Top Three
Vaccine for Children Under 5: Pfizer could have vaccine data for kids under age 5 by year-end.
"We have a study in children 6 months to 2 years and then another cohort of children 2 to 5 years," Bourla told NBC News chief White House correspondent Kristen Welker. "So [by] end of the year, beginning of next year, when we see the data, we will know more."
Risk of Hospitalization, Severe Disease, and Mortality due to COVID-19 In Children in Germany: New study which found no healthy child (5-17) died over a 15 month period. All deaths were in children with comorbidity.
"Overall, the SARS-CoV-2-associated burden of a severe disease course or death in children and adolescents is low. This seems particularly the case for 5-11-year-old children without comorbidities."
FDA Clears Use of Lilly's COVID-19 Antibody Therapy for Kids: Via CNN. More via WSJ:
"The authorization is the first for an antibody drug to treat young children, including newborns, who have tested positive for Covid-19 or been exposed to the virus and who are at high risk of developing severe cases including hospitalization or death."
Omicron
Omicron is Spreading More Than Twice as Quickly as the Delta Variant in South Africa: Via the NYT and this from NBC
"Doctors in South Africa say they have seen a dramatic rise in the number of children under 5 who need to be hospitalized with the COVID-19 omicron variant."
"The incidents in those under 5 is now second highest and second only to the incidents in those over 60," said Dr. Waasila Jassat with the South Africa Institute of Communicative Disease. "The trend that we're seeing now that's different to what we saw before is the particular increase in hospital admissions in children under 5 years."
South Africa’s Experts Tell Their Stories: Via Bloomberg:
"If in the second and third wave we’d seen these levels of positivity to tests conducted, we would have seen very significant increases in hospital admissions and we’re not seeing that. In our primary care clinics it is mainly people under 30-years-old.” Richard Friedland, chief executive officer of Netcare Ltd., which operates the largest private health-care network in South Africa.
“So I actually think there is a silver lining here and this may signal the end of Covid-19, with it attenuating itself to such an extent that it’s highly contagious, but doesn’t cause severe disease. That’s what happened with Spanish flu."
“I’m optimistic that in this resurgence, while the total number of cases will probably be greater, hospitalizations and deaths will be lower than what we experienced during the course of any of the first three waves." Shabir Madhi, a vaccinologist from the University of the Witwatersrand, who led trials of both AstraZeneca Plc’s and Novavax Inc.’s shots in South Africa:
FDA Aims for Quick Review of Omicron Vaccines and Drugs: Via the WSJ:
"The agency, building on rules established earlier this year to assess shots and treatments, has been meeting with drugmakers and setting guidelines for the studies and data needed to swiftly evaluate products targeting the new Omicron Covid-19 variant."
"Under the rules that the FDA is putting into place, drugmakers working on new vaccines would be expected to meet standards similar to those required for authorization of boosters, a person familiar with the matter said."
Here’s How to Interpret the Coming Flood of Data: Via Stat
Omicron Looks Ominous. How Bad Is It Likely To Be? Asks the Economist
Some other mutations are worrying, too. After binding to a cell, the spike breaks in two at a juncture called the furin cleavage site, allowing the viral genome to get inside. Ravindra Gupta of Cambridge worries that Omicron’s three mutations close to this site will give it an advantage in replication similar to that enjoyed by Delta. Another mutation may allow it to confuse the way in which the immune system uses a chemical messenger called interferon."
"Vaccines engage the immune system’s T-cells as well. These are lymphocytes that respond not just to finished proteins, as antibodies do; they also recognise protein fragments. Because 97% of Omicron sequences are identical to the original virus found in Wuhan, Dr Sahin says, these T-cell responses should still work."
The Race to Decipher Omicron: Via the FT.
"Although scientists have been working on Omicron for little more than a week, the public and policymakers are desperate for information — which can lead to the overinterpretation of anecdotal evidence and small scraps of data."
“The fact that we keep having our attention drawn to Covid and new variants — and the constancy of all the uncertainty surrounding it — is bound to be negative and harmful for us both physiologically and psychologically,” agrees Paul Dolan, a professor of behavioural science at the London School of Economics."
How Prepared for Omicron are America and Europe? Via the Economist.
Federal
DOL: Launches dialogue to increase marginalized groups' access to apprenticeships.
Build Back Better: Sen. Sinema “has been privately telling colleagues she doesn’t believe the Build Back Better Act will pass until after Christmas,” Punchbowl News reports.
"Sinema and Sen. Joe Manchin (D-WV) are the two most critical Democratic votes on the BBB. Manchin is publicly saying he thinks a vote may have to wait until 2022.”
“Now Sinema is privately echoing the same message to her Senate colleagues. This puts pressure on Senate Majority Leader Chuck Schumer, who has repeatedly said the chamber can finish work on the legislation in just a few weeks.”
$350 Billion Coronavirus State and Local Fiscal Recovery Funds: A new dashboard created by Results for America and Mathematica - based on the spending plans of 150 local governments and tribal nations across the country - shows some early trends in how jurisdictions are investing or plan to invest their recovery funds:
75% are investing to address the negative economic impacts of COVID;
72% are investing in public health;
69% are investing to expand services to disproportionately impacted communities;
61% are investing to replace lost revenues;
56% are investing in housing;
56% are investing in infrastructure;
43% are investing in workforce programs;
38% are investing in piloting new, innovative programs.
COVID-19 Research
US State-Level Legal Interventions Related to COVID-19 Vaccine Mandates: Paper in JAMA
"As of September 15, 2021, 46 states proposed or enacted 148 legal interventions to impede or facilitate vaccine mandates. Of these interventions, 19 were administrative or executive actions."
State
California: Alpine public school district opens school for unvaccinated students.
“This unique program is the first of its kind designed to provide in person learning to students who would not be able to attend school on campus if not vaccinated”
More via the Washington Post.
Idaho: Microschools have popped up in Idaho, but in unknown numbers.
Maine: How COVID became an opportunity to feed more kids in Maine.
Massachusetts: 9,909 new coronavirus cases reported in schools following Thanksgiving break.
New York: NYC sets vaccination mandate for non-public school employees.
North Carolina: 10,000 teachers start intensive training to boost children's reading skills.
International
Belgium: Might close schools due to the most recent surge.
Economic Recovery
Jobs Report: The economy added back just 210,000 jobs in November, well below expectations of 570,000.
This report seemed to baffle most economists and I wonder if we'll see an upward revision next month.
"This report is a tale of two surveys,” said Nick Bunker, economic research director at jobs placement site Indeed. “The household survey shows accelerating employment gains, workers returning to the labor force, and low levels of involuntary part-time work. The payroll survey shows a significant deceleration in job growth, particularly in COVID-affected sectors.”
Via Axios: "Be smart: The consensus among economists and market watchers seems to be that the survey of households — showing a booming employment situation, with 1.13 million new jobs last month — is more on-point than the survey of employers, which showed much more weakness."
Resources
ERS Resources:
Moving from Plan to Action: An Analysis of Districts’ ESSER Plans
Five Actions State Education Leaders Can Take to Inspire Transformative ESSER Spending
District Budget Development Process: Six Key Changes for FY23
“It’s So Hard And So Challenging”: An Oral History Of Year Three Of Pandemic Schooling:ViaThe Hechinger Report.
I Missed This Yesterday: But the date yesterday was both a palindrome and an ambigram, which means it reads the same even if it’s flipped upside down.
All I Want for Christmas: Is a dog with Christmas lights.