Covid News Watch
Disney Channel Star Boosts Youth Vaccine Push + More
Olivia Rodrigo Boosts White House Youth Vaccine Push
Olivia Rodrigo wants people to know that the COVID-19 vaccines are “good 4 u.”
The 18-year-old pop star and internet sensation was at the White House on Wednesday to meet with President Joe Biden and Dr. Anthony Fauci as part of the administration’s efforts to encourage younger Americans to roll up their sleeves and get a coronavirus shot.
Rodrigo, who rose to fame as a Disney Channel star, was set to tape a joint social media message with the president and the nation’s top infectious disease expert on Wednesday afternoon. She also made an appearance at the start of the daily White House press briefing “to help spread the message of the importance of youth vaccination.”
As Moderna Launches COVID Vaccine Clinical Trials for Pregnant Women, Experts Warn of ‘Huge Risk’
Moderna will begin studying its COVID vaccine in pregnant women, according to a posting on ClinicalTrials.gov. The observational study, expected to begin July 22, will enroll about 1,000 females over age 18 who will be studied over a 21-month period.
Women who received a Moderna vaccine during the 28 days prior to their last menstrual period, or at any time during pregnancy, are eligible.
The brief summary of the trial states the main goal is “to evaluate the outcomes of pregnancy in females exposed to the Moderna COVID-19 vaccine (mRNA-1273) during pregnancy.”
Doctors for COVID Ethics: Halt Use of Pfizer COVID Vaccines in Adolescents ‘Immediately’
For months, Doctors for COVID Ethics, a Europe-based international alliance of hundreds of concerned doctors and scientists, has been issuing urgent warnings about the short- and long-term risks of COVID vaccines, particularly for children.
In May, the U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA) and the European Medicines Agency (EMA) extended Pfizer’s Emergency Use Authorization (EUA) — previously granted for ages 16 and up — to 12- to 15-year-olds.
Pfizer was the first company to test experimental COVID vaccines in children, and is the only manufacturer thus far to have been granted EUA for vaccine recipients under age 18.
Autopsy Shows Man Who Died After Pfizer Shot Had Enlarged Heart, Coroner Says Vaccine Not to Blame — Wife Not Convinced
A healthcare worker who died four days after his second dose of Pfizer’s COVID vaccine was killed by heart disease, according to the Orange County, California coroner.
Tim Zook, an x-ray technologist at South Coast Global Medical Center in Santa Ana, was hospitalized Jan. 5 — just hours after being vaccinated. Zook’s wife, Rochelle Zook, told the Orange County Register her husband’s health rapidly deteriorated after receiving his second dose of Pfizer’s vaccine. Tim Zook died Jan. 9.
At Least 8 Fully Vaccinated Vegas Hospital Workers Test Positive in ‘Breakthrough’ Cluster
At least eight fully vaccinated Nevada health care workers tested positive for the coronavirus last month in a rare cluster of “breakthrough” cases, according to a report.
In all, 11 coworkers were infected after an off-site pool party on June 7, the vast majority came down with the Delta variant, which is believed to spread more easily, according to the Las Vegas Review-Journal, citing emails obtained from the Southern Nevada Health District.
Two out of the three who weren’t fully vaccinated had received at least one dose of the vaccine, the newspaper reported.
30% Of Immigrants in ICE Custody Have Refused a Coronavirus Vaccine
Three in 10 immigrants in U.S. detention centers are saying no to the COVID-19 vaccine, Axios has learned.
Vaccine hesitancy among detained immigrants has added an unlikely twist to the challenges of a pandemic-era increase in border migration.
ICE did not provide the exact numbers of immigrants who were offered the shot but declined. But the 30% figure has been shared internally, according to sources familiar. There have been nearly 20,000 COVID-19 cases and nine deaths among ICE detainees , according to agency data. There are currently more than 900 confirmed cases.
Mississippi Official Apologizes for Overstating Number of Kids With COVID on Life Support
Mississippi’s top health official issued an apology Tuesday evening after previously posting a tweet that misstated the number of children currently on life support in their battle against COVID-19.
