Health

National

AstraZeneca said it will seek clearance in the United States “in the coming weeks,” putting it on track to the country's fourth COVID vaccine to receive emergency use authorization and joining those from Pfizer, Moderna and Johnson & Johnson already in use.

WORLD

The vaccines made by BioNTech/Pfizer and rival Moderna use messenger RNA, or mRNA, to carry instructions into the human body for making proteins that prime it to attack a specific virus. The same principle can be applied to get the immune system to take on cancer.

Local

"If you've already posted your vaccine card or information on social media, go back and take a look. You may want to take that picture down or block the images," said cybersecurity expert and Fortalice Solutions CEO Theresa Payton on WBT. Secondly, warn your friends and family.

National

A base of over 1,200 adults were surveyed last week, and out of that group 49% of GOP men said they wouldn't get a shot. While approximately 30 percent of Americans overall said they do not plan on getting vaccinated. The other half of the Republican men said they would get the vaccine or had already got it.

Local

If you've ever consumed 100 cigarettes in your lifetime, you too can get vaccinated, according to the North Carolina Department of Health and Human Services. As part of Group 4, if you are a smoker (current or former), you'll be able to schedule an appointment for a COVID-19 vaccine beginning on March 24.

National

Biden originally said there would be enough vaccine supply on-hand to inoculate the entire adult population by the end of July. "Through partnership with vaccine manufacturers and our efforts to ramp up its production, we will now have enough vaccine supply by the end of May," a statement by the administration said. 

National

"It's really too premature right now to be pulling back too much," said Fauci, who's come under the public eye since the start of the pandemic. "I'm concerned that we're still at that level of 70,000, and when people start then pulling back on mitigation methods and mitigation activities, you have the risk, and it is a real risk, of seeing it go back up, and it's not something I'm imagining. 

Health

“I am very proud to once again partner with Novant Health to expand the Family Clinic model to bring better access to critical medical services in my hometown,” Jordan said in a statement. “Everyone should have access to quality health care, no matter where they live, or whether or not they have insurance.”

Local

As of Thursday afternoon, 10,226 North Carolinians have died from the virus. A sobering total along with 811,000 cases in less than a year. About 8.9 percent of those cases were reported in Mecklenburg County. North Carolina is the fifteenth state to report over 10,000 deaths.

Health

As of Friday, North Carolina was in the bottom half for vaccine distribution in the U.S. at No. 25. The efforts are a bit worse in South Carolina, who was ranked 33rd overall. West Virginia and North Dakota have set the standard in the country with 85 percent of vaccines distributed.