Page 6863 – 105.7 WDNY

New York City’s monkeypox vaccine rollout has had some issues. What went wrong?

August 17, 2022 by WDNY Radio

(NEW YORK) — Since the monkeypox vaccine began being distributed in New York City, the rollout has been plagued with issues.

The city’s Department of Health and Mental Hygiene has cycled through several scheduling platforms in a matter of weeks, which have experienced crashes as people tried to book appointments.

Additionally, the demand for the vaccine has far outpaced the supply. Whenever the city has released a few thousand vaccine appointment slots, they have been filled up within a matter of hours, sometimes minutes, officials said.

“My general thought about the rollout is that it is a hard situation,” Dr. Dana Mazo, an infectious diseases specialist and clinical associate professor of medicine at NYU Langone Health, told ABC News. “The good news is that there has been a high demand, that the high-risk communities are definitely interested in the vaccine. And so that is good.”

“But when there is a limited supply, we are put in a hard situation and all of us feel the difficulties,” she added.

Shortage of vaccine doses

The U.S. Department of Health and Human Services said in mid-July it had ordered nearly 7 million doses of the JYNNEOS vaccine, which is a two-dose vaccine approved by the U.S. Food and Drug Administration to prevent smallpox and monkeypox. However, they will not all be available until mid-2023.

As of Tuesday, the Biden administration has shipped more than 630,000 doses to states, according to HHS data. An additional 786,000 doses have been allocated, but it will take several weeks to distribute the doses.

So far, New York City has received more than 77,800 doses, HHS data shows, but local health officials estimate that as many as 150,000 residents may be at risk for monkeypox exposure.

Dr. Bruce Y. Lee, a professor of health policy and management at City University of New York School of Public Health, said there are only so many doses that can be sent to the city and state when other places are suffering from large outbreaks.

“New York City obviously has had the most cases, but then you’ve had a lot of cases in other places like California, Illinois, Florida, for instance,” he told ABC News. “So how then do you determine how much of those vaccines are supposed to be in New York versus the other locations?”

There have been some attempts to try to stretch out the supply. The Department of Health and Mental Hygiene said it is prioritizing administering first doses to get as many people as possible at least some level of protection.

“If you have received the first dose, you will be contacted about scheduling the second dose in the coming weeks,” the department states on its website. “You can wait longer than four weeks between doses.”

To increase the number of JYNNEOS doses available, the FDA authorized a new strategy to inject the vaccine intradermally, just below the first layer of skin, rather than subcutaneously, or under all the layers of skin.

This will allow one vial of vaccine to be given out as five separate doses rather than a single dose.

In theory, this should work because the supply would be quintupled and, for example, 6,000 slots being opened would now increase to 30,000 slots, experts said.

However, there are a few roadblocks. Administering vaccines intradermally is a skill that most health care workers are not trained or experienced in, although it can be taught.

It also would require patients to be told that this way of administering is under emergency use authorization rather than full FDA approval.

“The concern is whenever you do things that are off label or splitting doses you have to make sure you get the same efficacy, you get the same protection,” Lee said. “If you do split doses that basically convert the same amount of vaccine to like multiple doses for a greater number of people, we have to ask ourselves what will be the impact in terms of protection?”

The Department of Health and Mental Hygiene has not stated whether it intends to adopt this strategy.

Glitchy websites and slots filled within minutes

Another problem that has plagued the rollout is the multiple websites that resulted in crashes and glitches as people intend to access them.

In June, the Department of Health and Mental Hygiene partnered with MedRite, a chain of urgent care centers, to operate the appointment scheduling website.

The website was scheduled to launch on July 6, but some people were able to access vaccine appointments before the launch time. Officials quickly took down the portal but, when it went back up again, it crashed.

Next, the department turned to Affiliated Physicians, a health care provider, to schedule vaccine appointments.

The website went live on July 12. Less than half an hour later, the health department tweeted the site was down due to a “high level of traffic.”

Eventually, the department switched over to VAX4NYC, the portal that was used for scheduling COVID-19 vaccines.

