Tag: COVID-19

Fully vaccinated Americans can gather with other vaccinated people indoors without wearing a mask or social distancing, according to long-awaited guidance from federal health officials.

President Joe Biden said Tuesday the U.S. expects to take delivery of enough coronavirus vaccine for all adults by the end of May — two months earlier than anticipated — and he pushed states to get at least one shot into the arms of teachers by the end of May to hasten school reopenings. Biden also announced that drugmaker Merck will help produce rival Johnson & Johnson’s newly approved one-shot vaccine, likening the partnership between the two drug companies to the spirit of national cooperation during World War II. “We’re now on track to have enough vaccine supply for every adult in America by the end of May,” Biden said.

Riverside County health officials have planned a series of changes to better serve residents and provide more opportunities for COVID-19 vaccinations.

In accordance with the Executive Order President Biden signed on January 21, 2021, the Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services (CMS), together with the Department of Labor and the Department of the Treasury, (collectively, the Departments) issued new guidance on February 26, 2021, removing barriers to COVID-19 diagnostic testing and vaccinations and strengthening requirements that plans and issuers cover diagnostic testing without cost sharing. This guidance makes clear that private group health plans and issuers generally cannot use medical screening criteria to deny coverage for COVID-19 diagnostic tests for individuals with health coverage who are asymptomatic, and who have no known or suspected exposure to COVID-19.

It’s been one of the few certainties I’ve allowed myself this past year as a disabled, chronically ill person: I definitely thought I would be somewhere near the front of the line as COVID-19 vaccinations got underway. At least until California’s distribution guidelines changed. The state’s move to a purely age-based system in January for the vaccine rollout came as a crushing blow.