(NEW YORK) — As the COVID-19 pandemic has swept the globe, more than 5 million people have died from the disease worldwide, including over 756,000 Americans, according to real-time data compiled by Johns Hopkins University’s Center for Systems Science and Engineering.
Just 68.4% 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:
Nov 10, 8:55 am
Over 900,000 kids 5-11 will have 1st shot by end of day, White House estimates
The White House estimates that by the end of Wednesday over 900,000 children ages 5 to 11 will have received their first vaccine shot.
That’s 3% of the 28 million newly eligible kids in this category.
Another 700,000 kids in that age range have appointments booked at pharmacies to get their first jab, according to the White House.
Nov 09, 10:36 pm
Mask mandate ending in Florida’s largest school district
Masks will be optional for students in Miami-Dade County, Florida’s largest school district, beginning on Friday, the district announced Tuesday.
This change is “based on significantly improved COVID-19 conditions in the community and within our schools,” school officials said in a statement.
Fully vaccinated employees also have the choice to not wear a mask.
Nov 09, 4:41 pm
Boosters required for people 65+ to retain health pass in France
French residents over the age of 65 must get a booster in order to keep their health pass, President Emmanuel Macron said Tuesday.
The health pass, which indicates a person is vaccinated, is mandatory for restaurants, theaters, museums and similar institutions throughout the country.
Nov 09, 3:41 pm
10 states see increase in hospital admissions
Ten states — Arizona, Colorado, Maine, Michigan, Minnesota, Nebraska, Nevada, New Hampshire, New Mexico, Utah and Vermont — have seen an increase in hospital admissions in the last two weeks, according to federal data.
The daily case average in the U.S. has jumped by 12.6% over the last two weeks, according to federal data.
Twenty-one states have seen daily cases go up by at least 10% over the last two weeks: Arizona, California, Colorado, Illinois, Indiana, Iowa, Kansas, Maine, Massachusetts, Michigan, Minnesota, Missouri, Nebraska, Nevada, New Hampshire, New Mexico, New York, South Dakota, Utah, Vermont and Wisconsin.
(WASHINGTON) — President Joe Biden plans to visit Baltimore on Wednesday to tout his infrastructure bill and highlight his administration’s work to ease port delays as the United States approaches the holiday season with rising inflation and delivery slowdowns on the horizon.
Biden’s visit comes five days after Congress passed his $1.2 trillion infrastructure bill that, among myriad investments in the nations’ physical infrastructure, will provide $17 billion to revitalize coastal, inland and land ports, as well as strengthen them against the effects of climate change.
The Biden administration on Tuesday announced short- and long-term steps to strengthen U.S. ports as part of an effort to tackle supply chain issues, including using money from the infrastructure bill.
As the U.S. continues to slowly emerge from the pandemic, Biden has been grappling with a crisis up and down the supply chain defined by worker shortages and bottlenecks.
On Tuesday, the president spoke with the CEOs of four major retailers and shipping companies — Walmart, UPS, FedEx and Target — “to discuss steps that the administration and private sector can take to further strengthen our supply chains and build on steps we’ve already taken to speed up deliveries and lower prices,” a White House official said.
Even though the president does not plan to sign the infrastructure bill until next week — he has said he wants to bring Democrats and Republicans together to the White House for a ceremony marking the bipartisan bill’s passage — a senior administration official said Tuesday that work was already underway to get port-related programs started.
White House principal deputy press secretary Karine Jean-Pierre declined to comment Tuesday about why Biden chose Baltimore in particular — and not a larger port like Los Angeles or Long Beach in California — but indicated that Biden would have more to say Wednesday.
“Outdated infrastructure has a real cost for families, as we all know, for our economy and for competitiveness,” Jean-Pierre said. “We’re seeing that right now, even as we move record goods through our ports, with supply chain bottlenecks forming that lead to higher prices and lower deliveries for American families.”
To provide immediate relief. the administration will now allow port authorities to redirect project cost savings toward immediate projects to address supply chain challenges, senior administration officials said Tuesday. One official said doing so was a way to “creatively” redirect grant money.
For example, the officials told reporters, the nation’s third-busiest port, in Savannah, Georgia, came under budget on a previous grant and could now use the leftover dollars to build a pop-up yard to store shipping containers; port authorities believe the site could be operational in 30 to 45 days, the officials said.
