(LOS ANGELES) — There was a “troubling delay” in acting on multiple reports of possible drugging and sexual assault at a University of Southern California fraternity, the school’s president acknowledged in a letter to students amid an investigation into growing allegations against fraternities on the Los Angeles campus.
Last week, USC informed students that it suspended the Sigma Nu fraternity after an alleged sexual assault and “possible drug-facilitated sexual assaults” at its house. The move came nearly a month after several students confidentially reported to the university’s counseling service that they “may have experienced drugging and possible sexual assault in connection with a fraternity party,” President Carol Folt detailed in a letter posted Friday.
The students disclosed the information to the school’s Relationship and Sexual Assault Violence Prevention Services (RSVP) program between Sept. 25 and Sept. 30, Folt said. On Sept. 30, RSVP decided to elevate the information to several university departments, including public safety.
A separate incident of an alleged sexual assault by a member of the fraternity was also reported to the school’s Department of Public Safety on Oct. 16.
The school’s Clery Office, which tracks and discloses campus crime, received information on both sets of events on Oct. 20, at which point the Sigma Nu fraternity was suspended and students notified.
“We now know that there was a troubling delay in acting on this information, and specifically in evaluating it for notification to the community,” Folt wrote in her letter.
“We are still investigating what occurred next, but there was clearly uncertainty regarding how to assess and process the information, and it was not immediately escalated to the Clery Office or others,” she added.
Since first alerting the school community to the alleged incidents at Sigma Nu, USC has received additional reports of sexual assault and possible drugging at other fraternity houses this fall and in previous years, Folt said.
All incidents disclosed to the school since Sept. 25 have been reported to the Los Angeles Police Department, which said last week it was investigating possible drug-facilitated sexual assaults.
Activities at all USC fraternities have been suspended indefinitely, and USC will permanently ban or delist fraternities “if warranted,” Folt said.
In the wake of multiple campus alerts about alleged assaults at Sigma Nu, USC students have held protests demanding action from the university. Angry notes now also plaster the Sigma Nu fraternity house with messages like “do better” and “enough is enough.”
Folt became president of USC in 2019, after the previous president stepped down amid reports the school ignored allegations of widespread sexual misconduct by former campus gynecologist George Tyndall.
“As president, I came to USC with the promise to confront what is wrong and lead the effort to fix what is broken,” she wrote in her letter. “As we learn more, there will be some things we can do quickly and others that will take more time. This is too important to not get right.”
(DENVER) — While some areas of the country are cautiously celebrating falling COVID-19 cases, hoping the declines might signal the return to a long-awaited sense of normalcy, some states continue to struggle as Americans prepare for winter.
Health officials in Colorado are growing increasingly concerned as the rate of COVID-19 infections grows to levels not seen in more than 10 months.
There is “a clear increase in cases statewide,” state epidemiologist Dr. Rachel Herlihy said in a COVID-19 briefing on Thursday.
In the last month alone, the state’s daily case average has nearly doubled — increasing by 91.5% since late September, according to federal data, and state data shows that Colorado’s average positivity rate has risen from just under 7% last week, to nearly 8.5% this week.
“Colorado moving in the wrong direction is a clear signal that we are not yet out of this pandemic, especially in under-vaccinated states. Colorado has yet to reach 70% with a first dose and if you layer in colder temperatures and relaxed masking, history is likely to repeat itself,” said John Brownstein, an epidemiologist at Boston Children’s Hospital and an ABC News contributor.
While southern states in particular are seeing significant declines in their rates of infection, several states with colder weather, like Colorado, are beginning to experience an uptick in cases, as people begin to increasingly head indoors.
“Coronaviruses tend to thrive in winter months and colder weather,” Centers for Disease Control and Prevention Director Rochelle Walensky said in a White House COVID-19 briefing last week. “Right now is not the time, as cases are coming down, to become complacent because we do know colder weather is ahead of us.”