Dr. Amish Adalja, senior scholar at the Johns Hopkins Center for Health Security at the Bloomberg School of Public Health, said VAX4NYC should have been used from the start.

“[The health department] should have used systems that anyone had been familiar with,” he told ABC News. “That was a tried and tested system and had been working fine rather than contracts with certain companies, where they’ve had glitches.”

He continued, “A new system that people had to learn on the fly when there was such demand, I think is not ideal when you’re trying to be as efficient as possible with a resource that was in a very limited supply.”

During a City Council oversight hearing last week looking at “failures of New York City’s technological response under critical demand,” Matt Fraser, the city’s chief technology officer, said the Department of Health and Mental Hygiene contracts with MedRite and Affiliated Physicians were drafted under the administration of former New York City Mayor Bill de Blasio.

“This vendor had been previously cleared by another administration,” he said during testimony. “Our look at this is that it’s a vendor that’s done similar work in the city for this purpose, and unfortunately, it did not work out this time.”

Questions have also arisen over MedRite’s role due to being cited for fraud in the past. In 2016, then-New York State Attorney General Eric Schneiderman settled with MedRite after paying for fake positive reviews on various websites.

“I would just say that this is an important question to ask: how was the trust established that they would be able to deliver in an emergency situation when they’ve already been deemed a fraudulent company?” Adalja said. “They should have articulated the rationale. ‘This is why we use it, and we know we’re going to use it, or they should have said that upfront’ They should be transparent about their decision-making process.”

Liz Cheney loses primary as Trump topples his most prominent GOP critic

August 17, 2022 by WDNY Radio

(NEW YORK) — Rep. Liz Cheney, R-Wyo., is projected to have lost her primary on Tuesday to Donald Trump-backed Harriet Hageman, ABC News reports, after Cheney built her political profile — and her campaign — around criticizing the former president as an existential threat to American democracy.

Cheney’s defeat was largely expected, given the partisan makeup of her seat and polling that showed her trailing Hageman. Trump won Wyoming in the last presidential election with some 70% of the vote. Still, Cheney’s defeat marks Trump’s biggest win in his revenge tour against intraparty detractors and a warning sign for other anti-Trump Republicans thinking of crossing him.

“Tonight, Harriet Hageman has received the most votes in this primary. She won. I called her to concede the race. This primary election is over,” Cheney said in a speech Tuesday night from a ranch in Jackson, contrasting that call with Trump, who still refuses to concede the 2020 race.

The choice between Cheney and Hageman, both of whom staked out conservative policy platforms, played out largely along national themes and loyalty to Trump.

Cheney focused on criticizing Trump over his role in last year’s deadly Capitol insurrection, casting her reelection bid as a fight to maintain the GOP’s principles.

Hageman, meanwhile, echoed Trump’s unfounded election fraud claims and berated Cheney — whom Hageman had previously advised — as a lawmaker more focused on toppling the de facto GOP leader.

Cheney boasts a famous last name and significantly out-raised Hageman. But over time it became clear that the three-term lawmaker was the underdog as polls showed Wyoming Republicans increasingly favoring her opponent.

In a sign of Cheney’s tenuous footing with members of her own party, her campaign started an outreach effort to voters to explain how they could change their party registration the day of the primary to vote for her — though operatives said there was little hope there were enough Democrats to change Cheney’s fate.

“Two years ago, I won this primary with 73% of the vote. I could easily have done the same again. The path was clear,” Cheney said in her speech Tuesday. “But it would have required that I go along with President Trump’s lie about the 2020 election. It would have required that I enable his ongoing efforts to unravel our democratic system and attack the foundations of our republic — that was a path I could not and would not take.”

“No House seat, no office in this land, is more important than the principles that we are all sworn to protect,” she said. “And I well understood the potential political consequences of abiding by my duty.”

Hageman now is expected to coast in the general election — against projected Democratic opponent Lynnette Grey Bull — in one of the country’s reddest states and be a staunch Trump ally in the House.

“Absolutely the election was rigged. It was rigged to make sure that President Trump could not get reelected,” she said at a campaign event earlier this month indicating her ideological alignment with Trump. “What happened in 2020 is a travesty.”