“It’s a great way to add capacity and efficiency at the port,” an official said. “We expect that that kind of flexibility will help other projects as well.”
The administration also plans to launch a $240 million grant program within the next 45 days to invest in port infrastructure — using money from the infrastructure bill.
Within the next two months, it will identify projects with the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers for construction work at coastal ports, inland waterways and other facilities, officials said.
In the next three months, they said, the administration will begin competition for the first round of port infrastructure grants funded by the infrastructure bill. The federal government will also identify ports of entry at the nation’s southern and northern borders that need modernization and expansion.
While the White House wouldn’t say why Biden had chosen to visit the port of Baltimore, an administration official emphasized that the port was a public-private partnership and noted the port was making major investments in adding container cranes and a second deep, 50-foot berth.
The official also highlighted how the administration is helping fund the expansion of a 126 year-old tunnel near the port to accommodate trains carrying containers stacked on top of each other.
“It’s an example of the kind of investments that are needed from both the private and public sector side,” the official said. “It’s also an illustration that the co-funding in the bipartisan infrastructure plan incentivizes the private sector to make these kinds of long-term investments as well.”
(EAST ORANGE, N.J.) — As the search for 14-year-old Jashyah Moore continues, investigators are offering an increased reward of $15,000 after an anonymous local business owner’s donation.
The Moore family planned to hold a search party at 5 p.m. Tuesday on the corner of Amherst Street and Central Avenue, East Orange, New Jersey, Mayor Ted Green said at a Tuesday press conference. There will also be an interfaith prayer vigil at 5:30 p.m. on Friday in front of City Hall.
“Jashyah is one of our own,” Green said. “We’re asking this community, as we have been asking from day one, to help us in locating this young lady.”
Jashyah has been missing since Oct. 14 and her family is pleading with the community to help bring her daughter home.
She was last seen around 10 a.m. at Poppie’s Deli Store in East Orange after her mother asked her to go to the store for groceries. According to police, surveillance footage shows Jashyah entering the store with an older male who paid for her items. However, the footage does not appear to show them leaving the store together, police say.
When she returned home to her mother, Moore said Jashyah had lost the card the family uses for groceries, and Moore told her daughter to retrace her steps to find it.
Moore said that was the last time she saw her daughter.
Jashyah is 5-foot 5-inches tall and weighs about 135 pounds. She was last seen wearing khaki pants, a black jacket and black boots, according to an East Orange City Hall press release.
“I cannot imagine what she might be going through just being away from us this long, being away from her family who loves her very much,” her mother, Jamie Moore, said through tears at a press conference Friday morning. “If anybody knows anything, please, please come forward.”
East Orange Police, the FBI, and the New Jersey State Police are working in collaboration to help find Jashyah. They say if anyone sees her or knows of her whereabouts, to call the East Orange Police at 973-266-5041.
(NEW YORK) — Tongass National Forest stretches across nearly 17 million acres of land in southeast Alaska and is home to a lush vibrant ecosystem. It is now also at the center of a bitter battle between those trying to save the old growth forests and those who say access more of it is critical for the local economy.
Tongass covers more than 80% of southeast Alaska and, according to the United States Department of Agriculture, is responsible for sequestering nearly 8% of all U.S. carbon emissions.
Global leaders have pledged for decades to end deforestation by 2030, but some Alaskan corporations are asking for the opposite and want more access to the forest to support the local economy.
“Where’s your Amazon boxes going to come from? American consumers still want this stuff. We’re producing it here. It’s a good job for us people, good jobs for Alaskans,” said Eric Nichols, the owner of Alcan Alaska Timber Corporation.
Southeast Alaska relies heavily on tourism, and took a major economic blow during the COVID-19 pandemic. Nichols, who said he’s had to downsize his company by half because of logging restrictions, said the timber industry is a way to bring consistent jobs back to the area.
“How do you raise a family on $15 an hour for a five-month job?” said Nichols. “How do I do that? I can’t do that. My kids can’t do that.”
Wanda Culp, a Tlingit native, is also worried about the future of this land and her family, but said that the natural forest is critical to their lifestyle. Her tribe has deep ties to the land.
“We depend on this wilderness as Indigenous people,” said Culp.
She noted that her people have used the forest as a natural resource for generations, but that the commercial “clearcutting” method of deforestation is disrespectful and unsustainable.