Five states — Alaska, Colorado, Maine, New Hampshire and New Mexico — have all seen a percent increase in hospital admissions of about 15% or more in the last two weeks.
“We are continuing to move very much in the wrong direction,” Scott Bookman, Colorado’s COVID-19 chief, said at a briefing on Wednesday.
According to state officials, the highest coronavirus case rate is among the 5- to 17-year-old age group.
Coronavirus-related hospitalizations have also been increasing in the state, a trend that is particularly worrying health officials.
Approximately 90% of the state’s surgical and intensive care unit beds are currently in use, according to state officials. There are currently nearly 1,300 patients hospitalized with COVID-19 — the highest number of patients receiving care since December, and on average, federal data shows that nearly 200 residents are being admitted to the hospital with COVID-19 each day.
“With the increase in percent of positivity and the concern of increase in cases in the coming weeks, we are all very concerned at this point about what we are seeing in our hospitals,” said Bookman.
And as more patients stream into emergency rooms in need of care, the average number of available beds is rapidly declining.
Thirty percent of hospitals anticipate an ICU bed shortage in the next week. State health officials have told ABC News that hospitals in El Paso County have had days when they’ve had to turn away transfer requests.
The majority of those COVID-19 positive patients — 77% — are unvaccinated individuals.
To date, 61% of the total population in Colorado has been fully vaccinated, leaving a significant number of residents still unvaccinated. People who have not been fully vaccinated are 6.1 times more likely to test positive with the virus and 11.3 times more likely to die from it, compared with people who are vaccinated, according to the CDC.
The notable divide between vaccinated and unvaccinated is evident in counties across the state.
In Crowley County, home to just over 6,000 residents, less than 49% of the eligible population has been vaccinated with at least one shot, according to state data. High transmission across the county remains rampant. In El Paso County, which currently has one of the state’s highest number of hospital admissions rate, approximately 65% of the county’s population over 12 have been fully vaccinated.
In total, 15 Colorado counties are significantly lagging, partially vaccinating 50% or less of their eligible population.
Comparatively, 11 counties have vaccinated at least 80% of their total population with at least one shot. San Miguel County, with a population of over 8,100, has 74% of its population fully vaccinated, and its infection rate has remained steadily low, despite increasing figures across the rest of the state.
If the situation in Colorado does not improve in the coming days, Colorado Gov. Jared Polis said Thursday he is prepared to take certain steps to address the uptick, including bringing in federal medical surge teams to help local hospitals in need of extra support, halting elective surgeries, expanding the use of monoclonal antibody treatment and possibly reactivating crisis standards of care, which determine how to most efficiently use medical resources, such as ventilators or ICU beds.
“A new surge once again places a challenging burden on our already tired health care professionals while also deferring important hospital procedures. This should really send a message to those still on the fence to do their part,” said Brownstein. “Remaining unvaccinated populations still represent opportunities for this virus to spread. This surge in Colorado should serve as an important warning to other states as we head into the winter months.”
(ARLINGTON, Va.) — Numerous police departments in Northern Virginia say the public can expect to see expanded police presence at shopping malls, public centers and gatherings over the Halloween weekend in response to a potential threat.
The potential threat to shopping malls emanated from intelligence possibly linked to ISIS, according to multiple law enforcement and intelligence sources. The credibility of the information is still being assessed, sources said.
An FBI spokesperson said in a statement, “We have no comment. However, we would remind you the FBI takes all potential threats to public safety seriously and we take all appropriate steps to determine the credibility of any information we receive.”
The Arlington County Police Department issued a statement calling it a “potential public safety threat.”
“The Arlington County Police Department (ACPD) is aware of information circulating regarding a non-specific, unconfirmed threat to shopping centers,” it said in the statement. “There is no specific or identified threat to our region. As always, the public is encouraged to remain attentive as you go about your normal routine, particularly in areas where large crowds of people typically gather such as shopping centers, restaurant districts, religious services, and public transportation hubs to name a few.”
