New Yorkers who are 18 years and older and received their Pfizer-BioNTech or Moderna initial vaccine series at least six months ago or the Janssen/Johnson & Johnson COVID-19 vaccine at least two months ago are eligible for their booster dose.
Teens 16-17 years old who received their Pfizer-BioNTech initial vaccine series at least six months ago are eligible for the Pfizer-BioNTech booster.
CDC and NYSDOH encourage all eligible New Yorkers to get their booster dose, especially those over the age of 50 and others with underlying conditions.
Learn more
For Immediate Release: January 03, 2022
Today, the U.S. Food and Drug Administration amended the emergency use authorization (EUA) for the Pfizer-BioNTech COVID-19 Vaccine to:
Throughout the pandemic, as the virus that causes COVID-19 has continuously evolved, the need for the FDA to quickly adapt has meant using the best available science to make informed decisions with the health and safety of the American public in mind, said Acting FDA Commissioner Janet Woodcock, M.D. With the current wave of the omicron variant, its critical that we continue to take effective, life-saving preventative measures such as primary vaccination and boosters, mask wearing and social distancing in order to effectively fight COVID-19.
What you need to know:
Boosters are now authorized for people 12 years of age and older
Todays action expands the use of a single booster dose of the Pfizer-BioNTech COVID-19 Vaccine to include its use in individuals as young as 12 years of age.
Booster interval updated to five months for people 12 years of age and older
The FDA is also authorizing the use of a single booster dose five months after completion of the primary vaccination series of the Pfizer-BioNTech COVID-19 Vaccine.
A third primary series dose for certain immunocompromised children ages 5 through 11
Children 5 through 11 years of age who have undergone solid organ transplantation, or who have been diagnosed with conditions that are considered to have an equivalent level of immunocompromise, may not respond adequately to the two-dose primary vaccination series. Thus, a third primary series dose has now been authorized for this group. This will now allow these children to receive the maximum potential benefit from vaccination.
Based on the FDAs assessment of currently available data, a booster dose of the currently authorized vaccines may help provide better protection against both the delta and omicron variants. In particular, the omicron variant appears to be more resistant to the antibody levels produced in response to the primary series doses from the current vaccines, said Peter Marks, M.D., Ph.D., director of the FDAs Center for Biologics Evaluation and Research. With this in mind, the FDA has extended the range of individuals eligible to receive a booster, shortened the length of time between the completion of the Pfizer primary series for individuals to receive a booster and is authorizing a third protective vaccine dose for some of our youngest and most vulnerable individuals.
The fact sheets for recipients and caregivers and for healthcare providers contain information about the potential side effects, as well as the risks of myocarditis and pericarditis. The FDA and the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention have several systems in place to continually monitor COVID-19 vaccine safety and allow for the rapid detection and investigation of potential safety concerns.
The most commonly reported side effects by individuals who received a booster dose or an additional dose as part of a primary series were pain, redness and swelling at the injection site, as well as fatigue, headache, muscle or joint pain and chills. Of note, swollen lymph nodes in the underarm were observed more frequently following the booster dose than after the second dose of a two-dose primary series.
The FDA will publicly post documents regarding the agencys decision on its website following authorization.
The amendment to the EUA was granted to Pfizer Inc.
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The FDA, an agency within the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services, protects the public health by assuring the safety, effectiveness, and security of human and veterinary drugs, vaccines and other biological products for human use, and medical devices. The agency also is responsible for the safety and security of our nations food supply, cosmetics, dietary supplements, products that give off electronic radiation, and for regulating tobacco products.
