(WASHINGTON) — Two Washington, D.C.. Metropolitan Police Department officers who responded to the Jan. 6 riot died by suicide in July, the department announced on Monday, nearly seven months after the deadly attack on the U.S. Capitol by a mob of pro-Trump supporters.
Officer Kyle DeFreytag, who was on the force since November 2016, and Officer Gunther Hashida, an 18-year-veteran of the force, are among the three MPD officers who have so far died by suicide in 2021, the department said.
President Joe Biden expressed his gratitude toward the officers in a tweet on Tuesday morning, hailing them as “American heroes.”
“When the United States Capitol and our very democracy were under attack on January 6th, Officers Hashida and DeFreytag courageously risked their lives to defend them. They were American heroes. Jill and I are keeping their loved ones in our prayers during this difficult time,” he said.
It is not clear if the events of Jan. 6 contributed to the officers’ suicides, and research shows that law enforcement officers experience stressors as a regular part of the job and can struggle with mental health issues.
“On a daily basis, officers experience job-related stressors that can range from interpersonal conflicts to extremely traumatic events, such as vehicle crashes, homicide, and suicide. This cumulative exposure can affect officers’ mental and physical health, contributing to problems such as post-traumatic stress symptoms, substance misuse, depression, and suicidal ideation,” a research paper released by the Justice Department and Police groups said.
Capitol Police Officer Howard Liebengood also died by suicide in the months after responding to the Jan. 6 attack.
“After assisting riot control at the Capitol on January 6th, USCP scheduled Howie to work lengthy shifts in the immediate days following. He was home for very few hours over the course of four days,” Serena Liebengood, his wife, wrote to Rep. Jennifer Wexton, D-Va., in March.
In the nearly seven months since the attack, law enforcement suicide experts say the families of those who responded to the incident say they’ve behaved differently.
A Jan. 6 rally in support of then-President Donald Trump turned deadly after Trump encouraged his supporters to march to Capitol Hill, where Congress was meeting to certify Biden’s election win.
Rioters breached barricades and security checkpoints, forcing Vice President Mike Pence and lawmakers to evacuate or shelter in place and temporarily disrupting the certification. At least 140 police officers were injured and the Capitol building suffered approximately $1.5 million in damage.
According to B.L.U.E. Help, a nonprofit that works to reduce stigmas tied to mental health issues for those in law enforcement., 87 police officers from across the country have died by suicide so far in 2021.
Karen Solomon, who runs Blue H.E.L.P, said officers are afraid to speak to the media about the Jan. 6 events because for fear of losing their jobs.
“It’s compounded by the public scrutiny and lack of support for the officers, not only by the public but from other officers who are still standing by the ‘it was one day’ suck it up mentality. We are now seven months out, what has been done? How are these officers being assisted?” she said. “This is one of the most talked about events in the country, yet we are still ignoring the needs of some of the victims of this event — the police officers.”
“There is still too much talk around first responder mental health, too much money being wasted discussing what needs to be done, and not enough action,” she added. “How many more families are going to watch their loved ones suffer, watch it sensationalized and then see it disappear again into yesterday’s headlines?”
Last week, the House select committee tasked with investigating the Jan. 6 attack on the Capitol held its first hearing in which lawmakers heard dramatic, emotional accounts from officers who defended the building.
Capitol Police officer Harry Dunn told lawmakers he is receiving private therapy for the “persistent emotional trauma” he faces from that day.
“I know so many other officers continue to hurt, both physically and emotionally. I want to take this moment to speak to my fellow officers about the emotions they are continuing to experience from the events of Jan. 6. There’s absolutely nothing wrong with seeking professional counseling,” Dunn said. “What we went through that day was traumatic, and if you are hurting, please take advantage of the counseling services that are available to us.”
He also pleaded with the panel, which hasn’t announced its next public hearing, to look into mental health resources available for officers to decide if they are “sufficient enough to meet our needs.”
(New York) — Boeing’s chance at redemption for its Starliner spacecraft will have to wait for now. The launch attempt scheduled for Tuesday was scrubbed at the last minute due to an unexpected incident with the spacecraft, NASA said.
The attempt was scrubbed “due to unexpected valve position indications in the Starliner propulsion system,” NASA noted. Further details were not immediately available, but the space agency said the next launch opportunity is 12:57 p.m. ET on Wednesday.
The second test flight for Boeing’s CST-100 Starliner spacecraft was scheduled to launch from the Florida coast on Tuesday afternoon before it was called off. This comes on the heels of last week’s launch attempt also being scrubbed due to an unplanned thruster-firing incident on the International Space Station.
