The Latest: Decreasing demand for vaccines in Kansas

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In this Feb. 15, 2021 file photo, a healthcare worker prepares a dose of the CoronaVac COVID-19 vaccine at the Salvador Sanfuentes public school during the start of the nationwide vaccination campaign for educators, in Santiago, Chile. A real-world study of millions of Chileans who had received the Chinese-developed CoronaVac vaccine has found it 67% effective against symptoms and 80% against death from COVID-19, the South American country's Health Ministry said Friday, April 16, 2021. (AP Photo/Esteban Felix, File)

MISSION, Kan. — Some Kansas counties are rejecting new COVID-19 vaccine shipments or reducing their orders because of decreased demand for the drugs, worrying health officials who say mass vaccinations are the only path to a return to normalcy.

Dennis Kriesel, the executive director of the Kansas Association of Local Health Departments, said Friday that the shift occurred in the past couple weeks. The state opened up eligibility on March 29 to all residents 16 and older. That led to an increase in demand in mostly urban areas, but some rural counties already had begun to administer the vaccine to anyone of age who wanted one, Kriesel said.

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Nearly four months into the vaccination effort, providers are beginning to run out of vaccine seekers even though only 35.9% of Kansas residents had been immunized as of Friday, state data shows.

“We always knew there would be a hesitancy factor that would kick in and we are starting to see that now,” Kriesel said, adding that some other states also are beginning to see more supply than demand. “So people are starting to come up with ways to address concerns, address misinformation and then encourage people who don’t really care that it would still be in their best interest to get a vaccine.”

The suspension this week of the use of the single-dose Johnson & Johnson vaccine amid an investigation into several people who developed blood clots after receiving the drug is also causing problems in some counties where residents clamored for that specific brand, Kriesel said.

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THE VIRUS OUTBREAK:

— U.S. sets up $1.7B network to track virus variants, expand research

— Indian vaccine maker asks U.S. to ease export curbs

— South Africa takes first step to offer shots to the elderly

— Chile study finds Chinese vaccine slashes COVID-19 deaths

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— Tokyo Olympic organizers again say postponed games will open in just 100 days despite Japan's virus surge

— Follow AP’s pandemic coverage at https://apnews.com/hub/coronavirus-pandemic and https://apnews.com/hub/coronavirus-vaccine

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HERE’S WHAT ELSE IS HAPPENING:

ST. LOUIS — A Missouri chiropractor and his company are facing a federal complaint over their claims that zinc and vitamin D products were more effective than vaccines in treating or preventing COVID-19.

The Federal Trade Commission said Thursday it had filed a complaint seeking to block further sales by Eric Anthony Nepute and his company, Quickwork LLC, which does business as Wellness Warrior.

It is the first action brought by the FTC under a new COVID-19 Consumer Protection Act, which makes it illegal “to engage in a deceptive act or practice that is associated with ‘the treatment, cure, prevention, mitigation, or diagnosis of COVID-19,’” the agency said.

A call to Nepute’s business seeking comment on Friday was not immediately returned.

Nepute continues to make the false claims despite earlier warnings to stop, said the commission. He and his company could face civil penalties. The claims made by Nepute and his company exploit fears caused the pandemic and pose a “significant risk to public health and safety,” the commission said.

Nepute promoted his bogus health claims in video monologues on social media that have been viewed millions of times, the FTC said. Other videos by Nepute claim masks can be harmful and coronavirus death statistics have been inflated.

When Facebook shut down his page in February, Nepute created a new page and website and reposted his videos, according to the complaint.

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TORONTO — The premier of Canada’s most populous province says he will be limiting outdoor gatherings to those in the same household and will close playgrounds and golf courses amid a record wave of coronavirus infections fueled by variants.

Ontario Premier Doug Ford says interprovincial travel will also be limited. Ford says those who live alone will be able to meet someone from another household outside. Big box stores will be limited to 25 percent capacity.

Ontario is pleading with other provinces to send nurses and other health workers. Ford blamed a lack of vaccines but made no mention of Prime Minister Justin Trudeau’s announcement that Pfizer is doubling the number of vaccines to Canada over the next month and getting millions more in May and June.

Procurement Minister Anita Anand said in total Canada will receive between 48 and 50 million doses by the end of June. Canada has a population of 38 million and all eligible Canadians are expected to get at least one dose by July.

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LANSING, Mich. — Michigan on Friday extended by five weeks a pandemic order that requires masks in public, limits capacity inside businesses and caps gathering sizes, as the state continued to confront the country’s highest daily coronavirus infection rate.

The state health department’s measure, which was expected and replaces one that had been due to expire Monday, includes a change. Children ages 2 to 4 in day care facilities or camps are no longer exempt from having to wear face coverings, starting April 26.

Democratic Gov. Gretchen Whitmer has resisted tightening restrictions that were in place during two previous COVID-19 surges, including prohibitions on indoor restaurant dining, in-person high school instruction and youth sports. She instead is urging a voluntary pause on the activities and pushing vaccinations and treatments.

