Unvaccinated adults age 65 or older who contracted the coronavirus were 49 times more likely to require hospitalization than seniors who had received booster vaccine doses, according to new data from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.
The CDC figures on boosters, drawn from between October and December 2021, provide a real-world snapshot of the efficacy of commonly used vaccines in the United States. The European drug regulator also said Friday it was becoming “increasingly clear that a booster dose is needed to extend vaccine protection,” particularly against the omicron variant.
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Anti-vaccine activists, reveling in their pandemic successes, will rally in D.C. against mandates
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As anti-vaccine activists from across the country prepare to gather on the steps of the Lincoln Memorial on Sunday, they are hoping their rally will mark a once-fringe movement’s arrival as a lasting force in American society.
That hope, some public health experts fear, is justified.
Almost two years into the coronavirus pandemic, the movement to challenge vaccines’ safety — and reject vaccine mandates — has never been stronger. An ideology whose most notable adherents were once religious fundamentalists and minor celebrities is now firmly entrenched among tens of millions of Americans.
Baseless fears of vaccines have been a driving force among the approximately 20 percent of U.S. adults who have refused some of the most effective medicines in human history: the mRNA vaccines developed against the coronavirus by Pfizer, with German partner BioNTech, and Moderna. The nation that produced Jonas Salk has exported anti-vaccine propaganda around the globe, wreaking havoc on public-health campaigns from Germany to Kenya.
U.S. blocks dozens of flights by Chinese airlines in response to virus policy
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The U.S. Department of Transportation issued an order Friday blocking 44 passenger flights by Chinese airlines after the Chinese government took the same step against American carriers as part of its strict coronavirus control policies.
The restrictions begin Jan. 30 and run until March 29. They affect flights between Los Angeles and New York and five Chinese cities.
Since the early days of the pandemic, the Chinese government has imposed a policy known as the “circuit breaker” that imposes limits on inbound flights by airlines if their passengers subsequently test positive for the coronavirus. The U.S. government argues the policy is an unfair restriction on aviation that violates a long-standing agreement between the two countries.
Biden plan to ship 500 million covid-19 test kits transforms Postal Service to relief agency
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The U.S. Postal Service’s mission to deliver 500 million coronavirus test kits has cast it in an unprecedented role in the nation’s pandemic response just as covid-19 infections have peaked within its own ranks and its network is under immense strain.
Online orders began rolling in this week for the free rapid tests, which are scheduled to ship by the end of the month. The agency has hired thousands of seasonal workers and converted more than 40 facilities into ad hoc fulfillment centers in what experts have called the largest disaster-relief mobilization in its 247-year history.
The stakes for country — and Postal Service — could hardly be higher. Americans are still struggling to access at-home coronavirus tests as the omicron variant is driving caseloads near record highs in parts of the country.
Parent threatens school board with promise to show up with guns if masking isn’t made optional
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Just before the Page County School Board voted Thursday night on whether to keep requiring masks in schools — as dozens of school districts throughout Virginia grappled this week with a hotly contested executive order from Gov. Glenn Youngkin (R) declaring masks optional — parent Amelia King stepped to the microphone.
King said she had decided, against her normal custom, not to prepare a written statement for the evening’s public comment session, which was recorded on video and posted to YouTube. She warned that, “when I go off the cuff, I get really passionate.” Then she threatened the board with a promise to show up with guns if it did not make masking optional for the rural Virginia district of 3,000.
“My children will not come to school on Monday with a mask on,” she said. “That’s not happening, and I will bring every single gun loaded and ready to, I will call every—”
A board member interjected that King had run over her allotted three minutes of speaking time. King replied: “Mm-hm. I’ll see y’all on Monday” and stalked from the room.
Ireland lifts most coronavirus restrictions as ‘omicron storm’ wanes
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Irish Prime Minister Micheál Martin announced Friday that most of the nation’s public health restrictions would be lifted Saturday morning after the government determined that it had “weathered the omicron storm.”
“Spring is coming,” Martin said in a public address Friday. “And I don’t know if I’ve ever looked forward to one as I’m looking forward to this one.”
Bars and restaurants will be able to stay open past 8 p.m., businesses will no longer have to ask for customers’ vaccination status, and entertainment venues can reopen at full capacity, Martin said.
