Moderna on Thursday asked U.S. regulators to authorize low doses of its COVID-19 vaccine for children younger than 6, a long-awaited move toward potentially opening shots for millions of tots by summer.

Frustrated families are waiting impatiently for a chance to protect the nation’s littlest kids as all around them people shed masks and other public health precautions -- even though highly contagious coronavirus mutants continue to spread.

Moderna submitted data to the Food and Drug Administration that it hopes will prove two low-dose shots can protect babies, toddlers and preschoolers -- albeit not as effectively during the omicron surge as earlier in the pandemic.

“There is an important unmet medical need here with these youngest kids,” Dr. Paul Burton, Moderna's chief medical officer, told The Associated Press. Two kid-size shots “will safely protect them. I think it is likely that over time they will need additional doses. But we're working on that.”

Now, only children ages 5 or older can be vaccinated in the U.S., using rival Pfizer’s vaccine, leaving 18 million younger tots unprotected.

Moderna's vaccine isn't the only one in the race. Pfizer is soon expected to announce if three of its even smaller-dose shots work for the littlest kids, months after the disappointing discovery that two doses weren’t quite strong enough.

Whether it’s one company’s shots or both, FDA vaccine chief Dr. Peter Marks said the agency will “move quickly without sacrificing our standards” in deciding if tot-sized doses are safe and effective.

While questions are swirling about what's taking so long, Marks pointedly told lawmakers this week that the FDA can't evaluate a product until a manufacturer completes its application. FDA will publicly debate the evidence with its scientific advisers before making a decision, and Marks said multiple meetings would be set to cover several expected applications.

“It’s critically important that we have the proper evaluation so that parents will have trust in any vaccines that we authorize,” Marks told a Senate committee.

If FDA clears vaccinations for the littlest, next the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention would have to recommend who needs them -- all tots or just those at higher risk from COVID-19.

Many parents are desperate for whichever vaccine gets to the scientific finish line first.

“We’ve been kind of left behind as everybody else moves on,” said Meagan Dunphy-Daly, a Duke University marine biologist whose 6-year-old daughter is vaccinated -- but whose 3-year-old and 18-month-old sons are part of Pfizer’s trial.

The family continues to mask and take other precautions until it’s clear if the boys got real vaccine or dummy shots. If it turns out they weren't protected in the Pfizer study and Moderna's shots are cleared first, Dunphy-Daly said she'd seek them for her sons.

“I will feel such a sense of relief when I know my boys are vaccinated and that the risk of them getting a serious infection is so low,” she said.

Some parents even have urged the government to let families choose shots before all the evidence is in.

“This strain of COVID feels almost impossible to dodge," Dana Walker, a mother of an 8-month-old, tearfully told a CDC meeting last week. “Cut red tape and allow parents to protect their kids.”

The FDA will face some complex questions.

In a study of kids ages 6 months through 5 years, two Moderna shots — each a quarter of the regular dose — triggered high levels of virus-fighting antibodies, the same amount proven to protect young adults, Burton said. There were no serious side effects, and the shots triggered fewer fevers than other routine vaccinations.

But the vaccine proved between about 40% and 50% effective at preventing symptomatic COVID-19 during the trial. Burton blamed the omicron variant's ability to partially evade vaccine immunity, noting that unboosted adults showed similarly less effectiveness against milder omicron infections. While no children became severely ill during the study, he said high antibody levels are a proxy for protection against more serious illness — and the company will test a child booster dose.

Another issue: So far in the U.S., Moderna's vaccine is restricted to adults. Other countries have expanded the shot to kids as young as 6. But months ago the FDA cited concern about a rare side effect, heart inflammation, in teen boys, and it hasn't ruled on Moderna's earlier pediatric applications.

Burton said the FDA may consider its vaccine for children of all ages — but also might open it first to the youngest kids who have no other option. He said safety data from millions of older children given Moderna vaccinations abroad should help reassure parents.

While COVID-19 generally isn’t as dangerous in youngsters as adults, some do become severely ill or even die. About 475 children younger than 5 have died from COVID-19 since the pandemic’s start, according to the CDC, and child hospitalizations soared at omicron's peak.

Yet it’s not clear how many parents intend to vaccinate the youngest kids. Less than a third of children ages 5 to 11 have had two vaccinations, and 58% of those ages 12 to 17.

___

The Associated Press Health and Science Department receives support from the Howard Hughes Medical Institute’s Department of Science Education. The AP is solely responsible for all content.

LEBANON, Ohio —

A Deerfield Township man accused of sexually assaulting children had his bond set at $300,000 Thursday.

John "Ben" Reynolds, 53, is charged with one count of rape and one count of gross sexual imposition. Detectives with the Warren County Sheriff's Office said they've identified three victims who were known to Reynolds.

According to court documents obtained by WLWT, the children are currently between 13 and 14 years old. Two are girls and one is a boy. Documents state the sexual assaults started in 2016 and took place at multiple locations including Liberty Center, the KOA campground in Lebanon, a local YMCA and Reynolds' home.

The children told social workers who interviewed them that Reynolds would buy them items such as jewelry, clothes, stuffed animals, toys and candy, according to court documents.

The investigation into the assaults began after the mother of a child reported Reynolds to Butler County Children Services in April.

During Reynolds' arraignment Thursday, his attorney, Edward Perry, said his client was a family man.

"He is married, judge. He's been married for 29 years, and he's got three grown children," Perry said.

Perry said his client moved to Warren County after graduating from Southern Illinois University in 1992.

"He came to Warren County and made Warren County his home, and he's been here ever since. He was married here. He purchased and bought a home in Mason, Ohio. Him, his wife and his family have been in that house in Mason for the last 22 years," Perry said.

Perry said Reynolds has been employed as a software developer, most recently by the Cincinnati Financial Corporation.

"He suspects that, because of his arrest, that job is no longer available to him," Perry said.

Detectives said Reynolds was involved with a Boy Scout troop out of Mason, but they say the children are not associated with the scouts.

Reynolds is scheduled to be back in Lebanon Municipal Court on June 2 for a preliminary hearing.

The National Spelling Bee is back and in full swing after last year's part in-person, part virtual competition because of the pandemic.

This is a tradition that goes back almost a century, and a lot has changed in that time.

The Bee has been around since 1925. Back then, nine newspapers got together to sponsor the first event. The first winner was an 11-year-old from Kentucky who spelled the word "gladiolus" correctly. He knew the word because he had raised the flower back home and won $500 worth of gold pieces as an award.

Nowadays, the semifinalists get a $500 gift card. The finalists get a few thousand dollars. The champion gets $50,000, the trophy, more money and a reference library from Merriam-Webster, and more gifts from Encyclopædia Britannica, including a 1768 Replica Set.

There have been a few times when the Bee did not buzz.

From 1943 to 1945, there was no Bee because of World War II, and it was canceled in 2020 when the pandemic first began.

In 2019, the Bee had to deal with an 8-way tie because the judges quite literally ran out of words.

Since then, the Bee has added a lightning round. If there are still multiple spellers left standing by the final round, they'll be given 90 seconds to spell out as many words as possible from a prepared list. Whoever spells the most words correctly wins.

After a yearlong hiatus because of the pandemic, the Bee returned last year with another first: Zaila Avant-Garde became the first Black American to be crowned winner of the Bee. She won in round 18 for spelling the word “Murraya” right. In case you were wondering, it’s a genus of tropical Asiatic and Australian trees having pinnate leaves and flowers with imbricated petals.

So, it’s a plant, but Zaila was picturing something different when she won.

“Bill Murray’s face," Avant-Garde said. "I just got 'Murraya' and I just thought of his face, and it was so funny to me."

Millions of kids fight for the chance to make it to the Scripps National Spelling Bee. This year, it began with 234. By the end of day one, 88 spellers remained.

The first few rounds consist of oral competition and one round of multiple-choice word meaning. As it turns out, it’s not just spelling.

An incorrect answer in any of those rounds will get you an automatic elimination — and a ding.

The Bee has become more than just a competition. Today, it is live-streamed and tweeted about, which is very different than when it first started. Now, it's a national spectacle.

