A new study has found that the Pfizer COVID-19 vaccine is less effective at protecting children from the omicron variant.

Researchers with the New York State Department of Health found that the vaccine's effectiveness dropped from 68% to 12% in children aged 5 through 11 between Dec. 13 through Jan. 24.

But the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention issued a report on Tuesday that stated the vaccine effectiveness in children between the ages of 5 and 11 after its second dose was 46%.

"Two doses protect against COVID-19–associated emergency department and urgent care encounters among children and adolescents," the CDC report said. "However, vaccine effectiveness (VE) was lower during omicron predominance and decreased with time since vaccination."

The public health officials who conducted the study believe it may be due to the lower dosage they received.

Kids in that age group were given 10 milligrams, while anyone over 12 received 30 milligrams.

The study also found that the effectiveness in children ages 12 to 17 dropped from 66% to 51%.

The study results come as New York City is set to end its mask mandate on March 7, CNBC reported.

Last week, the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention eased its masking guidelines.

WASHINGTON —

Federal health regulators on Friday delayed next week's public meeting to review Pfizer’s COVID-19 vaccine for children under 5, saying they want to see more data.

The surprise announcement by the Food and Drug Administration raises questions about how soon youngsters could get the shots. The FDA's outside experts were set to evaluate the first data on COVID-19 vaccinations in toddlers and babies.

The FDA said Pfizer has new data available from its ongoing vaccine study — and the agency needs more time to evaluate it.

The expert panel had been scheduled to meet Tuesday to determine if children under 5 should start getting extra-low doses of Pfizer’s vaccine before it’s clear if they’ll need two shots or three.

The nation’s 18 million children under 5 are the only age group not yet eligible for vaccination. The FDA had pushed Pfizer and its partner BioNTech to apply for authorization of its extra-low doses for tots before final study data was in, as the hugely contagious omicron variant took a toll on children.

This is a developing story and will be updated.

BALTIMORE —

The extent of potential damage COVID-19 can cause on the lungs and long-term damage can depend on whether a person is vaccinated.

A Maryland radiologist wants people to see what he sees in COVID-19 patients, hoping to move the unvaccinated to get vaccinated.

Dr. Omer Awan, who is the associate vice chair of education in the Department of Diagnostic Radiology at the University of Maryland School of Medicine, wants the public to understand and see the difference for themselves.

"There is a dramatic difference in chest X-rays we see in patients that have been fully vaccinated who test positive for COVID-19 and those who are not vaccinated," Awan said.

Awan showed sister station WBAL computed tomography images of a vaccinated COVID-19 patient and compared it to images showing unvaccinated lung damage.

"You can see in the vaccinated individual, much of the lung is black, and that's a good thing because the black demonstrates air," Awan said.

It was a much different story in the lung of an unvaccinated person.

"The burden of disease or the burden of infection is much more pronounced in an unvaccinated individual versus a vaccinated individual," Awan said.

Tracking the omicron surge

Awan said the symptoms of a vaccinated person are milder than in an unvaccinated person.

"Oftentimes, those that are unvaccinated will have full-blown shortness of breath. They may require oxygen therapy. There's a higher propensity for them to go into the ICU," Awan said.

Awan said he hopes the images will change minds.

"If you see images, you can see clearly the proof in vaccination and how effective the vaccines are by looking at a chest X-ray. Oftentimes, that's more helpful from a visual standpoint than just hearing people spit out statistics," Awan said.

Starbucks said its U.S. workers must be fully vaccinated by Feb. 9 or face a weekly COVID-19 testing requirement.

The Seattle-based coffee giant said Monday it was acting in response to the Occupational Safety and Health Administration, which issued a vaccine-or-test requirement for companies with more than 100 employees in November.

Related video above: Tips to navigate the vaccine conversation professionally and personally

The requirement, which has faced numerous court challenges, was upheld last month by a three-judge panel with the U.S. Court of Appeals. The Supreme Court is scheduled to consider the requirement on Friday.

Starbucks is requiring its 228,000 U.S. employees to disclose their vaccination status by Jan. 10.

"I recognize that partners have a wide spectrum of views on vaccinations, much like the rest of the country," Starbucks Chief Operating Officer John Culver said in a letter sent to employees in late December. "My responsibility, and that of every leader, is to do whatever we can to help keep you safe and create the safest work environment possible."

Starbucks said full vaccination means two shots of either the Pfizer or Moderna vaccine or one shot of the Johnson & Johnson vaccine.

If a Starbucks employee chooses to test weekly instead, they must pay the cost of testing themselves and get tested at a pharmacy, clinic or other testing site where someone is observing the test. Religious or medical accommodations will be considered, but to work in a store, employees must test weekly, the company said.

