The booster dose elicited a significantly higher antibody response against the initial strain of coronavirus and the Delta and Beta variants, compared to what was seen among people who got two doses. The booster dose seemed to be equally protective against the Delta and Beta variants as against the original coronavirus.
"Given the high levels of immune responses observed, a booster dose given within 6 to 12 months after the primary vaccination schedule may help maintain a high level of protection against COVID-19," the company said in a statement.
"This initial data indicate that we may preserve and even exceed the high levels of protection against the wild-type virus and relevant variants using a third dose of our vaccine," added Dr. Ugur Sahin, CEO and co-founder of BioNTech. "A booster vaccine could help reduce infection and disease rates in people who have previously been vaccinated and better control the spread of virus variants during the coming season."
The data on booster shots comes as Covid-19 cases and hospitalizations have surged in recent weeks, particularly among unvaccinated people in the South. Pfizer executives say they believe a booster dose will be needed soon, but US health officials say they have seen no indication one is needed yet.
Last week, the FDA and Centers for Disease Control and Prevention authorized and recommended a third dose of vaccine for some immunocompromised people who likely had little or no response to the first two shots.
"That's heartbreaking considering we never thought we would be back in that space again," Dr. Francis Collins said on Fox News.
Pfizer and BioNTech said they expect results from the trial to evaluate a booster dose "shortly" and the companies plan to submit the data to the FDA and other regulatory authorities. The companies plan to submit this early data to the European Medicines Agency and other regulatory authorities in the coming weeks.
Pfizer and BioNTech said after FDA grants approval for their vaccine in the US, they would then seek approval of a booster dose through a supplement to their license application. The companies said they would seek approval for this booster dose for people 16 or older. Currently the Pfizer Covid-19 vaccine is authorized for people 12 and older.
Texas tops US in number of Covid-19 pediatric hospitalizations
Texas leads the nation in the number of current confirmed Covid-19 pediatric hospitalizations, the latest data from US Health and Human Services shows.
Texas, with 239 children hospitalized with Covid-19, has surpassed Florida, which has 170 children with coronavirus in hospital care.
Texas has the second highest state population in the United States, behind California.
Florida, which is third, has the country's highest total number of adults and children newly admitted into the hospital with cases of Covid-19.
The latest HHS data shows 2,061 adults and 59 children were admitted with Covid-19 in Florida hospitals since the previous day.
As for total adult Covid-19 hospitalizations, Florida has the most with 15,486 patients, followed by Texas with 11,083, according to the latest HHS data.
Surgeon General wary of fading precautions
On Sunday, the surgeon general said many of those who have followed precautions may soon grow complacent due to fatigue.
"I do think that many of those who did make that right decision to get vaccinated, are thinking, 'Gosh, I did the right thing but here we are, still in the middle of this pandemic 18 months later,'" Surgeon General Dr. Vivek Murthy told CNN's Brian Stelter.
"We get through this pandemic when a critical majority of us get vaccinated, and we haven't hit that critical number yet," Murthy said.
Murthy said he is especially worried about parents who have been working hard to protect their children as the nation grapples with the pandemic. That fear is especially pressing as more children are being hospitalized with the virus, such as Kyle Butrum's 1-year-old son, Carter, in Arkansas.
Butrum urged people to get vaccinated so other families don't have to watch their child struggle in the hospital.
"The only thing you can do to prevent someone else from doing this is to get your vaccine, so that another child doesn't have to do this, and another family doesn't have to send their kid away. So another father doesn't have to stand at the back of the ambulance and wonder if that's the last time you're going to see your son," Butrum told CNN.
With the rise of Delta variant and the start of the new school year, CNN medical analyst Dr. Leana Wen said this is the most dangerous time in the pandemic for children.
Experts have shared the best practices to keep families safe, but "we as a society have failed our children," Wen said, citing the swathes of people navigating communities unmasked and unvaccinated and politicians disregarding the guidance.