The first Starliner launch in December 2019 famously did not go as planned and the spacecraft never reached the ISS.
NASA was set to carry live coverage of the uncrewed mission starting at 12:30 p.m. ET Tuesday. It’s part of NASA’s Commercial Crew program, in which the space agency tapped the private sector to help with missions in low-Earth orbit. It’s not immediately clear when the next launch opportunity will be.
On Monday, the Starliner spacecraft and a United Launch Alliance Atlas V rocket were rolled out on to the launch pad at Florida’s Cape Canaveral Space Force Station ahead of Tuesday’s liftoff. Meteorologists with the U.S. Space Force 45th Weather Squadron predicted a 60% chance of favorable weather for launch day.
After launching, the Starliner was supposed to commence a daylong trip to the space station.
The spaceship was set to bring some 400 pounds of cargo and supplies to the space station crew.
While the test flight is uncrewed, an anthropometric dummy dubbed “Rosie the Rocketeer” will be aboard the Starliner when it launches.The 180-pound test device will sit in the commander’s seat of the capsule for the test flight, and its sensors will be used to collect data on how the launch will impact eventual human passengers. The model human was named after the World War II icon Rosie the Riveter, and is meant to honor women pioneers in aerospace. The test device is clad in the iconic red polka-dot bandana.
Boeing also said it will be paying tribute to more than a dozen historically Black colleges and universities during the upcoming flight test. Among the cargo inside the spacecraft are flags, small pennants and other items “representing HBCUs from throughout the U.S.,” according to a statement from the company.
NASA and Boeing blamed errors in automation and software issues for the botched launch in December 2019, saying mission clocks were not in sync and thus timing errors prevented the Starliner from reaching the orbit it needed in order to get to the space station. Rather than reach the space station, the Starliner landed in White Sands, New Mexico.
The second test flight mission is seen as critical for Boeing, as it has yet to launch astronauts for NASA while its Commercial Crew program competitor SpaceX has flown multiple crewed missions to the space station in addition to numerous cargo flights. Boeing is also still reeling from the fallout related to issues with its 737 Max jets. If the Starliner launch fails again, it is difficult to see how it will be able to remain competitive against SpaceX for NASA contracts — especially as the private sector’s involvement in the budding commercial space industry has grown significantly over the past year.
COVID-19 live updates: Arkansas sees highest hospitalization increase since start of pandemic
(NEW YORK) — The United States is facing a COVID-19 surge this summer as the more contagious delta variant spreads.
More than 613,000 Americans have died from COVID-19 and over 4.2 million people have died worldwide, according to real-time data compiled by the Center for Systems Science and Engineering at Johns Hopkins University.
Just 58.1% of Americans ages 12 and up are fully vaccinated against COVID-19, according to data from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.
The CDC last week, citing new science on the transmissibility of the delta variant, changed its mask guidance to now recommend everyone in areas with substantial or high levels of transmission — vaccinated or not — wear a face covering in public, indoor settings.
Here’s how the news is developing Tuesday. All times Eastern:
Aug 03, 11:25 am
Data ‘tipping’ to show delta more serious for kids than past variants
National Institutes of Health director Francis Collins told CNN Tuesday the data is “tipping” toward showing how the delta variant is more serious for children than past variants.
Collins listed studies from Singapore, Scotland and Canada that “certainly tilts the balance in that direction” but made clear that more data is needed.
Collins also added that part of the reason the U.S. is seeing more children in hospitals is because they’re part of the unvaccinated population and he doesn’t want to “overstate the confidence.”
-ABC News’ Cheyenne Haslett
Aug 03, 10:23 am
NYC to require proof of vaccination to eat inside
New York City will soon require vaccinations for workers and customers for indoor dining, indoor fitness facilities and indoor entertainment facilities, Mayor Bill de Blasio announced Tuesday.
This mandate will be enforced as of Sept. 13.
Aug 03, 8:55 am
US ships more than 100 million vaccine doses abroad
The Biden administration has hit a vaccine-sharing milestone, shipping more than 110 doses to over 60 countries around the world, mostly through COVAX, the World Health Organization’s vaccine-sharing initiative. The U.S. has shared more doses than every other country combined, according to United Nations data.
Starting at the end of August, the U.S. will begin shipping another batch of 500 million doses of Pfizer to 100 low-income countries across the globe. Two-hundred million of those 500 million doses are expected to be shipped in 2021.
Aug 03, 8:24 am
Arkansas sees highest increase in hospitalizations since start of pandemic
Another 81 COVID-19 patients were admitted to Arkansas hospitals on Monday, the highest increase in hospitalizations since the beginning of the pandemic, Gov. Asa Hutchinson tweeted.
