Covid News Watch
Merck Enlists Celebrity Couple and Their Kids to Encourage Childhood Vaccines + More
Merck Enlists Celebrity Couple and Their Kids to Encourage Childhood Vaccines in Public Service Campaign
Not making the bed during the pandemic is fine. But skipping important vaccines for your kids is not, say actress Gabrielle Union-Wade and her husband, former NBA champion Dwyane Wade, in a new Merck & Co. public service announcement.
The celebrity parents and their children star in the new “Don’t Skip” campaign from Merck and non-profit organization Vaccinate Your Family.
In the PSA campaign, the couple appear with their children in lighthearted spots talking about how they decided as a family to skip some “old rules and routines” during the pandemic. They tell their teenaged daughter Zaya, who passes by as she’s taking selfies, that she can skip making her bed, for instance.
Reports of Injuries Among 12- to 17-Year-Olds Following COVID Vaccines More Than Triple in 1 Week, VAERS Latest Data Show
The number of reported adverse events following COVID vaccines continues to climb, according to data released today by the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC). The data comes directly from reports submitted to the Vaccine Adverse Event Reporting System (VAERS).
VAERS is the primary government-funded system for reporting adverse vaccine reactions in the U.S. Reports submitted to VAERS require further investigation before a causal relationship can be confirmed.
Every Friday, VAERS makes public all vaccine injury reports received as of a specified date, usually about a week prior to the release date. Today’s data show that between Dec. 14, 2020 and May 21, a total of 227,521 total adverse events were reported to VAERS, including 4,406 deaths — an increase of 205 over the previous week — and 21,537 serious injuries, up 3,009 since last week.
New York City Is Sending Vaccination Buses to Beaches and Parks This Memorial Day Weekend
New York City is posting buses at beaches and parks over the Memorial Day weekend offering free COVID-19 vaccinations, Mayor Bill de Blasio said Thursday.
“We’re going to go the extra mile, whatever it takes,” said de Blasio. “You’re going to see our vaccine buses out all over New York City the next few days.”
He added, “Go, get vaccinated, hit the beach. Real simple.”
New Yorkers can expect to see buses at spots including Brighton Beach, the Rockaways, Brooklyn Bridge Park, Central Park and Governors Island, he said.
Woman Regrets Getting J&J Vaccine After Suffering Blood Clots, German Scientists Say They May Know What’s Causing Clots
An Oregon woman developed rare blood clots after receiving Johnson & Johnson’s (J&J) COVID vaccine earlier this month.
Barbara Buchanan chose J&J because it was a one-dose shot, and because experts declared the vaccine was safe after they lifted a 10-day pause, KGW8 reported. The pause in the U.S. was triggered by a Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) investigation into reports of rare blood clots.
Buchanan said she now regrets her decision. The 63-year-old first noticed symptoms six to eight days after her shot.
Henry Ford Health System Enrolling Children for Moderna COVID Vaccine Study
Henry Ford Health System is enrolling children for a Moderna vaccine study. Participation is open to children ages 6 months to 11 years old.
Henry Ford is the only enrollment site in Michigan for the vaccine study. The KidCOVE study is to evaluate the safety and efficacy of Moderna’s mRNA-1273 vaccine in children.
These Florida Concert Tickets Are $18 if You’re Vaccinated, $1,000 if You’re Not
A concert promoter in Florida came up with a creative way to encourage his community to get vaccinated by offering $18 discounted tickets to an upcoming show for those who have been vaccinated — and charging $999.99 per ticket for those who have not.
Paul Williams of Leadfoot Promotions in Tampa Bay said he came up with the idea as vaccination appointments in his state opened up to all, and while trying to plan a concert that people could safely enjoy after over a year of living through a pandemic that shut down most live events with crowds.
“I also wanted it to be a vaccine drive to get the fence-sitters off the fence,” Williams told ABC News. “I wanted to get the kids that want to go to shows to go out and get their shots.”