"As a result, we have made it harder for schools to stay open, we have made it more likely for children to be infected," Wen said. "This is a really sad reflection that children are having to pay the price for irresponsible adults and reckless politicians."
Officials at odds over masking
Many health experts have pointed to mask mandates as a necessary step to getting the pandemic under control as officials work to boost vaccination rates, but some local leaders are increasingly at odds over such mandates.
Texas Attorney General Ken Paxton took the fight against mask mandates in his state to the Texas Supreme Court after various defeats in lower courts.
Abbott and Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis were the recipients of letters from the Department of Education in which Education Secretary Miguel Cardona said he is "deeply concerned" over mask mandate restrictions.
"The Department recognizes that several school districts in your State have already moved to adopt such policies in line with guidance from the CDC for the reopening and operation of school facilities despite the State level prohibitions. The Department stands with these dedicated educators who are working to safely reopen schools and maintain safe in-person instruction," Cardona wrote in the letter to DeSantis, which was also addressed to Florida Education Commissioner Richard Corcoran.
In May, DeSantis issued two executive orders limiting the Covid-19 restrictions counties and cities could impose, including mask mandates, and has since threatened punitive measures should a county or city defy them.
The Broward County School Board chair criticized DeSantis on Sunday over his position on school mask mandates.
"We believe we have a constitutional obligation to protect the lives of our students and staff. And we've received threats from our governor, and it's been really, really dramatic and horrible to be put in this position," Dr. Rosalind Osgood said on CBS' "Face the Nation" on Sunday.
CNN's Keith Allen, Rosa Flores, Jamie Gumbrecht, Gregory Lemos and Leyla Santiago contributed to this report.
Below is thefull COVID-19 report for the past weekend, Aug. 13-15
LAS VEGAS (KLAS) Nevada reports more than 2,500 new COVID-19 cases and 30 deaths over the weekend, according to COVID-19 data released today.
Clark County continues to fuel the higher numbers, with about 78% of the states daily COVID-19 cases. Nevada reported 2,523 new cases, with 1,964 coming from Clark County.
The states test positivity rate sits at 16.2% down from 16.3% while Clark Countys rate is currently 16.3%, down from Fridays report of 16.7%.
Nevada continues to be labeled a place with high COVID-19 transmission and Clark County remains an area of concern,according to an updated White House report released Friday.The county wasfirst labeled a sustained hot spot on July 5.
Almost all of Nevada is labeled as a high transmission area, and it is now one of 36 listed as high transmission states. The CDC is using cases per 100,000 over the past seven days to determine high transmission.
There are 205 new cases reported per 100,000 every seven days in Clark County, according to the Southern Nevada Health District.
Nevadas case count grew by 2,523 over the weekend, most from Clark County (1,964). The states total cases are now at 373,649. Clark County has a total of 293,466.Its important to note thatthe state no longer updates the dashboard on the weekendor holidays, which may be why Monday and Tuesday reports show higher case and death totals.
Nevadas test positivity rate is at 16.2%, down from Fridays report of 16.3%. It fell below 5.0%, the World Health Organizations goal, on May 17 and climbed above it on June 28. Clark Countys rate is even higher, at 16.3% but down from 16.7% the previous day and steadily declining.
Of the 30 additional COVID-19-related deaths reported over the weekend, 26 were from Clark County. Southern Nevada now accounts for 4,962 of the states 6,190 deaths. The 14-day rolling average is 10 deaths per day.
As of Aug. 11, the health district reports there are 225 breakthrough hospitalizations and 49 breakthrough deaths.
As of Sunday, a total of 3,883,216 COVID-19 tests have been conducted in Nevada, with an increase of 33,664 over the weekend.
*NOTE: Daily lab data from DHHS and SNHD reports is updated every morning for theprevious day.