The state now has 1,220 COVID-19 patients in hospitals, including 250 on ventilators.
“We continue to see nearly all hospitalizations among the unvaccinated,” the governor wrote. “Hospitals are full & the only remedy is for more Arkansans to be vaccinated.”
(NEW YORK) — Starting this week, fully vaccinated Hawaii residents can skip COVID-19 testing and quarantine requirements when flying between the islands.
According to the new rules, which Gov. David Ige announced last month, Hawaii residents who were vaccinated in the state are exempt from testing and quarantine on the 15th day after their final vaccine shot.
To participate in the inter-county travel program, island residents will need to provide their Centers for Disease Control and Prevention vaccination record card, as well as register with Hawaii’s “Safe Travels” program and affirm they are fully vaccinated, to get a digital record card.
Travelers under the age of 5 can bypass the requirements, as long as they are on the same travel itinerary as a fully vaccinated parent or guardian.
The new rules went into effect Monday.
For now, only state residents are eligible for the program, and visitors will still have to either test negative for COVID-19 before flying or quarantine for 10 days when traveling between islands. Ige said the state is hoping to troubleshoot the process before rolling it out to out-of-state Americans as early as this summer and international visitors later this year.
“It will allow us to validate the screening process necessary, and I think most importantly, learn about what kinds of bottlenecks and delays it may inject into our screening process for inter-island travel,” Ige told reporters last month.
As of Tuesday, 41% of the population in Hawaii was fully vaccinated and 59% had received at least one dose of the vaccine, according to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.
Hawaii is the second state after New York to issue a vaccination verification certification for state residents.
(NEW YORK) — With over a third of the United States population now fully vaccinated against COVID-19, scientists hope to preserve this newly acquired immunity as the pandemic continues. Now, researchers are exploring whether we might all need booster shots in the coming months and years in order to maintain immunity or to protect against newly emerging variants.
“The goal is to prevent future outbreaks — not react to them,” said Dr. Thaddeus Stappenbeck, chair of the department of inflammation & immunity at Cleveland Clinic.
The Biden administration said during a Senate hearing Tuesday that the government has enough funding to buy booster shots if needed.
“There could be two reasons why booster shots may be needed,” said Dr. Dan Barouch, director of the Center for Virology and Vaccine Research at Beth Israel Deaconess Medical Center. The first is the “natural waning” of vaccine immunity, and the second is that new variants could emerge that might not be fully covered by the current vaccines, he said.
Some experts predict vaccine immunity will last roughly a year and that COVID-19 vaccines might one day be folded into annual flu shots. Meanwhile, with new mutations of COVID-19 emerging worldwide, scientists and vaccine manufacturers are thinking one step ahead by testing booster shots specifically designed to enhance protection against these new variants.
“If we start to see breakthrough infections of clinical significance, then booster doses would likely be recommended. It may be that boosters are recommended for travel to countries where significant transmission continues — we just don’t know,” said Dr. Anna Durbin, professor of international health and infectious diseases at Johns Hopkins University.
Last week, Moderna announced positive preliminary results showing a third booster shot could both preserve immunity and add protection against two variants — one that was first identified in South Africa and another first identified in Brazil.
“It’s a very good piece of news,” Dr. Stephen Hoge, president of Moderna, told ABC News. “It suggests not only can we boost people’s immunity back up and keep it high during the pandemic but also that we can specifically boost it up against some of the new variants of concern.”
Hoge acknowledged that recently vaccinated Americans may be frustrated that additional shots could be needed in the future.
“Well, I’m sympathetic to the disappointment,” Hoge said. “Our current expectation is that we’re going to need a booster probably annually for the near term, and then maybe in the future we’ll be able to do it much less frequently.”
Pfizer is also testing booster vaccinations and monitoring the need to develop a specific booster shot against a newly emerged variant first identified in India.
“We want to make sure to have a vaccine available before the variant will raise levels of infections that are dangerous for the society,” Dr. Albert Bourla, chairman and CEO of Pfizer, said.
Booster shots being studied by manufacturers include existing vaccine formulations, new strain-matched compounds or a combination of both. Multivalent vaccines contain multiple strain-matched compounds and could potentially expand protection against several new variants with a single booster shot.
Scientists say the mRNA technology behind the Pfizer-BioNTech and Moderna vaccines lends itself to rapid modifications of the vaccine. The vaccine developed by Johnson & Johnson could also be updated quickly.
“We should be able to produce it in less than 100 days,” Bourla told ABC News. “And this is our goal right now, so that we can always stay ahead of the [virus].”
