Category: Covid-19 Vaccine

California Gov. Gavin Newsom appears at a news conference in Oakland, Calif., on July 26. On Wednesday, he announced that the state's teachers and school staff will be required to be vaccinated for COVID-19 or undergo weekly testing. Jeff Chiu/AP hide caption

California Gov. Gavin Newsom appears at a news conference in Oakland, Calif., on July 26. On Wednesday, he announced that the state's teachers and school staff will be required to be vaccinated for COVID-19 or undergo weekly testing.

SAN FRANCISCO California will become the first state in the nation to require all teachers and staff in K-12 public and private schools to get vaccinated or undergo weekly COVID-19 testing, Gov. Gavin Newsom announced Wednesday.

The statewide vaccine mandate comes as schools return from summer break amid growing concerns of the highly contagious delta variant.

The new policy will affect the state's 320,000 public school teachers, more than 250,000 support staff from cafeteria employees to cleaners and at least 80,000 private school employees, according to the California Department of Education and labor unions. It will also apply to school volunteers.

Newsom announced the new policy at a San Francisco Bay Area school that has already reopened after summer break. Many California schools are back in session, with others starting in the coming weeks.

"We think this is the right thing to do and we think this is a sustainable way to keeping our schools open and to address the number one anxiety that parents like myself have for young children," Newsom said.

Several large school districts in the state have issued similar requirements in recent days, including San Francisco, Oakland, San Jose and the Long Beach Unified.

California, like the rest of the country, has seen a troubling surge in COVID-19 infections because of the delta variant, which represents the vast majority of new cases. It has affected children more than previous strains of the virus.

Newsom earlier issued a mask mandate for indoor classes that applies to teachers and students but until Wednesday had left the decision of whether to require vaccines up to local districts.

California's two largest teachers unions, both powerful political allies to the governor, said they fully supported Newsom's policy.

On Sunday, the president of the nation's second-largest teachers union, Randi Weingarten, said "the circumstances have changed."

"It weighs really heavily on me that kids under 12 can't get vaccinated," said Weingarten, president of the American Federation of Teachers.

The California Teachers Association and the California Federation of Teachers both cited state and national polling that indicates nearly 90% of educators have been vaccinated but said the rising spread of the delta variant, particularly among children, makes the new policy necessary. Children under 12 are not yet eligible to be vaccinated.

A vaccination site for employees of the Los Angeles school district in Inglewood, Calif., in March. Marcio Jose Sanchez/AP hide caption

A vaccination site for employees of the Los Angeles school district in Inglewood, Calif., in March.

While Hawaii Gov. David Ige announced last week that all Department of Education staffers would be required to disclose their vaccination status or face weekly testing, California's order is far more sweeping, applying to all staff who work in both public and private schools in the country's most populous state.

Vaccine mandates are perilous for Newsom, a Democrat, who faces a recall election next month fueled in part by anger over his handling of the pandemic.

California was the first state to order a pandemic lockdown in March 2020, which shuttered businesses and schools statewide. While many private schools maintained in-person classes, most public schools kept students in distance learning for up to a year. Newsom faced intense political pressure to reopen schools from Republican opponents and supporters who urged him to override powerful labor unions. Many public schools finally reopened last spring, lagging much of the country.

Newsom pushed for a full return to in-person learning this fall. But his mask mandate for schools has angered some parents and been criticized by Republican candidates vying to replace him.

Several of the GOP candidates criticized the new plan Wednesday. Former San Diego Mayor Kevin Faulconer, who has encouraged everyone to get vaccinated, said state officials "should not be pushing uniform statewide orders on every school district across the state" but should leave it to local districts.

Details of how the new policy will be enforced were not announced. Labor unions say those logistics still need to be worked out.

Schools are required to be in full compliance with the new policy by Oct. 15, giving schools time to verify vaccination status and have in place weekly testing for unvaccinated staff, said Amelia Matier, a spokeswoman in the governor's office.

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California Will Require COVID-19 Vaccination For Teachers - NPR

Millions of parents across the nation are facing a stressful dilemma in the coming weeks: whether to send their children back to school for in-person instruction as the highly transmissible Delta variant surges across the country.

There were 93,824 new cases among U.S. children recorded the week of August 5, according to the American Academy of Pediatrics, a 30 percent increase from the previous week and the highest since February. Hospitalizations are also rising among thoseunder the age of 17.

