Thursday, 25 February 2021

Pfizer-BioNTech vaccine 94% effective; Trisha Yearwood

Americans mustn’t attempt to decide and select which vaccine they get however ought to take the primary one out there, Dr. Anthony Fauci stated Thursday.

Fauci, a high U.S. infectious illness knowledgeable, warned individuals to not maintain off on getting the Johnson & Johnson vaccine if it quickly turns into out there whereas ready for the marginally more practical Pfizer or Moderna photographs. Fauci additionally advised NBC News a 3rd vaccine turning into out there “is nothing but good news.”

Johnson & Johnson’s single-dose vaccine affords sturdy safety in opposition to extreme COVID-19. It’s anticipated to be licensed quickly by the FDA.

Fauci stated it’s a race “between the virus and getting vaccines into people” – and the longer individuals wait, “the better chance the virus has to get a variant or a mutation.”

Also in the news:

►The incidence of Bell’s palsy, a condition that can cause temporary facial paralysis, was 3.5 to 7 times higher among those who received the Pfizer-BioNTech or Moderna COVID-19 vaccines in clinical trials than in the general population, a study in the journal Lancet reports. The study notes the incidence is also higher for vaccines given to prevent other diseases. The study calls for “strong surveillance” but notes that Bell’s palsy usually self-resolves and that vaccines offer a “substantial web profit” to public well being.

►Washington, D.C., Mayor Muriel Bowser announced that her sister, Mercia Bowser, 64, died Wednesday from pneumonia she developed as a complication from COVID-19. Mercia Bowser’s death came the day the city surpassed 1,000 deaths from the virus. The mayor declared a day of remembrance for those who have died.

►Country music star Trisha Yearwood is “under the greatest care” at dwelling after contracting the virus, her husband, Garth Brooks, stated in an announcement. The press launch says Yearwood is  coping with unspecified signs however “doing OK to this point.”

►About a quarter of the nation’s largest school district’s 1 million students were back in classrooms Thursday as New York City reopened public middle schools. The move provides in-classroom learning for another 62,000 students whose parents opted out of remote education.

►More than 150,000 Americans have been reported dead of COVID-19 in less than two months this year, a USA TODAY analysis of Johns Hopkins University data shows. The U.S. initially recorded its 150,000th COVID fatality July 28, five months after the country’s first reported death and six months after the first reported case.

๐Ÿ“ˆ Today’s numbers: The U.S. has more than 28.3 million confirmed coronavirus cases and 506,000 deaths, according to Johns Hopkins University data. The global totals: More than 112.7 million cases and 2.5 million deaths. More than 88.6 million vaccine doses have been distributed in the U.S. and about 66.4 million have been administered, according to the CDC.

๐Ÿ“˜ What we’re studying: Surgery for a kid, paying a mortgage, electrical payments: We requested Americans how they might spend $1,400 stimulus checks. This is what they said.

USA TODAY is monitoring COVID-19 information. Keep refreshing this web page for the most recent updates. Are you on Clubhouse? If so, tune in to our live discussion on COVID-19 at 7 p.m. EST Thursday.

Pfizer to begin testing booster shot targeting variants

Pfizer-BioNTech will begin testing a booster shot to combat COVID-19 variants, the companies announced Thursday. The announcement came one day after new research published in the New England Journal of Medicine confirmed that two doses of the Pfizer-BioNTech vaccine cut symptomatic COVID-19 cases across all age groups by 94%.

Now the two-company collaboration has asked 144 volunteers who participated in the earliest phase of its clinical vaccine trials last year to volunteer again to receive the booster, a third shot of the same vaccine designed to see whether it will help them fight off new, more infectious variants that have been circulating in recent months. It’s not yet clear whether a new vaccine or booster will be needed to address the known variants, but companies want to be prepared if studies show a new vaccine is needed.

“While we have not seen any evidence that the circulating variants result in a loss of protection provided by our vaccine, we are taking multiple steps to act decisively and be ready in case a strain becomes resistant to the protection afforded by the vaccine,”  Albert Bourla, Pfizer’s chairman and CEO, said in a statement.

– Karen Weintraub

Is a new variant spreading in New York or isn’t it?

Two preliminary studies have identified a new variant, called B.1.526, in New York, although neither study has been through crucial peer review. Michel Nussenzweig, an immunologist at Rockefeller University who was not involved in the new research, told The New York Times that while the discovery is not welcome news, “just knowing about it is good because then we can perhaps do something about it.”