Newsy is the nation’s only free 24/7 national news network. You can find Newsy using your TV’s digital antenna or stream for free. See all the ways you can watch Newsy here: https://bit.ly/Newsy1

CLEVELAND, Ohio (WEWS) — It’s a book so many people know and love — "Alexander and the Terrible, Horrible, No Good, Very Bad Day."

For 5-year-old Zion Crenshaw, the book is a much-needed escape.

“It’s the little things that make people happy,” said mom Shawanna Crenshaw.

Her six children and foster children are all patients at MetroHealth in Cleveland, Ohio.

She brought Zion in for his wellness check and shots.

The books in the waiting room and the books handed to him by the doctor when he leaves make a big difference.

“If they’re getting a shot, they’re sitting there reading a book, it relaxes my children,” Shawanna said. “So I’m glad the books are there.”

They’re in the doctor's office because of a national nonprofit called Reach Out and Read, founded in 1989 by Dr. Robert Needleman, a physician at MetroHealth.

“He thought about, 'What if we put books in the waiting room, what would happen?' And the books disappeared,” explained Lynn Foran, executive director of Reach Out and Read Greater Cleveland.

So from there, they started including them in child wellness checks.

More than 200 doctors and nurse practitioners across nearly 40 locations in greater Cleveland are trained in early literacy by Reach Out and Read.

There are books in the waiting room, exam rooms, and stacks and stacks of books, free to grab on your way out.

Pediatrician Dr. Anna Winfield has been part of the program for decades. She said the improvements she sees are remarkable.

“Ten years ago, I would give people a book and they would say, ‘That’s the only book I have at home’ and now you give them books and they say, ‘Oh I have plenty of books’ — but they still need more!” Winfield said.

Research shows reaching kids at an early age helps with kindergarten readiness, parental engagement, and is even beneficial for maternal well-being.

Book "prescriptions" detailing specific reading material can even help parents feel more at ease.

“I think a lot of our parents who are at higher risk for low literacy get nervous about reading with their kids because they’re not confident in their own skills,” Winfield explained. “And if you show them what to do with the book and their kid, their eyes kind of light up.”

The key to Reach Out and Read’s success has been rolling the importance of literacy into well-child visits, talking about it at the same level as safe sleep and good nutrition, and partnering with doctors who are trusted by families.

“They’re the messengers,” Foran said. “And parents, as you know being a mom of young children, you look to their advice and guidance to help you support the healthy development of your child.”

Reach Out and Read targets children six months to 5 years old. It has reached more than 4.2 million children across the country

This story was originally reported by Homa Bash on news5cleveland.com.

There is a national child care crisis, and programs are looking for ways to help alleviate some of the issues families are facing when trying to secure child care.

Some parents are needing to wait between nine and 12 months to secure a spot on a waiting list. To help solve this problem, programs are turning towards education for refugees and immigrants to add them into the workforce.

“As refugees and immigrants come into our economy, we want them to enter into jobs right way,” said Deborah Young, the co-founder of Pamoja Early Childhood Education. “There are 27,000 teachers that are missing, so this is a great match. We have a huge talent force, and we have a need for them.”

The Pamoja Early Childhood Education workforce program is made up of refugees and immigrants from all over the world to serve as a pipeline for new early childhood educators.

Fatima Jafari, who is from Afghanistan, is in the program.

“For two years, I have studied early childhood education, and I am working as a teacher in the center,” Jafari said. “The program is so important for all the women in my community. They come into the United States, and they need to learn to communicate with the children and how to live in the United States in a new environment. They also need to learn to grow their kids in a new country.”

According to Child care Aware of America research, it shows that nearly 9,000 daycares closed in 37 states between 2019 and 2021. While there are also less day cares, child care center costs increased across the country at an average rate of 41%.

For this reason, Pamoja Early Childhood is utilizing refugees and immigrants by not only giving them the education to start a new life in this country but to help decrease the childcare worker shortage and promote diverse people in the industry.

“We need childcare, and we don’t have enough childcare. We don’t have enough childcare workers, mostly because we do not give professional wages or living wages even,” Young said. “Really investing in our refugees and our immigrants to get higher education, to get the credentials and knowledge and get into the workforce, they’re contributing in one way or another to our society, let’s get them to contribute in ways that creates the whole increase in well-being for everybody in our communities.”

According to the CDC, 94% of childcare workers are female and 40% of those are people of color.

“Right now, almost two years ago, I started the study of the children,” Jafari said. “One of my children is a little bit delayed, but I just want to learn a lot about the behavior and learn about growing the brain for him. Also, I want to help others who have children like me, and I can help them.”

“We want childcare workers to speak the same language and look the same as the child,” Young said. “We want child identity to really be confident in who they are who their family are and what their background and historical context are. And most of the background of teachers and leadership positions look like me.”

The developers of this program believe that bringing in women of color who speak multiple languages can help provide more options for child care to the country and overcome cultural differences while also closing the work shortage gap.

Most children in the U.S. who die from an accidental shooting are playing around with guns at home or mistaking them for toys, according to a new study. The research suggests that over 90% of guns used in such shooting deaths were left unlocked and loaded.

Video above: Kids in the U.S. more likely to die by guns than anything else

The study, published Monday in the scientific journal Injury Epidemiology, looked at cases over a nearly a decade in which children under 15 accidentally killed themselves or another child with a gun. Most of the shootings happened at the victim’s home, where, in 8 out of 10 cases, the gun belonged to an older relative.

Over 40% of the time, these unintentional deaths happened among kids ages 2 to 4, the researchers found.

“It’s worth trying to figure out, ‘how do we encourage parents to embrace safe storage?’ ” said Dr. Nichole Michaels, senior author of the study and principal investigator in the Center for Injury Research and Policy at Nationwide Children’s Hospital. “Because that’s the way that we prevent these fatalities. These are preventable deaths: We can keep guns out of the hands of toddlers and older children.”

In the United States, guns are the leading cause of death for children and teens, according to the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. And for every child who dies due to gun violence, more than two more are treated in an emergency room for a gun-related injury, costing the U.S. health care system $109 million each year for initial hospitalizations.

For the new study, scientists at the Center for Injury Research and Policy at Nationwide Children’s Hospital in Ohio examined instances in which children and teens accidentally shot themselves or another child, resulting in a fatality.

They used the National Violent Death Reporting System, a database maintained by the CDC that tracks the circumstances surrounding violent deaths by compiling information from coroners’ reports, hospital records, death certificates and more.

“It is comprehensive to a level that just nothing else exists like it at all,” said Dr. Eric Fleegler, a professor of pediatrics and emergency medicine at Harvard Medical School who was not involved in the study. “It’s probably, to the best of my knowledge, the most comprehensive in-depth look at unintentional firearm fatalities among kids.”

Filtering through data from 2009 to 2018 across 33 states, the team counted 279 cases in which kids under 15 accidentally died due to firearm injury. Not included were scenarios where, according to researchers’ screening of the database, the shooter was over 15 or the shooting was driven by mental health struggles.

About 64% of the accidental gun deaths, the study found, happened at the victim’s home, where in most cases, the gun belonged to a relative or a parent. Playing with the firearm or mistaking it for a toy were the most common circumstances of death. The report found that guns were left loaded and unlocked in 92% of fatal shootings for which information about the firearm was available.

“People do not view guns as a safety risk,” Fleegler said. “They view guns frequently as the exact opposite: as a mechanism for protecting their family. The notion that guns protect us and they don’t, potentially, put us at risk is where the troubling thought process begins.”

‘Everything was a gun’

According to the study, most of those accidental gun deaths were self-inflicted. That was particularly true for kids under 5, who unintentionally shot themselves in 8 out of 10 cases.

“That is really an impactful finding, because what do we do to prevent these injuries?” Michaels said. “Nobody wants to see guns in the hands of toddlers.”

For older kids, ages 10 to 14, nearly a third of the shooters were friends of the victims. According to Michaels, injuries could occur if children mistakenly pulled the trigger, thought a gun was unloaded while hunting or other had another kind of fatal mishap.

