Sammy Hagar is famously known as the Red Rocker, but he may be donning silver and black this afternoon, when he’ll be performing during the halftime show at the Las Vegas Raiders’ game against the Cincinnati Bengals at Sin City’s Allegiant Stadium.
Hagar will be joined by guitarist Vic Johnson, a member of Sammy’s backing groups The Circle and The Wabos, and the two musicians will be accompanied by the Raiders House Band.
Hagar’s set will include renditions of his former band Van Halen‘s “Right Now” and his 1982 solo song “There’s Only One Way to Rock.”
“It’s going to be a blast to come out…and rock the Raiders’ halftime show,” says Hagar in a statement. “I have a great deal of respect for [Raiders owner] Mark Davis and it’s incredible what he and the team have brought to Las Vegas, which is like a second home to me…I’ve done some cool things in my life, and this is up there.”
Sammy recently wrapped up a run of sold-out “Sammy Hagar and Friends” residency shows at the Las Vegas venue The Strat.
Hagar becomes the latest in a series of music stars who have performed at Raiders home games this season, joining Carlos Santana, electronic music artist DJ Marshmello and rappers Ludacris, Too $hort and Ice Cube.
The Raiders-Bengals game begins at 4:05 p.m. ET/1:05 p.m. PT.
Meanwhile, Hagar and The Circle will wrap up their 2021 tour schedule next month with the “A Toast to Texas” trek, a four-show outing taking place December 3 in Fort Worth, December 4 in San Antonio, December 6 in Austin and on December 8 in Houston.
Visit RedRocker.com for more details about Hagar’s itinerary.
(ATLANTA) — A passenger accidentally discharged a gun at the Hartsfield-Jackson Atlanta International Airport Saturday, airport officials said, causing panic and sending travelers onto the tarmac on one of the busiest travel weekends of the year.
The incident occurred around 1:30 pm local time at the security screening area, the airport said in an update on Twitter.
“There is not an active shooter,” the airport said. “There is no danger to passengers or employees.”
A passenger accidentally discharged the gun at the main checkpoint, TSA said in a statement to ABC News.
During a bag search, the X-ray identified a prohibited item, TSA said.
The transportation security officer “advised the passenger not to touch the property, and as he opened the compartment containing the prohibited item, the passenger lunged into the bag and grabbed a firearm, at which point it discharged,” TSA said. “The passenger then fled the area, running out of the airport exit.”
Three people sustained non-life-threatening injuries, likely during the airport evacuation, a TSA spokesperson said.
Atlanta Police Department was on site investigating the incident.
About two hours after the discharge, the airport was given an “all-clear” to resume normal operations, airport officials said.
The shooting caused chaos and confusion. Videos taken by travelers showed the panicked moments after the discharge, with people running out of the terminal. Other travelers could be seen huddled lying on the ground.
Travelers reported being stuck on the tarmac or in baggage claim after the incident, Atlanta ABC affiliate WSB reported.
TSA said its officers have detected more than 450 firearms at the Atlanta airport’s checkpoints so far this year.
“This incident underscores the importance of checking personal belongings for dangerous items before leaving for the airport,” TSA said in a statement. “Firearms, particularly loaded firearms, introduce an unnecessary risk at checkpoints, have no place in the passenger cabin of an airplane, and represent a very costly mistake for the passengers who attempt to board a flight with them.”
The incident occurred during what is shaping up to be the busiest travel weekend since the start of the pandemic due to Thanksgiving — at the busiest airport in the United States.
Transportation Security Administration officers screened 2,242,956 people at airport security checkpoints nationwide Friday — the “highest checkpoint volume since passenger volume tanked in early 2020 as a result of the pandemic,” TSA spokesperson Lisa Farbstein said.
ABC News’ Victoria Arancio and Joshua Hoyos contributed to this report.
(ATLANTA) — There was an accidental gun discharge at the Hartsfield-Jackson Atlanta International Airport Saturday, airport officials said, causing panic and sending travelers onto the tarmac on one of the busiest travel weekends of the year.
The incident occurred around 1:30 pm local time at the security screening area, the airport said in an update on Twitter.
“There is not an active shooter,” the airport said. “There is no danger to passengers or employees.”
No injuries have been reported, according to the Atlanta Police Department, which was on site investigating the incident.