01/03/2022
Video
transcript
transcript
Were really excited about the opening of our schools, and we want to be extremely clear: The safest place for our children is in a school building. And we are going to keep our schools open, and ensure that our children are safe in a safe environment. Our children were exposed to an environment of crime and of uncertainty. It really traumatized parents that did not have child care. The remote learning aspect of it was terrible for in poorer communities, particularly those children that lived in homeless shelters or that lived were housing insecure. The food aspect schools provide primary meals for many students in this city. And then the socialization. We saw an increase in suicide, attempted suicides. Were not sending an unclear message of what is going to happen day to day. Im going to tell you whats going to happen day to day. We are staying open. Were going to do everything that we have to do to keep our schools open. And I know theres questions about staffing. I know this question about testing. Theres a lot of questions, but were going to turn those question marks into an exclamation point. Were staying open.
Mayor Eric Adams insisted on Monday morning that New York Citys schools would stay open despite an extraordinary surge in Omicron cases. But about a third of city parents did not send their children back to classrooms on the first day after the holiday break. Attendance was just over 67 percent, slightly higher than the low point of 65 percent the system reached on the day before winter break.
Throughout the day on Monday, Adams was adamant that the system would remain open. He repeated the message in a series of television interviews and after his first official school visit since taking office on New Years Day.
Were really excited about the opening of our schools, Mr. Adams said outside the school, Concourse Village Elementary School in the Bronx. We want to be extremely clear: the safest place for our children is a school building.
Mr. Adams said that remote learning had been disastrous for too many of the citys nearly one million schoolchildren in the nations largest school district, and had been particularly harmful for children in low-income neighborhoods and homeless students.
But the calm that Mr. Adams sought to project was not shared by the many parents and educators who greeted Monday morning with profound trepidation. After roughly a year of remarkably low virus transmission in schools, Covid cases soared in the week before the winter break, prompting the closures of 11 schools and over 400 classrooms, and the contact tracing system for city schools effectively collapsed amid the surge.
New York City reported 35,650 new virus cases on Sunday, with a 7-day average test positivity rate of nearly 22 percent, according to state data.
Some families and elected officials have called on Mr. Adams to delay the start of school by a few days to allow every child and educator to get tested. And teachers have raised questions about how schools will be properly staffed with so many teachers sick with the virus or quarantining due to exposures.
This is an all hands on deck moment, Mr. Adams said, acknowledging that administrators who are not normally in the classroom would be used to address staff shortages if necessary.
Mr. Adams has endorsed a plan created by former Mayor Bill de Blasio that is designed to keep more classrooms open as the surge continues. The plan calls for distributing 1.5 million rapid at-home test kits to schools.
Starting Monday, the city is also doubling its random in-school testing program to give P.C.R. tests to 20 percent of consenting children in each school weekly. But most families have not opted in to allow their children to be tested, which has made the testing pool very small at some schools.
The mayor and the new schools chancellor, David C. Banks, are betting that their plan to increase testing will prevent major outbreaks.
Were going to turn those question marks into an exclamation point: were staying open, Mr. Adams said.
Mr. Adams and Mr. Banks have so far resisted calls to mandate booster shots for educators or vaccines for children. The mayor has said a decision will be made this spring about mandating vaccines for students for the fall.
Were not at the point of mandate, Mr. Adams said Monday, as he encouraged eligible New Yorkers to get vaccinated and boosted.
Michael Mulgrew, president of the citys teachers union, said in an email to members that he had encouraged Mr. Adams to start the year remotely. But on Monday morning, Mr. Mulgrew said he was working closely with the new mayor and that schools had been some of the safest places in the city throughout the pandemic.
Later on Monday, Gov. Kathy Hochul reiterated her commitment to keeping New Yorks children in schools.
My view is that every child should be back in school unless they are testing positive, she said.
The state has distributed 5.2 million at-home test kits to schools thus far, and another 3.8 million arrived yesterday and have yet to be distributed.
Under the current rule, test kits will only be provided to students for known exposures that occur in classrooms, although Ms. Hochul said that policy was under review.
She also cautioned against a return to remote learning. The teachers did the best they could. The parents did the best they could, she said. But we ask too much.
