Health

(NEW YORK) — In recent months, several strict abortion laws have been passed across the United States, banning the procedure after a certain number of weeks.

Most have limited exceptions, such as in cases of incest or rape, and some only allow abortion to “save the mother’s life.” If the Supreme Court overturns Roe v. Wade, which it seems poised to do over the summer, this could be one of the only exceptions for abortion in many places.

For example, Arizona’s 15-week ban only includes exemptions for medical emergencies when continuing with the pregnancy would “create serious risk of substantial and irreversible impairment of a major bodily function” for the mother.

And a new Oklahoma ban classifies a “medical emergency” as a condition in which an abortion “is necessary to preserve the life of a pregnant woman whose life is endangered by a physical disorder, physical illness, or physical injury, including a life-endangering physical condition caused by or arising from the pregnancy itself.”

Proponents of anti-abortion bills say the language is clear and is not open to interpretation.

“The exceptions definition is very clear, specific, allows for the physician’s good faith clinical judgment, and it has been upheld by the courts and is typically included in laws regulating abortion,” Arizona state Sen. Nancy Barto, a Republican who sponsored the state’s 15-week ban, told ABC News.

But doctors told ABC News the language of these laws is vague and makes it unclear what qualifies as a mother’s life being in danger, what the risk of death is, and how imminent death must be before a provider can act.

“We’ve taken the Hippocratic oath to do no harm, and these types of laws and this type of language actually do harm,” Dr. Melissa Simon, vice chair for research in the department of obstetrics and gynecology at Northwestern University Feinberg School of Medicine in Chicago, told ABC News. “I do not — nor do my patients want me to — stop what I’m doing and think about what the judge would do: ‘Will the judge sentence me to jail if I were to perform an abortion?'”

“It sounds like it’s straightforward criteria, but it’s not in practice,” said Dr. Lisa Harris.

A professor of obstetrics and gynecology at the University of Michigan, Harris told ABC News, “None of this is straightforward. It’s very nuanced and complex, and it’s really hard for a one-size-fits-all rule or law to generate what all patients are going to need.”

Doctors ABC News spoke with said laws that only allow exceptions to save the mother’s life will put the onus on the provider to prove the pregnant person is in danger of dying. In some states, providers could face charges.

Dr. Leilah Zahedi, a maternal-fetal medicine physician in Chattanooga, Tennessee, and a spokesperson for the Society for Maternal-Fetal Medicine, said the anti-abortion rights laws don’t make it clear if a woman’s risk of death has to be 100% for the procedure to be performed or not.

“When I see patients, for instance, who have a major cardiac problem, a lot of the time they have a risk of a major cardiac event of up to 15% to 25%, even up to 50%,” she told ABC News. “At the moment they’re fine. But as they get further into pregnancy, that’s going to put their life more and more at risk.”

She continued, “So do I have to wait until they’re on death’s doorstep, or can I intervene at that point to prevent more harm and more damage to them?”

There are typically three categories pregnant people fall into when they need to have abortions to save their lives, doctors told ABC News.

First are people who have serious underlying conditions — such as heart disease, kidney failure and pulmonary hypertension, a type of high blood pressure that affects the lungs — before getting pregnant. Continuing pregnancies would significantly threaten their health.

The second category is those who didn’t have conditions before getting pregnant but now do, such as pre-eclampsia, a potentially dangerous pregnancy complication characterized by high blood pressure, or placenta accreta, which is when the placenta attaches to the uterus and potentially grows through it to other organs.

The third category includes pregnancies in which fetuses would not survive if they were born. This includes an ectopic pregnancy, which occurs when a fertilized egg implants and grows outside the uterus.

Oklahoma state Rep. Jim Olsen, a Republican who sponsored a bill that would make it a felony to perform abortions, said Oklahoma doesn’t have specific definitions of what might constitute “lifesaving” to make sure an example isn’t missed.

“If we tried to specify as legislators exactly what qualifies and limit it only in these situations, there’s a very real possibility we could miss one … and we don’t want to inadvertently exclude something that is actually a danger to the life of the woman,” he told ABC News.

He continued, “We want to fully respect the woman’s right to life and all her rights, but at the same time, we must also respect the rights of the baby, and the baby has a right to life.”

Medical groups have argued that what qualifies as an exception is often subjective to lawmakers, but not to the physician.

“The science of medicine is not subjective, and a strongly held personal belief should never outweigh scientific evidence, override standards of medical care, or drive policy that puts a person’s health and life at risk,” the American College of Obstetricians and Gynecologists said in a 2019 statement on abortion sometimes being “medically necessary.”

The exceptions raise concerns about timing for abortions, doctors said.

Doctors said these exceptions make it unclear whether they have to wait to perform an abortion if a pregnancy is only dangerous once it reaches later terms.

For example, Harris said a woman diagnosed with placenta accreta is not in any imminent risk of dying before 20 weeks, but the risk is greatly heightened in the later stages.

