Category: Covid-19 Vaccine

After over a year of living in fear, the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention on Thursday said the words we have been waiting to hear: It's finally time to begin taking off our masks.

That news comes as confirmation that with enough vaccinations, we as a country can begin to let people go back to some semblance of normalcy at least in small groups.

Youd think many people would immediately leap to joy knowing that its safe to let people see your face in public, but I am still seeing so many people online and off especially progressives openly pushing back on the CDCs decision and the science behind it with distrust.

The debate thats currently playing out among liberals is a version of one thats been going on in the queer community for years: The battle to get people to begin taking the HIV prevention drug PrEP is a prime case of how stigma and shame only allow viruses to continue.

Since the first shutdowns began in March 2020, the pandemic has been extremely politicized, with masks becoming the symbol of our polarization in this country. Former President Donald Trump openly mocked mask use before eventually adopting it himself once getting sick. According to a 2020 Pew study, the divide on masks and political parties stood at 63 percent of Democrats believing people should wear masks outside compared to 29 percent of Republicans.

I remember talking to queer men older than me at the time about the new pill. Many of them resented me for having this level of protection available. (Some still do to this day.)

At the time, Democrats were entirely correct. The virus was raging and masks were our first line of defense. But those who are vaccinated on the left seem to think overcaution now is the way to go, which is making people on the right question the effectiveness of the vaccines, Dr. Monica Gandhi, a professor of medicine at University of California at San Francisco, recently told The Atlantic.

Which brings me back to PrEP. In 2012, the FDA approved PrEP after it was scientifically shown to be up to 99 percent effective in preventing acquisition of the HIV virus. I remember talking to queer men older than me at the time about the new pill. Many of them resented me for having this level of protection available. (Some still do to this day.)

Its not hard to understand why. They had survived the height of the HIV epidemic in America during the 1980s and 90s, burying more people than theyd like to count. They had been the ones who popularized condoms as the No. 1 prevention tool in fighting HIV/AIDS.

But this new drug was not only going to be just as powerful as a condom, it allowed for men to consider not wearing condoms at all. Since then, even as more and more ads roll out explaining how safe it is and its upsides, we still see queer men hesitating to use the pill that could stop the epidemic in its tracks.

Like the viruses and thevaccine, theres no way to tell by looking at someone if theyre taking PrEP. Its a pill I take myself, but still to this day find THAT people will make snide remarks about why folks are taking it and not just wearing condoms. Those remarks are never because they actually care about ending HIV/AIDS theyre coming from people obsessed with slut shaming those taking measures to protect themselves.

Their rationale a belief that only sluts need a pill like this is rhetoric that folks taking birth control have also historically faced. Its the logical outgrowth of the prevailing rhetoric of the early epidemic, which came from both inside and outside the community, that we as gay men just need to have less sex, or just one partner, or no sex at all.

In 2019, Pennsylvania state Rep. Brian Sims, a Democrat, came out as a politician who takes PrEP, at least in part to push back on a stigma that he saw as blocking a future where HIV/AIDS was eradicated.

Think this is an invite to talk about my sex life? It's not. Think it's an invite to shame me or anyone else? Grow up. he wrote in his Instagram post. 'Stigma' is the thing our enemies want us to be stunted by. It literally kills us. It's stupid and we control our own fate. No shame in this game. Just Pride."

Hes 100 percent correct that stigma is what's killing us at this point not just HIV itself. For years, people have been opting out of getting tested or telling their doctor their full sexual health behaviors for fear of being shamed about it. And instead of that shame pushing folks to maybe wear more condoms, it instead had them performing riskier behaviors, which they then decided to not talk about with anyone, downplaying the need for their partners to get tested. That cycle is partially why HIV/AIDS will turn 40 years old this June, and why community health organizations are doing everything they can to get people to trust PrEP.

If this sounds similar to the underground parties weve seen reported all around the country that were superspreader events, it should. Shaming people about partying only made them go deeper underground and made the pandemic worse.