About two hours after the discharge, the airport was given an “all-clear” to resume normal operations, airport officials said.
No further details on the shooting, including who discharged the gun, have been released at this time.
The shooting caused chaos and confusion. Videos taken by travelers showed the panicked moments after the discharge, with people running out of the terminal. Other travelers could be seen huddled lying on the ground.
Travelers reported being stuck on the tarmac or in baggage claim after the incident, according to Atlanta ABC affiliate WSB.
The incident occurred during what is shaping up to be the busiest travel weekend since the start of the pandemic due to Thanksgiving — at the busiest airport in the United States.
Transportation Security Administration officers screened 2,242,956 people at airport security checkpoints nationwide Friday — the “highest checkpoint volume since passenger volume tanked in early 2020 as a result of the pandemic,” TSA spokesperson Lisa Farbstein said.
ABC News’ Victoria Arancio and Joshua Hoyos contributed to this report.
(RIVERSIDE, Calif.) — Once considered underdogs, the football team at the California School for the Deaf in Riverside has defied the odds with an undefeated season that has electrified and inspired spectators in California and beyond.
The Cubs Varsity football team was 11 and 0 this season and now has won the division championship game, which is a first in the school’s 68-year history.
“It’s inspiring for the deaf community quite honestly. 11 and 0 we’ve never experienced this being this far in playoffs,” coach Keith Adams told ABC News. “The community is so excited, the morale has been uplifted, the self-esteem of our players — you can see a major difference.”
Wide receiver Jory Valencia told ABC News that the notion that they’ve never had a successful season only “fired us up” and inspired them to push harder each game.
“Now we’re just destroying every game. We’re showing the world we can play. We’re not losing anymore,” he said.
The players and coaches rely on American Sign Language to communicate and spoke with ABC News through an ASL translator.
Running back Enos Zornoza said that their success this season is due to their perseverance and hard work during each practice.
He said that they’ve had their eyes on the championship from the beginning, but they took it “one game at a time, one practice at a time.”
“Other players like to fool around, they’re like, come on, guys. Stay committed. Stay on task. So I think that it just takes teamwork,” wide receiver and quarterback Phillip Castaneda told ABC News, reflecting on the historic season.
Castaneda added that he and his teammates have “amazing chemistry,” which gives them the energy they need to win on the field.
Adams said his players are so talented that they have made coaching “easy” for him.
“They’re great kids,” he said.
“I knew we were going to have a good team, but they have just amazed me — exceeded my expectations.”
Asked what he hopes the Cubs’ story of triumph will teach others, Zornoza said he hopes the attention they are getting nationwide will inspire other deaf kids and give them hope.
“We can do anything. Deaf people can do anything,” he said. “We’re not this stereotype that’s out there.”
“We’re breaking news that we can do it right. And not just our school here but other schools for the deaf can do it as well.”
Now the team is getting ready to head to state. “We are not done, one more game, we are looking for that ring. One more game,” Adams said.
(LONDON) — International concern is mounting for tennis star Peng Shuai, who disappeared from the public eye after accusing a retired top Chinese Communist Party official of sexual assault earlier this month.
The United Nations called for an investigation into her allegations and whereabouts on Friday. Some of the biggest names in the international tennis world — from Naomi Osaka to Serena Williams — have also lent their voice to the global search for the former Grand Slam doubles champion, using the hashtag #WhereIsPengShuai.
Purported evidence emanating from Chinese state-run news outlets that attempts to confirm her safety — and backtrack sexual assault claims — seem to have only resulted in more global skepticism about her whereabouts, and put the Chinese government’s internet and media censorship policies under renewed international criticism.
Here is what we know and don’t know about the mysterious public retreat of the 35-year-old Chinese tennis star, amid growing international calls for her proof-of-life.
Who is Peng Shuai?
Peng gained international acclaim in the tennis world after winning titles at Wimbledon in 2013 and the French Open in 2014. She was formerly ranked No. 1 globally in women’s doubles.
In a lengthy post on her verified account on Weibo, a popular Chinese social media platform, Peng accused Zhang Gaoli, the former vice premier of the Chinese Communist Party, of sexual assault and said she had a yearslong affair with him.
The post disappeared within minutes of being shared on Nov. 2, but screenshots of it have been circulating online in the weeks since.
