This week, Pfizer and BioNTech announced their vaccine candidate was found to be more than 90 percent effective in preventing COVID-19 in participants without evidence of prior COVID-19 infection in the first interim efficacy analysis. The study enrolled 43,538 participants and evaluated 94 confirmed COVID-19 cases in trial participants. No serious safety concerns were observed…
Read More »On Monday, the U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA) issued an emergency use authorization (EUA) for monoclonal antibody Bamlanivimab for the treatment of mild to moderate COVID-19 in adult and pediatric populations. Bamlanivimab must be administered by intravenous (IV) infusion in non-hospitalized patients. The antibody is being distributed by FDA to state and territorial health…
Read More »On Thursday, the California Legislative Analyst’s Office (LAO) published a report providing a high-level summary of state and federal funds expended to date in responding to the ongoing COVID-19 pandemic. The LAO’s report explores state and federal authorities for COVID-19 spending, state, federal, and other funding sources for COVID-19 spending, and the amounts of COVID-19…
Read More »The California Department of Public Health (CDPH) this week issued the Playbook to Stand Up Community-Based Testing Sites, offering a step-by-step guide to organizations (e.g., schools, agricultural associations, places of worship) on how to partner with the state’s new Valencia Regional Laboratory, powered by PerkinElmer, to ramp-up capacity of COVID-19 testing. The playbook details five…
Read More »This week, the California Department of Public Health (CDPH) and the California Department of Technology (CDT) announced an expansion of the Exposure Notification Express app to additional University of California (UC) campuses. Recall, CDPH and CDT announced in September the new partnership with Google and Apple to confidentially notify individuals who opt in if they…
Read More »This week, the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) published high-level executive summaries of each state’s interim COVID-19 Vaccination Playbooks, which provide an overview of critical aspects of each jurisdiction’s approach to distributing COVID-19 vaccines. The summaries are available here.
Read More »The California Department of Public Health (CDPH) recently developed a new communications toolkit to share information on reducing the risk of spreading COVID-19 while ridesharing in a private vehicle. The toolkit includes a handout, social media content, and information for local leaders to share with their communities. The full rideshare toolkit is available here.
Read More »Today, Governor Gavin Newsom announced the opening of the state’s new laboratory in Valencia in Los Angeles County to increase the state’s COVID-19 testing capacity and reduce test turnaround time. In partnership with PerkinElmer, the new $25 million lab will begin processing tests starting in November and will work toward full capacity of 150,000 tests…
Read More »On Monday, Governor Gavin Newsom and California Health and Human Services Secretary Dr. Mark Ghaly announced that Washington, Oregon, and Nevada have joined California’s COVID-19 Safety Review Workgroup which will be tasked with independently reviewing the safety and efficacy of any vaccine approved by the U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA) for distribution. Recall, last…
Read More »This week, the California Department of Public Health (CDPH) announced the COVID-19 Vaccine Drafting Guidelines Workgroup to advise the state on COVID-19 vaccine prioritization and allocation. Building on the state’s COVID-19 Scientific Safety Review Workgroup, the Drafting Guidelines Workgroup is comprised of immunization, geriatrics, ethics, epidemiology, health equity, and pharmacy practice experts. The group is…
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