December 23, 2021

For generations of parents, Heidi Murkoff’s 1984 pregnancy guide “What to Expect When You’re Expecting” has been a trusty companion, offering calm, scientifically informed advice for a nerve-wracking nine months.

These days, of course, there’s an app for that: What to Expect’s “Pregnancy & Baby Tracker,”which offers personalized articles, videos, graphics of your baby’s development, and other features based on your due date.

But parents who’ve used What To Expect’s app say they also offered something they weren’t expecting: a “community” section rife with scare stories, conspiracy theories, and outright falsehoods about the safety of vaccines, posted by other users and surfaced by the app’s search functions and email notifications.

Mashaya Engel, 26, who gave birth to a daughter in August, said she encountered multiple posts expressing skepticism about the safety of getting vaccinated against the coronavirus during pregnancy. “I searched in the group discussions for vaccines, and it popped up — some moms having discussions about not vaccinating your children, or getting delayed vaccines,” Engel said. Other users noted a similar phenomenon: “Most antivax and microchip conspiracy comments I’ve ever seen,” one tweeted in May.

Read more at The Washington Post.

Whiplash on U.S. Vaccine Mandate Leaves Employers ‘Totally Confused’

December 20, 2021

The marching orders from the Biden administration in November had seemed clear — large employers were to get their workers fully vaccinated by early next year, or make sure the workers were tested weekly. But a little over a month later, the Labor Department’s vaccine rule has been swept into confusion and uncertainty by legal battles, shifting deadlines and rising Covid case counts that throw the very definition of fully vaccinated into question.

The spread of the highly transmissible Omicron variant has seemingly bolstered the government’s argument, at the heart of its legal battle over the rule, that the virus remains a grave threat to workers. But the recent surge in cases has raised the issue of whether the government will take its requirements further — even as the original rule remains contentious — and ask employers to mandate booster shots, too. The country’s testing capacity has also been strained, adding to concerns that companies will be unable to meet the rule’s testing requirements.

Read more at The New York Times.

December 22, 2021

WASHINGTON — The Supreme Court says it will hold a special session in just over two weeks to hear arguments on the Biden administration’s vaccine or testing requirement for large employers and a separate vaccine requirement for health care workers, an announcement that comes amid rising coronavirus cases.

The high court announced late Wednesday that it would hear arguments in the cases on Jan. 7. The court had not been scheduled to hear cases again until Jan. 10.

An appellate panel ruled on Friday that the vaccine or testing regime for workers at larger companies could take effect. The plan requires workers at larger companies to be vaccinated or wear face masks and get tested weekly. The requirement could affect some 84 million U.S workers. The court will have to grapple with whether the Occupational Safety and Health Administration has the authority to impose such a requirement. The requirement had been scheduled to take effect Jan. 4.

Read more at NPR.

December 22, 2021

After nearly two years of the pandemic, the first wave of vaccines have performed magnificently but also showed their limitations. In the United States, 240 million people are fully vaccinated, and an enormous amount of suffering and death has been averted. But vaccine efficacy began to wane, the need for boosters arose, and a new coronavirus variant is upending everything all over again. Is this the new normal?Opinions to start the day, in your inbox. Sign up.

Not necessarily. On top of the extraordinary biomedical achievements of the mRNA vaccines, efforts are underway to discover and develop new vaccines and other therapies for a second and third wave of pandemic response. The covid emergency has unleashed an unprecedented surge of innovation and teamwork in research. Just as the virus has spread around the world, so have scientists become more adept at rapid response, sharing genetic sequences and clinical data at the speed of light, enabling still more discovery.

Read more at The Washington Post.

December 21, 2021

t’s been only three weeks since omicron hit the news, but the variant is already the country’s dominant Covid strain, responsible for 73% of U.S. cases — including more than 250,000 cases just over the last day, according to Johns Hopkins University.

But there’s a way to help protect yourself against symptomatic and severe illness: booster shots.

Most recently, Moderna announced on Monday that its Covid vaccine boosters showed a significant increase in antibody levels against omicron in preliminary lab trials. Pfizer announced similar results earlier this month, offering additional hope ahead of the winter holidays that the mRNA boosters provide protection against the omicron variant.