With a major portion of the country and world still unvaccinated, some specialists caution that the most effective approach to ending the pandemic may not necessarily be through booster shots. The World Health Organization says existing vaccines remain effective at preventing severe illness and death even for newer variants.
And recent data has shown that the more people are vaccinated with existing vaccines, the sooner the pandemic will end.
“We have a global need for vaccine doses now, and the best way to reduce transmission and reduce the number of variants is to vaccinate as many people as possible,” Durbin said.
(NEW YORK) — A growing consensus among public health experts that the U.S. could soon safely end mask mandates has put pressure on the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention to update its guidance in the weeks ahead or risk losing credibility with the public.
All adult Americans who want to get a vaccine will have had the chance to do so in the next two months, the thinking goes, and they should then be able to make their own risk assessment based on the strong efficacy of the vaccines, which experts believe largely protects fully vaccinated Americans from getting severely ill with the virus and from transmitting it.
“What’s happening in the past week or so is that we’re seeing the effect of the vaccine winning this race against the variants, winning the race against the virus, and that’s freeing us up — and forcing us, rightly so — to reevaluate our control strategies that are in place,” said Joe Allen, a professor at the Harvard T.H. Chan School of Public Health.
The CDC has begun to loosen its recommendations for fully vaccinated people, defined as someone who has received the full regimen of the vaccine and waited two weeks for full immunity to kick in, but it hasn’t gone so far as to say people can ditch their masks indoors if they’re vaccinated.
Experts believe that is the logical next step.
“We should not undersell the vaccines. They offer excellent protection,” said Linsey Marr, an expert in virus transmission at Virginia Tech. “I think we can really start thinking about ending mask mandates once everyone who wants to be vaccinated has had a chance to be fully vaccinated. And that should be in another month or two.”
And President Joe Biden said as much on Tuesday, telling governors that there could be guidance on indoor mask mandates “at some point soon.”
“We’ve gone a little slower to make sure we’re exactly right in terms of the percent of the population that has been vaccinated,” Biden said, but added that the White House would be “moving on that in the next little bit.”
Beginning last month, the CDC released guidance that fully vaccinated people can gather in small groups without masks indoors and do the same with unvaccinated friends and family so long as they’re low risk. Then, two weeks ago, the CDC said that fully vaccinated Americans could safely ditch their masks in spacious outdoor settings.
But this week, the CDC has come under increasing pressure from lawmakers to offer more incentives for Americans to get vaccinated, demonstrating through national guidelines that getting a vaccine is the path back to normalcy.
CDC Director Rochelle Walensky, testifying before Congress on Tuesday, defended the CDC’s conservative decision-making so far. The CDC has to consider every situation before it can issue guidance, she said.
“I think it’s important to realize that we, at CDC, are responsible for putting out guidance for individuals as well as for populations, for public health. We are responsible for putting out guidance for counties that have less than five cases per 100,000 and for counties that have greater than 100 cases per 100,000, as well as for counties that have less than 10% of people vaccinated and counties that have more than 50% of people vaccinated. Our guidance has to be science-based for all of these situations,” Walensky said.
The timeline on just how soon the CDC could loosen guidelines is unclear, since experts say masks indoors should stick around until every adult who wants the vaccine has had a chance to reach full vaccination. At the same time, over 116 million Americans have already hit that mark.
Allen, the professor at the Harvard T.H. Chan School of Public Health, thinks “top-down” mask mandates can be walked back around July 4, a symbolic date of independence and freedom, but also when he estimated there will have been enough time to guarantee Americans have fairly and adequately had access to the vaccine.
“Once everyone has had the chance to get it, then we start to move into this personal risk decision making,” Allen said. “And my feeling is that it’s reasonable by July 4 or so that we’ll be in a place to pull back on some of these mandates, assuming cases keep dropping as we expect them to.”
At the same time, risks for fully vaccinated Americans are already very different.
Marr, who is fully vaccinated, said she’d now be comfortable indoor dining, going to a grocery store without a mask on, or attending an outdoor barbeque mask-less, with people who are both vaccinated and unvaccinated — though she would follow the rules in her community. She said she would be comfortable with her children, who aren’t vaccinated, doing the same because she’s generally been more concerned about them spreading it to someone who’s vulnerable to COVID than she is about their risks of severe illness.
The place she would still consider wearing a mask, Marr said, would be in a really crowded indoor environment, like a standing-room only indoor concert or a packed worship service with lots of singing. Marr would also consider if case numbers are high or vaccination rates are low, which would increase the risk of exposure.