Michigan’s daily case rate has led the U.S. for weeks and COVID-19 hospitalizations in the state hit a record this week.

At least 43% of people ages 16 and older have gotten at least one dose, including 29% who are fully vaccinated.

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PORTLAND, Ore. — As COVID-19 cases continue to increase in Oregon, officials on Friday addressed the “stark” and “unacceptable” disparities in COVID-19 vaccine distribution.

The Oregonian/Oregon Live reported that people in the state’s wealthiest ZIP code are 58% vaccinated, while a low-income community that has been one of the hardest hit by the pandemic is 22% vaccinated.

“I want to recognize the fact that vaccinations in Oregon have not been administered as equitably as they need to be,” said Pat Allen, the director of the state’s health authority.

Vaccine disparities have been addressed by Oregon health officials since shots began being administered in December.

At one point the Vaccine Advisory Committee discussed whether to prioritize racial minorities, but decided against it as they said people of color likely fell into other prioritized groups and due to concerns about legal issues if race was the focus.

Based on data from the health authority, white people represent 75% of Oregonians. While they only comprise about 50% of coronavirus cases, they account for 71% of vaccinations.

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ANKARA, Turkey — Turkey has registered more than 63,000 daily COVID-19 cases on Friday, as infections continue to soar to record levels.

The Health Ministry also reported 289 COVID-19-linked deaths, the highest number of fatalities in a single day since the start of the outbreak. The deaths pushed the total number of fatalities in the country to 35,320.

The overall number of infections now stands at more than 4 million.

President Recep Tayyip Erdogan this week imposed tighter restrictions in the country of 84 million for the first two weeks of Ramadan, and warned of stricter measures if the infection rate does not drop.

The measures include bans on intercity travel, a return to online education, the closing of sports and leisure centers and expanding the length of night-time curfews. Earlier, Erdogan had also re-imposed weekend lockdowns and ordered restaurants and cafes shut during the holy Muslim month.

The ministry says around 85% of the cases in the country can be traced to the faster-spreading variant that was first detected in Britain.

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SANTIAGO, Chile — A real-world study of millions of Chileans who had received the Chinese-developed CoronaVac vaccine has found it 67% effective against symptoms and 80% against death from COVID-19.

Chile Health Ministry adviser Rafael Araos said Friday that the Chilean government's study covered 10.5 million people, including 2.5 million who had received both doses of the vaccine and 1.5 million who had received a single dose between Feb. 2 and April 1.

It counted cases starting 14 days after application of the second dose of the vaccine, which in Chile was given 28 days after the first.

He said vaccines had reduced hospitalizations by 85%, intensive care visits by 89% and deaths by 80%.

It is one of the broadest studies so far published of any of the vaccines used against the coronavirus. Most previous studies were based on clinical studies of limited groups of thousands of people given the vaccines to test efficacy and safety prior to general use.

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WASHINGTON — The White House says American Indian tribes and Alaska Native communities are getting more than $4 billion from President Joe Biden’s coronavirus relief legislation.

The money will help address a range of issues, including getting more people vaccinated, improvements in testing and contact tracing and reimbursing tribal health systems for lost revenue during the coronavirus shutdown.

Surgeon General Vivek Murthy says at the coronavirus briefing that American Indians and Alaska Natives have borne an unusually heavy toll from the pandemic. They are more than three-and-a-half times as likely to get COVID-19 than whites and four times more likely to be hospitalized.

The money is “part of a broader commitment to increase access to vaccines and reduce the spread of COVID-19 in hard-hit communities,” Murthy says.

The Indian Health Service has already administered more than 1 million shots to people and the $600 million funding boost will expand that campaign. Part of the money will pay for mobile vaccination teams to go to remote or hard-to-reach communities.

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NEW YORK — A panel of government health advisers have scheduled a new meeting to consider what to say about unusual blood clots linked to one type of coronavirus vaccine.

The Advisory Committee on Immunization Practices will meet April 23. The panel advises the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.

The group held an emergency meeting this week to decide what to advise government health officials about reports of an unusual combination of dangerous blood clots and low platelet counts in six women who had received Johnson & Johnson’s single-dose vaccine.

The committee decided it didn’t have enough information and wanted to see if additional, similar reports are coming in before assessing the risk.

It’s not clear added data will be available at the next meeting. The CDC has received reports of possible similar illnesses, and is investigating them, but has not yet reported confirmed additional cases. The committee decided to meet regardless as it monitors the situation.

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WASHINGTON — The Biden administration says the U.S. is setting up a $1.7 billion national network to identify and track coronavirus variants and analyze disease threats.

CDC Director Dr. Rochelle Walensky says the U.S. is averaging nearly 70,000 new daily coronavirus cases, up from about 53,000 just four weeks ago.