For Dr. Chris Rees, a physician and professor of emergency medicine and pediatrics at Emory University, the findings confirm what he sees in the emergency room.

“I see children very, very often in the emergency department, even 2 or 3 years old, who present after having been involved in a firearm accident of some sort,” said Rees, who was not involved in the new research. “They come in shot in the foot, shot in the head, shot in the chest or shot anywhere because they don’t really understand what the firearm is and what it’s capable of doing.”

The study also found that over 92% of the shooters and 80% of the victims were males. Although the researchers aren’t sure what drives the gender gap in gun deaths, some experts attribute it to societal expectations and gender norms for men.

“When my oldest child was a little kid, everything was a gun,” Fleegler said. “A stick was a gun; a fork was a gun. It is a kind of a sociological phenomenon in our country … that boys tend to play with guns.”

‘It’s a team sport'

Experts recommend some key things families can do to avoid the risk of an accidental shooting.

Keeping firearms locked and in secure locations, out of the reach of kids, is a critical step that researchers agree could help stop young children from harming themselves or others. Simply hiding firearms rather than locking them, Michaels said, can be like hiding holiday gifts: Naturally curious kids end up finding them.

“It’s really up to parents to embrace this safe storage idea,” Michaels said. “We recommend removing firearms from the home, and if that isn’t an option, the firearms should be stored, unloaded, and locked away from the ammunition.”

Michaels and Rees also recommended open conversations with other families. If a child is going to play at another home, parents could ask the other family if they have firearms that are safely stored.

Physicians, including the American Academy of Pediatrics, believe that it’s the job of pediatricians to educate families about safe gun storage practices with youth around, just like “car seats and bicycle helmets,” according to Fleegler. In his experience, when he asked about gun safety in the home, most parents’ responses were the same: “I hadn’t thought about it.”

Due to an uptick in pediatric gun injuries, several hospital emergency rooms, including Fleegler’s, also provide free gun locks to patients’ families.

But experts agree that hospitals and doctors alone can’t take on the challenge of youth gun violence. Rees said schools, parents and politicians all have a role to play in promoting safe practices.

“I think it’s a team sport,” Rees said. “I think everybody is against people getting hurt and dying from firearms. It’s a public health crisis, and we need to approach it as such.”

Options for male birth control could soon be expanding.

Researchers at the University of Washington are testing a male hormonal contraceptive gel.

It contains synthetic hormones that signal the brain to lower testosterone to produce fewer sperm.

"It's a gel that is sort of the consistency of hand sanitizer. Men use an actuation pump, and they put one pump on each shoulder and they rub it in wash their hands, and we monitor their sperm count during the study, and they and their partner ultimately rely on the gel as their method of contraception," Stephanie Page of the UW Medicine Diabetes Institute.

Men currently have two effective options for birth control, condoms and vasectomy.

Researchers hope more options will allow couples to treat contraception as a shared responsibility.

"For example, you can imagine a couple initially, she may be on the pill, or maybe they're using condoms at the beginning, and then she decides to go on the pill or have an IUD, and then they decide they want to conceive, and then they have their first child, and they're thinking about having another one, and it's like well, he takes his turn then, and he uses this for a couple of years," Page said.

Side effects for the gel were similar to side effects for women on hormonal birth control. They include weight gain and mood swings.

Researchers estimate it will be another seven to 10 years before the gel hits the market.

Eating cassava flour helped save the lives of four children found alive in the Amazon jungle more than a month after their plane crashed, according to a Colombian military special forces official.

The children ate “three kilograms (six pounds) of farina,” a coarse cassava flour commonly used by indigenous tribes in the Amazon region, said spokesperson Pedro Arnulfo Sánchez Suárez.

“Days after the crash, they ate the farina which they had carried there… but they (eventually) ran out of food and decided to look for a place where they could stay alive,” Suárez said.

“They were malnourished but fully conscious and lucid when we found them,” he added.

“Their indigenous origins allowed them to acquire a certain immunity against diseases in the jungle and having knowledge of the jungle itself – knowing what to eat and what not to eat – as well as finding water kept them alive – which would not have been possible (if they) were not used to that type of hostile environment.”

The four children – 13-year-old Lesly Jacobombaire Mucutuy, 9-year-old Soleiny Jacobombaire Mucutuy, 4-year-old Tien Ranoque Mucutuy and infant Cristin Ranoque Mucutuy – are currently recovering in a hospital in the Colombian capital Bogota after being taken there by air ambulance flown by the Colombian Air Force on Saturday, officials said.

Medical reports say they are dehydrated and still “cannot eat food” – but are well and out of danger. “What’s required now is to stabilize (their health),” Colombian Defense Minister Ivan Velasquez told reporters who were gathered outside the hospital.

The children’s mother Magdalena Mucutuy Valencia was killed in the plane crash on May 1, leaving them alone and stranded in the Amazon jungle. The plane’s pilot Hernando Murcia Morales and Yarupari indigenous leader Herman Mendoza Hernández were also killed in the accident.

The children’s disappearance sparked a massive military-led search operation that saw more than one hundred Colombian special forces troops and over 70 indigenous scouts combing the deep forest.

The four were eventually found in an area clear of trees.

They told officials that they had found a dog – a Belgian Shepherd search dog named Wilson that belonged to special forces. The dog had gone missing on May 18, Suárez said. “The kids told us that they spent three or four days with Wilson and that they (found) him quite skinny,” he added.

Hopes for the children’s survival waned as the weeks went on.

Their relatives shared that they endured “many sleepless nights worrying” until the children were found.

Colombian President Gustavo Petro, who visited the children in the hospital on Saturday, celebrated their return and said their survival “would be remembered in history.”

“They are children of the jungle and now they are children of Colombia,” Petro said.

Walgreens and CVS plan to provide abortion pills following the Food and Drug Administrations rule change that broadens availability for the pills.

The Biden administration partially implemented the change last year, announcing it would no longer enforce a long-standing requirement that women pick up the medicine in person. Tuesday's action formally updates the drug's labeling to allow many more retail pharmacies to dispense the pills, so long as they complete a certification process.

In a statement, Walgreens said it intends to become a certified pharmacy under the program.

"We are working through the registration, necessary training of our pharmacists, as well as evaluating our pharmacy network in terms of where we normally dispense products that have extra FDA requirements and will dispense these consistent with federal and state laws," Walgreens stated.

The rule change’s impact has been blunted by numerous state laws limiting abortion broadly and the pills specifically. Legal experts foresee years of court battles over access to the pills, as abortion-rights proponents bring test cases to challenge state restrictions.

CVS said it plans to seek certification after reviewing the FDA's updated Risk Evaluation and Mitigation Strategy drug safety program for mifepristone, the generic name of the drug.

"We plan to seek certification to dispense mifepristone where legally permissible following that review," CVS said in a statement.

For more than 20 years, the FDA labeling had limited dispensing to a subset of specialty offices and clinics, due to safety concerns. During the COVID-19 pandemic, the FDA temporarily suspended the in-person requirement. The agency later said a new scientific review by agency staff supported easing access, concurring with numerous medical societies that had long said the restriction wasn't necessary.

Two drugmakers that make brand-name and generic versions of abortion pills requested the latest FDA label update. Agency rules require a company to file an application before modifying dispensing restrictions on drugs.

Danco Laboratories, which sells branded Mifeprex, said in a statement the change “is critically important to expanding access to medication abortion services and will provide healthcare providers” with another option for prescribing the drug.

The American College of Obstetricians and Gynecologists called the update an “important step" forward.

“Although the FDA’s announcement today will not solve access issues for every person seeking abortion care, it will allow more patients who need mifepristone for medication abortion additional options to secure this vital drug,” the group said in a statement.

More than half of U.S. abortions are now done with pills rather than surgery, according to the Guttmacher Institute, a research group that supports abortion rights.

The FDA in 2000 approved mifepristone to terminate pregnancies of up to 10 weeks, when used with a second drug, misoprostol. Mifepristone is taken first to dilate the cervix and block the hormone progesterone, which is needed to sustain a pregnancy. Misoprostol is taken 24 to 48 hours later, causing the uterus to contract and expel pregnancy tissue.

