Top Three
FDA and CDC Expands COVID-19 Booster Recommendations to 16-and-17-year-olds:
"Today, the U.S. Food and Drug Administration amended the emergency use authorization (EUA) for the Pfizer-BioNTech COVID-19 Vaccine, authorizing the use of a single booster dose for administration to individuals 16 and 17 years of age at least six months after completion of primary vaccination with the Pfizer-BioNTech COVID-19 Vaccine."
“Today, CDC is strengthening its booster recommendations and encouraging everyone 16 and older to receive a booster shot. Although we don’t have all the answers on the Omicron variant, initial data suggests that COVID-19 boosters help broaden and strengthen the protection against Omicron and other variants. We know that COVID-19 vaccines are safe and effective, and I strongly encourage adolescents ages 16 and 17 to get their booster if they are at least 6 months post their initial Pfizer vaccination series.”
But notice that it's "encouraging" not "should." Stat points out, "In a later statement, the CDC clarified that the agency is saying that 16- and 17-year-olds “may” get a booster shot. For everyone 18 and older, the recommendation is stronger; CDC says they “should” be boosted."
There was some criticism for both agencies going around their advisory committees. More via Stat:
"The FDA made the decision without consulting its independent vaccine advisers, the Vaccines and Related Biological Products Advisory Committee, or VRBPAC."
"Likewise, Walensky sidestepped CDC’s independent vaccine experts, the Advisory Committee on Immunization Practices, or ACIP — an unusual move that is already drawing criticism."
"Both advisory committees would likely have asked pointed questions about the risks associated with giving booster shoots to 16- and 17-year-olds, given the fact that the messenger RNA vaccines — like the Pfizer product and Moderna’s vaccine — have been linked to elevated rates of myocarditis and pericarditis, an inflammation of heart muscle or tissue around the heart, respectively."
“I just hate that there’s a talking point now that this was rushed through, that this wasn’t carefully considered by the top scientific minds of the country with particular expertise in these areas,” Jennifer Nuzzo said. “The anti-vax community — and it’s really expansive about Covid vaccines — will take any daylight you give and just seize on it. And this to me seemed like something in particular that would benefit from open deliberation.”
"This is the third time the CDC director has either overruled the ACIP or avoided asking the group’s advice on a Covid booster-related issue."
Hidden Pain: Children Who Lost a Parent or Caregiver to COVID-19 and What the Nation Can Do to Help Them: New COVID Collaborative report / press release
"There are 167,000 children under 18 who have lost a parent or other in-home caregiver, with the greatest impact on communities of color and children 13 and younger who are the most dependent."
Black and Hispanic children experienced more than twice the rate of loss of White children.
"70% of caregiver loss (117,948) affected those aged 13 and younger. 50%(83,798) was among elementary and middle-school age children and 20% (34,150) was among those from birth through 4 years old. More than 29% (49,134) were high school age (14-17 years old)."
Youth in every state experienced loss, but California, Florida, Georgia, New York, and Texas accounted for half of total caregiver loss.
The report recommends: concerted efforts within schools, health care, and faith-based communities to identify and connect children and families to supports; a COVID-Bereaved Children's Fund; expanding access to high-quality early childhood programming and social and emotional learning in schools; structured mentoring, peer support, and grief camps; expansion of mental health care; and executive action from the federal government to support these children now.
Via the NYT, "Its recommendations include offering them mental health care and creating a “Covid Bereaved Children’s Fund,” similar to a fund established after the Sept. 11 attacks, to provide up to $10,000 to families in need."
Winter 2021 Update On Parents' Views Of Vaccines For Kids: KFF Vaccine Monitor - definitely read the whole report as it's full of interesting (and frustrating) observations. A few toplines:
"Three in ten parents of both teens and younger children say they will “definitely not” get their child vaccinated for COVID-19."
"While about six in ten parents (63%) say they are confident that the COVID-19 vaccines are safe for adults, fewer say they are confident the vaccines are safe for children between the ages of 12 and 17 (52%) and for children ages 5 to 11 (43%)."
"Access barriers are also a concern for some parents when it comes to getting their children vaccinated. Hispanic parents, Black parents, and those with lower incomes are more likely than other parents to say they are concerned they might have to miss work to get their child vaccinated, that they won’t have a trusted place to go, or that they’ll have difficulty traveling to a vaccination location."