“There is a threat to their life, but it might be months away,” she said. “How imminent does that threat have to be for you to qualify for an abortion under the term ‘lifesaving’?”

Another uncertainty of these laws is what occurs when a pregnant woman is diagnosed with cancer. Women who need to undergo surgery, chemotherapy and radiation may decide they want abortions so they can begin treatment immediately, Harris said.

“The threat to the life of the patient isn’t imminent, meaning the pregnancy and illness are not life-threatening at the moment,” she said. “But if someone, for example, were to delay treatment for eight or nine months, the cancer may advance in that instance and then they have a worse cancer when they begin to treat it.”

Harris continued, “In the case of cancer, it may be that someone survived their cancer only two years as opposed to 20 years because they delayed treatment. And so that is a risk to their life if they could cut their life short.”

The death of Savita Halappanavar in Ireland prompted questions about the clarity of these exceptions.

In 2012, 17 weeks pregnant with her first child, she went to University Hospital Galway complaining of back pain.

Doctors told the 31-year-old dentist that her cervix was fully dilated and that amniotic fluid was leaking. Because of this, it was unlikely her baby would survive and a miscarriage was inevitable — but her body did not expel the fetus.

She asked if doctors could terminate the pregnancy, but they said they were forbidden to do so under Irish law because a fetal heartbeat could be detected.

“Under Irish law, if there’s no evidence of risk to the life of the mother, our hands are tied so long as there’s a fetal heart,” an OB-GYN consultant said, according to an investigation into Halappanavar’s case by the Ireland Health Service Executive, adding that “we can’t predict who is going to get an infection.”

Within days, Halappanavar developed sepsis, went into cardiac arrest and died.

The HSE investigation stated: “There is difficulty in interpretation of law in relation to ‘what constitutes a potential major hazard or threat to mother’s life.’ This needs clarification.”

Halappanavar’s death sent shockwaves throughout Ireland, spurring the Parliament to pass an updated, clarified exception to the country’s abortion ban. Six years after her death, the country voted to overturn its ban on abortion, with many voters citing Halappanavar as the reason for their vote.

Barto, of Arizona, said she does not know the specifics of the case, but believes this is a case of improper medical care rather than what can result from a denied abortion.

“I can only speculate that this woman’s tragic death should and could have been avoided with proper and timely medical care and decision-making,” Barto said. “Her family deserves someone to be held accountable.”

Simon, of the Northwestern University Feinberg School of Medicine, said if doctors are not allowed to perform abortions because the procedure does not fall within the limits of a save the mother’s life exception, maternal mortality rates in the U.S. will rise.

Data from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention shows that between 2013 and 2018, the national case-fatality rate was 0.41 abortion-related deaths per 100,000 legal abortions. Comparatively, the mortality rate was 17.35 pregnancy-related deaths among mothers per 100,000 live births.

“Abortion is extremely safe. It is a safer procedure taking an appendix out, and that’s a very common medical procedure,” Simon said. “I just can’t emphasize enough how safe these procedures are and how well-studied they are.”

She added that maternal mortality rates in the U.S. “are embarrassing enough.”

“Why do we want them to go up?” she said.

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(NEW YORK) — A Connecticut woman has died from the rare tick-borne disease Powassan virus, the state’s Department of Public Health announced.

This is the first fatality recorded in the state and the second in the U.S. this year after a Maine resident died from POWV in April.

According to the DPH, the patient was bitten by a tick and the insect was removed two weeks prior to the onset of symptoms.

The woman, who was in her 90s, first exhibited symptoms in early May including fever, chills, headache, altered mental state, chest pain and nausea, the department said.

She was admitted to a local hospital where her health rapidly deteriorated, according to the DPH.

She “became unresponsive over the next two weeks” and passed away May 17.

After the patient’s death, tests performed by a Centers for Disease Control and Prevention laboratory in Fort Collins, Colorado, confirmed she had antibodies to POWV.

POWV is typically spread by black-legged ticks and deer ticks. Most cases in the U.S. occur in the Northeast or Great Lakes regions typically between mid-spring and early fall.

Between 2011 and 2020, CDC data shows 194 cases of POWV were identified, 22 of which resulted in death.

DPH Commissioner Dr. Manisha Juthani wrote in the release that the virus can be transmitted from tick to human in as little as 15 minutes after the bite, but it can take anywhere from one week to one month before symptoms emerge.

Most patients experience either no symptoms or mild flu-like symptoms, the press release said. But, in severe cases, POWV can cause encephalitis, which is inflammation of brain tissue, or meningitis, which is swelling of the membranes around the brain and spinal cord.

According to the DPH, approximately one in every 10 cases of severe illness result in death and around half of patients who survive severe illness report long-term health problems.

There are currently no specific treatments for POWV — aside from helping relieve symptoms — and no vaccines to prevent the disease.