But even though cases are rising, its not clear whether this means that kids are more susceptible to Delta than previous strains. Infections are surging among all those who remain unvaccinatedwhich includes all children under 12, who are not yet eligible for the vaccine.

Although kids 12 and older became eligible for Pfizers vaccine in May, its not clear when younger kids will be able to get their shot. Despite initial hopes that the vaccines would be available in early fall, experts now believe that the U.S. Food and Drug Administration is not likely to grant that authorization until late November. (Here's the latest on COVID-19 vaccines.)

That has led many parents to ask whats taking so longand whether its possible to speed things up. But Joseph Domachowske, professor of pediatrics at State University of New York (SUNY) Upstate Medical University in Syracuse, points out that for every parent asking why the FDA isnt moving faster, there are others asking, Why are you going so fast?

COVID-19 vaccines have been developed and authorized among adults in record-shattering time. But even as the Delta variant injects new urgency to get jabs in arms, experts say its equally critical to ensure the vaccines are safe and have the appropriate dose for kids. Balancing those two objectives is incredibly trickyand necessary.

Children are not just tiny grown-upsand their immune systems work differently, too. While kids are still maturing, their immune systems are unpredictable. They might mount a different immune response to the COVID-19 vaccines, and they could have side effects that arent seen in adults.

They might respond better or worse, James Campbell, professor of pediatrics at the University of Maryland School of Medicines Center for Vaccine Development and Global Health, told National Geographic earlier this year. Until you do the study with the vaccine, you dont know what will happen.

Typically, however, new drugs and vaccines are tested in healthy adults before launching clinical trials among riskier populations like kids and pregnant women. (Here's why kids need their own COVID-19 vaccine trials.)

Adolescents are a different story. By September 2020, Pfizer had accumulated enough safety data in its clinical trials to expand them to include teenagers as young as 16. In October, the company expanded its trials to include kids as young as 12.

[With teenagers] you pretty much were confident that you had the dosing, says Paul Offit, director of the Vaccine Education Center at the Childrens Hospital of Philadelphia. So that was easy. Its not so easy when you go down to five or six years of age.

Figuring out the right dose to give kids requires additional study. First, researchers test a low dose of the vaccine in an older groupsay, kids ages five to 11to determine its safety. Then they give a higher dose to see if the vaccine remained safe and elicited an immune response comparable to a healthy adult. Then they test it among increasingly younger age groups.

Still, some scientists were disappointed last fall when those trials were slow to materialize. Even though the FDA had granted emergency use authorization to Pfizer and Modernas vaccines in December, the companies didnt launch their clinical trials among kids ages 11 and younger until March.

It didnt seem from early on that these trials in kids were happening with the same urgency that they were with adults, says Sean OLeary, a professor at the University of Colorado and vice chair of the American Academy of Pediatricians Committee on Infectious Diseases.

Once the trials got underway, however, they moved quickly. Completed within two months, the first phase of Pfizer's clinical trials demonstrated that the vaccine was safe and effective in a small group of 144 children. In June, Pfizer launched its combined phase two and three clinical trials to assess the efficacy of the vaccines among up to 4,500 children ages six months to 11 years.

Ive never seen anything like it, says Domachowske, who is supervising the Pfizer-BioNTech pediatric trials at SUNY Upstate Medical University. If we could run clinical trials like this all the time, we would improve public health in an astonishing way.

At the time, Pfizer said it expected to submit data to the FDA in September for emergency authorization of its vaccine for the oldest group in its trials, kids ages five to 11. Data for the younger age groups were to be expected in the subsequent weeks and months. Moderna, meanwhile, filed for emergency use authorization to use its vaccine among adolescents in June.

But around that same time, reports arose of rare cases of heart inflammation among young adults and teens who had received the mRNA vaccines. Most of these cases were reported among males between the ages of 18 and 24. (Heart problems after vaccinations are very rareand often resolve quickly.)

At an FDA advisory committee meeting in June, scientists debated how to balance the risk of this new side effect with the decision to authorize the vaccines among younger children. Given that kids are at a lower risk of severe disease, some argued that it would be better to conduct further study. Others argued that the vaccines were needed sooner rather than later.