"Notably, not all pediatricians are recommending that parents get their children vaccinated for COVID-19; among the 40% of parents who spoke with their child’s health care provider, one-third (16% total parents of teens) say the provider did not recommend the COVID-19 vaccine for their teen and four in ten (15% of total parents of 5-11 year-olds) say the doctor did not recommend it for their child ages 5-11."
"Parents who say their school has encouraged them to get their children vaccinated are more likely to say their child has indeed gotten vaccinated. In fact, parents of 5-11 year-olds whose school encouraged vaccination are four times as likely as those whose school did not encourage vaccination to say their younger child has already gotten the COVID-19 vaccine (28% vs. 7%)."
Omicron
One Scenario for Omicron: Via Tyler Cowen:
"How will institutions react to a proliferation of cases? Imagine that a significant percentage of students in a school test positive, but no one is seriously ill. Will that school feel compelled to shut down and move to remote learning?"
"One possibility is that administrators will realize that virtually everyone is going to catch omicron anyway, articulate that reality to their constituencies, and plough ahead with face-to-face instruction. An alternate scenario is that the mere mention of Covid will prove so scary that closure will be inevitable. After all, how much will be known a month or two from now about the prospects of getting Long Covid from omicron? I am expecting a lot of school closures."
"Another habit that will be hard to break is tracking the severity of the virus by counting cases. Until now, cases have been pretty good predictors of subsequent hospitalizations and then deaths. If cases become more detached from bad outcomes, will institutions and authorities be able to respond rapidly to that new reality? By the time they adjust, if they do, omicron might have come and gone.”
Vaccine Makers Racing to Update COVID Shots, Just In Case: Via the AP.
Federal
Congress: Mrs. Claus set off the metal detector: “I have two metal hips!”
Vaccine Mandate: The Senate voted 52-48 to block the Biden administration’s vaccine or testing mandate for large businesses, with Democratic Senators Manchin and Tester crossing party lines. The vote was largely symbolic with no path in the House and would face a veto by the President.
AmeriCorps: Senate confirms Michael Smith as new CEO.
COVID-19 Research
Pediatric COVID Vaccination Has Slowed: According to a new KFF analysis.
"An estimated 16.7% of 5-11 year-olds had received at least one COVID-19 vaccine dose as of December 5, 2021. This represents almost 4.8 million of the approximately 28 million children in this age group."
"Given the two dose Pfizer regimen, administered three weeks apart, and the need for a two-week period afterward to be considered fully vaccinated, just 4.3% of children have reached this point."
"The share of children having received at least one COVID-19 vaccine dose ranged from 45.6% in Vermont to just 3.6% in West Virginia."
Pfizer Booster Study: In NEJM which found "Participants who received a booster at least 5 months after a second dose of BNT162b2 had 90% lower mortality due to Covid-19 than participants who did not receive a booster."
New Study Finds COVID-19 Exacerbated Anxiety and Depression in Racial and Ethnic Minority Children: New study
Rates of depression and anxiety problems had increased from 5% before the pandemic to 18% during the pandemic.
"Experiences fall 2020 nationwide survey, caregivers of school-age children were more likely to report worse mental health of children in virtual vs. in-person school (24.9% vs. 15.9%)"
Moderna Launches AI Academy in Partnership with Carnegie Mellon University: The AI Academy is intended to educate and empower employees at all levels to identify and integrate AI and machine learning solutions into every Moderna system and process to bring mRNA medicines to patients.
The Benefit of Getting Vaccinated Visualized: Neat visualization from the Washington Post.
"We took the CDC’s rates of infection or death for two weeks this year, at the peak of the delta variant surge in August and in its most recent data, and created a tool that generates random theoretical patients. Each rate of infection or death is relative to pools of 100,000 people, so the interactive below generates a random number between zero and 100,000. If that number is below the rate of infection or death for the group (you can choose which), it’s marked with a colored dot. If it’s above the rate of infection or death, it’s a gray dot."
"The difference should quickly be obvious. At the bottom of the graphic, the relative likelihood of infection or death between the two groups, calculated based on the dots that had already been displayed."
Just Because You're Vaccinated: Doesn't mean you're protected from this bad decision. Even with a booster.
I didn't anticipate mixing and matching leading to this.
State
California: 500 L.A. Unified workers fired for not getting COVID vaccine
Kansas: Kansas City area school districts report record COVID-19 cases spike among children.
Louisiana: PBS News Hour reports on the tensions among lawmakers, parents as Louisiana debates vaccine mandates in schools.
New York:
David Banks will be NYC’s next schools chancellor
Dan Weisberg will be his top deputy. Congrats Dan!
