Coronavirus vaccine and Delta variant updates for 11-19-2021

<p>This is Vaccine 411, the latest coronavirus vaccine information for November 19th, 2021.</p><p>&nbsp;</p><p>It’s known for its festive Christmas markets but health officials in Germany say they could be heading for a terrible Christmas. New measures were approved yesterday to rein in record infections and some German states are considering mandatory vaccinations for some professional groups like medical staff.</p><p>&nbsp;</p><p>Again, it is good to be Pfizer. The U.S. government will pay the company $5.29 billion for 10 million courses of its potential COVID treatment if regulators authorize it. That’s about $529 per course if you’re doing the math. The President said in a statement the treatments “will be easily accessible and free,” although the taxpayers just paid $5.29 billion. Still, these treatments have been repeatedly called potential game changers. </p><p>&nbsp;</p><p>Unvaccinated Army soldiers are starting to get their marching orders. They will not be allowed to re-enlist or be promoted. This also applies to reservists and National Guardsmen. 28% of the entire U.S. Army is not yet fully vaccinated. </p><p>&nbsp;</p><p>New research shows the pandemic has brought on an "emerging public health concern" of people losing their sense of smell. Like, for a long time. The estimate is between 700,000 and 1.6 million people in the US who had COVID have lost or had a change in their sense of smell that has lasted more than 6 months, and that’s likely an underestimate. They say some may never regain it. Why is the sense of smell lost? Scientists have no idea. </p><p>&nbsp;</p><p>If you don’t like needles or humans, have we got a story for you. A Canadian startup has built a vaccine robot that can dose you in the arm without a needle or any human help. You use an app to register with the robot, prove your identity by holding an ID card in front of its camera, the robot arm retrieves the vaccine and uses a sensor to find your arm, then injects the vaccine using a brief, high-pressure jet of fluid with no needle.