Ultimately, in late June the FDA added a warning label to the vaccines and updated the consent form thats used to enroll new clinical trial participants. Domachowske says that although it was just a small adjustment, it stalled his trial for three or four weeks.

Then, in late July, federal regulators asked Pfizer and Moderna to expand their clinical trials to include up to several thousand more children in the 5-to-11-year-old age group and provide four to six months of safety data rather than just two. Sources told the New York Times that this was a precautionary measure to allow researchers to detect rare side effects like heart inflammation. Moderna has said it will expand its trial; a spokesperson for Pfizer says it has not updated its trial at this point.

Not all scientists agree with that approach. On August 5, the American Academy of Pediatrics (AAP) sent a letter to the FDA urging it to continue working aggressively towards authorizing safe and effective COVID-19 vaccines for children under age 12 as soon as possibleand to consider authorizing the vaccines for children ages 5 to 11 based on the data from the initial cohort.

Offit says its unclear why the FDA requested additional months of safety data given that all safety issues so far have been seen within six weeks of a dose. A few thousand additional participants would also still be far too few to detect an extremely rare side effect. Still, he notes that hes not privy to the FDAs data. Maybe theyre seeing something that worries them, he says. Maybe theyre not seeing enough disease in the studies so that they can actually make statements about efficacy. I dont know.

Ultimately, Domachowske says, researchers need more time. We dont know yet that were using the right dose at the right time at the right age, he says. Were getting closer. But rushing this is not a wise decision.

OLeary says the request to enroll new participants in the vaccine trials may be frustrating and will certainly cause delaysbut it might not necessarily take all that long. Parents who werent able to get their kids into the vaccine trials in the spring now have another chance.

Meanwhile, Pfizer says it expects to have the data to support its application for emergency use authorization among kids ages five to 11 by the end of September. Moderna told ABC News that it expects to seek emergency use authorization by the end of 2021 or early 2022.

But its anyones guess when authorization may finally come through. Domachowske, whose Pfizer trial is just now collecting data from participants who are one month past their second dose, says he doesnt expect authorization before Thanksgiving.

Were talking about sometime after Labor Day to have all of the data crunched, he says. Then, he says, Pfizer will need at least a month to put together the request for emergency use authorization and the FDA will need a month or two to review it.

In the meantime, experts say we already have a powerful pathway to protecting kids from the Delta variant: vaccinating more adults.

If everyone who was eligible to be vaccinated got vaccinated, we wouldnt be seeing this surge, OLeary says. Thats tragic but its not too late. The more people that can be vaccinated right now, the better off our children will be.

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Why kids are still waiting for their COVID-19 vaccines - National Geographic

FDA authorizes COVID-19 booster shots for the immunocompromised

The FDA determined people with suppressed immune systems may not have gotten adequate protection from initial doses of the COVID-19 vaccine.

Staff video, USA TODAY

Sheletta Brundidgehas three children, and each time she gave birth Brundidge said she almost died.

Medical workers and doctors ignored her concerns and symptoms multiple times, anissue Brundidge says is too common within the Black community.

Her experience with the healthcare system led Brundidge to develop hesitancy toward receiving the COVID-19 vaccine. Up until last week, she had no plans to get vaccinated. Instead, she followed socially distanced protocols and kept her mask on in public.

But then, her now 15-year-old sontold her he just had one birthday wish for his mom to get vaccinated.

Aside from her oldest son Andrew, Brundidge also has two autistic children. Andrew worried if his mom was unvaccinated and contradicted COVID-19, the family would be motherless.

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"Andrew told me, 'Mom, no one is going to care for me and my autistic siblings like you will," Brundidgetold USA TODAY. "So I knew I had to ease his anxiety about that. I couldn't add to his worries mentally."

Brundidge is set to receive her vaccine shot this afternoon in Minnesota. Although she said she's still nervous, she's happy to haveGov.Tim Walz by her sidewhen she receives her first dose, as part of an effort to encourage other communities of color to get vaccinated.

As a host ofWCCO Radio and her own podcast, Sheletta Makes MeLaugh, Brundidge said she hopes her story encourages Black and Brown residents to get vaccinated, despite their reservations.

Black people make up about 10% of those fully vaccinated in the U.S., according to the Centers for Control Disease and Prevention. Members of the Black community are also twice as likely to be hospitalized or die if tested positive for COVID-19.