The prime minister pointed to the nation’s high rate of vaccination and booster uptake as one of the key factors allowing the government to lift restrictions.
“No one should be in any doubt that your collective efforts have saved many thousands of lives,” Martin said.
Some precautions will remain in place, including some mask requirements and restrictions on international travel. Protective measures in schools will also remain in place but will be reevaluated once all school-age children have had an opportunity to get fully vaccinated, Martin added.
“Please, if you haven’t already, get your vaccine, get your booster,” he said. “The pandemic isn’t over. It will still require all of us to remain vigilant.”
Key update
Federal judge in Texas blocks Biden’s vaccine requirement for government workers
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A federal judge in Texas has blocked yet another of the Biden administration’s vaccine requirements, as the political war over covid-19 prevention measures shows no sign of abating.
Judge Jeffrey Vincent Brown, nominated in 2019 to the federal bench by President Donald Trump, said that the Biden administration’s vaccine mandate for federal workers and contractors constituted an overreach of executive authority.
“What is that limit? As the court has already noted, Congress appears … to have limited the President’s authority in this field to workplace conduct,” Brown wrote in his opinion. “For its part, this court will say only this: however extensive that power is, the federal-worker mandate exceeds it.”
The ruling amounted to another blow to the administration’s most ambitious public health measures — its work to corral the pandemic through vaccinations.
California bill could allow teens to get vaccinated without parental consent
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California lawmakers introduced a bill Thursday that would allow teenagers to consent to receiving vaccines, including the coronavirus vaccine, without a parent’s permission.
Democratic state Sens. Scott Wiener and Richard Pan introduced Senate Bill 866, which would allow children age 12 and older to get vaccines that have been approved by the Food and Drug Administration and recommended for their age group by the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.
California Gov. Gavin Newsom (D) announced last year that children would be required to be fully vaccinated against the coronavirus to attend public school once the vaccine is fully approved for their age group by the FDA, although parents would be able to seek personal and medical exemptions.
The Pfizer-BioNTech vaccine is fully approved for people age 16 and older, but for younger adolescents the vaccine is currently allowed under only an emergency use authorization.
The California bill is likely to stoke significant backlash, even in a state where more than 68 percent of the eligible population has been fully vaccinated and more than 10.7 million people have received a booster dose. California has reported more than 7 million cases of coronavirus and 77,521 deaths since the start of the pandemic. Hospitalizations in the state increased as cases spiked this winter, but they remain lower than the national average.
Key update
Booster shots in U.S. have strongly protected against severe disease from omicron variant, CDC studies show
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Vaccine boosters provide robust protection against severe disease from the omicron variant in the United States, according to three reports released Friday that offer the first real-world data in this country showing the utility of the additional shots in keeping vaccinated people out of the hospital.
But the reports by scientists the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention are arriving late to the winter surge in coronavirus cases that have choked the corridors of hospitals across much of the country.
When omicron was first identified in late November and began spreading rapidly in the United States, millions of vaccinated people lined up for the extra shots. But that uptake has slowed. To date, only 39 percent of fully vaccinated people have gotten the additional doses, according to the CDC.
Some governments have launched plans to fine the unvaccinated. Experts caution against the approach.
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A growing number of governments are offering people a stark choice: Get vaccinated or pay up.
Austria’s lower house of parliament on Thursday approved a coronavirus vaccine mandate for all adults starting Feb. 1, with violators facing up to 3,600 euros ($4,000) in fines.
In Greece, starting this week, people over age 60 who decline the vaccine can be fined 100 euros ($113) per month. Italians who are older than 50 must also get vaccinated or face fines and suspensions from work, beginning next month.
In Canada, meanwhile, the hard-hit province of Quebec said last week that it was considering a plan to impose a “significant” financial penalty on adults who have not received at least a first dose of a coronavirus vaccine.
Airlines bet on a travel rebound after omicron fades
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Executives at two of the nation’s biggest airlines said Thursday that the omicron variant of the coronavirus will delay their return to profitability but that pent-up demand for air travel this spring and summer will set the stage for a rebound this year.
