Health

(ATLANTA) — With a COVID vaccine for younger children given the final go-ahead, millions more Americans as young as 5 years old can now roll up their sleeves for the protection the shot affords: dramatically reducing the risk of developing COVID-19.

For many, that will also mean protection from long COVID — sometimes-debilitating symptoms that can last for months after a COVID-19 diagnosis.

Kate Porter’s daughter Adria was 11 when they both came down with an awful fever, fatigue and malaise in March 2020, before there was a vaccine for anyone. They both have grappled with ongoing symptoms since.

“If she could have been prevented from going through what we went through, I think it would have saved us a lot of hardship and pain and emotional, just anguish and worrying. I would have gotten her vaccinated immediately,” Porter said.

The U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention’s final signoff late Tuesday paved the way for pediatric doses of the Pfizer vaccine to begin rolling out to thousands of hospitals, family doctors’ offices and major retail pharmacies across the country. It comes as the academic year kicks into higher gear and just in time to punctuate the holiday season.

“So many of my friends are just breathing a sigh of relief. They have been waiting for this,” Ann Wallace said. Her daughter Molly was 16 when she came down with COVID. Molly has grappled with recurring bouts of chronic fatigue ever since.

“Whether they are 8 or 18, long-hauler symptoms is a real struggle, especially for those in school,” Wallace said. “It takes an enormous toll.”

In discussing whether to recommend Pfizer for younger age groups, federal health officials have emphatically pointed not only to the overwhelming benefits of the vaccine, but also to the sobering risks of not making the shot available to vulnerable kids.

“There’s a lot of attention to the vaccine and not as much to the danger of COVID and what it can do,” said Claire Hannan, executive director of the Association of Immunization Managers. “And that’s a really important piece.”

“As a parent, if I had young children this age group, I would get them vaccinated now,” acting Food and Drug Administration Commissioner Janet Woodcock said Friday. “I would not want to take the risk that they would be one of the ones who would develop long COVID.”

“We can include not only the known benefit of the prevention of COVID cases … but many broader benefits — prevention of hospitalizations, MIS-C and deaths — as well as the prevention of additional post-COVID conditions,” CDC’s Sara Oliver said at Tuesday’s meeting recommending the shot.

More than 1 million children were diagnosed with COVID in the past six weeks, adding to the total of more than 6 million children who have tested positive since the start of the pandemic, according to the American Academy of Pediatrics. Of the 1.9 million kids aged 5 to 11 who have gotten COVID, 8,300 wound up hospitalized.

Estimates vary, but studies in adults suggest that 10% to as many as a third of COVID-19 patients go on to develop long-term symptoms.

While vaccinations will help prevent many cases of COVID-19 — and therefore save many children from developing long-haul symptoms — scientists still aren’t sure if getting vaccinated will heal children already living with long COVID.

Molly, now 18, never expected to have symptoms this long. But more than a year after being infected she still struggles with chronic fatigue, and uses an inhaler.

“People are like, ‘Oh, I’ll get better, it’ll be fine.’ But there’s a wide range of ways that COVID can affect you,” she said.

Porter, meanwhile, was concerned how her daughter’s long-hauler symptoms might be impacted by taking the vaccine. But she now plans to get Adria vaccinated in the coming weeks.

“I feel like the last two years were stolen from us,” Porter said. “I feel like she should still be 11. And I should still be 34.”

Terri King’s daughter, Haley, was 9 in November 2020 when her fever began to spike, along with a sore throat, cough, headache and loss of taste and smell. She felt like her mouth was constantly numb and burning, King said. A year later, Haley has a persistent hypersensitivity to noise that interferes with her daily life. King has been hesitant to get Haley vaccinated, though.

Before data was available on Pfizer’s pediatric vaccine, a Kaiser Family Foundation poll suggested that roughly a third of parents of children ages 5 to 11 wanted to “wait and see.” Public health officials are hoping the FDA and CDC’s public review of all available data and strong endorsement will encourage more parents to seek vaccination for their younger children.

“I waiver back and forth, and you tend to get pulled in both directions,” King said. She’s now leaning toward getting Haley vaccinated by the end of the year.

“I know this is what needs to happen for my kids,” King said. “It’s just getting to that point where I’m completely comfortable with having it done. But we’re ready to get back to — and obviously, we know, it’s not going to be the same normal that it used to be — but, you know, back to some kind of normality. We’re ready to start out a new year, new and protected.”

ABC News’ Sony Salzman and Eric M. Strauss contributed to this report.

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(NEW YORK) — A course of pills developed by Pfizer can slash the risk of being hospitalized or dying from COVID-19 by 89% if taken within three days of developing symptoms, according to results released Friday by the pharmaceutical company.

In a study of more than 1,200 COVID-19 patients with a higher risk of developing serious illness, people who took Pfizer’s pills were far less likely to end up in the hospital compared to people who got placebo pills.