Employees who test positive will be able to use paid time to self-isolate. Starbucks said it is currently offering employees two instances of paid isolation time, both up to five days each.

A New York-based company has just filed to patent the world’s first vaccine that would protect against both COVID and the seasonal flu, and it would be administered as a nasal spray.

The vaccine, called deltaFLU, would differ from the current mRNA vaccine in that it would contain a live COVID spike protein, so rather than instructing your body to produce an immune response as mRNA does, it would use its normal process of creating antibodies.

“We’ve gotten it to the point where we can manufacture it at a large scale and get it going really rapidly,” said Amy Aspelund, vice president of research and development for Vivaldi Biosciences, the company producing the combination vaccine.

Researchers estimate that COVID-19 has around 30,000 nucleotides, the building blocks of DNA. The deltaFLU vaccine, however, would only contain around 200-300 of those nucleotides, so the sample would be small enough to allow your body to recognize the virus without being overwhelmed by it.

The COVID-19 cultures would also be without NS1, the key protein that allows viruses to circumvent our body’s natural immune response. It would mean the body would be able to produce antibodies for the virus, without it replicating within the body.

“I’ve been working for bioscience companies for the last 20 years, so it is surreal,” said Aspelund. “In the first SARS pandemic we had a grant funded to do this exact thing that we’re doing now, but by the time we got around to doing it the pandemic was over and the project got abandoned, so we just kind of picked it up and ran with it.”

Aspelund says the fact that this vaccine would be administered as a nasal spray is yet another defense mechanism against COVID-19 and the seasonal flu. The idea is that by introducing this vaccine through the nose, your body would create antibodies at COVID’s main entry point, essentially creating a blockade so the virus could not get in. In theory, it would mean no breakthrough infections for vaccinated individuals.

Vivaldi Biosciences says it has had four successful trials of its deltaFLU vaccine within animals that prove its effectiveness and safety.

Once the patent application is approved, Aspelund says it would need to go through human trials before it could be produced and used commercially.

KANSAS CITY, Mo. —

A Raytown, Missouri, mother and grandmother said that COVID-19 nearly killed her three times. She said she was unvaccinated and barely survived.

Dakeela Washington's purse is full of pills — evidence of the burden she now carries.

"I went from taking one to two medications to taking 14 medications now," said Washington, who survived COVID-19. "I'm sitting here because God saved my life."

Washington was unvaccinated when she contracted the virus this summer.

"I was in the hospital from this day to this day," she said.

That day was July 6.

"(I) drove myself to the hospital and collapsed in the parking lot because I couldn't breathe. When I got there, my oxygen was 60," Washington said.

It was the last thing she remembered.

"I didn't know 60 was really low," Washington said.

She said she woke up on Aug. 28 and nearly two months had passed.

"The doctor came in, like, a week later and was, like, 'Ms. Washington, I almost had to sign you off,'" she said.

Washington said she had no clue what he meant, but then soon learned.

"I had a heart attack. I had a stroke. And I died three times. I coded three times," she said.

Washington left the hospital in October after learning how to move and talk again.

"I can't grip anything," she said.

Hospital tubes left a mark, too.

"My speech therapist said that's a survivor's scar," she said.

Washington said she was at first hesitant to get the vaccine.

"'I ain't getting the vaccine. I don't know what they did.' I was one of those and look what happened to me. It changed my life," Washington said. "It changed me."

Washington just received her second dose and is giving her own dose of advice.

"Please get vaccinated," she said.

Washington said her whole family was unvaccinated against COVID-19 at the time she got sick. Since then, her family has received the vaccine.

The Johnson & Johnson COVID-19 vaccine is now fully approved for adults in Canada, according to a statement from the pharmaceutical company.

Canada is now the first country to fully approve the single-dose vaccine. In the U.S., the Johnson & Johnson vaccine is operating under emergency use authorization.

“We are delighted by Health Canada’s decision to approve the Johnson & Johnson COVID-19 vaccine based on Phase 3 clinical data that proves the vaccine’s robust safety and efficacy,” said Mathai Mammen, M.D., Ph.D., global head of research & development for Johnson & Johnson.

In addition to the Johnson & Johnson vaccine, Canadians have the choice to receive three other vaccines: AstraZeneca, Moderna, and Pfizer.

Canada reports that 75% of its population is fully vaccinated. In the U.S., 58.9% of its population is fully vaccinated, according to the CDC.

MILWAUKEE, Wisc. (TMJ4) — COVID-19 vaccinations of animals will begin next week at the Milwaukee County Zoo. Several different types of animals will receive a shot similar to the Pfizer vaccine that humans have been getting for the better part of a year now.