Others, however, have questioned releasing information so early in the vetting process. Nathan Grubaugh, a public health professor at Yale, tweeted that he was “requested to supply touch upon somebody’s draft manuscript that also had tracked adjustments and did not embody the figures. … This is an absolute mess.” Dr. Jay Varma, public health adviser to Mayor Bill de Blasio, tweeted a “plea to teachers: please assessment excessive affect research w/govt well being depts earlier than advertising it to media.” Varma added that “Pathogen porn isn’t serving to public well being.”

Bill Neidhardt, spokesman for Mayor Bill de Blasio, tweeted: “Please, please for the love of all that’s holy share the info with public well being officers earlier than you publicize pre-writes.”

‘Massive pandemic of mentally ill adolescents’ blamed on COVID

Dr. Brian Alverson, director of the Division of Pediatric Hospital Medicine at Rhode Island’s Hasbro Children’s Hospital, says he has witnessed what he described to The Providence Journal, part of the USA TODAY Network, as “a massive pandemic of mentally ill adolescents,” many of them admitted to Hasbro Children’s. The Journal of the American Academy of Child & Adolescent Psychiatry has published articles on the nationwide phenomenon stemming in part from social isolation and loneliness.

“And when I say massive, I don’t want to understate this,” Alverson said. On a recent Friday, “when I looked at the census of the hospital, three-quarters of the hospital was adolescents who wanted to hurt themselves because of mental illness.”

G. Wayne Miller, The Providence Journal

Some GOP mayors warm to Biden stimulus package

As President Joe Biden’s $1.9 billion relief package heads for a vote Friday in the Democrat-controlled House, cash-strained city halls are some of the legislation’s biggest boosters. The bill could pass with zero support among GOP House members, even though Republican mayors are among those seeking federal assistance to replenish tax revenue shortages. Thirty-two Republicans are among 425 mayors nationally who urged passage of Biden’s COVID-19 relief package in a letter through the U.S. Conference of Mayors to Congress.

“The want is actual and it is not simply in Democratic-core communities,” said Bryan Barnett, the Republican mayor of Rochester Hills, Mich..

Joey Garrison

They’re back: Schools will be administering standardized tests again

When the world of K-12 education spiraled into confusion last spring, many teachers and students quietly delighted in the disappearance of high-stakes achievement tests. The Department of Education dropped the requirement for states to administer annual achievement exams in reading and math, which usually happens in spring. Schools pivoted to connecting with students digitally. But now those tests are coming back. President Joe Biden’s administration this week decided against another blanket waiver on federally mandated achievement exams this year, saying instead states can delay or shorten the tests or give them virtually – or skip testing remote learners. 

“We know that faculties and districts have approached (education within the pandemic) with completely different ranges of competence and expertise,” said Ethan Hutt, an education professor at the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill. “If we wish to direct coverage and assets to varsities which might be notably onerous hit, we want extra exact information about what’s occurring.”

Erin Richards and Alia Wong

Want the vaccine? For many people of color, it’s a trust issue

Less than 14% of the U.S. population has received the vaccine, and preliminary data suggests people of color are being vaccinated at lower rates than white Americans. 

Chelsea White, government director of the Dallas Bethlehem Center, stated traditionally the community has not trusted the government or exterior teams, notably relating to well being care.

“COVID is bad enough for anyone, but when you have this kind of crisis in this neighborhood, it’s just catastrophic and it will affect this neighborhood for years,” White stated. “They’ll overpromise, underdeliver and then leave.” Read more here.

Ad Council launches $500M campaign to promote COVID-19 vaccines

The Ad Council’s $500 million campaign to promote the COVID-19 vaccines launched Thursday, aimed at the 40% of Americans who haven’t yet made up their minds about getting vaccinated. It will slowly change as the landscape of who is eligible for vaccines and what questions they have shifts.

“We’re dealing with the biggest issues of our lifetime,” stated the Ad Council’s president and CEO Lisa Sherman. “We recognized pretty quickly that unless people could learn more about the vaccine and get educated, they may not take them. And then we wouldn’t be any better off next year than we are this year.”

The advertisements, which can seem on TV, radio and online, function photographs of individuals holding fingers, households at a toddler’s party, individuals strolling into church collectively or pals sharing pizza facet by facet, a reminder of how a lot issues have modified in a yr. 

The tagline to all is, “It’s up to you.” Not to get vaccinated, however to get knowledgeable, stated Sherman. 

– Elizabeth Weise

Contributing: The Associated Press

Source Link – rssfeeds.usatoday.com



source https://infomagzine.com/pfizer-biontech-vaccine-94-effective-trisha-yearwood/

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