COVID-19 Policy Update #313
COVID-19 Policy Update
MONDAY 8/10
TOP THREE
Teachers Union Now Backs Vaccine Mandates: On Meet The Press, Randi Weingarten said that the union’s leadership should consider implementing a vaccine mandate for teachers in schools.
AAP Tells the FDA to Speed Up Approvals: A pretty stunning letter from the AAP urging the FDA to accelerate their approval process for COVID vaccines for children."
In our view, the rise of the Delta variant changes the risk-benefit analysis for authorizing vaccines in children."
"The FDA should strongly consider authorizing these vaccines for children ages 5-11 years based on data from the initial enrolled cohort, which are already available, while continuing to follow safety data from the expanded cohort in the post-market setting. This approach would not slow down the time to authorization of these critically needed vaccines in the 5–11-year age group."
"Based on scientific data currently available on COVID-19 vaccines, as well as on 70 years of vaccinology knowledge in the pediatric population, the Academy believes that clinical trials in these children can be safely conducted with a 2-month safety follow-up for participants."
"Assuming that the 2-month safety data does not raise any new safety concerns and that immunogenicity data are supportive of use, we believe that this is sufficient for authorization in this and any other age group. Waiting on a 6-month follow-up will significantly hinder the ability to reduce the spread of the hyper infectious COVID-19 Delta variant among this age group, since it would add 4 additional months before an authorization decision can be considered."
The Kindergarten Exodus: Via the NYT: As the pandemic took hold, more than 1 million children did not enroll in local schools.
FEDERAL
Budget Resolution: Senate Democrats unveiled a $3.5 trillion budget resolution that they aim to pass through reconciliation. A budget resolution sets the overall spending limits and charges committees with spending priorities. Senate memo has more details
House and Senate committees will need to fill in the details, which will take months.
Provides $107 billion to the Senate Judiciary Committee for finding “Lawful permanent status for qualified immigrants” which most are interpreting as related to Dreamers and TPS holds.
$726 billion for education including:
Universal Pre-K for 3 and 4-year olds
Child care for working families
Tuition-free community college
Investments in HBCUs, MSIs, HSIs, TCUs, and ANNHIs
Increase the maximum Pell grant award
School infrastructure, student success grants, and educator investments
Investments in primary care, including Community Health Centers, the National HealthnService Corps, the Nurse Corps, and Teaching Health Center Graduate Medical Education
Health equity (maternal, behavioral, and racial equity health investments)
Pandemic preparedness
Workforce development and job training
COVID-19 RESEARCH
6 Ways Schools Can Promote COVID-19 Vaccination: From COVID Collaborative and Public Health Communications Collaborative
The mRNA Vaccines Are Extraordinary, but Novavax Is Even Better: Via the Atlantic: Persistent hype around mRNA vaccine technology is now distracting us from other ways to end the pandemic.
"The Novavax vaccine also has a substantially lower rate of side effects than the authorized mRNA vaccines. Last week’s data showed that about 40 percent of people who receive Novavax report fatigue after the second dose, as compared with 65 percent for Moderna and more than 55 percent for Pfizer."
"Lower rates of adverse events are likely to be a bigger issue still for parents, when considering vaccination for their children."
STATE
California:
More than 12,500 LAUSD students choose independent study (approximately 3% of students).
DC:
Giving away free AirPods to encourage teens to get their COVID-19 vaccine
Florida:
Florida parents will be allowed to apply for vouchers and move their kids to another school if they perceive any type of “COVID-19 harassment” against their child in connection to district rules on masking, testing and isolation due to exposure, under a new emergency rule approved Friday.
OpEd by Carlee Simon, superintendent of Alachua County Public Schools: Why our school district is defying Florida’s ban on mask mandates — even if it means we lose funding
Georgia:
Nearly 1,500 cases of COVID-19 reported at metro Atlanta schools after first week
New York:
A leaked list shows the 76 overcrowded schools that education officials are worried might not be able to follow the three-feet-apart rule.
Following a months-long legal battle, NYC will provide free COVID-19 tests to students in charter schools, according to a recent report by the New York Daily News.
Ohio:
Vax-a-Million responsible for getting an extra 100,000 Ohioans vaccinated for COVID-19, according to a new Harvard study
Texas:
Dallas Independent School District will require students and teachers to wear masks at its campuses, defying Gov. Greg Abbott’s order that bars districts from issuing mask mandates, the Dallas Morning News reports.
TEA's new COVID-19 health guidance says that schools don't have to inform parents of positive cases; schools do not have to contact trace; and parents can choose to send a student to school if he or she has been in close contact with a positive case.
RESOURCES
Masking:
Via CNN: Officials split on masking children in schools as pediatric hospitals fill up with Covid-19 patients
The Case Against Masks for Children: Marty Makary and H. Cody Meissner in the WSJ
America Shouldn’t Be Sending Unvaccinated Kids Back to School: Jorge Caballero writes in the Guardian
"Given everything we know about the Delta variant and long Covid in children, it is immoral to send unvaccinated kids, teachers, and staff into classrooms. The Delta variant dramatically increases the risk of long-term disability or death for everyone, but especially for the 73 million children living in America. We need to adjust our back-to-school plans immediately."
"On Thursday, US hospitals reported 249 pediatric admissions due to Covid-19, which is four admissions shy of the all-time single-day record (253). On a population-adjusted basis, the weekly average of US children admitted to hospitals with Covid-19 is rising faster than any other age group (as of Wednesday)."
5 Tools for Safely Reopening Schools: Twitter thread by Dr. Ashish Jha
How Should I Think About School & Child Care With Delta? Great post by Emily Oster. Read the whole thing.
It's August With Delta: Just staying alive.