Chief Kevin Davis of the Fairfax County Police Department said at a press conference Friday the the intelligence concerns “potential public safety impacts to malls and shopping centers across the region.”
“We’re taking it seriously,” Davis said. “We’re simply being proactive.”
“We’re acting with an abundance of caution in the best interest of those who reside here,” he said.
The chief did not provide details on what the threat was, but urged the public to be vigilant.
Davis called this a “regional matter” with information from collaborative sharing.
“It’s information we’re acting on by establishing a greater presence where people gather,” Davis explained. “We’re taking the appropriate responsible actions to ensure that the community knows that we take all information about their safety seriously.”
Other departments, such as the Alexandria, Virginia, Police Department, Loudon County Sheriff’s Office and Prince William County Sheriff’s Office, offered similar warnings.
(CHARLESTON, S.C.) — The relatives of those killed in the 2015 Charleston Church shooting are speaking out after they came to an $88 million settlement with the federal government over allegations the FBI was negligent in performing a background check on shooter Dylann Roof.
Rev. Anthony Thompson, whose wife was slain in the attack, said that the settlement brought some closure in “the tragedy of his life.”
“It’s been a long and tedious road and a lot of pain, a lot of suffering,” said Thompson. “It’s been hard to move my life forward because of all the legalities involved. Having to appear in court, having to send pictures and just revisit this whole situation time after time.”
Months before Roof opened fire at Mother Emanuel Church in Charleston, South Carolina, and killed nine in a racist attack, he was arrested on drug possession charges. Despite having a prior criminal history, Roof was still able to purchase the handgun used in the massacre.
“The mass shooting at Mother Emanuel AME Church was a horrific hate crime that caused immeasurable suffering for the families of the victims and the survivors,” said Attorney General Merrick B. Garland in a statement released Thursday. “Since the day of the shooting, the Justice Department has sought to bring justice to the community, first by a successful hate crime prosecution and today by settling civil claims.”
Roof’s victims include Clementa Pinckney, Cynthia Hurd, Susie Jackson, Ethel Lance, Depayne Middleton-Doctor, Tywanza Sanders, Daniel Simmons, Sharonda Colemen-Singleton and Myra Thompson.
Roof, who is a self-declared white supremacist, was convicted of 33 federal hate crime and murder charges. He was sentenced to death in 2017.
Although Thompson said no amount of money can bring back his wife, he called the Justice Department’s settlement “fair” and said he’s glad to be able to move on in his life.
Thompson’s lawyer, Mullins McLeod, said that the settlement sends a bigger message.
“Unfortunately, in America, African Americans have not always experienced equal justice in our courts,” said McLeod. “This settlement, where the defendant is the most powerful nation on earth, sends a powerful message that justice does exist.”
Thompson has both publicly and privately forgiven Roof for the attack. He said that expressing forgiveness has brought the Charleston community closer together.
“The community of Charleston [has] a history of slavery here. … Even in my lifetime, I’ve experienced discrimination [and] racism, on the job, in schools,” said Thompson. “After [the church] expressed our forgiveness, there was a change. Our community came together.”
(NEW YORK) — As the COVID-19 pandemic has swept the globe, more than 4.9 million people have died from the disease worldwide, including over 743,000 Americans, according to real-time data compiled by Johns Hopkins University’s Center for Systems Science and Engineering.
Just 67.4% 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.
Here’s how the news is developing. All times Eastern:
Oct 29, 6:44 pm
SCOTUS rejects bid to block Maine vaccine mandate for health care workers
The U.S. Supreme Court has denied a request for an emergency injunction against Maine’s COVID-19 vaccine mandate for health care staff.
A Maine physician and several others had sued the state over the mandate, which required that all health care workers be fully vaccinated by Oct. 1, because it disallows religious exemptions.
With three justices dissenting, the high court rejected the application Friday, though it could still grant the case on the merits and take it up for further consideration.
