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‘We Have Essentially Turned a Blind Eye to Our Own Children for Decades’
We are deep in the grip of a children’s mental health crisis. That’s one belief that everyone in our deeply divided country seems to share. The headlines have been terrible: “8-Year-Olds in Despair.” “Their Tank is Empty.” “No Way to Grow Up.” Parents are frustrated, terrified — and increasingly angry.
Those with the loudest voices and the biggest platforms all appear to agree: The children’s mental health crisis is a consequence of COVID-era political decisions — the child-sacrificing outcome of too-rigid social distancing, too-lengthy school closures and too much mask-wearing. “The pandemic’s disruptions have led to lost learning, social isolation and widespread mental health problems for children,” the New York Times’s David Leonhardt summed up back in January in a much-quoted newsletter. “Many American children are in crisis — as a result of pandemic restrictions rather than the virus itself.”
There is a huge body of research that consistently and unambiguously shows that children’s mental health in the United States was already really bad before the pandemic.
Moderna Expands COVID Vaccines to Treat Related Illnesses
Moderna said Tuesday that it would expand its COVID-19 vaccine to treat related illnesses. The biotech company announced the extension of its “mRNA pipeline” with two development programs that build on the company’s experience with the “Spikevax” vaccine.
The programs include a combination respiratory vaccine candidate and a new initiative against all four of the endemic human coronaviruses (HCoV). The respiratory combination vaccine program will be launched to target the SARS-CoV-2 virus, the influenza virus and respiratory syncytial virus (RSV).
The new combination respiratory vaccine candidate (mRNA-1230) is envisioned as an annual booster targeting the diseases. In addition, Moderna explained the need for a program to develop a vaccine candidate (mRNA-1287) against endemic human coronaviruses.
Fewer Than Half of Adults Boosted Against COVID Ahead of FDA Vaccine Talk
FDA officials are due to meet next month to discuss the future of the COVID-19 booster dose rollout just as U.S. uptake has waned.
The Vaccines and Related Biological Products Advisory Committee will meet on April 6 to “discuss considerations for use of COVID-19 vaccine booster doses and the process for COVID-19 vaccine strain selection to address current and emerging variants,” according to the meeting description on the FDA‘s advisory committee calendar.
Less than half of the adult U.S. population have received a booster vaccine to help protect them against COVID-19. According to data from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC), 48 percent of the population aged 18 or above have had a booster shot. The amount of people getting vaccinated in the U.S. has slowed to a crawl after an initial surge through the first half of 2021 that saw more than half the country get fully vaccinated.
Man a ‘Prisoner’ With 7-Month COVID Infection Treated With Vaccine in First
Researchers have used a COVID vaccine to treat a patient suffering from the virus, rather than for just preventing infection, for the first time.
The team of U.K.-based clinicians from the Immunodeficiency Centre for Wales and scientists from Cardiff University used two doses of the Pfizer vaccine to treat Ian Lester, a 37-year-old dispensing optician from Pontypridd, Wales, to clear the virus from his body.
Lester, who suffers from a rare genetic immunodeficiency-causing condition called Wiskott-Aldrich Syndrome, tested positive for COVID for a period seven-and-a-half months after he caught the virus.
The case is detailed in a case study published in the Journal of Clinical Immunology with researchers saying that the vaccine successfully kick-started Lester’s immune system to clear the virus. They hope that the approach can now be used to treat other COVID sufferers with compromised immune systems.
Italian Study Shows Ventilation Can Cut School COVID Cases by 82%
An Italian study published on Tuesday suggests that efficient ventilation systems can reduce the transmission of COVID-19 in schools by more than 80%.
An experiment overseen by the Hume foundation think-tank compared coronavirus contagion in 10,441 classrooms in Italy’s central Marche region.
COVID infections were steeply lower in the 316 classrooms that had mechanical ventilation systems, with the reduction in cases more marked according to the strength of the systems.
Could the COVID Vaccine Become a Yearly Shot? Some Experts Think So.
Some scientists think we might be rolling up our sleeves each year not just for flu shots but for COVID-19 jabs too.
Public health experts aren’t quite clear on what the future holds for COVID-19 vaccines — but some say it’s looking more and more like these shots could be needed on a yearly basis, similar to how flu shots are recommended each fall.
The U.S. Food and Drug Administration’s Vaccines and Related Biological Products Advisory Committee is scheduled to meet April 6 to discuss the need for COVID-19 vaccine booster doses in the future, including how often they might be needed — if at all.