And while I do plan to take off my mask as someone who is vaccinated, I do understand some hesitancy from people who have experienced the darkest points of this pandemic. We cannot forget that we as a country are still traumatized. These changes, coming so quickly after more than a year of oppressive sameness, are happening in the midst of an epidemic of grief, as the founder of Modern Loss, Rebecca Soffer, wrote in an NBC THINK essay.

These two things don't have to contradict each other. Doctors and medical professionals now heavily rely on more harm reduction practices that have them engaging with people in ways that dont perpetuate shame. Instead, the focus is on making people feel good in all their decisions by knowing their risks in whatever they do. We should apply similar practices to a world where, like PrEP, we are needing more and more people to adopt a life-saving medicine so we can control this disease forever and end the pandemic.

We have to learn how to talk about our health status, clearly and without shame

Vaccines, masks in crowded spaces, and having intentional conversations with friends and family are all practices we need to be more people to support. But not listening to science when it tells you to relax more in favor of telling people to keep masks on if they dont want to is not the way to a more normal society for all of us.

We have to learn how to talk about our health status, clearly and without shame. If we dont, similar to HIV/AIDS, we will be talking about finally eradicating Covid-19 for decades.

Zach Stafford is an award-winning journalist who recently served as editor-at-large of BuzzFeed, was the first Black editor-in-chief of The Advocate, and worked as an investigative journalist at The Guardian.

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The Covid-19 vaccine and PrEP both require talking about our health without shame - MSNBC

Amit Sonawane, 35, an engineer at a district health office, gets his first vaccine dose in Palghar, India. Viraj Nayar for NPR hide caption

Amit Sonawane, 35, an engineer at a district health office, gets his first vaccine dose in Palghar, India.

The world has a new coronavirus mutant spreading from one continent to another and it looks like a tough one to stop.

The World Health Organization declared Monday the variant that emerged in India, known as B.1.617, is officially a "variant of concern."

"There is some available information to suggest increased transmissibility of B.1.617," the WHO's Marie Van Kerkhove said Monday from Geneva. Last week, NPR published a story explaining why B.1.617 could be the fastest-spreading mutant on the planet.

At the same time, researchers around the globe have been rushing to figure out if the COVID-19 vaccines available will still be effective against this new mutant. Some preliminary data, published on Sunday and Monday, offers a glimmer of hope.

Like other variants of concern, B.1.617 has more than a dozen mutations. But two mutations in particular have been most concerning, said Ravindra Gupta, a microbiologist at the University of Cambridge. These mutations are found on an important part of the virus where the immune system attacks.

"So that's why this variant was labeled 'a double mutant,' " Gupta says. "It had these two big mutations, in two big places, and that's what caused all the worries."

The world is very worried about coronavirus variants. As the virus mutates which all viruses do variant strains emerge. Some of these variants are more effective at infecting humans and may even cause more severe disease. Variants that appear to fall into this category have been identified in Brazil, South Africa, the United Kingdom and now India. And in an interconnected world, they can spread from one country to another. How does a mutated version of the virus improve its chances of being transmitted to humans? If you imagine viruses as puzzle pieces, as this video does, that can help explain what is happening when a coronavirus variant comes into contact with human cells.

Each of these mutations or similar versions of them have cropped up separately in other parts of the world, including one in California and one in Brazil. Previous studies have shown that these mutations, individually, give the virus an advantage against the immune system. It reduces the ability of antibodies to fight off the virus.

So what happens when the two mutations come together? The concern, Gupta said, is that the effect of the mutations would add up or even amplify each other. In other words, could the "double mutant" be double trouble for the vaccine?

"So we set up quickly to try and figure out whether this was a real concern," he said.

The Palghar Rural Hospital in India has chairs lined up at a safe distance for vaccine patients. But so far there are more chairs than vaccine candidates. Viraj Nayar for NPR hide caption

Gupta and his team took antibodies from people vaccinated with the Pfizer shot and then looked to see how much the two mutations, when combined together, decreased the ability of these antibodies to kill the virus. What they saw was hopeful. The double mutant behaved a lot like the single mutant. It wasn't double trouble.