“We don’t just cut it down and let it land; we create a spot for it to land so it doesn’t split. So it’s worthwhile. That isn’t what happens with clear cuts. It’s total disrespect,” said Culp, who flew to Washington, D.C., in 2019 to protest large-scale deforestation in southeast Alaska.
In the late 1900s, the timber industry and forest clearcutting was prominent in southeast Alaska with nearly a million acres of the Tongass forest chopped down.
Bryce Dahlstrom of Viking Lumber supports clearcutting trees and likened it to any type of farming done across the country.
“It’s a crop that grows back,” said Dahlstrom. “If you don’t want a farmer to cut his corn down, don’t eat corn.”
In January 2001, just days before leaving office, President Bill Clinton enacted the Roadless Rule, which aims to preserve roadless areas by preventing road construction, as well as timber harvesting, on more than 9 million acres in the Tongass National Forest.
Since then, presidential administrations have gone back and forth on whether to keep or dismiss the rule, citing a variety of political reasons. For now, the rule remains in place.
Alaska Republican Gov. Mike Dunleavy has said between wood and minerals, there is untapped natural wealth in Alaska inhibited by the restriction.
“We’re the largest state in the country by far. This forest is larger than most states. There’s incredible opportunity to provide lumber and lumber products for the United States and possibly other parts of the world. This is an opportunity for us to do it here again and provide jobs, revenue and wealth,” said Dunleavy.
Many scientists say the health of the planet cannot be sacrificed for economic growth anymore, especially in places like Tongass, which are “carbon sinks” that help combat rising carbon emissions.
In 2020, 111 scientists from across the country wrote a letter to Biden asking him to permanently install protections in Tongass and create a strategic carbon reserve system.
Despite the restrictions from the Roadless Rule, Tongass is the last national forest that allows large-scale clearcut logging of ancient old-growth trees. Some argue it’s not an issue because trees can be replanted.
“[Trees] are a renewable resource. We cut trees down because there’s a demand for that product,” said Nichols.
But conservationist Meredith Trainor disagrees. She said the older the trees, the more effective they are at removing carbon dioxide and that an entire forest cannot be replaced so easily.
“There is no one tree scenario where we’re going to solve climate change, right? This is about managing a whole forest or a certain way,” said Trainor. “It’s the whole system that works together to sequester carbon and old growth is much more effective at doing that than young growth.”
The timber industry in southeast Alaska is only allowed to work in 2% of Tongass. Loggers like Nichols argue that’s not enough.
He wants to expand access even further, potentially giving loggers access to an additional half a million acres.
“I want enough to have an industry. We need about 5, maybe 6%, to continue to have a continuous industry up here,” said Nichols.
Scientists argue that the whole Alaskan ecosystem is connected. They believe that expanding the logging industry may have a negative effect on the region’s other largest employment sector: commercial fishing.
In Sitka, Alaska, an island town of about 8,000, they rely heavily on salmon fisheries. Fisherman Marsh Skeele said that the expansion of logging puts fishermen’s livelihoods at risk.
“[Logging] damages streams and lakes — freshwater ecosystems that salmon rely on, that fishermen rely on, that this community relies on,” said Skeele. “They’re kind of ignoring all the jobs that are tied to what exists already.”
Dunleavy said that it’s imperative to look at Alaska for all its potential and that doesn’t necessarily mean change is bad for the future of the state.
“There’s this narrative that’s trying to be pushed that if you touch Alaska, you will damage it permanently and ruin it. That’s not the case. It’s not the case at all,” said Dunleavy.
While some believe expanding access to Tongass National Forest could help more people than it could harm, a tug-of-war continues in southeast Alaska between the environment and the economy.
As for Culp, she said that the climate crisis is an issue that cannot be ignored any longer.
“We are in a serious, serious climate crisis. Why can’t we start repairing our habitat?” said Culp. “Why can’t we protect what we have? I want my great-granddaughter to be able to walk this land and breathe this fresh air, touch these trees, know who they are. It’s not much to ask.”
(WASHINGTON) — The House select committee investigating the Jan. 6 Capitol riot issued 10 subpoenas on Tuesday to former members of the Trump administration — including West Wing aides and senior officials who were in or around the Oval Office and former President Donald Trump when the riot unfolded on Capitol Hill.
