Category: Covid-19 Vaccine

News 12 Staff

Oct 30, 2021, 10:39pm

Updated on: Oct 30, 2021, 10:39pm

On this weeks Connecticut Power & Politics, COVID-19vaccines for kids are just days away, but will it be required?

Also, Connecticut's attorney general is warning parents to watchout for cannabis candy this Halloween. And Sen. Richard Blumenthal is taking oneven more social media giants, but is Congress up to the job?

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Power & Politics: Will COVID-19 vaccine be required for kids in schools? - News 12 Bronx

Effectiveness of a third dose of the BNT162b2 mRNA COVID-19 vaccine for preventing severe outcomes in Israel: an observational study  The Lancet

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Effectiveness of a third dose of the BNT162b2 mRNA COVID-19 vaccine for preventing severe outcomes in Israel: an observational study - The Lancet

Republican Iowa Gov.Kim Reynoldson Friday signed a bill that allows residents to obtain unemployment benefits if they are fired for refusing the COVID-19 vaccine.

Reynolds, whohas opposed other governmentvaccine mandates, said in a statement that "no Iowan should be forced to lose their job or livelihood over the COVID-19 vaccine," according to The Associated Press.

The Iowa legislature passed the bill in a one-day special session Thursday with a 68-27 vote.

The governor also announced Friday that she will join nine other states in suing the Biden administration over its vaccine requirement for workers, the Des Moines Register reported.

Reynolds is vaccinated and has encouragedIowans to get the vaccine but has stated she believes getting the shot should be a personal choice.

Nearly 7,000 Iowans have died as a result of the coronavirus, and Iowa is currently 23rd in the country for percentage of itsresidentsfully vaccinated at 55.4 percent, the AP noted.

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Iowans who are fired for refusing COVID-19 vaccine will be granted unemployment benefits | TheHill - The Hill

A vial of Moderna's COVID-19 vaccine. Rick Bowmer/AP Photo

A Maryland man pleaded guilty to federal wire fraud conspiracy for his role in a COVID-19 scam.

Odunayo Oluwalade, 25, faced up to 20 years in prison, The Department of Justice said.

He admitted helping to set up a fake Moderna website that claimed people could buy the vaccine.

A Maryland man has pleaded guilty to federal wire fraud conspiracy for his role in a COVID-19 vaccine fraud scheme, after he allegedly worked with two others on securing a bank account for sales from a fake Moderna website.

Odunayo Oluwalade, 25, of Windsor Mill, a Baltimore suburb, entered a guilty plea for his role in the vaccine fraud on Friday. He faces up to 20 years in prison but a sentencing date hasn't been set, the Department of Justice said in a press release.

Oluwalade was one of three people arrested in February for taking part in a scam that involved a duplicate website mimicking Moderna's modernatx.com.

The duplicate site was hosted at modernatx.shop, according to a federal complaint unsealed that month. The fake site used "the logo, markings, colors and texts" of the real site, investigators said in an affidavit unsealed in February.

But the fake Moderna website added the line in capital letters: "You may be able to buy a COVID-19 vaccine ahead of time," according to federal investigators.

The website provided contact info, which led investigators to Oluwalade and his alleged co-conspirators: his cousin, Olikatan Oluwalade, 22; and Kelly Lamont Williams, 22. The three were arrested and charged in February, investigators said.

"As the public seeks vaccines to protect themselves and their families from COVID-19, fraudsters are waiting to take advantage of their desperation," James R. Mancuso, special agent in charge of Homeland Security Investigations in Baltimore, said in a statement at the time.

The fraudulent Moderna vaccine website, modernatx.shop, has been seized by federal investigators. modernatx.shop

The investigation began in January, when an undercover HSI agent reached out to the contact number on the website.

Story continues

Within a few hours, the undercover agent was in an email conversation with sales@modernatx.shop, which sent an invoice for 200 doses of Moderna's vaccine at $30 a piece, or $6,000 in total, investigators said. The invoice called for half the payment to be sent upfront to a Navy Federal Credit Union account. The account belonged to Williams, according to an affidavit.