Before confronting his mom, Andrew Brundidge took a few weeks to research and read information about the COVID-19 vaccine and the disease itself. He saw the "scary" odds against the Black community and knew he needed to convince his mother to get vaccinated. After long and open conversations, he said he's happy his mother will complete his birthday wish.

"I didn't want my mom to be another statistic. I told her, 'Who's going to take care of us if something happens to you?'"Andrew told USA TODAY.

Although she's set to be vaccinated today, Brundidge said she still holds some fears. But her reservations are overshadowed by her desire to protect herself and her family.

Brundidge hopes other Black and Brown people will choose to get vaccinated for the sake of their health and others, even if they're scared.

"Do it scared, get vaccinated scared like me. It's worthit, in the end, to send a positive message and be protected.,"

Follow Gabriela Miranda on Twitter: @itsgabbymiranda

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A teen's birthday wish was for his mom to get the COVID-19 vaccine. So she's doing it. - USA TODAY

People wearing face masks walk on Bourbon Street in the French Quarter on August 12, 2021 in New Orleans, Louisiana. Photo: Mario Tama (Getty Images)

The city of New Orleans, Louisiana will require all customers at bars, restaurants, stadiums, concerts, and other indoor venues to show their proof of vaccination or a negative covid-19 test taken within 72 hours in order to gain admittance, according to Mayor LaToya Cantrell who made the announcement at a press conference on Thursday.

Dont look for reasons to be the exception. Dont look for the loopholes. Look for your vaccination card and be prepared to show it, Cantrell said while announcing the new requirements.

The new rules will go into effect on Monday, August 16 and the list includes virtually every indoor activity open to the public, including gyms, casinos, skating rinks, pool halls, strip clubs, and just about anything else you can think of that happens indoors.

The Superdome, home of the Saints football team, will also be subject to the new rules, as well as the statewide indoor mask mandate already being enforced. The mayor was quick to note that the rules apply to both residents of Louisiana as well as out-of-state visitors to New Orleans, a city thats extremely dependent financially on tourism.

Louisiana has seen a disturbing surge in covid-19 cases over recent weeks, with 5,287 cases and 54 deaths on Thursday alone. Louisiana also has one of the lowest vaccination rates in the country, with just 37.9% of the population fully vaccinated against covid-19. Roughly 45% have received at least one dose. Nationally, the vaccination rate stands at 50.9%, a number well below anything that could be considered herd immunity by epidemiologists.

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The mayors announcement, which is available on YouTube, included an anecdote about how she had gotten her vaccine card laminated and used it over the past weekend to prove her vaccination status.

You know, I tested this out myself at Saffrons on Saturday, Mayor Cantrell explained. And no problem. I was proud to have my car laminated. Bam, pulled it out. And then my friend, who I was with, she had her LA wallet, bam, pulled it out and we had a great time.

The mayor suggested that while shed like to give businesses a longer grace period, theres simply not enough time with so much at stake, urging businesses to start enforcing the new rules as soon as possible.

This will go into effect on Monday and we will begin aggressive enforcement actions the following week. So right around August the 23rd is when we expect to be on the ground in terms of enforcement. But again, Im encouraging our businesses, you dont have to wait, you can go ahead and activate, Cantrell said.

Acceptable proof of vaccination includes the Louisiana Wallet Apps Smart Health Card, a photo of your vaccine card (front and back), or an official vaccine record issued by a health care provider.

New Orleans isnt the only U.S. city introducing new vaccine mandates for entering indoor spaces. San Francisco announced similar measures to New Orleans on Thursday, requiring anyone 12 years and older to show proof of vaccination to get into bars, restaurants, and theaters. San Franciscos vaccine mandate goes into effect on August 20, even earlier than Mayor Cantrells August 16 deadline in New Orleans.

We have a vaccine. And this is our only way out of this virus, Mayor Cantrell said. And we have to act now. We dont have time.

When I think about 2022, Im so serious. I do not want to bring this virus into yet another year. We cannot sustain that blow and we shouldnt have to, Cantrell said.

In New Orleans, we start our year, January, of course, like everywhere else, but it starts with events and activities that sets us apart from anywhere else in this country. And Im going to say, hey, anywhere else in the world.