State Health Officer Thomas Dobbs said the information he originally shared was based in part on a hospital report that was later corrected.
A tweet Dobbs posted earlier Tuesday, which has since been deleted, said 12 children in Mississippi were receiving treatment for their COVID-19 infections in hospital intensive care units, with 10 of those children on ventilators. Dobbs later posted an update saying seven children were in the ICU with two on ventilators.
COVID Outbreak Sweeps Through Sonoma County Homeless Shelter, Including Many Vaccinated Residents
San Francisco Chronicle reported:
At least 59 residents at Sonoma County’s largest homeless shelter have tested positive for the coronavirus, with another possible 26 positive cases, county officials said on Wednesday.
Nearly half of those who tested positive were fully vaccinated, said Dr. Sundari Mase, the county’s health officer.
The shelter first reported 20 positive cases July 2. Since then, more than a third of the 156 residents at Samuel L. Jones Hall in Santa Rosa have tested positive.
Surgeon General Warns of Dangers of Misinformation Amid Misleading Vaccine Claims
U.S. Surgeon General Dr. Vivek Murthy warned in a new advisory that health misinformation is “a serious threat to public health,” as administration officials grow increasingly concerned about misleading claims about coronavirus vaccines.
“I am urging all Americans to help slow the spread of health misinformation during the COVID-19 pandemic and beyond,” Murthy wrote in a 22-page advisory released Thursday. “Health misinformation is a serious threat to public health. It can cause confusion, sow mistrust, harm people’s health, and undermine public health efforts. Limiting the spread of health misinformation is a moral and civic imperative that will require a whole-of-society effort.”
Indonesia Regulator Allows Ivermectin Use for COVID Treatment
Merely mentioning the name of the vaccine-busting drug Ivermectin in the US is enough to get you carted off for “questioning” to the nearest illegal CIA blacksite, have the NSA leak all your private information to MSNBC, WaPo and the NYT and quietly shipped off to Guantanamo for permanent re-education under the daily auspices of Critical Race Theory. But not in the “banana republic” of Indonesia, where on Thursday, Ivermectin was officially approved for COVID treatment in a vicious blow to the “buy my vaccine” pharmaceutical lobby around the world.
According to Bloomberg, Indonesia’s food and drug regulator, known as BPOM, has issued a letter approving the distribution of Ivermectin, Remdesivir, Favipiravir, Oseltamivir, immunoglobulin, Tocilizumab, Azithromycin and Dexametason to be used in treatment of COVID-19, according to a statement from the agency. The latter, Bloomberg adds, was issued as guidance for distributors of the drugs.
Tennessee Abandons Vaccine Outreach to Minors + More
Tennessee Abandons Vaccine Outreach to Minors — Not Just for COVID
The Tennessee Department of Health will halt all adolescent vaccine outreach – not just for coronavirus, but all diseases – amid pressure from Republican state lawmakers, according to an internal report and agency emails obtained by the Tennessean. If the health department must issue any information about vaccines, staff are instructed to strip the agency logo off the documents.
The health department will also stop all COVID-19 vaccine events on school property, despite holding at least one such event this month. The decisions to end vaccine outreach and school events come directly from Health Commissioner Dr. Lisa Piercey, the internal report states.
Woman Who Experienced ‘Life-Altering’ Injuries After COVID Vaccine Teams Up With U.S. Senators to Demand Answers
A Utah woman and two U.S. senators are teaming up to get answers from federal health agencies about life-altering injuries people have experienced after receiving a COVID vaccine.
Brianne Dressen is a preschool teacher from Utah who was injured after participating in AstraZeneca’s COVID vaccine clinical trial in November 2020. She has accumulated more than $250,000 in medical bills as a result of injuries she believes were caused by the vaccine.
Dressen said within one hour of being vaccinated she had tingling down her arm. By the time she got home her vision was blurry and doubled. Her sensitivity became so severe that she had to wear earmuffs and sunglasses all the time.