Senior Staff Veterinarian Dr. Pamela Govett says the COVID-19 risk to animals is very similar to the risk to humans. The decision to immunize the animals comes after a couple of scares at the zoo.

“We have tested two animals that we thought might have it, that were showing respiratory signs, but so far we’ve been lucky,” said Govett.

Donated by the animal health company Zoetis, the shots will first be given to river otters, primates and large cats, all animals that are thought to be susceptible to the COVID-19 virus. The animals will get their shots in a series of two separated by a few weeks, just like humans.

The vaccinations will start the week of Nov. 15.

This story was originally reported by Tom Durian on tmj4.com.

People with certain health conditions that make them moderately or severely immunocompromised may get a fourth mRNA COVID-19 shot, according to updated guidelines from the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.The CDC authorized a third dose or certain immunocompromised people 18 and older in August. It said a third dose, rather than a booster — the CDC makes a distinction between the two — was necessary because the immunocompromised may not have had a complete immune response from the first two doses.A study from Johns Hopkins University this summer showed that vaccinated immunocompromised people were 485 times more likely to end up in the hospital or die from COVID-19 compared to most vaccinated people. In small studies, the CDC said, fully vaccinated immunocompromised people accounted for about 44% of the breakthrough cases that required hospitalization. People who are immunocompromised are also more likely to transmit the virus to people who had close contact with them.The U.S. Food and Drug Administration has also authorized booster shots of all three available vaccines for certain people and that would include the immune compromised, the CDC says.Research showed that a booster dose enhanced the antibody response to the vaccine in certain immunocompromised people.That would make for a fourth shot at least six months after completing the third mRNA vaccine dose. At this time, the CDC does not have a recommendation about the fourth shot. People should talk to their doctors to determine if it is necessary, the CDC says.Moderately to severely immunocompromised people include those who are in active cancer treatment for cancers of the blood or for tumors, certain organ transplant and stem cell recipients, people with advanced or untreated HIV, and those who take a high-dose corticosteroids or other drugs that may suppress their immune systems. The CDC estimates about 9 million people who live in the U.S., or about 2% of the population, fall into this category.People who are immunocompromised who got the single-dose Johnson & Johnson shot should get a booster at least two months after their initial vaccine. People who choose a Moderna vaccine as a booster, even if they received a different vaccine as the first dose, should get the half-dose sized shot that was authorized as a booster for Moderna's vaccine, the CDC said.Even if they are vaccinated, the CDC recommends people with conditions that compromise their immune systems should still try to avoid crowds and poorly ventilated spaces, and should wear a mask in indoor public spaces.

Vaccine advisers to the Food and Drug Administration are meeting Thursday morning to discuss whether to authorize boosters of Moderna's coronavirus vaccine for some adults.

It's the first portion of a two-day Vaccines and Related Biological Products Advisory Committee meeting that will also include a vote on boosters for the Johnson & Johnson vaccine and a presentation on mix-and-match vaccines. Thursday's agenda focuses on Moderna boosters, and includes a presentation by Moderna, and another by the FDA, which will provide its assessment of Moderna's booster data.

Moderna is requesting authorization for a 50-microgram booster dose — half the size of the 100-microgram doses used in the primary series of the two-dose vaccine — at least six months after the second dose, and only for certain groups: people age 65 and older; people ages 18 to 64 who are at high risk of severe COVID-19; and people ages 18 to 64 whose exposure to the coronavirus in their settings or jobs put them at risk for COVID-19 complications or severe illness.

Moderna's request mirrors the groups authorized to receive a booster dose of Pfizer's mRNA vaccine. Third doses of the Moderna and Pfizer COVID-19 vaccines are already authorized for some immunocompromised people.

On Thursday, the committee will hear from Dr. Peter Marks, the director of FDA's Center for Biologics Evaluation and Research who recently took over as acting director of the agency's Office of Vaccines Research and Review as two of its senior leaders prepared to depart the agency.

Israeli researchers will also brief VRBPAC on booster data from there; most people in Israel received the Pfizer COVID-19, and boosters for vaccinated people began weeks before the United States authorized Pfizer boosters. The presenters, Dr. Sharon Alroy-Preiss, director of public health services at Israel's Ministry of Health and Ron Milo, a professor at Israel's Weizmann Institute, spoke in support of Pfizer's booster application last month.

The meeting, which will be streamed online, is scheduled to last until 4:45 p.m. ET. A two-hour period for discussion and voting is scheduled to begin at 2:45 p.m. ET.

The FDA's committee of independent advisers typically discusses and makes recommendations to the agency around vaccine authorizations and approvals, and the agency then makes the final decision about whether to OK a vaccine. If the FDA gives emergency use authorization to Moderna boosters, vaccine advisers to the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention will meet to discuss which groups to recommend them to. Typically, shots can be administered once the CDC director signs off on the recommendation.