-ABC News’ Devin Dwyer
Oct 29, 6:28 pm
Federal court lifts pause on New York vaccine mandate for health care workers
A federal appeals court has lifted an injunction on New York’s statewide COVID-19 vaccine mandate for health care workers seeking a religious exemption.
The court Friday returned the case to the district court for further proceedings. But for now, the state can once again enforce the mandate despite religious objections.
Seventeen people had sued the state after it ordered health care staff at hospitals and nursing homes to get at least one dose by Sept. 27, saying the mandate violated their constitutional rights because it disallowed religious objections.
-ABC News’ Aaron Katersky
Oct 29, 3:24 pm
FDA authorizes pediatric vaccine
The FDA authorized the Pfizer vaccine for children ages 5 to 11 on Friday.
An initial 15 million doses are expected to start shipping out of Pfizer’s manufacturing plant within 24 hours.
No vaccinations will start until the CDC director signs off. The director is likely to sign off on Nov. 2, with vaccinations likely beginning Nov. 3.
Oct 29, 1:04 pm
Being vaccinated offers better protection than being infected: CDC study
A new study from the CDC finds that people with “natural” immunity through infection were more than five times more likely to become infected with COVID-19 compared to people who were fully vaccinated.
The study reviewed more than 7,000 people across nine states, measuring infections and hospitalization rates three to six months after either vaccination or initial infection. The study — published in the CDC’s weekly journal, the MMWR — reaffirms prior research indicating that vaccines offer superior protection than natural immunity.
Oct 29, 12:46 pm
FDA expected to authorize vaccine for kids within hours
ABC News expects the FDA to authorize the Pfizer vaccine for children ages 5 to 11 on Friday, according to people familiar with the agency’s planning.
The exact timing of the announcement is not yet known.
But no vaccinations will start until the CDC director signs off. A hearing with the CDC’s independent advisory board is set for Nov. 2; the director is likely to sign off on the panel’s recommendations that evening, with vaccinations likely beginning Nov. 3.
Oct 29, 11:12 am
NYPD 80% vaccinated after administering over 1,000 shots Thursday
New York City’s police department is 80% vaccinated after administering more than 1,000 shots on Thursday.
Nearly all municipal employees, including police officers, sanitation workers and firefighters, have until 5 p.m. Friday to submit proof of receiving at least one dose of vaccine. Those who don’t get vaccinated will be placed on unpaid leave, starting Monday, for at least 30 days, and their future employment will be resolved in negotiations with individual labor unions.
Police Commissioner Dermot Shea called reports of nearly half unvaccinated precincts “certainly outdated” and said he’s more concerned about filling “individual shifts” than staffing precincts.
“We will move resources around. We have had significant increase in people getting vaccinated in the past three days, and that’s the good news,” Shea said on Channel 5. “New Yorkers should not, should not, be worried about this.”
The FDNY’s vaccination rate stands at 71%. The city’s firefighters’ unions organized an anti-vaccine mandate rally on Thursday.
Oct 29, 10:18 am
Montana, Idaho leading nation in death rates
In recent weeks, cases have been creeping up in Alaska, Alabama, Colorado, Nebraska, New Mexico, Utah, Vermont and Washington, according to federal data.
The nation’s daily death average has dropped by about 36.3% in the last month, but it remains persistently high, around 1,150 new deaths reported each day.
Montana currently has the country’s highest death rate, followed by Idaho and West Virginia, according to federal data.
Oct 28, 12:44 pm
Florida files lawsuit against Biden administration over vaccine mandate for federal contractors
Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis said the state has filed a lawsuit against the Biden administration, arguing that the vaccine mandate for federal contractors is “unconstitutional.”
“Florida companies, public and private, receive millions of dollars in federal contracts annually and will be negatively impacted by the unlawful requirements,” a statement from Florida Attorney General Ashley Moody said.
DeSantis said in a statement, “The federal government is exceeding their power and it is important for us to take a stand because in Florida we believe these are choices based on individual circumstances.”