In particular, she spoke about the effects of remote learning on children in communities of color, those who lacked resources and those without high-speed internet access an existing digital divide that she said had widened into a digital canyon.
We cannot have that, Ms. Hochul said. That was an injustice. We cannot have that anymore.
Just over half of all 12- to 17-year olds are fully vaccinated in the United States.
ATLANTA COVID-19 booster shots are now available to 16- and 17-year-olds, while the rate of adolescents willing to get their vaccines seems to have slowed.
Nationwide, more than half of all adolescents have rolled up their sleeve at least once. According to the latest CDC data, 63% of 12- to 17-year-olds in the U.S. have received one COVID vaccine, while 53% are fully vaccinated. Vaccines for all teenagers have been available since May.
The majority of families who see Dr. Andi Shane at Childrens Healthcare of Atlanta are eager for a COVID-19 vaccine.
I've heard more of, When can the younger children under the age of five get vaccinated?, Dr. Shane said. The family wants to travel but we have young children or grandchildren.
According to the CDC, in late December less than 60% of the countys 12- to 17-year-olds had received at least one dose compared to 80% for all adults.
The Kaiser Family Foundation questioned parents about their view of the COVID-19 vaccines. A total of 63% of those parents believe the shots are safe for them, but only 53% believe them to be safe for adolescents. A little more than a third of the parents surveyed by the CDC say theyre taking a wait and see attitude.
Dr. Shane is a Pediatric Infectious Disease specialist with Childrens Healthcare. She says the overwhelming majority of COVID patients hospitalized at Childrens have been unvaccinated.
The other challenge also with waiting is that everybody who's unvaccinated is really a source for a new variant to occur, Dr. Shane said. Getting a vaccine protects the people around you and also prevents potential emergence of new variants.
Access is a concern among some parents, with some expressing they would have to take time off from work to get their child a shot.
The Kaiser Family Foundation survey found fewer than half of the parents questioned had talked to their childs pediatrician to seek information about the risks and benefits of a COVID vaccine.
Dr. Shane says its time for parents to have that discussion about both the COVID and flu vaccine.
EAST LANSING, Mich. (FOX 2) - If you are planning to attend a sporting, music, art, or theater event at Michigan State University, you must provide proof of COVID-19 vaccine or a negative test.
Related: MSU to start winter classes remotely for first three weeks
The policy goes into effect Jan. 4 and will remain through the spring semester.
The university has previously announced that all students and staff who are eligible for the Covid booster will be required to get it starting this spring.
If you are not vaccinated, you must provide a negative test that was taken within 72 hours of the event. This applies to people 12 and older. Those who cannot provide vaccine or test proof will not be allowed into the events.
MORE: Where to get a COVID-19 test in Michigan
The policy applies to ticketed events at the MSU Broad Art Museum, Wharton Center, the Auditorium and College of Music performances, such as concerts and recitals, that take place at Fairchild Theatre, Alumni Memorial Chapel, Cook Recital Hall, Murray Hall or Hollander Hall.
Mens and womens basketball, hockey, wrestling and gymnastics home events are also included.
Additionally, MSU has an indoor mask requirement.
The state of Michigan now says people who get infected with COVID-19 and are asymptomatic need to only quarantine for five days, instead of 10.
A Long Island woman was arrested for illegally injecting a 17-year-old boy with a COVID-19 vaccine at her home without the teens parental consent, police said Saturday.
Laura Russo, 54, who is not a doctor or authorized to administer vaccines, was busted for the New Years Eve incident at her Sea Cliff residence, according to Nassau County police.
The authorities were notified after the teen left Russos home and told his mother about the jab, according to cops.
Russo was charged with unauthorized practice of a profession and released on a desk appearance ticket.
She is due to appear in court on Jan. 21, police said.
JACKSON, Miss. (WJTV) - Governor Tate Reeves (R-Miss.) talked to WJTV 12 News in a one-on-one interview ahead of the 2022 Legislative session. The topics included COVID-19, teacher pay raises, and medical marijuana.
