#AloneTogether
* For context, the number of Americans who died from the Spanish flu: 650,000.
* Publix is now offering vaccine appointments at all 730 of its in-store Florida pharmacies.
* Florida is one of two states to prioritize residents 65 and older in its first phrase of vaccine distribution. “Our plan is seniors first. … It’s a very simple strategy,” noted Gov. Ron DeSantis.
* Statewide, more than 3 million people have been vaccinated. About half have received both shots and are fully immunized.
* Oragenics, a Tampa-based biotech company, has raised $20 million from the sale of common stock and will use a chunk of that funding to boost its research into a COVID-19 vaccine. Its vaccine, known as Terra CoV-2, has gone through one round of clinical trials and a second phase is in the works. “We are in scale-up mode right now,” said Oragenics president and CEO Dr. Alan Joslyn.
* The Feds have approved Johnson & Johnson’s one-shot vaccine, which is logistically easier to accommodate. It can last three months in a refrigerator—as opposed to the Pfizer and Moderna options, which must be frozen.
* Approximately one-third of military troops on active duty or in the National Guard have declined to take the vaccine. At Fort Bragg, N.C., America’s biggest military installation, acceptance rates are below 50 percent. Sobering.
* A California carpool-lane driver was busted for having a mannequin with a face mask instead of a human passenger.
* “Vaccine equity is a huge issue right now, and I highly encourage people to be mindful of this as they look to travel internationally.”–Infectious disease epidemiologist Saskia Popescu.
* On the other hand—this is the lowest-level flu season on record.