Emerging real world data has also shown that boosters can protect against symptomatic and severe disease. But while 204 million Americans are fully vaccinated — 62% of the U.S. population, according to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention — only 30% of those fully vaccinated people have gotten a booster shot, as of Tuesday.

Read more at CNBC.

December 22, 2021

Residents of Chicago and Boston will soon be required to show proof of full vaccination in order to enter indoor spaces like gyms, restaurants and entertainment venues, in the latest example of cities tightening public health rules to combat the spread of the omicron variant.

The Chicago Department of Public Health announced Tuesday that beginning Jan. 3, the city will require everyone ages 5 and up to be fully vaccinated in order to access indoor dining, fitness and recreation venues. They must present either their vaccination card, a photocopy of it, a digital record or a printed record from their vaccine provider.

“To put it simply, if you have been living vaccine-free, your time is up,” Mayor Lori Lightfoot wrote on Twitter. “If you wish to live life as w/the ease to do the things you love, you must be vax’d. This health order may pose an inconvenience to the unvaccinated, and in fact it is inconvenient by design.”

The order will remain in effect until city officials have determined the threat of COVID-19 to public health has “diminished significantly,” she added.

Read more at NPR.

December 22, 2021

In a speech Tuesday, President Biden is expected to acknowledge that this is an uncertain time and will emphasize the tools at the country’s disposal to make it through this new COVID-19 wave. 

Omicron is now the dominant COVID strain in the United States, making up more than 73% of new cases, according to a Centers for Disease Control and Prevention estimate. 

In his speech, Mr. Biden is expected to emphasize CDC data that shows the unvaccinated are eight times more likely to be hospitalized and four times more likely to die from COVID. 

In an exclusive interview with “Face the Nation” moderator and CBS News chief foreign affairs correspondent Margaret Brennan, Vice President Kamala Harris also pleaded with Americans to get their shots. 

“There is a lot about this moment that is frustrating. But let’s not forget our individual power to actually do something about it. Everyone has to get vaccinated. The vaccines are free. They are safe and they’ll save your life,” Harris said. 

“Is it the fault of the unvaccinated?” Brennan asked.  

“I would not blame it on anyone in that way. But it is more about individual power and responsibility. But it is clear that everyone has the ability to make a choice to save their lives,” Harris said.  

Read more at CBS News.

December 12, 2021

US biotech company Moderna on Friday announced promising data from an early-stage human trial of its mRNA flu shot, based on the same technology used in its successful COVID-19 vaccine.

The experimental flu shot was found to be safe, and successfully evoked high levels of antibodies in 180 people at all dosage levels, in both younger and older adults.

“Even before the COVID-19 pandemic, approximately 3 million people died each year due to respiratory infections, and many more are hospitalized or become ill as a result of these viruses,” said Moderna CEO Stephane Bancel in a statement hailing the result.

Side effects were mild, and occurred more often in younger than older adults. The most common included pain and tenderness at the injection site, as well as headaches, muscle and joint aches, and tiredness.

Read more at Science Alert.

December 14, 2021

Since the start of the pandemic, billionaire health philanthropist Bill Gates has been a target for bizarre Covid conspiracy theories.

Now, Gates says, those rumors and pieces of disinformation are keeping many Americans from getting vaccinated against Covid — and delaying the end of the pandemic by doing so.

In a blog post last week, Gates wrote that “conspiracy theories that unfortunately involve me” have impacted Covid vaccine uptake in the United States, adding that he expected vaccination rates to be much higher by now. To date, 61% of the U.S. population is fully vaccinated against Covid, according to data from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.

At least 83 other countries or territories have higher fully vaccinated rates, according to Our World in Data, including countries in every continent except Antarctica, which didn’t have any reported data.

Read more at CNBC News.

December 16, 2021

A growing number of health care systems and other companies, including Amtrak and General Electric, are suspending mandates that require employees to be vaccinated against Covid-19.

The move follows court rulings in recent weeks that paused such requirements from the Biden administration for health care workers and federal contractors. Still, the decision about whether to require vaccinations remained up to individual employers. 

The mandates are being suspended at a precarious time: Many employers face labor shortages, while Covid cases are surging and the highly mutated omicron variant is spreading.

Read more at NBC News.