FDA Could Make Decision on COVID Vaccine for 6-Month-Olds by End of Year
Officials could have data on the safety and efficacy of COVID-19 vaccines on children as young as 6-months-old by the end of the year, according to Dr. Anthony Fauci. However, it will be up to the Food and Drug Administration (FDA) to recommend whether they should be inoculated.
The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention is recommending that children 12 and older get vaccinated against COVID-19, as studies show it can prevent infection. While children are far less likely than adults to become seriously ill from the new coronavirus, some have died of the virus or passed it along to at-risk family members, driving a need for them to be protected, as well.
On Tuesday, Fauci told MSNBC‘s Andrea Mitchell that the federal government and pharmaceutical companies are doing age de-escalation studies. The purpose is to identify how safe and effective vaccines are in children in several age groups — 12- to 9-years-old, 9- to 6-years-old, 6- to 2-years-old, and 2-years-old to 6-months-old.
R.I. Approves Moderna COVID Vaccine for Teens Ahead of FDA Authorization
Boston Globe via MSN reported:
Rhode Island’s Vaccine Advisory Subcommittee on Tuesday morning approved a decision to start administering the Moderna COVID-19 vaccine to teenagers as young as 12 years old ahead of federal approval.
The committee also said the state will continue to administer the Johnson & Johnson vaccine, which the US Food and Drug Administration on Monday warned can lead to an increased risk of a rare neurological condition known as Guillain–Barré syndrome.
Moderna recently applied for emergency use authorization with the FDA to start administering their COVID-19 vaccine to young teenagers. At this time, Pfizer’s vaccine is the only one authorized for use in adolescents as young as 12.
High School Students Studying Remotely Because of COVID Suffered Socially, Emotionally, and Academically
New research finds that high school students who attended school remotely during the COVID-19 pandemic suffered socially, emotionally, and academically compared with those who attended in person.
The study was published today in Educational Researcher (ER) by researchers Angela L. Duckworth, Tim Kautz, Amy Defnet, Emma Satlof-Bedrick, Sean Talamas, Benjamin Lira, and Laurence Steinberg. ER is a peer-reviewed journal of the American Educational Research Association.
“Many news stories have reported on individual stories of teenagers who have suffered from anxiety, depression, and other mental health challenges during the pandemic,” said lead author Duckworth, a professor at the University of Pennsylvania and the founder and CEO of Character Lab. “This study gives some of the first empirical evidence of how learning remotely has affected adolescent well-being.”
DHS Begins Administering J&J Vaccine to Immigrant Detainees
The Department of Homeland Security is administering the Johnson & Johnson vaccine to immigrant detainees as part of an effort to scale up vaccinations for COVID-19 at Immigration and Customs Enforcement facilities, ICE told CNN in a statement.
An ICE spokesperson said in a statement that the department “remains committed to a public health guided, evidence-based approach to vaccine education that ensures those in our care and custody can make an informed choice during this global pandemic.” There were more than 27,600 immigrants in ICE custody as of July 9.
Phillies Players Believe Coronavirus Vaccine Causes Injuries
Teams across the professional sports sphere are attempting to hit a very important number as all leagues attempt to grasp at some semblance of normalcy after a terrible 2020. That number is 85 percent. NFL, MLB, and NBA teams that have 85 percent of their players vaccinated are free from most of the stringent rules and protocols designed to limit the spread of COVID-19 in clubhouses and locker rooms alike.
Of course, it has quickly come to light that it’s not as clear-cut as described above. Many athletes are hesitant to get vaccinated for one reason or another. The Athletic’s Matt Gelb dove into why the Philadelphia Phillies have failed to reach the 85 percent vaccination threshold yesterday, and at least part of the reasoning is that some believe there is a connection between getting vaccinated and getting injured.
Former FDA Chief: We Might Not Need COVID Boosters Forever
The former head of the Food and Drug Administration on Wednesday said people might not need COVID-19 booster shots on a recurring basis, citing the ability’s body to build a long-lasting immune response after a jumpstart from vaccines.