Johnson & Johnson Single-Shot COVID Vaccine Approved for Use in UK
The UK’s medicines regulator has approved the use of a fourth COVID vaccine, as cases of the variant of concern first detected in India rise.
The jab from US-based pharmaceutical company Johnson & Johnson is considered a key tool in the global arsenal against COVID, given it is a one-dose regimen, unlike the the other three vaccines approved for UK use that require two shots to provide a high level of protection.
The vaccine is based on an approach J&J used successfully against Ebola. It is similar to the Oxford/AstraZeneca jab, but delivers a protein from the spike of the coronavirus through a human common cold instead of a chimp adenovirus.
FDA Official Says Heart Issue Possibly Linked to COVID Vaccines Is Rare, Would Inoculate Own Kids
A heart inflammation condition in adolescents and young adults who received COVID-19 vaccines appears to be very rare and it remains unclear if the issue is actually related to the shots, the Food and Drug Administration’s top vaccine regulator, Dr. Peter Marks, said Thursday.
The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention’s vaccine safety group said last week it was looking into a condition called myocarditis, which is an inflammation of the heart muscle, in a “relatively few” people who received COVID vaccinations.
The U.S. May Never Hit the Herd Immunity Threshold. That’s OK.
Half of Americans have now received at least one dose of a COVID-19 vaccine, and with children ages 12 to 15 now eligible for immunizations, the United States appears to be getting the coronavirus pandemic under control. But despite the tremendous progress, it’s still not clear that the nation will ever truly reach the herd immunity threshold — the point at which enough people in a population are immune to a pathogen to limit its spread.
More important, we may not need to achieve that goal in order to escape the pandemic.
Reaching the herd immunity threshold doesn’t guarantee that people cannot be infected by a pathogen. But the closer a community gets, the more transmission slows down, which benefits everyone. The current rate of new COVID-19 cases in the United States right now shows this phenomenon in action. Forty percent of the U.S. population is fully vaccinated, and the number of new cases of COVID-19 reported each day is now one-tenth of what it was at the pandemic’s apex in January.
If COVID-19 Vaccines Are Free, Why Are Some People Getting Bills?
The U.S. federal government prepaid for enough vaccines to cover every American, regardless of whether they have insurance, but some people still are being charged. Why?
… Providers can seek reimbursement from a person’s health insurance for a “vaccine administration fee,” but individuals aren’t supposed to receive a bill.
“No one should be paying for the vaccine, but we are seeing a lot of inappropriate charges,” California Attorney General Rob Bonta told ABC News.
Nearly Half of Unvaccinated Adults Worry About Missing Work Because of Side Effects
Nearly half of adults in the United States who have not received a coronavirus vaccine are concerned about missing work as a result of side effects from the shot, according to a Kaiser Family Foundation poll released this month. The findings highlight a key obstacle to vaccination, particularly for the 25 percent of American workers who do not have any paid sick leave.
Economic stimulus legislation created tax credits that reimburse some employers for granting time off to get vaccinated or recover from side effects. But employers are not required to provide this leave. Although many employers are offering time off for employees to receive a vaccine, it’s the recovery that has workers more worried.
EU Regulator Endorses Pfizer-BioNtech COVID-19 Vaccine for Adolescents
U.S. News & World Report reported:
Europe’s medicines regulator on Friday backed the use of Pfizer’s COVID-19 vaccine for children as young as 12, paving way for a broader roll-out in the region after similar clearances in the United States and Canada.
The European Medicines Agency’s endorsement comes weeks after it began evaluating extending use of the vaccine, developed with Germany’s BioNTech, to include 12- to 15-year olds. It is already being used in the European Union for those aged 16 and older.
Top 15 Highest-Paid Biopharma CEOs of 2020
For many pharma companies in 2020, the name of the game was COVID-19. Last year, the industry moved at breakneck speeds, forging unheard-of collaborations to deliver vaccines and therapeutics across the finish line.
More than a few of those pandemic players handed their chief executives some serious pay bumps for that work, but COVID-19 wasn’t all there was to 2020’s executive pay saga.