Oct 28, 11:37 am
Global cases, deaths on the rise for 1st time in 2 months
The global number of COVID-19 cases and deaths are now increasing for the first time in two months, largely driven by an ongoing rise in Europe that outweighs declines in other regions, W.H.O. Director-General Dr. Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus said Thursday.
The highest case increases in the last two weeks were in the Czech Republic (up by 234%), Hungary (up by 200%) and Poland (up by 183%), according to the W.H.O.
The director-general attributed ongoing infections “in large part” to inequitable access to tests and vaccines.
“Eighty-times more tests, and 30 times more vaccines, have been administered in high-income countries than low-income countries,” Tedros said. “If the 6.8 billion vaccine doses administered globally so far had been distributed equitably, we would have reached our 40% target in every country by now.”
(NEW YORK) — Four New York City firefighters have been suspended after driving their truck to a state senator’s office while on duty, asking for the politician’s home address and telling him the city would have “blood on its hands” over the city’s vaccine mandate.
The group, from Ladder 113 in Brooklyn, went to the office of state Sen. Zellnor Myrie in the company’s fire district in uniform and asked to speak to him, although as a state official he had no involvement in the city mandate from Mayor Bill de Blasio.
All city personnel, including firefighters, must have received at least one dose of the COVID-19 vaccine by the time they show up to work on Monday. Those who do not get vaccinated will be placed on unpaid leave.
The senator was not there at the time, but the firefighters spoke to a staff member.
“They said they wanted to let people in the community know that the trucks weren’t going to be running and that they were going to shut down firehouses,” a person familiar with the conversation told ABC News.
It was, the person said, a “cordial conversation” though at one point the firefighters said the “city would have blood on its hands.”
“I think it is highly inappropriate,” Myrie, a Democrat, said in an interview with New York ABC station WABC. “It is incredibly disturbing that those entrusted with keeping us safe would be on duty, protesting a vaccine mandate that had nothing to do with a state elected official. … My staff is rattled, they’re shaken up by it. And frankly, I am upset that we’re even having this conversation.”
The firefighters told the senator’s staff member they wanted the choice of whether to get vaccinated and expressed a view that it would be safer for them to get tested every week.
(NEW YORK) — Another 28 million Americans are one step closer to getting vaccinated against COVID-19 after the Food and Drug Administration on Friday authorized the Pfizer shot for 5-11-year-olds.
Children will be one of the last groups in the U.S. to become eligible for the vaccine. Protecting them against COVID-19 is a major step in getting the country back on the path to normalcy after an unexpected late-summer surge that disproportionately impacted unvaccinated Americans and filled hospitals to the brim.
“As a mother and a physician, I know that parents, caregivers, school staff, and children have been waiting for today’s authorization. Vaccinating younger children against COVID-19 will bring us closer to returning to a sense of normalcy,” Acting FDA Commissioner Janet Woodcock said in a statement Friday afternoon.
The process now heads to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. An advisory committee for the CDC will meet on Tuesday to discuss the pediatric vaccine safety and efficacy data, as an advisory FDA panel did this past week, and then CDC Director Rochelle Walensky is expected to give the final signoff soon afterward.
That means kids could begin getting shots at some point next week and become fully vaccinated by December.
In anticipation, the White House planned to unleash millions of vaccine shipments across the nation as soon as FDA authorization was announced. Vaccine sites will have to wait for the CDC’s word to begin administering the vaccine, but stock will be on hand.
“The bottom line is that we will be ready immediately following FDA and CDC decisions so that parents can get their kids vaccinated quickly, easily and conveniently,” White House COVID-19 coordinator Jeff Zients said at a briefing with reporters on Thursday.
The White House purchased enough shots for all 28 million 5-11-year-olds and on Thursday announced plans to purchase another 50 million shots by April 30, 2022, which could also be used for children under 5, if and when there is authorization for that age group.
Though there was some debate at the FDA advisory meeting about the potential side effects for children 5-11 — particularly because myocarditis, a condition involving inflammation of the heart, has been linked to the vaccine in teenage boys and young men — the panel nearly unanimously voted in favor of the vaccine, deciding that the risk was worth the benefit.