"There didn't seem to be the addition of one mutant on top of the other," Gupta said. "And that was really quite important because that assumption has caused panic."

The team published its findings online Sunday. At the same time, researchers at Emory University performed similar studies with antibodies taken from 15 people who have been vaccinated with either the Pfizer or Moderna shots. In these studies, the antibodies could still neutralize the B.1.617 variant, but the potency of the antibodies dropped by about sevenfold on average, the authors reported.

"Despite this reduction, all vaccine blood samples ... still maintained the ability to block the B.1.617 variant," said immunologist Mehul Suthar at Emory, who led the study.

Together the data suggests the Pfizer and Moderna vaccines will still work well against B.1.617, just as they do for the variant from South Africa, known as B.1.351. In both cases, the shots will likely offer high protection from death and severe illness, but they may lose some ability to stop mild or asymptomatic infections.

"These findings highlight the need to increase vaccination rates," Suthar said.

That's great news for people in the U.S., where these vaccines are available. But in India, the most common vaccine is the one developed by AstraZeneca and manufactured by the Serum Institute, called Covishield. How will this vaccine fare against B.1.617?

Preliminary evidence suggests this vaccine will also be able to prevent severe cases and deaths, said Rakesh Mishra, adviser to the Centre for Cellular & Molecular Biology in Hyderabad, India.

He and his colleagues have been running experiments similar to the ones Suthar and his colleagues have performed, except with Covishield. The team hasn't published its results yet, but Mishra said they look similar to what other researchers have found with the Pfizer and Moderna vaccines.

"We were actually very relieved," Mishra said, "because this means this variant has not managed to resist the vaccines."

And the world has once again gotten lucky, he said; the best tools to fight COVID-19, not only still work, but they are also still powerful.

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Will Vaccines Work On Coronavirus Variant From India? : Goats and Soda - NPR

As the state continues to push toward its goal of vaccinating 70% of Michiganders over 16, the government making way for its own workers to take the time to get it done.

Starting May 16, anyone employed by the state will receive eight hours of sick leave for the purpose of COVID-19 vaccination.

The change was announced Thursday by the Michigan Civil Service Commission.

The extra sick time is intended as a one-time allowance for use to obtain a COVID-19 vaccine sometime in 2021. Use of the time is subject to the same conditions as regular sick leave and does not take away from any other accrued paid leave, the commission said.

The Civil Service Commission on Thursday also announced an end to policies established in 2020 that added 80 hours of emergency paid sick leave and child care absences that were needed during the worst of the pandemic.

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State employees get eight extra hours of sick leave for COVID-19 vaccination - MLive.com

For months, officials and health experts have been urging Americans to get vaccinated against COVID-19, to thwart severe illness, and support the countrys continued fight against the ubiquitous virus that has killed over 582,000 people across the U.S.

Since the first coronavirus vaccinations were authorized for emergency use in December 2020, nearly 154 million Americans have been administered with at least one dose. And although the U.S. has experienced plateauing, and even increasing cases rates at times, the number of new infections has dropped significantly since January, and precipitously in recent weeks.

So how much of an effect are the vaccines having and what accounts for rising case loads and hospitalizations in some places?

A recent ABC News analysis of data from the CDC of all 50 states, Washington, D.C., and Puerto Rico found that there does indeed appear to be a correlation between the rate of vaccination in a given state and the decline in the number of new COVID-19 infections.

Vaccination Rate vs. COVID-19 Case Load

With the country experiencing fluctuating case trends in the late winter and early spring, this correlation had not been evident until states began expanding vaccination access to larger swaths of the population late last month.

Most states have experienced a decline in daily cases over the past four weeks, including some where the drop has been dramatic.