Investigators sent the $3,000, they said.

Four days later, with a warrant in hand, investigators seized the fake website's domain. They also seized Williams' phone. Investigators used that phone to text Oluwalade, they said in an affidavit, asking: "Yo where u want me send the bread."

"Yea send me some thru zelle and some through cash app," Oluwalade replied, referring to Zelle and Cash App, according to an affidavit.

Oluwalade admitted in his guilty plea that he knew Williams' account would be used as part of a fraud scheme, but "was not aware of the specifics of the scheme," the DOJ said. "The scheme called for Oluwalade to be compensated for his role in obtaining bank accounts for use in the scheme."

Read the original article on Business Insider

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Maryland man admits participating in a COVID-19 vaccine scam, which involved a fake Moderna website. He faces up to 20 years in prison. - Yahoo News

In the latest of the ever-revolving door supposedly hiding the true purpose of the COVID-19 vaccines, TruNews founder and host Rick Wiles has once again unveiled what he believes the jabs do to people.

Forget his recent claims that its an egg that hatches into a synthetic parasite or a bioweapon, Wiles now reveals what the vaccines really are, for real for real this time: they are an operating system, which takes control of your DNA once its in someones system.

Related: The Teletubbies are little gay demons because they want to work with Lil Nas X

Wiles detailed the latest of his wild conspiracy theories on a recent episode of his networks eponymous show, as captured byRight Wing Watch.

The basis of this theory is that two of the three vaccines available in the United States are mRNA vaccines, mRNA standing for Messenger Ribonucleic Acid, which is a molecule found alongside DNA in genes. Wiles uses this basic fact to suggest that getting the vaccine takes control of your DNA, and changes you forever.

This fails to realize that mRNA are separate cells from DNA, and dont alter how DNA works in any way. mRNA never enters the nucleus of the cell where our DNA (genetic material) is located, so it cannot change or influence our genes, the CDC states.

The mRNA vaccines work by teach our cells how to make a proteinor even just a piece of a proteinthat triggers an immune response inside our bodies. In other words, they learn to recognize a specific protein found in coronavirus strains and fight against it spreading.

According to Wiles, though, It is not a vaccine. Following the suggestion of an off-camera colleague, he calls it an operating system. It is a system suppressor. But more than anything else, it is changing your DNA.

I dont have anything against polio vaccines, measles vaccines, Wiles claims, those are vaccines. This is not a vaccine. This is changing your DNA. Its a mRNA its a messenger RNA vaccine but it takes control of your DNA. You will never be the same person that you were before you got vaccinated.

Wiles claims that they are putting something in you that changes your body.

He claims This is the beginning. Theyre not going to go back in time after this. Every year, theres going to be more messenger RNA vaccines that you are mandated to receive. Theyre changing the inner structure of the human body. It is from hell itself And I cant comprehend these pansy preachers that are endorsing it. God have mercy on your souls for what youre doing.

He then says, This is Satan himself bringing forth a diabolical scheme to alter the creation of mankind, basing his theory on the book of Genesis.

Earlier this month, Wiles claimed on his show that the vaccine is an egg that hatches into a synthetic parasite. He said that the masses of people getting the shot is like a sci-fi nightmare. And its happening in front of us. This is a global coup dtat by the most evil cabal of people on the planet in the history of mankind.

Wiles has blamed the coronavirus pandemic on China,Jewish people,LGBTQpeople, andthe devil. But after he got the virus himself after refusing to get vaccinated, he blamed the highly infectious Delta variant on people who have gotten vaccinated, saying that theyre shedding the virus. He also claimed that the COVID-19 vaccines will kill 70% of peoplewho get them, calling attempts to vaccinate people a mass death campaign.

While mRNA-based vaccinations can be considered new, the CDC explains that Researchers have been studying and working with mRNA vaccines for decades. Interest has grown in these vaccines because they can be developed in a laboratory using readily available materials. This means vaccines can be developed and produced in large quantities faster than with other methods for making vaccines.

