Today’s NewsStand

Today’s NewsStand

By Iowa Hospital Association|
|April 14, 2021

Iowa news

Health centers adjust after Johnson and Johnson vaccine distribution put on pause

People started walking in the doors at the Eastern Iowa Health Center early Tuesday morning expecting to get their one-shot Johnson and Johnson vaccine. But Tuesday morning, public health leaders including the CDC, FDA and the Iowa Department of Public Health, advised all Iowa vaccine providers to pause administration of the Johnson and Johnson COVID-19 vaccine. Instead, staff at the Eastern Iowa Health Center came in early and worked hard to ensure patients had another choice. Joe Lock, president and CEO of the center, said 60 of the 70 people signed up got the two-dose Moderna vaccine instead. (KCRG)

UnityPoint battles central Iowa’s largest physician group over proposed new labs

One of Iowa’s largest health care providers is going to court in an effort to block the creation of two new cardiac catheterization labs it says are unnecessary. UnityPoint Health-Des Moines, which owns and operates Iowa Methodist Medical Center, Blank Children’s Hospital, Iowa Lutheran Hospital and Methodist West Hospital, is challenging efforts by the the Iowa Clinic Surgery and Endoscopy Center to establish the two new labs. (Patch.com)

24-hour vaccine clinic in Cedar Rapids this weekend open to public

A 24-hour COVID-19 vaccine clinic will take place in downtown Cedar Rapids this weekend to vaccinate any individual age 16 and older, county public health officials announced. The large-scale public vaccine clinic will be hosted at the DoubleTree in downtown Cedar Rapids starting at 9 a.m. Saturday, April 17, and ending at 9 a.m. Sunday, April 18. Public health officials and health care providers will administer the Pfizer vaccine to approximately 1,000 people, according to a Linn County Public Health news release. A clinic to administer the second doses will take place May 8. (The Gazette)

 

National news

Could we save lives by assigning each American a place in line for vaccines?

Imagine a formula that could score each American’s unique risk of dying of COVID-19. People’s odds would determine their exact number in line for a vaccine. The algorithm would take into account your age, your race, your full medical history and every one of your health insurance claims. It would marry that information with data about vaccine inventories and health care locations. You’d get an email, a text or a telephone call the week before your vaccine appointment telling you where and when to show up. If you turned down the shot, the next in line would take your spot. (Yahoo News)

The virus is surging in the Northeast and Upper Midwest, while other regions are largely keeping it at bay

The virus is again surging in parts of the United States, but it’s a picture with dividing lines: ominous figures in the Northeast and Upper Midwest, but largely not in the South. Experts are unsure what explains the split, which doesn’t correspond to vaccination levels. Some point to warmer weather in the Sun Belt, while others suspect that decreased testing is muddying the virus’s true footprint. (The New York Times)

More women than men getting coronavirus vaccines

More women than men are getting COVID-19 vaccines, even as more men are dying of the disease. An examination of vaccination dashboards for all 50 states and the District of Columbia in early April and found that each of the 38 that listed gender breakdowns showed more women had received shots than men. Public health experts cited many reasons for the difference, including that women make up three-quarters of the workforce in health care and education, sectors prioritized for initial vaccines. (USA Today)

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