“This incident reminds us that residents need to take actions to prevent tick bites now through the late fall,” Juthani said in a statement. “DPH stresses the use of insect repellent this summer and avoiding high-risk areas, such as tall grass, where ticks may be found.

She added, “It’s also important to check carefully for ticks after being outside which can reduce the chance of you and your family members being infected with this dangerous virus.”

The CDC recommends showering within two hours of having been outdoors to reduce the risk of tickborne disease and to either wash clothes in hot water or tumble dry low to kill any ticks that may have been carried indoors.

This is the second case of POWV reported in Connecticut this year after a man in his 50s fell ill with the disease in late March.

He was hospitalized with central nervous system problems, but was eventually discharged and recovered at home, health officials said.

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(WASHINGTON) — The Biden administration is lifting pre-departure COVID-19 testing requirements for international travelers to the United States, according to a senior White House official.

Effective Sunday, those traveling to the U.S. will no longer need a negative COVID-19 test one day before their flight to the country.

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(TEL AVIV, Israel) — When Nurit Argov-Argaman was raising three young children while trying to advance in her career, she was struggling with time-management issues involving baby formula versus breast milk.

“Infant formula was one of the best options that I had,” said Argov-Argaman, the chief technology officer of the Israeli dairy alternative startup Wilk.

Argov-Argaman, who is a lactation scientist by training, decided she could “help bridge the gap” between baby formula and breastmilk by making a product that more closely resembled the latter.

The majority of women in the U.S. bottle-feed their children, according to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, although both the World Health Organization and the American Academy of Pediatricians recommend women exclusively breastfeed their babies for the first six months.

Three startups, Wilk, Biomilq and Haliana, are using bioengineering to create new baby formula products that scientists hope will be a better substitute for breastmilk in the future.

Wilk and Biomilq use human breast cells as their starting point, coaxing the cells to produce milk on their own in a lab, while Haliana uses yeast to produce the proteins found in human breast milk.

Wilk, which has its lab outside of Tel Aviv, has been using breast milk and mammary cells that have been removed during breast reduction surgeries and provided by a local hospital.

“Basically we are enabling them to do the same thing they do naturally in the breast,” Argov-Argaman told ABC News reporter Maggi Rulli, “just in a plastic vessel and later on in a bioreactor.”

Just like Wilk, U.S.-based startup Biomilq grew out of a mother’s desire to create an alternative baby formula product when founder Leila Strickland realized the products on the market were “not meeting what she wanted to feed her children,” says co-founder Michelle Egger.

“Formula really hasn’t changed much since about the 1950s,” says Egger, “and we’ve just continued to see consolidation in the supply chain that, as we saw with the shortage, really does harm to families and parents.”

More than 40% of baby formula was out of stock in the United States in May, according to a report by the data firm Datassembly. The shortages, which are being caused by a mixture of supply chain issues and the fact that the market is concentrated among three major producers, have meant parents are being forced to pay higher prices, travel long distances for formula or simply go without.

This current crisis is so severe – and unique with a major producer shut down for possible contamination and supply chain constraints because of a global pandemic – that it has led to the activation of the Defense Production Act by the Biden Administration, which provides the president with additional powers to increase domestic manufacturing capacity during emergencies.

The White House states Operation Fly Formula will mobilize over 300,000 pounds of formula from overseas to try and meet the needs families are currently facing.

Although alternative baby formula products have been cast into the spotlight by a national baby formula shortage, the products being created are still multiple years from the market, so they cannot alleviate the strain of the current crisis, and they will eventually need to be scrutinized by the FDA before having a chance of being approved for use in the U.S.

One factories’ shutdown in Michigan, due to a possible bacterial contamination that was suspected of killing two babies, threw the entire industry into disarray. The factory belonged to Abbott Nutrition, a company that controls nearly half of the baby formula market in the U.S., and only opened last week after being closed for more than three months.

Abbott has announced that after an investigation, “there is no conclusive evidence to link Abbott’s formulas to these infant illnesses.”

Haliana, which uses a different technique based on a process of fermentation, is hoping to get to “commercial scale over the course of this year,” says founder Laura Katz.

The company is attempting to recreate the proteins found in breastmilk by “training” yeast using the same DNA code that makes breast milk proteins. Katz says these proteins could have the added benefit of immunities typically present in breastmilk, which traditional baby formulas don’t have.

Sarah Fleet, a pediatric gastroenterologist and director of the Growth and Nutrition Program at Boston Children’s Hospital says that nutritionally, traditional baby formula and breastmilk are “generally thought to be pretty equivalent.”

Yet Fleet sees many different valuable aspects of alternative breast milk. First and foremost, the majority of baby formula on the market is derived from cow milk, which can cause severe intestinal disease that affects “a large number of babies” in her practice, she says. Cow’s milk protein allergy is estimated to occur in 2-3% of children under 4 years old.