None of the 2,200 kids who received the Pfizer-BioNTech pediatric vaccine last June in the clinical trials have experienced serious side effects, including myocarditis.
Meanwhile, nearly 2 million kids ages 5-11 have gotten COVID, and 8,300 have been hospitalized with COVID-19. A third of those children ended up in the ICU and over 100 have died.
“To me the question is pretty clear. We don’t want children to be dying of COVID, even if it is far fewer children than adults, and we don’t want them in the ICU,” Dr. Amanda Cohn, an epidemiologist with the CDC, said at the FDA meeting on Tuesday.
Dr. William Gruber, the senior vice president of Pfizer Vaccine Clinical Research and Development, told ABC News in an interview Friday that he also saw the vaccine as a way to protect children from the emotional instability the virus has wrought. Widespread vaccination could keep children out of quarantine after being exposed at school and ensure the safety of indoor activities ahead of the winter.
He pointed to the benefits of “allowing children to be children.”
“This allows that to open up again, we’ve been seeing step-by-step progress and opening up society. It’s time for that to happen with children as well,” Gruber said.
Whether parents will embrace the vaccines for their kids is still a question. In an October poll, the Kaiser Family Foundation found that about a third of parents with kids ages 5-11 were willing to vaccinate their kids right away, while another third wanted to “wait and see.” The figures represented a slight uptick in vaccine acceptance among parents of elementary-school-aged kids since July, but they have stayed steady since September.
The CDC director on Thursday emphasized the urgency of getting kids vaccinated, even as the country recovers from an alarming uptick of cases and begins to relax again.
“There’s urgency because we’re seeing disease in children, we’ve seen deaths in children and we’ve seen long COVID,” Walensky said at a White House briefing.
And as America saw during the delta surge, unvaccinated areas will be the most vulnerable if there are future spikes in cases.
“Certainly we have seen cases come down before and a way to prevent surges again is to get more and more people vaccinated and make sure that we have protection,” Walensky said.
(NEW YORK) — Michael and Jennifer Spaetti of Salisbury, North Carolina, were both vaccinated last spring as soon as shots became available. But when it comes to their 6-year-old grandson who lives with them, they aren’t so sure.
As his primary caregiver, they wonder about long-term side effects. He also hates getting shots, guaranteeing that an extra trip to the pediatrician would be tough emotionally.
“I’m not sure. It just seems like it came out so fast,” said Jennifer Spaetti. “And we’re talking about a child. I feel like it’s different for me, but I just I’m not sure. I don’t think I know enough about it.”
Denise, a mother of two from Columbia, South Carolina, expressed similar concerns. Asked to withhold her last name for privacy reasons, Denise jokes she would feel more comfortable seeing the neighborhood kids get their shots fist, just in case there is some rare side effect that researchers missed.
And as a Black mother, Denise said she worries not enough African American children were represented in the clinical trials.
“My husband is gung-ho,” she said. “And I’m definitely not opposed to it. But I do just want to wait and see … I want to make the best decision as a parent.”
With the first pediatric vaccine for COVID-19 expected to roll out as early as Nov. 3, only 27% of parents with kids ages 5-11 say they will vaccinate them “right away,” according to the latest poll by the Kaiser Family Foundation.
Another 33% of parents with the elementary-aged kids say they want to “wait and see” how it works in others before getting their child vaccinated. And at least two thirds of those parents say they are concerned about potential long-term and serious side effects.
This hesitancy is worrying many health officials, who contend widespread vaccinations in schools will be critical to vaccinate kids ahead of the cold weather to prevent another surge in cases.
They also counter that parents should be much more worried about the virus than the vaccine. Of the 1.9 million kids ages 5-11 who contracted the virus, 8,300 wound up hospitalized. One third of those children hospitalized had no underlying health conditions.
