(TUSCALOOSA, Ala.) — A 13-year-old boy was shot and killed Friday evening inside his Alabama home when bullets flew through the window and struck him in the head.
The child was sitting in his room playing on his iPad when gunshots were fired at his home in Washington Square, Tuscaloosa around 6:20 p.m., police said in an update Saturday.
Police said when officers arrived, they found the boy suffering a gunshot wound to the head. The child has not been identified.
“It’s a senseless murder. We see it all the time where adults are shot and it’s terrible. When it’s a kid, it takes it to another level,” Tuscaloosa Police Chief Brent Blankley said. “We’re going to do everything we can to make these arrests.”
The scene was inundated with shell casings in the road, so many so that officers “had to pull business cards from their wallets to fold and use as temporary evidence markers until more could be brought to the scene,” police said.
The boy’s heartbroken parents had to stand across the street and watch as the ambulance drove away after realizing there was nothing they could do, authorities said.
Investigators with the Violent Crimes Unit are working to locate persons of interest in the case.
“We are asking for anyone with information that could be helpful to please call 205-349-2121, 205-464-8690 or report anonymously at 205-752-STOP (7867),” they said.
(LANSING, Mich.) — Michigan Gov. Gretchen Whitmer issued an executive directive Thursday to help residents of Benton Harbor access safe drinking water, vowing to replace all lead pipes by April 2023.
The directive comes a week after officials urged locals in Benton Harbor, a city of 9,600 people, to use bottled water for drinking, cooking and brushing teeth due to elevated levels of lead in water testing.
“For six consecutive sampling periods over the last three years, the Benton Harbor water system has failed to meet the regulatory standard for lead,” the governor said in the directive.
Advocates in the city had filed an emergency petition to the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) on Sept. 9 demanding a federal intervention to aid in the crisis.
In the directive, the governor announced she’ll expedite lead service line replacements to be completed in 18 months, up from the prior five-year timeline. The effort will also continue to give free bottled water to Benton Harbor residents and free or low-cost drinking water testing and health services.
The Michigan Department of Health and Human Services has received U.S. Department of Agriculture Food and Nutrition Service (USDA) approval to provide Benton Harbor residents specific baby formula that does not require the mixing of water.
The effort will be funded by federal, state and local resources, with additional federal funding expected through the infrastructure bill currently moving through Congress. Under Michigan’s 2022 state budget, $10 million is dedicated to replace service lines in Benton Harbor.
“I cannot imagine the stress that moms and dads in Benton Harbor are under as they emerge from a pandemic, work hard to put food on the table, pay the bills, and face a threat to the health of their children,” Whitmer said in a statement. “We will not rest until the job is done and every parent feels confident to give their kid a glass of water knowing that it is safe.”
Rev. Edward Pinkney, a local activist and president of the grassroots Benton Harbor Community Water Council, touted the directive as a victory.
“Without the petition, none of this could have happened. I am more than happy that Whitmer is now taking this a little bit more seriously,” he told ABC News. “But, I want her to tell the people that the water is unsafe to drink rather than saying this is out of ‘an abundance of caution.'”
Benton Harbor sources its water from Lake Michigan. Elevated lead levels in water has been an issue for several years in the city, where 85% of the population is Black, 5% Hispanic and about 45% have an income below the federal poverty line, according to the U.S. Census.
Lead can enter drinking water when plumbing materials and service lines contain lead corrosion. Lead exposure harms brain development in children and it causes both short and long-term health problems for adults, according to the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.
The EPA has a lead contamination action level of 15 parts per billion. If water samples hit that mark, officials are supposed to take several actions to educate the public and restore water to a safe level.
In Benton Harbor, water testing surpassed that level in 2018. One home in 2020 tested at 440 ppb for lead. Eleven homes tested this year showed water with lead levels above 15 ppb, with one home hitting 889 ppb — nearly 60 times the EPA’s action level, according to data released by the city.
According to the petition filed with the EPA, Benton Harbor has 5,877 total service lines, 51% of which “are known to contain lead, are known to be galvanized lines previously connected to lead, or are of unknown material but likely to contain lead.” Just 2% of service lines contain zero lead.