“I have no evidence, and it is impossible to leave evidence at all. … You are always afraid of what recorder I bring, leaving evidence or something,” Peng wrote. “But even if I become like an egg hitting against a rock and like moths extinguished in the flame, I will tell the truth about you.”
When was she last heard from publicly?
Peng’s account apparently disappeared from Weibo shortly after her post, and she hasn’t been heard from publicly since until an email, allegedly written by her, was shared by Chinese state-run media.
On Wednesday, as international concerns mounted, China’s state-run media claimed that Peng sent the global Women’s Tennis Association an email back-tracking her sexual assault allegations. CGTN Europe, an English-language arm of the state-owned China Global Television Network, tweeted a screenshot of the email Peng allegedly sent to WTA Chairman and CEO Steve Simon.
The screenshot of the purported email opens with, “Hello everyone this is Peng Shuai,” and says that the allegation of sexual assault is not true. “I’m not missing, nor am I unsafe. I’ve just been resting at home and everything is fine,” the text of the note, posted by CGTN Europe, states.
ABC News cannot independently confirm that Peng penned the email broadcast by the state-run news outlet, and the WTA’s Simon said he has a “hard time believing that Peng Shuai actually wrote the email.”
“The statement released today by Chinese state media concerning Peng Shuai only raises my concerns as to her safety and whereabouts,” Simon said in a statement to ABC News on Wednesday. “I have a hard time believing that Peng Shuai actually wrote the email we received or believes what is being attributed to her.”
“Peng Shuai displayed incredible courage in describing an allegation of sexual assault against a former top official in the Chinese government. The WTA and the rest of the world need independent and verifiable proof that she is safe,” Simon added. “I have repeatedly tried to reach her via numerous forms of communication, to no avail.”
Simon called for Peng to be allowed to speak freely and for her allegation of sexual assault to be investigated with “full transparency and without censorship.”
On Thursday, Chinese Foreign Ministry Spokesperson Zhao Lijian dismissed questions about Peng’s whereabouts at a briefing, saying, “This is not a foreign affairs matter. And I am not aware of the relevant situation you mentioned.”
On Friday, after the email screenshot seemed to raise more questions than answers, a journalist affiliated with state-run CGTN tweeted three photos he said were posted by Peng Shuai to her private WeChat account and claimed they were shared by the tennis star’s friend.
Rather than address the concerns about her safety and well-being, the tweet said Peng only included the caption “Happy weekend” and a smiley emoji. While the state-media tweet said the photos were “just posted,” it is impossible to confirm when the photos were taken.
How is the international community responding?
The United Nations on Friday called for an investigation into Peng’s allegations of sexual assault.
“As you know, according to available information, Peng, the former world double No. 1, hasn’t been heard from publicly since she alleged on social media that she had been sexually assaulted,” Liz Throssell, the spokeswoman for the U.N. High Commissioner for Human Rights, told reporters. “We would stress that it is important to know where she is and you know, her state, know about her well-being.”
“We are calling for an investigation with full transparency into her allegations of sexual assault,” Throssell added. “And I think we would say that that should be the case into all allegations of sexual assault. It is really important to ensure accountability, to ensure justice for the victims.”
White House press secretary Jen Psaki on Friday called on China to provide “verifiable proof” of Peng’s whereabouts.
Earlier this week, as the hashtag #WhereIsPengShuai trended on social media, Amnesty International called on China to prove Peng is safe.
“The Chinese government has systematically silenced the country’s #MeToo movement. Given that it also has a zero-tolerance approach to criticism, it is deeply concerning that Peng Shuai appears to be missing after accusing a high-ranking former government official of sexual assault,” Amnesty International’s China Researcher Doriane Lau said in a statement.
“Peng’s recent so-called statement that ‘everything is fine’ should not be taken at face value as China’s state media has a track record of forcing statements out of individuals under duress, or else simply fabricating them,” Lau added. “These concerns will not go away unless Peng’s safety and whereabouts are confirmed.”
ABC News’ Kirit Radia, Karson Yiu and Somayeh Malekian contributed to this report.
(CHICAGO) — The story of De’Janay Stanton’s death is one that many transgender women in Chicago fear. The 24-year-old Black transgender woman was shot and killed by a romantic interest in 2018, and since then more and more stories like hers have come to light — in her city and across the U.S.
