discretion if they could be extracted, and on Wednesday Dr Mary Ramsay said it was happening with AstraZeneca’s shot too.

“We have been able to get more vaccine out of each vial, and that’s happened for the Pfizer vaccine and it’s also happening with the AstraZeneca vaccine. So that means overall, we’ve got more vaccines to go around,” she told lawmakers, adding that PHE had bought the necessary needles “from the start”.

“Really very early on we discovered that we’re able to get more out of the vials, which is excellent news.”

https://www.reuters.com/article/us-health-coronavirus-britain-vaccine-vi-idUKKBN29I166?taid=5ffedae64156da0001be282f

Boris Johnson has pledged coronavirus jabs will be given 24/7 "as soon as we can" - as AstraZeneca said it expects to release two million doses a week of the Oxford vaccine by mid-February.

The prime minister said a huge network of 233 hospitals, 1,000 GP surgeries, 200 pharmacies and 50 mass vaccination centres is already working "exceptionally fast", but "at the moment the limit is on supply" of the vaccine.

"We will be going to 24/7 as soon as we can," he told MPs during Prime Minister's Questions in the Commons, adding Health Secretary Matt Hancock would be setting out further details "in due course".

His comments came minutes after his vaccines minister Nadhim Zahawi confirmed the government is considering a 24-hour vaccination programme to meet its promise to have the UK's four most vulnerable groups vaccinated by the middle of next month.

Mr Zahawi told MPs on the Science and Technology Committee ministers "will absolutely look" at the measure when asked about it, adding that he is confident the government will achieve its target.

https://news.sky.com/story/covid-19-astrazeneca-on-track-to-deliver-two-million-vaccine-doses-a-week-by-mid-february-as-it-calls-for-priority-access-12186734

California’s deadly surge in COVID-19 infections is showing early signs of leveling off after besieging hospitals, morgues and ambulance services for weeks, but the crisis remains far from over, the state’s top health official said Tuesday.

The number of newly hospitalized coronavirus patients statewide has declined to 2,500 admissions every 24 hours over the past two days from a previous daily average of about 3,500 new admissions, California Health and Human Services Secretary Dr. Mark Ghaly said in an online briefing with reporters.

Ghaly called it “the biggest signal to me that things are beginning to flatten and potentially improve.”

He cited several other promising trends, including a slowdown in confirmed daily case numbers - 36,487 reported Tuesday, down from a seven-day average of about 42,000 cases every 24 hours - and a leveling off in the rate of diagnostic tests coming back positive, stabilizing at 13.5% after weeks of a steep upward climb.

He also pointed to a reduced rate in the uptick of the number of COVID patients in hospitals, standing at 21,747 on Tuesday, up 5.5% over the past two weeks. He said that marked lowest rate of increase since late October, when California last saw a week-on-week decline in hospitalized COVID patients.

https://www.reuters.com/article/health-coronavirus-california/california-covid-surge-shows-early-signs-of-leveling-off-idUSL1N2JO047

The U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention said it had administered 9,327,138 first doses of COVID-19 vaccines in the country as of Tuesday morning and distributed 27,696,150 doses.

The tally of vaccine doses distributed and the number of people who received the first dose are for both Moderna and Pfizer/BioNTech, vaccines as of 9:00 a.m. ET on Tuesday, the agency said.

According to the tally posted on Jan 11, the agency had administered 8,987,322 first doses of the vaccines and distributed 25,480,725 doses.

https://www.reuters.com/article/idUSL4N2JN3S1