Allen said he looks forward to traveling with his family this summer, mostly without masks. Like Marr, he said he would pay attention to how much virus is circulating in the community, as well as the social norms of the area he’s in.
“It’s going to vary based on what part of the country you’re in and it’s going to vary based on your own risk tolerance,” he said.
William Schaffner, a professor of preventive medicine and infectious diseases at Vanderbilt University Medical Center, said vaccinated people should feel confident indoors even in congregate settings, so long as they’re not immunocompromised, and be comfortable ditching their masks around children.
His suggestion?
“Vaccinated people don’t have to wear masks indoors. Period. Except if you’re immunocompromised. Whereas unvaccinated people, they still need to be cautious for their own good, and for the good of others,” he said.
It’s difficult to enforce masks for unvaccinated people while no longer requiring them for fully vaccinated people, largely because it’s awkward to single people out. But, Shaffner said, an important part of ushering in the “new normal” is to “formally, in recommendations, permit the vaccinated people to behave much more as they did pre-COVID, because we have so much confidence in the vaccines.”
“The CDC has been hearing from many people, informally, that it’s time to allow a little more risk out there. If we’re going to get more people vaccinated, you have to reward them,” Schaffner said.
And if the CDC doesn’t act soon to acknowledge those new freedoms, it could erode people’s confidence in the recommendations.
“I’m worried that if we don’t relax restrictions, then people say, ‘What’s the point of getting the vaccine?'” said Allen.
“I also think public health will have a credibility problem. When we urge people to put in controls, people put in controls, largely. If we then don’t pull back controls when it’s time to pull back, we lose credibility,” he said.
(NEW YORK) — A new sunscreen contouring “hack” gaining popularity on TikTok has experts warning users to be very cautious about skin damage.
TikTok user Eli Withrow shared a technique that she’s convinced gives your face a chiseled, radiant boost.
She advised that if you use a base sunscreen of SPF 30 and an SPF 90 in all the spots where you would use highlighter (the highest planes of your face), you will be left with a contoured look following sun exposure.
“You’ll be naturally snatched all summer,” said Withrow.
Withrow’s sunscreen contouring hack video has since received more than 12 million views and left many people with questions on how, or if, it works. Others wondered whether it was safe to be doing at all.
NYC-based dermatologist Dr. Michelle Henry told “GMA” it’s “absolutely unsafe.”
“Any excess sun exposure can increase the risk for skin cancer. UV is a known carcinogen and not a natural source of contouring the skin,” she said.
It can possibly lead to skin cancer in the future, burns and accelerated aging from exposed areas, according to Henry.
While these potential skin dangers could be an unwanted result, TikTokers have continued to try out the “hack.”
“It’s definitely not something any dermatologist can recommend,” NYC-based dermatologist Dr. Dhaval Bhanusali told “GMA.”
He continued, “In reality, any kind of tan is usually the result of damage to your skin from UV radiation and, long term, will not only increase your chances of skin cancer, but it will also increase sun damage, including collagen breakdown, pigment issues and increased vascularity.”
Experts recommend that it’s better to use a tinted sunscreen or contouring with regular makeup.
How should you be using sunscreen?
“I love using an elegant lightweight sunscreen over the entire face to both protect the skin and hydrate it,” said Henry. “Olay Regenerist Whip SPF 25 is lightweight, powerfully hydrating thanks to vitamin B3, and has SPF 25 — it’s a must-try.”
She recommends applying sunscreen to your full face — about a nickel-sized amount of product to ensure adequate coverage. Also, be sure to remember your ears and under your chin, and reapply every two hours.
In addition to using a daily SPF, Bhanusali also recommends wearing adequate sun protection such as hats or staying in the shade when possible. He likes sunscreens that absorb easily, such as offerings from EltaMD, Supergoop and Neutrogena.
Bhanusali also advised, “Consistency is key and it’s worth experimenting with a few brands to find the ones that fit your skin best.”
(NEW YORK) — COVID-19 vaccine eligibility has now been widened for children ages 12 and up.
The U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA) on Monday authorized the Pfizer vaccine for children ages 12 to 15, bolstering chances for a safe return to full-time school in the fall. Vaccinations for 12-15-year-olds may start later this week after the director of the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) endorses recommendations on distribution plans.
All people in America 16 years and older are already eligible to receive the Pfizer vaccine, and anyone 18 years and older is eligible for Moderna or Johnson & Johnson.
Pfizer, which is currently conducting clinical trials with children as young as 6 months old, has said it will likely seek an emergency use authorization for its vaccine for children ages 2 to 11 in September.