“They want to date our girls in darkness — they don’t want to be in public,” said her sister, Chimera Griffin. “She never expressed danger to me, but me, being a mom, I always knew something was gonna be bad because of society. In society, they’re so cruel.”
So far this year, the Human Rights Campaign has recorded four Black trans women being murdered in Chicago among at least 47 transgender or gender non-conforming people killed nationwide. But local activists say many more cases likely go unreported.
“We don’t have good statistics on the violence that Black trans women experience,” said Kim Fountain, chief administrative officer of the Center on Halsted, the Midwest’s largest LGBTQ social services agency. “If you don’t have those numbers, then it’s really hard to get a system to move on anything.”
Chicago has seen the most trans deaths so far in 2021, up from two in 2020.
On Trans Day of Remembrance, Nov. 20, families, activists and the trans community in Chicago are planning to reflect on the culture of fear, victimization and violence against trans people in their city — and the lack of accountability for the killers of these women.
“They were never afforded the dignity that human beings should be afforded,” said Jae Rice of local LGBTQ activist group Brave Space Alliance. “As long as we’re not afforded that dignity while we’re living, our deaths will never be something to be dignified at all.”
Honoring trans women
Stanton’s family found out about her death over Instagram live. A video captured Stanton, dead with a gunshot wound to her head, lying next to her car on Aug. 13. Someone who found Stanton’s body posted the video, telling the community to “check on their people,” according to Stanton’s sister, Chiquita Griffin.
Her death was ruled a homicide, and Tremon T. Hill has been charged with first-degree murder in connection with the killing. It’s unclear whether Hill has legal representation.
Stanton is remembered by her family through her jokes, her fashion and her widespread social circle.
“You would never catch her in a bad spirit or bad mood because she always wanted to be, like, the face of happiness,” Griffin recalled. “A lot of trans women were sad, or they had to be tough, or they had to be on their toes all the time. She was on her toes all the time, but she was happy.”
Her happiness and her vibrancy created a safe haven for people around her, her sisters added, and their house became a place for women like Stanton to feel at home.
“So many girls, their families just throw them away, and just didn’t want to bother with them because they were transitioning into who they wanted to be,” Griffin said. “So she brought them all to my house.”
The trans community in Chicago is small, Griffin continued, but the women killed this year — 28-year-old Tyianna Alexander, 24-year-old Tiara Banks, 32-year-old Disaya Monaee, and 25-year-old Briana Hamilton — were loved and known by many, including Stanton’s family.
“These girls need more help,” Griffin said. “Not to mention the girls, the young ones, the next generation. They’re afraid to come out and be accepted in society, you know?”
According to the Chicago Department of Public Health, transgender and gender non-conforming adults in the state are more likely to report psychological distress than cisgender peers.
Trans individuals also are more likely to experience discrimination, harassment, economic hardship and violence, the CDPH reports.
Intersection of gun violence and transphobia
Of the 10 women killed and reported to the HRC in Chicago since 2015, eight were killed with a gun.
Gun violence in Chicago isn’t new: This year alone, the city has racked up more than 3,000 shootings, according to Chicago Police Department data.
Rice, of Brave Space Alliance, blames hypermasculinity as a root cause for much of the gun violence, transphobia and anti-trans crimes in Chicago. Toxic masculinity, the idea that violence, aggression and having power over another is an inherent part of manhood, often leads to men committing the vast majority of gun violence.
Rice says there is a prevalence of hypermasculinity, toxic masculinity and anti-LGBTQ sentiment in communities of color, like Chicago. Stigmas against queerness and femininity among men has led to the targeting of women like Stanton.
“Their manhood is now taken into question — if you’re sleeping with or are romantically engaged with a trans woman … there are so many messages out there that are telling you trans women aren’t women, when we know that’s not the case,” Rice said.
Stanton’s is one of very few trans killings in Chicago where a suspect has been charged. No one’s been charged in connection with the other three this year.
Brave Space Alliance, Griffin and others closely affected by this violence are working to get justice for other murdered trans people, pushing for resources to be allocated to the thorough investigation of these deaths.
Fixing a broken system
Local authorities, including the mayor’s office and the CPD, have implemented strategies to address violence and discrimination against the community.