U.S. Health Agencies Will Decide if COVID-19 Booster Shots Are Needed – Not Vaccine Companies + More
U.S. Health Agencies Will Decide if COVID-19 Booster Shots Are Needed — Not Vaccine Companies
With coronavirus variants popping up across the globe, new questions are beginning to arise about how long the immunity from the vaccines will last, and whether booster shots will be needed to maintain protection against the mutating virus.
Although vaccine companies are already in the process of conducting clinical trials for booster shots, and preparing for potential widespread distribution, a decision pertaining to if and when the updated shots will be needed in the months and years to come will ultimately be made by a team of independent scientists and U.S. government officials.
More Deaths Reported After J&J, AstraZeneca Vaccines, Plus Researchers Link AstraZeneca to Strokes in Young Adults
The AstraZeneca and Johnson & Johnson (J&J) COVID vaccines came under scrutiny again this week as more reports of deaths — largely due to blood clot disorders — surfaced in Belgium, Canada and Greece.
Adding to the vaccine makers’ woes is a new report out of London from researchers who identified the first cases of strokes occurring in young adults who received the AstraZeneca vaccine, which was co-developed by the University of Oxford University in the UK.
‘This Week’ With Mary + Polly: Newspaper Editor Says ‘Anti-Vaxxers’ Should Be Denied Access to Healthcare + More
This week, Mary Holland, Children’s Health Defense (CHD) president, and Polly Tommey, co-producer of “Vaxxed,” cover the latest COVID headlines, including new research suggesting the number of children hospitalized for COVID is overcounted, a letter from UK medical professionals expressing “grave concern” about vaccinating schoolchildren for COVID and a CDC investigation linking the COVID vaccine to heart problems in teens and young adults.
Moderna Seeks Expanded Covid-19 Vaccine EUA
Moderna will seek to expand the emergency use authorization (EUA) for their COVID-19 vaccine to children after it showed high efficacy in a study.
According to a news release, the phase 2/3 study of the vaccine in adolescents met its primary immunogenicity endpoint. It proved to have 93% efficacy 14 days after the first dose. The company plans to submit the data to global regulator in early June.
Two West Aussies the Latest to Develop Blood Clots
A man and a woman from Western Australia are the latest people to get a blood clot after receiving the AstraZeneca vaccine.
The woman in her 50’s is recovering in a Perth hospital, while the man in his 70’s is at home.
Both cases are being investigated by the state’s health department and Australia’s drug regulator.
Nine Cases of Blood Clots Related to Vaccines Reported This Week
Nine instances of blood clots and low blood platelets have been reported nationwide in connection with the AstraZeneca vaccine in the past week, the Therapeutical Goods Administration (TGA) has announced.
Six reports have been confirmed as linked to the vaccine, while three more instances are considered probable.
The confirmed cases are two women in NSW aged 60 and 82, a 72-year-old man from WA, a 51-year-old WA woman, a 73-year-old Victorian woman and a 63-year-old Queensland man.
Eli Lilly Hit With DOJ Subpoena Over New Jersey Factory Making COVID-19 Drug
Earlier this month, Eli Lilly’s COVID-19 drug factory in New Jersey garnered unwanted headlines for quality control snafus and alleged document tampering. Now, the Department of Justice (DOJ) has stepped in to investigate.
Thursday, Lilly revealed the DOJ has issued a subpoena demanding documents relating to the site in Branchburg, New Jersey. The site produces doses of Lilly’s COVID-19 antibody treatment, which has recently faced setbacks for its susceptibility to certain variants.
Schools Try Pep-Rally Tactics to Get Students Vaccinated + More
Schools Try Pep-Rally Tactics to Get Students Vaccinated
A growing number of public schools are using mascots, food trucks and prize giveaways to create a pep-rally atmosphere aimed at encouraging students to get vaccinated against the coronavirus before summer vacation.