Bleeding is a common side effect, though serious complications are very rare. The FDA says more than 3.7 million U.S. women have used mifepristone since its approval.

Several FDA-mandated safety requirements remain in effect, including training requirements to certify that prescribers can provide emergency care in the case of excessive bleeding. Pharmacies that dispense the pills also need a certification.

The U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) released its recommendations on what kids should be eating after conducting a survey focused on the consumption of fruits, vegetables and drinks sweetened with sugar.

The health agency asked three questions about children between one of five years, requesting that participating households reveal how often vegetables, fruits and drinks with sugar are consumed by children, and how much they had consumed during the previous week.

The CDC said households are "randomly sampled from the Census Bureau's Master Address File" and then they are contacted by mail to see which have at least one child or adolescent.

The CDC found that in 2021 at least 32.1% of children between one and five did not eat fruit on a daily basis and that 49.1% did not eat vegetables during the entire week before the survey was conducted. 57.1% of those questioned had a drink sweetened with sugar, according to the responses given to the CDC at that time.

David Goldman/AP

2.4% of the respondents did not answer at least one item and were excluded from the findings.

The CDC indicated that many children do not have enough fruits and vegetables on a daily basis, but they were regularly consuming sugary drinks.

According to the agency's data, out of 20 U.S. states, over half of the children from those states did not eat a vegetable daily during the entire week before the survey, according to responses.

Out of children from 40 U.S. states and the District of Columbia, over half of those kids consumed a sugary drink at least once in the week before the survey.

Another American community is reeling after a shooter killed three 9-year-olds and three adults at a private Christian elementary school in Nashville.

Video above: Peers and friends of Katherine Koonce share the type of person and educator she was

Monday's attack was the deadliest U.S. school shooting in nearly a year and the 19th shooting at a school or university so far in 2023 that left at least one person wounded, a CNN count shows.

Some 562 such shootings have unfolded since 2008.

"Our community is heartbroken," The Covenant School, a ministry of Covenant Presbyterian Church, said in a statement, expressing thanks to first responders for their quick response and those showing support for the school.

"We are grieving tremendous loss and are in shock coming out of the terror that shattered our school and church. We are focused on loving our students, our families, our faculty and staff and beginning the process of healing," the school said.

Here's what we know so far about the victims:

Evelyn Dieckhaus

Evelyn was 9, police said. While her family appreciates all the love and support they've received, they're asking for space as they grieve, according to a family statement obtained by CNN affiliate KMOV.

"Our hearts are completely broken. We cannot believe this has happened," the statement said. "Evelyn was a shining light in this world."

Mike Hill

Hill, 61, was a beloved custodian at the school, police said, and a father of seven children.

Known as "Big Mike" to students, Hill was a member of the facilities/kitchen staff, according to the school website.

The staff member loved to cook and spend time with his family, according to a family statement obtained by CNN affiliate WSMV. He had 14 grandchildren.

"We would like to thank the Nashville community for all the continued thoughts and prayers. As we grieve and try to grasp any sense of understanding of why this happened, we continue to ask for support," the statement said.

"We pray for the Covenant School and are so grateful that Michael was beloved by the faculty and students who filled him with joy for 14 years," it added.

Related video below: How do schools respond to gun incidents?

Nashville parents set up a GoFundMe page to help support Hill's family with funeral expenses.

"Per his family, he took great pleasure and found tremendous joy in his job and through those students," the GoFundMe added.

His daughter, Brittany Hill, said in a Facebook post on Monday that her dad "absolutely loved" his job.

"I have watched school shootings happen over the years and never thought I would lose a loved one over a person trying to solve a temporary problem with a permanent solution," she said. "I am so sorry for the loss of those children," she added.

"Please keep my family in your prayers tonight. Hug your parents and children a little tighter."

Katherine Koonce

Koonce was 60, police said, and head of the school, according to the website.

She attended Vanderbilt University and Trevecca Nazarene University in Nashville and got her master's degree from Georgia State University, it added.

Jim and Monica Lee, friends and former co-workers of Koonce, spoke Tuesday with reporters about her dedication.

"She gave her life because she was trying to protect students, protect faculty," said Jim Lee.

They said the educator had a great sense of humor and was confident. Koonce exhibited humility and made each person she interacted with feel important, Jim Lee said.

"She could be on her knees talking to a preschool student, than she could turn around and be talking to a board member and then turn around and meet with an angry parent and then turn around and meet with the teacher that is having a bad day," he added.

Cynthia Peak

Peak, 61, was believed to be a substitute teacher at the school, according to police.

Tennessee Gov. Bill Lee talked about the close relationship his wife Maria had with Peak.

The teacher was supposed to come over to the Lee home Monday evening for dinner.

"Maria woke up this morning without one of her best friends," said Lee.

"Cindy and Maria and Katherine Koonce were all teachers at the same school and have been family friends for decades," Lee said.

"There will be a time to talk about the legislation and budget proposals we've brought forward this year. And clearly, there's more work to do," he said Tuesday night.

"There is hope in the midst of great tragedy because God is a redeemer. What is meant for evil can be turned for good. May we grieve in the days ahead, but not without hope. May we also act with wisdom, discernment, and grace. And may we love, especially those who have lost," Lee said in his video message.

Louisiana state Rep. Charles Anthony Owen told CNN he's known Peak his whole life. Her hometown of Leesville, Louisiana, is grieving, Owen said.

"She and my sister were the closest of friends growing up and it seems like Cindy was around for all of my childhood," he said Tuesday in a Facebook post. "She and Mae Ann had birthdays one day apart and her family lived across the street from us for a period of time. Cindy and Mae were always together."

Owen wrote that when Mae passed, Peak was one of the first faces he recalled seeing. "She was right here to grieve her old friend," he said.

Hallie Scruggs

Hallie was 9, police said, and the daughter of Covenant Presbyterian Church Lead Pastor Chad Scruggs, according to a statement by Park Cities Presbyterian Church in Dallas, a sister church Scruggs formerly served.

"We love the Scruggs family and mourn with them over their precious daughter Hallie," the Texas congregation's Senior Pastor Mark Davis said. "Together, we trust in the power of Christ to draw near and give us the comfort and hope we desperately need."

One other life taken

Also slain was William Kinney, 9, police said.

After Dr. Felicity Fishman finishes a surgery, there's one final touch that makes her process unique.

"We've done some great baby yodas ... a lot of dinosaurs," said Doctor Fishman, a hand and upper extremity surgeon at Shriners Children's Chicago.

All of the art is drawn with special, safe markers.

"Really it only takes 10 to 15 minutes and we're very conscientious about that," Dr. Fishman said.

"The cost of the pens and a little time is really inconsequential when you get to see the kids almost enjoy the experience," she said.

Dr. Fishman has been doing this for a couple years now with the help of nurses and the rest of her surgery team.

She originally got the idea after her fellowship, where her mentor used glitter to personalize casts after surgeries. One of her fellows recommended buying pens that might work on a cast. She's now been doing these special drawings for a couple years.

"Surgery is scary when you are the patient, and when you're a child and a lot of those decisions are being made for you, it's nice to have something in which they can be included, so they can take back a little bit of control on that day," Dr. Fishman said.

Popular TV characters, snowmen, trains, you name it. Dr. Fishman has expanded the artistic possibilities for kids.

"Learning all the different types of dinosaurs because these kids are very knowledgeable, not just any dinosaur will do. It has to be the specific type they want," she said.

"It's definitely gotten more intricate as we've gone on, as kids' requests have become even more specialized," Dr. Fishman said.

A judge is stepping in after hearing disturbing details about an in-home daycare death on April 10 just outside of Nashville, Tennessee, in Bellevue.

Until further notice, the caregiver, Annie Clark — who is legally named Anne Jordan — cannot own or operate a daycare business. A temporary restraining order against the in-home daycare owner was granted after the Tennessee Department of Human Services filed a complaint.

The complaint detailed how the mother of a three-month-old who died discovered him "cold to the touch" in the caregiver's bed. The document said the mother arrived at the apartment at around 3:10 p.m. local time. She knocked on the door for 10 to 15 minutes and got no response. 