See the rest here:

New Orleans to Require Vaccination or Negative Covid-19 Test to Enter Bars, Stadiums, and More - Gizmodo

To shield vulnerable patients from COVID-19, few people who work in health and long-term care would disagree with the ambition to vaccinate as many of their colleagues as possible. But there remain deep divisions over whether vaccination should be compulsory for staff who are not medically exempt.

In a special issue of the BMJ, academics and a transplant patient debate the pros and cons of mandatory vaccination.

If hospital chefs refuse to comply with new safe food preparation guidance, they have no good reason to expect to continue to be employed, argues Michael Parker, professor of bioethics at the University of Oxford, United Kingdom, in the BMJ.

So too in frontline healthcare roles, staff are rightly required to modify their practice in the light of evidence about patient safety, he writes.

Prof. Parker believes the same principle should apply to COVID-19 vaccination.

In the United States, more than 50 medical organizations including the American Medical Association, the American College of Physicians, the American Nurses Association, and the American Public Health Association have endorsed a statement that calls for compulsory vaccination of healthcare and long-term care facility staff against COVID-19.

The Department of Veterans Affairs, some university hospitals, and some health systems have already made COVID-19 vaccination compulsory, though many of them allow exemptions on religious or philosophical grounds.

U.S. President Joe Biden has announced that federal workers and contractors must be vaccinated or else comply with new rules on mandatory wearing of masks, weekly testing, and social distancing.

In the U.K., the House of Commons recently approved legislation that would make COVID-19 vaccination compulsory for staff working in care homes in England unless they have a medical exemption.

The U.K. government is consulting on whether to extend the requirement to healthcare workers and other social care staff.

Italy, France, and Greece have already made vaccination mandatory for healthcare workers.

Prof. Parker notes that health and social care providers have a duty to recruit staff whose presence does not put patients at unnecessary risk.

He concedes that the situation is less clear for existing staff because employers have obligations towards them, such as ensuring they have reasonable working conditions and do not face discrimination.

However, he argues that employers should move staff who are reluctant to be vaccinated, or who have a medical contraindication, to roles where the risk to patients is low.

On the other side of the debate, academics argue in the BMJ that while health and social care workers have a duty of care to be vaccinated, mandatory vaccination is a blunt instrument to tackle a complex issue.

According to Helen Bedford, a professor of childrens health at UCL Great Ormond Street Institute of Child Health, London; Michael Ussher, a professor of behavioral medicine at St Georges University of London and the University of Stirling; and Martine Stead, deputy director of the Institute for Social Marketing and Health at the University of Stirling.

[I]t is not necessary, acceptable, or the most effective way to achieve high uptake, and it raises serious ethical issues about freedom of choice.

They write that compulsory vaccination may seem a straightforward solution, but it has downsides.

Notably, it may risk increasing resistance to vaccination by damaging trust in the government and other organizations, they write.

This is of particular concern among ethnic minorities, who are overrepresented among health and social care workers, have been disproportionately affected by COVID-19, are less likely to trust government sources of information, and are more likely to be vaccine hesitant, they add.

They also point out that if individuals choose to leave rather than undergo vaccination, this will exacerbate existing staff shortages.

In an accompanying comment article, Michael Mittelman, who has a rare kidney condition and has had three kidney transplants, argues in favor of compulsory vaccination not just for doctors and nurses, but for everyone who comes into contact with patients, such as cleaners and staff who serve food.

People like me, at high risk from COVID-19, must be protected by and from the staff caring for us, he writes.

Mittelman has been vaccinated, despite the risks for people such as him who need drugs to suppress their immune systems in order to prevent transplant rejection.

His blood now contains antibodies against SARS-CoV-2, the virus that causes COVID-19. However, he points out that other immunosuppressed patients test negative for the antibodies after vaccination, meaning they remain at high risk from the disease.

Mittelman concludes:

As a patient who needs care in multiple settings, I hope that mandatory vaccination rules become universal, with only medical exemptions permitted. It would alleviate some of my anxiety in receiving care.

In a second comment article, Nadra Ahmed, who chairs the National Care Association in the U.K., says her sector shares the governments ambition to have a fully vaccinated workforce.

But she believes care workers are being targeted unfairly at a time when they remain under intense pressure.

She writes:

We have an exhausted and anxious workforce who, through this new legislation, are being targeted as the root cause of the spread of infection, such that they must have their employment conditions amended. Where is the consideration for alleviating real anxieties about adverse effects from new vaccines?

