New top story from Time: Pfizer-BioNTech’s COVID-19 Vaccine Works for Teens, According to a New Study

https://ift.tt/39vkf3g

Pfizer-BioNTech says their COVID-19 vaccine is 100% efficacious in protecting adolescents aged 12 to 15 years from COVID-19 disease.

On March 31, the companies released a statement summarizing the results of their study of the safety and efficacy of their vaccine, which is already authorized in the U.S. and elsewhere for use in adults 16 years or older, in this younger age group. The results have been highly anticipated as state and local leaders—not to mention parents—are to keen send teens back to in-person school; this study suggests a path towards a return to pre-pandemic learning conditions, in which students won’t spread COVID-19 in the classroom.

The trial involved 2,260 adolescents 12 to 15 years old, who were randomly assigned to get two doses of the COVID-19 vaccine or two doses of placebo. During the study, which began earlier this year, 18 teens developed COVID-19, all of them in the placebo group. The researchers found that the levels of virus-fighting antibodies generated by those getting the vaccine were considerably higher than levels among those receiving the placebo.

“We share the urgency to expand use of our vaccine to additional populations and are encouraged by the clinical trial data from adolescents between the ages of 12 and 15,” Pfizer CEO Albert Bourla said in the statement. Based on the new data, the companies plan to ask the U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA) to expand emergency use authorization for the vaccine to include 12- to 15-year-olds.

Even more encouraging the antibody levels exceeded the levels of those in the 16-25 year old age group in the original adult trial of the shots. And the researchers found no significant side effects from the vaccine among the teens, although they will continue to monitor them for long term efficacy of the shot as well as side effects for two years.

Those data will ultimately help to enhance understanding of how COVID-19 affects children. So far, experts say children don’t seem to be affected by the virus as severely as older adults, although protecting them from symptoms of the disease is critical, not least as an additional way to curb spread of the virus. In a recent study of adults published by the U.S. Centers for Disease Control, scientists found that the mRNA-based vaccine not only protects against symptoms of the disease, but can ward off infection with the virus in the first place. The adolescent study wasn’t designed to confirm this in the younger population as well, but given younger people’s more responsive immune systems, it’s likely they might benefit from the same protection from infection. That would mean vaccinated students are far less likely to spread the virus in a school setting because they’re less likely to get infected to begin with.

Comments

Vaccine nationalism will not shorten COVID pandemic, warns WHO chief https://ift.tt/3oqykEN

The World Health Organization (WHO) chief Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus has called for solidarity in the rollout of future coronavirus vaccines. In a video address at the opening of the three-day World Health Summit in Berlin, Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus noted that it was natural for the countries to want to protect their own citizens first but, he urged, "we must also use it effectively".

Taken with Transportation Podcast: Connecting Community to Transit

Taken with Transportation Podcast: Connecting Community to Transit By The Bayview Community Shuttle is intended to help residents connect more easily with transit lines that serve Bayview-Hunters Point, such as the 54 Felton and T-Third. Accessing public transit can be more difficult for people in one particular San Francisco neighborhood than it is in other parts of the city. So we are designing a supplemental transportation program for this area, the Bayview Community Shuttle. You can learn more in the latest episode of the SFMTA podcast, Taken with Transportation . Host Melissa Culross talks with SFMTA Transportation Planner Christopher Kidd, San Francisco Supervisor Shamann Walton, Bayview-Hunters Point Community Advocates Environmental Justice Director Dalila Adofo, SFMTA Planning Director Maia Small and neighborhood residents about the shuttle, which is expected to begin running in Bayview-Hunters Point in 2024. Christopher Kidd is the planner in charge of the shuttle p...

New top story from Time: Pfizer-BioNTech Have Started Testing Their COVID-19 Vaccine in Children Under 12

https://ift.tt/3vWOQjL Alejandra and Marisol Gerardo are nine years old but already making a little bit of history. The twin sisters are among the first young children to get vaccinated with a COVID-19 shot in Pfizer-BioNTech’s study of its vaccine in kids under age 12. Alejandra and Marisol had their blood drawn in the morning on March 24, then got their first dose of the two-dose vaccine later that afternoon. “Their primary concern was, ‘is it going to hurt,’” says their father, Dr. Charles Gerardo, chief of emergency medicine at Duke University School of Medicine. “They’re not too worried about the long term side effects; they’re looking at the moment, not the future.” Testing the vaccine in younger children will answer critical questions about how much immunity the shots can provide, and potentially give parents and education officials more confidence in re-opening schools. While it appears that younger children don’t get as sick with COVID-19 as older teens and adult...

New top story from Time: Mexican President AMLO Says He Has COVID-19 as Cases in His Country Surge

https://ift.tt/2YaFX6t (MEXICO CITY) — Mexican President Andrés Manuel López Obrador said Sunday he has tested positive for COVID-19 and that the symptoms are mild. Mexico’s president, who has been criticized for his handling of his country’s pandemic, said on his official Twitter account that he is under medical treatment. “I regret to inform you that I am infected with COVID-19,” he tweeted. “The symptoms are mild but I am already under medical treatment. As always, I am optimistic. We will all move forward.” López Obrador, 67, has long been criticized for not setting an example of prevention in public. He has rarely been seen wearing a mask and continued to keep up a busy travel schedule taking commercial flights. Lamento informarles que estoy contagiado de COVID-19. Los síntomas son leves pero ya estoy en tratamiento médico. Como siempre, soy optimista. Saldremos adelante todos. Me representará la Dra. Olga Sánchez Cordero en las mañaneras para informar como lo ha...