Dr. Scott Gottlieb weighed in amid a debate about whether people who were vaccinated early will need a third shot, even as the U.S. and other countries push to get initial doses into their populations.
“It’s not clear that we’re going to need boosters forever,” he told CNBC. “It could be the case that after you give a third dose to people they get a much more durable response and it’s a multi-year response and you’re not boosting constantly. We just don’t know yet.”
Scientists Could Create a Single Vaccine That Fights Multiple Coronaviruses Within 5 Years, Potentially Preventing the Next Pandemic, an Expert Says
Scientists could soon create a vaccine that fights most coronaviruses, potentially preventing future pandemics, a foundation that funds vaccine development has said.
More than 20 research groups are trying to develop “broadly-protective” vaccines that can work against multiple coronaviruses. This is the family of viruses that SARS-CoV-2, the virus that caused the COVID-19 pandemic, belongs to.
If these researchers are successful then the next time a coronavirus crosses from animals to humans — which is seen as the most likely cause of future coronavirus pandemics — we would immediately deploy vaccines that work against it.
Dear Parents, Kids Need Camp + More
Dear Parents, Kids Need Camp
As a pediatrician and a pediatric psychiatrist, we have watched children in New York City experience tremendous challenges over the last 17 months. Like anyone who has spent time with or worked with kids during this phase of the COVID-19 pandemic, we are thinking carefully about what is safe for kids and how to balance the relative risks of COVID-19 with the risks of the social isolation, decreased physical activity, disruption of normal childhood activities, and loss that the past year has brought.
How do we encourage children to foster relationships past the computer screen and recondition them — and ourselves! — in a gentle, supportive way to be comfortable once again with navigating social interactions and new routines?
Pfizer Fails to Convince FDA on Immediate Need for COVID Booster Shots
After meeting with Pfizer executives Monday, U.S. regulators said they are still not ready to recommend COVID vaccine booster shots.
“Nothing has really changed,” Dr. Anthony Fauci, director of the National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases, told CNN’s Chris Cuomo after the meeting.
Pfizer executives met privately with U.S. senior scientists and regulators Monday evening to press their case for quick authorization of COVID booster vaccines amid pushback from federal health agencies who last week said the extra doses are not needed.
The COVID Lab Leak Hypothesis: Did the Media Fall Victim to a Misinformation Campaign?
For most of 2020, the notion that SARS-CoV-2 may have originated in a lab in Wuhan, China, was treated as a thoroughly debunked conspiracy theory. Only conservative news media sympathetic to President Donald Trump and a few lonely reports dared suggest otherwise. But that all changed in the early months of 2021, and today most outlets across the political spectrum agree: the “lab leak” scenario deserves serious investigation.
Understanding this dramatic U turn on arguably the most important question for preventing a future pandemic, and why it took nearly a year to happen, involves understanding contemporary science journalism.
WHO Warns Against People Mixing and Matching COVID Vaccines
The World Health Organization’s chief scientist on Monday advised against people mixing and matching COVID-19 vaccines from different manufacturers, calling it a “dangerous trend” since more data is needed about the health impact.
“It’s a little bit of a dangerous trend here,” Soumya Swaminathan told an online briefing. “It will be a chaotic situation in countries if citizens start deciding when and who will be taking a second, a third and a fourth dose.”
Health Official Fired in Retaliation for Coronavirus Vaccine Guidance for Teens, She Says
Washington Post via MSN reported:
Tennessee fired its top immunization official Monday, the official said, in retaliation for her attempts to let teenagers choose whether to be vaccinated against the novel coronavirus.
Michelle Fiscus said she was fired from her job as director of immunization programs at the Tennessee Department of Health on Monday afternoon as retaliation for the department’s efforts to vaccinate teenagers against the coronavirus, a plan that angered several state lawmakers.
J&J, Astrazeneca Explore COVID Vaccine Modification in Response to Rare Blood Clots
Johnson & Johnson, AstraZeneca PLC and the University of Oxford, along with outside scientists, are conducting early-stage research into whether potential modifications of their COVID-19 vaccines could reduce or eliminate the risk of rare but serious blood clots associated with the shots, according to people close to the process.