She notes that most care workers are female and may have concerns about COVID-19 vaccination and childbearing. In addition, many carers are from ethnic minority communities and may have reservations about vaccination embedded in their culture.

Care homes already face a staffing crisis, with more than 112,000 vacancies in England, writes Ahmed.

She warns:

The most dangerous assumption is that staff who walk out will be easily replaced: if staff who have not yet had a vaccine were to leave potentially an additional 13% care services would be unsustainable.

For live updates on the latest developments regarding the novel coronavirus and COVID-19, click here.

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COVID-19 vaccines: Should they be compulsory in healthcare? - Medical News Today

All Montgomery County Public Schools employees must be vaccinated against COVID-19 or agree to weekly testing, the district announced Friday.

MCPS, Marylands largest school district and one of the countys largest employers, will require its approximately 24,000 staff members to provide proof of vaccination. If they do not, or choose to not be vaccinated, they must agree to take a COVID-19 test once per week, according to documents released by MCPS.

No more information was provided about the requirement on Friday, including by what date proof of vaccination must be submitted or testing procedures. The documents released by MCPS said additional details will be shared with employees prior to the start of the school year, and a district spokeswoman said the same when asked for more information.

Many advocating for the mandate for teachers have said its a measure that will help protect the countys youngest children, who are not yet eligible for a vaccine as concerns about the spread of COVID-19 variants escalate.

District leaders first disclosed to Bethesda Beat on Monday they were considering a possible vaccination mandate for employees. They said they were very early in discussion and did not release any details about the possible mandate.

Spokeswoman Gboyinde Onijala said at the time that the consideration was prompted by a vaccination mandate passed last week for county employees.

During a call with reporters last week, Montgomery County Executive Marc Elrich announced that he planned to require county employees to provide proof of vaccination or to submit to regular testing. The County Council, acting as the local Board of Health, the next day approved a measure requiring an implementation plan be submitted by Aug. 20, which includes all county employees. MCPS staff members are not considered county employees.

Jennifer Martin, president of the Montgomery County Education Association, the county teachers union, said in an interview on Friday that the group is committed to implementing measures necessary to ensure schools are fully reopened throughout the next school year.

In the winter and spring, as part of a push to reopen public school buildings after a yearlong closure, the county prioritized educators in its vaccination plan. By March, all MCPS employees had received an offer to receive a vaccination, according to county health officials.

As of June 3, MCPS estimated that 70% of its employees had been vaccinated. Updated estimates were not available Friday.

With the district planning to reopen schools full-time in the fall, MCPS interim superintendent, Monifa McKnight, told the school board last month that employees will be expected to return to buildings, regardless of their vaccination status.

Over the past week, many school districts across the country including the countrys largest, in New York City have announced similar vaccinate-or-test mandates as MCPS announcement on Friday.

All teachers in California will be required to be vaccinated or routinely tested, Gov. Gavin Newsom announced this week.

Some local districts, like Howard County Public Schools and Arlington County Public Schools, this week also announced vaccination requirements for employees.

Caitlynn Peetz can be reached at caitlynn.peetz@bethesdamagazine.com

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MCPS will require employees to get COVID-19 vaccine or be tested weekly - BethesdaMagazine.com

Misinformation about COVID-19 vaccines is so pervasive that one in five respondents to a large, newly published academic survey believes a false claim about them.

Researchers from Harvard Medical School and three other universities asked 20,669 Americans about four false COVID-19 assertions that have spread across the country in the past year. The claims are:

Twenty percent of the survey respondents believe at least one of these four debunked assertions. Forty percent correctly noted that all of them are false. (Those taking the survey had the option of saying they were not sure.)

The researchers found that those most likely to believe false vaccine claims were Republican voters, young adults and, perhaps a surprise to some, those with high socioeconomic status.

The study concluded that belief in any of these false claims, as well as uncertainty about them, fuels vaccine avoidance more than a year into the deadly coronavirus pandemic. Eighty-five percent of the people who took the survey were vaccinated.

Misperceptions and uncertainty emerge as important predictors of vaccine attitudes, the paper states, even when we account for other factors, including geography, demographic characteristics, political affiliation, trust in institutions, news consumption and personal experience with COVID-19.

Five percent of the respondents said they wouldnt get the vaccine under any circumstance.