Experts say the drops can be in part attributed to the widespread rollout of vaccines, but some say that other factors may be at play too -- at least in tandem, including restrictions and other ongoing mitigation measures, which have been relaxed in some places.

Despite similar levels of vaccine uptake, other states have struggled with plateauing or even increasing cases, which may be the result of pockets of unvaccinated residents or the effects of relaxed mitigation measures.

One in every three Americans is fully vaccinated, which is contributing to our improving trends. The higher we can push vaccine coverage, the better well be able to maintain control of the virus, Caitlin M. Rivers, an American epidemiologist and Senior Scholar at the Johns Hopkins Center told ABC News.

However, as states move to reopen, there are growing concerns among health officials that some of the countrys progress could be stymied as vaccination rates wane, virus variants spread, and pockets of the country potentially see upticks in cases and hospitalizations.

States' vaccination success

In analyzing vaccination rollouts, ABC News compared the percentage of total residents with at least one dose of vaccine with the percent change in a states daily case average over the span of four weeks, and found that the states with the steepest drops in daily cases were among those with the highest vaccination rates.

Fourteen states already have at least 50% of their population having received at least one COVID-19 vaccine dose. Although one dose of a two-dose vaccine series does afford some protection, it does not offer the full protection received after the second dose. An individual is considered to be fully protected two weeks after administration of the second dose.

With over 44% of its total population fully vaccinated, Connecticut has seen its case rate plummet since it expanded vaccinations to anyone over the age of 16 on April 1 -- 60% in the last four weeks alone.

Between early March and April, Massachusetts experienced a small spring surge. However, after the state opened up vaccinations to residents 55 and older, and then to all adult residents two weeks later, the states numbers subsequently began to drop. Since April 10, the states daily case average has dropped by over 57%.

A man receives a shot of Johnson & Johnson COVID-19 vaccine at a pop-up vaccination center at the beach, in South Beach, Fla., May 9, 2021.

Vermont, which currently leads the country in vaccinations administered per 100,000 residents, has seen the largest percent change in its daily case average over the last four weeks, with a nearly 61% decline.

"We can suppress the virus with better vaccine coverage. Disease transmission is local. We want communities to understand the low vaccination rates means higher risk for you and your neighbors, Rebecca Weintraub, faculty director of the Global Health Delivery Project at Harvard University, told ABC News.

Even states with the lowest vaccination rates, such as Alabama, Mississippi, and Louisiana, have shown improvements in the number of new COVID-19 cases. Only a quarter of Mississippi residents are currently vaccinated, but cases are still down by over 30% from a month ago.

However, experts warn that small surges could appear in states with low vaccination rates next fall. Although the role of vaccines in influencing the decline in community transmission is significant, other potential factors also come into play.

I think the falling cases are in part due to increasing vaccinations, but not exclusively, Dr. Angela Rasmussen, a virologist at the Georgetown Center for Global Health Science and Security, told ABC News. Other factors will be community-dependent, and will depend on both policies and restrictions in place to reduce transmission, as well as the behavior of people within those communities.

Pockets of local concern

Although state case and vaccination trends can provide a general understanding of how a state is doing, it may mask local variations, with pockets of low vaccine uptake leading to increased coronavirus cases, despite a states overall high volume of inoculations.

Testing for the virus has also declined significantly in recent months, leaving the possibility that states are missing potential infections. The U.S. is currently averaging just over 1 million tests a day -- down by the nearly 2 million tests a day the country was conducting in January.

Slowing vaccination rates will really depend again on immunization at the community level, explained Rasmussen.

For example, with 44% of its population fully vaccinated, Maine currently leads the country along with Connecticut for the highest percentage of its total population that is fully vaccinated. However, with 42% of its population still unvaccinated, Maine has recently seen a surge in hospitalizations, particularly among younger, unvaccinated populations.

Although cases are still lower than they were a month ago, Maine is still averaging about 300 cases a day. On Saturday, 47% of the states new cases were among residents under the age of 30.

