Over the last six weeks, vaccinations are up and cases and hospitalizations are down. Our plan to accelerate a path out of the pandemic is working, but there is still more work to do. Get vaccinated. pic.twitter.com/PcGySLfAEG — Kamala Harris (@KamalaHarris) October 16, 2021
COVID-19 Coronavirus Updates: Saturday / Sunday, Oct. 16-17Post + Comments (37)
States can reserve Covid shots for younger kids next week https://t.co/3PTk6yE7Vm via @medical_xpress
— delthia ricks ? (@DelthiaRicks) October 16, 2021
U.S. health officials are setting the stage for a national COVID-19 vaccination campaign for younger children, inviting state officials to order doses before the shots are authorized.
Pfizer’s coronavirus vaccine is currently being given to people as young as 12 in the U.S. In the next three weeks, federal officials plan to discuss making smaller-dose versions available to the nation’s 28 million children between the ages of 5 and 11.
To help states and cities prepare, the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention this week sent out a seven-page document with guidance on how to set up expanded vaccination programs.
For example, it notes pharmacies in every state can give COVID-19 shots to children, but it clarifies that only doses prepared and packaged specifically for children are to be used for those under 12.
It doesn’t speak to some thornier questions, however, such as how much school-based clinics should be relied on or whether kids should be required to get then shots as a condition of school attendance.
Those questions will have to be worked out in each state and city…
“We are definitely, without a doubt, hands-down in a better place this year than we were last year,” said Dr. Nahid Bhadelia. But, she added, “We’ve done this again and again, where we let the foot off the pedal too early.” https://t.co/eklVs0lJeG
— NYT Health (@NYTHealth) October 16, 2021
How many lives have Covid vaccines saved? More than 200M US residents have gotten at least 1 shot w/ the hope vaccines slow viral transmission & save lives. New mathematical model suggests 140k lives were saved by 5/9/2021. Vaccinations began in December https://t.co/Ki7Mowhea2 pic.twitter.com/7Wg6tGtHLb
— delthia ricks ? (@DelthiaRicks) October 16, 2021
“Over 90,000 COVID-19 deaths since June 2021 likely would have been prevented with vaccinations” pic.twitter.com/lj9q87AXF0
— Christian Vanderbrouk (@UrbanAchievr) October 16, 2021
It is stunning how high the recorded incidence of COVID-19 was in August 2021 among unvaccinated 12-17 year olds in the newly released CDC data.
They had the highest peak incidence of any age group: 886/100k population in 16 US jurisdictions.
Vaccinated 12-17 yo had 85.4/100k pic.twitter.com/syY8jUjgGQ
— Michael Z. David, MD, PhD (@MichaelDavid80) October 15, 2021
Likely these incidence data reflect the many outbreak investigations, with widespread testing of children, undertaken in schools after they opened during later August.
— Michael Z. David, MD, PhD (@MichaelDavid80) October 15, 2021
It seems like they were at home mostly, out of school until August & hadn't been in big groups since the beginning of the pandemic. Then they all went back to school w/o any masking in my state & Delta was around.
Also RSV went way up as well is my understanding.— Clare Taylor (@ClareTa26975369) October 15, 2021
So we’re starting to get a sense of how many people in big organizations will give up their job when faced with a vaccine mandate. From United Airlines, New York-Presbyterian, and NYU Langone the number is consistent. It’s 0.5%. #VaccineMandates https://t.co/jNJ7rOonMQ
— Jonathan Reiner (@JReinerMD) October 16, 2021
The controversy surrounding fired hospital employees, lawsuits and protests obscured a simple fact: The vaccine mandates worked, administrators say https://t.co/7wJTqEkfDl
— The Washington Post (@washingtonpost) October 16, 2021
Analysis: A third of Americans say close friends or family have died of covid-19 https://t.co/QUry3v0Y4H
— The Washington Post (@washingtonpost) October 15, 2021
How much of this is self-sorting?
… Polling from YouGov conducted for the Economist gives us a sense of the second-degree toll of the pandemic. About 1 in 8 Americans say that a member of their family died of the virus; another fifth say that they lost a close friend. Only about two-thirds of respondents said they didn’t know anyone who had died of the virus. In other words, more than 710,000 people have died, and those deaths were felt by as many as 110 million Americans.