The crisis echoes the Flint, Michigan, crisis in 2014 and 2015 where the state switched the city’s water supply to come from the Flint River. An investigation later found there were highly toxic levels of lead in the water.
(ATLANTA) — The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention on Friday released its official public health guidance for the 2021 holiday season, offering up mostly general advice on how to prevent the spread of COVID-19.
The recommendations urge people to get vaccinated ahead of the holidays if they haven’t done so already. For young children who aren’t yet eligible for the vaccine, the CDC suggests reducing risk of exposure by making sure the people around them are vaccinated.
The CDC also recommends that people continue to wear masks indoors in public spaces.
“We fully expect that families and friends will gather for the holidays this year and we have updated our guidance on how to best to stay safe over the holidays,” the agency wrote in a statement. “The best way to minimize COVID risk and ensure that people can safely gather is to get vaccinated or get the booster if you’re eligible.”
The holiday guidance is notably less prescriptive than last year, when vaccines were not available to the general public.
In 2020, for example, the CDC warned against traditional trick-or-treating by knocking on doors and instead suggested individually wrapped goodie bags that families could “grab and go” from a distance.
This year, the CDC doesn’t provide holiday-specific advice. However, CDC Director Dr. Rochelle Walensky has said she thinks trick-or-treating can be done safely if kids stay outdoors and stick to small groups.
“If you’re able to be outdoors, absolutely,” Walensky told CBS’s “Face the Nation.”
When it comes to big family gatherings, the CDC suggests “additional precautions” such as testing in advance or avoiding crowded indoor spaces before making the trip.
The 2021 guidance follows some confusion earlier this month when the CDC provided a technical update to its website that appeared to be its new recommendations for the season. The agency later removed the page, which was outdated.
Holidays have been a major driver of the pandemic, with hospitalizations and deaths spiking to its highest levels following the 2020 holiday season. Last January, the death toll peaked at around 3,600 people per day.
Those numbers plummeted following the rollout of vaccinations, only to surge again this summer with the arrival of the delta variant sickening unvaccinated populations.
According to CDC data collected from hospitals and state health officials last August, an unvaccinated person was 11 times more likely to die from COVID than a vaccinated person.
Health officials are again warning caution ahead of this holiday season so cases don’t spike again, although vaccines have made gatherings considerably safer.
One bright spot for families of children who remain ineligible for the vaccine: Federal regulators are expected to greenlight shots for kids as young as 5 in early November.
The dose of the Pfizer pediatric shot is a third smaller than the dose given to adults, but would still require two shots three weeks apart. And like adults, a child would not be considered immunized until two weeks after their second shot.
A vaccine for infants and children under age 5 isn’t expected until early 2022.
ABC News’ Arielle Mitropoulos contributed to this report.
(WASHINGTON) — A U.S. Capitol Police officer has been arrested and charged with obstruction of justice over allegations he encouraged an alleged participant of the Jan. 6 riot to delete social media posts that showed the person joining the pro-Trump mob storming the Capitol, authorities said Friday.
Michael Riley, an officer with more than 25 years of experience, was not on duty inside the Capitol building itself during the riot — but afterward messaged an unidentified individual over Facebook who allegedly had posted selfies and other videos showing themselves inside the Capitol, an indictment said.
“Hey [Person 1], im a capitol police officer who agrees with your political stance,” Riley allegedly wrote. “Take down the part about being in the building they are currently investigating and everyone who was in the building is going to [be] charged. Just looking out!”
The person then exchanged dozens of more messages with Riley showing them inside and outside the Capitol on Jan. 6, according to the indictment.
“I get it… it was a total sh** show!!!” Riley allegedly wrote. “Just wanted to give you a heads up… Im glad you got out of there unscathed. We had over 50 officers hurt, some pretty bad,” the indictment said.
The two continued to converse over Facebook direct messaging for several days after, according to charging documents. In one exchange, Riley joked the alleged rioter could come stay with him in D.C. at a later date and he could arrange a tour for him so he could “legally” see it, authorities said.