They add, mRNA vaccines have been studied before for flu, Zika, rabies, and cytomegalovirus (CMV). As soon as the necessary information about the virus that causes COVID-19 was available, scientists began designing the mRNA instructions for cells to build the unique spike protein into an mRNA vaccine.

While it sounds like Wiles is one of a very few people buying this, he has the attention of thousands every day with his online, White House-credentialed network. Milo Yiannopaulos and Lauren Witzke are recent co-hosts and frequent guests on Wiles show. Meanwhile, a Florida political candidate is embroiled in controversy for appearing on his program recently.

Most of those on social media are taking Wiles theory seriously.

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The COVID-19 vaccine is really an operating system according to far-right televangelist - LGBTQ Nation

Its been more than 10 months since the first COVID-19 vaccines became available in the United States. Almost 53% of Texans have been fully vaccinated against the virus and, despite two spikes in cases and hospitalizations this year the first during the winter months and the second triggered by the highly contagious delta variant during the summer the vaccination effort has been pivotal in mitigating the pandemic.

However, the protection the vaccine offers goes down with time, and medical experts have recommended a supplemental dose after two to six months, commonly referred to as a booster shot. And as the vaccines first-year anniversary approaches, questions have started to emerge about who can get another round of protection and when.

So far, 1.3 million Texans have received a booster shot, and although the inoculated may feel some loyalty toward the COVID-19 vaccine they first received the two-shot Pfizer and Moderna vaccines or the one-shot Johnson & Johnson vaccine recent FDA authorization has allowed for some mixing and matching when it comes to booster shots.

The logistics around when and who can get a booster shot can be tricky, but dont worry heres what Texans need to know.

A booster shot is a supplementary dose of a vaccine administered some time after the initial series of shots that enhances protection against an infection, said Saroj Rai, a senior scientific advisor at the Texas Department of State Health Services.

Whatever the primary series of a vaccine is, with due time the protection from that vaccine wanes off so you give a booster to maximize the protection that one can get from a vaccination, Rai said.

A COVID-19 booster shot can raise antibody levels about five times higher than a persons previous peak, said Benjamin Neuman, chief virologist at Texas A&M Universitys Global Health Research Complex, whos researched coronaviruses for more than 20 years.

On Oct. 20, the U.S. Food and Drug Administration updated eligibility for booster shots for adults, with the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention endorsing new recommendations for booster shots the following day.

Based on their recommendations, anyone whos 18 years and older who has already received the Pfizer, Moderna or Johnson & Johnson vaccine is eligible to receive the Johnson & Johnson booster shot.

The Pfizer and Moderna booster shots, however, are limited to certain groups.

The FDA says adults who have received either the Pfizer or Moderna vaccine also known as mRNA vaccines are eligible to receive a Pfizer or Moderna booster if:

That last point can apply to those who are 18 and older and live in long-term care settings or work in high-risk settings such as first responders, health care workers and education staff.

Eligible people who have received either the Pfizer or Moderna vaccine are allowed to get a booster shot at least six months after completing their initial two-shot vaccination series.

Eligible people who have received the Johnson & Johnson vaccine can get a booster shot at least two months after they first got vaccinated.

Its OK to mix and match vaccine booster shots. The FDA recently amended its emergency use authorization for COVID-19 vaccines to allow eligible people to do so.

Following a primary vaccination whether they received the two-dose Pfizer or Moderna vaccine or the one-shot Johnson & Johnson vaccine eligible populations can receive a booster shot from any of the three vaccines.

Just remember: who can get a booster shot and when depends on which vaccine you initially got.

People may choose to consult their health care provider to help make a decision, but the CDC has not made preferential recommendations on any combinations, Rai said. All three vaccines are effective as boosters.

Yes. Side effects from a booster shot can be similar to those that people get after receiving their initial vaccination series, according to the CDC.

Fatigue seems to be a very common [thing] that we saw in dose one, dose two and we're seeing that in the booster dose as well, so nothing that we have not experienced, Rai said.

Pain in the injection site is another common side effect, but the CDC said most side effects were mild to moderate, and severe side effects are rare.