Percentage of the Total Population Fully Vaccinated by State

In Oregon, daily cases have increased by 44% over the last month, despite the fact that 48% of residents are now vaccinated with at least one coronavirus vaccine dose. And in Hawaii, nearly 59% of the state's total population has received at least one dose, however, in the last two weeks, cases have increased by approximately 12%.

Rising cases in these states may be due to a number of factors, including the effect of more contagious virus variants on largely younger, unvaccinated populations.

GOTV: Get out the vaccine

In order to keep case rates falling, experts say it will be critical for vaccinations efforts to reach unprotected individuals.

In the states with a lower vaccination rate there is a greater risk that variants continue to emerge, evolve, said Weintraub. Therefore, it will be crucial to accelerate access to the vaccines. Our work ahead, similar to getting out the vote -- we need local campaigns to answer questions and help sign up the vaccinated.

Many states are now refocusing their efforts to bring vaccines to their residents, using mobile vaccination vans to reach more rural or other traditionally underserved communities, door-to-door canvassing, and community education to address hesitancy.

A vaccination check in offered at the ball park prior to the game between the Atlanta Braves and the Philadelphia Phillies at Truist Park, May 7, 2021, in Cumberland, Ga.

"The most successful states have used a wide variety of techniques This is not something that will be solved through a single strategy. It takes targeted outreach to communities, Dr. Megan Ranney, an emergency room physician and professor at Brown University.

The White House continues its push to get 70% of all U.S. adults inoculated with at least one shot by July 4. To date, nearly 59% of U.S. adults have received their first dose.

On Tuesday, President Joe Biden announced that anyone in need of a ride to get their COVID-19 vaccine would be able to get a free trip through ride-sharing companies Lyft and Uber for the next two months.

We have reached the people who really wanted the vaccines already. Now it is a matter of the ground game to reach the people who would be interested, but wont go out of their way every vaccine in an arm makes a difference," Ranney concluded.

More here:

COVID-19 vaccinations finally starting to stem pandemic's tide in US: Analysis - ABC News

Free Pfizer vaccines will be offered to new and returning students and anyone who meets eligibility requirements. Participants can receivetheir first or second Pfizer vaccine on either day.

The University of Alabama at Birmingham will offer free Pfizer COVID-19 vaccinations for new and returning students from 3-7 p.m. Tuesday, May 18, and Tuesday, June 8.

The vaccinations will be administered inside Bartow Arena, 617 13th St. South. No one will be turned away as long as they meet the vaccine ageeligibility requirement.

The Pfizer COVID-19 vaccine requires two separate shots separated by 21 days. Participants will be able to receivetheir first or second Pfizer vaccine on either Tuesday, May 18, or Tuesday, June 8. However, anyone who receives their first shot on June 8 will need to follow up at another location for the second shot.

Parking with no ticketing will be available in zones B, D and E around Bartow Arena. Grab-and-go food and UAB swag will be offered, and students who get vaccinated will have a chance to win a $250 Amazon gift card.

Students who receive the COVID-19 vaccination off-campus are asked to add their immunization information in the UAB Student Health and Wellness patient portal. More information on that process is available online, or email studenthealth@uab.edu.

Getting a vaccine is much more likely to protect ones health than masking or social distancing, says Suzanne Judd, Ph.D., professor in the UABSchool of Public Health.

People are considered fully vaccinated two weeks after they received their second shot of the Pfizer or Moderna vaccine, or the single dose of the Johnson & Johnson vaccine. According to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, a fully vaccinated person is 94 percent less likely to be hospitalized compared to an unvaccinated individual, if exposed to the coronavirus or a mutation of it.

Read more about the vaccine, including safety, how long it takes to build immunity and how the immune system responds.

UAB experts say fully vaccinated people can:

To learn more about COVID-19 on UAB's campus, visit UAB United.