CDC's Advisory Committee on Immunization Practices is already scheduled to meet to discuss boosters from 10 a.m. to 5 p.m. ET Oct. 20-21.

The Los Angeles City Council passed an ordinance Wednesday that will require proof of complete vaccination for indoor spaces.

The ordinance, which is considered on the country's strictest vaccine mandates, begins on Nov. 4.

The LA Times reported the mandate passed with 11 votes, just short of the 12 votes needed to pass with an urgency clause allowing it to take effect immediately.

According to the Associated Press, the new mandate requires everyone to be fully vaccinated to enter bars, restaurants, nail salons, gyms, or even Los Angeles Lakers games.

Per the news outlet, Mayor Eric Garcetti is expected to sign the ordinance into law.

Those with religious or medical exemptions for vaccinations must test negative for the virus 72 hours before entering the establishments.

Video above: Lake County, Florida, switches from appointments to first come, first serve

Florida's county-by-county plan to vaccinate its elderly population has created a mass scramble for a limited number of doses, leading to hourslong lines at vaccination sites and overwhelmed county hotlines and websites.

In southwest Florida, the Lee County Department of Health encouraged anyone 65 and older and high-risk frontline health care workers to come to one of seven vaccination sites. Each site had just 300 vaccine doses, and "no appointment is necessary," the county said.

The first-come, first-serve plan led to huge lines forming overnight Tuesday as people camped out on lawn chairs and waited for hours.

Bruce Scott told CNN he arrived at a Ft. Myers vaccination site at 1:30 a.m. and waited in a line for about 8 or 9 hours to get vaccinated.

"Although I'm grateful to get the vaccine, I feel that there's got to be a better way to distribute this," he said afterward. "For people that really need it, elderly that might be disabled in some way, they can't endure this process, so there's got to be a better way to manage this."

The long wait is a preview of what looks to be a tumultuous vaccine rollout and reflects the public's pent-up demand for vaccines as well as the logistical difficulty in administering them in an orderly way.

The issue is partly a consequence of the lack of consistent federal guidance in administering vaccines, as President Donald Trump deferred that decision-making to the states. In turn, Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis broke with recommendations from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention to focus first on vaccinating the elderly rather than essential workers, and he has encouraged each county health department to make its own decisions on administering the vaccines.

Florida is one of the few states that has begun vaccinating people beyond the first wave of health care workers and long-term care facilities. The state has administered over 150,000 vaccines so far, more than all but Texas, according to data from Johns Hopkins University.

Counties see huge vaccine demand

Other Florida counties have tried to set up vaccination appointments for those who sign up online or through a hotline.

In Orange County, the department of health set up an online portal to make vaccination appointments, and 30,000 appointments were scheduled in the last 24 hours. The county then said it reached capacity and closed its online portal on Wednesday.

Fran Lundell, 70, and her husband, Andy, 73, were among those who successfully signed up, and they were vaccinated after waiting in their cars at the Orange County Convention Center in Orlando on Tuesday.

They said they went to the county website to schedule an appointment as soon as it was announced. Fran got an appointment quickly, but it took Andy four or five attempts to get a slot.

"We think we're lucky," Fran Lundell said. "We thought maybe March or April we might get it, but this is fantastic to get it, certainly."

Jim Seltzer, who was also vaccinated Wednesday, praised the job the county did.

"I thought it was very well organized. I thought they did an excellent job," he said. "I mean, it was a long wait, but you know, I expected that."

In Palm Beach County, the department of health directed people 65 and older to call an appointment hotline to get their vaccine. But the hotline can only handle 150 calls at a time and was being overwhelmed, the county said.

"We are working on expanding our infrastructure to handle the high demand we are experiencing," the site said.

And in South Florida, Broward Health said all of its appointments are booked until February.

Mount Sinai Hospital in Miami Beach says they have proactively reached out to the seniors in their community to sign up for the vaccine. They have enabled more appointment phone lines in an effort to prevent seniors for easily accessing the vaccine.

"And so the faster that we're able to deploy vaccine to the 65 plus year old population, I believe that life will return to normal. And I also believe that younger people will be more receptive to receiving the vaccine as well," said President and CEO of Mount Sinai Miami Beach Steve Sonenreich.

Focus on elderly over essential workers

Florida is also one of a few states that has bucked the CDC's recommendations on the order of who should get the vaccine first, prioritizing the elderly over essential workers.

A CDC advisory committee recommended that states first vaccinate frontline health care workers and people in long-term care facilities, and Florida has followed that.

