This Fall, More Colleges To Mandate Covid Vaccines For Students

The Hill: 5 US Colleges To Require Students Be Vaccinated Before Returning In Fall
At least five U.S. colleges and universities have announced plans to require students be fully vaccinated before returning to campuses in the fall. Students who attend Cornell University, Rutgers University, Fort Lewis College, Nova Southeastern University and St. Edward’s University will have to be fully vaccinated before returning to campus in the fall, with limited exemptions for underlying medical conditions and religious beliefs. (Schnell, 4/5)

USA Today: Walgreens COVID Vaccine: Chain To Switch From 4-Week Window To 3
Walgreens has been administering the second dose of Pfizer's COVID-19 vaccine a week after federal guidelines say it is ideally delivered, but the chain will change its policy to come into line with the government's recommendations. While the extra time is not feared to be a problem, the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention asked the drugstore chain to follow its guidelines, the agency confirmed. Until now, Walgreens had been administering the second dose of the Pfizer vaccine four weeks after the first, the company confirmed Monday to USA TODAY. Federal guidance is three weeks. (Bomey, 4/5)

Roll Call: Fauci Sticks With Two-Dose Vaccine Regimen 
Anthony Fauci, director of the National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases, said he continued to believe it better to inject Americans with two doses of the Pfizer and Moderna vaccines on the drugmakers' recommended schedule — a view that is at odds with other Biden administration advisers. Some experts, like Michael Osterholm, an epidemiologist and former adviser to President Joe Biden, have called for delaying the second dose of the vaccine until more of the initial doses are administered. The British government has delayed second doses, enabling it to reach more of its population more quickly with a single dose, and its death rate from COVID-19 has declined more quickly than that of the United States. (Raman, 4/5)

Fox News: Fauci Weighs In On COVID-19 Vaccine Safety In Pregnant Women
While studies regarding COVID-19 vaccine safety in pregnant women are ongoing, Dr. Anthony Fauci, the White House’s chief medical advisor, said that there doesn’t appear to be any concerns for now. "Those studies are going to be done soon, and some are ongoing right now, but for pregnant women who have already taken it, after the emergency use authorization, there doesn’t seem to be any problem," Fauci said, in a short Q&A posted to the White House’s Twitter account. (Hein, 4/5)

In other vaccine news —

Bloomberg: Valneva To Start Final Tests On Alternative Covid Vaccine
Valneva SE plans to start final-phase clinical trials on its Covid-19 vaccine candidate this month, a step forward for a French drugmaker’s low-tech shot that’s being backed by the U.K. government. The Lyon-based company said Tuesday a phase 1/2 test gave positive results for a high dose. Valneva shares rose as much as 8.4% in early Paris trading. The vaccine uses a sample of the virus that has been killed to stimulate an immune response without causing the disease. The approach has been used for decades with inoculations for polio and hepatitis A. Valneva has said the well-established safety profile of inactivated jabs may allow a successful shot to be used in a broader group of people than newer technologies from other drugmakers. (Mulier, 4/6)

The New York Times: Researchers Are Hatching A Low-Cost Covid-19 Vaccine
A new vaccine for Covid-19 that is entering clinical trials in Brazil, Mexico, Thailand and Vietnam could change how the world fights the pandemic. The vaccine, called NDV-HXP-S, is the first in clinical trials to use a new molecular design that is widely expected to create more potent antibodies than the current generation of vaccines. And the new vaccine could be far easier to make. Existing vaccines from companies like Pfizer and Johnson & Johnson must be produced in specialized factories using hard-to-acquire ingredients. In contrast, the new vaccine can be mass-produced in chicken eggs — the same eggs that produce billions of influenza vaccines every year in factories around the world. (Zimmer, 4/5)

Bay Area News Group: Can Sleep Or Stress Impair Your COVID-19 Vaccination?
COVID-19 vaccines are enormously effective at warding off the deadly virus. Is there a way to make them even better? To learn more, a major new UC San Francisco study is enlisting 600 unvaccinated Bay Area residents to investigate whether a range of predictors — such as age, sleep, stress and emotional wellbeing – might influence the power and persistence of our body’s defenses. “We’re measuring factors that may lead to a more robust response, as well as factors that we believe will dampen, or weaken, the antibody response,” said UCSF psychiatry professor Elissa Epel, a co-investigator of the Building Optimal Antibodies Study project. (Krieger, 4/5)

The Washington Post: Can The Vaccine Make Your Period Worse? These Women Say Yes. 
A number of women and menstruators have taken to social media — including Facebook groups and Reddit threads — to share their accounts of their post-vaccination periods and seek explanations about what’s happening to their menstrual cycles. What’s more, the lack of answers has led some to decry sexism within the medical establishment. (McShane, 4/5)

The Baltimore Sun: Baltimore Orioles Enlist Eddie Murray In Broad COVID Vaccine Push: ‘We Need To Protect One Another’ 
The Baltimore Orioles are summoning Hall of Famer Eddie Murray to join current players — and a masked Oriole Bird — in a high-profile “Take One for the Team” campaign encouraging people to get the coronavirus vaccine. Fans attending Thursday’s home opener will spot prominent signs inside Camden Yards featuring the mascot and reading: “Take One for the Team. Get the Vaccine.” The broadcast of the game against the Boston Red Sox will show similar electronic messaging on the stadium’s warehouse wall. (Barker, 4/6)

KHN: For This Hospice Nurse, The Covid Shot Came Too Late
Antonio Espinoza loved the Los Angeles Dodgers. He loved them so much that he was laid to rest in his favorite Dodgers jersey. His family and friends, including his 3-year-old son, donned a sea of blue-and-white baseball shirts and caps in his honor. Espinoza died at age 36 of covid-19, just days after he got his first dose of a covid vaccine. He was a hospice nurse who put his life in danger to help covid patients and others have a peaceful death. (de Marco, 4/6)

The Oregonian: Scheduling Website Freezes Up As Masses Try To Snag COVID Vaccine Appointments At Portland International Airport Monday 
Many Portland-area residents who became eligible for COVID-19 vaccinations Monday morning after months of patiently waiting their turns encountered a new frustration: A scheduling website that wouldn’t let them book appointments. Leagues of people 16 and older with underlying conditions and frontline workers visited an appointment scheduling website for Portland International Airport’s drive-thru at 9 a.m. Monday, only to discover that the website repeatedly froze up, displayed computer coding instead of appointment times or offered them appointment times but wouldn’t let proceed through the booking process. (Green, 4/5)