Second, formula products synthesized from breast cells could have “immune system properties,” she says, adding an additional benefit to the child’s health.

Neither Wilk or Biomilq discussed potential immune system benefits of their products during interviews with ABC News.

And finally, given the recent national shortage, it is an example of putting more options on the market for parents, babies, and for doctors.

“Having more tools in our toolbox,” she says, “is never a bad thing.”

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(NEW YORK) — Cases of monkeypox are continuing to crop up around the globe as the outbreak of the rare disease keeps spreading.

As of Thursday, at least 1,260 cases have been detected in countries where the virus is not endemic, with the overwhelming majority reported in North America and Europe.

São Paulo authorities confirmed to ABC News Wednesday that the first case of monkeypox has been confirmed in Brazil in a 41-year-old man who recently traveled to Spain.

In the United States, 40 infections are suspected or confirmed in 14 states and the District of Columbia, according to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.

New York has the most cases at nine, followed by California with eight, Florida with four, and Illinois and Colorado with three each.

During a briefing Wednesday, World Health Organization Director-General Dr. Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus said the window of opportunity to contain the outbreak is closing.

“The risk of monkeypox becoming established in non-endemic countries is real,” he said. “But that scenario can be prevented. WHO urges the affected countries to make every effort to identify all cases and contacts to control this outbreak and prevent onward monkeypox spread.”

Public health experts currently do not expect the virus to become a major health threat, but are concerned about the recent spread.

“I think any time there’s an outbreak that is ongoing with no evidence of control, I think we should be concerned,” Dr. Wafaa El-Sadr, a professor of epidemiology and medicine at Columbia University Mailman School of Public Health in New York, told ABC News. “I think that’s different from being panic-stricken. But I think the continued increase in numbers of cases of monkeypox and continued increase in countries reporting cases is certainly of concern.”

If the outbreak isn’t contained, this means the virus could be ever-present in a community, circulating at low levels.

But Dr. Scott Roberts, an assistant professor and the associate medical director of infection prevention at Yale School of Medicine, said he does not envision the outbreak as being similar to the COVID-19 pandemic because of the different mechanisms of spread.

COVID-19 generally spreads through the air via tiny droplets and can require as little as 15 minutes of face-to-face contact. In the current outbreak, most of the spread has come from coming into contact with infected people’s lesions.

“It’s not like you’ll pass someone in the elevator, and you’ll get monkeypox,” Roberts told ABC News. “That’s pretty unlikely. The classic COVID definition was within six feet for 15 minutes. This one is more like within six feet for three hours, is what the CDC has said, or contact with the infected lesions.”

Many cases have been reported among men who identify as gay, bisexual or men who have sex with men, but there is currently no evidence monkeypox is a sexually transmitted infection — and the experts emphasize anyone can be infected.

But, most importantly, they said the virus is not spreading uncontrollably yet.

“The important thing to keep in mind is that it’s a containable outbreak,” Dr. Mark Dworkin, a professor of epidemiology at the University of Illinois Chicago, told ABC News. “There have been outbreaks and they have been successfully controlled.”

Dworkin referenced a 2003 outbreak in which 47 confirmed and probable cases were reported among six U.S. states, the first human cases reported outside of Africa.

All the infections occurred after coming into contact with pet prairie dogs, which became infected “after being housed near imported small mammals from Ghana,” according to the CDC.

“We have a relatively strong public health system for dealing with this kind of problem,” Dworkin said. “We had a monkeypox outbreak that was multi-state and successfully controlled without the use of a vaccine but through contact tracing and isolation so I’m optimistic.”

Currently, there are two smallpox vaccines approved by the U.S. Food and Drug Administration that people who have been exposed to monkeypox can take to reduce their risk of infection.

“The thing with monkeypox is it’s a very long incubation period,” said Roberts. “It’s usually one to two weeks, but it can be up to three weeks between getting exposed and having symptoms.”

He continued, “So that actually gives you a window to vaccinate after you’ve been exposed to ramp up your immunity and really get rid of the virus before it becomes a true blow infection.”

The CDC has previously said the federal government has enough vaccines and treatments for anyone who is exposed but is not recommending a mass vaccination campaign at this time.

ABC News’ Aicha Elhammer contributed to this report.

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(NEW YORK) — In the early months of the COVID-19 vaccine rollout, breakthrough cases among fully-vaccinated people were a statistical anomaly.

Preliminary clinical trial data offered an optimistic outlook for the months ahead, with many Americans hoping a vaccine would be their ticket to a return to normalcy.

However, last summer, when the highly infectious delta variant became dominant, the number of people experiencing a breakthrough infection began to grow, and those totals only increased with the omicron surge.

Now, with the majority of the country vaccinated, and immunity gradually waning over time, once-scarce breakthrough infections — which the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) define as when a fully vaccinated person gets infected with COVID-19 — have become a regular occurrence associated with the pandemic.