Hageman on Tuesday touted her win over Cheney, describing it as returning Wyoming’s House seat to the people.

“I will be accountable to the voters and citizens of Wyoming because I am one of you and, just like you, I am sick and tired of having no voice in the U.S. House of Representatives,” she said. “Today we have succeeded at what we set out to do — we have reclaimed Wyoming’s lone congressional seat for Wyoming.”

“Assume that if we put you in power, you will be accountable to us and you will do what is in our best interest. And if you don’t, we will fire you,” she said.

Cheney’s defeat marks a bookend to a meteoric rise and swift fall for an erstwhile GOP star.

She was first elected in 2016 and became the No. 3 Republican in the House in late 2018, a climb that fueled rumors she had an eye on the speakership one day.

However, after last year’s insurrection, she became the highest-ranking House Republican to back impeaching Trump and ultimately became the vice chair of the special committee investigating the Capitol riot.

Her consistent condemnations of Trump infuriated both other House Republicans who accused her of derailing their messaging strategy and some voters in Wyoming who viewed Cheney as an absentee representative more focused on the former president than state issues.

Beyond her tough primary challenge, she also lost her leadership spot in the House and was censured by the Republican National Committee and the Wyoming Republican Party.

Still, Cheney refused to modulate her messaging — given, she said, the danger Trump represented — and indicated that she would continue her focus on combating election conspiracies even after her expected loss.

“Like many candidates across this country, my opponents in Wyoming have said that the 2020 election was rigged and stolen. No one who understands our nation’s laws — no one with an honest, honorable, genuine commitment to our Constitution — would say that. It is a cancer that threatens our great Republic,” she said in her closing ad. “If we do not condemn these lies, if we do not hold those responsible to account, we will be excusing this conduct and it will become a feature of all elections. America will never be the same.”

All eyes now will be on what Cheney plans to do after leaving the House, with her hinting that “now the real work begins.”

Speculation has bubbled that Cheney is eyeing a presidential bid in 2024 to challenge Trump, should he run again in two years, a theory that gained more ground in her concession speech in which she noted Abraham Lincoln’s own failed House and Senate bids before he won the presidency.

“Lincoln ultimately prevailed, he saved our union, and he defined our obligation as Americans for all of history,” she said.

Regardless of what form her advocacy takes, Cheney indicated that she will still hold candidates’ feet to the fire over unproven claims of election fraud.

“Today, as we meet here, there are Republican candidates for governor who do deny the outcome of the 2020 election and who may refuse to certify future elections if they oppose the results,” she said in her concession speech. “We have candidates for secretary of state who may refuse to report the actual results of the popular vote in future elections. And we have candidates for Congress, including here in Wyoming, who refuse to acknowledge that Joe Biden won the 2020 election and suggest that states decertify the result.”

“No American should support election deniers for any position of genuine responsibility where their refusal to follow the rule of law will corrupt our future,” she said.

Cheney’s loss marks the end of a largely successful campaign by Trump to expel his impeachment-backers from the GOP, arguing they were not true Republicans.

Of the 10 House Republicans who voted to impeach Trump last year, four decided to not seek reelection. Of the six who did, four have now lost their primaries. Only two of the 10 have advanced to the general election.

“Liz Cheney should be ashamed of herself, the way she acted, and her spiteful, sanctimonious words and actions towards others,” Trump said on his Truth Social platform. “Now she can finally disappear into the depths of political oblivion where, I am sure, she will be much happier than she is right now.”

ABC News’ Miles Cohen, Lalee Ibssa, Allison Pecorin and Brittany Shepherd contributed to this report.

Pyongyang fires two cruise missiles as South Korean president marks 100th day in office

August 17, 2022 by WDNY Radio

(SEOUL, South Korea) — North Korea fired two cruise missiles on Wednesday as South Korea’s president marked his 100th day in office.

Pyongyang has test-fired its missile system 19 times this year alone, including the latest launch of two cruise missiles Wednesday morning, as intelligence in the U.S. and South Korea has confirmed that North Korea is prepared to conduct its seventh nuclear test.