The CDC committee then recommended that states vaccinate people older than 75 and "frontline essential workers" such as first responders in a "Phase 1b." Afterward, in a "Phase 1c," states should vaccinate adults ages 65-75, people ages 16-64 with high-risk medical conditions, and "other essential workers," the committee recommended.

Video: Gov. DeSantis touts "seniors first" approach

However, DeSantis said the state is prioritizing everyone over age 65, with young essential workers later.

"Our vaccines are going to be targeted for our elderly population," he said in a news conference last week at UF Health in The Villages, the central Florida community for people older than 55. "As we get into the general community, the vaccines are going to be targeted where the risk is the greatest, and that is in our elderly population. We are not going to put young healthy workers ahead of our elderly vulnerable population."

The CDC committee's recommendations represented a compromise between two strains of thought: preventing COVID-19 spread and preventing COVID-19 deaths. People ages 18-64 make up 75% of all coronavirus infections, while people older than 65 make up 81% of all coronavirus deaths, according to CDC data.

DeSantis, who has repeatedly downplayed the severity of COVID-19 for young people, said he did not agree with the CDC recommendations to vaccinate essential workers.

"If you're a 22-year-old working in food services, let's say at a supermarket, you would have preference over a 74-year-old grandmother," he said. "I don't think that that is the direction that we want to go."

GRAFTON, Wis. —

Police have arrested a fired pharmacist who is accused of intentionally spoiling more than 500 COVID-19 vaccines at Aurora Medical Center in Grafton, Wisconsin.

The FBI and the Food & Drug Administration are investigating the person who left 57 vials of the Moderna vaccine out of a pharmacy refrigerator at Aurora Medical Center-Grafton.

The person's name is not being released until formal charges are filed.

Advocate Aurora Health now says it was an intentional act. The person in question Wednesday admitted they intentionally removed the vaccine from refrigeration.

After an internal investigation, it was first believed to be human error.

The vials were discovered outside the refrigerator Dec. 26. Aurora Health President Dr. Jeff Bahr spoke about the incident Thursday during a news conference.

"Over the subsequent days, as we continued our internal review, we became increasingly suspicious of the behavior of the individual in question," Bahr said. "The individual was suspended and after multiple interviews over the course of the week, admitted yesterday to intentionally removing the vaccine from refrigeration."

The Moderna vaccine can be out of refrigeration for 12 hours.

"We are more than disappointed that this individual’s actions will result in a delay of more than 500 people receiving their vaccine. This was a violation of our core values, and the individual is no longer employed by us," Advocate Aurora Health said.

Grafton police said Aurora Corporate Security called them at 6:18 p.m. Wednesday about an employee tampering with the vials of COVID-19 vaccine.

It said it was investigating, along with the federal agencies.

"This matter is being actively investigated by the Federal Bureau of Investigation, the Food and Drug Administration and the Grafton Police Department," Grafton police said.

Officers said the value of the spoiled vaccines was between $8,000 and $11,000.

"Grafton detectives indicate that the individual knew the spoiled vaccinations would be useless and that people who received the vaccinations would think they had been vaccinated against the virus when in fact they were not," police said in a statement to sister station WISN-TV.

The Wisconsin Department of Health Services said before any facility becomes a COVID-19 vaccine provider, they require extensive registration and training for storing and handling the vaccine.

"DHS requires any wasted vaccine to be reported, investigated and addressed through a written plan of improvement," the department said.

State health officials said they were now working with Aurora to make sure an incident like this never happens again.

"We feel strongly that our processes are sound, but again, this fell more to this being a bad actor involved than a bad process," Bahr said.

He added that 57 doses were able to be administered after they were found outside the refrigerator.

But Bahr said hospital officials also learned the vials were left out longer than originally reported and may not be as effective in combating the virus.

Those vaccine recipients have been notified of the situation, Bahr said.

Police said the pharmacist could be charged with first-degree recklessly endangering safety, adulterating a prescription drug and criminal damage to property.

He was being held in the Ozaukee County Jail.

The remaining doses of the vaccine that were left out of the refrigerator were discarded.

Bahr said the doses were not tampered with.

"Immediately upon notification, DHS followed up with Aurora and has worked closely with them as they have investigated the situation, reviewed their processes and implemented improvements," Wisconsin Department of Health Services Secretary Andrea Palm said in response to the incident. "We will continue to work with our healthcare partners to get as many shots in arms as quickly and safely as possible."

Investigators have not released a motive in the case.

CNN contributed.

While other countries are desperate for vaccine supply, some Americans are shunning the shots because of religion.

The Los Angeles Police Department has thousands of employees refusing vaccine mandates citing "religious objections." The same goes for state workers in Washington and even hospital staff in Arkansas.