The alleged rioter was later arrested on Jan. 19, according to the charging documents, and the individual told Riley “the fbi was very curious that I had been speaking to you” and warned him they would likely be reaching out to him, according to the indictment.
Riley then allegedly deleted all of his Facebook messages to and from the rioter, the charges said.
Later, according to the indictment, Riley sent a message to the rioter saying a mutual friend sent him a video showing the man smoking weed in the Capitol, and said it made him so “shocked and dumbfounded” that he deleted all of their prior messages.
Riley made his first appearance in court Friday afternoon following his arrest on two counts of obstruction of justice.
The government did not seek his detention and he was ordered released on several conditions, including that he remove any firearms from his home.
He did not enter a plea in the case. His attorney said they expected he will be arraigned on both charges sometime later this month.
Capitol Police Chief Tom Manger called the allegations “very serious” and said the officer is being placed on administrative leave pending the completion of the case. The officer will also be subjected to an administrative USCP investigation.
The officer had worked most recently as a K-9 tech.
(FORT LAUDERDALE, Fla.) — Nikolas Cruz wants to enter a guilty plea in the killing of 17 people in the Parkland, Florida, mass shooting, a defense attorney said in court Friday.
On Feb. 14, 2018, Cruz, then 19, gunned down 14 students and three staff members at his former school, Marjory Stoneman Douglas High School. He was taken into custody that day.
Fred Guttenberg, father of 14-year-old victim Jaime Guttenberg, tweeted Friday, “My only comment is to remember the victims. Remember Jaime. Rather than talk about the murderer.”
Manuel Oliver, father of 17-year-old victim Joaquin Oliver, told ABC News Live Friday, “I think it’s time to put some — speed it up a little bit. Every day is a new day that we suffer.”
“I can’t wait for this to be over so I can move on, at least without the weight of not knowing what’s gonna happen to this person,” he said.
This is a developing story. Please check back for updates.
(NEW YORK) — The United States has been facing a COVID-19 surge as the more contagious delta variant continues to spread.
More than 721,000 Americans have died from COVID-19 while over 4.8 million people have died from the disease worldwide, according to real-time data compiled by the Center for Systems Science and Engineering at Johns Hopkins University.
Just 66.2% of Americans ages 12 and up are fully vaccinated against COVID-19, according to data from the CDC.
Here’s how the news is developing. All times Eastern:
Oct 15, 9:54 am
Vaccine requirement for foreign travelers to begin Nov. 8
Beginning Nov. 8, foreign nationals traveling to the U.S. by air and nonessential travelers crossing land borders must show proof of full vaccination to enter the U.S., the White House announced Friday.
Essential workers crossing via land, like those who come for work or school, have until January to become fully vaccinated.
Air travelers will still be required to show proof of a negative test within 72 hours of departure, in addition to their vaccination status.
Oct 15, 9:12 am
FDA panel hours away from vote on J&J boosters
The independent FDA advisory panel is meeting Friday and will hold a nonbinding vote on whether the Johnson & Johnson booster shot should be used.
Officials with the National Institutes of Health will also present data Friday on whether it’s safe and effective to mix-and-match vaccine booster doses.
Oct 14, 7:18 pm
CDC advising states to preorder Pfizer’s vaccine for young children
The U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention is advising states to order Pfizer’s COVID-19 vaccine doses for children ages 5 to 11 ahead of a vote on its authorization.
An independent Food and Drug Administration advisory panel is scheduled to discuss the vaccine on Oct. 26, and a vote is expected soon after. In planning documents posted by the CDC, the agency is advising states to order their doses in advance of the meeting, with preorders starting Oct. 20.
This is meant to “ensure that vaccine can be placed in many locations nationwide, making it easier for children to get vaccinated” and “allow for a manageable and equitable launch,” the CDC said.
A decision from the CDC on recommending the vaccine is not likely until early November; the CDC’s Advisory Committee on Immunization Practices is scheduled to meet on Nov. 2 and Nov. 3.
Oct 14, 3:17 pm
FDA panel votes in support of authorizing Moderna booster
The independent FDA advisory panel on Thursday voted unanimously to authorize Moderna vaccine boosters for Americans 65 and older, anyone 18 and older with underlying conditions and those frequently exposed to the virus through work or home life.