They include senior adviser Stephen Miller, press secretary Kayleigh McEnany, personnel director John McEntee, deputy chief of staff Chris Liddell, and Keith Kellogg, who served as former Vice President Mike Pence’s national security adviser and was with Trump watching coverage of the riot on television, according to Bob Woodward and Robert Costa’s book Peril.
With this latest tranche, the committee has now issued at least 35 subpoenas as part of its investigation.
The panel has asked for documents to be produced by Nov. 23, and for the recipients to appear for closed-door depositions in late November to mid-December.
On Monday, the committee issued six subpoenas to senior Trump campaign officials and advisers, including campaign manager Bill Stepien and spokesman Jason Miller.
Separately, a federal judge on Tuesday evening rejected Trump’s efforts to block the Jan. 6 select committee from obtaining records out of the National Archives that the panel has sought in its investigation of Trump’s attempts to overturn the 2020 election.
D.C. district judge Tanya Chutkan made it clear in her opinion that President Joe Biden’s decision to not assert executive privilege over the documents outweighs Trump’s own assertions.
“At bottom, this is a dispute between a former and incumbent President,” Chutkan writes. “And the Supreme Court has already made clear that in such circumstances, the incumbent’s view is accorded greater weight.”
The Trump team immediately filed an appeal of the decision to the D.C. Circuit Court of Appeals.
(WASHINGTON) — New Hampshire GOP Gov. Chris Sununu announced Tuesday that he will not run for Senate in the 2022 midterms, likely hurting Republicans chances to gain a seat in Washington.
Instead, Sununu plans on running for his fourth term as governor.
While many anticipated he would announce a Senate run, Sununu, speaking at a news conference at the governor’s mansion, said his “responsibility is not to the gridlock of and politics of Washington.”
The 2022 midterms are key for Republicans to gain back majorities in Congress — needing to scoop only one seat in the Senate and nine seats in the House.
Sununu acknowledged the importance of the race in gaining back the party’s Senate majority, but said the office is not his “style.”
The race “is clearly seen as one of the best opportunities America has to have a 51st vote to stop Chuck Schumer from implementing what we all see as a losing agenda for America,” he said.
Sununu was seen as a formidable challenger to Democratic Sen. Maggie Hassan, who is running for reelection.
Two Republicans have filed for candidacy to challenge her, and her campaign recognizes the race will be hard-fought no matter who emerges as the Republican candidate, Hassan’s campaign manager Aaron Jacobs said in a statement.
While Sununu ruled out running for Senate next year, he didn’t completely close the door on heading to Washington.
Short of saying he is considering a run for president in 2024, Sununu said he might be open to a Cabinet position later in the future.
Sununu admitted that at one point he was leaning towards running for Senate. But after speaking with other senators, he said he realized he could have more of an impact as governor.
“I’d rather push myself 120 miles an hour delivering wins for New Hampshire, than to slow down and end up on Capitol Hill debating partisan politics without results,” he said.
(WASHINGTON) — Pfizer on Tuesday requested the Food and Drug Administration allow all Americans over 18 to be eligible for booster shots, submitting data from a 10,000-person trial that found its third shots to be safe and effective for adults of all ages.
The request from Pfizer comes six weeks after independent panels of experts at the FDA and Centers for Disease Control and Prevention reviewed the company’s initial request for booster shots and ultimately determined that only Americans over 65 years old or who are frequently exposed to the virus should get a third dose.
That decision, in part, was because experts at the FDA and CDC said they wanted more data on how the third shot might affect young people, and whether they even needed one given the enduring protection from the vaccine against hospitalization and death among that group.
Pfizer’s submission on Tuesday could satisfy that request, providing data on its trial of 10,000 people during the delta variant wave.
People who received a third dose of Pfizer had 95% efficacy against the virus compared to people who received two shots, Pfizer said in a press release on Tuesday. Compared to unvaccinated people, Pfizer projected that efficacy was 98%.
The FDA and CDC have both left the door open to widening booster recommendations out to everyone as more data comes out, and as immunity wanes.
And last week, chief medical advisor to the White House Dr. Anthony Fauci told reporters that he thought boosters for all adults were imminent.
“It will be very likely that everyone will be able to get a booster within a reasonable amount of time,” Fauci said at the White House COVID briefing.
