They’re standing in long lines, often in the early morning darkness and in the cold, waiting for access to community vaccination centers all across the country. According to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC), more than 1 million doses are being administered daily to grateful recipients.

Yet there’s still the disturbing trend of vaccine hesitancy. Driven by misinformation, lack of trust, and concerns about safety and efficacy, vaccine hesitancy is considered to be one of the top global health threats, according to the World Health Organization (WHO).

During Part III of Vaccination Nation, an exclusive series produced by ICD10monitor for Talk-Ten-Tuesdays, program host and executive producer Chuck Buck and co-host Erica Remer, MD will conduct another live town hall, answering listeners’ questions in real time. 

The global COVID-19 pandemic has now resulted in nearly 108 million cases worldwide, as well as 2.37 million deaths. More than 27 million of those cases and more than 483,000 deaths have occurred in the U.S. alone.

Two companies, Moderna and Pfizer, have had their COVID vaccines approved for use by the Food and Drug Administration (FDA). Since vaccine distribution began in the U.S. in mid-December 2020, more than 44 million doses have been administered, reaching slightly more than 10 percent of the total U.S. population, according to federal data recently collected by the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) and reported on by NPR.

A third company, Johnson & Johnson, earlier this month applied for FDA approval for its single-dose vaccine, and company officials have said they will be able to produce 100 million doses by June. Officials with both Moderna and Pfizer have reportedly said that they plan to have produced 200 million doses apiece by the summer.
The live broadcast will also feature these other segments:

• News Desk: Timothy Powell, compliance expert and ICD10monitor national correspondent, will anchor the Talk Ten Tuesdays News Desk.
• The Coding Report: Laurie Johnson, senior healthcare consultant for Revenue Cycle Solutions, LLC, will report on the latest ICD-10 codes.