Moderna — which, like Pfizer, received emergency use authorization for its COVID-19 vaccine from the FDA in December — and Johnson & Johnson — which received emergency use authorization from the FDA for its vaccine in February — are also both currently conducting clinical trials with children.
The rapid pace of progress has left parents searching for answers as quickly as the science develops.
Here is what parents may want to know about the COVID-19 vaccines and kids to help them make decisions.
1. What is the science behind the COVID-19 vaccine?
Both the Pfizer and Moderna vaccines use mRNA technology, which does not enter the nucleus of the cells and doesn’t alter human DNA. Instead, it sends a genetic “instruction manual” that prompts cells to create proteins that look like the virus — a way for the body to learn and develop defenses against future infection.
The Johnson & Johnson vaccine uses an inactivated adenovirus vector, Ad26, that cannot replicate. The Ad26 vector carries a piece of DNA with instructions to make the SARS-CoV-2 spike protein that triggers an immune response.
This same type of vaccine has been authorized for Ebola, and has been studied extensively for other illnesses — and for how it affects women who are pregnant or breastfeeding.
Neither of these vaccine platforms can cause COVID-19.
2. Why do kids need to be vaccinated against COVID-19?
While have not been as many deaths from COVID-19 among children as adults, particularly adults in high-risk categories, kids can still get the virus and just as importantly, they can transmit the virus to adults.
The American Academy of Pediatrics reported this week that children now make up 22.4% of all new weekly cases, and over 3.7 million children have been diagnosed during the pandemic.
“There are really two big reasons why kids need to get the vaccine,” explained Dr. Jennifer Ashton, ABC News chief medical correspondent.
“One of them is that it is possible that they could be infected and then unknowingly pass COVID-19 to someone with a serious or underlying, pre-existing medical condition,” she said. “And also, though it’s very uncommon and unlikely, it is still possible that children infected with COVID-19 could become seriously ill or worse. We have seen that.”
“It’s important to think in ripple effects, outside the box,” Ashton added. “It’s not just your home environment that you need to worry about.”
3. Will kids experience the same vaccine side effects as adults?
Adolescents experienced a similar range of side effects as seen in older teens and young adults — generally seen as cold-like symptoms in the two to three days after the second dose — and had an “excellent safety profile,” Peter Marks, director of the FDA’s Center for Biologics Evaluation and Research, said at a press briefing announcing Pfizer’s authorization.
“Based on all this available information, the FDA determined the Pfizer-BioNTech vaccine has met all of the criteria required to amend the EUA, which concluded that the known and potential benefits of this vaccine in individuals 12 years of age and older outweigh the vaccines known and potential risks,” Marks said.
Marks encouraged parents who were hesitant to vaccinate their children to speak with their pediatricians, urging confidence in the trial and data.
Moderna has said that an initial analysis of its COVID-19 study with teens ages 12 to 17 found the majority of side effects were mild or moderate in severity, and said no serious safety concerns had been identified. The FDA will scrutinize Moderna’s clinical data before authorizing the use in anyone under 18.
4. How effective is the Pfizer vaccine in children?
Pfizer announced in late March that its clinical trials showed the vaccine was safe and 100% effective in children ages 12-15, similar to the 95% efficacy among adult clinical trial participants.
Marks confirmed on May 10 that after a trial with over 2,000 children, Pfizer found no cases of infection among the children who had been given the vaccine and 16 cases of infection among the children who received a placebo.
No cases of COVID occurred in the 1,005 adolescents that received the vaccine, while there were 16 cases of COVID among the 978 kids who received the placebo, “thus indicating the vaccine was 100% effective in preventing COVID-19 In this trial,” said Marks.
5. Will kids get the same dose of the vaccines as adults?
The FDA has authorized the same dosing for 12- to 15-year-olds as adults with the Pfizer two-dose vaccine.
6. What will fully vaccinated kids be able to do?
Children who are fully vaccinated will be able to follow the updated guidance for vaccinated people from the CDC.
That means not wearing a mask while outdoors, except in crowds, and not having to quarantine after known or suspected exposure to COVID-19, according to the CDC.
Kids who are fully vaccinated may also attend small outdoor gatherings with fully vaccinated family, friends, or those who are unvaccinated, and dine at outdoor restaurants with friends from multiple households, according to the CDC.
Being fully vaccinated — a milestone achieved two weeks after a person’s final vaccine shot — will also make it easier for children to travel internationally and gain entry into concerts or sporting events.
7. Could COVID-19 vaccines impact puberty, menstruation?
There is currently no clinical evidence to suggest the vaccines can have long-term effects on puberty or fertility, according to Ashton, a practicing, board-certified OBGYN.