Another concern pediatricians have is that children exposed to the virus are at risk of developing “long-haul” symptoms. While very rare for children, the symptoms such as brain fog, chest pain and debilitating fatigue persist for weeks after exposure.
None of the 2,200 kids who received the Pfizer-BioNTech pediatric vaccine last June in the clinical trials has experienced serious side effects, including the myocarditis that’s been seen in a small group of older teen and adult males. Experts say any side effects to a vaccine typically occur within two months of getting a shot.
The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, along with independent vaccine and health experts, also have found no evidence that the vaccine could impact a person’s fertility and is safe for pregnant and breastfeeding moms.
The CDC also warns that people shouldn’t count on prior exposure to the virus. In a study released Friday, the CDC found adults with “natural” immunity through infection were more than five times more likely to develop COVID-19 compared to people who were fully vaccinated.
Still, even vaccine experts say it can be nerve-wracking to make a decision for millions of children based on a study involving only a few thousand kids.
The trial also wasn’t as diverse as some experts would like. Of the children participating in the clinical trials, the vast majority of participants – 78% — were white. Six percent were Black, while 21% were Hispanic and 6% were Asian.
Dr. Paul Offit, an adviser to the U.S. Food and Drug Administration, who voted in favor of authorizing the vaccine at a meeting this week, said he still supports the rollout because he believed the benefits outweigh the risks.
The FDA was expected to authorize the pediatric vaccine as early as Friday, with the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention expected to sign off next week.
“The question is when do you know enough? And I think we certainly know that there are many children between five and 11 years of age who are susceptible to this disease who could very well be sick and are hospitalized or die from it,” said Offit, director of the Vaccine Education Center and an attending physician in the Division of Infectious Diseases at Children’s Hospital of Philadelphia.
For its part, the White House is planning to launch a social media campaign to urge parents to vaccinate their kids. To increase trust, federal officials also have pushed to make the vaccine for kids – which is a third of the dosage used in adults and comes in a special orange-capped vial — widely available in pediatrician offices and pharmacies, rather than relying on mass vaccination sites.
Still, many parents don’t want to be rushed.
Paul Ekeoha, a father of four kids in Odessa, Texas, says he’s not convinced yet that his kids need it because they seem healthy now and strong. At the same time, he’s not opposed to vaccines for other people and said he is open to changing his mind.
“If my hands are tied, and I don’t have options, I wouldn’t have any objection,” Ekeoha said.
Other parents said they would be keeping a close eye on how the rollout goes for pediatric vaccines.
“Probably what I’ll do is just wait and see how it goes,” said Jennifer Spaetti.
(NEW YORK) — As the clock counts down, nearly 80% of New York City municipal employees have complied with a COVID-19 vaccine mandate, city officials said.
Nearly all city workers, including police officers, firefighters and emergency medical technicians, have until 5 p.m. Friday to get at least one dose of the vaccine or be placed on unpaid leave, starting Monday.
Mayor Bill de Blasio has said the city anticipates that many outstanding employees will get vaccinated close to the deadline, and city agencies have been making final pushes to drive up their numbers.
On Thursday, more than 1,000 NYPD members got their first shot, Commissioner Dermot Shea said. As of Friday morning, 80% of the department was vaccinated, Shea said on 1010 WINS radio. He said he believes that the department will be in “good shape for Monday morning,” but will move resources to ensure appropriate coverage.
Prior contingency plans are “being actually scaled-down” as NYPD officials watch vaccination rates rise, with Shea telling Channel 5 on Friday they’re now more concerned about filling “individual shifts” than staffing precincts on Monday.
“We will move resources around. We have had significant increase in people getting vaccinated in the past three days, and that’s the good news,” Shea told Channel 5. “The contingencies are there. New Yorkers should not, should not, be worried about this.”
(NEW YORK) — Puerto Rico is the most vaccinated place in America, according to data from the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. More than 73% of its 3.3 million citizens are fully vaccinated, beating several states like Vermont and Connecticut with high vaccination rates.