South Korean President Yoon Suk-yeol said on Wednesday at a press conference that if North Korea expresses a “steady will” to denuclearize, an “audacious” economic booster program could be on offer from the South but said that talks between the two Koreas will not take place unless it is to establish a substantive and long-lasting peace.

Unlike the previous pro-North government, Yoon’s new administration has taken a more aggressive approach to North Korea’s military provocations in the past 100 days.

When North Korea fired eight ballistic missiles from four different regions in the country, South Korea and the U.S. joint forces fired eight surface-to-surface missiles as a countermeasure the following day.

The joint forces are now gearing up for the 10-days-long Ulchi Freedom Shield joint military exercise which is set to begin next Monday.

Public sentiment in South Korea has broadly indicated that, with no end in sight regarding the easing of tensions between the two nations, it might make sense for South to go nuclear itself.

“Those who assert that South Korea should develop its own nuclear weapons point out the unequal, threatening fact that North Korea has it and South Korea does not,” Kim Hyung-suk, president of the Council on Diplomacy for Korean Unification, told ABC News. “But it’s only an instantaneous idea. There are numerous restraints to actualize a South Korea-made nuclear weapons program.”

According to a public opinion poll report by the Chicago Council on Global Affairs, 71% out of 1,500 people surveyed said that they are in favor of South Korea developing its own nuclear weapon while just 26% percent were against the idea.

Asked by ABC News whether he agrees with such sentiments, Yoon said he remains committed to the Non-Proliferation Treaty which he referred to as an “essential prerequisite for lasting world peace.”

Yoon, however, is currently facing strong disapproval ratings in South Korea due to domestic political conflicts within his own party, a majority opposition in the National Assembly, and several scandals coming from within his own cabinet. Yoon apologized to South Korean’s on Wednesday for these issues and pledged to “listen” to the people with “modesty.”

Serena Williams talks mental fitness with Selena Gomez

August 17, 2022 by WDNY Radio

(NEW YORK) — Serena Williams is a big proponent of setting boundaries when it comes to protecting her mental health.

The tennis legend spoke with multihyphenate star Selena Gomez about her thoughts on mental fitness for Gomez’s mental health platform, Wondermind.

According to Entertainment Tonight, Williams said the practice to her means “really learning to shut down.”

“I did this years ago, before even mental health was a topic among everyone’s mind,” she said. “It was more just like, ‘Alright, I’m shutting myself down today.’ Just subconsciously, it was something I’ve always done.”

“It’s so important to just put yourself first, especially mentally,” she added. “I always have shutdown moments. I have serious boundaries and I don’t let anyone cross those boundaries.”

The Olympic gold medalist admitted she struggles with “do[ing] anything for me.”

“I’m terrible at that,” she said. “I’ve said it time and time again — I’m working on it.”

Still, she added that, “more or less,” she at least prioritizes “what I need to do. And then when I’m turned off, I’m turned off.”

Williams said prioritizing her mental health also benefits the people around her — namely her 4-year-old daughter Olympia.

The sports star said physical health is also influenced by one’s mental health. “It’s about being able to kind of manage your emotions and feelings and everything else still be able to perform,” Williams said.

Wondermind, a startup Gomez co-founded, aims to connect with mental health tools and media to support their “mental fitness,” and provides daily exercises “to support focus” according to its website.

“It takes more than an inspirational quote to really change your mindset. Even if you see a therapist (which is amazing), you still need to work on yourself between sessions,” the website reads. “(You wouldn’t expect physical fitness results seeing a trainer only once in a while, would you?) That’s what Wondermind is here for — to give you easy, doable ways to put your mental fitness first every single day.”

The platform also lists a committee of “mental health advocates,” including licensed psychotherapists, clinical psychologists, psychiatrists, therapists and social workers, who will “share their expertise on the website,” according to CNN.

Last week, Gomez revealed her mental fitness startup was granted $5 million in a series of funding that was led by Serena Ventures — Williams’ own investment portfolio.