Gothamist: "As Children Lead NYC COVID Rates, Blind Spots Remain In School Testing Strategy"
"Declining staff testing and a small pool of eligible students mean that in-school test results may not give an accurate picture of how much COVID is circulating in the NYC school system. Parents are also reporting their children are being removed from the DOE’s opt-in testing program after only a first dose of vaccine, despite still being vulnerable to COVID-19."
International
Denmark: Closes schools, limits nightlife in Covid surge.
Economic Recovery
Workplace Trends for 2022: Via Glassdoor
"But the pandemic released the remote work genie out of the bottle: it’s now an almost-necessary tool for many employers, which in turn has diluted the recruiting advantage remote employers previously had. Now, many more employers are looking at how to expand their talent pools through remote hiring."
"Employers are seeing an increase in competition from companies hiring remotely. Based on Glassdoor data, 20.4 percent of employers hiring locally in October 2021 are competing against remote jobs, up almost double from 10.3 percent in October 2019."
"While the consequences of this increased competition will take time to play out as remote work spreads, two tangible implications should start to show up in 2022: First, more employers (especially in tech) will walk back or reduce location-based pay adjustments as they compete against other employers for top talent. Second, local employers are likely to see rising competition for workers in jobs that can be done remotely, as far-flung employers compete more aggressively for local workers."
Group Backed by Top Companies Moves to Combat A.I. Bias in Hiring: "The Data & Trust Alliance, announced on Wednesday, has signed up major employers across a variety of industries, including CVS Health, Deloitte, General Motors, Humana, IBM, Mastercard, Meta (Facebook’s parent company), Nike and Walmart," reports the NYT.
"The Data & Trust Alliance, tapping corporate and outside experts, has devised a 55-question evaluation, which covers 13 topics, and a scoring system. The goal is to detect and combat algorithmic bias."
Beyond Silicon Valley: Rise of the Rest report. Coastal dollars and local investors accelerate early-stage startup funding across the US.
Resources
Shutting Down Schools Again Is Indefensible: Bloomberg
"Reducing in-person class time is not just a disaster for students — it’s also a betrayal of public trust. Congress has passed three separate relief packages, across two administrations, with funds intended to help districts stay open. But tens of billions of dollars apparently remain unspent."
"Policy makers should require districts to demonstrate that they’re using these funds to keep schools open. At a minimum, the practice of adding unplanned vacation days should be halted. More support for teachers may be warranted, but it shouldn’t come at the expense of learning. Schools should instead expand professional development and mental-health services for teachers so that more of them remain on the job."
"Meanwhile, federal and state officials should better prepare schools to stay open during a possible winter surge driven by the Omicron variant. On-site vaccination clinics and access to rapid tests should be expanded. School leaders should adopt “test-to-stay” strategies, which allow more students to continue in-person learning, even if classmates test positive for the virus."
Alex Hernandez Named President of Champlain College: Congrats Alex!
CASEL: Aaliyah Samuel was named the new president & CEO. Congrats Aaliyah!
Educators Report a Rise in School Threats, Fights and Misbehavior, and Blame COVID: Via LA Times.
Outschool Payouts: Outschool is recognizing 8,000 educators with thank you payments and gifts valued at over $3 million.
Is It Always Going to Be Like This Now?: Asks Emily Oster.
Teaching Unvaccinated Students Separately? This District Will Be the First to Try It: Via EdWeek
"I don’t think California will allow a school district to create a separate program for unvaccinated students. If it violates state law, a judge is going to shut that down,” said James Hodge, a professor of law at Arizona State University and director of its Center for Public Health Law."
“Thank God for the academy, because we can’t home-school,” said Jessica Dombroski, whose four children attend Alpine schools while she runs a dog-grooming business and her husband works as a paramedic. She and her children are unvaccinated, and she’s been scrambling to create a home-school pod with other families. Instead, she’ll opt for the choice academy."
With Students Back in School, Latest Data Finds Parental Support for State Testing Rebounding: Daniel Silver and Morgan Polikoff in The 74.
"The latest wave of study survey data, gathered from Sept. 30 to Nov. 7, indicates that parental support for canceling standardized tests has plummeted, from 64% last fall to 39% in fall 2021."
The Idea Accelerator:Via Builders + Backers, a rapid-pace, 90-day, virtual program to get your idea off the sidelines and into action. All fueled by up to $5,000 in non-dilutive Pebble Funds.
British Boy Is Told He's On The Naughty List: But he disagrees.