None of the people who got the real pills died, but 10 people who got placebo pills died, according to results summarized in a Pfizer press release.

Pfizer CEO Albert Bourla said in prepared remarks that the data suggest the pill-based treatment, if authorized, could “eliminate up to nine out of ten hospitalizations.”

Infectious disease experts cautioned these results are preliminary — only described in a press release and not in a peer-reviewed medical journal — but they represent another promising development in the search for effective and easy-to-administer COVID-19 pills.

Right now, the only authorized treatments are given via intravenous infusion.

“Having an oral therapy is critically important,” said Dr. Carlos Del Rio, the executive associate dean and a global health expert at the Emory School of Medicine.

“If we can get patients to start treatment early before they progress to severe illness and unfortunately death, everyone wins in the fight against COVID,” said Dr. Simone Wildes, a board-certified infectious disease physician at South Shore Health and an ABC News contributor.

Infectious disease specialists stressed that these pills are not a replacement for a vaccine — by far the safest and most effective way to reduce the risk of being hospitalized with COVID-19.

But they may make a big difference if given quickly to people after getting COVID-19, especially the immune compromised, or in places where a vaccine is not available.

Pfizer’s pill-based treatment “would be a good drug for patient with COVID and high risk of progression, vaccinated or not,” said Del Rio, “although the vaccinated were not included in this study.”

Another company — Merck — is ahead of Pfizer on developing a COVID pill treatment, having already applied with the Food and Drug Administration for authorization. Emergency use authorization for the Merck treatment may come before the end of the year.

Merck’s treatment reduced the risk of hospitalizations and deaths by 50%. This could indicate Pfizer’s treatment has an edge on efficacy, but experts cautioned against comparing the studies directly because they were designed in different ways, and measured different so-called “primary endpoints.”

“We need to be cautious comparing studies,” said Dr. Todd Ellerin, director of infectious diseases at South Shore Health and an ABC News Medical Contributor.

The FDA analyzes safety and efficacy before authorizing any medication.

The FDA’s advisory committee is set to review Merck’s application on Nov. 30. Merck CEO told CNBC at the end of October that the company is ready to distribute 10 million courses of treatment by the end of the year.

Pfizer, meanwhile, plans to start sharing the data with the FDA “as soon as possible.”

This Pfizer data is from one of three clinical trials that the company is running. The results from the other two trials are expected by the end of the year. Pfizer then plans to submit all the data and seek authorization at that time, meaning the new medication may be available in early 2022.

Using lessons learned from other infectious diseases, experts said it might one day prove beneficial to combine different antiviral treatments.

“Pfizer oral drug is an investigational SARS-COV-2 protease inhibitor antiviral therapy,” Wildes said. “We have used protease inhibitors drugs in our HIV patients with and they have worked well.”

“Big picture is this is similar to HIV and [hepatitis C] where we have different antivirals,” Ellerin added. “There may be opportunity for combination therapy in the future.”

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(NEW YORK) — You did everything you could to stay safe. You socially distanced. You wore a mask. You avoided large gatherings and unsafe indoor environments. When the coronavirus vaccine became available, you got in line and got your shots. Now that eight months have passed, you’re getting ready to get a booster.

And now, you think, finally, it’s time to throw caution to the wind and return to the life you lived pre-pandemic.

I wish I could tell you that was the case. But for your safety and the safety of those around you — including kids who are about to start getting their vaccinations — it’s time to take a deep breath, tap the brakes, continue using your mask indoors, and not re-engage with large crowds just yet.

Here are five reasons why:

1. Your body needs time to build immunity to COVID-19.

The three authorized COVID-19 vaccines remain incredibly effective at preventing even mild infections. When first authorized, Pfizer and Moderna’s vaccines proved 95% and 94% effective, and Johnson & Johnson’s single-shot vaccine proved 75% effective.

Nevertheless, studies have shown that all three vaccines lose some ability to protect against infections over time. For that reason, experts recommend that people in high-risk groups — such as older adults and people with weakened immune systems — get booster shots.

Like the initial vaccines, booster shots have been shown to be extremely effective at preventing serious illness. In fact, new research shows that people who received booster shots were at a 93% lower risk of being hospitalized and an 81% lower risk of death from COVID-19 compared to people who had only received their initial two shots.

The booster builds on the immunity protection you have developed through your primary vaccination series. But the added protection from a booster doesn’t happen overnight.

“The booster doesn’t work right away; it takes a week or so to have full effect,” says Dr. Megan Ranney, an associate professor of emergency medicine at Brown University. “I frequently see people who take risks before the vaccines have had a chance to protect them.”

Instead, said Ranney, people should continue to take common-sense precautions. “Wash your hands, maintain a little distance and, if you are in an area with high COVID prevalence, wear a mask when you are in crowded public indoor locations,” she said. The guidance about masking indoors doesn’t change, regardless of whether someone has had two doses or three doses of vaccine.

