Iowa news
33K vaccine doses are expiring in Iowa
Around 33,000 Johnson & Johnson coronavirus vaccine doses will expire in Iowa this month, state health officials said yesterday. Less than half of the state is vaccinated and vaccine demand has plummeted in recent weeks. Nearly 51,500 doses were given April 8, the peak of statewide vaccination, according to IDPH data. Fewer than 3,500 were administered in recent days, a more than 90% drop. (Axios Des Moines)
Iowans will no longer be able to use a state website to check their own vaccination histories or those of their children. The change comes amid national controversy over whether employers should be able to require workers to receive coronavirus shots and a state law banning use or government issuance of “vaccine passports.” The Iowa Department of Public Health is limiting public access to the website, partly because of concerns that employers could surreptitiously use it to see if their workers have been vaccinated. (Des Moines Register)
New funding source now available for emergency medical services
Iowa counties can now recognize emergency medical services as “essential” and pay for those services through property taxes, under a bill signed into law by Governor Kim Reynolds on Wednesday. Unlike fire and police services, local governments in Iowa are not required to provide EMS. Under the new law, county supervisors can declare the work essential and seek approval from voters for a new property tax to support those services. (Radio Iowa)
National news
New evidence suggests COVID-19 vaccines remain effective against variants
The emergence of new and more infectious variants of the coronavirus has raised a troubling question: Will the current crop of COVID-19 vaccine prevent these variants from causing disease? A study in the journal Nature suggests the answer is yes. The research was fairly straightforward. Scientists took blood from volunteers who had received the Johnson and Johnson COVID-19 vaccine and looked at the levels of neutralizing antibodies, the kind that prevent a virus from entering cells. (Iowa Public Radio)
Pfizer COVID-19 vaccine for younger kids on track, with shots to come in the fall, company says
Pfizer released details about the progress of its COVID-19 vaccination trials in children, showing that they have completed early testing and are moving forward with lower-dose trials in younger kids. Children are less likely than adults to have a serious case of COVID-19, so drug companies are trying to minimize vaccine side effects while maximizing benefits. For now, Pfizer, which collaborates with German biotech BioNTech, is testing its vaccine at lower doses in grade schoolers than adolescents and still lower doses in younger children. (Des Moines Register)
Will America meet Biden’s Fourth of July vaccine goals?
President Joe Biden set a vaccine goal for 70% of American adults to receive at least one COVID-19 shot by the Fourth of July. If shots continue at their current pace, the US will fall short of that benchmark. In the past week, an average of about 365,000 adults have received their first vaccine each day. To reach Biden’s goal, that number will need to increase to about 630,000 adults newly vaccinated each day. (USA Today)