A medical marijuana plan is likely to be put into law during the regular session, with or without the governors blessing. Reeves recently said he will try to persuade some Republicans to stand with him if he vetoes a bill.
Father John Lovell outside of a small, wooded garden on Nov 12. Father Lovell formed and helps run the Coalition for Canceled Priests, which raises funds to support legal expenses of Catholic priests, who, like Father Lovell, are wrongfully canceled by their bishops. (Andrew Burke-Stevenson/for the Chicago Tribune)
Dr. Anthony Fauci last week addressed Covaxin, a COVID-19 vaccine made in India that has not been approved in the U.S. but is finding its way into the social media feeds of the American public.
We have enough vaccines, the best vaccines available, in the United States, Fauci, the chief medical advisor to President Joe Biden, said in response to a question about Covaxin during his Thursday interview with Adrienne Bankert on NewsNations Morning in America.
When asked about the Covaxin approval timeline, Fauci indicated the interest was surprising.
Im puzzled by that question, he said about Covaxin. We have more vaccines than we need right now. We just need the people to get vaccinated with the vaccines that we have. The mRNA vaccines are vaccines that are desired by everyone else in the world. So we have what we need; we need to use it.
So why the interest in Covaxin? How does it compare to the vaccines currently available in the United States?
Covaxin is different from the Pfizer-BioNTech and Moderna vaccines in how they are made. Pfizer and Moderna are mRNA vaccines, a relatively new approach that teaches our cells how to make a protein that triggers an immune response inside our bodies, according to the CDC.
Covaxin takes a more traditional approach. Its made by using a disabled form of the COVID-19 virus to stimulate the immune system. This is similar to Johnson & Johnsons approach to the vaccine.
Covaxin was developed and manufactured in India by Bharat Biotech, a partner of the publicly traded company Ocugen. It was developed with funding from the National Institutes of Health and requires two shots taken 28 days apart.
Covaxin was awarded an emergency-use listing by the World Health Organization in November, which further validates the vaccine.India also announced Monday that it will be the only shot available to children aged 15 to 18 when inoculations begin for that age group next week.
The interest in Covaxin in the U.S. is also being driven by investors whose investment in Ocugen would likely skyrocket if the vaccine was approved by the U.S. Food & Drug Administration.
The question about Covaxin asked in the NewsNation interview was one of dozens submitted through a loosely coordinated campaign to ask Fauci about the Indian vaccine.
Any type of support for Covaxin is amplified by its supporters, including one on Thursday by professional tennis legend Jimmy Connors.
The Indian Council for Medical Research, which helped develop Covaxin, says the vaccines approach is like a Bruce Lee assault because it targets three potentially fatal areas at the same time.
It was created with an adjuvant developed by the NIH, technology that has been lauded by Fauci.
I am pleased that a novel vaccine adjuvant developed in the United States with NIAID support is part of an efficacious COVID-19 vaccine available to people in India, Faucisaid.
But theres little data to support that its better than the Pfizer and Moderna vaccines. COVID-19 infections are decreasing in India. However, the country has reported a swift rise in omicron cases.
Research compiled by The Economist shows that both Pfizer and Moderna did better at preventing infection and hospitalizations than Covaxin against the delta variant.
Covaxin does have one advantage: It doesnt require the ultra-cold storage of the American vaccines, which is expensive. That makes Covaxin more attractive to poorer, developing countries.
Health expert Jammi N Rao told Quartz India in early December that to date, there is no reliable evidence that they necessarily offer wide-ranging protection against new variants that result from multiple points of genetic mutation.
I can only speculate that it comes not from hard science but from a desire to project Covaxin as better than any other vaccine because it is an indigenously developed vaccine, Rao told Quartz. It is therefore understandable why many people would want this theory to be true, but it is not the way of science to promote a theory because it is convenient.