How will you know your immune system is building a response to COVID? You’ll likely feel some side effects. These could include pain at the injection site, fatigue, headache, muscle aches, joint pain and fever.

You can predict what type of side effects you might develop based on which ones you experienced with your previous shots. If your arm hurt for a couple of days last spring, it will likely hurt for a couple of days after you get a booster.

Remember that these side effects are generally mild and temporary, and the vaccines can provide long-lasting protection against COVID-19. Whatever you may experience, it’s crucial to understand that side effects are generally a good sign. They mean your body is responding to the vaccine and building immunity to COVID-19 infection.

2. COVID-19 is still a risk.

Getting a booster shot doesn’t guarantee you won’t be infected with the coronavirus. But it can help your immune system build protection against severe disease or hospitalization — including from the delta variant.

So in order to protect yourself and those around you from infection, continue to follow public health guidance and regulations in your local area regarding masking and social distancing. Both of those, as well as washing your hands regularly with soap and warm water, will provide you with maximum protection against the coronavirus and other viruses circulating this fall and winter as more people are out and about.

3. It’s flu season.

We’ve spent so much time talking about COVID-19 that we may lose sight of the health effects posed by the very common influenza virus, which usually pops up in early autumn and can lead to serious illness.

During the 2019-2020 flu season, 38 million people became sick with flu, resulting in more than 400,000 hospitalizations and 22,000 deaths. Studies have shown that levels of flu last year were at their lowest since 1997, the first year for which data is available. That’s likely because people wore masks, used hand hygiene often, and socially distanced, in order to suppress the spread of COVID-19. Those actions also had the effect of suppressing the flu.

Unfortunately, last year’s mild flu season might lead to a more severe flu season this year, the Centers for Disease Control (CDC) has warned. That’s because people weren’t exposed to flu last year, so they didn’t build up an immunity to the virus.

The good news is that flu vaccines are widely available. In fact, the CDC says it’s perfectly safe to get the COVID and flu vaccines during the same visit. So whether or not you get a booster shot, “we should always prepare for the flu season by planning to get vaccinated,” Dr. David Hirschwerk, an infectious disease specialist at Northwell Health in New York, told ABC News.

In the meantime, masks, hand-washing and all of the other measures that you used to protect against COVID-19 will generally also protect you against flu.

4. Other viruses are out there.

No, they’re nothing to panic about — but just as with flu, the CDC warns that there’s likely to be a resurgence of other non-COVID-19 respiratory viruses this year. These include adenovirus and respiratory syncytial virus (RSV), which are frequent causes of the common cold during the winter months.

COVID-19 shutdowns and other precautions kept RSV from spreading during the winter of 2020-21. But when the shutdowns ended in the spring, RSV numbers started to rise. In fact, the CDC warns it has “observed an increase in RSV detections reported to the National Respiratory and Enteric Virus Surveillance System (NREVSS), a nationwide passive, laboratory-based surveillance network.”

With a resurgence of these viruses, you want to be careful that you don’t increase your risk of exposure to them while you’re reinforcing your COVID-19 protection. Though you won’t be more susceptible to these other viruses the week after you take the booster, it will make it difficult to determine whether any symptoms you exhibit are side effects from a booster shot or actual symptoms of illness. I would suggest waiting a week after your booster before participating in any medium- or large-sized gatherings, and using an elbow or fist bump rather than shaking hands.

Dr. Sachin Jain, a doctor of internal medicine who serves as president and CEO of SCAN Health Plan, also cautions people against spreading common cold viruses because they can have outsized effects on older adults. “Some older adults, especially those with chronic illness, can be more susceptible to viruses like RSV,” said Jain. “For that reason, it’s best to keep practicing behaviors that will protect the health of older adults in our communities.”

These viruses might pose an even greater threat to those with long-term COVID-19 symptoms, known as long COVID. “Those with long COVID may be at higher risk for other infections such as flu and RSV, based on their immune status and history of pre-existing conditions,” said Dr. Sritha Rajupet, primary care lead for the Post-COVID Clinic at Stony Brook Medicine in New York. “Preventive measures such as vaccination against flu, shingles and pneumonia, to name a few, are essential.”

5. Community transmission matters.

Even though you may have gotten your vaccinations, the COVID-19 virus is still prevalent in many communities. And the best way to protect yourself and others is through what ABC News contributor Dr. John Brownstein calls “layers of protection.”

“For many, boosters provide additional protection for those that have underlying concerns of severe disease or increased risk of exposure,” said Brownstein, an epidemiologist and chief innovation officer at Boston Children’s Hospital.

Nevertheless, Brownstein said, “If community transmission continues to be high, it’s important to follow public health guidance regardless of your number of shots.”

So yes, if you’re an older adult or your body is immuno-compromised, it’s a good idea to get a booster shot. But that doesn’t mean it’s time to brush aside those public health measures that keep us, our loved ones, and our communities safe.