Fast-developing clues into how the clots form — driven in part by independent scientists in Europe, the U.S. and Canada — are boosting hopes of identifying the cause and possibly re-engineering AstraZeneca’s shot by next year, according to some of these people. It is too early to know whether either shot can be modified, or whether doing so would make commercial sense, these people say.
Fauci Says He Would Be ‘Astounded’ if Pfizer, Moderna and J&J COVID Vaccines Don’t Get Full FDA Approval
White House chief medical advisor Dr. Anthony Fauci fully expects the coronavirus vaccines from Pfizer, Moderna and Johnson & Johnson will receive full approval from U.S. drug regulators, he told CNBC on Tuesday.
“The data are about as good as it gets. … I would be astounded if these vaccines, namely the mRNA and the J&J, didn’t get full approval,” Fauci said on “Squawk Box.”
Merkel Tells Germans to Get Vaccinated for ‘More Freedom’
Chancellor Angela Merkel on Tuesday urged Germans to get vaccinated against COVID-19, saying the more people get the shot “the more free we will be again.”
Vaccination rates in Germany have slowed in recent weeks. About 58.7% of the population has received at least one shot and 43% are fully vaccinated, according to official figures.
Schools Push to Get Students Vaccinated Before Start of Academic Year + More
Schools Push to Get Students Vaccinated Before the Start of Academic Year
With the start of school only weeks away in some parts of the country, schools, school districts and some teachers unions are pushing to get students vaccinated to ensure they are inoculated against the spread of COVID-19 when classes fully reopen in the fall.
Sixty-three percent of public schools were open full-time, in-person for all students by May, while 2% offered remote learning exclusively, according to data released Thursday from the U.S. Department of Education’s Institute of Education Sciences. Many districts are planning on reopening in the fall for in-person instruction, although some will still also offer remote learning.
“The time is now” for vaccinations, said Jim Blumenstock, the senior vice president of pandemic response and recovery at the Association of State and Territorial Health Officials. “The school year is right around the corner, depending on [the] part of the country.”
FDA to Add Warning to J&J Vaccine of ‘Serious But Rare’ Autoimmune Disorder
The U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA) is planning to announce a new warning on Johnson & Johnson’s (J&J) COVID vaccine saying the shot has been linked to Guillain–Barré syndrome (GBS), a “serious but rare” autoimmune disorder. The Washington Post attributed the news to “four individuals familiar with the situation.”
According to The New York Times, the chances of developing GBS after receiving the J&J shot is three to five times higher than would be expected in the general population in the U.S.
CDC Says Kids Can Get COVID and Flu Vaccines at the Same Time — But Where’s the Safety Study?
The CDC’s Advisory Committee on Immunization Practices (ACIP) recently unanimously voted 14-0 to coadminister the COVID-19 and flu vaccine to adults and children. The proposed policy for the 2021-2022 influenza season was made to implement changes that coincide with the timing of children returning to school in fall 2021, and to align with the CDC’s guidelines allowing COVID-19 vaccines to be coadministered with other vaccines.
This also will be the first influenza season where nearly all available flu vaccines are quadrivalent, rather than trivalent. This means flu shots will contain four vaccine strain influenza viruses — two influenza A viruses and two influenza B viruses.
Gen Z Wants to ‘Wait a Little Bit’ to Get COVID Vaccine. Experts Say There’s No Time to Waste
Patricia Smithson, 23, thought about her aunt in New York who died alone of COVID-19 when she decided to get her vaccine. Gracie Poynter, 21, knows her concerns about the safety of the shots could jeopardize her job in health care.
They’re all part of a group once considered a low priority in the nation’s vaccine rollout: Generation Z, loosely defined as those in their mid-20s and younger. But now that vaccinations are readily available to Americans 12 and older, the nation’s lagging vaccine rate among young adults is raising alarms.
