So, for experts such as Elizabeth Carlton, an epidemiologist at the Colorado School of Public Health, the message is clear: The dents that the variants can inflict in the vaccines’ armor are relatively small. “You are far better off vaccinated if those variants are circulating than if you are unvaccinated,” Carlton said.
“We were able to determine that she had the triggers in her bloodstream that would suggest that it comes from the vaccine,” said Dr. R. Todd Clark, assistant professor of emergency medicine at the University of Colorado School of Medicine. Dr. Clark knew the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention had warned against standard blood clot medicine to treat the side effect, but no alternative was clear. “We made the call for Bivalirudin based off of the best available evidence,” Dr. Clark said.
To get a sense of what's behind the rising proportion of cases in children, we spoke to Dr. Sean O'Leary, vice chair of the American Academy of Pediatrics' Committee on Infectious Diseases. O'Leary is also a professor of pediatrics at the University of Colorado Medical Campus and Children's Hospital Colorado.
“Our experience shows us that these clot reactions are very rare, and they can be treated,” said R. Todd Clark, MD, MBA, lead co-author and assistant professor of emergency medicine at the University of Colorado School of Medicine. “People can feel comfortable getting vaccinated with any of the authorized vaccines, including the J&J vaccine. Getting vaccinated is a critical step in combatting this pandemic so we can return to our normal lives.”
It’s still a bit early to assess the impact of repealing the dial, though trends are starting to emerge, said Dr. Jon Samet, dean of the Colorado School of Public Health. Cases already were rising before the state left restrictions up to the counties, and it’s not surprising they’ve kept going up, he said. “We were certainly in a general upswing,” he said.
To calculate an accurate death rate, the total number of positive COVID-19 cases among vaccinated individuals must be known. But that number isn't, said Lisa Miller, an epidemiologist and clinical professor at the Colorado School of Public Health. "We don't know that because we're not out there testing everyone (vaccinated)," she told USA TODAY.
There's strong evidence that all three vaccines being used in the U.S. offer good protection against the U.K. variant. At hospitals run by the University of Colorado, Dr. Michelle Barron [CU School of Medicine professor] says the median age of COVID patients has dropped by more than a decade. It's now people in their late 40s. “A lot of them are requiring ICU care, whereas before, a lot of them were more so just on the floor and still requiring hospitalization but not quite as sick.”
"Childhood cases really reflect what's going on in the surrounding community," said Dr. Sean O'Leary, a professor of pediatrics at the University of Colorado Anschutz Medical Campus and Children's Hospital Colorado. Indeed, the seven-day average of new Covid-19 cases overall is up slightly from the previous week, according to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.