Dr. Jay Bhatt, an ABC News contributor, is an internal medicine physician and an instructor at the University of Illinois School of Public Health.

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(NEW YORK) — A COVID-19 vaccine is now available for kids ages 5 to 11, marking a major milestone in the nearly two-year coronavirus pandemic.

Dr. Rochelle Walensky, director of the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC), on Tuesday signed off on recommendations made earlier in the day by an independent CDC advisory panel, making the Pfizer vaccine available to the approximately 28 million children aged 5 to 11 in the United States.

“We know millions of parents are eager to get their children vaccinated and with this decision, we now have recommended that about 28 million children receive a COVID-19 vaccine,” Walensky said in a statement. “As a mom, I encourage parents with questions to talk to their pediatrician, school nurse or local pharmacist to learn more about the vaccine and the importance of getting their children vaccinated.”

Here are five things parents should know about COVID-19 vaccines and kids under the age of 12:

1. The vaccine will be distributed to kids through pediatricians, pharmacies, health clinics and more.

Shipping has already begun on the first batch of 15 million Pfizer pediatric vaccine doses after the White House purchased 65 million doses, more than enough to fully vaccinate all kids ages 5 to 11 in the U.S.

The vaccinations are expected to become widely available the week of Nov. 8. They will be accessible at pediatricians’ offices, children’s hospitals, pharmacies like CVS, Walgreens and Rite-Aid, and school and community-based clinics.

Parents can search for appointments at Vaccines.gov to find a local provider.

Once they receive their first shot, children will be given a vaccine card, just like adults and adolescents.

2. The Pfizer dose is different for kids under age 12.

Kids ages 5 to 11 will be given a 10-micrograms dose, one-third of the adolescent and adult dose.

Like with adults and adolescents, the pediatric vaccine will be delivered in two doses, three weeks apart.

A child will be considered fully immunized two weeks after their second dose.

To troubleshoot any confusion in the distribution of Pfizer’s vaccine, orange-capped vials will contain doses for kids aged 5 to 11, while purple-capped vials will contain doses for adult and older adolescents.

3. The new dose is because of kids’ immune systems, not their size.

Children have different immune systems than adults, so it should be reassuring for parents the Pfizer vaccine has been shown to be safe in kids.

Differing immune systems among people of different ages also help explain why the cutoffs for vaccine eligibility rest on age and not body size.

In addition to the COVID-19 vaccine, other immunizations are also scheduled and administered based on age and not weight. This is partially due to the fact that the body’s immune responses to vaccinations and infection are known to be different based on age.

4. The FDA will decide later on full approval for the vaccine.

Following normal protocol, the FDA will continue to review data to decide whether to grant full FDA approval for the vaccine in kids ages 5 to 11.

The FDA approved the Pfizer vaccine for people ages 16 and older in August. It is currently authorized for emergency use in children ages 12 to 15.

The two other vaccines currently available in the U.S., Moderna and Johnson & Johnson, are currently available only for people 18 years and older.

Moderna announced in late October that it plans to submit data to the FDA soon showing its vaccine for children ages 6 to 11 produces a strong immune response and appears safe.

5. Families need to remain vigilant against COVID-19.

Unvaccinated children can not only become ill from COVID-19 themselves, but they can also spread the virus to more vulnerable family members and other adults with whom they interact.

Both the CDC and the American Academy of Pediatrics recommend universal mask-wearing in schools to help slow the spread of COVID-19.

Experts said that in addition to unvaccinated children wearing face masks, parents and siblings who are vaccinated should also continue to wear face masks indoors because of the rates of breakthrough infections in the U.S.

Families should also continue to follow other safety guidelines shared throughout the pandemic, including social distancing and hand-washing.

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(LOS ANGELES) — Thousands of Los Angeles County employees are being put on notice in the weeks after a COVID-19 vaccine mandate deadline passed.

County employees had by Oct. 1 to submit proof of their vaccination status. The order, announced by the Los Angeles County Board of Supervisors in early August, encompasses sheriff’s deputies, firefighters, hospital staff, social workers and others.

As of Tuesday, 77.7% of the county’s 101,575 current employees are fully vaccinated, county data shows. A dozen departments are reporting vaccination rates of at least 90%, while nearly half of the departments are reporting vaccination rates between 80% and 89%. Seven departments are below 80%.

Nearly 10% of all county employees have yet to register to submit their vaccination status.

Those who fail to get vaccinated or submit a request for a medical or religious exemption could face disciplinary action, including termination.

In the weeks since the vaccine mandate deadline passed, the county has been sending notices in waves to non-compliant employees, advising them that they have 45 days to register as fully vaccinated or request an accommodation. After that point, the employees will be put on a five-day suspension and have 30 days upon return to comply.

Failure to comply within that time period “may result in disciplinary action and continued noncompliance may result in further disciplinary action, up to and including discharge from County service,” the notice states.

