COVID-19 Updates: What You Need to Know Today

Vaccination efforts in New York State are well underway! With vaccinations opening up to everyone 16 and older last month, every adult in New York State is now eligible for vaccination. Here’s what else you need to know about COVID news this month.

New Yorkers and Americans are steadily getting vaccinated. 

As of April 27, 44.6% of all New Yorkers have received at least one vaccine dose, and 42.7% of all Americans have gotten at least one vaccine dose. 

Americans are relying on vaccines to get us through the pandemic.

A recent Gallup poll shows Americans increasingly recognize that COVID-19 vaccines are integral to controlling the spread of coronavirus in the United States. Polling also illustrated a number of other important sentiments from Americans in regard to vaccination: 

  • 88% of Americans support the caution demonstrated by the FDA and CDC, and 58% said that FDA and CDC caution around vaccine safety has made them more confident in the vaccines.
  • According to Gallup, 74% of adults are either willing to or have already been vaccinated against coronavirus, with 50% of adults having received at least one dose of the vaccine.
  • Continued willingness to be vaccinated is also likely driven by the majority of Americans (57%) who state that they trust the advice of the CDC.
  • When it comes to the impact of new coronavirus variants on vaccinations, attitudes about the importance of vaccinations in the U.S. are linked to perceptions of the potential threat posed by outbreaks. According to Pew, 58% of Americans believe that the spread of new variants makes it more important for a large majority of the public to get vaccinated.

Data shows that keeping a strong biopharmaceutical industry is important to Americans.

The United States biopharmaceutical industry continues to innovate and discover critical solutions for our toughest health challenges such as the COVID-19 pandemic. America’s global leadership has not been by chance, but rather the result of a well-planned effort to facilitate innovation by incentivizing and protecting inventors and supporting collaboration between and among the public and private sectors.

Americans appreciate the industry’s role in advancing innovation. In fact, 62 percent of Americans viewed the industry positively in February – a number 30 points higher than in January 2020. Further, 77% agree that keeping a strong American biopharmaceutical industry is a matter of national security to protect us against the next pandemic.

And some more statistics: 

  • 87% of Americans agree the coronavirus pandemic has shown how important it is for drug companies to make significant investments in research and development, according to a Public Opinion Strategies internal poll late last year.

  • The Harris Poll noted fear about the vaccine rollout being too slow dropped from 47% in January to 36% in March. Among the likely contributing factors is the biopharmaceutical industry’s ability to leverage advanced manufacturing capabilities that have accelerated production and distribution.

The coronavirus outbreak has brought new attention to the importance of cross-stakeholder partnerships in the biopharmaceutical eco structure.

A new report from PhRMA looks broadly at the collaborative ecosystem and illustrates biopharmaceutical industry’s long history and vast experience with a diverse breadth of collaborative efforts.  

The report Power and Promise of a Collaborative Biopharmaceutical Ecosystem provides a look at the various collaborative partnerships currently taking place across the research ecosystem and healthcare system, playing a crucial role in:

  • Catalyzing research and development (R&D) and innovation,
  • Supporting public health and improving patient outcomes,
  • Enabling manufacturing scalability and supporting distribution and
  • Improving access to cutting edge innovation and cures.

Additional COVID vaccines and treatments continue to be developed.

Working across the healthcare ecosystem, biopharmaceutical companies, academia, hospitals and the public sector are collaborating with urgent dedication to bring about new medicines and vaccines that can help combat COVID-19.

As of March 2, 2021, current efforts to develop treatments and vaccines for COVID-19 include:

  • 1 antiviral therapy has received FDA approval for the treatment of COVID-19
  • 3 vaccines have received an Emergency Use Authorization (EUA)from the FDA
  • 5 treatments have received EUAs from the FDA
  • 1,616 clinical trials for experimental treatments and vaccines are in development for COVID-19.[ii]
  • 544 unique therapies are in clinical trials
  • 74 unique vaccines are in clinical trials
  • More than 245 clinical trials have been expanded to take place in 45 States and the District of Columbia and about half of those U.S.-based clinical trials are sponsored by industry.
  • 1 month is how long it took to sequence the virus, which is a necessary first step before developing a vaccine. The first vaccine was ready for study in patients just 2 months later. In comparison, it took 20 months to have a vaccine ready to test in SARS patients a decade ago.