By edhat team
Officials from the Santa Barbara County Department of Public Health (PHD) addressed concerns about the Modern vaccine and the rise in cases of COVID-19.
California state epidemiologist Dr. Erica S. Pan issued a statement on Sunday recommending providers to pause administration of the 41L20A batch of the Modern COVID-19 vaccine due to possible allergic reactions that are under investigation.
“Our goal is to provide the COVID vaccine safely, quickly and equitably,” said Dr. Pan. “A greater than normal number of possible allergic reactions has been reported with a specific batch of the Modern vaccine administered in a vaccination clinic in Less than 10 individuals needed medical attention during the 24-hour period. Due to the extreme abundance of caution and also recognizing the extremely limited supply of vaccine, we recommend that providers use another available vaccine inventory and pause administration of vaccines from the community. Lot 041L20A from Moderna until investigation by [Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC)] and [U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA)], Modern and the state is complete. We will provide an update as we learn more. “
PHD Deputy Director Paige Batson said that only six of 330,000 doses of Moderna distributed to 287 providers across the state resulted in allergic reactions that did not require hospitalization.
Shipments arrived in California between January 5 and 12 and the state has not been notified of any other cluster or individual events related to this lot.
Batson said he anticipates that the state will clean up this batch of the vaccine, since allergic reaction incidents have been linked to only one distribution site in Southern California, so there is potential that it could be something other than the vaccine.
The state states that the risk of a serious adverse reaction is very small. Although there is less data on adverse reactions related to the Modern vaccine, a similar vaccine shows that the expected rate of anaphylaxis is approximately 1 in 100,000.
The manufacturer, CDC and FDA are reviewing the batch and related medical information.
PHD director Dr. Van Do-Reynoso said the positivity of the COVID-19 test remains at 16%, with a substantial increase in cases last week, proving that the virus continues to spread.
The department expects an increase in reported outbreaks in the workplace due to a new state law requiring reports of three or more positive cases in two weeks. During the first week of January, there were 15 outbreaks reported in the workplace and 14 outbreaks in congregated environments.
From 9 to 15 January, most infections were due to meetings, with 75% of participants attending a meeting with family and friends.
On Tuesday, the PHD reported 342 new cases and five additional deaths. Three subjects were over 70 years old with underlying health conditions and two individuals were 50-69 years old. Three of the deaths are associated with outbreaks in congregated health facilities. Two individuals resided in Santa Bárbara, two were from Santa Maria and one resided in Goleta.
There are currently 2,465 active cases that include 205 hospitalizations, 49 of which in an intensive care unit (ICU). The availability of ICU in the municipality remains at 0%.
More details can be found at https://publichealthsbc.org.