Districts from California to Michigan are offering free prom tickets and deploying mobile vaccination teams to schools to inoculate students 12 and up so everyone can return to classrooms in the fall. They are also enlisting students who have gotten shots to press their friends to do the same.
United Airlines Offers Vaccinated Shots at Free Travel
United Airlines is offering vaccinated customers a shot at winning free travel as the carrier joins a national effort to get more Americans immunized against COVID-19 and derail a pandemic behind the deaths of nearly 590,000 Americans.
“We’re proud to do our part to incentivize people to get their shot,” United CEO Scott Kirby stated in a news release. “Thanks to the vaccine, more and more destinations are opening up for travel — and we know our customers are eager to fly.”
18 Connecticut Teens Hospitalized for Heart Problems After COVID Vaccines, White House Says Young People Should Still Get the Shots
One week after the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) announced it was investigating heart inflammation in recently vaccinated young adults, Connecticut reported 18 new cases of heart problems among teens who had received a COVID vaccine.
All 18 cases resulted in hospitalization — the vast majority for a couple of days, reported NBC Connecticut. The cases were reported to the Connecticut Department of Public Health by vaccine providers, said Deirdre Gifford, acting health commissioner.
Before COVID Vaccine, Her Son Was a Healthy Athlete — Now He Can ‘Barely Walk,’ Mom Says
One day after getting the Pfizer-BioNTech COVID vaccine, Everest Romney became sick. Five days after being vaccinated, the 17-year-old was hospitalized when doctors discovered two blood clots in his brain.
Everest’s mother, Cherie Romney, told Children’s Health Defense Chairman Robert F. Kennedy Jr. on the “RFK Jr. The Defender Podcast” her son, a varsity basketball player at Corner Canyon High School in Draper, Utah, was a very healthy athletic child who was in the middle of recruiting season for his school basketball team.
Now, the teen can barely walk.
Number of Kids Hospitalized for COVID Inflated by at Least 40%, New Research Suggests
The reported number of COVID hospitalizations — one of the primary metrics for tracking the severity of the COVID pandemic — was grossly inflated for children in California hospitals, according to two research papers published May 19.
Both papers, published in the journal of Hospital Pediatrics, found pediatric hospitalizations for COVID were overcounted by at least 40%, carrying potential implications for nationwide figures used to justify vaccinating children.
Zogby Poll: 38% of Americans ‘Infuriated’ After Fauci Admits Nearly Half of NIH Staff Refused Vaccine
A new nationwide online poll conducted by Zogby Strategies in conjunction with Children’s Health Defense (CHD) shows an increasing number of Americans are “infuriated” after learning only about 60% of employees at the National Institutes of Health (NIH) have been vaccinated for COVID.
In a U.S. Senate hearing last week, Dr. Anthony Fauci said a little more than half to 60% of NIH employees had received the COVID-19 vaccine. Dr. Peter Marks confirmed a similar percentage of employees at the U.S. Food and Drug Administration had been vaccinated.
Experts Say Those Who Are Not Inoculated Against COVID-19 Shouldn’t Rely on Protection From Those Who Are
The U.S. is hitting major COVID-19 vaccination milestones, but health experts say those who are not inoculated should not rely on protection from those who are, as their infection risk hasn’t gone down in response to declining cases.
“The work ahead of us Is going to be really challenging because while the people who are fully vaccinated are well protected, we still have to keep on convincing individuals who are not yet vaccinated that they are not safe,” CNN medical analyst Leana Wen told Wolf Blitzer. “The pandemic is not over for them.”
Resistance to Vaccine Mandates Is Building. A Powerful Network Is Helping.
The Americans lodging complaints against coronavirus vaccine mandates are a diverse lot — a sheriff’s deputy in North Carolina, nursing home employees in Wisconsin and students at the largest university in New Jersey.
But their resistance is woven together by a common thread: the involvement of a law firm closely tied to the anti-vaccine movement.