Wondermind’s official Instagram shared a statement from its co-founders — Gomez, Mandy Teefy and Daniella Pierson — that explained how they plan to use the funds. “This funding will be used to accelerate the building of Wondermind’s mental fitness ecosystem across our daily online content, CPG products, and original storytelling for all platforms,” it read.

Scoreboard roundup — 8/16/22

August 17, 2022 by WDNY Radio

(NEW YORK) — Here are the scores from Tuesday’s sports events:

MAJOR LEAGUE BASEBALL

INTERLEAGUE
Boston 5, Pittsburgh 3

AMERICAN LEAGUE
Tampa Bay 3, NY Yankees 1
Baltimore 4, Toronto 2
Detroit 4, Cleveland 3
Minnesota 9, Kansas City 0
Oakland 5, Texas 1
Chi White Sox 4, Houston 3
Seattle 8, LA Angels 2

NATIONAL LEAGUE
Philadelphia 11, Cincinnati 4
Atlanta 5, NY Mets 0
Miami 4, San Diego 3
Chi Cubs 7, Washington 5 (11)
St. Louis 5, Colorado 4
Milwaukee 5, LA Dodgers 4
San Francisco 2, Arizona 1

MAJOR LEAGUE SOCCER
Los Angeles FC 1, DC United 0

Garth Brooks wants to open a police substation next to his Nashville bar

August 17, 2022 by WDNY Radio

Garth Brooks is planning to incorporate first responders into his new bar in Nashville.

Since purchasing the building at 411 Broadway, which will become his Friends in Low Places Bar and Honky-Tonk, Garth has been working with city officials on turning the alleyway next to the building into a substation for the Metro Nashville Police Department, the Tennessean reports.

The legendary singer plans to pay for the station in full as a way to provide police resources, security and traffic control on the busy Broadway street. Garth will need approval from the Metro Council to move the plans forward.

“I commend Garth Brooks for stepping up to help make Lower Broadway safer and more enjoyable for everyone,” Nashville Mayor John Cooper says in a statement. “These additional resources will add new tools to reduce traffic and improve community safety downtown while continuing to prioritize other initiatives for neighborhoods and families throughout Davidson County.”

The honky-tonk gets its name from Garth’s classic 1990 hit. He’s one of many country stars with a bar on Broadway, including Luke Bryan, Dierks Bentley and Miranda Lambert.

Big Sean’s DON Weekend will feature panels, performances and more

August 17, 2022 by WDNY Radio

Big Sean is returning to his hometown for the fourth iteration of his Detroit on Now, or DON, weekend. The rapper recently shared the schedule for the three-day event, which includes plenty for residents to do.

On Thursday, August 25, there’ll be a screening of God Said Give ’Em Drum Machines — a film about Detroit’s contribution to techno. The event will proceed on August 26 with the presentation of several DON Awards, as well as invite-only activities, including an industry club and time on the basketball court. The final day of the weekend — August 27 — will feature panels discussing everything from fashion to mental health. Residents will also be given an opportunity to convene at a Block Party that will have carnival games, derby races and photo stations, among other things.

“After playing one of my all-time favorite shows at Detroit’s Mo Pop Festival a couple weeks ago, I can’t wait to return to the city and feel its incredible energy,” Sean said of DON Weekend. “I’m constantly inspired by Detroit and the city’s beautiful people. It’s a blessing to be able to give back to the city that made me.”

Sean will throw the event alongside local individuals and organizations, including the Boys & Girls Clubs of Southeastern Michigan, City Council President Mary Sheffield and Occupy The Corner Initiative. It’s expected that he will make an important announcement about the Sean Anderson Foundation Content & Production Music Studio, which he plans to build in the Boys & Girls Clubs.

Scott Ian would “love” to make another Damned Things album: “I love those dudes”

August 17, 2022 by WDNY Radio

Among Anthrax guitarist Scott Ian‘s many projects is The Damned Things, a band also featuring Fall Out Boy‘s Joe Trohman and Andy Hurley, ex-Every Time I Die frontman Keith Buckley and Alkaline Trio bassist Dan Andriano. Speaking with ABC Audio, Ian shares that he would “love” to get The Damned Things back together for another album.