The FDA said Monday that representatives from the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention and the National Institutes of Health also will participate in the meeting.
3 Reasons You Probably Don’t Need a 4th COVID Shot Any Time Soon, According to Experts
Both Pfizer and Moderna are asking the U.S. government to give the go-ahead for fourth doses of their COVID-19 vaccines.
However, independent infectious disease experts, including some who advise the FDA on vaccines, told Insider that the move to give people in the U.S. fourth shots might not be the most prudent idea, for at least three key reasons.
Here’s a quick look at the latest research, and independent expert opinions on whether fourth doses are right for you.
CDC Reports Fewer COVID Pediatric Deaths After Data Correction
The U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention reported 966,575 deaths from COVID-19 on Friday after it corrected the data earlier in the week, which reduced the death tallies in all age groups, including children.
The health agency, in a statement to Reuters, said it made adjustments to its COVID Data Tracker’s mortality data on March 14 because its algorithm was accidentally counting deaths that were not COVID-19-related.
The adjustment resulted in the removal of 72,277 deaths previously reported across 26 states, including 416 pediatric deaths, CDC said. The reduction cut the CDC’s estimate of deaths in children by 24% to 1,341 as of March 18.
Omicron Subvariant BA.2: Health Officials Call It ‘Variant of Concern’
The subvariant Omicron BA.2 has health officials’ attention, just as COVID restrictions have eased up. It has been classified as a “variant of concern,” according to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) and the World Health Organization (WHO). This variant is also called “stealth” Omicron because its genetic mutations could make it difficult to distinguish from the Delta variant using PCR tests as compared to the original version of Omicron, according to the American Medical Association.
WHO said in a recent statement “initial data suggest that BA.2 appears inherently more transmissible than BA.1, which currently remains the most common Omicron sublineage reported.”
Dr. Fred Davis, associate chair of emergency medicine at Northwell Health on Long Island, New York, who is an emergency physician who treated patients throughout the pandemic, said, “Symptoms are consistent with the previous Omicron variant, which have been milder symptoms than the original COVID. They consist of fever, headaches and muscle aches that typically last a few days.”
Alcohol-Related Deaths Spiked During the Pandemic, a Study Shows
The New York Times via Yahoo!News reported:
A new study reports that the number of Americans who died of alcohol-related causes increased precipitously during the first year of the pandemic, as routines were disrupted, support networks frayed and treatment was delayed.
The startling report comes amid a growing realization that COVID-19’s toll extends beyond the number of lives claimed directly by the disease to the excess deaths caused by illnesses left untreated and a surge in drug overdoses, as well as to social costs such as educational setbacks and the loss of parents and caregivers.
Numerous reports have suggested that Americans drank more to cope with the stress of the pandemic. Binge drinking increased, as did emergency room visits for alcohol withdrawal. But the new report found that the number of alcohol-related deaths, including from liver disease and accidents, soared, rising to 99,017 in 2020 from 78,927 in 2019 — an increase of 25% in the number of deaths in one year.
A New COVID Wave May Be Coming. Most Americans Shouldn’t Worry.
In the coming weeks, the United States could see another wave of COVID-19 infections driven by a subvariant of the Omicron strain, known as BA.2. While the federal government needs to do much more to prepare for this potential surge, most Americans should not be worried.
There are three factors that determine the level of concern about new variants. First, is it more contagious? Here, BA.2 raises red flags. Analyses from Britain suggest its growth rate is 80 percent faster than the original Omicron variant, meaning it will likely displace existing strains and become dominant.
Two other factors provide reassurance despite BA.2’s transmissibility. One is that it does not cause more severe disease as compared to the original Omicron strain, known as BA.1, which is a milder variant than some previous strains such as Delta. The other is that BA.2 is not so substantially different from BA.1 that it escapes immunity from vaccines or prior infection.
Pfizer to Supply 4 Million COVID Antiviral Treatments to Poorer Nations Through UNICEF
Pfizer will supply up to 4 million courses of its oral COVID-19 treatment to dozens of poorer nations under an agreement with the United Nations Children’s Fund, the company announced Tuesday.
Pfizer expects to start supplying the antiviral pills, Paxlovid, to UNICEF beginning next month and will continue to do so through the end of the year, according to the company. Low-income nations will receive the pills at a not-for-profit price, while upper-middle-income nations will pay more under a tiered pricing system, according to Pfizer.
The company would not disclose the financial terms of the agreement when asked by CNBC.