“People who have a primary vaccination are still really quite protected against severe disease and hospitalization,” he said, but said he supported boosters as a way to “stay ahead of the virus.”
Still, there will be a debate among experts over whether boosters are needed for all, which largely centers on whether the U.S. should be boosting to prevent breakthrough infections.
Dr. Paul Offit, an FDA advisory panel member and director of the Vaccine Education Center at Children’s Hospital of Philadelphia, doesn’t think there’s a strong need for boosters as long as the initial two shots protect against hospitalizations and death, which they still do for most young people.
“I think those who benefit the most from a third dose are those who are over 65 years of age. I think those who are over 50, who have a high risk medical condition, will likely benefit from a third dose. And for all others, I think you should consider yourself fully vaccinated with two doses,” Offit told ABC News in an interview on Tuesday.
“But the advantage of a third dose is that you’re less likely to have an asymptotic or mildly symptomatic infection. Where you could still, for example, be contagious,” Offit said.
(NEW YORK) — Prosecutors rested their case on Tuesday against Kyle Rittenhouse by playing for the jury a new drone video of the teenager allegedly shooting the first of three men — two of whom died — during a 2020 protest in Kenosha, Wisconsin.
The prosecution wrapped up its case after six days of presenting evidence that they contend proves Rittenhouse is guilty of first-degree reckless homicide, first-degree intentional homicide and attempted first-degree intentional homicide.
“The state formally rests its case,” prosecutor Thomas Binger told the court Tuesday afternoon.
Prior to resting their case, prosecutors showed the jury a drone video, which they obtained on Friday, of Rittenhouse apparently shooting Joseph Rosenbaum, 36, multiple times, in a used car lot in downtown Kenosha the night of Aug. 25, 2020. Rosenbaum died from his wounds.
The defense began presenting its case that Rittenhouse acted in self-defense by calling its first witness, Nick Smith, 23, a former employee of Car Source, the car dealership Rittenhouse and other armed men said they were protecting the night Rittenhouse allegedly shot three people. Smith testified that the owner of Car Source called him and asked if he could put out fires in a car lot and to get a group together to protect his businesses, including two other car lots, during protests that had turned violent.
Smith testified that he spoke to Rittenhouse soon after the teenager allegedly shot the three men and that Rittenhouse repeatedly told him, “I just shot someone. I had to shoot someone.” Smith said Rittenhouse had earlier in the evening loaned him his body armor and helped protect the Car Source businesses.
After obtaining the drone video, the prosecution sent it the to the Wisconsin State Crime lab to be enhanced. The footage is the latest introduced in the case that shows Rosenbaum apparently chasing Rittenhouse into the car lot as the then-17-year-old carried an AR-style semi-automatic rifle and a fire extinguisher. The video showed Rittenhouse wheeling around and firing his weapon at Rosenbaum from close range.
In the drone video, Rittenhouse also is seen running from the car lot. Other video introduced during the trial by the prosecution showed people chasing Rittenhouse down a street after he allegedly shot Rosenbaum.
The shootings occurred during a protest over the police shooting in Kenosha of Jacob Blake, a 29-year-old Black man who was paralyzed from the waist down from his injuries, that had devolved into looting and destruction of businesses in the two days prior to the night of the deadly confrontations involving Rittenhouse.
After the first shooting, footage showed Rittenhouse falling to the ground, apparently being kicked in the face by an unidentified man and hit with a skateboard by Anthony Huber, 25, before he allegedly opened fire again, killing Huber and wounding Gaige Grosskreutz, 27, who testified on Monday that he had a loaded handgun in his right hand when he was shot in the right bicep.
The last witness the prosecution called in its case was Deputy Milwaukee County Medical Examiner Dr. Douglas Kelley, who performed the autopsies on both Rosenbaum and Huber.
Kelley testified that Huber died of a single gunshot wound to the chest that created a lethal injury to his heart and lungs. Rosenbaum, Kelley testified, was shot multiple times in the hand, thigh and groin area, head and back — the shot that killed him was the one that entered his back as he fell forward.
As graphic autopsy photos were shown, pool reporters in court described Rittenhouse as appearing to intentionally look away from the monitors.
Defense attorneys have yet to announce whether Rittenhouse will testify in his own defense.
ABC News’ Whitney Lloyd contributed to this report.