Technically, no. In August, the CDC recommended that individuals with moderately to severely compromised immune systems who have received their initial vaccine series also receive an additional dose of the COVID-19 vaccine.

The authorization was there so these individuals will have another dose to give them enough antibody production to come to a level [thats similar to] the rest of us with a primary series, Rai said.

After receiving the initial vaccine series and the additional dose, the CDC recommends people with moderately and severely compromised immune systems to receive their booster shot according to the timelines suggested above.

Vaccines are widely available in the state of Texas and can be received at a variety of places such as local pharmacies, public health clinics and hospitals.

The CDC has also made available a national vaccine finder, where people can locate available COVID-19 vaccines in their area.

Rai suggests that people looking for a booster shot bring proof of their initial vaccination to their appointment. Documentation such as your vaccine card can be helpful to health care providers because it states what COVID-19 vaccine you initially received and the date you got it.

It's unclear. The CDC has not released a timeline for when more people like those between the ages of 12 and 17 will become eligible for booster shots.

Neuman and Rai said vaccine availability at this moment isnt necessarily something to worry about.

We're in a weird situation where there's a vaccine surplus, and yet we're under-vaccinated, Neuman said.

Both said the state is in a good place when it comes to the number of vaccines that are available to the general public.

We are in a different time than we were earlier in the year, Rai said. There are many easily accessible outlets for any of these three vaccines.

Got other questions about COVID-19 vaccine booster shots? Let us know at community@texastribune.org

This article originally appeared in The Texas Tribune at https://www.texastribune.org/2021/10/29/covid-19-vaccine-booster-shots/.

The Texas Tribune is a member-supported, nonpartisan newsroom informing and engaging Texans on state politics and policy. Learn more at texastribune.org.

We are making critical coverage of the coronavirus available for free. Please consider subscribing so we can continue to bring you the latest news and information on this developing story.

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Wondering who can get a COVID-19 vaccine booster shot and when? Here's what Texans need to know. - Cleburne Times-Review

Covid-19 vaccines in use today have to be stored at cold temperatures, but a patch covered in tiny plastic spikes coated in a vaccine could provide an alternative

By Alice Klein

The square vaccine skin patch sits inside an applicator

David Muller/University of Queensland

A skin patch for administering covid-19 vaccines gives greater immune protection than traditional injections, according to a study in mice. The patch can be stored at room temperature and be self-administered, making it suitable for use in places that lack cold storage facilities and medical staff.

Although covid-19 vaccines are now widely available in many countries, they have to be transported and stored at cold temperatures. We wanted to come up with an alternative that would be stable long enough to go that last mile, especially in resource-limited settings, says David Muller at the University of Queensland in Brisbane, Australia.

Muller and his colleagues have spent years developing a skin patch that can deliver influenza, polio, dengue and other vaccines without requiring needles or cold storage. They wondered if the same technology could be used for covid-19 vaccines.

The centimetre-wide skin patch is dotted with 5000 tiny plastic spikes, each a quarter of a millimetre long and coated with dried vaccine that is more stable than liquid forms. The patch is applied with an applicator that painlessly presses the vaccine into the upper layer of the skin.

Vaccines delivered this way tend to elicit stronger immune responses because the skin is full of immune cells, says Muller. For example, when the flu vaccine is administered via this skin patch, a sixth of the normal dose can be used because it produces a stronger response.

The researchers tested the skin patch with a covid-19 vaccine candidate called HexaPro, developed by researchers at the University of Texas at Austin, which is still being tested in clinical trials but is more heat stable and cheaper to make than existing vaccines.

Mice treated with the patch developed more coronavirus antibodies than those injected with the vaccine and were completely protected from getting sick, even with a single dose.

The HexaPro vaccine was stable for at least one month in the skin patch when stored at 25C and for one week at 40C.

A trial of the covid-19 vaccine skin patch in people will begin next year. If it is approved, it could be used to deliver booster doses and potentially to protect against new virus strains, since it is easy to adapt HexaPro to different variants, says Muller.