Of the 20% who believed at least one false claim, nearly half of them were vaccinated. And men are more likely than women to believe these claims.

As for why those with high socioeconomic status are among the most likely to believe inaccurate information about the vaccines, the researchers write: In the case of highly educated respondents, this pattern is at least partly due to the fact that graduate degree holders are especially likely to select a definitive answer and avoid admitting that they did not know the correct response.

Eight percent of respondents overall said vaccines contained microchips, 9% that vaccines used tissue from abortions, 10% that vaccines altered DNA, and 11% that they might cause infertility issues.

Forty-eight percent of Democrats noted that all four of the claims were false. A third of Republicans said the same.

The infertility myth caused the most concern, with more than a third of respondents saying they didnt know if it was true -- meaning nearly half said it might be true or they didnt know if it was true.

The microchip claim was rejected by more respondents than the others -- 70% said it was inaccurate. (Interestingly, the study also found that, over the past nine months, the microchip myth was mentioned on Twitter more than the other three claims.)

The studys researchers noted that President Joe Biden, a Democrat, recently said that bad actors on social media were killing people with COVID-19 vaccine misinformation, and that Republican Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell has stated that misinformation was to be blamed for the low vaccination rates of Americans.

Just over 50% of the U.S. population is fully vaccinated. More than 600,000 Americans have died from COVID-19.

-- Douglas Perry

dperry@oregonian.com

@douglasmperry

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COVID-19 vaccine misinformation is rife, including among highly educated: Harvard study - OregonLive

While the shocking statistics only tell part of the story, the names behind the numbers tell the rest.

CONROE, Texas As coronavirus continues to spread at an alarming rate, KHOU 11 crunched the numbers and found where most of the active transmission is happening by ZIP code.

While the data doesn't lie, it doesn't necessarily tell the whole story, either.

"I got the good Lord on my side, brother," said James Powell, a Conroe resident

"Were you surprised?" asked KHOU 11s Xavier Walton.

"Yeah, a little surprised," said Kevin Stanley, a Conroe resident.

About an hour north of Houston is the most concerning cluster in Conroe. And while the shocking statistics only tell part of the story, the names behind the numbers tell the rest.

"I'm not really sure why we're the least vaccinated," Stanley said. "I'm going to get it I just haven't gotten it yet. And we don't have access like other people do."

"From my house to Conroe, it's 13.5 miles," said James Powell, a Conroe resident.

Powell was shooting arrows in his front yard. He said those were the only shots he's getting.

"Why is it that you're choosing not to get any of the vaccines?" Walton asked.

"I don't even get the flu shot, and I'm not going to get the vaccine, because I don't think it's necessary," Powell said.

Up the road in Willis, which has the second-worst vaccination rate, Marie McKinney said the rural divide doesnt stop at the Montgomery County line.

"My husband is a moron. He won't get it," said Marie McKinney, a Willis resident. "My husband said I'm going to turn into a zombie if I get the vaccination."

On the other end of the spectrum, out of the 151 Harris and Montgomery County ZIP codes KHOU 11 analyzed, 77094 leads the area with nearly 83 percent of people eligible fully vaccinated.

"Are you surprised at all?" Walton asked.

"This is news to me. I was not aware of that, but welcome news," said Brian, a Green Trail resident.

John, Brian's neighbor, said his entire family has gotten one of the vaccines.

"It's just like taking the flu shot," John said. "I didn't want my family to get sick. And it's so rampant. Plus, there are so many people dying from it that shouldn't be dying."

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Residents in ZIP codes with lowest COVID-19 vaccination rates explain why they haven't gotten the shot - KHOU.com

White House chief medical adviser Dr. Anthony Fauci predicted everyone will need to receive a booster shot of the coronavirus vaccine sooner or later to ensure its effectiveness.

"As we mentioned, we are evaluating this on a day-by-day, week-by-week, month-by-month basis, looking at any of a number of studies, both international and domestic studies," Fauci said during a press conference Thursday.

Fauci, also the director of the National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases, could not provide a timetable for the additional shot but said he was already preparing to assess the dynamic process and act accordingly.

"If the data shows us that, in fact, we do need to do that, we'll be very ready to do it and do it expeditiously," he continued.

