Vermont is preparing to resume the use of the Johnson & Johnson vaccine against COVID-19 next week if the federal government gives the green light, Gov. Phil Scott said Friday.
By day’s end, an advisory panel to the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention said it’s time to resume use of vaccine, despite a very rare risk of blood clots, saying the the vaccine’s benefits outweigh that serious but small risk. The government was deciding next steps.
“Depending on the outcomes of the advisory committee, we could begin vaccinating as early as Tuesday in the Northeast Kingdom,” said Deputy Human Services Secretary Jenney Samuelson during the governor’s twice-weekly virus briefing. The state will likely have more information to share on its plans as early as Saturday morning, she said.
In the meantime, over half of all Vermonters aged 16 and older have started or completed vaccination with either the Pfizer, Moderna or Johnson & Johnson shots, and the number of new COVID-19 cases in Vermont has dropped by about 36% in the last two weeks, state officials said.
“Our data continues to move in a very positive direction as we are seeing more consecutive days where daily reported cases are under 100 now,” said Health Commissioner Dr. Mark Levine at the governor’s twice-weekly virus briefing. He added that the state’s test positivity rate has dropped dramatically to 1.2%.
As the end of the school year approaches, graduations, proms, and other end-of-school-year celebrations will be permitted but must follow certain safety requirements, Education Secretary Ed French said. Guidance is expected to be released later Friday afternoon.
“These celebrations are not only being permitted this year but also being strongly encouraged,” he said. “This has been a long a year for our students and our schools and we want to do whatever we can to ensure the school year ends in a safe and celebratory way.”
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THE NUMBERS Vermont reported 89 new cases of the coronavirus on Friday, for a statewide total to date of more than 22,400.
A total of 26 people were hospitalized, with five in intensive care.
The AP is using data collected by Johns Hopkins University Center for Systems Science and Engineering to measure outbreak caseloads and deaths across the United States.
The seven-day rolling average of daily new cases in Vermont did not increase over the past two weeks, going from 163.71 new cases per day on April 7 to 94.43 new cases per day on April 21.
The seven-day rolling average of daily deaths in Vermont did not increase over the past two weeks, going from 0.43 deaths per day on April 7 to 0.43 deaths per day on April 21.
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