As you would expect, YouGov’s polling has shown an increase in the number of people who know people who died of the virus since the beginning of the pandemic. Interestingly, though, as the number of cases declined nationally, so did the number of people who indicated that they’d lost family and friends to the virus. In mid-May, more than a fifth of respondents said they lost a close friend to the virus. By early July, that had fallen to 15 percent before climbing again. There was a similar pattern with those who said they’d lost family…
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The World Trade Organization again fails to decide on a Covid vaccine patent waiver. Member nations couldn't agree to suspend intellectual property rights on formulas. S. Africa & India have called for patents to be temporarily lifted during the pandemic https://t.co/R0P0Zfo2lI pic.twitter.com/E3oWFWl1x3
— delthia ricks ? (@DelthiaRicks) October 16, 2021
27% delta reinfection. A reason why “natural immunity” is not sufficient https://t.co/X1zyQCmd8S
— Prof Peter Hotez MD PhD (@PeterHotez) October 15, 2021
Melbourne to ease world's longest COVID-19 lockdowns as vaccinations rise https://t.co/GJ7YQno4Ii pic.twitter.com/3mQfxYqAwI
— Reuters (@Reuters) October 17, 2021
⚡️Russia reported a record 34,303 new coronavirus cases and 997 fatalities from Covid-19 over the last 24 hourshttps://t.co/qEDg1xoPUc
— The Moscow Times (@MoscowTimes) October 17, 2021
The Kremlin has blamed unvaccinated Russians for the record-breaking numbers of infections and fatalitieshttps://t.co/CAzfmzXz9M
— The Moscow Times (@MoscowTimes) October 16, 2021
Spain and Italy have finished this wave and Israel is almost done; the UK and Germany are on the rise, and the US is headed down.
Delta isn't correlated with % vaccinated. Israel argues it is boosters, but causality is not assignable. The rise and fall of COVID is complex. pic.twitter.com/UVwcoFJIuP— Paul Bleicher (@pbleic) October 16, 2021
"Natural immunity" is not likely the answer. This (not reviewed) study of Iran showed 5 waves.. High variance data, but some provinces show >100% attack rate, possibly an average of 2 infections/person in one. https://t.co/3lbxsm2qH1
— Paul Bleicher (@pbleic) October 16, 2021
Should have said: “not entirely correlated with percent vaccinated.” No question that vaccination plays a major role, but so does prior infection (especially when followed by vaccination), societal behavior, dominant variants locally, etc. m
— Paul Bleicher (@pbleic) October 16, 2021
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8 months later: Researchers compare immune responses elicited by 3 Covid vaccines. The mRNA vaccines prompt high peak antibody responses that decline by month 6. The adenovirus vax (J&J) induced lower initial antibody responses. New Eng J of Medicine https://t.co/ctP6kVAczX
— delthia ricks ? (@DelthiaRicks) October 16, 2021
Outbreak among big cats: 2 tigers at Denver Zoo test positive for Covid, the 1st animals there known to be infected. But Covid has stricken big cats all over the US—in Washington DC, Hawaii, Nebraska, S. Dakota & San Diego. Virus usually spread by humans https://t.co/FJ5f9Vqk4m
— delthia ricks ? (@DelthiaRicks) October 16, 2021
Which animals can catch the coronavirus? Data show that many mammals— cats (including big cats), dogs, ferrets, fruit bats, hamsters, mink, pigs, rabbits, racoon dogs & apes can be infected with the virus. Finland is vaccinating fur farm minks https://t.co/t8aVMFlHTi pic.twitter.com/hFtZgfKIAk
— delthia ricks ? (@DelthiaRicks) October 16, 2021
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fun fact: every Navy service member needed 17 vaccines to join the military https://t.co/2oc2zMiitJ
— Eric Boehlert (@EricBoehlert) October 16, 2021
Seriously, if you're having a crisis of conscience about this, then act on your conscience and change professions. Especially if you're an officer. That whole "without mental reservations" bit of the oath comes to mind.
— Angry Staff Officer (@pptsapper) October 16, 2021
If you gargled iodine, swallowed hydroxychloroquine, injected Formula 409, gobbled horse dewormer, or shined a flashlight up your own ass in an attempt to cure or prevent COVID-19, you don't get an opinion on vaccine boosters.
— Middle Age Riot (@middleageriot) October 14, 2021