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Professional Help Can’t Keep Up With Children’s Mental Health Needs

The San Diego Union-Tribune reported:

From June of last year to late this past spring, an average of five children a week were being admitted to the medical school’s teaching hospital at East Carolina University in Greenville, N.C., after overdosing on medications such as acetaminophen, opiates, antidepressants and even Ritalin.

John Diamond and his colleagues had never seen anything like it. “Normally,” he says, “we see five kids a month.”

FDA Advisory Panel OK’s Pfizer Vaccine for Kids 5 to 11

NBC News reported:

A smaller dose of Pfizer-BioNTech’s  COVID-19 vaccine cleared its first regulatory hurdle Tuesday for use in young children, after a Food and Drug Administration advisory committee voted to recommend it for emergency use authorization for those ages 5 to 11.

The 17-0 vote, with one abstention, will now go to the FDA, which is expected to make a final ruling in the coming days. If authorized, the move would make nearly the entire U.S. population eligible for a COVID shot. Only children ages 4 and younger would remain ineligible.

Factbox: Countries Vaccinating Children Against COVID

Reuters reported:

The U.S. Food and Drug Administration’s committee of outside experts will weigh in on authorisation of Pfizer Inc (PFE.N) and BioNTech SE’s COVID-19 vaccine for emergency use in children aged 5-11.

The panel’s vote to the FDA on Tuesday is an important regulatory step toward inoculating millions of children in the United States, where schools are largely open for in-person learning.

The following is a list of some countries that have approved or are considering vaccinating children:

San Antonio ISD Plans COVID Vaccination Clinics for Children Ages 5 to 11

KSAT News reported:

With COVID-19 vaccines for children between the ages of 5 to 11 expected to be approved in a matter of days, local school districts are making plans to vaccinate students.

One of the largest school districts in our area, San Antonio ISD, said it has identified some partners to help with the vaccinations and hopes to get as many young kids vaccinated before the end of the year.

“We already have plans underway, and our focus, of course, will be to try to get as many students in that 5- to 11-year-old group vaccinated as possible. We’re preparing to have some outreach to parents,” said Toni Thompson, associate superintendent of Human Capital Management at SAISD.

EcoHealth Throws NIH Under the Bus Over Wuhan Gain-of-Function Report; Researcher Claims ‘Massive Cover-Up’

Zero Hedge reported:

The question over whether the NIH funded risky gain-of-function research in Wuhan, China was officially ‘answered’ last week, after the agency claimed that one of their partners, EcoHealth Alliance, failed to report that they had ‘accidentally’ created a chimeric coronavirus that was able to infect humanized mice.

To review, in a Wednesday letter addressed to Rep. James Comer (R-KY), NIH Principal Deputy Director Lawrence A. Tabak admits to funding a “limited experiment” to determine whether “spike proteins from naturally occurring bat coronaviruses circulating in China were capable of binding to the human ACE2 receptor in a mouse model.”

According to the letter, humanized mice infected with the modified bat virus “became sicker” than those exposed to an unmodified version of the same bat coronavirus.

Lucknow: COVID Dips but Breakthrough Infections Soar

The Times of India reported:

Lucknow: COVID-19 transmission rate has dropped drastically in the past couple of months, but most of the cases reported in this period were of breakthrough infections, which experts warn can result in a mutation if people do not take precautions in the ongoing festive season.

Nearly 80% (91 out of 114) COVID-19 cases reported from Sept. 1 till Oct. 23 were of breakthrough infection, revealed the data accessed by the TOI from the office of chief medical officers.

Breakthrough COVID Patient’s Survival Is ‘a Tribute to Faith, Science and Love’

Twin Cities Pioneer Press reported:

David Wettergren shouldn’t be here. Wettergren, 82, of North Oaks, nearly died last month in the intensive care unit at M Health Fairview St. John’s Hospital in Maplewood while being treated for a severe breakthrough case of COVID-19. Wettergren, who is fully vaccinated, spent 33 days in the hospital, 23 of which were in the ICU, 11 of those on a ventilator. He then spent three weeks in transitional care at Cerenity Senior Care Center in White Bear Lake.

Minnesota has seen at least 45,827 breakthrough cases of COVID-19 and at least 263 deaths among fully vaccinated people, according to the state Department of Health. There have been 2,178 breakthrough cases resulting in hospitalizations.

Biden Delays Release of JFK Assassination Records, Blaming COVID Pandemic

New York Post reported:

The U.S. will “unfortunately” continue to delay the public release of records related to the assassination of President John F. Kennedy, and officials say the COVID-19 pandemic is to blame.

The move was announced in a memo signed by President Joe Biden and released by the White House Friday.

In 1992, Congress ruled that “all Government records concerning the assassination of President John F. Kennedy. . . should be eventually disclosed to enable the public to become fully informed about the history surrounding the assassination,” the missive said.

Early COVID Treatments Should Not Be Ignored

Washington Examiner reported:

COVID-19 vaccines are not as effective in preventing infection and transmission as initially thought. Since we will have to live with COVID-19, it is vital that we stop suppressing the discussion of early treatment options for all patients, regardless of whether they have been vaccinated or not.

The bulwark of opposition to repurposed drugs from public health officials, tech companies, academics, and the media has been astonishing. The shaming and erasing of clinicians who have actually healed patients with therapeutics has significantly damaged the public’s trust in medicine and scientific research.

France Says It Has Ordered 50,000 Doses of Merck’s COVID Antiviral Pill

Reuters reported:

France has ordered 50,000 doses of Merck & Co’s (MRK.N) experimental COVID-19 antiviral drug for adults, the country’s health minister Olivier Veran told a hearing at the French Senate on Tuesday.

“France positioned itself very early in pre-ordering. France ordered 50,000 doses of the drug,” Veran told lawmakers about molnupiravir, which is Merck & Co’s experimental antiviral pills to treat COVID-19 ailments.