As a result, the notion early on that vaccination could be relied upon to prevent all coronavirus infection has been somewhat eroded. But vaccines have remained largely highly protective against severe illness and death.

Experts also say the sheer volume of cases now puts even the vaccinated who are vulnerable in danger and underscores the urgency of people both getting their primary series and boosters.

An ABC News analysis of data collected by the CDC found that the share of breakthrough COVID-19 cases has reached its highest point since the vaccines were introduced, with more cases occurring among the vaccinated in March and April 2022, than among the unvaccinated, partially because of the significant number of people who are now vaccinated.

However, even with overall totals increasing, per capita, unvaccinated Americans still have a greater risk of contracting and dying of COVID-19.

Increasing rates of breakthrough cases

In June 2021, prior to the emergence of the delta variant, breakthrough cases represented only 12% of new cases. By October, as the delta variant continued to dominate, and with an increasing number of people further out from their original vaccine series, breakthrough infections represented about a third of cases.

When the even more transmissible omicron variant emerged in November 2021, the percentage of breakthrough cases began to steadily grow, and by March, breakthrough infections among the vaccinated represented the majority of new cases. Between April 2021 and April 2022, the percentage of breakthrough cases grew from 3% to more than 60%.

With more vulnerable and older Americans further out from their primary series, the rate of breakthrough deaths has also grown. During April 2021, just 8% of deaths were the result of breakthroughs, but by March 2022, that number had increased to more than 41% of the month’s recorded deaths.

Breakthrough cases and deaths among the boosted have also been on the rise, albeit at a slower rate.

In September 2021, less than 1% of COVID-19 of cases and deaths occurred among Americans who had been fully vaccinated and boosted with their first dose. By April 2022, the percentage for cases had increased to more than 52%, while the proportion of deaths had grown to nearly 31%.

Health experts said the increase in breakthrough infections and deaths is expected with more Americans reaching full vaccination status and higher-risk populations getting further away from their initial vaccination series and first booster.

In March 2022, unvaccinated adults were 10 times more likely to die of COVID-19 compared to vaccinated individuals and in April 2.3 times more likely to test positive, according to data from the CDC.

The CDC notes that there are limitations to this data, including a higher prevalence of previous infection among the unvaccinated and unboosted groups, a difficulty in accounting for time since vaccination and waning protection, potential differences in use of at-home tests and prevention behaviors by age and vaccination status.

Yet to receive their first booster

During an interview with CBS News last month, Dr. Anthony Fauci, the White House’s chief medical advisor, acknowledged there has been an increase in the number of vaccinated people who are dying of COVID-19, many of whom are elderly, immunocompromised or have underlying conditions.

“As long as you have vulnerable people in the population, even though the unvaccinated are going to be much more at risk, even vaccinated with underlying conditions and a high degree of susceptibility to severe disease will account for those deaths,” he said.

Unvaccinated Americans also continue to become severely ill and die of the virus, Fauci said. He stressed that a large proportion — about a third of Americans — have not been fully vaccinated, while about half of eligible Americans are still unboosted with their first dose.

According to an ABC News analysis, the vast majority — between 80% and 90% — of the vaccinated Americans who are dying from COVID-19 are people over the age of 65.

Last month, the CDC announced that it is “strengthening” its recommendation for Americans over the age of 12 who are immunocompromised and those over the age of 50 to receive their second booster shot.

“Only 38% of those 50 to 64 and 43% of those 65 and older have received a vaccine dose in the past six months. This leaves about 60% of older Americans without the protection they may need to prevent severe disease, hospitalization, and death,” CDC director Dr. Rochelle Walensky said during a meeting of the agency’s independent advisors in May. “We know immunity wanes over time, and we need to do all we can now to protect those most vulnerable.”

According to CDC data, since second booster doses were authorized in mid-March, a total of 15.4 million Americans have received their second booster. Some 14.7 million of those who have received second boosters are people over the age of 50, and 10.3 million of them are over the age of 65.

“The numbers we are keeping an eye on are the numbers of individuals with breakthrough disease that requires hospitalization, intensive care, or that results in death,” C. Buddy Creech, director of the Vanderbilt Vaccine Research Program and associate professor of pediatric infectious diseases, told ABC News.

“We can anticipate some degree of this among the elderly, those with complicated underlying medical conditions and those that are immunocompromised; however, if we begin to see high numbers among otherwise healthy individuals, it may be a sign that current vaccines aren’t working as well against new variants of concerns,” he added.

The increase in the number of vaccinated people falling ill and dying underlines the urgency for high-risk Americans to get boosted, health experts said.

“For those that are immunocompromised, at high risk for complications, over 50 years of age, or who received their third dose months ago, a fourth dose reduces the likelihood of infection and complications from disease,” Creech said.