(NEW YORK) — After more than a year of working remotely through the COVID-19 pandemic, staffers at Hearst’s magazines are fighting back against a mandatory return to office.
Workers at the magazine-publishing division of Hearst — which runs outlets including Cosmopolitan, Good Housekeeping and Men’s Health — have filed an unfair labor practices charge against their employer with the National Labor Relations Board via their union, the Writer’s Guild of America East.
The document filed with the NLRB and shared with ABC News by the union alleges unfair labor practices because the management failed to negotiate with workers in good faith over return-to-office protocols.
The labor action from the magazine journalists comes as a slew of companies across the country are now seeking to bring employees back into the office and face new resistance after some 20 months of remote work during the health crisis.
Record-high levels of people quitting their jobs as the pandemic wanes and other unique labor market conditions have also been linked to workers being emboldened to negotiate for what they want in the workplace recently, especially as major companies have reported struggling to find staff.
Over 300 employees (out of a bargaining unit of some 450 people) from Hearst’s magazines division also signed a petition that was delivered to management demanding workplace location flexibility.
“We, the undersigned, trust in our colleagues to perform all their work responsibilities from the location that is most suitable to their needs. We have seen our colleagues adapt to unprecedented changes in our work lives without a drop in productivity,” the petition, shared with ABC News by the union, states. “We do not believe that a return to office is the same as a return to work, because for all Hearst employees, we have never stopped working, regardless of our location.”
The petition adds that while some employees require access to the office to do their work, they are simply seeking a “continuation of the functional norm that we have reached as a result of our extraordinary circumstances, with employees and teams able to make decisions that are appropriate for their work needs.”
In a Twitter thread posted by the Hearst Magazines Media Union, the group says that they have been seeking to negotiate with management “for months” over return-to-office plans but still feel in the dark. The thread adds that it was only four business days before the scheduled return that some New York-based employees learned of the COVID exposure policy, and that many health and safety questions remain unanswered.
“It’s our position that by barreling ahead with these last-minute plans, management is making a unilateral change to our work circumstances without adequately bargaining over the change as required by federal law,” the union tweeted. “We are ready to cooperate with any investigation the NLRB deems necessary and are hopeful this process will reinforce to the company how serious we are about workplace safety.”
Some journalists working at Hearst have weighed in on the debate on Twitter, arguing flexible work arrangement offers more time to spend with family and more.
A Hearst magazine’s spokesperson did not immediately respond to ABC News’ request for comment on Tuesday.
“We recognize that returning to the office is a big step and that some people are apprehensive about it,” Debi Chirichella, Hearst’s president, said in an email to staff last month, according to the New York Times, which reported that Hearst is seeking employees to be in the office at least three days a week. Chirichella continued: “Adjusting to this new way of working will require the same flexibility, patience and collaboration that we all demonstrated when we began working from home.”
Data from the Department of Labor indicates that many companies are in the process of recalling workers back to their offices. The DOL said that 11.6% of employed person’s teleworked because of the pandemic last month, down from 13.2% in September.
(NEW YORK) — As the COVID-19 pandemic has swept the globe, more than 5 million people have died from the disease worldwide, including over 756,000 Americans, according to real-time data compiled by Johns Hopkins University’s Center for Systems Science and Engineering.
Just 68.4% 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.
Latest headlines:
-US surgeon general releases guide to combating COVID-19 vaccine misinformation
-Pfizer to request OK for boosters to all adults: Source
-US reopens borders to vaccinated travelers
Here’s how the news is developing. All times Eastern.
Nov 09, 2:42 pm
Aaron Rodgers: ‘To anybody who felt misled … I take full responsibility’
Green Bay Packers quarterback Aaron Rodgers says he takes full responsibility for anyone who felt mislead by his comments about his vaccination status.
“I do realize I am a role model,” Rodgers said on “The Pat McAfee Show” Tuesday. “I made some comments that people might have felt were misleading. And to anybody who felt misled by those comments, I take full responsibility for those comments.”
Rodgers, who tested positive for COVID-19 last week and is not vaccinated, said Friday that he wasn’t hiding his vaccination status, even though he told reporters in August, “I’ve been immunized.”
Rodgers also said Friday that he’s allergic to an ingredient in mRNA vaccines.
He added, “I believe strongly in bodily autonomy and the ability to make choices for your body.”