Fauci mistakenly said on Morning In America that Covaxins manufacturer, Bharat, had not applied for FDA approval. But his office followed up later that day with this statement: Bharat Biotech, the company that has developed Covaxin, has applied to the FDA for an emergency use authorization (EUA) for their vaccine. The FDA is currently evaluating the data and no decision has been made.
The FDA looks at the data and if the data are in order and give you a good scientific rationale to approve it, the FDA will approve it, Fauci also said in the Morning in America interview. There are no interventions that are not being approved for reasons other than theyve either not been submitted for approval or the data are not strong enough to warrant approval.
Fauci also said he did not think the United States needed another vaccine. Instead, he said, it needed to get more people vaccinated with the vaccines currently approved.
Its not alternative. Its another vaccine, Fauci said of Covaxin in his appearance on Morning in America. We dont need another vaccine.
When asked about its FDA application, a spokesperson for Ocugen gave NewsNation the following statement:
COVAXIN demonstrated its broad-spectrum safety and efficacy in a large, multicenter, phase 3 clinical trial of more than 25,000 people, where it was proven to be 93.4% effective at preventing severe COVID-19 disease, reducing hospitalizations, and 77.8% effective against the overall disease. In a pediatric, immunobridging trial involving children, aged 2-18 years, the vaccine was shown to generate a neutralizing antibody response against the whole SARS-CoV-2 virus and antibody responses against 3 different viral proteins S1, NP, RBD equivalent to what was seen in the phase 3 adult efficacy trial. There were also no severe adverse events reported, such as hospitalizations, pericarditis, myocarditis or blood clots, demonstrating a compelling safety profile. Ocugen submitted a pediatric Emergency Use Authorization (EUA) based on these data to the FDA on Nov. 5, 2021, so that parents and healthcare providers in the U.S. can have a safe and effective vaccine option for their children in the effort to end the coronavirus pandemic.
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Everything to know about COVID-19 vaccines in Iowa
Updated: 7:55 AM CST Jan 3, 2022
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IN IOWA THE VAST MAJORITOFY CHILDREN AGES 5 TO 11 ARE NOT VACCINATED EVEN THOUGH THEYRE OLD OU.EN NEW AT 5:00, KCCIS CYNTHIA FODOR SHOWS US WHY DOCTORS ARE NOW CONCERNE CYHINTA: WITH INFLUENZA A AND OMICRON CASES NOW RAPIYDL SPREADING, HOSPITALS ARE SEEING A SURGE IN SICK CHILDREN AND EXPECT EVEN MORE ILLNESS AFTER THE HOLIDAYS 11-YEAR-OLD EMERSON FICHRTE KNOWS OTHER KIDS HER AGE WHO HAVE HAD COV-1ID SHE WANTED TO GET HER SECOND SHOT OF THE VACCINE TO PROTECT HERSELF BEFORE GOING BACTOK SCHOOL. >> I DECIDED TO GET IT BECAU I DONT REALLY MIND GETTING IT SO THERE WAS NO POINT TO NOT GET IT. CYNTHIA DOCTS ORSAY GETTING THE : SHOT IS NOTHING COMPAREDO T GETTING A SEVERE CASE OF COVID OR LONGTERM SIDE EFFECTS LEIK MULTISTEYSM INFLAMMATORY SYNDROME OR HEART DAMA.GE ACROSS THE COUNTRY, THERE HAVE BEEN NEARLY 2 MILLION COVID CASES WITHIN THE 5-11 AGE GRPOU WITH NEARLY 100 DEAT.HS >> KIDS ARE SICK NEROW THAN I HAVE EVER SEEN THEM BEFO.RE OUR CLINICS ARE FULL, OUR URNT CARES ARE FULL, OUR ERS ARE BURSTING CYNTHIA: PIAEDTRICIAN AMY SHRIVER SAYS HOSPITALS ARE SEEING A TWINDEMIC A SURGE IN YOUNG PATIENTS