Journal reference: Science Advances, DOI: 10.1126/sciadv.abj8065

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Skin patch coated in covid-19 vaccine may work better than injections - New Scientist

Posted: Oct 29, 2021 / 04:37 PM EDT / Updated: Oct 29, 2021 / 05:17 PM EDT

Indianapolis Early next week, the CDC is poised to recommend Pfizers vaccines for 5- to 11-year-olds. Indiana officials say the state will receive enough of an initial supply to vaccinate a third of children ages 5 to 11.

What questions do you have ahead of the rollout of vaccines for children. Is there something you want to ask as your family decides if your children will get vaccinated? Fill out the submission form below.

If you have any questions on the states plan to rollout the vaccine, you can send those in as well.

You can also text your questions to 317-632-5900.

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Submit your questions about kids and the COVID-19 vaccine - Fox 59

Dear G20 leaders,

When the leaders of the worlds wealthiest nations met at the G7 Summit in June, they collectively announced that 1 billion doses of COVID-19 vaccines would be sent to low- and low-and-middle-income countries to help vaccinate the world. Pharmaceutical companies have pledged almost the same.

Yet, as several nations still dont even have enough vaccines for their own health workers, the world is left asking: Where are the doses?

Of the almost 7 billion doses that have been administered globally, just 3 percent of people in low-income countries have had a jab so far. Where are the rest?

COVAX, the initiative designed to help achieve fair global access to COVID vaccines, has been promised 1.3 billion doses to be donated for the low-income countries it supports, yet it has been able to ship only 150 million - 11.5 percent to date. Where are the rest?

Promises arent translating into vaccines reaching the people that need them.

Among countries represented at the G20, there are a handful with millions of surplus vaccines that are destined to be wasted once they expire. Every discarded dose of a COVID-19 vaccine, when there are the mechanisms to donate them, should outrage us all. Each dose represents a real persona mother, father, daughter, or sonwho could have been protected.

Each of us come from very different places, backgrounds, and life experiences, but we share a common goal: to tackle global inequity.

All year, weve been part of global conversations across health, industry, and civil society to address the vaccine access crisis. Today, we join with others to urge global leaders to end this devastating inequity and end this pandemic once and for all. G20 leaders have the power to accelerate long-promised donations and to commit to breaking the hold that manufacturing countries and pharmaceutical companies currently have over access to the vaccines and how theyre made.

These are public vaccines. Many of the people you represent paid for the research and development of these vaccines. You can join us in saying that access to the vaccine is a fundamental human right.

We must do everything in our power to get doses to as many people who want and need them, as fast as possible, in the right order, and to have the greatest possible impact.

There are countriesmany represented around the G20 tablewith the medical and scientific expertise to be part of the solution, ready to make their own vaccine for their own people and for others. But they are being blocked by avoidable obstacles, including the inability or unwillingness of vaccine producing countries and pharmaceutical firms to share one of the most important public goods in modern history.

Global targets have been set to vaccinate 40 percent of all countries by the end of 2021 and 70 percent by the middle of next year. Decisions made this weekend may make or break those targets.

To achieve the goals in front of us, the following must happen:

Hold pharmaceutical companies to higher transparency standards, including publicly shared monthly production projections and delivery schedules to help countries better plan to receive and share doses.

Share vaccine technology and dismantle vaccine production barriers by supporting a proposal from the scores of countries calling for the waiving of intellectual property constraints in times of global crisis.

We understand that the pandemic recovery is nuanced and deeply complex, but we have a window of opportunity to come together as a global community and meet our humanitarian promises.

By delivering already-pledged doses, helping countries manufacture their own vaccines, and prioritizing vaccines for nations in need, the G20 can help ensure the world delivers on these promises.

We cant simply hope for the pandemic to end on its own. As the virus progresses through unvaccinated populations, we risk new and more deadly strains sweeping the planet. Further, with trillions of dollars already lost and trillions more expected to be lost, economies will never fully recover until the whole world can operate as normal.

There are many crises that you the stewards of our planet must grapple with this weekend: the climate emergency, the state of our global economy, a recommitment to multilateralism. Yet, in many ways, making headway on these priorities depends on whether we can beat this pandemic.