Ashton noted that while there has been anecdotal discussion of the emotional event of finally receiving the vaccine temporarily impacting menstruation for adult women, the idea of the cause being from the vaccine itself “defies science and biology.”
It is really important to understand basic biology here,” Ashton said. “Women can have changes in their menstrual cycle and also have gotten the vaccine, that does not mean that one caused the other.”
“Right now there is no puberty concern. There is no fertility concern,” she added.
8. Will the Johnson & Johnson COVID-19 vaccine be available for kids?
Johnson & Johnson announced in April that it had begun vaccinating a “small number of adolescents aged 16-17 years” in a Phase 2a clinical trial.
As of April, the trial was enrolling participants only in Spain and the United Kingdom, with plans to expand enrollment to the U.S., the Netherlands and Canada, followed by Brazil and Argentina.
9. Where will children access COVID-19 vaccines?
As with the distribution of vaccines to adults, the process of distributing COVID-19 vaccines to children will differ by state.
The vaccines will likely be available to kids through a combination of pharmacies, pediatricians, medical centers and larger vaccine events.
Pfizer has announced they are going to ship their vaccine in smaller shipments of 450 doses per box instead of over 1000 doses, which means it can be kept in places like pediatricians’ offices.
10. What are health groups saying about COVID-19 vaccines and kids?
The American Academy of Pediatrics (AAP) has called on all adults and teens who are eligible to receive a COVID-19 vaccine to do so, while also pushing for clinical trials for younger teens and children.
“Research has shown the new vaccines to be remarkably effective,” AAP President Dr. Lee Savio Beers said in a statement. “The vaccine is a powerful tool that — in conjunction with other safety measures like face masks, good hygiene and physical distancing — can help us end the suffering and death caused by COVID-19. Pediatricians can play a key role in making that happen.”
The AAP also cheered the FDA’s decision to authorize the Pfizer vaccine for children ages 12 and up, calling it a “critically important step.”
“Our youngest generations have shouldered heavy burdens over the past year, and the vaccine is a hopeful sign that they will be able to begin to experience all the activities that are so important for their health and development,” Savio Beers said in a statement, in part. “We look forward to the discussion by the Advisory Committee on Immunization Practices of the CDC, which will make recommendations about the use of this vaccine in adolescents. Meanwhile, pediatricians stand ready to assist in efforts to administer this and other COVID-19 vaccines.”
11. Are other countries giving COVID-19 vaccines to children?
Yes. Canada’s health department authorized the use of the Pfizer-BioNTech COVID-19 vaccine in children 12 to 15 years of age on May 5.
12. Will COVID-19 vaccines be required by schools?
It will be up to each state’s government to decide whether a COVID-19 vaccine is required for school entry. Many colleges and universities in the U.S. have announced they will require students to be vaccinated from COVID-19.
(NEW YORK) — In an effort to meet New Yorkers where they are, the state is offering pop-up COVID-19 vaccination sites at some subway and commuter stations this week, Gov. Andrew Cuomo announced Monday.
The eight sites include Penn Station, Grand Central, Coney Island, Myrtle-Wyckoff in Brooklyn, E.180 St. in the Bronx, 179 St. in Queens, LIRR Hempstead and MetroNorth Ossining. They will be open from May 12 to May 16.
“We’ve made huge progress vaccinating New Yorkers across the state, but vaccination rates are slowing and we have to redouble our efforts,” Cuomo said. “New Yorkers may struggle to take time out of their schedules to get the vaccine, so we’re bringing it directly to them at these new sites in MTA stations.”
The sites will operate on a first-come, first-served, walk-in basis, with each location offering up to 300 single-shot Johnson & Johnson vaccines per day. As an additional incentive, vaccine recipients will earn a free seven-day MetroCard or a free roundtrip ticket for the Long Island Rail Road or Metro-North, the city’s commuter rails.
Messages advertising the pop-up site locations and hours of operation will run on the MTA station, train and bus screens, and audio announcements will be played in more than 500 stations.
In New York City, 36% of the population is fully vaccinated and 46% have received at least one dose of the vaccine, according to the city’s Health Department.
“The vaccination rate has declined,” Cuomo said. “We have to get the numbers up.”
(NEW YORK) — The Pfizer vaccine has been authorized for children ages 12 and up, widening the U.S. population that will be protected against the virus and bolstering chances for a safe return to full-time school in the fall, the Food and Drug Administration announced Monday.
“We know this is a big step for our country. Vaccinating a younger population brings us closer to returning to a sense of normalcy and to ending the pandemic,” acting FDA Commissioner Janet Woodcock said at a press briefing on Monday night.