Following years of complaints about Chicago police mishandling incidents involving transgender, intersex and gender-nonconforming people, CPD took steps to implement its “Interaction with Transgender, Intersex and Gender Nonconforming Individuals” policy in 2016, revising it this year after gathering public input via an online forum created in June.
CPD did not respond to ABC News’ request for comment on the status of the policy.
Mayor Lori Lightfoot’s office also has created a “Citywide Strategic Plan” to address gender-based violence and human trafficking, which she said she plans on implementing over the next two years.
The plan includes increasing capacity within city departments to address these issue, coordinating prevention and intervention efforts, and exploring alternate responses to these cases outside of the criminal justice system.
The mayor’s office did not respond to ABC News’ requests for comment.
In the meantime, local organizers, like Center on Halstead and Brave Space Alliance, are taking matters into their own hands.
According to Fountain, the Center on Halstead hosts local LGBTQ family groups to discuss city concerns, offers resources and financial aid to those in need, and holds community-based anti-violence projects and trainings.
Brave Space Alliance is the first Black-led, trans-led LGBTQ+ center on the city’s South Side, and it relies on community funding and donations to hold programs for trans Chicagoans who need help.
“If we fix our systems to support Black trans women, then a significant part of our culture, of our society, will be lifted up as well,” Fountain said. “That just speaks to how much oppression and how much bias, stigma, danger and harm they have experienced.”
(WASHINGTON) — Al Schmidt had a front-row seat to history when a batch of votes in Philadelphia tipped the state of Pennsylvania, and the 2020 presidential election, toward Joe Biden.
As Philadelphia’s Republican city commissioner, Schmidt had been holed up for days in the convention center, making sure every vote, mail-in or in-person, was counted.
“For us, it’s really never about who wins and who loses,” Schmidt told ABC News. “It’s really about counting, counting the votes.”
He defended the vote count and integrity of the election — only to find himself a target of former President Donald Trump. Four days after the race was called, Trump tweeted at Schmidt saying, without evidence, that he had refused to look at “a mountain of corruption and dishonesty.”
Schmidt said that’s when the threats against his life and his family started to ramp up.
“They became a lot more specific, a lot more graphic, largely targeted at my family, my kids,” he said. “Mentioning my children by name, my address, pictures of my house. Like the people who sent them had clearly done their homework.”
Schmidt is among a long list of state and local election officials facing increasing threats, fueling what some say is an unprecedented exodus.
A recent survey by the Brennan Center for Justice found 1 in 3 election officials nationwide feels unsafe at work. Nearly 1 in 5 called threats to their lives a job-related concern.
“There is, I’m sure, no election official in the country that when they ran for the job … ever contemplated death threats, let alone death threats to their children as being part of that job description,” Schmidt said.
In Pennsylvania, nearly half of county election directors have resigned since 2019, according to Lisa Schaefer of the County Commissioners Association of Pennsylvania. She said many others cite personal and violent threats.
“These are people who are getting called and yelled at constantly by their friends and their neighbors for things that are often out of their control,” Schaefer said.
It’s not just local election officials in swing states getting targeted.
Democrat Roxanna Moritz resigned in the wake of the 2020 election as the auditor and commissioner of elections in Scott County, Iowa, after more than a decade on the job. She cited a culture of bullying toward election officials, who often work long hours with little pay, because “we care about our democracy.”
“The personal attacks on each and every one of us has made of us aware this maybe isn’t where we want to be,” Moritz told ABC News.
Election experts warn about the loss of institutional knowledge in this wave of resignations from roles that are historically above the political fray.
Another concern, according to Elizabeth Howard of the Brennan Center for Justice, is who will replace the officials who resign.
“We’ve seen, for instance, some candidates for secretary of state, which is generally the chief election official in the state, who have come out and said that they basically believe in the ‘Big Lie,'” that Trump was cheated out of an election win, Howard said.
ABC News has previously reported on new state laws that shift election administration to highly partisan bodies, as part of a broader effort to shift power away from officials who refuted the “Big Lie.” Some of these changes to election laws appear to be in direct retaliation of officials who defended the integrity of the 2020 results.
In Maricopa County, Arizona, Bill Gates is a Republican on the board of supervisors overseeing elections. His county has become a hotbed of election misinformation despite several recounts and audits confirming President Joe Biden’s win.