As of Oct. 12, unvaccinated employees are also required to undergo weekly COVID-19 testing until submitting proof of vaccination and could face disciplinary action for failing to get tested.

The sheriff’s department has the lowest rate of compliance, with 52% of members fully vaccinated, the county data shows. Over 20% of the 16,070-person department has yet to register to submit a vaccination status.

Los Angeles County Sheriff Alex Villanueva, who has been a vocal critic of the vaccine mandate, warned in a letter to the Los Angeles County Board of Supervisors last week that the department stands to lose a “substantial” number of employees over the policy.

“People are not happy with the vaccine mandate,” Villanueva told reporters during a press briefing Tuesday, attributing hesitancy among sworn staff to a lack of “faith in a vaccine.”

“Some of it is driven by a political ideology. Some of it might be irrational, some people have legitimate reasons why they don’t trust the vaccine,” he said.

As notices are rolling out, the county has continued to address vaccine hesitancy.

“We’re encouraging vaccination through an extensive internal communications campaign, including town hall meetings with experts, weekly fliers, messages from County leaders, meetings with our labor partners and other messaging that we are continuing to expand,” Jesus Ruiz, a spokesperson for the Los Angeles County Chief Executive Office, told ABC News in a statement.

County employees are not the only ones subject to a vaccine mandate. Workers in adult and senior care facilities and in-home direct care settings must be fully vaccinated by Nov. 30 under a state order. In the city of Los Angeles, city employees, including police officers, as well as public school staff and students, have vaccine requirements.

Proof of vaccination is also required to enter or work in indoor portions of bars, lounges, nightclubs, breweries, wineries and distilleries in Los Angeles County.

County health officials stressed the importance of vaccination Tuesday, as COVID-19 transmission remains “substantial” heading into the holiday season.

“While transmission is substantial, we need to continue layering on protections, understanding that significant spread of the virus affects unvaccinated individuals and increasingly results in post-vaccination infections among those vaccinated,” Barbara Ferrer, director of the Los Angeles County Department of Public Health, said in a statement. “Substantial spread also creates a fertile breeding ground for new variants that can threaten our progress to date.”

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(NEW YORK) — Jessica Simpson has been sober for four years.

The singer and entrepreneur penned an emotional Instagram post on Monday, in which she shared a photo of herself from Nov. 1, 2017: the day she decided to stop drinking alcohol.

Explaining that she had become “an unrecognizable version of myself,” she stated that she “knew in this very moment I would allow myself to take back my light, show victory over my internal battle of self respect, and brave this world with piercing clarity.”

“Personally, to do this I needed to stop drinking alcohol because it kept my mind and heart circling in the same direction and quite honestly I was exhausted,” she wrote. “I wanted to feel the pain so I could carry it like a badge of honor. I wanted to live as a leader does and break cycles to advance forward- never looking back with regret and remorse over any choice I have made and would make for the rest of my time here within this beautiful world.”

Simpson, 41, revealed in her 2020 memoir, “Open Book,” that she was sexually abused as a child and added that as an adult, she used alcohol and pills to cope with the pain of that experience. Then, after a Halloween party at her home in 2017, she realized she needed to stop drinking.

“There is so much stigma around the word alcoholism or the label of an alcoholic. The real work that needed to be done in my life was to actually accept failure, pain, brokenness, and self sabotage,” she added in her post Monday. “The drinking wasn’t the issue. I was.”

“I didn’t love myself. I didn’t respect my own power. Today I do,” she continued. “I have made nice with the fears and I have accepted the parts of my life that are just sad. I own my personal power with soulful courage. I am wildly honest and comfortably open. I am free.”

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(NEW YORK) — As the COVID-19 pandemic has swept the globe, more than 5 million people have died from the disease worldwide, including over 746,000 Americans, according to real-time data compiled by Johns Hopkins University’s Center for Systems Science and Engineering.

Just 67.8% of Americans ages 12 and up are fully vaccinated against COVID-19, according to data from the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.

Latest headlines:

Nov 01, 1:50 pm
Kids’ shots not widely available until Nov. 8

Several million vaccines for kids ages 5 to 11 were en route Monday to large pharmacies, medical centers and other select locations, with shots expected to begin as early as Wednesday if the CDC signs off on them this week.

However, the program for pediatric vaccinations probably won’t be “fully up and running” until the week of Nov. 8, Jeff Zients, the White House coordinator on COVID-19, said Monday.

“We are planning on some vaccinations towards the end of this week, but the program for kids ages 5 through 11 [will] really [be] hitting full strength the week of Nov. 8,” he said.

“Since FDA’s authorization last Friday, there hasn’t been a moment our teams have not been picking, packing and shipping vaccines,” Zients said. “They’ve been working 24/7 and will continue to do so.”

An initial shipment of 15 million doses for kids ages 5 to 11 began moving from Pfizer’s freezers this weekend following last week’s authorization by the FDA. Packed in dry ice, the doses are labeled for tracking before shipping out. The doses are a third the size of adult shots and given orange caps to prevent potential mix ups.