The island also has the highest rate of total vaccine doses administered: 154,563 doses per 100,000 people.
Puerto Rico has outpaced several states in the race to the top vaccinated spot in the U.S. despite the odds stacked against it. Not only is it home to a larger population than 21 U.S. states, but it’s also been battered by COVID-19, poverty, climate change and an ongoing financial crisis.
“It’s impossible to talk about the pandemic without the context in which Puerto Rico encountered and faced the pandemic,” Daniel Colón-Ramos, a Yale medical school professor and the president of Puerto Rico’s Scientific Coalition, told ABC News.
“Vaccinations are an individual decision, but it’s an individual decision that has an impact on the collective health and I think this is something that Puerto Rico understood well after Hurricane Maria — how we’re so codependent,” Colón-Ramos said.
Hurricane María uncovered Puerto Rico’s fragile infrastructure that has yet to recover. According to the U.S. Census Bureau, the island has a poverty rate of 43.5%, with some municipalities struggling with little to no operational clinics or hospitals for long periods of time. Residents have also been struggling with ongoing power outages triggered by the unstable electric grid.
COVID-19 only exacerbated the weight of these pre-existing structural issues on the territory, Colón-Ramos said.
COVID-19’s toll on Puerto Rico
The island was hit hard by the pandemic. Puerto Rico reported at least 151,432 COVID-19 cases and over 3,200 deaths linked to the virus, according to Puerto Rico’s Health Department. Amid the threat of the coronavirus, the island was the first place in the U.S. to implement the strictest COVID-19 restrictions, including a curfew that lasted over a year.
“Together, we have achieved good results through vaccination efforts and measures that were implemented,” Governor of Puerto Rico Pedro Pierluisi said in a press release written in Spanish. “Although we are doing very well, we still cannot let our guard down and we have to continue to protect ourselves.”
Until recently, the local government prohibited certain businesses from operating between midnight and 5 a.m. and banned alcohol sales after midnight. Some requirements, like indoor mask and vaccine mandates, remain.
Now, Puerto Rico is on a steady decline in COVID-19 cases and deaths, with a positive test rate of 2.43%, according to Johns Hopkins University.
Dr. Marieli González-Cotto, a molecular biologist and educator, urges the community to remain cautious and vigilant about their health and safety, even as the virus slows its course.
“People should understand that we still need to take care of ourselves, take care of our communities and really take this one step at a time because [we could regress] and start all over again,” González-Cotto told ABC News.
The method behind Puerto Rico’s successful vaccine rollout
“It was an all-hands on deck type of plan,” Colón-Ramos told ABC News.
The effort to get Puerto Ricans vaccinated included local officials, community leaders, health care providers, Public Health Department officials and scientific experts, according to Colón-Ramos.
TV ads, social media posts and radio commercials were rolled out to educate residents across the island and combat misinformation before it had a chance to spread.
“The information channels were flooded with the right kind of information,” Colón-Ramos said. “The scientific and the health care community got very engaged and proactive in educating people in collaboration with journalists, civic leaders, and public leaders.
“Communities had conversations with the population about concepts from flattening the curve to herd immunity,” he added.
A study by Direct Relief, Facebook Data for Good and the vaccination advocacy organization “Voces Coalición de Inmunización y Promoción de la Salud en Puerto Rico” found that influencers and celebrities were also powerful voices in the effort to educate people on the importance of vaccines.
The research showed that thousands of consumers were more accepting or knowledgeable about vaccines after viewing digital ads and messaging.
“At the very beginning, it was very hard for the people to grasp because it was an ‘info-demic’ — there was too much information out there,” González-Cotto said. “What we focused on was not only putting out the information but also putting it in a way that would be easy for people to understand.”
All educational efforts from public and private sectors towards individuals had a significant impact on Puerto Ricans’ response to the vaccine rollout. Public health policies, like lockdowns, curfews and mandates, helped solidify messaging and protocol across the island, according to Colón-Ramos.
