FDA authorizes Pfizer-BioNTech vaccine for kids 5-11: COVID-19 updates
The Meals and Drug Administration on Friday voted to advocate Pfizer-BioNTech’s COVID-19 vaccine to children ages 5 to 11, however steps stay earlier than kids will be capable to obtain injections.
The FDA cleared kid-size doses – only a third of the quantity given to teenagers and adults –for emergency use, and as much as 28 million extra American kids might be eligible for vaccinations as early as subsequent week.
Yet one more regulatory hurdle stays: On Tuesday, advisers to the Facilities for Illness Management and Prevention will make extra detailed suggestions on which kids ought to get vaccinated, with a closing choice by the company’s director anticipated shortly afterward.
“With this vaccine, children can return to one thing that’s higher than being locked at dwelling on distant education, not with the ability to see their associates,” mentioned Dr. Kawsar Talaat of Johns Hopkins College. “The vaccine will shield them and in addition shield our communities.”
The one age group that has official approval from the FDA is folks 16 and older. Youngsters and kids from 12 to fifteen have additionally been approved to get the vaccine below emergency use.
With FDA’s motion, Pfizer plans to start transport hundreds of thousands of vials of the pediatric vaccine – with orange caps to keep away from mix-ups with the purple-capped doses for everybody else – to medical doctors’ workplaces, pharmacies and different vaccination websites. Youngsters will get two pictures, three weeks aside.
Whereas kids are at decrease danger of extreme sickness or demise from COVID-19 than older folks, 5- to 11-year-olds nonetheless have been severely affected – together with over 8,300 hospitalizations, a few third requiring intensive care, and practically 100 deaths because the begin of the coronavirus pandemic, in response to the FDA.
Additionally within the information:
►The Navajo Nation reported 97 extra COVID-19 circumstances Thursday, bringing the the tribe’s totals to 36,508 circumstances. Its well being division issued an advisory discover for 48 communities resulting from uncontrolled unfold of COVID-19.
►World Well being Group Director-Normal Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus is working unopposed for a second time period to move the worldwide company overseeing the world’s pandemic response.
►Chinese language organizers have confirmed contributors in subsequent yr’s Winter Olympics will probably be strictly remoted from the overall inhabitants and will face expulsion for violating COVID-19 restrictions.
►Ohio State College researchers have created a breath test that seems to be extremely correct at quickly screening sufferers for COVID-19.
►Florida CFO Jimmy Patronis is trying to lure California-based chain In-N-Out to the Sunshine State amid closures of some places as a result of workers have gone in opposition to native ordinances to test prospects’ vaccine statuses.
📈Right now’s numbers: The U.S. has recorded 45 million confirmed COVID-19 circumstances and greater than 743,000 deaths, according to Johns Hopkins University data. International totals: Greater than 245 million circumstances and 4.9 million deaths. Greater than 191 million Individuals – 57% of the inhabitants – are absolutely vaccinated, according to the CDC.
📘 What we’re studying: COVID vaccines for teenagers aren’t as clear-cut as for adults. Here are 5 factors for parents to consider.
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Florida recordsdata lawsuit in opposition to Biden administration over vaccines
Florida has filed a lawsuit in federal court docket to dam the Biden administration from finishing up a measure to require vaccinations in opposition to COVID-19 for federal workers and contractors.
Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis made the announcement at a news conference Thursday morning the place he described the mandate for federal contractors as “heavy-handed” and an overreach by the federal authorities. He mentioned Florida will search a preliminary injunction that may block the federal rule from taking impact Dec. 8 as scheduled.
Thursday’s announcement is the most recent salvo in DeSantis’ ongoing battle with the administration of President Joe Biden over federal vaccine necessities. Biden says the vaccine mandate will assist carry an finish to the pandemic.
Nevertheless, 21 Republican state attorneys basic Wednesday penned a letter to Biden saying the mandate “stands on shaky authorized floor” for federal contractors.
DeSantis additionally blasted a pending rule from the Occupational Security and Well being Administration that may compel corporations with 100 or extra workers to require vaccinations or frequent COVID-19 exams for staff.
In the meantime, the Division of Training requested an administrative choose Thursday to situation a stop and desist order in opposition to Florida and rule the state is violating federal legislation because it tries to chop assist cash to 2 faculty districts over their masks mandates.
– Gary White, The Ledger
Iowa passes invoice to permit these fired over COVID vaccine mandates to get unemployment advantages
Iowans may have wider latitude to say medical and non secular exemptions from employer COVID-19 vaccination mandates — and would qualify for unemployment advantages if a enterprise fires them for not complying — under a bill state lawmakers approved Thursday.
The invoice, which instantly drew criticism from enterprise representatives and opponents of vaccine mandates, would mark a major change in the way in which Iowa approaches vaccination necessities by employers if Gov. Kim Reynolds indicators it into legislation.
“Not solely do I plan to signal this laws, however I’m dedicated to doing much more,” she mentioned in a Thursday information launch.
The Republican invoice specifies that workers who refuse the vaccine and are fired wouldn’t be disqualified from advantages.
The invoice moreover says employers “shall” waive a vaccine requirement for an worker who submits a press release that receiving the vaccine can be “injurious” to their well being or well-being, or that it conflicts “with the tenets and practices” of a faith the worker adheres to or belongs to.
– Ian Richardson, Des Moines Register
NYC vaccine mandate for metropolis staff looms
New York Metropolis’s workers, together with police, firefighters and rubbish collectors, have till 5 p.m. Friday to point out they’ve acquired at the very least one dose of a COVID-19 vaccine or face being placed on unpaid go away.