CDC DIRECTOR REFERS TO 'PREGNANT PEOPLE' WHEN RECOMMENDING CORONAVIRUS VACCINE DURING PREGNANCY

Speculation surrounding the booster comes as the United States struggles to combat the spread of the coronavirus delta variant, which has quickly become the dominant strain of new cases after only a couple of months in the country.

The delta variant has spread to at least 117 countries, causing some lawmakers in the U.S. to consider additional lockdowns.

Several cities, such as Washington, D.C., and San Francisco, have already re-shutdown restaurants, businesses, and entertainment venues and adopted proof of vaccination requirements to enter public facilities.

Executives at both Pfizer and Moderna have publicly acknowledged recipients of their respective COVID-19 vaccines will eventually need a booster shot. They have also not ruled out additional dose cycles of their vaccines each year.

The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention continues to call for people to get vaccinated but has yet to recommend additional vaccination doses or boosters definitively.

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The CDC's Advisory Committee on Immunization Practices is scheduled to meet on Friday to discuss booster doses. It is expected to offer a recommendation at that time.

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In preparation for the fall season, CDC Director Dr. Rochelle Walensky has also encouraged students who are too young to receive the vaccination to wear masks in indoor classrooms.

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Tags: Pfizer, Anthony Fauci, Coronavirus, Vaccination

Original Author: Lawrence Richard

Original Location: Fauci predicts everyone will need COVID-19 vaccine booster

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Fauci predicts everyone will need COVID-19 vaccine booster - Yahoo News

Boise, Idaho Governor Brad Little held a press conference today at Nampa High School to highlight facts about unvaccinated Idahoans getting sick, strain occurring in hospitals,and to urge Idahoans on the fence about receiving the vaccine to get the shot now to protect students ability to learn in their classrooms this school year.

Idaho students are headed back to their classrooms starting next week. As Ive stated from the start of the COVID-19 pandemic,our students need to be able to learn in their classrooms with their teachers and peers.Our main defense in ensuring the new school year is entirely in-person free from outbreaks and quarantines is theCOVID-19 vaccine, Governor Little said.

Governor Little highlighted Idaho-specific facts about COVID activity in the state.

The vaccine slows the spread of the disease, but epidemiologistswith the State of Idaho saythat with low vaccination rates and the highly contagious Delta variantcirculating in Idaho communitieswhich istwice as contagious as the original strain projections indicatecase counts could continue to increase through the fall and exceed last years peak for daily case countsinas soon astwo months.

Just over half of Idahos adult population is vaccinated,with the greatest share of those vaccinated over the age of 65.

I understand there are many who simply will not receive the vaccine under any circumstances,but there are also a lot of others who are on the fence about receiving the vaccine.To those friends and neighbors of ours waiting to receive the vaccine,the time to get the vaccine is now,when our students are going back to school.We can minimize or eliminate disruptions in the delivery of educationas well as sportsand extracurricular activitiesduring this school year if more Idahoans choose to get vaccinatednow. Our younger population cannot receive the vaccine andthey need us the adults tomake the right decision now so they can stay well and have a productive, successful school year, Governor Little said.

Parents of 12- to 17-year-olds are also encouraged to havetheirchildren vaccinated.Apediatrician can helpanswer questions, and parents are encouraged tomake an appointment to discussthe vaccine.

Over 197million Americans have received the vaccine safely.The risk ofseriousside effectsisextremely low. By comparison, the risk of death or hospitalization from the COVID-19 disease is much higher, and its growing.

Idaho hospitals are once again filling up with COVID patients almost all unvaccinated and access to basic healthcare services is getting pinched foreveryone.People with planned surgeries may have those surgeries delayed.People with heart attacks or strokes may find there is no bed available in their local hospital.

Governor Little also noted theimpacts of increased spread on ourworkforce.

We cannot afford to have such a large share of our workforce out sick all at once.Our workforce cannot afford to stay home because schools and day cares shut down due to outbreaks.This threatens Idahos phenomenal economic success, Governor Little said. Our hospitals wont be able to take in the influx of patients.And, importantly, it is not fair to our students who will experience disruptions in their school year.

Governor Little said he isdirecting$30 million toward expandedCOVID-19testingin Idaho K-12 schoolsto helpmeet the need.

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Idahoans urged to receive COVID-19 vaccine now as students head back to school - Office of the Governor - Governor Brad Little