“I have to plead with these folks to listen to me to the truth that I’m telling them, because they’ve been told lies for a year now, and they believe it,” he told ABC News.
More than a year after the election, Gates said he’s still targeted daily online, and called a traitor who should be jailed.
“There have been evenings where we have literally spent the night at an Airbnb because of threats,” he told ABC News. “There are nights where we have slept with sheriff’s deputies outside of the house because of these threats.”
Gates and Philadelphia City Commissioner Al Schmidt both said fighting election misinformation is proving to be a critical test of American democracy.
“I think there is an additional obligation on Republicans like myself to speak the truth about the 2020 election and to stand up in the face of all of these lies, regardless of what the consequences are for any of us,” Schmidt said. “With our democracy on the line, pretty much anything, it’s worth it.”
(NEW YORK) — Millions more vaccinated adults across the U.S. became eligible for a COVID-19 booster shot on Friday. And yet, the vast majority of vaccinated Americans were already eligible — many just didn’t know it.
According to an October survey from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, 4 in 10 vaccinated adults were unsure if they qualified for a booster. So far, just 32 million Americans have received a booster, or around 18% of the more than 182 million adults who are fully vaccinated.
In announcing the latest recommendations, public health experts at the Food and Drug Administration and the CDC expressed hope that they would cut through the confusion, simplifying the decision for Americans who are wondering: Do I need a booster shot?
Here’s what the experts say.
Should you get a booster?
The question has been hotly debated for months but a larger pro-booster consensus has formed over the last week.
Why? A number of reasons, including rising cases in more than half of U.S. states right before a busy holiday travel season and lower temperatures pushing people indoors.
The FDA and CDC made the updated recommendation on Friday. It expanded booster access to all adults who were vaccinated with Moderna or Pfizer over six months ago, and while the recommendation was stronger for everyone over 50 to go get a boost, it applies to everyone 18 to 49.
For Johnson & Johnson recipients, the recommendation already applied to everyone over 18, anytime two months after their shot.
For experts who have long been loud proponents for booster shots, it was a long time coming.
“Enough is enough. Let’s get moving on here,” Dr. Anthony Fauci, chief medical adviser to the White House and a leader at the National Institutes of Health, said at an event Wednesday, before the FDA and CDC made the final call.
“There’s no doubt that immunity wanes. It wanes in everyone. It’s more dangerous in the elderly, but it’s across all age groups,” Fauci said, citing data from Israel and the U.K., where more people were vaccinated sooner and began to first document waning immunity.
Others, like Dr. Peter Hotez, dean of the National School of Tropical Medicine at Baylor College of Medicine and co-director of the Texas Children’s Hospital Center for Vaccine Development, called the decline “both predicted and predictable.”
“And the way you fix it is you give that third immunization,” he said.
Both Hotez and Fauci believe the vaccines should be used not just to prevent hospitalizations and death, but also infection — particularly because of the risk of long-COVID, a concerning side effect of the disease that is rare in vaccinated people but can include long-term fatigue, brain fog and shortness of breath.
“When I got my third immunization, why was I so eager to do it? Well, of course I didn’t want to go to the hospital or ICU, but also I didn’t want to get COVID,” Hotez said.
“I didn’t want to get gray matter brain degeneration and cognitive decline and have a brain scan that looks like somebody 20 years older.”
But for those still on the fence about the personal choice, Dr. Anna Durbin, an associate professor at the Johns Hopkins University School of Medicine, laid out risk scenarios to consider.
“It really comes down to your comfort level and just what’s going to make you as a person feel safer,” Durbin said.
If you’re traveling overseas or live in areas of high transmission, if you’re elderly or have underlying conditions or are frequently out in the community for work, those are all reasons to get a booster, Durbin said.
For young, healthy people who don’t feel at risk, Durbin said to keep an eye on rising cases in your area. Consider getting a booster to help tamp down transmission, but also to protect yourself ahead of a surge, Durbin said.
“If we’re gonna see a new wave, it’s going to be over the winter months most likely. And if you get boosted now, that’s going to provide you really good protection through that period of time,” Durbin said.
That said, don’t panic if you can’t book an appointment right away — particularly as demand surges with the new recommendation, experts say.