Dr. David Dowdy, an epidemiologist at the Johns Hopkins Bloomberg School of Public Health, told ABC News in September that severe allergies to the vaccines are extremely uncommon and are experienced by less than one in 1 million people, according to health data.
The CDC said: “If you have had a severe allergic reaction or an immediate allergic reaction — even if it was not severe — to any ingredient in an mRNA COVID-19 vaccine, you should not get either of the currently available mRNA COVID-19 vaccines. … If you aren’t able to get one type of COVID-19 vaccine because you are allergic to an ingredient in that vaccine, ask your doctor if you should get a different type of COVID-19 vaccine.”
Dr. Jeff Linder, chief of general internal medicine and geriatrics at Northwestern University Feinberg School of Medicine, told ABC News in September that research so far shows that severe allergic reactions are likely triggered by polyethylene glycol, or PEG, a component of the vaccines.
“An allergy to that is pretty rare,” Linder added. “It would have to be documented, as a moderate or severe allergy, before I would consider giving a medical exemption.”
Nov 09, 9:08 am
Unvaccinated Texans about 20 times more likely to die: Study
Unvaccinated Texans were about 20 times more likely to die from COVID-19 and 13 times more likely to test positive in September than those fully vaccinated, according to a study released by the Texas Department of State Health Services.
The risk of death was 55 times higher for unvaccinated people in their 40s and 23 times higher for Texans in their 30s compared with vaccinated people in the same age groups, according to the Department of State Health Services.
Nov 09, 7:26 am
Singapore to begin charging COVID-19 patients who are ‘unvaccinated by choice’
Singapore announced Monday that, beginning next month, it will no longer pay for COVID-19 treatment for people who are “unvaccinated by choice,” as the island nation faces a surge in cases.
“The Government is currently footing the full COVID-19 medical bills of all Singaporeans, Permanent Residents and Long-Term Pass Holders … other than for those who tested positive soon after returning from overseas travel,” Singapore’s Ministry of Health said in a statement. “For the majority who are vaccinated, this special approach for COVID-19 bills will continue until the COVID-19 situation is more stable.”
“Currently, unvaccinated persons make up a sizeable majority of those who require intensive inpatient care, and disproportionately contribute to the strain on our healthcare resources,” the ministry noted.
The new policy will apply to all unvaccinated COVID-19 patients who are admitted to Singaporean hospitals or COVID-19 treatment facilities on or after Dec. 8, according to the ministry.
Singapore has one of the highest COVID-19 vaccination rates in the world, with 85% of its 5.5 million people fully inoculated. But the country’s health care system is under strain as it grapples with its worst wave of COVID-19 infections since the start of the pandemic.
Nov 09, 7:02 am
US surgeon general releases guide to combating COVID-19 vaccine misinformation
The U.S. government’s top doctor released a step-by-step toolkit on Tuesday morning to help people combat misinformation about COVID-19 vaccines in their own close circles.
“We need people in communities all across our country to have these conversations,” Surgeon General Vivek Murthy told ABC News. “This is not just the government that needs to be engaged in these conversations. If anything, it’s individuals who have people they trust in their lives who have great power when it comes to helping them move our vaccination rates in the right direction.”
The guide provides a road map for vaccinated people to talk to unvaccinated people who have bought into conspiracy theories or lies that spread on the internet about the COVID-19 vaccines.
Over the summer, the surgeon general issued an advisory that called misinformation an urgent public health threat.
The toolkit, which Murthy hopes will be used by health professionals, faith leaders, teachers or parents with children newly eligible for the shot, is the next step in addressing the ongoing problem. November polling from the Kaiser Family Foundation showed that nearly eight in 10 adults have come across false statements about COVID-19 and have either believed them or been unsure if they were true.
“During the COVID 19 pandemic, misinformation has in fact cost people their lives. So we don’t have an option to give up,” Murthy said.
The information released Tuesday encourages people to talk in person instead of online. One section is even entitled “If you’re not sure, don’t share!”
It includes discussion questions and illustrations explaining why people share misinformation or what a hypothetical conversation around misinformation could look like. The recommended approach relies heavily on listening, providing empathy and avoiding shame.
“When talking with a friend or family members, emphasize the fact that you understand that there are often reasons why people find it difficult to trust certain sources of information,” the guide states.
