Fauci Denies US Policies On Vaccines Are Imperiling Undeveloped Nations

Politico: Fauci: Booster Shots For Americans Won’t Deprive Unvaccinated People Around The Globe 
Anthony Fauci said Sunday that pushing Americans to get booster shots won’t deprive others around the globe of the opportunity to get vaccinated. “We can do both,” Fauci said on ABC’s “This Week." “We are, right now, vaccinating our own country,” President Joe Biden’s top medical adviser said. “We're going to be boosting as many people as we possibly can. But you can also simultaneously make doses available to the developing world. And the United States, quite frankly, has done more than all of the other countries combined. We've given over 300 million doses to over 100 countries, and we will either have given or pledging 1.1 billion doses and an expansion of even more.“ (Cohen, 12/12)

Stat: Rich Countries Are Hoarding More Covid Vaccines Than Needed For Boosters
Two years since SARS-CoV-2 first passed into humans, manufacturers have created enough vaccines to inoculate most of the world against Covid-19. But dozens of low-income countries still face dire shortages because rich nations are building stockpiles with hundreds of millions more doses than they need. Even when booster shots for rich nations are taken into account, there’s ample supply to meet global vaccination goals for the end of 2021, STAT’s analysis of available data shows. The challenge is getting the vaccines to the right places. (Goldhill, 12/13)

In other updates on the vaccine rollout —

The Washington Post: Vaccine Holdouts In U.S. Military Approach 40,000 Even As Omicron Variant Fuels Call For Boosters
The number of active-duty U.S. military personnel declining to be vaccinated against the coronavirus by their prescribed deadlines is as high as 40,000, with new Army data showing that, days ahead of its cutoff, 3 percent of soldiers either have rejected President Biden’s mandate or sought a long-shot exemption. While overall the vast majority of service members are fully vaccinated, military analysts have characterized the number of refusals and holdouts as a troubling indicator in a rigid, top-down culture where decision-making often is predicated on the understanding that the troops will do as they are told. It also suggests the nation’s divisive politics have influenced a small but significant segment of the Defense Department, historically an apolitical institution. (Horton, 12/11)

CIDRAP: COVID Vaccine Lotteries Tied To Increased Uptake In Most, Not All, States
Programs that reward the newly vaccinated with an entry in a lottery were associated with an increase in COVID-19 vaccinations in most—but not all—US states offering the incentive and may have spurred almost 2 million people to get immunized, according to research published yesterday in JAMA Network Open. From Mar 17 to Jul 5, 2021, researchers from Drexel University and the University of Georgia polled 403,714 adult participants in the Household Pulse Survey and analyzed daily vaccination rates for the 11 states with a vaccine lottery and 28 states without such a program. Of all survey participants, 71.9% were vaccinated against COVID-19 and 28.1% were not. (12/10)

Axios: Millions Of America's Seniors Haven't Received Booster Shot And Are Vulnerable To Omicron 
Only about half of nursing home residents have received a COVID booster shot — an ominous statistic as Omicron rapidly spreads around the world. Experts recommended booster shots — especially for this vulnerable population — even before the emergence of Omicron. But preliminary data shows that two doses of Pfizer's vaccine isn't very effective against the new variant, although three is. (Owens, 12/13)

Philadelphia Inquirer: COVID Booster Shots In Philadelphia, Pa., Face Data Tracking Challenges
A lack of data makes it “impossible to say” what percentage of Philadelphians who are eligible for a COVID-19 booster shot haven’t gotten one, as the city contends with ongoing challenges capturing the vaccinations of people who cross city lines for their shots. A data adjustment happening now will soon provide a much better picture of vaccinations, said Philadelphia Public Health Department spokesperson James Garrow. Thousands of people statewide appear to have only one or two doses but, in reality, have the highest level of protection against the coronavirus currently available, city officials believe. (McDaniel, 12/11)

Houston Chronicle: Houston Hospitals See Uptick In Demand For Booster Shots As Omicron Spreads In Texas
COVID-19 booster shots are hot. Houston hospitals and clinics report an uptick in people receiving their supplementary vaccine dose as the omicron variant spreads throughout the globe. The variant, publicly identified Nov. 25 in South Africa, was first detected in Texas on Monday when public health officials confirmed a Harris County woman had contracted the strain. Houston Methodist has since identified another 18 samples of the variant, from COVID patients throughout the greater Houston area, and the city found traces of omicron in eight of its wastewater treatment facilities. Three cases were also detected in Fort Bend County. (Gill, 12/10)

In news about nasal vaccines —

Fox News: Study: Nasal Vaccine May Help Protect Against COVID Variants
Omicron and delta variants of COVID-19 have researchers investigating the effectiveness of existing vaccinations and boosters against emerging new strains of SARS-CoV-2. One protection against the quickly mutating novel coronavirus may potentially be through nasal vaccines, according to researchers of a new study published in Science Immunology. "A new response to the rapidly mutating virus might be found right at the door to our lungs", Yale University’s Akiko Iwasaki, a Waldemar Von Zedtwitz Professor of Immunobiology and senior author of the study, said in news release. (McGorry, 12/12)