WITH COVID OR THE FLU. >> IT ANMES THAT MOST LIKELY WELL BE SEEING SHORTAGES OF HOSPITAL BEDS FOR KIDS, WELLE B SEEING SHORTAGES OF SATYFE EQUIPMENT, WELL BE SEEING SHORTAGES OFES. T SO, YOU KNOW, THIS IS A SERIOUS PROBLEM COMI UNG CYNTHIA: THE IOWA COVID DASHBOARD SHOWS OF THOSE 11-Y5-EARS-OLD, ONLY 14% HAVE BEEN VACCINATED. IN THE 12-15-YEAR-OLD GROUP,T I JUMPS TO3% 4 47% OF 16-19-YEAR-OLDS ARE VACCINAT.ED >> IF FAMILIES KNEW THAT EVEN THEIR HEALTHIEST KID COULD END UP BEING VERY, VERY SICK FOR A VERY, VERY LONG TIME IF THEY GET COVID, I THINK THEY WODUL VACCINATE. NOWS THE TIME TO LEAN IN TO YOUR CHILDS HEALTH, AND TO MEAK SURE YOU HAVE DONE EVERYIN SGLE THING POSSIBLE AS A PARENT TO KEEP YOUR CHILD SAFE CYNTHIA: DOCTORS ALSO URGE PARENTS TO HAVE THEIR CHILDREN GET THE FLU SHOT AS WELL. THEY SAY MANY PARENTS HAVE ALSO FALLEN BEHIND ON GETTING THEIR CHILDRENS STANDARD VACCINES FOR THINGS LIKE MUMPS AND ME
Everything to know about COVID-19 vaccines in Iowa
Updated: 7:55 AM CST Jan 3, 2022
Headlines: Find vaccine doses here.How Iowa compares with the rest of the countryAbout the vaccines:Pfizer: The Pfizer vaccine requires two doses administered 21 days apart. There is a four day grace period in which the second dose of the vaccine can be administered. The vaccine must be kept frozen at temperatures between -112 and -77 degrees Fahrenheit. It's projected to be about 95% effective. Moderna: The Moderna vaccine requires two doses that are administered 28 days apart. There is a four day grace period when receiving the second dose. The Moderna vaccine must be kept at -13 to 5 degrees Fahrenheit. It is projected to be about 94% effective. Johnson & Johnson: The Johnson & Johnson is a single-dose vaccine that is projected to be 86% effective. Doctors explain that the Johnson & Johnson vaccine works similarly to the flu shot by using a modified version of a completely different virus to sneak antibody instructions to the body's immune system. Post-vaccination resource:The Center for Disease Control and Prevention developed a website to report how individuals feel after they receive the COVID-19 vaccine. V-Safe helps recipients track any side effects they've had from the COVID-19 vaccine. For more information, click here.
Headlines:
Find vaccine doses here.
How Iowa compares with the rest of the country
About the vaccines:
Pfizer: The Pfizer vaccine requires two doses administered 21 days apart. There is a four day grace period in which the second dose of the vaccine can be administered. The vaccine must be kept frozen at temperatures between -112 and -77 degrees Fahrenheit. It's projected to be about 95% effective.
Moderna: The Moderna vaccine requires two doses that are administered 28 days apart. There is a four day grace period when receiving the second dose. The Moderna vaccine must be kept at -13 to 5 degrees Fahrenheit. It is projected to be about 94% effective.
Johnson & Johnson: The Johnson & Johnson is a single-dose vaccine that is projected to be 86% effective. Doctors explain that the Johnson & Johnson vaccine works similarly to the flu shot by using a modified version of a completely different virus to sneak antibody instructions to the body's immune system.
Post-vaccination resource:
The Center for Disease Control and Prevention developed a website to report how individuals feel after they receive the COVID-19 vaccine. V-Safe helps recipients track any side effects they've had from the COVID-19 vaccine. For more information, click here.