“I would not view it as an emergency that people need to line up on the day of approval and get their boosters necessarily that weekend,” said Dr. Dan Barouch, director of the Center for Virology and Vaccine Research at Beth Israel Deaconess Medical Center in Boston.
It’s still far more important for unvaccinated people to get vaccinated, Barouch said, particularly ahead of the holidays.
“The most important thing is for everybody who will be celebrating to be vaccinated, if they’re eligible to be vaccinated. Now, additional boosts may be useful. But the most important thing is that people be vaccinated primarily,” he said.
Why has it been so confusing?
To put it simply: “The reason why there is some confusion is because it has been confusing,” Barouch said.
“Guidelines are changing,” Barouch said. “And in some cases, the guidelines are changing for good reasons: They’re changing because what we’re seeing is a changing pandemic.”
Last week, a patchwork of booster guidance emerged as governors in over a dozen states called for all adults to get a booster before the federal agencies weighed in, acting to combat spiking cases and overwhelmed hospitals.
Hotez commended the states for making the “medically correct” decision and being “more nimble” than the original decision from the CDC and FDA, but acknowledged the schism it created in the public health guidance.
“Not as elegant as you’d like — to have the states be out front by a week or so, but you know, when you’re in the middle of a pandemic, sometimes things don’t go smoothly as you’d like,” Hotez said.
Some, like Hotez, have always believed boosters would be necessary, even before data started to trickle in on waning immunity, and think confusion could’ve been avoided if the public was always told to expect a booster.
“It should have been messaged to the American people from the beginning that, by the way, don’t be surprised when the call comes out to get a third immunization,” he said.
Still, there’s a fine line to walk in urging booster shots for those vaccinated six months ago while also encouraging the most impactful group, unvaccinated people, to get their primary vaccinations. The vaccines continue to protect well against hospitalization and death for many months.
“We can give all the booster doses we want and until we get people vaccinated, or they all get infected, we’re going to continue to see transmission of COVID,” Durbin said.
(NEW YORK) — Leticia works at a bakery helping to prepare the pastries that hungry New Yorkers order with their coffee in the morning. At first glance, she’s like any other person in the city. But in 2017, she fled Guatemala with her son Yovany and made her way toward the border in Texas.
“At the moment we crossed, we were happy. We thought our lives were saved, that all the danger was behind us,” she said in Spanish in an interview with ABC News’ Zachary Kiesch. “We couldn’t imagine that a greater pain, a stronger pain, was ahead of us.”
Once they crossed, she and her son were detained by Border Patrol agents and quickly separated as they tried to submit an asylum claim. Leticia, whose last name is being withheld for privacy, was deported and Yovany was placed in foster care. They did not see each other for over two years.
They were among the first migrant families subjected to a pilot program for what later became the Trump administration’s “zero-tolerance” policy.
Leticia and Yovany could be one of the families qualifying for compensation if the Biden administration decides to make settlement payments to migrants who were separated from their children by the Trump administration.
Now reunited in the United States, mother and son continue to live in fear of being separated again while their asylum case is pending.
“It was a pain that I still carry with me. It’s still hurting me,” Yovany said in Spanish. “I continue living with that fear that I will be separated from her again.”
The potential settlement payments, first reported by The Wall Street Journal, are part of an ongoing federal lawsuit filed by the American Civil Liberties Union seeking damages for separated families. Earlier this month, President Joe Biden dismissed reports that payments of up to $450,000 were being discussed, but expressed his support for some kind of compensation.
“If, in fact, because of the outrageous behavior of the last administration, you coming across the border, whether it was legally or illegally, and you lost your child — you lost your child — it’s gone. You deserve compensation no matter what the circumstance,” Biden said. “What that will be, I have no idea. I have no idea.”
In 2019, a federal judge ruled that Leticia’s deportation had been unlawful because she did not voluntarily accept deportation and sign away her parental rights. Immigration officials did not provide her an interpreter or explain that they were separating her from Yovany.
“It was totally in English. I didn’t know what I was signing,” Leticia said. “Even today I still don’t know what it is I signed.”
The Senate Judiciary Committee questioned Department of Homeland Security Secretary Alejandro Mayorkas this week, with support for the reported settlements appearing to fall along party lines.