Cooperation of historic proportion is the only solution. Lives literally depend on it.

Thank you,

Dr Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus

Prince Harry, The Duke of Sussex,

Meghan, The Duchess of Sussex

This open letter is supported by:

Dr Seth Berkley, CEO, Gavi, the Vaccine Alliance

Winnie Byanyima, Executive Director of UNAIDS

Chelsea Clinton, DPhil, MPH, Vice Chair, Clinton Foundation.

Hugh Evans, Co-Founder and CEO of Global Citizen

Carolyn Reynolds, Co-founder Pandemic Action Network

Pledge your support

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Meeting the COVID-19 vaccine commitments Sign the open letter. - World - ReliefWeb

A proposal to repeal Chicago Mayor Lori Lightfoots COVID-19 vaccine mandate for city workers was squashed at a last-minute City Council meeting Friday.

The meeting had been called by some conservative members, who were attempting to strike her order that all workers report their vaccination status, get tested twice weekly if not vaccinated, and get inoculated by the end of the year.

The council voted 30 to 13 against the ordinance, keeping the mayors vaccine mandate in place.

Alds. Silvana Tabares, 23rd Ward, and Anthony Napolitano, 41st Ward, wrote the proposed ordinance. They, with 11 other members of the council, called the rare, special meeting to force a vote on their repeal proposal, which would have also required City Council approval for similar mandates in the future.

The ordinance had earlier this week been sent to the councils Rules Committee where legislation can languish indefinitely prompting its proponents to call for the meeting. While not required, nearly all council members showed up Friday, many of them to vote the ordinance down.

I appreciate the passion thats being expressed today, said Ald. Maria Hadden, 49th Ward. But we need to put those passions aside and we need to use patience, we need to think long-term.

We cant be so reactive to people, just because they dont like the messenger of a particular policy, Hadden said, referring to a standoff between the Fraternal Order of Police, which opposes the mandate, and Lightfoot.

Most city employees have complied with the current order to report their vaccination status with 32 of 34 city departments having at least 92 percent of employees in compliance. But first responders compliance continues to lag.

About 72 percent of the police force and 87 percent of the fire department are in compliance. The policy is also facing a lawsuit from more than 100 Chicago firefighters.

Those who do not comply with the order to report their status or get tested if theyre not vaccinated are gradually being put on no-pay status. About 30 Chicago police officers are currently off the beat as a result, according to the mayors office. More than 3,000 of them have still not reported their vaccination status, meaning theyre still at risk of being put on no-pay status.

Aldermen pushing for the mandates repeal repeated concerns Friday that the lagging compliance among first responders will lead to a public safety crisis.

I am fully vaccinated, but that said I believe this mandate has created a public safety blind spot, said Ald. Matt OShea, 19th Ward.

Proponents of the mandate expressed public safety concerns on a different front, saying first responders must be vaccinated to ensure the health of Chicago residents.

How can we feel safe sending people to respond to emergencies without knowing they can keep others safe against COVID?, said Ald. Rossana Rodriguez Sanchez, 33rd Ward.

Aldermen also debated the role the council should play in negotiations with the unions that represent the employees affected by the policy. Tabares urged aldermen to vote in favor of repealing the mandate as a check on the executive branch.

Opposing this measure means you are OK with staying in the dark. You are OK with whatever happens. This vote asks us if we want to roll up our sleeves, or wash our hands of the matter, she said.

Rodriguez Sanchez, who during her two years in office has fought for more decision-making power among the council, responded to that appeal, saying vaccine policy is not the place for a power struggle.

I am down to fight for independence from the executive I think (the) mandate is not the thing we use, she said.

Other aldermen who voted against the repeal ordinance said they believe the measure is an overstep of the councils power and would infringe on the bargaining power of unions, many of which negotiated with Lightfoot for months over the details of the mandate.

Mariah Woelfel covers city government at WBEZ. You can follow her on Twitter at @MariahWoelfel.

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The Chicago City Council fails to repeal the mayors COVID-19 vaccination mandate for city workers - WBEZ