When another parent arrived to pick up their child, the two parents opened the unlocked front door. The mom found her baby not breathing, and CPR was not successful. The complaint said three babies under six months old and three babies between seven and 16 months old were also alone in the apartment.

The complaint also noted that the daycare was operating without a license.

Tennessee requires anyone who is watching five or more unrelated kids for three or more hours a day to be licensed. And there must be one adult for every four babies. 

Several rules were broken in this case. The temporary restraining order now prohibits Clark from obtaining a license to become compliant with the state's rules and permits the state's daycare licensing officials to ensure she doesn't operate an illegal daycare.

The case was scheduled to be heard in court on April 28.

This story was originally published by Scripps News Nashville. 

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Trending stories at Scrippsnews.com

At age 14, Alexander Neville was still very much a curious kid. He was a Boy Scout who enjoyed getting outdoors and camping. He played with Legos and liked to skateboard. He slept with a stuffed Iron Man figure and still snuggled with a teddy bear he'd had since he was much younger.

But about a year and a half ago, the middle schooler confessed to his parents about a very adult problem: He was experimenting with oxycodone, a prescription painkiller.

He had no idea that the pills he was taking were actually prescription knockoffs laced with fentanyl, a synthetic opioid. Just a few milligrams of fentanyl can be a fatal dose.

One morning in June 2020, his mother, Amy, found him dead in his bedroom.

"I went to his room, and he was blue, just laying on his beanbag chair. Just like he had gone to bed, you know, just like he had fallen asleep there," she said.

Drug deaths more than double

Though still rare, drug deaths among children ages 10 to 14 more than tripled from 2019 to 2020, according to an analysis done for CNN by the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.

Unintentional drug overdoses led to 200,000 years of lost life for U.S. preteens and teens who died between 2015 and 2019, a January study found. And experts suspect that the problem has gotten worse during the pandemic, research shows.

The trend among adolescents follows a wider one.

Annual drug overdose deaths have reached another record high in the United States, with an estimated 104,288 in the 12-month period ending September 2021, according to provisional data published Wednesday by the CDC's National Center for Health Statistics.

That's double the number from six years prior; there were an estimated 52,000 drug overdose deaths annually in September 2015.

The fentanyl factor

Alexander Neville had gone to his parents to ask them for help just two days before he died. He told them he had started on the pills, in large part, because he was curious.

"He said, 'I got to tell you something. I wanted to experiment with oxy -- oxycodone. I looked up how much to take for my size, so I wouldn't get addicted. But it really has got a hold on me. And I don't know why,' " his mother said.

His parents immediately made calls to get him into treatment.

"He really wanted to stop completely," Alexander's father, Aaron, recalled.

Amy remembered, "He wanted to be done. He's like, 'I'm done. I thought this stuff was going to be fun, but it's not.' "

But Alexander took that one last pill, unaware it was actually a deadly fake.

Tests later showed that the pill had enough fentanyl in it to kill at least four people, according to a toxicology report that his parents obtained.

Fentanyl is a drug intended to help people like cancer patients manage severe pain. It's 50 to 100 times more potent than morphine. But most overdose deaths aren't from using it legitimately; rather, they are linked to fentanyl made illegally. Four out of every 10 fake pills with fentanyl contain a potentially deadly dose, according to the Drug Enforcement Administration.

Since 2013, a rise in opioid deaths involved illicitly made fentanyl, according to the CDC. The agency says dealers combine it with counterfeit prescription pills, cocaine and heroin.

During the pandemic, the spike in deaths has increased significantly. From May 2020 through April 2021, more than 100,000 people of all ages died from drug overdoses in the US, according to the CDC. That's a record -- a near-30% rise from a year earlier and a near doubling over the past five years. Synthetic opioids like fentanyl accounted for the bulk of those deaths -- around 64,000.

"We're dealing with a different drug threat. Fentanyl has changed the game," DEA Special Agent Robert Murphy said. "I've been in law enforcement my entire adult life -- so it's 31 years now. And I've never seen a threat of the drug threat like the one we're dealing with now. It's frightening."

Social media makes drug deals easy

Social media may also contribute to the problem. Drug dealers no longer have to stand on streetcorners. They can now connect with kids online through platforms like Facebook, Instagram, Snapchat and YouTube, Murphy said.

Alexander's parents believe that he got his fake pills through Snapchat. Another parent in the area got in touch to tell them that her son died two weeks after Alexander did, and she had screengrabs of a conversation believed to be with a drug dealer through Snapchat. There's still an investigation underway.

"The fentanyl epidemic has had a devastating effect on the lives of too many Americans, and our hearts go out to the families who have suffered unimaginable losses," a Snap spokesperson said in a statement to CNN.

"We share their outrage over how drug dealers have abused online platforms, including Snapchat, and are working tirelessly to eradicate them from our platform. We use tools to proactively detect drug-dealing activity and shut down dealers. To help inform our ongoing strategy and efforts, we work closely with a wide range of experts in counternarcotics, the law enforcement community, and government agencies, including the Drug Enforcement Agency, as well as with families. We are committed to bringing every resource to bear to fight this national crisis both on Snapchat and across the tech industry, particularly by raising awareness about the dangers of counterfeit pills laced with fentanyl."

Buying drugs is as easy as planting a string of emojis on a social media platform to signal the interest in a sale, Murphy said. The DEA says drug traffickers and the criminal networks are there waiting for you.

Dealers may reassure people that their pills are fentanyl-free, but there's no easy way to tell by looking at them, nor is it easy to know how much fentanyl is in them.

"That's why it could be a 'one pill kill,' because we don't know the dose," said Dr. Robert Bassett, assistant associate director of the Poison Control Center at Children's Hospital of Philadelphia. "It's like driving at night with your headlights off."

The opioid overdose antidote

Fentanyl has become such a big problem among young people that some schools have started keeping naloxone, an antidote to opioid overdoses that's available under the brand name Narcan, on hand.

Hartford, Connecticut, is one example. In January, a 13-year-old boy died after collapsing in gym class at a Hartford school. Two other seventh-graders were taken to Connecticut Children's for treatment and evaluation. Police found 40 bags of fentanyl at the school and 100 bags in boy's bedroom.

On Tuesday, the American Medical Association encouraged the Biden administration to remove the prescription status of naloxone to make it more easily available over the counter.

All 50 states and the District of Columbia have some form of naloxone access laws that allow for the prescribing and dispensing of the treatment to substance users vulnerable to overdose and to nonmedical first responders like family and friends, according to the Legislative Analysis and Public Policy Association. As of 2020, at least 20 states allow schools to possess naloxone and administer it, but they are not required to do so.

How to get help

Though the experts say there are not enough counselors and treatment programs for preteens and teens, there are treatment programs that work for adolescents.

The first step in successful treatment is recognition. Parents need to stay vigilant for changes in a child's behavior, which may be an early sign that they're using drugs.

The changes can be subtle at first, Bassett said. They may not hang out with the same friends or may stop showing interest in favorite activities. They may be angry or sleep more. But parents need to talk to their kids about it -- even middle schoolers -- and do it more than once.

"This is not a 'one conversation and forget it.' This is something you're going to have to just pound in terms of every night at the kitchen table," Murphy said.

Children's brains aren't fully formed, and their risk-reward centers may not help them make the right choices all the time. "They're the perfect, most vulnerable population," Bassett said.

Bassett recommends that parents check with the National Institute on Drug Abuse for resources. They can also call Poison Control at (800) 222-1222 for free inforrmation.

Medication-assisted treatment is considered more effective than abstinence, Bassett said. Wraparound services, individualized treatment to help the child and family, can include peer counseling and drug rehabilitation. And, Bassett said, it may be important to address underlying issues that lead the child to experiment with the drugs in the first place.

"There may be unmet psychological conditions that force people into self-medicating," Bassett said. "They're just looking not to suffer."

The COVID-19 vaccine for kids under five is on hold again.

On Friday, the FDA said it was delaying an advisory committee meeting to review the vaccine for children six months and up.

New data from Pfizer indicates while the vaccine appears safe, it may not work well enough to meet FDA standards.

