Data Snapshot
UW Medicine Hospitals:
King County: The county reported 256 new positive cases and 0 new deaths on April 26.
Washington: The state reported 368,557 cases and 5,450 deaths as of April 25.
United States: The CDC reports 31,883,289 cases and 569,272 deaths as of April 26.
Global: WHO reports 147,539,302 confirmed COVID-19 cases and 3,116,444 deaths as of April 27.
Numbers update frequently, please follow links for most up-to-date numbers.
UW Medicine COVID-19 Vaccine Distribution Update
Total Vaccine Doses Administered: 244,043
- Total first dose: 133,549
- Total second dose: 110,494
As of April 25, 2021.
UW Medicine in the News
The Seattle Times: Washington state health officials echo call to resume administering Johnson & Johnson COVID vaccine
Featuring: Deborah Fuller, Microbiology, Seth Cohen, Allergy & Infectious Diseases
“Washington state health experts echoed federal advisers and regulators on Friday in calling to resume the use of the Johnson & Johnson COVID-19 vaccine, after an 11-day pause in response to 15 women developing blood clots out of nearly 8 million people who received the vaccine. The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention and Food and Drug Administration announced the recommended pause was lifted, shortly after an advisory panel to the CDC said the shots should resume. It was unclear when the single-dose Johnson & Johnson shots could resume in Washington. The state Department of Health says it wouldn’t have any new information until after the Western States Scientific Safety Review Workgroup met Friday evening to review restarting Johnson & Johnson vaccinations. That group could recommend that Washington, Oregon, Nevada and California follow the federal guidance. But health experts and officials were quick to promote the end of the federally recommended Johnson & Johnson pause. ‘This is a very important vaccine and we need all of the vaccines that we have available to use for us to be able stop this pandemic,’ Deborah Fuller, a vaccine expert at the University of Washington, said in a news conference Friday afternoon.”
KXLY (Spokane, WA): ‘I think we have the tools to control this’: Washington on track to herd immunity, but still a ways to go
Featuring: Ali Mokdad, IHME
“Chief Strategy Officer of Population Health at the University of Washington Ali Mokdad says both vaccine hesitancy and vaccine procrastination present a problem. ‘We will not reach herd immunity by winter because right now, about 70% of the population is eligible to get the vaccine and in that 70%, we have about 30 % who are saying, ‘I will not take the vaccine.’,’ said Mokdad. Especially when we’re up against new variants of the virus. That’s why companies like Pfizer are working on a booster vaccine, so that once the majority of us are immune — we stay that way.”
KNKX (Tacoma, WA): It’s Complicated: Why Some Northwest Latinx Residents And Farmworkers Hesitate On COVID Vaccine
Featuring: Nancy Jecker, Bioethics & Humanities
“Nancy Jecker, a professor of bioethics at the University of Washington School of Medicine in Seattle, says the issue of vaccines and stem cells is very complex. ‘But my bottom line is that I respect the right of anyone to refuse a medical procedure,’ Jecker says. ‘And I think we need to have exceptions for those who on religious grounds are not wanting to go forward with any of the vaccines that are currently available.’ She says there is a lot of pressure in the U.S. to get vaccinated. ‘This country has said we’re in a race. These variants are replicating and mutating and we’re all at risk and that’s what a good citizen does,’ Jecker says. ‘But I think a good citizen is someone who respects people’s right to decide whether to accept or refuse a medical procedure and respects a fellow citizen’s right to follow their conscience.’”
COVID-19 Literature Report
COVID-19 Literature Situation Report is a daily (M-F) newsletter put together by the Alliance for Pandemic Preparedness that provides a succinct summary of the latest scientific literature related to the COVID-19 pandemic.
Key Takeaways: COVID-19 Literature Situation Report April 22 2021
- 2 SARS-CoV-2 breakthrough infections (infection ≥14 days after the second vaccine dose) were detected in a cohort of 417 university employees in New York City. Both were previously healthy without known risk factors. Viral genome sequencing revealed variants of likely clinical importance. More.
- The single-dose Johnson & Johnson vaccine protects against moderate to severe-critical COVID-19 with 67% efficacy at disease onset ≥14 days after administration and 66% at ≥28 days. Among participants in South Africa where 94.5% of cases had the B.1351 variant, vaccine efficacy was 52% at onset ≥14 days and 64% at onset ≥28 days against moderate to severe-critical COVID-19. More.
- Women who reported completing pregnancy after receiving a COVID-19 vaccine reported adverse pregnancy and neonatal outcomes in similar proportions to prior studies conducted before the COVID-19 pandemic. More.
- In an analysis of databases from the US Department of Veterans Affairs, COVID-19 patients who survived beyond the first 30 days of illness had a 1.6-fold increased risk of death compared to those who did not have COVID-19 and were not hospitalized, and a 1.5-fold increased risk of death compared to those hospitalized for influenza. More.
COVID-19 Literature Surveillance Team, is an affiliated group of medical students, PhDs and physicians keeping up with the latest research on SARS-CoV-2 / COVID-19 by finding the newest articles, reading them, grading their level of evidence and bringing you the bottom line.
Read the latest report: April 23 | Weekly COVID-19 LST Report.
Tweet of the Week
~@UWMedicine Drs. Alex Greninger @UWVirology and Ali Mokdad @IHME_UW comment on expected changes to mask guidelines in outdoor spaces. Wearing masks works so lets stay on course as we continue to fight this pandemic.@abbyacone https://t.co/rGuJX5zDEF
— UW Medicine Newsroom (@uwmnewsroom) April 27, 2021