When pressed by ABC News on why shots won’t be more widely available earlier, administration officials said shipments couldn’t start until FDA authorization and that moving 15 million doses take time.

-ABC News’ Anne Flaherty

Nov 01, 1:10 pm
‘Important milestone’: 70% of US adults now fully vaccinated

CDC director Rochelle Walensky said the U.S. “hit two important milestones” Monday with 70% of adults now fully vaccinated and 80% of adults who have had at least their first shot.

In the last two days, 2 million Americans received a booster shot, and now a total of 20 million Americans have had a booster, Walensky said at Monday’s White House briefing.

Walensky added that pediatric vaccines are “safe and highly effective.”

“Parents should feel comforted not just that their children will be protected, but that this vaccine has gone through the necessary and rigorous evaluation that ensures the vaccine is safe and highly effective,” she said.

-ABC News’ Anne Flaherty

Nov 01, 12:58 pm
‘Very likely’ everyone will be booster-eligible within ‘reasonable amount of time’: Fauci

Dr. Anthony Fauci said at a White House briefing that it’s “very likely” everyone will be eligible for a booster shot “within a reasonable amount of time.”

Fauci added that people who don’t yet have a booster are “really quite protected” against severe disease and hospitalization, but he said boosters are about staying ahead of the virus.

CDC director Rochelle Walensky added that new cases in the U.S. are “overwhelmingly” among unvaccinated people.

-ABC News’ Cheyenne Haslett

Nov 01, 6:52 am
Biden tests negative after White House press secretary contracts COVID-19

U.S. President Joe Biden has tested negative for COVID-19, after White House press secretary Jen Psaki contracted the disease.

White House principal deputy press secretary Karine Jean-Pierre confirmed to reporters aboard Air Force One en route to Scotland on Monday morning that Biden took a PCR (polymerase chain reaction) test on Sunday, which came back negative. A negative PCR test was required for entry to the United Kingdom.

Psaki, who is fully vaccinated, revealed in a statement on Sunday evening that she tested positive for COVID-19 and has been experiencing “mild symptoms.” She said she chose not to travel with Biden to the Group of 20 summit in Rome after members of her household tested positive last week. Jean-Pierre has instead accompanied the president on his high-stakes trip overseas.

Psaki said she quarantined and tested negative on Wednesday, Thursday, Friday and Saturday; but on Sunday, she tested positive.

Biden will arrive in Glasgow on Monday for the 2021 United Nations Climate Change Conference, also known as COP26.

-ABC News’ Sarah Kolinovsky and Ben Siegel

Nov 01, 5:35 am
Global death toll from COVID-19 tops 5 million

The worldwide number of people who have died from COVID-19 surpassed 5 million on Monday, less than two years after the pandemic began.

The global death toll from the disease now stands at 5,000,425, according to a count kept by Johns Hopkins University. The staggering figure is believed to be an undercount due to limitations in testing and record-keeping, especially in poor countries like India. Nevertheless, COVID-19 is now the third leading cause of death globally, after ischemic heart disease and stroke.

The United States alone has recorded 745,836 fatalities, the highest of any country. Brazil and India are not far behind with tallies at 607,824 and 458,437, respectively, according to Johns Hopkins data.

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(NEW YORK) — COVID-19 vaccine shots for kids ages 5 to 11 may be available as soon as next week after the Food and Drug Administration (FDA) on Friday authorized the Pfizer vaccine for kids.

With the FDA’s authorization, the initial 15 million doses of the vaccine are expected to start shipping out of Pfizer’s manufacturing plant within 24 hours.

It will then be up to Dr. Rochelle Walensky, director of the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC), to make the final decision on whether to recommend the Pfizer vaccine for the approximately 28 million U.S. children aged 5 to 11.

She is expected to make her decision quickly after a CDC advisory panel meets on Tuesday, meaning vaccinations could start as early as next week.

Dr. Francis Collins, director of the National Institutes of Health, said on “Good Morning America” this week that getting more kids vaccinated will be key to ending the pandemic in the U.S.

“If we can create a situation where more of these kids are not getting infected, we should be able to drive this pandemic down, which is what we really hope to do, even as we face the cold [weather] and other concerns about whether we might see another surge,” said Collins. “We don’t want that, and this would be one significant step forward in getting our country really in a better place.”

As the countdown begins, here are five things parents should know about COVID-19 vaccines and kids under the age of 12.

1. Kids ages 5 to 11 are still not yet eligible for a COVID-19 vaccine.

With the FDA’s authorization, the decision has now moved to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention’s vaccine advisory group.

That group, the Advisory Committee on Immunization Practices, is scheduled to meet Tuesday to review the same data reviewed by the FDA advisers.

Then, once the ACIP recommends the vaccine, the CDC director must sign off on it, the final step in the authorization process.