Airlines entered the final quarter of 2021 with optimism. With holiday bookings nearing pre-pandemic levels, there was confidence the industry had moved past the worst of the delta variant that sapped demand in late summer and early fall. But the arrival of omicron upended plans for a strong finish to the year.
Both United Airlines and American Airlines posted losses for the final quarter of 2021, largely due to the effects of omicron on operations, they said Thursday. The carriers said they expect those losses to extend through the first quarter this year as customers delay travel.
Key update
Omicron was ‘likely’ in U.S. before first case was identified, wastewater data suggests
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U.S. wastewater samples suggest the omicron variant of the coronavirus was probably present in the country more than a week before its first case was detected, a new CDC report said on Friday.
The sewage samples indicate the variant may have been spreading in New York City as early as Nov. 21, shortly before researchers announced omicron cases in the southern African region late last year, and 10 days before the United States identified its first case, according to the report.
Scientists also reported finding signs of omicron in samples from later in November in California and Texas.
“The detection of omicron-associated mutations in community wastewater provides strong early evidence that the omicron variant was likely present or more widely distributed in these communities than originally indicated by clinical testing alone,” the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention report said.
While the evidence is not conclusive, it supports an approach of looking at wastewater tracking along with testing to help detect emerging variants early on. This can “help guide decisions about allocation of clinical and public health resources, testing strategies, and public health messaging,” the report added.
Some parts of the United States and other countries such as Canada and the Netherlands have used wastewater surveillance to detect genetic material associated with the coronavirus as an alternate measure of the virus’s prevalence in a community.
Across the United States, scientists have analyzed sewage water to determine how intense outbreaks might be, given limits on testing, or to predict where the next one might hit. The data cannot identify individual cases but can help some communities, such as universities, respond to outbreaks.
Key update
Can I use an at-home test on a baby? Your parenting pandemic questions answered.
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With the omicron variant exploding throughout the United States, many of the questions that have bedeviled caregivers for the length of the pandemic are taking on a new urgency. If we want our children to stay healthy, and not infect other friends, families and strangers, what should we be doing right now? What shouldn’t we be doing? Because omicron appears to cause less severe illness, does it even matter if a healthy kid catches covid?
Absolute answers are in short supply. With that in mind, we asked experts of different backgrounds to weigh in questions gathered from two dozen parents.
DeSantis suggests vaccines hurt fertility. A study indicates otherwise — but says catching coronavirus might.
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Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis (R), a foe of vaccine mandates, appeared to suggest Thursday that getting a shot to protect against the coronavirus could cause infertility.
“Think about how ridiculous it is what they’re doing by trying to force the nurses” to get immunized, he said in a speech announcing funding for nursing certification programs. “A lot of these nurses have had covid. A lot of them are younger. Some of them are trying to have families.”
But there is no evidence that getting vaccinated against the coronavirus makes it harder to conceive, according to a study released Thursday of heterosexual couples trying for pregnancy. DeSantis could not be immediately reached for a comment on his remarks.
By contrast, men infected with the coronavirus showed signs of a short-term decline in fertility, according to the research, which was led by an epidemiologist at Boston University and published in the peer-reviewed American Journal of Epidemiology. It was funded by the National Institutes of Health.
Hong Kong warns against trying to stop hamster cull
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Authorities in Hong Kong warned pet lovers on Friday against trying to save hamsters from a cull of nearly 2,000 of the small rodents, which the government says it ordered to prevent suspected coronavirus transmission.
In announcing its plan, the government said the animals could carry the coronavirus and give it to humans, after several imported from the Netherlands tested positive at a Hong Kong pet shop.
The decision outraged many pet owners and drew criticism from some who described it as knee-jerk panic. Hundreds volunteered to house the affected animals. People have tried to stop owners from handing over their hamsters at the agriculture department, offering to take the animals into their care instead.
On Friday, the department warned that if the “people concerned continue with such action,” officials would report them to the police.
There are so far no criminal consequences facing owners who do not give up their pets. Earlier this week, however, one lawmaker suggested a mandate to round up hamsters as long as there was a risk to the city — which, like mainland China, has maintained a “zero covid” policy.
According to the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, the risk of transmission from animals to people appears to be “low,” though the virus “can spread from people to animals during close contact.”
Key update