Employers are required under the Civil Rights Act to provide the possibility of an exemption based on a sincere religious belief unless it creates an undue hardship on the employer.

“I believe our material shows very conclusively there is no valid religious reason for not taking the vaccine,” said Curtis Chang, a former evangelical pastor and Duke Divinity theologian. “You cannot take the vaccine for political or cultural reasons, but there are no valid religious reasons, there's no religious creed scripture theology, there's no major religious denomination or religious leader that validates this idea of a religious exemption.”

Chang says employers should have confidence in rejecting religious exemption requests because of the hardship it can create, compromising workplace safety.

He encourages employers to require religious exemption applicants to demonstrate they have consistently refused other vaccines for religious reasons.

“And this is where we really do need to draw the line and say, you know, ‘I’m totally willing to talk to you about your hesitation to try to persuade and convince you to agree to disagree even.' But for you to hijack my faith to justify your action here, one that actually is not legitimated by religion and, frankly, one that harms public health is simply that something that we as religious leaders cannot go along with,” said Chang.

Chang has been addressing the concerns of Christian evangelicals about vaccines through a series of videos on ChristiansAndTheVaccine.com, discussing everything from fetal tissue used in testing to government control and the mark of the beast.

In partnership with major groups, just this year, they've made headway in increasing vaccine acceptance among the faithful and non-religious.

How Americans react to vaccines is a global concern.

“There are parts in the global South and Africa and Asia, especially, who are also heavily Christian in their culture and in the ways that they get information and they actually take their cues from the United States, so one of the reasons we need to combat misinformation among evangelicals in the United States is not just for the ending the pandemic here, but it's going to be important for that globally as well,” said Chang.

With the arrival of fall and another round of seasonal allergies, doctors are again warning about confusing an allergic reaction with a COVID-19 infection.

Dr. Casey Mabry, with Ascension St. Agnes Health in Maryland, said irritating allergy symptoms may linger, but the causes behind them -- summer vs. fall -- differ.

"It's hard to prevent allergies, but you can definitely limit your exposure," Mabry said. "Spring and summer allergies tend to be grass and flowers while the trees are blooming. The fall is a little bit different. It tends to be dust and mold."

Now, add to the mix COVID-19 with symptoms like coughing, congestion and feeling generally under the weather all crossing over.

But there's one key difference.

"Allergies will never cause a fever. If you have a fever, you can't blame that on your allergies. Please get COVID tested," Mabry said.

Mabry said another way to tell is to be honest with yourself: Are the symptoms you're experiencing something you've seen before or something new?

"If you have brand new allergies this year, it's probably not allergies. If you, all of a sudden, are getting congestion and sore throat, and you're not feeling well in the fall, but you've never had that before, maybe get tested," Mabry said.

Also, keep in mind that itchiness often goes with allergies, just as a loss of taste or smell goes with COVID-19.

"It's tricky because we're not seeing as much loss of smell with the delta variant, but still, definitely if you lose your sense of smell, it's definitely much more concerning," Mabry said.

Mabry said to stay hydrated and wear face masks to stop the spread of COVID-19. Also, be sure to wash the masks to prevent more allergies this fall.

Watch the video above for the full story.

Video above: Pfizer study says vaccine protects against variant

As the U.S. set a new daily record for COVID-19 inoculations and states clamored for more vaccine supplies, Pfizer and the FDA said pharmacists and health practitioners can in some cases extract an additional dose from each vial.

Originally, each vial of Pfizer's COVID-19 vaccine was designed to contain five doses, but some pharmacists reported they could extract six doses when using certain syringes.

As a result, the FDA approved an updated label that states: "Low dead-volume syringes and/or needles can be used to extract six doses from a single vial. If standard syringes and needles are used, there may not be sufficient volume to extract a sixth dose from a single vial."

Pfizer CEO Albert Bourla said this increase in doses per vial "provides an additional 20% capacity." The New York Times first reported Pfizer's plans to base its vaccine commitment on doses instead of vials.

However, CNN chief medical correspondent Dr. Sanjay Gupta said Friday the ability to garner the sixth dose with these syringes does not exist everywhere.

"Many places have them," Gupta told CNN's John Berman, "but not every place."

McKesson, a medical supplies company the federal government has contracted to help with distribution, said syringe kits that allow extraction of the sixth dose are being made available.

These changes highlight the push to get as many people vaccinated as possible amid an inconsistent supply chain.

About 5% of the U.S. population — roughly 16.2 million people — has received at least one dose of the vaccine, and 2.75 million people are fully vaccinated, according to CDC data updated Friday. Nearly 1.6 million vaccine doses were administered Friday, the largest one-day increase reported.