Hospitalizations have been trending higher, and deaths were up for the third day in a row. Along with relaxed restrictions on gatherings and indoor dining, the emergence of variants that spread more easily is part of the reason for the worsening trend.

White House officials unveiled a national network strategy featuring three components: a major funding boost for the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention and state health departments to ramp up gene-mapping of coronavirus samples; the creation of six “centers of excellence” partnerships with universities to conduct research and develop technologies for gene-based surveillance of pathogens; and building a data system to better share and analyze information on emerging disease threats.

The effort relies on money approved by Congress as part of President Joe Biden’s coronavirus relief package. Typically, the government scrambles to counter a potential threat, but funding dries up when it recedes. The new genomic surveillance initiative aims to create a permanent infrastructure.

“It’s a transformative amount of money,” says Mary Lee Watts, federal affairs director at the American Society for Microbiology.

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ROME — Italian Premier Mario Draghi announced Italy will take a “reasoned risk” in reopening restaurants with outdoor seating and school at all grade levels in some regions starting April 26.

The openings will apply to regions that have the lowest tiers of restrictions. Mask-wearing and social distancing will be “scrupulously observed.” Italy’s 10 p.m. curfew will remain in place.

It’s the first sign of a gradual re-opening since the fall virus surge. Draghi says the “reasoned risks was based on data, which is improving but not dramatically.”

He calls the first phase in the opening “is an extraordinary opportunity not just for the economy but for our social lives.”

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JOHANNESBURG — South Africa took the first step in its mass vaccination campaign on Friday by starting online registrations for the elderly to receive shots beginning next month.

People age 60 years and older will be vaccinated first as they are regarded as having the highest risk of being hospitalized or dying from COVID-19.

South Africa’s inoculation drive is dependent upon millions of doses of the Pfizer vaccine arriving in the country within weeks. So far South Africa has vaccinated only 290,000 of its 1.2 million health care workers, using the Johnson & Johnson vaccine.

This week, the government announced it would pause vaccinating its health workers with the Johnson & Johnson vaccine following a report by the U.S FDA.

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INDIANAPOLIS — Drugmaker Eli Lilly says its COVID-19 antibody drug should no longer be given to patients alone because treatment combinations work better fighting some variants of the coronavirus.

The company is asking U.S. regulators to revoke their emergency authorization for the use of bamlanivimab alone. Lilly announced Friday there are no new safety concerns with the drug, but the combination with another drug etesevimab fights more of the emerging COVID-19 variants in the U.S.

Last November, bamlanivimab became the first antibody authorized for emergency use in the U.S. as a COVID-19 treatment. Antibodies are proteins that attach to a virus and block it from infecting cells.

The combination of drugs also has received an emergency use authorization from federal regulators. The government has been supplying treatments to hospitals, and last month it stopped delivering bamlanivimab alone in favor of treatment combinations.

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BERLIN — German Chancellor Angela Merkel says she has received a first dose of the AstraZeneca coronavirus vaccine.

In a tweet sent by her spokesman, Merkel says she had received the vaccine Friday.

“I thank everyone involved in the vaccination campaign - and everyone who has let themselves be vaccinated.”

The long-time German leader added “vaccination is the key to overcoming the pandemic.”

Authorities in Germany recently restricted use of the AstraZeneca vaccine to people age 60 and over, due to concerns about the risk of rare blood clots detected in some people who received the shots.

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BANGKOK — Thailand announced new restrictions to slow its spread but didn’t institute any curfews or lockdowns.

Thai health officials on Friday confirmed 1,582 new cases, raising the total number of confirmed cases to 39,038 and 97 confirmed deaths.

Infections have been surging to record highs almost daily since early April. Most of the new cases involve the virus variant first found in Britain.

New nationwide protective measures take effect nationwide Sunday for at least two weeks. They include restrictions on school, no gatherings of more than 50 people and closing of bars.

Inter-provincial travel is not banned, though some provincial authorities have ordered testing of arrivals.

Prime Minister Prayuth Chan-ocha suggested harsher measures could cause economic hardships.

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MADRID — Spanish Prime Minister Pedro Sánchez says he is “very hopeful” the country can come up with its own COVID-19 vaccine by the end of the year.

Sánchez visited Spanish pharmaceutical company HIPRA, in northeastern Spain, which is developing a coronavirus vaccine candidate in partnership with the government.

Sánchez says a new shot would still need to go through clinical trials, but he says for Spain it is “fundamental” to have its own response to the pandemic.

Spain has ordered 87 million doses of other vaccines, which are to arrive by the end of September.

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Companies Mentioned in This Article

Company	MarketRank™	Current Price	Price Change	Dividend Yield	P/E Ratio	Consensus Rating	Consensus Price Target
Johnson & Johnson (JNJ)	4.9084 of 5 stars	$146.82	-1.2%	3.24%	9.15	Hold	$175.86
Eli Lilly and Company (LLY)	4.7653 of 5 stars	$724.87	-1.0%	0.72%	124.98	Moderate Buy	$728.05