“What we see, particularly among two- to five-year-olds, the data is not so compelling in terms of it being effective," said Eyal Oren, who runs the public health program at San Diego State University. "Meaning two doses did not promote an effective or strong immuno-response in these kids."

He says FDA officials say they want to wait on a decision until there is data available about a third dose of the vaccine.

Some doctors hope a vaccine is approved soon because kids are still sick.

“The younger the child, they could have difficulty breathing as that mucus gets in the lungs," said Dr. Joe Perno, the vice president of medical affairs at Johns Hopkins All Children’s Hospital. "So breathing problems where they’re breathing fast, where it’s sucking in around their ribs, they’re panting, those types of things. Those are come see us in the emergency room right away."

He says it’s important to note how safe the vaccine has been in other age groups.

“There are over eight million kids in the U.S. alone that have received at least one dose of the vaccine over the age of five, and the safety profile is astronomical," said Perno.

The FDA hasn't said when it would review this topic again, but Pfizer said it would have data on the third dose available in April.

About 18 million children under the age of 5 in the United States could soon be eligible to get a COVID-19 vaccine — but first, the child-sized shot must go through a rigorous authorization process that's taking a different path than the COVID-19 vaccines that came before.

On Tuesday, Pfizer and BioNTech announced that they had initiated a rolling submission to the U.S. Food and Drug Administration of data for their vaccine for children ages 6 months up to 5 years. The companies expect to complete the request for emergency use authorization soon.

It will still go through a thorough safety and efficacy review by U.S. health agencies and experts, but it's a different plan than what was expected late last year.

In December, Pfizer announced that it decided to add a third dose to the primary vaccine regimen for young children. It said the original two-dose series did not provide the expected immunity in 2- to 5-year-olds.

Still, this week's request seeks authorization for the two-dose vaccine, which could make the vaccine available sooner. Pfizer and BioNTech plan to continue testing a three-dose regimen in this younger age group and say they will submit the additional data on a third dose in the coming months.

The company decided to submit for authorization of the two-dose vaccine now "with pediatric COVID-19 cases surpassing 10 million and at the request of the FDA," it said.

"Having a safe and effective vaccine available for children in this age group is a priority for the agency and we're committed to a timely review of the data, which the agency asked Pfizer to submit in light of the recent omicron surge," acting FDA Commissioner Dr. Janet Woodcock said in a news release.

What changed since December

In December, Pfizer said that the vaccines appeared to protect the youngest children — infants and toddlers up to 2 — at the same levels seen in teens and young adults, slashing symptoms in 90% of kids who got the shot. However, the 3-microgram dose did not produce the same immune response in 2- to 5-year-olds.

The dose for infants and young children is about one-third of the dose given to children age 5 to 11 and a tenth the size of the dose given to people 12 and older.

The company decided to expand its trial to include a third dose, rather than the two doses older children and adults receive in a primary vaccine series.

What changed between December and this week's authorization request, public health leaders said, was the omicron variant.

During the omicron surge, cases among children "spiked dramatically," the American Academy of Pediatrics said Monday. There have been over 3.5 million child cases reported in January alone.

"It turns out that has actually facilitated the collection of more important additional clinical data that we did not have in December," U.S. Surgeon General Dr. Vivek Murthy said at a White House COVID-19 briefing Wednesday. "Whether that changes the risk-benefit profile is what the FDA will be assessing, but there has been developments since December on the data front."

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Some suggest that the FDA may be pursing a strategy of authorizing the first two doses of a vaccine that may not offer substantial protection until after a third dose, hoping to start kids on the series even as data on third shots is still pending.

Children have a lower risk of serious outcomes from a COVID-19 infection compared with elderly or immunocompromised adults. But about 1% of children who catch COVID-19 will be hospitalized. Infections can also lead to long-term consequences in children as they do in adults, increasing the risk for diabetes, autoimmune disease and a delayed reaction to infection called multisystem inflammatory syndrome, which requires hospital care.

"If the goal of the vaccine is to get baseline immunity in the kids — to prevent really bad outcomes and you're really not using the vaccine as a tool to prevent infection in the first place — two doses could do that," former FDA Commissioner Dr. Scott Gottlieb, who sits on the board of Pfizer, said on CBS on Sunday. "I think that may be why federal health officials are rethinking this. If, in fact, they decide to authorize this on the basis of two doses, it could be out much sooner, perhaps as early as early March."

Others agree that it could be a smart approach.

"When I was on hospital service last, there was a 7-month-old in the intensive care unit," Dr. Paul Offit, a pediatrician and vaccine expert at Children's Hospital of Philadelphia, told CNN. "If you can prevent that safely, and that's number one, and effectively, number two, then prevent it" with a vaccine.

Offit sits on the panel of experts that advises the FDA on its vaccine authorizations and will be one of the first to review the new data on the vaccine. The FDA's independent vaccine advisers will meet Feb. 15 to discuss the company's data on the youngest children and make a recommendation on the vaccine.

The path to authorization

To authorize COVID-19 vaccines for emergency use, the FDA has previously set a bar of 50% effectiveness, meaning the shots have to prevent disease or decrease severity in at least 50% of the people who get them.

Since the data has not been released, it's unclear whether the Pfizer/BioNTech vaccine for younger children meets that standard after two doses.

Most experts CNN spoke with said they couldn't think of another vaccine review process quite like this.

One somewhat similar example is the Johnson & Johnson vaccine, which was authorized at one dose while the company tested a second, although the first dose proved sufficient to meet the FDA's authorization requirements.

The Pfizer/BioNTech coronavirus vaccine is expected to produce a "good efficacy signal" in children younger than 5, Dr. Anthony Fauci, director of the National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases, said Wednesday.

"The FDA is looking at the data very carefully, and in their typical fashion, they will be very careful in scrutinizing the data and making a recommendation of the decision based on that data," Fauci said.

That decision to go ahead and ask for the authorization, though, is still considered odd by some health experts.

"This does seem very unusual," said Dr. Eric Rubin, a member of the FDA's vaccine advisory committee and assistant professor microbiology and molecular genetics at Harvard Medical School.

"Regulators have to weigh risk and benefit. And in this case, we know a lot about the risks in older individuals, and they're very low, including older children," Rubin said. "It doesn't have to be that great, as long as we have something that's safe, and then a theoretical benefit could be that you are set up well for future vaccines. But having said all that, it does seem like a very unusual route to take."

Rubin thinks that with so many parents eager to get their kids vaccinated, there may also be some lobbying underway.

"FDA doesn't seem to be immune to political pressures," he said. "And I know that there are some who are saying that it would be good to get a couple doses of vaccine into kids now, in assuming that the third dose is going to be the one that makes a difference."

'We need a vaccine for kids'

Dr. Helen Talbot, an associate professor of medicine at Vanderbilt University and a member of the CDC's independent vaccine advisory board, the Advisory Committee on Immunization Practices, also hasn't seen the data. But she too believes there may be some pressure from parents.

"There's families of kids less than 5 who are really pushing. They feel like they're the last ones that don't have access, and there's nothing available for them," Talbot said. She knows this personally, since she gets a lot of emails asking about it, too.

Talbot said her questions are around safety data and the potential benefits and risks.

She is concerned about people in the middle who aren't quite sure if they want to get their child vaccinated. Only about 3 in 10 parents say they'll get their child under 5 vaccinated against COVID-19 right away, according to survey results from the Kaiser Family Foundation that were released Tuesday.

Communication may be key to help parents understand why they should vaccinate their small children, particularly if two doses may not be as protective as three.

"The FDA is really going to have to be able to eloquently explain the decision," she said.

For his part, Dr. Jay Portnoy, a member of the FDA's advisory panel on vaccines, says he's glad to see the FDA speeding up its process.

"I'm actually relieved," said Portnoy, who's a pediatrician at Children's Mercy Hospital in Kansas City. "Right now, our hospital is filled, not all Covid patients but many COVID patients, including our intensive care unit."

Portnoy says parents are anxious and worried.

"They're forced to send their kids to school, and the schools aren't allowed to mandate masks or anything else," he said."So what is a parent to do? That's just from my perspective. It's about time. We need a vaccine for kids."