July 6 was the first time since March 3 that Clark County had been flagged for elevated disease transmission(A county is flagged for elevated disease transmission if it meets two or three of the above criteria). In todays report, Clark remains flagged, along with Carson City, Churchill, Douglas, Elko, Eureka, Lincoln, Lyon, Nye, Storey, White Pine and Washoe counties.
Clark Countys case rate (1,004 per 100,000 over the past 30 days) and test positivity rate (16.3%) are flagged in data reported today. Testing (275 tests per day per 100,000) is within the states acceptable range.
Thestates health department reports2,806,522 dosesof the COVID-19 vaccine have been administered in Nevada,as of Aug. 15.Of Nevadas total doses, 2,234,626 have been administered in the southern part of the state, according to the Health Districtsdaily dashboard update.
As of today, 49% of Nevadans currently eligible for the vaccine are fully vaccinated, and nearly 60% of the eligible population has initiated vaccinations. Clark County reports that 48% of its eligible residents are fully vaccinated.
NOTE: The state is not updating hospitalization dataonweekendsor holidays.
According to the statesDepartment of Health and Human Services (DHHS), the number of hospitalized patients in Nevada wasDOWNover the weekend.
The current number of hospitalizations is1,262 confirmed/suspected cases. Hospitals reported 273 of those patients were in intensive care units, and 201 were on ventilators.
Nevada is experiencing a slowing of COVID-19 hospitalizations in the southern region and increases withinthe northern region. We remain cautiously optimistic that Nevada may be reaching the peak of the currentwave, according to themost recent report from the Nevada Hospital Association(NHA).
However, NHA notes that even as cases slow, historically, significant case counts remain within the hospitals for close to a month once the peak has been reached.
The Nevada seven-day moving averages are beginning to flatten for confirmed and suspected COVID-19 hospitalizations, the organization stated in this weeks report. This is being driven by the slowing admission rates in southern Nevada.
Hospitals report that 95%+/- of all patients hospitalized are unvaccinated. Hence, robust vaccination campaigns remain the best mitigation strategy, the organization stated two weeks ago.
To give some perspective, the state set a record high for hospitalized patients on Dec. 13 with 2,025 cases.
The number of people who have recovered from the virus in Southern Nevada continues to increase. The latest county update estimates a total of 274,753 recovered cases; thats 93.6% of all reported cases in the county, according toSNHDs latest report.
The health district providesa daily map with the number of positive tests in each ZIPcodein Clark County.
Nevadareopened to 100% capacity on June 1and social distancing guidelines lifted, helping the state return to mostly pre-pandemic times, with some exceptions.
The CDC reversed course on July 27, saying fully vaccinated Americans in areas with substantial and high transmission should wear masks indoors when in public as COVID-19 cases rise. Most of Nevada falls into those two risk categories.
Nevada said it would adopt the CDCs guidance with a new mask guidelinethat went into effect at 12:01 a.m. Friday, July 30. Thisoverrides Clark Countys employee mask mandate, which went into effect in mid-July.
Masks still must be worn when required by federal, state, local, tribal, or territorial laws, rules and regulations, including local businesses and workplace guidance.
SEE ALSO:Previous days report
Are vaccine mandates legal? Here's what employers are allowed to do
Google, Biden and NY State have issued vaccine mandates for employees and federal workers. Here's how employees and unions are responding.
Just the FAQs, USA TODAY
As Americans continue in their fight against COVID-19, controversy and misinformation about vaccines persist.
One viral image falsely argues that the decision on whetherto get vaccinated yourself does not impact other people.
Im vaccinated but how can it be a civic duty to get the C19 vaccine when it only benefits me? I can still become infected and transmit C19 to the vaccinated and unvaccinated, the tweet claims. The choice to vaccinate should remain a personal one.
Fact check: 6 of the most persistent misconceptions about COVID-19 vaccines
The image, shared on Instagram on Aug. 11, showsan Aug. 10 tweet from a doctor.