Attorneys from Siri & Glimstad — a New York firm that has done millions of dollars of legal work for one of the nation’s foremost anti-vaccination groups — are co-counsel in a case against the Durham County Sheriff’s Office. They’ve sent warning letters to officials in Rock County, Wis., as well as to the president of Rutgers University and other schools.
Half of U.S. Adults Are Now Fully Vaccinated, CDC Says
Half of adult Americans have received all of their COVID-19 vaccine doses, according to figures published Tuesday by the CDC. The figures mark what Biden administration officials are touting as a key sign of progress in the country’s immunization campaign.
“This is a major milestone in our country’s vaccination efforts. The number was 1% when we entered office January 20th,” White House senior adviser Andy Slavitt told reporters at a press briefing on Tuesday.
The milestone also comes as the nationwide nationwide pace of people receiving their first dose has slowly picked up, after plummeting to a record low last month not seen since the earliest weeks of the COVID-19 vaccination effort in January.
Lawmakers Call for Fauci Resignation or Firing Immediately Amid COVID Flip-flops
Amid the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention’s (CDC) updated mask guidance and new information coming to light about the origins of COVID-19, experts and Americans alike are questioning the credibility of those calling the shots throughout the pandemic — including the high-profile Dr. Anthony Fauci.
“The agency [CDC] has lost all credibility,” Dr. Marty Makary, Fox News medical contributor and professor of health policy and management at Johns Hopkins University School of Public Health, said. “They have been consistently delinquent, misrepresenting COVID risk levels. The public sees through the CDC’s flawed guidance on schools, travel and summer camps that use the guise of science. That’s why 52% of Americans no longer trust the CDC.”
Can Teens Get Vaccinated if Their Parents Object?
Most states require a parent’s or legal guardian’s consent for anyone under 18 to get a vaccine, including the COVID-19 shot. So what happens when a teen wants the vaccine but their parents won’t allow it? And when should a minor have the right to get any recommended vaccines their parents oppose?
The first answer depends on the state. But the second raises a host of thorny issues at the intersection of bioethics, the law, individual risk of disease, public health, and community responsibility. And it’s an issue that potentially millions of teens may face.
This Is Why Vaccine Lottery Prizes May Work for Some, According to Psychology Experts
Maryland drew a winner for its first $40,000 vaccine lottery prize Tuesday, kicking off 40 days of drawings meant to encourage state residents to get the COVID-19 vaccine.
The campaign, called VaxCash, will automatically enter vaccinated Marylanders into daily $40,000 lotteries from May 25 until July 4, when a $400,000 prize will be randomly awarded. To be eligible, residents must have received the vaccine in the state and be 18 years old or older.
Moderna to Seek Authorization for Use of Its COVID-19 Vaccine in Adolescents
Half of all U.S. adults are now fully vaccinated against the coronavirus and millions of adolescents may be next. As Mola Lenghi reports, Moderna will soon seek approval for its vaccine in children ages 12 to 17. Then, Dr. Sejal Hathi, a physician and clinical fellow at Massachusetts General Hospital and the host of the Civic RX podcast, joins CBSN’s Elaine Quijano to discuss the latest.
Teens Experience Side Effects After Pfizer’s Shot Slightly More Than Adults Do. A Chart Shows the Most Common.
During the initial week of Pfizer’s vaccine rollout for 12- to 15-year-olds, roughly 600,000 adolescents received their first shots.
Scientists expected the vaccine to be effective in young people even before trial results were released – our immune systems get weaker with age, so children and adolescents typically develop strong protection from vaccines. Indeed, Pfizer’s clinical trials showed that the vaccine was 100% effective among 12- to 15-year-olds: Out of more 1,100 adolescents who received the shot, none developed COVID-19.
Moderna, meanwhile, announced on Tuesday that its vaccine was also found to be 100% effective among 12- to 15-year-olds in clinical trials. The immune responses among adolescents appeared comparable to that in adults.
But adolescents seem to develop side effects more frequently after Pfizer’s shot than adults. That’s likely because kids’ immune systems do an excellent job of revving up quickly.