Woodcock said parents and guardians can “rest assured that in making our decision, the agency undertook a rigorous and thorough review of all available scientific data, as we have with all the COVID-19 vaccine authorizations.”
Pfizer vaccines for kids age 12-15 could be administered as soon as Thursday, Woodcock said, so long as all goes well at Wednesday’s Advisory Committee on Immunization Practices (ACIP) meeting, which is the next step in the vaccine rollout.
Pfizer announced in late March that its clinical trials showed the vaccine was safe and 100% effective in children ages 12-15, similar to the 95% efficacy among adult clinical trial participants.
It was the first vaccine to show data in children as young as 12, a promising first step toward vaccinating younger Americans. The vaccine was the only option for 16- and 17-year-olds in the U.S., with Moderna and Johnson & Johnson authorized for those 18 and older. Now, the FDA authorization means kids throughout middle and high schools will have the opportunity to be vaccinated before the fall, alleviating many of the hurdles schools face in stopping transmission.
Currently, about 115 million Americans are fully immunized — about 35% of the population.
After a trial with over 2,000 children, Pfizer found no cases of infection among the children who had been given the vaccine and 16 cases of infection among the children who received a placebo, Dr. Peter Marks, director of the FDA’s Center for Biologics Evaluation and Research, said at the press briefing.
No cases of COVID occurred in the 1,005 adolescents that received the vaccine, while there were 16 cases of COVID among the 978 kids who received the placebo, “thus indicating the vaccine was 100% effective in preventing COVID-19 In this trial,” said Marks.
Adolescents experienced a similar range of side effects as seen in older teens and young adults — generally seen as cold-like symptoms in the two to three days after the second dose — and had an “excellent safety profile,” Marks said.
“Based on all this available information, the FDA determined the Pfizer-BioNTech vaccine has met all of the criteria required to amend the EUA, which concluded that the known and potential benefits of this vaccine in individuals 12 years of age and older outweigh the vaccine’s known and potential risks,” Marks said.
Marks encouraged parents who were hesitant to vaccinate their children to speak with their pediatricians, urging confidence in the trial and data.
“The vaccine had an excellent profile in children, and though one can say that often children don’t get terribly sick from COVID-19, there are kids who do get very sick from it and in addition, they can bring it asymptomatically around to their grandparents and others,” Marks said. “So this is part of the totality of getting our country protected against COVID-19, which is just waiting around the corner to come have another wave if we don’t get to a sufficient degree of vaccination.”
In an interview with ABC News ahead of the authorization, Pfizer CEO Albert Bourla said getting children the vaccine would be “great news,” not only for the kids, “but also for the parent, grandfathers and therefore the American society in general.”
Bourla acknowledged that some parents might be nervous to vaccinate their young kids, but said Pfizer has been “extremely careful with children” and waited to begin studying the vaccine with anyone 15 or younger until hundreds of millions of doses were studied in adults.
According to recent polling from the Kaiser Family Foundation, just 29% of parents of children under 18 said they’ll get them vaccinated as soon as it’s available for their age group. A third said they’re inclined to wait and see and the rest remained more hesitant.
“What we can promise to our parents is that we have done very thorough examination, more thorough than in any other vaccine, exactly because of the visibility that this vaccination is having,” Bourla told ABC News.
Moderna, the second mRNA vaccine approved for use in the U.S., said it is still studying the results among children ages 12 and up.
Dr. Ashish Jha, dean of the Brown University School of Public Health, said on ABC’s Good Morning America recently that getting vaccines to kids “will make an enormous difference for infection numbers in the community and schools for fall as well.”
While children are not considered at high risk of severe illness from the coronavirus, they represent about a quarter of the U.S. population and vaccinating them is critical to stopping the spread of the virus.
Bourla also noted that kids can still spread the virus.
“When the kids are vulnerable, they are also contributing to the pool where the virus can replicate and, of course also, they are contributing to the chain of reinfections to other group ages,” he said.
“In addition to protecting the kids, as I said, the most important thing is that you can contribute to herd immunity in the country,” he added.
Experts predict the U.S. needs anywhere between 70% to 85% of the U.S. population to be vaccinated before it can reach herd immunity, when there is enough of a defense against the virus that it will no longer be able to spread. Specialists said the higher number of people with immunity the more difficult it is for the virus to spread, so every vaccinated person reduces the risk for those around them from getting COVID too.
Both Pfizer and Moderna are continuing to study the vaccines in trials of children ages 6 months to 11 years old. Bourla, the CEO of Pfizer, confirmed that the company is expecting to have data on vaccines for elementary school students by the end of the year.