The account frequently tweets support for taking ivermectin to protect against COVID-19, which is not a proven treatment and can be dangerous..
But experts say this approach is wrongheaded. Getting vaccinated against COVID-19 protects the vaccinated, those who choose not to get vaccinated and those who are not eligible to be vaccinated.
USA TODAY reached out to the Instagram userfor comments. The Twitter user could not be messaged.
Experts say getting vaccinated has benefits on a personal and community level.
Getting vaccinated reducesindividuals' risk of both getting COVID-19 and giving it to someone else, said Emily R. Smith, an epidemiologist and assistant professor at The George Washington University's Milkin Institute School of Public Health.
Getting vaccinated benefits both you and the people in your community!" she said in an email. "Vaccinated people are way less likely to get COVID-19 in the first place. The most recent (U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention)estimates suggest that vaccinated people are 800% less likely to get COVID than unvaccinated people. If you don't get COVID, you can't spread COVID to someone else.
Susan Hassig, an epidemiologist at Tulane University School of Public Health and Tropical Medicine, similarly said that vaccines protect vaccinated individuals by greatly reducing their risk of infection, illness and death. That individual vaccination then protects the broader community by making the vaccinated person less likely to become a host.
This benefit is most evident when the majority of persons in a community are vaccinated, Hassig said. "The virus, if introduced, has nowhere to go, and dies out.Cannot spread, cannot mutate.
Fact check: COVID-19 vaccine mandates don't violate Nuremberg Code
The U.S. Department of Health and Human Services said this concept, often called community or herd immunity, works to protect members of a community that cannot get vaccinated or for whom the vaccine is less effective, including children and those with certain medical conditions.
The way we protect newborn babies from life-threatening diseases in the first few months is by those around them being vaccinated, Hassig said. It is not just about the individual, but about also protecting others.Failure to vaccinate yourself, especially for a disease as easily transmitted as Covid, places others in harm's way. Currently, kids under 12 cannot yet be vaccinated.
Fact check: Pfizer CEO fully vaccinated, canceled Israel trip in March
Exactly when we will reach herd immunity is up for debate.
The reality is that we dont know when herd immunity will occur. We havent had this disease before. We cant say for sure what percentage of the population needs to be reached, Dr. Manisha Juthani, aninfectious diseases specialist, told Yale Medicinein May. There is not a certain number or cut-off; its a gradient, meaning well know weve reached it if we see the number of cases, hospitalizations, and deaths go down. An overall improvement of our numbers will tell us we are reaching that threshold.
Smith told USA TODAY that getting vaccinated also benefits others by greatly reducing the likelihood that avaccinated person who does geta breakthrough infection willbecomecritically ill and needto be hospitalized.
The CDC estimates vaccines are 93%-100% effective in preventing hospitalizations even with the delta variant. This prevents the health care system from becoming overwhelmed.
Keeping COVID cases out of the hospitals helps others in your community because hospital beds and resources are available for those who need to be in the hospital for other reasons, she said. When hospital beds are filled with COVID patients, things like elective surgeries are canceled.
Based on our research, we rate FALSE the claim that getting vaccinated against COVID-19 only benefits the vaccinated person. Epidemiologists agree that getting vaccinated benefits individuals by reducing their risk of contracting COVID-19 and spreading it to other people. This protects those who cant be vaccinated and those for whom the vaccine is less effective (those with other medical conditions and children under 12). Vaccinations also prevent individuals from getting critically ill and hospitals from being overwhelmed.
Thank you for supporting our journalism.You cansubscribe to our print edition, ad-free app or electronic newspaper replica here.
Our fact-check work is supported in part by a grant from Facebook.
Charly Triballeau/AFP/Getty Images
The Tokyo 2020 Paralympics will have no spectators, four Paralympic and Japanese government groups responsible for the Games announced in a joint statement on Monday.