The recommendation is in line with what the FDA and CDC authorized for Pfizer booster shots last month.
The FDA panel will meet on Friday on J&J boosters. Following next week’s meetings from the CDC’s independent advisory group, Moderna and J&J boosters could be authorized and recommended for specific populations as soon as Oct. 22.
(WASHINGTON) — The most restrictive abortion law in the country will remain in effect, after a federal appeals court sided with Texas on Thursday in an ongoing legal battle with the Department of Justice.
The law, known as SB8, bans physicians from providing abortions once they detect a so-called fetal heartbeat — which can be seen on an ultrasound as early as six weeks into a pregnancy.
The law, which went into effect on Sept. 1, was briefly paused after a federal judge issued a temporary injunction last week barring its enforcement. Days later, the law was reinstated after a panel of judges on the Fifth Circuit Court of Appeals issued a temporary administrative stay.
In the latest development of the high-profile case, the court rejected the Justice Department’s request to again halt Texas’ ability to enforce the law. In a 2-1 order Thursday night, a panel of judges granted Texas’s request to continue to stay the preliminary injunction while it pursues its appeal.
The court’s order did not detail its reasoning behind the ruling, which is expected to be appealed to the U.S. Supreme Court.
“Next stop, #SCOTUS,” University of Texas constitutional law professor Steve Vladeck said in a post on Twitter following the ruling.
Under the law, private citizens can sue a person they “reasonably believe” provided an illegal abortion or assisted someone in getting it in the state, and is crafted to prevent any state official, other than judges, from being responsible for enforcement.
In a 113-page ruling initially granting the preliminary injunction, U.S. District Court Judge Robert Pitman was scathing in targeting the state in how he says it schemed to evade judicial review.
“A person’s right under the Constitution to choose to obtain an abortion prior to fetal viability is well established,” Pitman wrote. “Fully aware that depriving its citizens of this right by direct state action would be flagrantly unconstitutional, the State contrived an unprecedented and transparent statutory scheme to do just that.”
After the injunction was issued, some abortion providers in Texas briefly resumed providing abortions after cardiac activity was detected, only to have the ban back in effect within 48 hours.
Since the law went into effect, women have had to travel hundreds of miles to obtain an abortion out-of-state, inundating neighboring states’ abortion clinics. Abortion providers in Texas have that some clinics may have to close down for good due to the law.
(NEW YORK) — A New York City police officer has been charged with murder and attempted murder Thursday for allegedly shooting two women, killing one, at a home in Brooklyn.
The officer, identified by police as Yvonne Wu, 31, who was off-duty at the time, is believed to have shot both women — one of whom she was dating — when they returned to the home where the officer’s girlfriend lived.
Police said the off-duty officer shot a 24-year-old woman in her chest, “possibly more than one time,” at the Bensonhurst home. The victim, identified as Jamie Liang, was taken to Maimonides Medical Center and was pronounced dead, police said.
The other woman, a 23-year-old, who was in the romantic relationship with the officer, was shot in the torso and is expected to survive, police said.
Wu is a police officer in the 72nd District, which encompasses the Park Slope and Sunset Park areas of Brooklyn.
She had worked for the NYPD for 5 1/2 years. Police said she was at a local hospital for evaluation.
“We believe it is domestic in nature. We believe all three parties knew each other,” Assistant Chief Michael Kemper, commanding officer of Patrol Borough Brooklyn South, said at a press conference Wednesday evening.
“We believe they had an intimate relationship,” he said of the officer and the 23-year-old woman.
Wu remained at the scene and told police she had shot the two women, according to police.
Police said they were still investigating, but recovered a gun on the scene and “there’s a very good chance it is her service weapon,” Kemper said.
“The whole incident is horrible, but these cops performed great, just heroically, and this is what NYPD cops come upon every single day,” Kemper said. “Is this an incident they would want to come upon? No. But unfortunately throughout their careers they come upon this.”