New cases are down, but things remain dire

As inoculation efforts build, the pandemic continues unabated. And while CNN's analysis of data shows encouraging trends in new daily cases and hospitalizations, health officials remain concerned about the more-transmissible variant first identified in the UK.

"You're going to see people traveling again, probably, for spring break, in March and April," said Dr. Celine Gounder, a former member of the Biden transition's COVID-19 advisory board. "And that is exactly when we expect that these variants — in particular, the UK variant — to have taken hold in the U.S."

• Cases: Johns Hopkins University reported more than 186,000 new cases on Friday. The U.S. is currently averaging 180,816 new daily cases across seven days. That's the lowest since Dec. 2, and down 27% from the peak seen Jan. 11, when the average of new cases across a week hit 249,168. But the current average is still 2.7 times above the summer's highest level in July.

• Hospitalizations: On Friday, there were 116,264 COVID-19 patients in U.S. hospitals, a metric that continues to drop day by day, according to data from the COVID Tracking Project. That's the lowest since Dec. 21, but it's still nearly twice the reported peak in the summer.

• Deaths: There were 3,655 new deaths reported Friday, per Johns Hopkins data. The U.S. is averaging more than 3,000 new deaths a day across a week. With more than 68,152 deaths so far, January is currently the second deadliest month of the pandemic, behind December 2020. January is on track to surpass December's death toll of nearly 77,500 deaths.

California deaths hit new high

Meanwhile, California reported 764 COVID-19 deaths on Friday — a pandemic high for the Golden State, according to the state's Department of Public Health.

Jennifer Bagues, funeral director of Felipe Bagues Mortuary in Los Angeles, said her business has been bombarded, prompting her to hire new employees and an answering service to manage the surge in calls.

"We have had to turn away families, which is really hard," she said, because funeral directors and their staffs also operate as support for families going through their "toughest time."

"You have to tell them that, I can put you on a wait list and we'll get to you," Bagues said. "That's unheard of in our industry. I've been doing this 25 years and I've never had this happen."

Hospitalizations in California are declining, dropping below 20,000 for the first time since Christmas, the Department of Public Health said Friday. But intensive care unit capacity remains scarce, with just 1,094 beds available statewide. The Southern California and San Joaquin Valley regions are still reporting 0% ICU capacity.

Vaccine distribution 'shouldn't be the Hunger Games'

A lack of information and a lack of financial support has left states struggling to manage a slow COVID-19 vaccine rollout, according to Michael Osterholm, director of the Center for Infectious Disease Research and Policy at the University of Minnesota.

"I am eligible in Minnesota to get a vaccination also and I can't find one," Osterholm, a former coronavirus adviser to President Joe Biden, told CNN's Erin Burnett on Friday. "I want to share that frustration loud and clear."

Utah governor Spencer Cox told CNN's Chris Cuomo that the state is well-positioned for distribution, but that the vaccine allotment has been bottled up at private pharmacies nationwide.

"Long-term care facilities in Utah, they have way too much vaccine. We estimate they have 15 to 16,000 extra doses that they don't need and can't use right now. So, we're taking that back and we're giving it to our local health departments and it will be gone next week," Cox said.

The frustrations with vaccine distribution and concerns about supply have echoed across the country.

Louisiana does not have any mass vaccination sites set up because it doesn't have enough vaccine to manage a site, Governor John Bel Edwards said Friday.

The state of New York has administered 97% of its allocated first doses of the COVID-19 vaccine, Gov. Andrew Cuomo said Friday, and is expected to run out shortly.

On Saturday, Cuomo spoke from a vaccine pop-up site at a public housing complex in Brooklyn, where he emphasized the importance of equal access to vaccines for Black and Brown communities that have disproportionately suffered from the pandemic.

"Wealthier, White communities had more Covid testing," he said. "When it comes to this vaccine, access has to be fair across the board."

In Texas, the Houston Health Department's 1,600 new vaccination appointment slots were filled by eligible citizens within approximately five minutes of opening. Houston Mayor Sylvester Turner said the telephone system received about 250,000 calls which "literally overwhelmed" the system.

Atlanta Mayor Keisha Lance Bottoms told CNN's Wolf Blitzer that she receives daily calls from people "desperately looking for the vaccine," adding "I'm just not seeing an abundance of vaccine."

The Los Angeles County Department of Public Health on Friday said it was receiving enough doses to inoculate just 1 in 4 people currently eligible.

Utah's Cox said the competition between states early in the pandemic, when the federal government forced states to scrounge for supplies such as personal protective equipment, should be avoided in the case of vaccines.

"This shouldn't be the Hunger Games, like it was with PPE, right. That was ridiculous and we all had to play that game," he said. "We're all in this together. Governors are in this together. We just need insight from the federal government and the manufacturers," Cox said.