CNN
The Tokyo 2020 Paralympics will not have any spectators as the Covid-19 situation in Japan remains serious, according to organizers.
The announcement was made on Monday, following a remote meeting of four Paralympic and Japanese government groups responsible for the Games.
In light of the current emergency declaration issued for Tokyo, Saitama and Chiba Prefectures, another declaration of the state of emergency being requested by Shizuoka prefecture and the current infection situation broadly, more stringent measures will be taken for competitions to be held in these prefectures, including having no spectators, the International Paralympic Committee (IPC), the Tokyo 2020 Organizing Committee, the Tokyo Metropolitan Government and the Government of Japan announced in a joint press statement.
Members of the public have been urged to refrain from attending road events, but school programs will be allowed to continue with Covid-19 safety measures.
The news comes as Tokyo announced 2,962 new daily cases on Monday, after a record 5,773 on Friday.
Patrick Smith/Getty Images
Spectators were absent for the majority of events during the Tokyo Olympics.
The government is set to prolong the state of emergency in Tokyo and other regions which is due to expire on 31 August to September 12, according to NHK, Japans public broadcaster.
There was an absence of spectators for 97% of competitions during the Olympics including in all Tokyo venues, with limited capacity in several other prefectures.
We very much regret that this situation has impacted the Paralympic Games, following the Olympic Games, and we sincerely apologize to all ticket buyers who were looking forward to watching the Games at the venues. We hope that you understand that these measures are unavoidable and being implemented in order to prevent the spread of infection. Everyone is encouraged to watch the Games at home, the statement added.
The statement also said that organizers will have a further four-party meeting in the event of any major changes in the infection situation.
The Paralympic Games are scheduled to begin on August 24 and run through to September 5.
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The Tennessee Department of Health will host a briefing with Dr. Lisa Piercey, the state's health commissioner, at 11:30 a.m. on Monday.
Piercey is expected to discuss the COVID-19 pandemic in the state.
Watch a livestream of the briefing in the player below:
More: At many Nashville-area hospitals, COVID-19 leaves 'no beds' and nowhere else to go
More: COVID-19 in Tennessee: Latest case counts, vaccination rates and updates as delta variant spreads
More: Lost your COVID-19 vaccination card? It's easy to get a new one.
Students across Shelby County have returned to schools this fall during local COVID-19 conditions that are expected to surpass last winter's surge. How will families and the public learn about outbreaks?
Likely, what is known about the extent of cases connected to classrooms will vary by the protocols of each school.
The county and state do not require that schools or districts publicly report any data, nor are schools required to follow uniform communication protocols with their students' families and staffers.
Politics: Tennessee legislators weigh in on mask mandates in schools
This means that after the first week of school, there will be no publicreport of active COVID-19 cases related to school buildings. Depending on the school a child attends, families and staff may not be aware of reported cases in a school unless they are identified as a close contact. Internal contact tracing and notification procedures aren't standard across school districts.
More: Tennessee education department not collecting, publicizing COVID-19 cases in schools
The consensus among local health officials and medical experts is that, last year, schools were reflections of COVID-19 cases among the community and did not drive community spread. Most school-related infections that were contact-traced were associated with extracurricular activities, most often sports.
This year, experts have voiced concern that with lesser mitigation strategies, COVID-19 could behave differently within school buildings, as a more transmissible delta variant drives infections among the unvaccinated. Children younger than 12 aren't eligible, and in Shelby County, only 20.7% of eligible kids are fully vaccinated, as of Thursday. About a third have at least one dose.
Among public school districts in Shelby County, only Collierville Schools reports COVID-19 case data on its website. Statewide, large districts including Metro Nashville Public Schools and Hamilton County Schools in Chattanooga also report their own COVID-19 case information.
Shelby County's public school districts take varying approaches to notifying parents of cases within their school buildings, according to information shared with The Commercial Appeal. All districts with the exception of Millington Municipal Schools responded to a survey about protocols.