(NASHVILLE, Tenn.) — There is renewed criticism of a juvenile court judge in Rutherford County, Tennessee, following a joint ProPublica and Nashville Public Radio report that alleges Judge Donna Scott Davenport oversaw a juvenile justice system where Black children were disproportionally and illegally hit with criminal charges.
The investigation centers around a 2016 incident where 11 Black children, some as young as 8 and 9 years old, were allegedly arrested for not stopping a fight captured on video. Ten of the children were charged with “criminal responsibility for conduct of another.”
Frank Ross Brazil, an attorney who represented several of the children, told ABC News that criminal responsibility is a prosecutorial theory and not a charge under Tennessee law.
“If you and I are in a car, and there’s something illegal in the car and I’m arrested for possessing it, you could be also found guilty of possessing that substance by the theory of criminal responsibility for another,” he said. “So, that being applied as a charge in and of itself is unlawful.”
The ProPublica report detailed systems set up by Davenport, which allegedly lead to the improper arrest and detention of children.
Davenport has not responded to ABC News’ request for comment and declined an interview with ProPublica.
In 2003, Davenport allegedly set up a “process” where police in Rutherford County took children into custody, transported them to the detention center for screening and then filed charging papers. In the 2016 incident, the children were arrested, taken for processing and then released after they had been charged, the lawsuit alleges.
A class-action lawsuit filed, and later settled, against Rutherford County alleges this process was a violation of Tennessee law. For many juvenile misdemeanor offenses, state law requires that police officers release children with a citation or a summons rather than taking them into custody, according to the lawsuit.
The Rutherford County Juvenile Detention Center also reportedly used a “filter system,” where staff could decide to hold a child before they had a hearing using undefined criteria instead of the precise categories outlined in Tennessee law, Brazil said. Davenport has “ultimate administrative authority” over the detention center, according to the lawsuit.
According to ProPublica, records from the Tennessee Administrative Office of the Courts showed that in 2014, the last year where this type of data is available, children were detained on average in 5% of juvenile cases statewide. In Rutherford County, children were detained in 48% of cases, the report said.
The class-action lawsuit alleged that these policies led to potentially thousands of children being illegally arrested, illegally detained or both.
Dylan Geerts, a named plaintiff in the lawsuit, but not a part of the 2016 incident, was one of those children. When he was 15, he said he was arrested for stealing change and small items from a car.
“They essentially put me in solitary confinement for between 22 and 23 hours a day,” Geerts, now 23, told ABC News. “[They] took me off of my medications by force, not by doctor’s orders or anything. They just didn’t allow me to have my bipolar medication.”
“I was kept awake for close to 30 something hours by the staff, purposefully,” he added. He was released on house arrest after four days.
“I really struggled through my teenage years after that,” Geerts said, noting that he had fallen in with the “wrong crowd” during his time in juvenile detention.
Before his arrest, he said he had been hospitalized for suicidal thoughts. Although he had support from his family, following his arrest, he was hospitalized for attempting to harm himself and was later diagnosed with PTSD.
“Whenever you get taken off of a medication like that,” he said. “It can take weeks to months for it to work again if it does at all.”
The lawsuit was settled in June of this year for $11 million. As a part of the settlement, Brazil said Rutherford County denied any wrongdoing and each child who was improperly detained got $5,000 and each child who was improperly arrested got $1,000.
“It’s been heartbreaking, actually, to talk to these people’s families and to hear individually so many hundreds of stories,” he said.
“You’d like to hope, being a father to my children of my own, I like to hope that this kind of thing does not happen in the 2000s in America, but it does,” Brazil added. “It’s happening to a certain set of people disproportionately.”
Brazil said that the lawsuits have brought some change to Rutherford County. A federal injunction in 2017 ended the county’s “filter system.”
Although there was an investigation into the arrests in 2016, the police officers involved only received reprimands or short-term suspensions. The officials who recommended the charge did not participate in the investigation and had no mention of it in their personnel files, according to ProPublica.
Davenport is still the juvenile court judge for Rutherford County.
Geerts said that knowing the injunction has stopped the “filter system” has made him feel better. However, he said he wants the state legislature to mandate that counties release numerical data about their juvenile arrest rates. And, he said, he would like to see Davenport challenged when she goes up for election next year.
