Children aged 12 to 15 can qualify for vaccinations as early as Thursday after the Food and Drug Administration Obtained emergency approval for the Pfizer BioNTech vaccine for the age group.
The decision is welcome news for school districts grappling with online and hybrid learning plans aimed at keeping children healthy during a pandemic. Teens 16 and older are already qualifying for some vaccines as schools strive to ensure seniors qualify for the degree.
The decision means teens 12-15 years old can qualify for shots as early as Thursday after an advisory committee meeting of the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention on Wednesday. President Joe Biden said last week that 20,000 pharmacy locations are ready to start vaccinating teenagers once the necessary permits are in place.
Shots will also be available in pediatrician offices soon, the president said. “And when teenagers are out this summer, they can get their first shot in one place and a second shot in another.”
This can be more complicated in reality. FDA officials, speaking late Monday, said that while their approval covers the entire country, each state may have its own rules about who can give vaccines, so not all pharmacies or vaccination centers available to adults are for Young people are accessible.
Older adolescents aged 16 and 17 have been allowed to receive the Pfizer BioNTech vaccine since it was approved in December. The other two US-approved vaccines from Moderna and Johnson & Johnson were not available to minors as studies are ongoing.
Also in the news:
►The World Health Organization described variant B.1.617, which was first discovered in India, as “Variant of worry“India has seen a worsening pandemic crisis as the variant spread across the country, which has since been found in 32 countries including the United States.
►The President of El Salvador says he will donate coronavirus vaccines to seven cities in Honduras, although his own country’s vaccination efforts are still struggling.
►Publix pharmacies now accept walk-ins for the COVID-19 vaccine at all locations in seven states – Alabama, Florida, Georgia, North Carolina, South Carolina, Tennessee, and Virginia.
► New York State New Positivity Rate fell to its lowest level since before Halloweenand new cases fell 26% last week from the previous week, according to state and federal records.
📈 Today’s numbers: The US has more than 32.7 million confirmed coronavirus cases and 582,000 deaths. according to the Johns Hopkins University. The grand total: over 158.9 million cases and 3.3 million deaths. In the United States, more than 329.8 million vaccine doses have been distributed and more than 261.5 million administered. according to CDC. More than 115.5 million Americans have been fully vaccinated – 34.8% of the population.
📘 What we read: A year of social distancing, mask wearing, hand washing and staying home to prevent the spread of the coronavirus made the 2020-2021 influenza season virtually non-existent. Read more here.
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Schools strive to get high school graduates on the right track to graduate
Data is not yet available on how the pandemic has affected the country’s overall dropout rate, and many school officials say it is too early to know how many students who have stopped enrolling in distance learning are not returning want. But an increasing number of students who fail classes or are chronically absent have experts fearing the worst, and schools have been busy tracking down wayward seniors through social media, knocking on their doors, and assigning staff to help them help make up for lost time and, in some cases, even loose graduation requirements.
The impact of the pandemic could wipe out US gains in lowering its dropout rate, which fell from 9.3% in 2007 to 5.1% in 2019, according to the National Center for Education Statistics.
“If we lose a student, it will be after we kicked and yelled and fought tooth and nail for them,” said Troy Pitsch, who oversees the Kansas City, Kansas school principals.
Alabama is exiting federal pandemic unemployment programs early
Governor Kay Ivey says it will end Alabama’s participation in federal unemployment programs geared towards the June 19 pandemic. The decision means the state will cut the additional weekly payment of $ 300 in unemployment benefits. The governor follows other Republicans like South Carolina’s Henry McMaster, who announced an early withdrawal from federal programs, claiming they are preventing some people from looking for work and creating a labor shortage.
“There are no industry shutdowns and day care works without restrictions,” Ivey said in a statement. “Vaccinations are available to all adults. Alabama is giving the federal government 30 days notice that it is time to get back to work.”
– Brian Lyman, Montgomery advertiser
Which antibodies protect against COVID? It is not yet known
Fifteen months after the pandemic that brought most of the world to a standstill, researchers are still trying to determine this how much of a certain type of antibody a person needs to avoid serious illness, hospitalization, or death. It’s something that scientists around the world would find extremely useful as more vaccines and potential boosters are developed. The information would help show quickly whether a vaccine is effective enough without the need for extensive, lengthy studies.
“All you have to do is vaccinate people with a new vaccine, measure their antibodies, and that’s it,” says biostatistician Dr. Peter Gilbert. “And you could do it with maybe 400 people instead of 40,000.”
– Elizabeth way
Education Department to Fund College Retirement
The education department will release $ 36 billion in colleges nationally to help universities and students struggling during the pandemic. The funds are part of the US rescue plan, and half of the funds are to go directly to students.
In addition to the direct grants, the department can use the money to keep students or re-enroll those who have dropped out of college due to the pandemic. Colleges could also use the money to vaccinate students or prevent the coronavirus from spreading on campus. Public and private non-profit universities can use some of the funds to offset costs related to the pandemic, such as: B. Loss of income, expenses related to providing online education or training to faculty and staff. Nonprofit colleges must pass all of the money they receive directly to students.
International students and DACA recipients had been excluded from previous emergency funding under former President Donald Trump. In a call to reporters Monday night, Education Minister Miguel Cardona said the aid funding would now include all students.
Biden, 6 governors, to talk about regaining the vaccination pulse
President Joe Biden will speak to three Democratic and three Republican governors on Tuesday innovative ways to get more people vaccinated. Biden will meet virtually with leaders from Ohio, Utah, Massachusetts, Maine, Minnesota, and New Mexico to share best practices as the government moves closer to its goal of at least partially vaccinating 70% of adults by July 4th.
More than half of all Massachusetts, Maine, and New Mexico residents have received at least one shot and are in the top 10 states. Ohio and Utah are in the lower half of the states for vaccination rates.
– Maureen Bullhead
Novavax plans to release US data on its vaccine shortly
Novavax, the Maryland-based biotech company whose vaccine has shown good results in clinical trials in the UK and South Africaexpects to publish data on its US study “in a few weeks” However, they will not be ready to obtain regulatory approval until the second half of the year. CEO Stanley Erck told USA TODAY that Novavax had addressed manufacturing issues that had prevented the company from making the vaccine to scale and that it was “on track” to file an application for emergency approval with the FDA .
In a quarterly report published on MondayNovavax said it intends to get this approval, as well as the OK from European regulators, by the third quarter. The company has reduced its expected capacity to 100 million cans per month by the end of September. Novavax has a manufacturing and manufacturing agreement with the Serum Institute of India and its vaccine is widely expected in developing countries.
Featuring: Karen Weintraub, USA TODAY; The Associated Press