Chicago Public Schools Launches COVID Vaccination Effort
Chicago Public Schools launches its COVID-19 vaccination effort this week, transforming three high schools into clinics to inoculate students before the new school year begins in the fall.
Officials with the nation’s third-largest school district plan to offer full in-person instruction in the fall and want to vaccinate as many students as possible before classes begin next month. District officials said they are “not in a position” to mandate COVID-19 vaccines, but will ask families to submit COVID-19 vaccine documents as is the practice with other vaccinations.
19 Words From Moderna’s CEO That May Guarantee Billions in Revenue for the Long Term
Investors have been cheering about Moderna’s (NASDAQ: MRNA) ability to bring a coronavirus vaccine to market in less than a year — and post more than a billion dollars in profit in the first full quarter of sales. The stock climbed 434% last year. And in the first half of 2021 it advanced 125%.
The one worry many have is this: Will the big-time revenue be recurrent? Or will it diminish in a post-pandemic world? Experts say the coronavirus is here to stay. Still, if the virus weakens or becomes less widespread, people may not rush out for an annual COVID-19 vaccination.
Republicans Push to Ban ‘Discrimination’ Against Unvaccinated People
State Republican lawmakers around the country are pushing bills — at least one of which has become law — that would give unvaccinated people the same protections as those surrounding race, gender and religion.
Why it matters: These bills would tie the hands of private businesses that want to protect their employees and customers. But they also show how deep into the political psyche resistance to coronavirus vaccine requirements has become, and how vaccination status has rapidly become a marker of identity.
Bipartisan Majority of Americans Now Believe Coronavirus Leaked From Lab: Poll
A majority of Americans now believe that the novel coronavirus leaked from a laboratory, according to a poll by Politico and Harvard University.
The survey found that 52 percent of Americans believe coronavirus leaked from a lab, compared with 28 percent who think the pandemic started following human contact with an infected animal. Support for the lab-leak theory is bipartisan, with 52 percent of Democrat and 59 percent of Republican respondents backing the theory.
Israel Starts Administering Third Dose of Pfizer Vaccine to At-Risk Adults
The Washington Post via MSN reported:
Israel’s Ministry of Health on Monday began offering a third dose of the Pfizer vaccine to severely immunocompromised adults in what health experts say could be the first phase of an experiment to provide coronavirus booster shots for older people and the most vulnerable.
The recommendation, published Sunday by the ministry, said that the goal of the new program was to raise antibody levels among immunocompromised citizens, including cancer patients, recipients of liver transplants, and others who have recently exhibited weakened vaccine protection, according to data. It said that it had still not made a decision on administering third shots for the general adult population.
Woman Dies After First Dose of AstraZeneca Vaccine
A 72-year-old Adelaide woman has died after she developed blood clots following administration of the AstraZeneca vaccine.
“Obviously this is a very sad situation,” SA Premier Steven Marshall said on Monday, saying the woman died in the Royal Adelaide Hospital overnight.
The woman had received her first vaccine dose on June 24 and was admitted to the hospital on July 5. She spent several days in the ICU.
Long Shot Patients With Long COVID to Receive Monthly Vaccines in Trial in Cure Hope As 1 in 10 With Bug Suffer Chronic Symptoms
In a world-first, British scientists are set to explore giving sufferers monthly doses of the vaccine in a bid to combat the condition.
After winning the go-ahead on Friday, 40 long COVID sufferers will be offered at least two extra jabs in a trial later this year.
Several of the major vaccine developers are backing the study and if the pilot is successful the scientists can recruit thousands more patients.
Family Demand Answers as Father-of-Two, 57, Fights for Life on Ventilator With Potentially Deadly Guillain-Barré Syndrome After Having AstraZeneca COVID Jab
The family of a father-of-two are demanding answers while he fights for his life with a potentially fatal syndrome after having the AstraZeneca COVID jab.
Anthony Shingler, 57, from Northwood in Stoke-on-Trent, was left ‘paralysed’ after having his first dose of the jab three months ago in March.
He has since been diagnosed with Guillain-Barré syndrome which is a very rare and serious condition that affects the body’s nerves.