“I hope that people out here will take that into account and be sure that they can voice their opinion and let people know that, yeah, that’s not cool,” he said.
“Like you’re not making kids better, you’re honestly making them worse” he said. “People don’t belong in a box on their first offense, especially if you’re going to play doctor and take their medication away and lock them inside of a cell.”
Following the release of ProPublica’s report, state lawmakers have called for action.
“We are concerned about the recent reports and believe the appropriate judicial authorities should issue a full review,” Tennessee Gov. Bill Lee’s press secretary Casey Black said in a statement to ABC News.
Tennessee State Sen. Jeff Yarbro called the report’s findings “wrong on so many levels” in a tweet Saturday.
“It’s a horror show plain and simple, it’s abusive and it doesn’t even resemble law,” Yarbro, who is the Democratic Leader in the State General Assembly, told ABC affiliate WKRN.
Tennessee State Rep. John Ray Clemmons, who called for a federal investigation after the 2016 incident, said the state and the county failed children and their families in a statement to WKRN.
“As an attorney, I am limited in sharing my personal opinion on sitting judges, but these individuals, through their own acts and admissions, have proven themselves wholly unfit for the important positions they currently hold,” he added.
(NEW YORK) — The United States has been facing a COVID-19 surge as the more contagious delta variant continues to spread.
More than 719,000 Americans have died from COVID-19 while over 4.8 million people have died from the disease worldwide, according to real-time data compiled by the Center for Systems Science and Engineering at Johns Hopkins University.
Just 66.2% of Americans ages 12 and up are fully vaccinated against COVID-19, according to data from the CDC.
Here’s how the news is developing. All times Eastern:
Oct 14, 7:18 pm
CDC advising states to preorder Pfizer’s vaccine for young children
The U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention is advising states to order Pfizer’s COVID-19 vaccine doses for children ages 5 to 11 ahead of a vote on its authorization.
An independent Food and Drug Administration advisory panel is scheduled to discuss the vaccine on Oct. 26, and a vote is expected soon after. In planning documents posted by the CDC, the agency is advising states to order their doses in advance of the meeting, with preorders starting Oct. 20.
This is meant to “ensure that vaccine can be placed in many locations nationwide, making it easier for children to get vaccinated” and “allow for a manageable and equitable launch,” the CDC said.
A decision from the CDC on recommending the vaccine is not likely until early November; the CDC’s Advisory Committee on Immunization Practices is scheduled to meet on Nov. 2 and Nov. 3.
-ABC News’ Sasha Pezenik
Oct 14, 3:17 pm
FDA panel votes in support of authorizing Moderna booster
The independent FDA advisory panel on Thursday voted unanimously to authorize Moderna vaccine boosters for Americans 65 and older, anyone 18 and older with underlying conditions and those frequently exposed to the virus through work or home life.
The recommendation is in line with what the FDA and CDC authorized for Pfizer booster shots last month.
The FDA panel will meet on Friday on J&J boosters. Following next week’s meetings from the CDC’s independent advisory group, Moderna and J&J boosters could be authorized and recommended for specific populations as soon as Oct. 22.
-ABC News’ Sasha Pezenik, Cheyenne Haslett
Oct 14, 3:02 pm
White House to donate 17 million J&J doses to African Union
When President Joe Biden meets with his Kenyan counterpart in the Oval Office Thursday, he’ll announce a one-time donation of over 17 million doses of the Johnson & Johnson vaccine to the African Union. This is in addition to the 50 million doses the U.S. has already donated to the African Union.
“We are hopeful this donation will help AU countries build vaccination programs and get shots into arms,” the White House said.
The doses will ship immediately.
-ABC News’ Sarah Kolinovsky
Oct 14, 2:03 pm
Region sees hospitalizations at highest point in nearly 10 months
Alaska currently has the country’s highest infection rate, followed by Montana, Wyoming, North Dakota, West Virginia and Idaho, according to federal data.
In the Department of Health and Human Services’ Mountain Region – which includes Colorado, Montana, North Dakota, South Dakota, Utah and Wyoming — hospital admissions are at their highest point in nearly 10 months, according to federal data.