"Families of students should be informed about the presence of the COVID case(s) in the school, but individuals should not be named," according to back-to-school guidance from Le Bonheur Children's Hospital.
Germantown Municipal School District has the most robust notification system. Close contacts of cases are notified, and families and staff receive daily case totals by school location.
Similarly, Collierville Schools notifies close contacts of cases, and publishes regular updates to its COVID-19 reporting dashboard.
Lakeland School System notifies close contacts as well as people who are in the same class or classes as a positive case.
Shelby County Schoolsnotifiesclose contacts of a case. Bartlett City Schools also notifies close contacts, and schools send out letters to parents "as needed."
In Arlington Community Schools, the district relies on the Shelby County Health Department to contact close contacts of a case. The district sends notifications to families who shared "common spaces," like classrooms, buses andextracurricular activities including sports.
With the delta variant surge, the Shelby County Health Department has a large burden of cases to trace, explained Dr. Manoj Jain, an infectious disease physician who has been advising local leaders throughout the pandemic.
Organizations, including schools, should have their own contact tracing teams that communicate with the health department, Jain said. The organizations that do, including hospitals and other employers, have been"incredibly successful in avoiding a very large outbreak."
"Contact tracing is all about communication," he said.
And time is of the essence when cases are identified, said Dr. Jason Yaun, a general pediatrician at Le Bonheur and a member of the hospital's back-to-school task force.
"If someone who should be quarantining is not and is infectious or does become infectious, they could unknowingly continue to expose other people," Yaun said. "If someone should be quarantining, they need to do so as early as possible."
Each of the responding public school districts in Shelby County said it has its own tracing team that works with the health department.
While the department is legally bound to investigating, tracing, and issuing orders forisolationand quarantine, the department "will expect and welcome the cooperation of schools and other community partners per the requirements of the current Amended Health Directive No.24," said Health Officer Bruce Randolph. "We are asking schools to assist us in identifying contacts but ultimately contact tracing is our responsibility."
Guidance bythe Centers for Disease Control and Preventionmakes an exceptionfor close contactswhen the contacts are children inside of a school: In those cases, so long as children are at least 3 feet apart from a case and properlymasking, they would not be considered contacts. The Le Bonheur guide includes this exception, which does not apply to adults.
But the Shelby County Health Department told school leaders in July that it would not be following the exception, according to an email obtained by The Commercial Appeal, and instead considers a child in a school to be the same as any close contact, which is a person within 6 feet of a case for 15 minutes or more.
It was not immediately clear how each responding districts'contact tracing teams defined close contacts within their schools.
"SCHD will also not consider the new 'K-12 Exception'listed by the CDC and TDH because the criteria for the 'K-12 Exception'is not possible to be met in most schools in Shelby County, and/or SCHD will have no way of verifying that those steps have been met," the department told schools on July 28.
While the Shelby County Health Department has said it is paying careful attention to the county's rise in pediatric COVID-19 cases, it will not report about any part schools are playing in the virus' spread.
The Tennessee Department of Education appears to nolonger accept reports from school districtsabout COVID-19 cases in their classrooms.
Tennessee parents were able to use the dashboard during the2020-21 school year amid earlier waves of the pandemicto track COVID-19 cases within their kids' school districts. The new dashboard will provide updates about how districts are spending the historic $2 billion influx of federal fundingthrough 2024 to recover amid and in the wake of the pandemic.
Related: Concern for children and COVID-19 increases as schools resume in-person learning
When the department revives its school dashboard after Labor Day, it, as of Friday,will only require school districtsto report about items related to their federal stimulus funding spending plans.
Families can find COVID-19 cases of school-aged children, 5-18, on aTennessee Department of Health dashboard. Those cases are reported by county.
"With the increasing numbers that we're seeing inchildren and the fact that children under 12 are not eligible to be vaccinated, I think (COVID-19 case data by school) is important," Yaun said. "I'm disappointed that it's not available yet ... I think it's important to have that transparency and for parents to know."