Once that decision is made, the vaccine would be able to be administered relatively quickly to children across the country.

At the same time, the FDA will continue to review data to decide whether to grant full FDA approval for the vaccine in kids ages 5 to 11.

The FDA approved the Pfizer vaccine for people ages 16 and older in August. It is currently authorized for emergency use in children ages 12 to 15.

The two other vaccines currently available in the U.S., Moderna and Johnson & Johnson, are currently available only for people 18 years and older.

Moderna said Monday it plans to submit data to the FDA soon showing its vaccine for children ages 6 to 11 produces a strong immune response and appears safe.

2. The Pfizer dose is different for kids under age 12.

In Pfizer and BioNTech’s clinical trial of more than 2,200 children, the COVID-19 vaccine was administered in two doses, but the doses were one-third the amount given to adults.

The clinical trial results, which have not yet been peer-reviewed, showed the antibody response in children at that dose was at least as strong as the full adult dose in patients ages 16 to 25.

Pfizer and BioNTech say the vaccine produced minimal side effects in children ages 5 to 11, and the side effects were similar to those experienced by adults and older children.

For 12- to 15-year-olds, the FDA has authorized the same dosing as adults with the Pfizer two-dose vaccine.

3. The vaccine’s focus is on kids’ immune systems.

Children have different immune systems than adults, so it should be reassuring for parents that the Pfizer/BioNTech vaccine has been shown to be safe in kids.

Differing immune systems among people of different ages also help explain why the cutoffs for vaccine eligibility rest on age and not body size.

In addition to the COVID-19 vaccine, other immunizations are also scheduled and administered based on age and not weight. This is partially due to the fact that the body’s immune responses to vaccinations and infection are known to be different based on age.

4. The vaccine will be distributed to kids through pediatricians, pharmacies, health clinics and more.

Once greenlighted, the pediatric doses of the vaccine will be sent to thousands of sites across the country, including more than 25,000 pediatricians’ offices, more than 100 children’s hospitals, tens of thousands of pharmacies and hundreds of school- and community-based clinics, the White House announced Oct. 20.

Though the White House has purchased 65 million Pfizer pediatric vaccine doses — more than enough to fully vaccine all children ages 5 to 11 in America — the first launch will dole out doses in waves based on states’ eligible population of kids.

The distribution plan will also include a national public education campaign to “reach parents and guardians with accurate and culturally-responsive information about the vaccine and the risks that COVID-19 poses to children,” according to the White House.

White House officials told the nation’s governors on Oct. 12 that it has enough pediatric doses on hand for the 28 million children ages 5 through 11 expected to become eligible once the CDC gives the green light.

To troubleshoot any confusion in distribution, federal health officials are outlining a new color-coded cap system for each formulation of the vaccine, though still “preliminary.” Purple-capped vials will contain doses for adult and older adolescents, a chart offered to states said; orange-capped vials will contain doses for kids aged 5 to 11.

5. Families need to remain vigilant against COVID-19.

Unvaccinated children can not only become ill from COVID-19 themselves, but they can also spread the virus to more vulnerable family members and other adults with whom they interact.

Both the CDC and the American Academy of Pediatrics recommend universal mask-wearing in schools to help slow the spread of COVID-19.

Experts said that in addition to unvaccinated children wearing face masks, parents and siblings who are vaccinated should also continue to wear face masks indoors because of the rates of breakthrough infections in the U.S.

Families should also continue to follow other safety guidelines shared throughout the pandemic, including social distancing and hand-washing.

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(WASHINGTON) — The Biden administration is launching a new effort with The Rockefeller Foundation to encourage schools to set up surveillance COVID testing for students and staff, ABC News has learned.

The effort, which will be led by the Education Department and Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, comes seven months after President Joe Biden pledged $10 billion for testing by schools.

The idea is that school districts around the country, particularly elementary schools with large populations of unvaccinated children, would routinely test kids, teachers and other staff for COVID-19 to prevent the spread of the virus.

But some states have rejected their share of the $10 billion in federal funds for COVID-19 testing in schools while others have been painfully slow in actually implementing virus mitigation plans.

A survey of the nation’s 100 largest school districts from the Center on Reinventing Public Education found that less than 15% of those schools are utilizing federal funding dollars to establish COVID-19 in-school screening programs.

Meanwhile, pediatric COVID cases increased this summer with many school districts reporting mass quarantines at the beginning of the school year.

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(NEW YORK) — ABC News’ Amy Robach was diagnosed with breast cancer eight years ago, on Oct. 30, 2013.

Following a live mammogram on “Good Morning America” to kick of Breast Cancer Awareness Month, Robach, then 40, received a phone call several weeks later, on Oct. 30, telling her she had stage 2 invasive breast cancer.

“It can make me emotional literally thinking about it right now,” Robach said of that phone call. “When I first got diagnosed, it’s just a whirlwind of so many decisions … and it all happens so quickly.”