In the last five weeks, Michigan daily cases have nearly doubled and Minnesota daily cases have nearly tripled, according to federal data.
In New Hampshire and Vermont, daily cases are up by 40% and 43% respectively in the last month.
Over the last month, the U.S. has reported more than 47,000 confirmed COVID-19 deaths, including nearly 9,000 deaths recorded in the last week, according to federal data.
But hospital admissions have dropped by about 9.2% in the last week.
-ABC News’ Arielle Mitropoulos
Oct 14, 1:27 pm
Moderna says half dose will be just as effective
Dr. Jaqueline Miller, who presented data to the FDA committee on Thursday on behalf of Moderna, said the half dose works to boost antibody protections back up to the initial level.
“We chose the 50 microgram dose for the booster because we believe we should vaccinate with the lowest amount of antigen needed to induce an immune response at least equal to that in study 301 [the initial clinical study of Moderna vaccine], which was linked to vaccine efficacy of 93%,” Miller said.
Miller added that “reducing the booster dose to 50 micrograms will also increase the worldwide vaccine supply of mRNA.”
Americans who had a normal immune response to the first two shots and are getting a booster will need a half dose. But immunocompromised Americans — people receiving cancer treatment or organ transplant recipients, for example — need a full dose for their third shot to try and initiate the immune response they didn’t get from the first two.
Moderna officials said they’re preparing a letter explaining this administration to health care workers.
According to the FDA’s review of Moderna’s data, there was no evidence of increased side effects from booster doses.
-ABC News’ Cheyenne Haslett
Oct 14, 1:07 pm
Labor Department to issue new vaccine mandate
The U.S. is making progress in the fight against COVID-19 with daily cases and hospitalizations on the decline, but the nation must to do more to vaccinate Americans, President Joe Biden said Thursday.
The Labor Department will soon issue a vaccine mandate for workplaces with 100 or more employees, Biden said.
Biden called on more businesses to “step up” and more parents to get their children vaccinated when eligible.
“We can’t let up now,” he said.
Oct 14, 11:54 am
FDA’s independent committee hours away from vote on Moderna booster
The FDA’s independent committee is meeting on Thursday and will vote in hours on whether to greenlight the Moderna booster for: people 65 and older; people 18 and older who are at high risk of severe illness because of an underlying health condition; and people 18 and older whose job may put them at greater risk for exposure to the virus.
In introductory remarks Thursday, the FDA’s Peter Marks urged the independent panel to “harmonize” its decision with what has already been decided for Pfizer in order to avoid unnecessary confusion for the public.
Pfizer boosters have been authorized for people over 65, all adults with underlying medical conditions and adults whose job puts them at high risk.
The vote is scheduled for about 4:45 p.m.
Oct 13, 6:49 pm
Pending vaccine distribution for kids will be based on population: CDC
Initial distribution of the Pfizer vaccine for children ages 5 to 11 years old will be based on a state’s population of eligible children, according to a new planning document distributed to state immunization managers by the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.
The document, obtained by ABC News, was sent to state officials in advance of the vaccine being authorized by federal regulators. The authorization could happen as soon as early November.
The pediatric vaccine will be shipped in 100-dose packs, each with 10 vials, the document said.
A person familiar with the planned rollout told ABC News that while the government purchased 65 million doses total, the initial shipment may be closer to the 10 million to 20 million range.
After an initial distribution, a “weekly supply will be made available to help sustain the network,” according to the document.
Oct 13, 2:00 pm
COVID No. 1 cause of death for 35- to 54-year-olds in September
COVID-19 was the leading of death among people ages 35 to 54 — and the second-leading cause overall — in September, according to an analysis by the Kaiser Family Foundation and the Peterson Center on Healthcare.
The research also estimates that since June more than 90,000 U.S. deaths from COVID-19 could have been prevented with vaccines, and more than half of those occurred last month.
In January, COVID-19 was the nation’s No. 1 cause of death, the analysis found. In July, before the delta surge, COVID-19 briefly dropped to eighth.
