Top Three
CDC Advisers Endorse Pfizer’s Vaccine For Kids 5-11: The recommendation, which passed by a 14-0 vote, now goes to CDC Director Walensky for final approval which could happen as soon as tomorrow.
Live blogs by Stat's Helen Branswell and CNBC.
Via Stat, "Much of Tuesday’s discussion was spent on the issue of myocarditis, which committee members clearly expect will be a key factor when parents weigh whether to vaccinate their children. Matt Oster, a pediatric cardiologist who works for the CDC, told the group that most cases of myocarditis after vaccination are mild and of short duration. Oster told the panel that to date, there have been no confirmed deaths in children who developed vaccine-related myocarditis."
"The risk of myocarditis in the younger age group is likely to be lower, Oster said, though he said the expectation is based on what is known about the risk of classic myocarditis — cases not related to receipt of the Covid vaccines. And he stressed that Covid infection is more likely to trigger myocarditis than getting a Covid shot. “Getting Covid is much riskier to the heart,” he said."
The CDC staff offered a powerful table showing child deaths per year of other diseases prior to a vaccine approval (below).
The CDC's Sara Oliver presented modeling that suggests vaccinating 5-11 year olds will reduce COVID transmission by 8% between Nov and March 2022. She also said it will help to mitigate the impact of a new variant, but would not block its spread.
Parents will be able to report vaccine side effects for their 5- to 11-year-olds through v-safe, the CDC’s safety monitoring platform for smartphones, researcher Dr. Tom Shimabukuro told the agency’s advisory committee.
Parents Were Confused About Kids and COVID. The American Academy of Pediatrics Stepped In: Great interview with AAP's president Lee Savio Beers by USA Today's Erin Richards.
Includes this interesting insight into their policy process: "recommendations for interim guidance come through our senior pediatrician staff, then to the executive committee, then to the full board for review. We review all of our topics for interim guidance every 30 days to assess if there's new information we need to take under consideration."
"When will the academy drop its recommendation for universal masking in schools? It has to do with the level of COVID spread in communities and vaccination rates. The infection numbers are coming down, but they’re still at some of the highest rates we’ve seen. Only about half of teens nationwide who are eligible are vaccinated. As of today, 5- to 11-year-olds are not yet eligible and we hope that changes soon."
Weekly Screening of Asymptomatic K-12 Students and Staff Helps Inform Strategies for Safer In-person Learning: New study.
"With layered mitigation measures, in-school transmission even before student or staff vaccination is rare.:"
"The proportion of survey respondents self-reporting comfort with in-person learning before versus after implementation of screening increases."
"Costs exceed $260,000 for assays alone; staff and volunteers spend 135-145 hours per week implementing screening."
"Decisions should take into account whether these investments are “worth” the benefits they confer. In the study week with highest screen positivity (week 15: 0.3%), total cost for assays alone was $3,290/case detected by screening. A short term analysis found that the cost of school screening could be offset by child-care costs saved from unplanned remote learning days; however, a comprehensive assessment of the cost-effectiveness of screening in K-12 schools will require data not yet available about the costs and clinical outcomes for students, staff, and families that result from COVID-19 infections, quarantine, and loss of in-person learning."
Federal
Reconciliation:
Speaker Pelosi told Democrats in a caucus meeting this morning that she hopes to finish negotiations on the budget reconciliation bill by midday today with a Rules Committee hearing on the legislation tomorrow, Politico reports.
Five House Democrats -- all of them moderate Blue Dogs -- have asked Speaker Nancy Pelosi for 72 hours to review the Build Back Better Act before the House votes on it," PunchBowl reports.
"They also want a full analysis of the spending and revenue impact of the legislation by the CBO and Joint Committee on Taxation before they vote on the legislation."
“Sen. Manchin said he didn’t sign off on a framework for a $1.75 trillion social spending and climate bill before it was released from the White House,” The Hill reports.
Sen. Schumer says he plans to bring the bill to the floor the week of Nov. 15.
Childcare and Prekindergarten in The Build Back Better Act: A Guide for Policymakers: The Hunt Institute condensed roughly 100 pages of Build Back Better Act language into six pages of question and answer-style summary.
COVID-19 Research
Yes, You’ll Want to Vaccinate Your Kids Against Covid: AAPs Lee Savio Beers in the NYT
"There is simply not an acceptable number of child deaths when such effective and safe preventive treatments are available. So, for the same reason pediatricians recommend seatbelts and car seats, the American Academy of Pediatrics is recommending vaccines for Covid-19."