What happens after authorization

White House COVID-19 response coordinator Jeff Zients said Wednesday that the administration is ready to "hit the ground running" to vaccinate young children as soon as Pfizer receives a green light from the federal government.

Zients said the U.S. has enough kid-size needles and supplies to administer the vaccines. The administration is also working with local public health partners to make thousands of locations nationwide ready to vaccinate these children.

"We know many parents are eager to get their kids the protection of the vaccine. We know others have questions. So we're working with our partners to ensure all parents have access to the facts and information they need to make the right decision," Zients said.

Pfizer has said it's testing a third dose administered eight weeks after a second dose. Data on a potential third dose, an updated authorization and third-dose rollout would come later on.

This may not be the last change to the COVID-19 vaccine schedule.

Former CDC Director Dr. Tom Frieden said this week that it may be a while before scientists figure out the best vaccine schedule for children.

"What the vaccine schedule should be is much more complicated, and that may take months or even years to optimize," Frieden, president and CEO of Resolve to Save Lives, told CNN's Anderson Cooper.

"It's probably a three-dose schedule for lots of people, but we really don't know that yet," Frieden said. "Nor do we know the right interval between doses. That's going to be with time, but we do know that vaccines are remarkably effective."

In 2019, 18-year-old Emily Bhatnagar's father was diagnosed with thyroid cancer.

"It was the worst. It was like reliving it every single night, like nightmares and panic attacks," Bhatnagar told CBS.

She got through that time by reading and decided to try and find a way to share the magic of books with others.

"I thought, 'It's hard enough for an adult to have cancer,' but, when you think about a kid having cancer, and it just broke my heart," she said.

So that's when Bhatnagar started "For Love and Buttercup," a book drive that began with messages on social media asking others to donate books so she could share them with sick children.

"I was expecting like two or three responses, and there were like hundreds and hundreds, and so many books by my door, and it was just really exciting," she told CBS.

The project helped her with multiple life challenges she said.

“I was struggling with an eating disorder and going through a really rough time," she told WJLA. “Eventually when I recovered, it was to cope with my dad's cancer."

Now she has thousands of books to give to pediatric patients. She says the experience of helping others has changed her life. Bhatnagar has distributed at least 9,000 new books to hospitals and schools, including the hospital where her father was treated for cancer.

She hopes to make the book drive a project that she carries with her for many years.

Manufacturers and retailers both pointing the finger at each other for the shortage. Joan Driggs the VP of content and thought leadership for IRI market research company, explains.

Alex Livingston: So, what are some of the contributing factors that are causing baby formula shortages at some retail locations?

Joan Driggs: I think it's a couple of things. First of all, it's a far different purchase than anything else that you buy in the store. There are shared supply chain challenges all across the board with Omicron trying to keep, or keeping truckers off the roads, keeping people out of stores able to stock the shelves, keeping people in manufacturing plants away from work. So that's shared across the entire supply chain. But what's unique to baby formula is that it's such an emotional purchase. You know, this is not buying breakfast cereal for the family where if your preferred brand or your preferred size isn't available, you can find other options that will tie you over. This is something that you really, these caregivers, these parents, and others really depend on for the baby's nourishment and it's not an inexpensive purchase. 

Alex Livingston:  You know, and that is so true. I didn't even think about that last part that you mentioned, but your data showed that Americans spent $4.3 billion in 2020, and 4.5% from that's up 4.5%. So how has the pandemic in particular played a role in the need for formula?

Joan Driggs: I think that it's not necessarily the pandemic, that's putting the need for formula, the need for formula is always going to be there, it makes me laugh like when we talked about the pandemic at the outside, people went off and bought bottled water and bottled water wasn't an issue, this is strictly just to keep people, you know, babies nourished and I think what happens and why there is maybe more purchase is because of the tighter supply.

If you're someone shopping for baby formula and you see that there are only a couple of cans of your 20 or 30-ounce baby formula that you really prefer, you're probably going to buy them if you can afford to because you're afraid that the next time you go to the store it won't be there and that's exacerbating the problem. 

Alex Livingston: Yeah. So, what do you think is the solution then to this issue I think a lot of it is it's out there like in some way shape, or form, it's probably out there? 

Joan Driggs: Every manufacturer wants to ensure that their customers are happy. Every retailer wants to ensure that their customers are happy. So, I think it really will be dependent on manufacturers making sure that they're getting their most preferred brands out there and then consumers understanding if the size that they prefer or the format that they prefer isn't available like one of the really growing categories, same formula but in ready to drink has been hit just as hard or even a little harder because it's so convenient. 

Alex Livingston:  So, if you have to mix your own, that's a solution, interesting. Okay, so we have about 30 seconds left so really quickly, what does your data predict about the demand for baby formula over the next year?

Joan Driggs: I think again across the board, things are going to level off as manufacturers get their full production up to speed as our supply chain keeps rolling and as retailers are able to stock those shelves, but for now people just have to be a little bit more patient shop around as best they can, and of course maybe try not to stockpile, which would help the whole thing level off.

Alex Livingston at Newsy first reported this story.

Pandemic-related learning loss will cost our children $17 trillion in lifetime income, according to a U.N.-backed report released in December 2021.

"A mounting body of evidence confirms that learning losses as a result of COVID-19 school closures are real," the report said.

In the U.S., the most significant impact is on young children.

The report found 30% of Texas third-graders tested at or above grade level for math in 2021, compared to 48% in 2019. Similar learning losses were reported in more than a half-dozen other states.

"We're concerned if we don't catch up," said Dr. Pamela Davis-Kean, a research professor at the University of Michigan's Institute for Social Research. "If we don't overcome some of this, there are groups of people who probably will not be in the economic situation that they might have been in two years ago."

Davis-Kean said the abrupt shift to remote learning in spring 2020 had a negative impact on students and parents.

"Education, since the Industrial Revolution, has been in the institution of schooling. We moved it back to the home," Davis-Kean said. "The parents were the ones who had to make sure to connect the kids. They had to have the resources in the home to connect the kids."

Parents and legislators alike are eager to close the learning gap.

The American Rescue Plan, which Congress passed in early 2021, included $122 billion in funding for schools.

At least 20% of the money had to be spent "to address learning loss through the implementation of evidence-based interventions, such as summer learning or summer enrichment, extended day, comprehensive afterschool programs, or extended school year programs," according to a U.S. Dept. of Education fact sheet.

"Education is something we can always do something about," Davis-Kean said. "We can always teach, and kids will always learn. We just have to make sure that we have the opportunities to do that."

Most districts are already investing in programs to help children overcome learning loss.

A Bloomberg analysis in November 2021 found more than half of school districts that received stimulus money had set some aside for summer learning. About a third set aside money for tutoring.

However, that means many districts did not set aside extra funding for programs designed to fight learning loss.

Over the long term, the decision could put children at a disadvantage.

"People can argue about it, but education is generally the thing that opens up the door to higher-earning occupations," Davis-Kean said. "Once you change that in one generation, it opens up a door for the next generation."

The U.S. is expanding COVID-19 boosters as it confronts the omicron surge, with the Food and Drug Administration allowing extra Pfizer shots for children as young as 12.

Boosters already are recommended for everyone 16 and older, and federal regulators on Monday decided they’re also warranted for 12- to 15-year-olds once enough time has passed since their last dose.

But the move, coming as classes restart after the holidays, isn’t the final step. The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention must decide whether to recommend boosters for the younger teens. Dr. Rochelle Walensky, the CDC’s director, is expected to rule later this week.

The FDA also said everyone 12 and older eligible for a booster can get one as early as five months after their last dose rather than six months.

Vaccines still offer strong protection against serious illness from any type of COVID-19. But health authorities are urging everyone who’s eligible to get a booster dose for their best chance at avoiding milder breakthrough infections from the highly contagious omicron mutant.

Children tend to suffer less serious illness from COVID-19 than adults. But child hospitalizations are rising during the omicron wave — most of them unvaccinated.

The vaccine made by Pfizer and its partner BioNTech is the only U.S. option for children of any age. About 13.5 million 12- to 17-year-olds — just over half that age group — have received two Pfizer shots, according to the CDC.