To the degreepatient privacy laws allow, school-level COVID-19 data should be available to parents, Yaun said, so they can make decisions for their children. He notedparticular importance for parents of children with special health needs and underlying conditions.
In contrast to Tennessee, Mississippi's department of health regularly reports COVID-19 cases associated with schools weekly. A recent report shows new cases and cumulative cases by staff and students, as well as total outbreaks and quarantines, reported down to the school level. In most instances, data is suppressed for values less than 5, a privacy policy the Tennessee Department of Education also adopted with its dashboard last year.
The Shelby County Health Department said it would not consider reporting clusters associated with schools as it has among nursing homes, a practice started early in the pandemic due to the high instances of death among people in nursing homes who became infected. It is rare for children who are infected to need hospitalization or die from complications, but local experts have cautioned that the number of children requiring hospitalization is increasing locally as the number of pediatric infections increases across Shelby County.
The department has not said whether state laws or policies would preclude them from publicly reporting cases associated with schools.
Asked why Shelby County could not provide information about school outbreaks, as agencies including theMississippi State Department of Healthand theSouth Carolina Department of Health and Environmental Control do regularly, Shelby County Health Department Director Michelle Taylor, said while she understood concerns, "what you have to remember is that we are bound by HIPAA laws, and by different laws that govern how we collect data, and how we report it. So even though you may see different types of data coming out of Mississippi, it may also have to do with the numbers that they're seeing."
Reports about the large numbers of students quarantined or infected across Mississippicome from the state's regular reports of school cases.
"If we don't have enough numbers in certain schools to be able to record at a school level, then there's too great of a chance that an individual child or an individual family would be singled out, if we reported at that level," she continued, though it is unclear why data previously reported in suppressed figures would be a violation. "That's why you're seeing a farther out, broader level of reporting when it comes to schools. I believe the reporting is at the district level. And right now we want to keep it that way. Because we want to protect the privacy of our families as well."
Laura Testino covers education and children's issues for the Commercial Appeal. Reach her at laura.testino@commercialappeal.com or 901-512-3763. Find her on Twitter: @LDTestino
The south metro Atlanta school system said the program, which began Monday, assigns teachers to students working remotely because of the coronavirus to free classroom educators from trying to teach in-school and online simultaneously. It comes as school districts throughout metro Atlanta are struggling with surging COVID-19 cases because of the highly infectious delta variant.
In order to ensure that students have access to uninterrupted learning during a quarantine period, Bridge teachers will provide instruction and/or support while a child is quarantined, said Melissa Morse, Henry Schools chief learning and performance officer. Students being able to maintain learning is critical to their development, course success, and for our high school students, graduation and beyond.
As you may have heard, the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC)has recommended a third dose of the COVID-19 vaccine for people who are immunocompromised. This includes some but not all people with cancer.
Mini Kamboj
Mini Kamboj, Memorial Sloan Kettering Cancer CentersChief Medical Epidemiologist, has answers to your questions about who is eligible and how you can schedule an appointment to receive your third shot.
For a vaccine to protect you, it must activate your immune system. In some immunocompromised patients, this ability is impaired, so a third dose can boost the immune response.
According to the CDC, among severely immunocompromised people who had undergone solid organ transplant and had virtually no protection after receiving two doses of the Pfizer-BioNTech or Moderna vaccine, 30 to 50% developed antibodies protecting them from COVID-19 after getting an additional dose.
People who have moderate to severe immunosuppression qualify to receive an additional dose, usually because of an organ or stem cell transplant, HIV infection, steroid therapy, or certain cancer treatments that impair the bodys ability to fight infections.
Its important to know that not all cancer patients have a weakened immune system. Those cancer patients who are considered immunocompromised include:
These eligibility criteria cover the most common indications. Your provider will be able to order the third vaccine dose for other immunosuppressive treatments or conditions if they decide that the extra dose will benefit you.