‘Vaccines are still working’

The drop in efficacy may come as a shock to some Americans who still envision protection levels of over 90% against symptomatic infection that were initially reported by vaccine makers Pfizer and Moderna in late 2020.

“Vaccine efficacy in clinical trials has been very high, vaccine effectiveness in the real world is always going to be a bit lower. In clinical trials, we typically exclude those that are severely immunocompromised or medically fragile. We also measured vaccine efficacy during a time prior to the emergence of variants and when more risk mitigation strategies were in place,” Creech explained.

However, Creech noted that even with the diminution, “vaccine effectiveness remains quite high,” adding that given the reality that COVID-19 vaccines do not provide complete protection against all disease, he is not surprised that effectiveness for mild or moderate symptoms is lower than what was reported during the trials.

Given delta and omicron’s highly infectious nature, “nearly everyone who has not been vaccinated has now been infected – many people twice, three times, or more,” David Dowdy, an infectious disease epidemiologist at Johns Hopkins Bloomberg School of Public Health, told ABC News.

“That previous infection does provide some protection — but also at the cost of often getting very sick. Over time, more people are also getting vaccinated, so the number of unvaccinated people is getting smaller and smaller. But vaccines are still working,” Dowdy explained.

People should still get vaccinated, experts say

Health experts stressed that even though more breakthrough cases are occurring, Americans should not be dissuaded from getting vaccinated.

“People should absolutely still get vaccinated and boosted if you haven’t already. Vaccines are still highly effective, and for people who have been infected already, vaccines are known to give extra protection,” Dowdy said.

For those who have yet to receive a third dose, “now is the time to get boosted,” Creech said.

Looking ahead to the fall, as the vaccine companies look to develop new and improved shots, Creech said it is important for people to assess when they should get their booster shots.

“There’s hope that they will be even more effective – but in terms of preventing serious illness, the current vaccines are still working very well,” Dowdy added.

For those who have recently received a third dose or who are a few weeks out from having COVID-19 infection, waiting until variant boosters are available might be a more reasonable approach, Creech said.

“We’re not out of the woods yet; however, vaccines have gotten us to a point where our healthcare system can withstand COVID-19 waves without reaching a breaking point,” Creech said.

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(NEW YORK) — With the approval process underway for young children’s COVID-19 vaccines, the White House is preparing a rollout to doctors’ offices, pharmacies and children’s hospitals across the country.

“If in fact [the Food and Drug Administration] authorizes and [Centers for Disease Control and Prevention] recommends, we’re going to immediately launch a comprehensive nationwide effort to ensure that parents can get their youngest kids vaccinated, easily, and do so at locations that they know and they trust,” a senior administration official said on a call with reporters on Wednesday.

Two brands of vaccines — Pfizer and Moderna — are expected to be available as early as the week of June 21 if the review processes at the FDA and CDC find they are safe and effective for kids under 5. Both companies have said their vaccines are just that and released initial efficacy data. More information will be presented next week to the FDA and CDC.

The administration estimates that 85% of children under the age of 5 live within five miles of a potential vaccination site, another administration official said.

The government opened up orders to states on Friday and has so far received requests for around 2.3 million doses. There were five million doses available for initial orders, and another five million will be available to order soon.

Administration officials cautioned not to read into the underwhelming order numbers and said it has been common over the past two years for them to come in slowly at first.

“I wouldn’t focus on those early numbers. Our experience is that the longer the ordering stays open, the more likely the states come forward,” an official said.

“We’re not too worried or focused on that, we’ll continue to do these outreach,” the official added.

So far, states have ordered 58% of the available Pfizer doses and 34% of the available Moderna doses.

Officials said some jurisdictions had ordered only Moderna, while others ordered only Pfizer. They said they didn’t have an explanation because it was too early in the process.

But, if polling is any indication, it will be an uphill battle to convince parents to vaccinate their young kids. A recent survey from Kaiser Family Foundation found just one in five parents are eager to vaccinate their children right away.

Officials said they planned to lean into existing networks to get vaccine information out to families, including the American Academy of Pediatrics, mom blogs and PTAs, as well as groups specific to communities of color, like the League of United Latin American Citizens.

“We have learned from our previous campaigns, and one of the most important lessons that we’ve learned is that we know who people listen to when making decisions, and there are trusted people in their lives,” a senior administration official said.

“Some of them are doctors, some of them are community leaders,” the official said.

The official said the goal was twofold, both to get the vaccine to convenient places for families and to make sure they have the information they need about the vaccines.

The process to authorize vaccines for the youngest age group begins on Wednesday, when the FDA’s independent panel of advisors meet to review the data and ask questions of the vaccine companies.

Pfizer’s vaccine comes in three doses given in smaller amounts over a longer period of time, while Moderna’s is a two-dose vaccine given in slightly larger amounts over a shorter period.

If the panel approves, the FDA is expected to then authorize within a day or so.