For families hoping to keep their children as protected as possible, the booster age limit raised questions.

The older teens, 16- and 17-year-olds, became eligible for boosters in early December. But original vaccinations opened for the younger teens, those 12 to 15, back in May. That means those first in line in the spring, potentially millions, are about as many months past their last dose as the slightly older teens.

As for even younger children, kid-size doses for 5- to 11-year-olds rolled out more recently, in November — and experts say healthy youngsters should be protected after their second dose for a while. But the FDA also said Monday that if children that young have severely weakened immune systems, they will be allowed a third dose 28 days after their second. That’s the same third-dose timing already recommended for immune-compromised teens and adults.

Pfizer is studying its vaccine, in even smaller doses, for children younger than 5.

CINCINNATI —

As many kids return from holiday break next week, there's a renewed focus on COVID-19 in schools.

Health experts said it's important children get vaccinated and they also encourage testing after all those family gatherings.

Cincinnati Children's Hospital will host a vaccination event at Union Terminal on Wednesday to help get kids protected for the new year.

"The next two weeks is really going to be watched very carefully and it's going to be sad because we are going to see a great increase in cases," public health expert, Dr. O'dell Owens, said.

Following the Christmas celebrations and New Year's toasts, Owens said people should be on guard for COVID-19.

He said that includes kids headed back to class.

"We have a history on every holiday that we've seen a surge, so this is not going to be any different. Especially with omicron being spread much more easily than the delta," he said.

There are many districts that make use of a Test to Stay, Mask to Stay or Test to Play program aimed to keep healthy students in class or activities instead of quarantined due to an exposure.

A Cincinnati Public Schools spokeswoman told WLWT that the health department will test students who may be symptomatic as long as the parents give the OK.

They also said there is a weekly, voluntary K-12 screening available to all CPS elementary students with parent consent.

Owens anticipates there could be a surge of testing needs to match an even bigger rise in COVID-19 cases.

"I think it's going to be tough. I think what you're seeing around the country is a lack of the test kits, you know, you have these long, long lines in all the major cities of people getting the regular tests," he said.

That's why he encourages parents to mask up their kids, teach them good hand hygiene and consider the shots as classes resume.

"There is a war against this virus and the best way to fight this war is to be vaccinated fully. That means getting your two vaccinations and your booster and be open to the fact that you might need a booster next year," Owens said.

The Cincinnati Children's Hospital vaccination clinic takes place on Wednesday at the Cincinnati Museum Center's Union Terminal.

It runs from 9 a.m. to 2 p.m.

Appointments are not needed.

Officials said admission to the Museum Center is free to those who are vaccinated and parking is free.

According to a report from the American Academy of Pediatrics. more than 7 million children in the U.S. have contracted COVID-19 since the pandemic started and hospitalizations are up.

The report notes that more children are contracting the virus as the omicron variant spreads.

As of Dec. 16, the AAP said almost 7.4 million children have tested positive since the pandemic began.

Cases among children are extremely high, with nearly 170,000 child cases being added in the past week.

The rate of pediatric hospitalizations is high in New York, Ohio, Texas, and Pennsylvania, The Washington Post reported.

According to CNN, in New York, 109 children have been hospitalized between Dec. 11 to Dec. 23, compared to 23 hospitalizations between Dec. 5 to Dec. 11.

States reported that 1.8%-4.1% of their children with COVID resulted in hospitalizations, the AAP reported.

COLUMBUS, Ohio —

Ohio has turned a big page with its Imagination Library this month, which is tied to Dolly Parton's Imagination Library.

That's the statewide reading program designed for the very youngest children, from birth up to age five.

Parton founded the program in 1995. Parton's Imagination Library initially delivered books to children in Tennessee but quickly expanded worldwide. The goal of the Imagination Library is to help accelerate children's development through reading.

The program was launched in Ohio in March of last year, back when the pandemic hit. Talk about tough timing.

But data this December showed young children in this state have really taken to it.

So much so that when it comes to books and young kids, one could safely state it is milestone season in Ohio.

First Lady Fran DeWine was the one who started it in the Buckeye State and is pleased with the response.

Forty-three percent of Ohio children up to age five are now part of her Imagination Library. That's 301,457 kids and that's the best in the country.

"So, a state like Tennessee has been doing to for a long time and they have a higher percentage," she told us this week at the governor's residence in Bexley. "But we have more kids getting it every month than any other state."

As she talked about it, she showed WLWT a tree the DeWine's got at a dairy near their family home in Cedarville.

"I love it because it's got the little Imagination Library books on it that we made. The little tiny ones here and lots of the fun books. And also, we decorated with gingerbread and the popcorn and the cranberries," she said.

Children's Hospital administers the program in Hamilton County where 47% of the kids who have enrolled receive a free book each month in the mail, addressed to them instead of their parents.

The first lady believes that is the hook.

"I saw 'em wrap the wrapper off, you know, pull it off," she explained about the reaction from her grandkids. "And, 'read to me, read to me, grandma.' And, 'I thought this is a great program.'"

DeWine met Parton in Cleveland five years ago and hearing her speak about how it is helping children in Tennessee to read inspired DeWine to follow suit and make books available to as many Ohio children as possible.

"No matter what time the kids, how old the kids are when they start the Imagination Library, the very first book they get is 'The Little Engine That Could'," she said while holding several of the most popular mailings. "That's Dolly Parton's favorite."

Science suggests a child's brain is 80% developed by age 3.

So, DeWine's message is to not let that opportunity go unused.

A Children's Hospital study showed after three years in the program, children were 15 points higher in the kindergarten readiness category, which is what the program is designed to do.

Get them to the starting line.

If interested, you can enroll your child in a matter of minutes by visiting OhioImaginationLibrary.org and click on enroll.

Millions of children in America became eligible to receive the COVID-19 vaccine this week. And some officials are sweetening the deal by including them in various incentive programs.

In New York City, children can claim $100 if they get their first dose of Pfizer's vaccine at city-operated vaccine site. Alternatively, they can get tickets to city attractions such as the Statue of Liberty or the Brooklyn Cyclones baseball team. The incentive program was already available to other New Yorkers who got vaccinated.

"We really want kids to take advantage, families take advantage of that," Mayor Bill de Blasio said Thursday. "Everyone could use a little more money around the holidays. But, most importantly, we want our kids and our families to be safe."

In Chicago, health officials are also offering $100 gift cards for children ages five to 11 when they get the shots at Chicago Public Health events or clinics, officials said.

Plus, the Chicago school district — one of the largest in the nation — is closing on November 12 for Vaccination Awareness Day to make it easier for students to get their shots.

"It is rare that we make a late change to the school calendar, but we see this as an important investment in the future of this school year and the health and wellbeing of our students, staff, and families," Chicago Public Schools Chief Executive Officer Pedro Martinez said in a message to parents.

The perks come after the U.S. Centers for Diseases Control and Prevention on Tuesday cleared children as young as 5 for smaller vaccination doses, making most Americans eligible for the shots.

In Texas, San Antonio officials announced that parents and guardians who help their children get vaccinated at a public health clinic may claim a $100 gift card for H-E-B grocery stores. And in neighboring Louisiana, officials said the 5-11 age group could soon also claim $100.

In Minnesota, officials launched the "Kids Deserve a Shot" program intended to bolster vaccine numbers among those ages 12 and 17, officials said. The state is offering a $200 visa card as well as the opportunity to enter a raffle for a $100,000 college scholarship or a Minnesota experience prize package.

However, it's unclear if the various incentives will help bolster the vaccine numbers.

A study published last month in JAMA Health Forum found that incentive lotteries organized by 19 states did not seem to work.

However, the researchers speculated that lotteries may be less enticing than actual cash for vaccines.

A survey in May from the Kaiser Family Foundation found that 47% of people who say they want to "wait and see" before being vaccinated said paid time off to get it would make them more likely to do so, and 39% said a financial incentive of $200 from their employer would work.

Overall, the U.S. has fully vaccinated more than 58% of the total population as of Thursday, according to CDC data.