Moderna Says Its COVID-19 Shot Works in Kids as Young as 12 + More
Moderna Says Its COVID-19 Shot Works in Kids as Young as 12
Moderna said Tuesday its COVID-19 vaccine strongly protects kids as young as 12, a step that could put the shot on track to become the second option for that age group in the U.S.
With global vaccine supplies still tight, much of the world is struggling to vaccinate adults in the quest to end the pandemic. But earlier this month, the U.S. and Canada authorized another vaccine — the shot made by Pfizer and BioNTech — to be used starting at age 12.
Vaccines’ Success Could Undercut Biden’s Multibillion-Dollar School Testing Plans
President Joe Biden took office pledging to help curb the pandemic by supporting regular COVID-19 testing in schools and other group settings like homeless shelters and workplaces — but the future of those multibillion-dollar plans is murky amid dramatic drops in infection rates nationwide.
The administration has struggled to launch a $650 million program it announced in February to set up regional Covid-19 testing hubs for schools and facilities like homeless shelters. Federal officials had hoped to have the first hub open and coordinating 150,000 tests per week by late April, but have not yet awarded any contracts.
39-Year-Old Model, Malaysian Olympic Archer Die Days After COVID Vaccines
British fashion model Stephanie Dubois died from a blood clot days after receiving the AstraZeneca COVID vaccine in Cyprus, a health official said Monday.
Dubois, 39, suffered a “serious thrombotic episode” after receiving her first dose of the vaccine on May 6, Newsweek reported. She had no underlying health conditions according to health officials at the hospital in Nicosia, where she was hospitalized May 14, after experiencing breathing issues.
The fashion model later suffered a brain hemorrhage and was in a coma before she passed away May 21.
9 New ‘Vaccine Billionaires’ Amass Combined Net Worth of $19.3 Billion During Pandemic
A new report shows the global push to develop a vaccine for COVID-19 has spawned nine new “vaccine billionaires” who have amassed a combined net wealth of $19.3 billion.
The author of the report, People’s Vaccine Alliance, said the pharmaceutical industry’s monopoly on COVID vaccines has generated a massive increase in wealth for a handful of people.
In addition to the nine new “vaccine billionaires,” the coalition of health and humanitarian organizations, world leaders and economists said “eight existing billionaires — who have extensive portfolios in the COVID-19 vaccine pharma corporations — have seen their combined wealth increase by $32.2 billion.”
Young Americans Are Lagging With COVID-19 Vaccines. These Threats Have Experts Pushing Them to Get Shots
Experts are turning their focus in the fight against COVID-19 to vaccinating young Americans — warning that even though they don’t face a high chance of serious illness, they still risk long-term symptoms if they get coronavirus.
The United States has so far made significant progress in vaccinating adults and a new milestone was achieved Tuesday.
Good News: Mild COVID-19 Induces Lasting Antibody Protection
Washington University School of Medicine in St. Louis reported:
Months after recovering from mild cases of COVID-19, people still have immune cells in their body pumping out antibodies against the virus that causes COVID-19, according to a study from researchers at Washington University School of Medicine in St. Louis. Such cells could persist for a lifetime, churning out antibodies all the while.
The findings, published May 24 in the journal Nature, suggest that mild cases of COVID-19 leave those infected with lasting antibody protection and that repeated bouts of illness are likely to be uncommon.
Health Official: Unvaccinated Adults May Pose COVID-19 Risk to Children Under 12
The Petoskey News-Review reported:
Those who delay getting a COVID-19 vaccine should understand that they can pose a risk to those who haven’t been vaccinated yet including children under 12 years of age, a Health Department of Northwest Michigan official said.
Lisa Peacock, the department’s health officer, said unvaccinated adults could potentially spread the disease.
“Adults who delay getting vaccinated present a risk to those who have not been vaccinated and to those who have been vaccinated but have a compromised immune system, like the elderly,” Peacock said. “Those are reasons why we are aiming for 70% of the population being vaccinated because we need that level of immunity to protect the whole population.”
