Top Three
FDA Grants EUA for Moderna and Pfizer Covid Vaccines for the Youngest Children: FDA Statement. Video from the press conference.
“Many parents, caregivers and clinicians have been waiting for a vaccine for younger children and this action will help protect those down to 6 months of age. As we have seen with older age groups, we expect that the vaccines for younger children will provide protection from the most severe outcomes of COVID-19, such as hospitalization and death,” said FDA Commissioner Robert M. Califf, M.D. “Those trusted with the care of children can have confidence in the safety and effectiveness of these COVID-19 vaccines and can be assured that the agency was thorough in its evaluation of the data.”
“In addition to making certain the data for these vaccines met FDA’s rigorous standards, the agency’s convening of an advisory committee was part of a transparent process to help the public have a clear understanding of the safety and effectiveness data supporting the authorization of these two vaccines for pediatric populations,” said Peter Marks, M.D., Ph.D., director of the FDA’s Center for Biologics Evaluation and Research.
"The benefits seem to clearly outweigh the risks, particularly for those with young children who may be in kindergarten or in collective child care," committee member Oveta Fuller, an associate professor of microbiology and immunology at the University of Michigan Medical School, said of the Moderna vaccine."
"Committee member Dr. Art Reingold added that even though the risk of Covid-19 hospitalization and death is lower for young children than for adults, children already get vaccinations to protect them against diseases for which their risk is low. “If we have a vaccine whose benefits outweigh the risks, then making it available to people is a reasonable choice. I would point out that we as a country continue to give a large number of vaccines to children where the risk of the child dying or being hospitalized of those diseases are pretty close to zero,” such as polio and measles, said Reingold, of the University of California, Berkeley."
CDC Advisory Committee on Immunization Practices (ACIP): Meets today and tomorrow (Agenda and meeting materials) after which the CDC Director will issue her own recommendation.
A few highlights from the presentations including some slides that show more 6month-4yr olds were admitted to the hospital FOR Covid and not just WITH Covid. Also a slide that shows most hospitalizations did not have a comorbidity.
Florida: Gov. DeSantis “is now allowing healthcare providers, including pediatricians and children’s hospitals, to order COVID-19 vaccines from a federal program for children between six months and 5 years old, a reversal from earlier this week,” McClatchy reports.
Federal
Covid Supplemental:
Stat: "Sen. Romney expressed anger that he spent months negotiating with his colleagues to craft a $10 billion funding package, when the Biden administration earlier this month announced that it had repurposed existing funding to pay for $10 billion in vaccines and therapeutics purchases in the absence of congressional action."
NYT: Senator Romney said during a heated Senate health committee hearing that he was stunned last week when White House officials announced they would repurpose $10 billion in federal Covid-19 meant for virus testing and protective gear and instead spend the money on antiviral drugs and vaccines. That, he maintained, meant the administration was not out of money for coronavirus supplies after all — even though the White House has made clear it would be shortchanging some types of supplies by redirecting funds to replenish others."
Soaring Gas Prices and Chip Shortages: Via the Washington Post:
"Biden officials are taking a second look at whether the federal government could send rebate cards out to millions of American drivers to help them pay at gas stations — an idea they examined months ago before ruling it out."
"Aides had found that shortages in the U.S. chip industry would make it hard to produce enough rebate cards, two people familiar with the matter said."
"White House officials also fear there would be no way to prevent consumers from using them for purchases other than gasoline, according to another person familiar with the discussions."
"Even if the administration embraces the proposal, it would probably require congressional approval and face long odds among lawmakers wary of spending more money."
Covid-19 Research
Long Covid Less Likely After Omicron Than Delta: New study. The odds of developing long Covid were 24% to 50% lower after infection with the Omicron than the Delta strain, depending on age and time since vaccination.
Covaxin Safe For Kids Aged 2-18: Study in Lancet. The data was submitted to India's Central Drugs Standard Control Organisation (CDSCO) in October 2021 and received a nod for emergency use in children aged 6-18 years.
WTO Nations Agree to Ease Patent Rights to Boost Covid-19 Vaccine Supplies in Poorer Nations: Via WSJ: "The compromise measure on intellectual property rights will make it easier for companies in developing nations such as South Africa to manufacture and export a patented Covid-19 vaccine—under limited circumstances—without a consent from the patent holder if they have the approval of their own governments."
State
Colorado: Denver expands its summer school with federal COVID funding.
Missouri: Boone County Circuit Judge Joshua Devine dismissed Missouri Attorney General Eric Schmitt's COVID-19 masking lawsuit against Columbia Public Schools, stating there is no live issue to decide.
Resources
How Policy Ideas Spread: Interesting new NBER paper that examined how policy spreads from one state to another. They found:
Larger and richer states are only slightly more likely to innovate policy.
From 1950-2000, a state was more likely to adopt a policy if nearby states had already done so.
However since 2000, political alignment outperforms geographic proximity in predicting diffusion.
They conclude that party polarization has emerged as a key factor recently for policy adoption.
Why Rural Americans Keep Waiting for Fast Internet, Despite Billions Spent: Via the WSJ:
Related: Washington Post: "Despite pandemic promises, many rural students still lack fast internet."
2022 Legislative Session Recap: Via KnowledgeWorks:
‘It’s Hard to See the Perks': Schools Face Tough Sell in Filling Key Jobs: Via EdWeek.
"The 12,000-student Kalamazoo district has been short at least 15 to 20 drivers all year—a scenario that has dogged school districts nationwide."
"More than 1 million nonteaching staff members who are critical to the operation of the nation’s schools—and ultimately, to students’ learning. Faced with the uniquely grim conditions of working in-person during a pandemic, and the chronically low pay and minimal job security that have long characterized these crucial roles, many workers are retiring early, quitting for jobs in the private sector, or not applying at all to work for schools."
"Slightly more than one-third of survey respondents [to an EdWeek survey] said they have at least one additional job. Seven percent said they have three jobs. One percent said they have four jobs. And nearly three-quarters of respondents with multiple jobs said their other job is outside of K-12 education."
Juneteenth: BET shared a video of Caprithedancer, a 6-year-old dancer, declaring it the official “mood going into Juneteenth weekend.”
In Honor of Stephen Curry's Fourth Championship: I present you with Steph Furry.
Still need to see something that addresses:
- Europe is taking a much more conservative vax path for kids than the US. Why is the US different? Better/new data? More politics?
- The apparently huge increase in VAERS reports for covid vax.
- What is the absolute (not relative) risk reduction from vax? If it is miniscule, then isn't skepticism warranted?
- The fact that we now face B.4-5 tells me that using wild-type vax is like using last year's flu shot this year. Way behind the curve.