If you meet the criteria, you can receive a third dose 28 days or later after completing your first vaccine series.
Only patients who completed their primary immunization with either Pfizer-BioNTech or Moderna vaccines can receive the third dose. MSK will offer the same vaccine brand to patients as they previously received. Mixing vaccines is not permitted at this time.
The CDC has not made any recommendations yet for people who received the Johnson & Johnson vaccine. We are closely following their guidance and will communicate any changes.
To find out if you should get a third dose, call your MSK doctors office or send a message through the MyMSK patient portal. If you are eligible for an additional vaccine, your doctor will schedule an appointment for you.
On Wednesday, August 18, MSK will begin offering the additional vaccines at the David H. Koch Center for Cancer Care at Memorial Sloan Kettering Cancer Center, located at 530 East 74th Street.
Starting Monday, August 23, we will be scheduling appointments at:
These clinics will be open 9:00 a.m. to 5:00 p.m., Monday through Friday.
Additional dates and locations, including our New Jersey locations, will be added shortly.
If you think you meet the criteria for getting a thirdvaccine dose, you should call your providers office to confirm your eligibility, and a vaccine appointment will be scheduled for you. You should be prepared to share your vaccination card or a photo of it. Please present information from your card, rather than the Excelsior pass, which does not have the details about what vaccine brand you received and on what dates.
Yes, the Food and Drug Administration (FDA) hasgranted emergency use authorization for patients 12 and older to receive the Pfizer-BioNTech vaccine and 18 and older to receive the Moderna vaccine.
The side effects from a third COVID-19 vaccine are similar to those experienced after receiving the original vaccines. Scientists in Israel recently began giving a third dose of the Pfizer-BioNTech vaccine to people with compromised immune systems. Side effects were reported by 31% of people, the most common being soreness at the injection site. Other side effects included fatigue, headache, body aches, and fever. These symptoms dont last long about one to three days.
The safety of a third dose in people whove had COVID-19 breakthrough infections is not known, therefore an additional dose for those patients is not recommended at this time. Some patients in whom initial vaccine responses are expected to be severely blunted, such as stem cell transplant orCAR-T recipients or those treated with B-cell depleting therapies, may benefit from a third dose after breakthrough infection. Discuss your situation with your clinical care team.
Even after the third dose, people with weakened immune system must take precautions to protect themselves from COVID-19. You should:
If you develop symptoms of COVID-19, contact your clinical care team and get tested.
Not at this time.The vaccines remain very effective against severe disease for those who do not have compromised immune systems. In the future, third doses may be recommended for more people because immune protection tends to weaken over time. In addition, as new variants of COVID-19 emerge, it may be necessary to design new vaccines to protect against them.
August 16, 2021
The battle against Covid-19 is shifting into long-term, low-intensity mode in Europe, as countries including Germany, Italy and France go from seeking to end the pandemic to preparing to live with it.
Governments are drawing up plans for campaigns of booster shots, mask wearing, frequent testing and limited social-distancing measures to keep the virus in check ahead of the regions third pandemic winter.
They are aided by a public that has proved relatively tolerant of social curbs. Unlike in the U.S., where some states were quick to drop restrictions amid optimism the virus was in retreat, there was never much expectation that the pandemic was over in Europe, where infections have spiked sporadically through spring and summer.
Germany, which never fully lifted pandemic restrictions, said this week that only vaccinated people, those who had recovered from an infection or people with a recent negative Covid-19 test would be able to go to restaurants, hospitals and other indoor venues unless infections fall below a very low level. Masks will remain compulsory in closed spaces and on public transport indefinitely, even for the vaccinated.
In Berlin, where the school year began in August, children have to wear masks on all school premises and are tested for infections several times a week. This week, the government wrote to families of children eligible for a Covid-19 shot to encourage them to take up the vaccination.
