“The National Kidney Foundation has released a statement urging the federal government to grant priority to patients with kidney disease and their contacts for receipt of COVID-19 vaccines.
According to the statement, it is a matter of “ethical allocation,” because this patient population is at high risk for severe outcomes if they contract the virus.”
Read the full article, here.
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WASHINGTON, D.C., December 21, 2020 – Honor the Gift, a national, patient-centered coalition dedicated to improving the lives of kidney transplant patients and honoring the gift of their donors, today celebrates the passage of the Comprehensive Immunosuppressive Drug Coverage for Kidney Transplant Patients Act of 2019 (H.R. 5534 / S. 3353).
This critical legislation, known to many in the community as the Immuno Bill, marks an important milestone in the history of American kidney care. For more than twenty years, patients, donors and their supporters have advocated for the extension of Medicare part B coverage of immunosuppressive medications for kidney transplant recipients. Thanks to the collaborative efforts of the Honor the Gift coalition and the entire kidney, donation and transplant community, Congress has finally taken action to honor the gift.”
Read the full press release, here.
“The AST has received queries from transplant professionals and the community
regarding the COVID-19 vaccine. The following FAQ was developed to relay information
on the current state of knowledge. This document is subject to change and will be
updated frequently as new information or data becomes available.”
See full details, here.
“Two years ago, a 9-year-old Baltimore gymnast named Khloe Cox was rising through the competitive ranks, winning awards and following in the footsteps of her hero: Olympic gold medalist Simone Biles.
But all that changed one day in 2018, when her parents got a call from her coach. Khloe had fallen ill with a fever and abdominal pain. The young athlete turned out to have a rare stage IV neuroendocrine tumor that had started in her pancreas and spread to her liver.
Khloe needed a dual liver-pancreas transplant, but given her age and the complexity of the surgery, only a handful of surgeons in the world could perform it. Among them was Srinath Chinnakotla, clinical director of pediatric transplantation at M Health Fairview University of Minnesota Masonic Children’s Hospital.”
Read the full story, here.
“In a 20-0 vote, with 1 abstention, a panel of advisers to the Food and Drug Administration recommended that the COVID-19 vaccine being developed by Moderna be authorized for emergency use in adults during the pandemic.
The vote in favor of the vaccine was taken to answer the agency’s question: Do the benefits of the Moderna vaccine outweigh its risks for use in people 18 years of age and older.
The agency typically follows the advice of its expert advisers.
A quick FDA decision is expected given the state of the pandemic, of 94% effectiveness of the Moderna vaccine in preventing COVID-19 and a determination by the FDA that there are no specific safety concerns that would stand in the way. The FDA authorized the Pfizer-BioNTech COVID-19 vaccine last Friday, a day after the same panel voted in favor of it.”
Read the full article, here.
The first people in the U.S. are receiving vaccination shots against COVID-19 on Monday, as U.S. health workers started administering the vaccine developed by Pfizer and BioNTech.
The first widely publicized vaccination took place in New York City, shortly after 9 a.m. ET. The event was live-streamed and promoted by New York Gov. Andrew Cuomo, who said, “The vaccine only works if the American people take it.”
Sandra Lindsay, a critical care nurse at Long Island Jewish Medical Center, was the first person to receive the vaccine at the event. She received a shot administered by Dr. Michelle Chester, director of employee health services at Northwell Health.
“I feel like healing is coming,” she said. “I hope this marks the beginning to the end of a very painful time in our history.”
Read the full article, here.
“Today, the U.S. Food and Drug Administration issued the first emergency use authorization (EUA) for a vaccine for the prevention of coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) caused by severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 (SARS-CoV-2) in individuals 16 years of age and older. The emergency use authorization allows the Pfizer-BioNTech COVID-19 Vaccine to be distributed in the U.S.”
“The FDA’s authorization for emergency use of the first COVID-19 vaccine is a significant milestone in battling this devastating pandemic that has affected so many families in the United States and around the world,” said FDA Commissioner Stephen M. Hahn, M.D. “Today’s action follows an open and transparent review process that included input from independent scientific and public health experts and a thorough evaluation by the agency’s career scientists to ensure this vaccine met FDA’s rigorous, scientific standards for safety, effectiveness, and manufacturing quality needed to support emergency use authorization. The tireless work to develop a new vaccine to prevent this novel, serious, and life-threatening disease in an expedited timeframe after its emergence is a true testament to scientific innovation and public-private collaboration worldwide.”
Read the full press release, here.
“Three researchers presented results on COVID-19 therapies and data of importance to patients with hematological conditions.
Patients with compromised immune systems, whether due to chemotherapy or a bone marrow transplant, should plan to be vaccinated against coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) when they have the chance, Anthony Fauci, MD, the nation’s leading infectious disease expert, said Saturday.
Fauci, who in January will serve a seventh president as director of the National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases (NIAID), told the online audience gathered for the 62nd annual American Society of Hematology (ASH) meeting that on balance, being vaccinated makes sense for the immunosuppressed, including the patients treated by ASH members.”
“It is clear that if you are on immunosuppressant agents, history tells us that you are not going to have as robust a response as if you had an intact immune system that was not being compromised,” Fauci said, in response to a question from ASH President Stephanie Lee, MD, of the Fred Hutchinson Cancer Center, Seattle. “But some degree of immunity is better than no degree of immunity. So, for me, it would be recommended that these people do get vaccinated.”
Read the full article, here.
“A panel of outside experts on Thursday recommended the Food and Drug Administration issue an emergency use authorization to the Covid-19 vaccine being developed by Pfizer and BioNTech, a vaccine that appeared to be highly efficacious in a Phase 3 clinical trial.
The 17-4 vote came after a long day in which members of the Vaccines and Related Biological Products Advisory Committee, or VRBPAC, discussed a wide range of issues related to the vaccine, including concerns about vaccinating people with severe allergies and 16- and 17-year-olds, as well as issues regarding vaccination during pregnancy or lactation.
Although the FDA does not have to follow the panel’s recommendation, it is widely expected to do so.”
Read the full article, here.
“The COVID-19 public health emergency has revealed painful weaknesses, inefficiencies and inequalities in our health care system. As a result, the public is looking to elected leaders to enact policies that improve our health system, protect at-risk populations and allocate government resources more wisely. Fortunately, there is a bipartisan, common-sense proposal in Congress that could achieve all of those goals for a particularly vulnerable part of the American population: kidney transplant recipients.”
Read the full article, here.