Hundreds of municipal staff might miss the deadline because the mandate has drawn protests from among the metropolis’s staff and union management. Metropolis knowledge reveals 26% of police personnel, 29% of firefighters and EMS staff and 33% of sanitation staff have but to obtain a dose.
“My job is to maintain folks secure — my workers, and eight.8 million folks,” Mayor Invoice de Blasio mentioned in protection of the mandate. “And till we defeat COVID, persons are not secure. If we don’t cease COVID, New Yorkers will die.”
Town’s hearth division mentioned it expects to shut 20% of fireplace corporations and take 20% of ambulances out of service because it offers with the staffing points.
Pharmacies turning away walk-in flu pictures amid employee scarcity battle
Individuals all through the nation are working into an surprising facet impact of the pandemic: walk-ins being turned away because of staff shortages at pharmacies.
Pharmacies are struggling to search out staff, very like eating places, retailers and different employers going through labor shortages because the pandemic drags on, and consequently, drug shops are falling behind on flu pictures.
Some 11.5 million adults had gotten a flu shot at a pharmacy via Oct. 9. That is down 34% from 17.4 million throughout the identical interval in 2020, according to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.
Amongst impartial pharmacists, practically 9 in 10 “can’t discover pharmacy technicians” and practically 6 in 10 “can’t discover front-end workers to run the money register, observe stock and handle different primary retailer operations,” according to a survey conducted in May by the Nationwide Neighborhood Pharmacists Affiliation.
Public well being specialists have warned of the dangers of a bad flu season and continued COVID-19 spread straining hospitals.
– Nathan Bomey
Tonga studies first COVID-19 case
The island nation of Tonga reported its first COVID-19 case Friday after a traveler flying to the nation examined optimistic.
Tonga is just one of a handful of nations that had reported no COVID-19 circumstances. Its isolation as a small island within the southern Pacific Ocean has allowed to it to stay unscathed throughout the pandemic.
The vaccinated traveler from New Zealand arrived from Christchurch on Wednesday and had been quarantining at a resort. They examined unfavorable earlier than arriving in Tonga.
5% of unvaccinated adults have left a job due to a vaccine requirement
Because the federal authorities prepares to unveil new vaccination guidelines for workplaces, 5% of unvaccinated adults say they’ve left a job due to a COVID-19 vaccination requirement, according to a survey released Thursday.
That represents 1% of all adults, in response to the nonpartisan Kaiser Household Basis, which performed the survey of 1,519 adults Oct. 14-24.
The White Home is reviewing an emergency Labor Division rule requested by President Joe Biden spelling out vaccination guidelines for companies with 100 or extra workers. When launched, the rule will fill within the particulars on how staff at bigger companies should get vaccinated or be examined often for the coronavirus.
Individually, federal workers and contractors should get inoculated except they qualify for an exemption.
— Maureen Groppe, USA TODAY
Economic system grew simply 2% final quarter as COVID raged, provide snags slowed deliveries
The U.S. economic system slowed substantially within the third quarter amid an armada of obstacles, together with a surge in COVID-19 circumstances, provide chain bottlenecks, rising shopper costs and the fading results of federal stimulus measures.
However with COVID-19 circumstances now tumbling and vaccinations rising, most economists are branding the weak exhibiting a smooth patch in a still-robust restoration from the pandemic-induced recession, with a wholesome rebound projected within the closing months of the yr.
The nation’s gross home product, the worth of all items and providers produced within the U.S., elevated at a seasonally adjusted annual charge of two% within the July-September interval, the Commerce Division mentioned Thursday. Economists surveyed by Bloomberg had forecast a 2.8% rise in GDP.
— Paul Davidson, USA TODAY
Extreme consuming throughout pandemic results in dramatic spike in liver transplants, examine says
The nationwide checklist for folks looking for liver transplants skyrocketed during the coronavirus pandemic, capturing up 50% increased than predicted earlier than COVID-19 affected the nation.
A examine launched Tuesday by College of Michigan researchers – printed in JAMA Community Open – revealed a optimistic correlation between the rise within the variety of folks on a ready checklist for a liver and the rise in retail gross sales of alcohol throughout the pandemic timeframe.
Individuals looking for liver transplants expertise alcoholic hepatitis – when the liver stops processing alcohol and as an alternative creates poisonous chemical substances that set off irritation and kill off wholesome liver cells wanted to outlive.
Within the new examine, researchers in contrast the precise variety of new folks placed on the U.S. organ transplant checklist from March 2020 to January 2021 with the projected numbers that have been primarily based on pre-pandemic knowledge. Researchers subsequent correlated nationwide month-to-month retail alcohol gross sales information between January 2016 and 2021.
— Scott Gleeson, USA TODAY
Low-cost antidepressant reveals promise treating early COVID-19
An inexpensive antidepressant diminished the necessity for hospitalization amongst high-risk adults with COVID-19 in a examine looking for current medication that might be repurposed to deal with coronavirus.
Researchers examined the capsule used for despair and obsessive-compulsive dysfunction as a result of it was recognized to scale back irritation and seemed promising in smaller research.
They’ve shared the outcomes with the U.S. Nationwide Institutes of Well being, which publishes therapy tips, and so they hope for a World Well being Group advice.
The capsule, known as fluvoxamine, would price $4 for a course of COVID-19 therapy. By comparability, antibody IV therapies price about $2,000 and Merck’s experimental antiviral capsule for COVID-19 is about $700 per course. Some specialists predict varied therapies finally will probably be utilized in mixture to struggle the coronavirus.
Contributing: The Related Press