Very soon after her diagnosis, Robach underwent a double mastectomy, followed by eight rounds of chemotherapy and then breast reconstruction surgery.

She also began to take a daily medication, tamoxifen, that she will continue to take for three more years. The drug, which helps lower the risk of cancer recurrence, can induce symptoms of menopause, like hot flashes, night sweats and menstrual changes, according to the American Cancer Society.

Robach described the treatments she underwent as grueling, and the process of fighting cancer as a long and dark tunnel, one that included mental and physical changes including short-term memory loss and the loss of her hair.

What surprised Robach even more in her cancer journey was what happened once she finished treatment and was declared a cancer survivor.

“You think you’re going to celebrate,” said Robach. “But you’re so sick still. You’re so weak still. All of those chemicals are still in your body.”

Robach said she struggled emotionally and physically as she adjusted from fighting breast cancer to surviving it, noting, “Cancer never leaves you.”

“Once you’re finished with the treatments and the surgeries, there’s a fear that steps in,” she said. “You don’t even have time to really think about it when you’re fighting. When you stop actually fighting with treatments, you then think, ‘Oh no, what’s next? What happens now?'”

Those are questions likely asked by millions of people who have battled breast cancer, the second-most common cancer among women in the United States, according to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.

But while people and organizations rally around those undergoing breast cancer treatment, it can still be taboo to talk about breast cancer in general, and the struggles that survivors of breast cancer can face in the weeks, months and years after treatment.

“I’ve had so many conversations where if I mention cancer or talk about being a breast cancer survivor, or thriver, people immediately get uncomfortable,” said Robach. “It’s something that nobody necessarily wants to talk about it, and some people feel really uncomfortable knowing what to say next about it.”

Following treatment, Robach and other breast cancer survivors face bodies that can be dramatically different than pre-cancer.

“When you’re fighting for your life, it sounds silly to think about vanity, but it is a part of the cancer journey,” said Robach, who experienced hair loss, changes in her skin tone and scars and the loss of her breasts from her double mastectomy. “Looking at your body, and not recognizing it is a really frightening thing, actually, because it happens so suddenly, and even with reconstruction, things are not the same, they never will be.”

Physically, after finishing chemotherapy, Robach said it took at least one year for her to rebuild her strength, noting that in the aftermath of treatment, “You just feel weak, and you feel scared and you are dealing with all of the aftermath of chemo for months and months and months.”

Mentally, it would take another year for her to feel like she could regain control of her life.

“I would say it took me a full two years before I felt like, ‘OK, how am I going to live my life? What am I going to do with my life?'” she said. “The truth is, I was scared to even plan for a future, to even plan for the next year or five years or 10 years. I felt like it was maybe jinxing my health, jinxing my remission.”

Robach said what has helped her navigate the unknowns of her breast cancer journey has been finding someone she can talk about it with honestly, someone who has walked the same path before.

In Robach’s case, that person has been “Good Morning America” co-anchor Robin Roberts, also a breast cancer survivor, whom Robach called a “beacon of light.”

“I remember when I finished treatment, she told me this, ‘Be careful. We all want to celebrate the end of chemo. We all want to celebrate the end of surgery, but you should prepare yourself for the next phase of cancer,'” Robach recalled. “When you’re in remission, sure you’re grateful, yes, you’re excited, but there’s a fear. … You always have the threat of recurrence.”

Like many breast cancer survivors, Robach gets blood work done twice each year to check if any cancer has returned in her body, a reminder, she says, that cancer is “something that you live with for the rest of your life.”

“I have a tough time, every time,” she said, noting the days leading up to the test can be filled with “depression” and “fear.”

But the biannual tests have also, in more recent years, become what Robach calls her “biannual reminder to live, and to live out loud.”

In Robach’s case, that has meant climbing mountains, traveling the globe, running marathons, feeling gratitude every day and fighting to become the healthiest version of herself in the years since her diagnosis.

“It makes me feel so joyful to know that I am challenging myself physically, and believing in my body again, trusting in my body, again, investing in my body again, and really doing everything in my power to make sure that if this thing comes back, or even if it’s living in me now, I am in fight mode,” said Robach. “At 48 years old, I’m significantly more healthy than I was in my 20s and 30s.”

“Cancer gave me a reason to be the best version of myself, and that’s what I’ve done,” she said. “You realize that fear can either cripple you or it can motivate you, and it had been crippling me. And I decided to change it, and let that fear be motivating.”

Robach said that after not wanting to do the mammogram on-air eight years ago because she did not want people talking about her breasts, she is now incredibly proud and grateful that she shared her breast cancer battle publicly.

“I would just encourage everyone to tell your story because it does save lives, it does impact lives and it frees you,” she said. “I find talking about it makes it a little bit less painful because you’re releasing it and you can have a shared experience with someone else because there are so many of us out there who’ve been through it. We’re all brothers and sisters in this fight.”

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