New top story from Time: Schools Across the U.S. Are Already Switching Back to Remote Learning Amid COVID-19 Surge

https://ift.tt/3B8bWpt (ATLANTA) — A few weeks into the new school year, growing numbers of U.S. districts have halted in-person learning or switched to hybrid models because of rapidly mounting coronavirus infections. More than 80 school districts or charter networks have closed or delayed in-person classes for at least one entire school in more than a dozen states. Others have sent home whole grade levels or asked half their students to stay home on hybrid schedules. The setbacks in mostly small, rural districts that were among the first to return dampen hopes for a sustained, widespread return to classrooms after two years of schooling disrupted by the pandemic. [time-brightcove not-tgx=”true”] In Georgia, where in-person classes are on hold in more than 20 districts that started the school year without mask requirements, some superintendents say the virus appeared to be spreading in schools before they sent students home. “We just couldn’t manage it with that much sta...

Black doctor dies of COVID-19 after racist treatment complaints https://ift.tt/3nR3RiK

A Black doctor who died battling COVID-19 complained of racist medical care in widely shared social media posts days before her death, prompting an Indiana hospital system to promise a “full external review" into her treatment.

New top story from Time: I Interviewed Hundreds of New Yorkers. Here’s What They Taught Me

https://ift.tt/3cgW6zl In 2014 I was given a unique assignment: move to New York and talk to people, hundreds of them, and then somehow create a book using their words to describe the experience of living in New York right now. I spoke to New Yorkers in all five boroughs, in coffee shops, in pizzerias, in elevator shafts, on job sites. At one point, when the book was nearly finished, I began to recognize a by-product of the interviewing process. Something happens when you ingest so many stories from so many New Yorkers. I learned a few things. I learned about express trains and egg creams, the route of the New York marathon and the strange naming protocols of the streets of Queens. I was taught how to steal a car in Manhattan, how to move properly on a sidewalk. Next came a list of specifics: best bagels, best pupusas, best baked clams (Donovan’s in Woodside). But I had no idea that speaking to New Yorkers would mean more important, subtle lessons would be shared from some of...

New top story from Time: How the Giant Boat Blocking the Suez Canal Was Freed: Dredgers, Tugboats, and a Full Moon

https://ift.tt/39oSyJn The congregation of tugboats and dredgers that freed a skyscraper-sized container ship from Egypt’s Suez Canal on Monday had help from an extremely foreign body over the weekend: The moon. The recovery vessels took advantage of high spring tides around the full moon on Sunday to free the Ever Given, which had blocked Egypt’s Suez Canal for almost a week . Its partial refloating just before dawn on Monday drew cheers and foghorn blasts from the bridges of other vessels caught in the bi-directional snarl that had held up hundreds of ships and billions of dollars worth of cargo each day since March 23. Images on shipping trackers and reports from on the ground gave credence to the Suez Canal Authority’s (SCA’s) Monday afternoon announcement that the ship had been “fully refloated”, allowing for “restoration of the vessel’s direction so it is positioned in the middle of the navigable waterway”. As of Thursday evening, the Ever Given was headed for Gr...

Celebrate Pride in San Francisco: Looking Back and Moving Forward

Celebrate Pride in San Francisco: Looking Back and Moving Forward By Enrique Aguilar SFMTA Pride Parade contingent in 2022. San Francisco has long been at the forefront of the LGBTQIA+ movement in the United States, and Pride is an integral part of the city’s cultural fabric. On Sunday, June 25, Market Street will come alive during the SF Pride Parade. This year's theme, "Looking Back and Moving Forward," embodies the spirit of reflection, progress and unity. Staff from the SFMTA will be participating in the parade and are ready to come together to celebrate! Pride events are important to countless people. They offer a safe and accepting space where folks can express their true selves without fear or judgment. The celebration is a powerful reminder that everyone deserves acceptance and respect, regardless of sexual orientation or gender identity. Pride Month events also acknowledge the contributions and struggles of the LGBTQ+ community throughout history. From th...

New top story from Time: New York Police Seek Suspect After Elderly Asian American Woman Assaulted

https://ift.tt/2PLnYCU (NEW YORK) — An elderly Asian American woman was attacked by a man Monday afternoon who repeatedly kicked her in front of witnesses who seemingly stood by, according to surveillance footage released by the New York City Police Department. The 65-year-old woman was walking along 43rd street when a man came up to her and kicked her in the stomach, knocking her to the ground, the NYPD said. The man then stomps on the woman’s face several times while hurling anti-Asian statements at her, police said. He later casually walks away, the footage shows. The woman was hospitalized with serious injuries. According to video footage, a man inside a building lobby seemingly stopped what he’s doing to watch the assault and later two more men wearing blazers walked into the frame and one of them closed the door as the woman was on the ground. According to real estate website Street Easy , Brodsky Organization is the property developer and manager of the building...

My precise view

Search This Blog