Top Three
UK Rolls Back Vaccines for Under 11s: Children aged 5-11 will no longer be offered Covid jabs, except those in clinical risk groups, UKHSA confirms
"The UK Health Security Agency (UKHSA) said children who had not turned five by the end of last month would not be offered a vaccination, in line with advice published by the UK’s Joint Committee on Vaccination and Immunisation (JCVI) in February 2022."
"UKHSA said the offer of Covid jabs to healthy five to 11-year-olds was always meant to be temporary."
"UKHSA’s Green Book, which provides information on the vaccine rollout for public health professionals, states: “This one-off programme applies to those aged 5 to 11 years, including those who turn five years of age before the end of August 2022. “Subject to further clarification, on-going eligibility in 2022/23, after the one off-programme, is expected to be for children in the academic years where children are aged 11 or 12 years.”
"UKHSA confirmed all children aged five and over in clinical risk groups would continue to be offered Covid jabs, including through the booster programme."
COVID-19 and Children: Very long piece in Science with briefs related to:
Why is COVID-19 generally milder in children?
Why do some children develop MIS-C?
Long Covid in children and young people
What is the role of children in transmission of SARS-CoV-2?
The importance of vaccinating children against COVID-19
Original antigenic sin and childhood immune responses against SARS-CoV-2
American Schools Got a $190 Billion Covid Windfall. Where Is It Going?:Asks the NYT Magazine.
Federal
White House and Senate Democrats Eye Child Tax Credit Hail Mary: Reports Axios.
"The White House is engaging with Senate Democrats about making one last push for an enhanced child tax credit this year — and in return for GOP votes, may dangle support for corporate tax credits for research and development that expired last year."
Treasury: Important update.
Covid-19 Research
Companies Are Dropping Vaccine Mandates: Via Axios.
"The White House yesterday called on businesses to take certain actions to protect employees and customers from COVID-19 this fall. Mandates weren't on the list."
Why So Few Young Kids Are Vaccinated against COVID—And How to Change That: Via Scientific America.
"But a significant proportion of parents of children younger than age five in the KFF survey—more than 10 percent—said they felt their child did not need the vaccine or that they weren’t that worried about COVID itself."
“Pretty much everybody knows somebody who’s gotten COVID despite being vaccinated,” says survey co-author Liz Hamel, vice president and director of public opinion and survey research at KFF. “The promise of what the vaccine will do for you is different now.”
"Hamel and her colleagues asked parents whether getting the vaccine or getting infected would be a bigger risk to their child’s health. Parents of kids who had already had COVID were much more likely to say the vaccine would be a bigger risk."
"The fact that many parents feel less urgency about vaccinating their children may be a product of how the vaccines were tested and rolled out, says Sallie Permar, chair of Pediatrics at Weill Cornell Medicine and pediatrician-in-chief at NewYork-Presbyterian Komansky Children’s Hospital. “The youngest kids were the ones who were tested the last” for vaccines, Permar says. “And I think that the message that parents got through that process is that it wasn’t so important.”
Study Finds Omicron Hospital Risk 10x Higher in Unvaccinated: Study.
State
Indiana: Districts announce big pay raises for substitutes amid shortage.
Texas: State telemedicine program allows Texas children to see therapists at schools.
International
Hong Kong: "Hong Kong will require children as young as age five to prove they are inoculated in order to enter restaurants, indoor play areas and other venues, health department authorities said, expanding the reach of its vaccine pass even as the rest of the world largely drops similar screening mechanisms."
UK: "Children from deprived backgrounds in England lost the most learning due to Covid, according to tests that revealed the widest gap between them and non-disadvantaged primary school pupils for a decade."
"The DfE said the attainment gap between the two groups was the largest since 2012, “suggesting that disruption to learning during the Covid-19 pandemic has had a greater impact on disadvantaged pupils”.
"Nationally, 59% of pupils aged 10 and 11 reached the expected standard in combined tests of maths, reading and writing, down from 65% in 2019, the previous time the tests – known as Sats – were taken."
"Just 43% of disadvantaged children – those on free school meals or in care – met the attainment target in all three subjects this year, compared with 65% of non-disadvantaged pupils. Disadvantaged pupils make up one-third of those taking Sats."
Resources
Fiscal Cliff Strategies: Marguerite Roza notes that AASA and CCSSO asked ED to extend 9/24 deadline on ESSER funding. But "Maine created its own workaround: temporarily raised the max on district reserves to 9%. Districts can spend ESSER now, banking state/local money for later."
Take Small Trips: I attended the funeral services today for Grace Rodriguez, the wife of Ambassador John Sullivan, who lost her battle to cancer this week. Their son Jack shared how Grace would take him on “small trips.” They were often just over a weekend or maybe for a few days, but they ended up meaning the most in terms of the memories made and experiences shared. He encouraged us to take our kids on small trips and whenever given the chance, go on small trips with our moms. Felt like good advice and it resonated after reading Emily Oster’s reflections on her mom yesterday.
King Charles III’s Inaugural Address: Text / Video.
The Lin-Manuel Miranda of Magic: Mervant Vera freestyle raps an inspiring message with a pinch of magic.