People with COVID-19 who have symptoms should wait to be vaccinated until they have recovered from their illness and have received clearance to discontinue isolation, and those with positive COVID-19 testing but without symptoms should also wait to be vaccinated until they have received clearance to discontinue isolation. More information about CDC criteria for discontinuing isolation can be found on the CDC site.If you were treated for COVID-19 with monoclonal antibodies or convalescent plasma, you should wait 90 days before getting a COVID-19 vaccine. Talk to your doctor if you are unsure what treatments you received or if you have more questions about getting a COVID-19 vaccine.

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UAB will offer student COVID-19 vaccinations May 18, June 8 at Bartow Arena - UAB News

Ellen Futter, the president of the museum, said in April before the site opened: In years to come I really can imagine this we will look at images of New Yorkers getting vaccinated under the whale, and it will be a snapshot of New York and New Yorkers fighting back, caring for themselves, caring for one another, and of the time when things started to turn for the better.

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Who says getting the COVID-19 vaccine has to be dull? Shots are being offered at the game, the beach and even Draculas castle. - Baltimore Sun

Effects of different types of written vaccination information on COVID-19 vaccine hesitancy in the UK (OCEANS-III): a single-blind, parallel-group, randomised controlled trial  The Lancet

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Effects of different types of written vaccination information on COVID-19 vaccine hesitancy in the UK (OCEANS-III): a single-blind, parallel-group,...

Tulane University has announced that all students returning to campus for the Fall semester will be required to receive the COVID-19 vaccine.Tulane posted on their website, saying, "Increasing campus immunizations will reduce the spread of COVID-19 and help us all return more quickly to normal lives with less restrictions."Tulane will be providing additional information to international students regarding the vaccine requirement.Students are able to opt out of receiving the vaccine for reasons consistent with Louisiana state vaccine laws by submitting a Vaccine Declination Form on the Tulane website.Tulane is encouraging its faculty and staff to receive the vaccine as well.

Tulane University has announced that all students returning to campus for the Fall semester will be required to receive the COVID-19 vaccine.

Tulane posted on their website, saying, "Increasing campus immunizations will reduce the spread of COVID-19 and help us all return more quickly to normal lives with less restrictions."

Tulane will be providing additional information to international students regarding the vaccine requirement.

Students are able to opt out of receiving the vaccine for reasons consistent with Louisiana state vaccine laws by submitting a Vaccine Declination Form on the Tulane website.

Tulane is encouraging its faculty and staff to receive the vaccine as well.

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Tulane will require all students to receive COVID-19 vaccination for fall semester - WDSU New Orleans

CHARLESTON, W.Va. On the first full day that West Virginians between the ages of 12 and 15 were able to receive a vaccination against COVID-19, dozens took advantage in the Charleston area.

The Joint Interagency Task Force (JIATF) held a mobile drive-thru COVID-19 vaccination clinic in the parking lot of the West Virginia Lottery Building and Lt. Col. John Snedegar, the Lt. in-charge, told MetroNews that the morning hours were busy with teens.

Weve got that approval and a lot of parents are taking advantage of it. They are bringing their kids down, Snedegar said.

The West Virginia Department of Health and Human Resources (DHHR) announced Wednesday that those 12-15 years old were able to receive the Pfizer vaccine following the decisions by the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention as well as the Food and Drug Administration to authorize the vaccines use among younger people.

Snedegars crew, which is the Central team in the JIATF mobile clinic plan, has been to multiple events throughout Charleston but the Lottery building site was their first time there. He said his team covers Clarksburg and into southern West Virginia. Half of his team conducted a similar vaccination event in Huntington on Thursday and reported young people there.

He said he was happy with the turnout because teenagers are a key demographic to slowing the virus. He added many parents bringing children to the drive-thru were already vaccinated.

They are out, they are active, they are in activities and out with their friends doing things in groups, Snedegar said of teenagers. They can be carriers and not necessarily have issues with COVID itself. They can get positive and it normally doesnt entail hospitalizations or severe illness, but then they can be carriers and bring that back to grandma and grandpa.