"When I chose to vaccinate my teenage son, there were two things that were important to my decision-making. First, the risk of developing myocarditis after a Covid-19 infection is much higher than the risk of developing myocarditis after the vaccine. Second, almost all the cases of myocarditis after the vaccine are mild, and people generally get better quickly. Vaccinating my children was an easy choice knowing that the risk of Covid-19 to children is far greater than the risk of the vaccines."
How Often Do Covid Vaccines Cause Heart Problems in Kids?: Via NYT
“If you look at an isolated risk, you could really get yourself very worked up and scared,” said Dr. Brian Feingold, an expert on heart inflammation in children at UPMC Children’s Hospital of Pittsburgh. But Covid-19 itself, he noted, is much more apt to damage the heart permanently: “Statistically, that’s way more likely.”
"The myocarditis observed after vaccination is mild and transient. “It’s unsettling, but rarely life-threatening,” Dr. de Lemos said."
“The rate after Moderna is objectively higher than the rate after Pfizer,” said Dr. Nicola P. Klein, director of the Kaiser Permanente Vaccine Study Center. “It’s consistent, regardless of which cases we use, or whether it’s males only or both sexes.”
"The risk after both doses of the Moderna vaccine in people age 18 to 39 was as much as 37 times as high as in the general population, and the rate after two doses of the Pfizer-BioNTech vaccine in those age 12 to 39 was as much as 19 times as high."
"While that may sound alarming, the absolute numbers were still tiny, Dr. de Lemos noted. “Thirty times a small number is still a small number,” he said. “The math still favors vaccination in adolescents and children.”
‘Not Quite on Board’: Parents Proving a Tough Sell on Covid Vax for Teens: Via KHN
Parents' Vaccination Intentions for Young Children Steady: Via Gallup.
Nine in 10 who identify as Democrats say they would get their young child vaccinated when the vaccine is approved, while just 19% of Republicans and 48% of independents say the same.
A 79% majority of those who are fully vaccinated against COVID-19 say they would get the shot for their child, compared with just 1% of those who are not vaccinated and don't plan to be.
Those with college degrees are more likely than those without to say they would get their child vaccinated -- 70% vs. 44%, respectively.
Timing on Pfizer Vaccine for Younger Than 5: Age 2 to <5 years by end of year; Age 6 months to <2 next quarter.
Delta Plus: Some encouraging data out of the UK suggesting the AY.4.2's slow growth means it will replace Delta sometime in the summer 2022.
How a Group of Black Doctors Got Philadelphia Vaccinated: Via Bloomberg, they took their shots—and their pitch—to the streets, kept late hours, and streamlined sign-ups.
School Closures: Some new data surfaced during the CDC's presentation today:
"Covid outbreaks have closed more than 2,300 schools this year, affecting more than 1.2 million students and over 78,000 teachers since August, CDC medical officer Dr. Sara Oliver told the agency’s advisory committee."
"Georgia, Kentucky, Tennessee and Texas have had the most school closures, Oliver reported, citing data aggregated from the agency’s School Dismissal Monitoring System from Aug. 2 to Oct. 22. Covid-related closures impacted at least 12 million students in roughly 19,000 schools nationwide during the 2020-2021 school year as well, Oliver added."
Children Drive Britain’s Longest-Running Covid Surge: Via the NYT
"Unlike the rises and falls of previous periods of infection, the most recent wave shows the positive impact of Britain’s vaccination rollout: Far fewer Covid hospital admissions and deaths have followed the rise in cases than in previous waves."
State
Colorado: The State set the goal of vaccinating 250,000 children by January.
Florida:
Miami-Dade relaxes mask mandate for high school, middle school students.
Hillsborough County offers tutoring for quarantined students.
Illinois: Chicago moves to offer increased COVID testing in lieu of student quarantine.
North Carolina: Durham Public Schools co-hosting virtual town hall on COVID-19 vaccines for kids.
Tennessee: Schools face strict hurdles for mask mandates under new bill.
"The school’s principal would have to request the mandate to the school board. If approved by the board, the mandate could only apply to that particular school — not the whole school district — up to 14 days."
More via Chalkbeat.
International
China: Beijing quarantines school children in pursuit of Covid zero, reports Bloomberg.
"The principal came out a little past midnight, telling them some of the kids would have to quarantine. Each could have one parent accompany them through the two weeks of isolation. For students whose test results hadn’t yet come back, parents were asked to bring quilts and pillows to spend the night at school."
Uganda: Schools have been fully or partially shut for more than 77 weeksbecause of the pandemic, the longest disruption anywhere in the world, according to figures from the U.N.
Resources
Under New Pilot Program, Tutoring Providers Will Get Paid Only If Students Succeed: Via The 74.
Some Pods Will Outlast the Pandemic: Michael Horn in EdNext.
A Red Panda: Attacking a pumpkin.