That kicks the process over to the CDC’s group of advisers, who are expected to review the vaccine data on June 17 and 18 before voting. Then, CDC Director Rochelle Walensky can issue a final recommendation for the vaccines and doses can begin being administered.

Vaccines are expected to arrive to clinics and doctors offices the weekend after the FDA and CDC’s advisory committees meet, so long as the FDA issues its authorization for emergency use of one or both vaccines.

The White House then expects vaccines will start to be administered on the Tuesday after the long weekend of the federal holiday Juneteenth.

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(NEW YORK) — Since an initial voluntary recall on J.M. Smucker peanut butter in May, multiple other products — from protein power snacks to baked goods — have been added to a growing list of related items consumers should avoid, the Food and Drug Administration announced recently.

In addition to the initial Jif brand peanut butter products that were first recalled in multiple states due to Salmonella infection risk, 18 other companies that further processed the peanut butter by either repackaging it or using it as an ingredient have issued their own recalls as well.

“The FDA, along with CDC and state and local partners, are investigating a multistate outbreak of Salmonella Senftenberg infections linked to certain Jif peanut butter products produced at the J.M. Smucker Company facility in Lexington, Kentucky,” the agency said in its recall announcement. “CDC’s review of epidemiological information indicates that five out of five people reported consuming peanut butter and four of the five people specifically reported consuming different varieties of Jif brand peanut butter prior to becoming ill.”

The FDA conducted Whole Genome Sequencing (WGS) analysis on a sample from the brand’s facility that the agency said matched “the strain causing illnesses in this current outbreak.”

“Consumers, restaurants, and retailers should not eat, sell, or serve any recalled Jif brand peanut butter, including recalled products that contain the recalled Jif peanut butter,” the FDA recommended. “Consumers should also avoid feeding recalled peanut butter to pets or other animals, including wild birds.”

For a full list of the affected products, lot code information and further details about the recall click here. The agency said that list will be updated as it receives any notification of new recalls.

Additionally, the FDA has shared helpful information on how consumers may check for affected Jif products in their own home.

“Locate the lot code on the back of the jar, under the Best If Used By Date (the lot code may be next to the Best If Used By Date for cups or squeeze pouches). In the lot code, if the first four digits are between 1274 and 2140, and if the next three numbers after that are ‘425’, this product has been recalled and you should not consume this product,” the FDA wrote.

The FDA also recommends washing and sanitizing surfaces and utensils if someone used the recalled Jif brand peanut butter.

The initial Jif recall was first announced in May. At that time, the FDA reported several people had fallen ill after eating peanut butter products. All of those who reported brand information said they had eaten some variety of Jif peanut butter.

Among the list of recalled products were Jif Creamy and Crunchy Peanut Butters, in varying sizes, including “To Go” packs; Natural and Natural Honey Peanut Butters; and Jif Squeezable Pouches. Cases were reported across several states.

“Our top priority is ensuring our consumers understand the details of the recall and are supported,” Jif stated at the time. “We recognize your trust, and our reputation are built on our fundamental commitment to high standards for ingredients and manufacturing. We take your concerns seriously and are committed to producing safe, high quality peanut butter.”

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(NEW YORK) — Queen Latifah is speaking out about her weight and why she’s angry at having been categorized as obese.

The actress and singer opened up on a new episode of “Red Table Talk” about the day a personal trainer told her she would be considered obese.

“She’s showing me different body types, and she’s telling me, this is what your BMI is, this is what your weight is, and you fall into this category of obesity,” said Latifah, referring to Body Mass Index, a measure of body fat based on height and weight, according to the National Institutes of Health.

“I was mad at that,” Latifah said in a preview clip for Wednesday’s episode of the Facebook Watch show. “It pissed me off. I was like, ‘What? Me?’ I mean, I’m just thick. She said you are 30% over where you should be. And I’m like, ‘Obesity?'”

Latifah also told the “Red Table Talk” co-hosts, Jada Pinkett Smith, Willow Smith and Adrienne Banfield-Norris, that her body has been the subject of scrutiny her entire career. She said the scrutiny was especially prominent in the early 90s when she starred on In Living Single.

“We looked like four women who live in Brooklyn, and that’s what we were supposed to be representing and we loved being able to do that,” Latifah said of herself and her three co-stars.

“But the word came down that we needed to lose weight,” she continued. “We’re on the number one show among black and Latino households in America, and you’re telling us we need to lose weight. Maybe you’re the one with the problem.”

Latifah’s comments about her BMI and the scrutiny she faced have prompted a conversation about the use of BMI to determine health, especially in women of color.

BMI is calculated using a person’s height and weight to sort people into categories like underweight or obese. But experts say it does not distinguish between excess fat, muscle or bone mass. That’s why health providers only use it as one of many tolls to help determine a person’s health.

Maya Feller, a New York-based registered dietitian, said BMI does not take body composition into account, which can impact women of color.