ACLU lawyer Lee Gelernt said the reports about settlements have been politicized and that there is no time frame on when a decision will be made in regards to the amount of money families would receive and who would be eligible.
“This is not about whether we all agree on macro-immigration policy. This is whether the United States is going to make little children pawns in this political fight,” Gelernt said. “These families, according to all of the medical experts, have suffered severe trauma — literally being pulled away.”
Leticia said she draws strength from her Indigenous roots, but her courage and faith were tested during those long months when she didn’t know where her son was located. Despite the close bond they continue to share, she said there was some initial distrust when they were finally reunited.
“When I saw him, I noticed there was a feeling of ‘Why would you leave me?'” she told ABC News. “He didn’t tell me with his words but as a mother, I knew.”
Fear of abandonment, depression and anxiety are just a few of the challenges families like Leticia’s face when they’re finally reunited.
“Money is not everything in the world,” Leticia said of the possible payments. “It won’t return our happiness, it won’t return our health. But it can help start to remediate the trauma and the pain they caused us when they violated our human rights.”
The Asylum Seeker Advocacy Project has been helping support her and Yovany while they wait for their asylum case to be heard.
“Reunification is truly only the first step that the government must take for these families. After they reunify, these families have to navigate a complex immigration system that is stacked against them in every way,” said Leidy Pérez-Davis, policy director at the Asylum Seeker Advocacy Project.
The Biden administration’s reunification task force has found that more than 3,900 children were separated under by the “zero-tolerance” policy. Gelernt estimated that there are still over 1,000 families that have yet to be reunited and at least 270 that have not even been located.
“I hope this serves as an example for future governments to never repeat the same damage and trauma they’ve caused,” said Leticia.
(LONDON) — The UK approved a new HIV treatment that requires an injection every other month, rather than the current routine of taking pills every day.
The UK’s National Institute for Health and Care Excellence estimated that around 13,000 people will now be eligible for cabotegravir with rilpivirine, the injectable medication.
There were around 103,000 people living with HIV in the UK in 2018, according to the British government’s statistics.
“It is an exciting and progressive step in the fight against HIV,” Dr. Todd Ellerin, director of infectious diseases at South Shore Health and ABC News contributor said. Ellerin is also on the speakers bureau of ViiV Healthcare which helped develop the injectable HIV treatment.
Besides the new revolutionary injection method, the current treatment for HIV is lifelong antiretroviral tablets that are taken each day. The medication suppresses the virus in the blood to undetectable levels, thereby preventing AIDS from occurring and eliminating transmission.
The injections block the same enzymes as the pills do, as Ellerin explained, but allow the medication to stay in the body much longer permitting monthly or bimonthly re-dosing, so patients don’t need to take pills every day.
The shot called Cabenuva (a combination of cabotegravir and rilpivirine) was already approved by the FDA in January, though with a more frequent dosage of once a month.
“[The] thing I like about injectables is less is more,” Ellerin said. “The medication approved in the UK will be once every two months, which makes it easier for the patients to come to the office rather than coming every month,” he added.
“For many, taking daily pills is not easy. Sometimes they forget, some may have other issues with taking pills, but the injection is suitable for those who prefer a more intermittent method,” he added.
However, there are challenges to this method. One, is the logistics of the injection, as the jabs must be administered at the health care provider’s office for now, Ellerin said.
“The biggest challenge is the logistic hurdle for giving these [shots] in the office, especially in the pandemic,” said Ellerin.
Also, if patients don’t show up for their injection, that increases the risk of viral replication rebound, Ellerin said. With pills, you can remember to take them the next day and have a stock of them at home.
Both in Britain and the United States, cabotegravir and rilpivirine can be prescribed and used after an initial oral (tablet) lead-in period.
“This is why people who are newly diagnosed with HIV can’t start their treatment with injection,” Ellerin said.
There are hopes that by the first quarter of 2022, the FDA also approves the bimonthly injection, and with that more patients might choose this method over pills, especially if the COVID-19 situation eases, according to Ellerin.
“As of now, this is not a preventive method. It is just for maintenance treatment. There are also injections for prevention down the way. But that is another story,” Ellerin said.
Ellerin also said that the reason the injections are available at clinics only is that this is the way it was studied in clinical trials and that these are buttocks injections that are difficult to self-administer at home.