The team will be back in the area for a return mission in three weeks for anyone who received a vaccine that needs a second dose. Teenagers are only allowed to get a Pfizer shot, which a second dose is recommended.

The clinic at the Lottery Building is also open Friday from 9 a.m. until 5 p.m., the same time as Thursday. No appointment is necessary and all three brands of vaccine will be available.

Elsewhere in Charleston on Thursday, the Kanawha-Charleston Health Department (KCHD) vaccinated teenagers between 12 and 15 years old for the first time. The Kanawha County Commission said the first young person vaccinated at the event was a local Kanawha County teen named Houston, making their theme Houstonwe have a solution!

The KCHD reported to MetroNews this week that 1,400 young people 12-15 years old have signed up to receive a shot next week in the schools. The health department already vaccinated a few thousand teams at high school events in April for those 16-18 years old.

Young people have been the key demographic for vaccinations by Gov. Jim Justice and his administration in recent week. He said on Wednesday that he is giving anyone 35 years of age and younger a $100 gift card for getting a shot.

As of Thursday, the DHHR reported 60,744 West Virginians between the ages of 16-24 received at least one dose of a vaccine. More than 68,800 West Virginians between 25 and 34 have gotten at least one shot.

The states vaccination rate has slowed in recent weeks after leading the country in shots early in the process. Snedegar said hes noticed the slowdown at his clinics.

We saw this go along with the swabbing efforts. Initially, we were really busy doing the swabbing last year and then as the year progressed it slowed down, he said.

Justice has said the states mask mandate will end on June 20, when state health advisers project 65 percent of all West Virginians 12 years of age and older will have been vaccinated. 687,720, 38.4%, of West Virginians have been fully vaccinated as of Thursday, according to the DHHR.

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Young teens in Kanawha County begin to receive the COVID-19 vaccine - West Virginia MetroNews

TOPEKA, Kan. (AP) Kansans who are fully vaccinated against COVID-19 will no longer need to wear masks outdoors in crowds and in most indoor settings, effective immediately, Gov. Laura Kelly announced Thursday.

The state will follow guidance announced Thursday by the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, which said people who are fully vaccinated could stop wearing masks and social distancing outdoors in crowds. Masks also will not be necessary in indoor spaces, except for settings like buses, planes, hospitals, prisons and homeless shelters.

This announcement is welcome news, and a testament to the sacrifices Kansans have made over the last year, Kelly said in a statement. I can think of no better reason for all Kansans to get vaccinated. The sooner we are vaccinated - the sooner we get back to normal.

The mask change came a day after Kelly said Kansas will begin offering the Pfizer COVID-19 vaccine to children 12 and older, which also follows new guidance from federal officials. Previously, only those 16 and older could be vaccinated.

Health experts thorough, deliberate review process demonstrates that safety continues to be the number one priority in vaccine approval and my administration is confident that opening the vaccine to young Kansans is the right move, Kelly said.

The Food and Drug Administration expanded the use of the vaccine to younger children Monday, and the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention approved the recommendation Wednesday.

Health officials and hospitals in some counties, including Johnson, Sedgwick, Douglas, Wyandotte and Shawnee, began providing the shots for younger people on Thursday. Those under 18 need parental permission to be vaccinated. Children will be given the same amount of the Pfizer vaccine as adults, in two shots three weeks apart.

Dr. Steve Lauer, a pediatrician with the University of Kansas Health System, said during a briefing Wednesday that making millions more people eligible for vaccinations will help control the spread of the coronavirus for everyone.

So its as much to control the disease across our population as for those kids, Lauer said. The benefit is that it is going to help us get back to normal more quickly, help our kids get back to school and all the activities they need to be involved in.

The Kansas Health Department reported that 39.7% of all Kansans have received at least one dose of a vaccine as of Wednesday. The state has confirmed 311,338 COVID-19 cases and 5,029 deaths since the pandemic began.

Link:

Kansas follows guidance on mask wearing, COVID-19 vaccines - Associated Press