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120 Pop-Up Vaccination Sites to Target Kids Across New York State
Gov. Kathy Hochul will deploy over 120 vaccination vans across to help boost vaccination rates among young New Yorkers.
“I’m appealing to people personally but I’m also hitting the road,” said Hochul, who announced the latest escalation in her #Vaxtoschool campaign in Brooklyn Tuesday morning. “We are making it easy on you.”
Kids between the ages of 12 and 17 will be able to get a Pfizer COVID-19 vaccine shot at one of the state-run mobile sites beginning Wednesday, Sept. 23. The mobile units will continue to offer vaccinations to vaccine-eligible kids for the next twelve weeks.
Moderna President: ‘We Don’t Really Know’ if Future COVID Shots Will Be Necessary
Amid the growing controversy over whether the U.S. is in need of booster or additional vaccine doses to protect against COVID-19, Moderna President Stephen Hoge admits much remains unknown.
“We don’t really know” if a third shot will be the final or if more are needed, Hoge told Yahoo Finance.
In addition, who would benefit most from an additional shot is still a question. “This is the key scientific question we’re all wrestling with now,” Hoge said.
J&J: Booster Dose of Its COVID Shot Prompts Strong Response
Johnson & Johnson released data showing that a booster dose to its one-shot coronavirus vaccine provides a strong immune response months after people receive a first dose.
J&J said in a statement Tuesday that it ran two early studies in people previously given its vaccine and found that a second dose produced an increased antibody response in adults from age 18 to 55. The study’s results haven’t yet been peer-reviewed.
“A booster dose of the Johnson & Johnson COVID-19 vaccine further increases antibody responses among study participants who had previously received our vaccine,” said Dr. Mathai Mammen, global head of research and development at J&J.
Fed Meets Amid Market Jitters, Congressional Gridlock and the Delta Variant
U.S. News & World Report reported:
The Federal Reserve’s monetary policy committee meets for two days beginning Tuesday confronted with an economy still vulnerable to shocks from the coronavirus and a market nervous about the prospect of higher interest rates on the horizon.
The central bank will issue updated projections for the economy and inflation amid some signs the economy is cooling off from the torrid pace it set in the first half of the year.
Where Does New York Stand With COVID Breakthrough Cases?
There hasn’t been as much talk about breakthrough cases of COVID in the past couple of weeks as there had been previously but the New York State Department of Health (DOH) has been keeping tabs.
They said they have been made aware of 66,217 laboratory-confirmed breakthrough COVID cases in fully vaccinated New Yorkers ages 12 or older. This equates to .6% of those fully vaccinated over the age of 12.
Ramping Up Rapid COVID Tests for Home, School
President Joe Biden is betting on millions more rapid, at-home tests to help curb the latest deadly wave of the COVID-19 pandemic.
Surging infections are overloading hospitals and threatening to shutter some classrooms. However, the tests are quickly disappearing from pharmacy shelves in many parts of the U.S., and manufacturers say it will take them weeks to ramp up production. Production was decreased after demand for the tests plummeted in early summer.
No COVID Vaccination, No Care? Why That’s the Wrong Path
American Medical Association reported:
While vaccine hesitancy is an age-old phenomenon, it has found a new—and profoundly frustrating—expression during the COVID-19 pandemic that has led some physicians to reportedly refuse care to patients who have forgone SARS-CoV-2 vaccination.
But as infuriating as it can be to treat patients who refuse the safe and highly effective COVID-19 vaccines that are widely and freely available in the U.S., doctors should keep in mind their professional ethical obligations. It turns out there is extensive guidance for just such a situation.
“Ethics in our profession is about making hard choices in the face of conflicting values,” said AMA President Gerald E. Harmon, MD. “An important value for me—and this is inherent within our AMA Code of Medical Ethics — is a physician’s duty to provide care for the patient, even when that choice is difficult.”
Ron DeSantis Says Monoclonal Antibody Brought Florida COVID ER Visits Down 70%
Florida Governor Ron DeSantis has said that monoclonal antibody treatment is having a significant effect on COVID cases in his state, as he continues to lock horns with the Biden administration over the distribution of the therapy.
Along with other GOP governors, DeSantis has championed the treatment that lessens the severity of COVID symptoms, which he sees as a key pandemic-fighting policy, along with promoting vaccines.
China Keeps Virus at Bay at High Cost Ahead of Olympics
China’s “zero tolerance” strategy of trying to isolate every case and stop transmission has helped keep the country where the virus first was detected in late 2019 largely free of disease. But the public and businesses are paying a steep price.
Foreign athletes are due to compete in the Winter Olympics that start Feb. 4 in Beijing and the nearby city of Zhangjiakou, but the government has yet to say whether restrictions that prevent most foreigners from entering China will be relaxed to allow spectators in.