“That’s one of those things where it’s, you know, we’re all pretty busy,” Ian laughs.

The Damned Things released their debut album, Ironiclast, in 2010 and didn’t get around to putting out a sophomore follow-up until 2019 with High Crimes. Even given nine years, High Crimes still came together out of the blue.

“[Trohman] sent me over these demos; I was, like, ‘Dude! These are amazing!'” Ian recalls. “We never had a meeting or a plan to ‘Let’s start writing a record,’ he was just writing and was writing this great s***, and then that turned into the second album.”

As for album number three, Ian is keeping his hopes up.

“I love those dudes, we’re all friends and are some of my favorite people on this planet,” Ian says. “So any time I would get to be room with them, I’d be very happy about it … I would certainly hope that, at some point, we would get to do it again.”

In the meantime, we can hope that Ian’s 11-year-old son, Revel, keeps pestering him about it.

“My son’s been a big fan of that for years,” Ian says. “He’s constantly [asking], ‘When are you gonna make a Damned Things record?'”

Anthrax is currently touring the U.S. while celebrating the band’s 40th anniversary. Black Label Society is also on the bill.

Scorpions release new song, “Hammersmith”; debut fan-packed “Rock Believer” music video

August 17, 2022 by WDNY Radio

As The Scorpions gear up to launch the 2022 North American leg of their Rock Believer World Tour this Sunday in Toronto, the veteran German hard rockers have offered up a couple of goodies for fans.

First, the band has released a new song titled “Hammersmith” that’s available now as a digital download and via streaming services. The heavy-pounding tune finds The Scorpions paying tribute to the famous London venue the Hammersmith Odeon, while also expressing how enthusiastic they are to keep rocking their fans.

“The song takes us back to a time when we played in the smallest clubs, just dreaming about being able to perform in the Temple of Rock, the Hammersmith Odeon,” explains frontman Klaus Meine, who wrote the tune’s lyrics.

Meanwhile, The Scorpions have also just debuted an “official fan video” for the title track of their latest album, Rock Believer, which was released in February.

The clip features footage that Scorpions fans from around the world submitted, showing them rocking out and singing along to the song, and sharing their love for the group, mixed with video of the band performing the song.

The Rock Believer tour features 24 dates and is mapped out through an October 21 concert in Las Vegas. Whitesnake had originally been slated to open most of the shows, but had to drop off the trek recently because frontman David Coverdale has been battling a persistent respiratory infection. All-female Swedish rock band Thundermother will serve as The Scorpions’ support act throughout most of the tour.

Check out The Scorpions’ full schedule at The-Scorpions.com.

‘I Love My Dad’ proves truth is stranger — and funnier — than fiction

August 17, 2022 by WDNY Radio

Have you ever been catfished by your dad? James Morosini has. He’s the writer, director, and star of the new film I Love My Dad, which is in theaters and streaming on demand now.

The movie, which Morosini describes as as “almost a modern Mrs. Doubtfire,” follows “an estranged father — played by Patton Oswalt — who catfishes his son in an attempt to reconnect, and the son ends up falling head over heels for the girl that the father has created,” he tells ABC Audio. “And the father now has to figure out an off-ramp to this thing without destroying his son’s hopes and dreams.”

I Love My Dad is based on what actually happened between him and his father when he was around 20 years old.

“I think [we] were fighting [and] I think he had lied about something. I got very upset with him. I decided to block him on social media,” he recalls. “I was going through a tough time, and he was very worried about me and wanted to talk with me about it and I wouldn’t talk with him about it. And then I got home one day, and this really pretty girl sent me a friend request online, and she seemed amazing. And then it turned out to be my dad. [He] had catfished me.”

James says he and his dad have a good relationship now, and the film has only made it stronger.

“The idea of making this movie was really stepping into my dad’s shoes and trying to understand our relationship from his perspective,” he explains. “It was kind of a challenge that I posed to myself to see if I could really take a walk in his shoes and if I could really empathize with where he was coming from.”

+ More