“For women of color, we tend to have more muscle mass and also be in bigger bodies,” said Feller. “So the BMI will falsely say that we are in the overweight or obese category and then we get flagged, but we may be healthy metabolically.”

In another example, BMI may “overestimate body fat in athletes and others who have a muscular build,” according to the NIH.

Feller recommends that when it comes to health, a variety of factors beyond weight should be looked at by doctors and other health professionals.

“How’s your blood pressure? How’s your blood sugar? How are your lipids? We need to change the conversation to really be talking about metabolic health,” she said.

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(NEW YORK) — With vaccine immunity waning, and concerns over a fall surge growing, officials from Moderna announced on Wednesday that data from its study on Omicron-containing bivalent booster, revealed that it offers superior antibody response against omicron — one month after injection — compared to the company’s current vaccine.

Moderna Chief Medical Officer Dr. Paul Burton told ABC News that he believes the company’s “highly effective” updated COVID-19 bivalent vaccine could be a “turning point” in the nation’s fight against the pandemic.

“The data are definitely better than I had even hoped,” Burton told ABC News in an interview. “Given the magnitude of effect — that seven-fold increase in antibody levels — we could for the first time, be at a vaccine that is truly effective with once yearly dosing because we know those antibody levels will decay.”

Moderna plans to file its data with the Food and Drug Administration “as quickly as possible,” and should the vaccine be authorized, the company will be ready to supply the shots to “as many people around the world as possible,” Burton said.

“These are very important data. It’s an important announcement. And I think it has the potential to be a real turning point in this latter part second half of the pandemic,” Burton said.

The announcement comes as the U.S. continues to battle a secondary surge from omicron subvariants amid waning immunity, relaxed attitudes by many towards mitigation measures and fatigue and skepticism about vaccination and booster shots.

After more than a year of persistent efforts and messaging from federal and local authorities, just under 71% of the eligible population aged 5 and over is fully vaccinated and less than half who have completed their primary series have had their first booster dose.

Burton said the company hopes this new vaccine could, for the first time, provide a roadmap for annual COVID-19 vaccinations, rather than shots every few months.

“I believe that we will be able to get to this once yearly dosing now because we have high levels now. That will probably even increase and mature over time, potentially giving people protection over a full year. We could finally get to that once yearly protection, so I think it’s really important,” Burton said.

The variant adapted vaccine, which contains omicron mRNA, was found to be highly effective against omicron, Burton said. The company reported that this new bivalent vaccine combines the original shot and the omicron mRNA together in a single shot.

“The original vaccine gives great protection against delta and other variants that we’ve seen still recently, and that really caused significant disease. Omicron does cause significant disease. It’s definitely not mild, but it’s super infectious. You need to combine the two together,” Burton explained.

Although it is still unknown how well the new vaccine will be able to prevent infections and severe illness, Burton said he is confident that the vaccine will “definitely prevent hospitalization and death.”

“It’s highly effective,” Burton said, adding that the safety profile is also “very robust,” and “reassuring.”

Should another variant of concern emerge, one drastically different than omicron and the already existing variants, scientists at Moderna will be prepared to reevaluate and readapt the shot to address the new threat.

“If something again really drastic occurs, Well, we’ll have to look at that. But I would say again, what I think we’ve been able to show here, is that we can adapt very quickly. We were able to make this new booster in weeks and get it into testing. I think we can even speed that up now. So, I think we were well prepared for that,” Burton said.

Burton said he remains worried about the growing population of “unprotected” and “under-vaccinated” Americans, who will be vulnerable to more severe disease.

“But by the fall, here, and around the world, we’re gonna have many people who are unvaccinated and under- vaccinated and they’re going to be very vulnerable,” Burton said. “By Autumn, we know that waning occurs. Even people who got boosted in the new year, come the autumn of this year, they’re going to have low levels of antibody. They’re going to be unprotected, under-vaccinated and they’re going to be very vulnerable.”

The sentiment of booster fatigue among some Americans is another concern for Burton, he said.

“The fatigue and just the eagerness of all of us… to kind of put COVID behind us has led to apathy and a real reduction in boosting,” Burton said.

As Moderna also prepares for the FDA to consider authorizing its pediatric vaccine for children under 6 years old, Burton said he hopes the youngest Americans will also have access to this updated shot as well, in the fall, once they receive their primary series.

“I think the issue for the littlest kids is that they have no protection right now, they have had no primary vaccination they’re under protected,” Burton said. “I would propose that parents, caregivers get their little kids vaccinated now, They’ll be ready to go back to school with Moderna. We know that two doses will give them protection… I think it’s likely that they will need an additional boost at some point. And I would propose, and I think we all would imagine, that this is then the booster for them to get in the autumn of this coming year.”

The company is conducting studies to look into safety and efficacy of the shots in young children, and scientists are expected to have data later in the year, Burton said.

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