Video: States ready for more from government vaccine supply

UK variant should be watched, Fauci says

Dr. Anthony Fauci, the director of the National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases, spoke with CNN on Friday about the coronavirus variant known as B.1.1.7, which was first identified in the United Kingdom and is believed to be more contagious. He says its transmission in the U.S. needs to be monitored carefully.

At least 195 cases of the variant have been identified in 22 states, according to the CDC. That number doesn't represent the total number of cases in the U.S., the agency said, but just those that have been found through analysis.

"It has not become dominant," Fauci said. "It might. That's the reason why you have to watch it carefully as we go from January into February, and really take a good look."

A CDC report this month said the variant has the potential to "increase the U.S. pandemic trajectory in the coming months," and people should focus on using masks, maintaining social distance and other measures that reduce transmission.

Fauci agreed with the health recommendations. "That's the kind of thing that prevents surges regardless of ... the type of virus."

OLATHE, Kan. —

Before vaccines were available, every member of a Kansas family got COVID-19.

Nearly eight months later, they're still battling the virus and say their lives will never be the same.

"I thought that because we were a pretty healthy family, that we would handle it pretty well," Amy Diediker said.

The Diediker family of five had no idea what was coming. In January, one by one, each contracted COVID-19 and they all got very sick.

"Every day, it felt like, which fire is the one I need to put out today? Because it felt like there were three or four every day," Diediker said.

The symptoms varied. Diediker said she had chest pain and shortness of breath. For 17 days, her husband Ryan was so weak he could barely walk. But she said the worst case, by far, was 10-year-old Vivien.

"When you're seeing your child in that much pain and with symptoms that severe and the doctors are telling you, 'There's nothing we can do,'" Diediker said. "It was the most hopeless I have ever felt as a parent."

The Diedikers are an athletic family. Amy Diediker is an exercise instructor. But she, Vivien, and her son, Owen, are now categorized as COVID-19 long haulers. They still have symptoms — and doctors have very few answers.

They're all vaccinated now, even young Vivien, who received special-use permission for the vaccine because she's now considered high risk. Diediker said that she gets emotional about people choosing not to get vaccinated.

"I wish people could come spend a day, seeing what happened to our lives, seeing all the doctors' appointments that we juggle," she said. "I had a positive test, and seven and a half months later, we are still trying to pick up the pieces. So please, please take the time to go get vaccinated."

Diediker also urges people to abide by mask mandates. She said she believes her family contracted the virus after attending a small family gathering without masking. Diediker said it is a decision she will always regret.

MILWAUKEE —

The Wisconsin pharmacist who pulled dozens of COVID-19 vaccine vials from a hospital refrigerator, agreed to plead guilty in federal court of attempting to tamper with the vaccine, a review by sister station WISN 12 News of the plea agreement determined.

The agreement, which was filed in the U.S. District Court for the Eastern District of Wisconsin, allowed Steven Brandenburg, of Grafton, to avoid an indictment by a federal grand jury and plea to two counts of attempting to tamper with consumer products, with reckless disregard for the risk that another person will be placed in danger of death or bodily injury, the records show.

According to the deal, Brandenburg, 46, admitted to pulling the same box of Moderna COVID-19 vaccine out of the refrigerator at Aurora Medical Center - Grafton on consecutive days late last month. The Moderna vaccine needs to be stored at specific temperatures to remain effective.

"Recklessly disregarding his knowledge of the applicable storage specifications and the associated risks, Brandenburg, on two successive shifts that began on the evenings of December 24 and December 25, 2020, removed the same box of Moderna COVID-19 Vaccine from the refrigerator in the pharmacy at the Grafton Facility, for periods of multiple hours, intending to render that same vaccine inert or ineffective," the plea document noted.

During the investigation, it was determined 57 people had received doses of the vaccine from the vials in the box Brandenburg handled.

According to the plea agreement, he believed in various "conspiracy theories," subscribed to notions of "alternative history" and was skeptical of vaccines in general and the Moderna vaccine specifically.

This content is imported from Twitter.
You may be able to find the same content in another format, or you may be able to find more information, at their web site.

"Distributing the COVID-19 vaccine is critical to overcoming this pandemic, which continues to end lives and upend our economy," United States Attorney Matthew Krueger said in a news release. "As these charges show, the Justice Department will pursue anyone — and especially any medical professional — who tampers with the vaccine."

When asked about the plea deal, Brandenburg's attorney told WISN 12 News, "No comment."

Brandenburg agreed to plead guilty to the charges, which each carry a maximum sentence of 10 years' imprisonment and a $250,000 fine. A Justice Department official said the judge has complete discretion to go higher.

Brandenburg agreed to pay restitution and will be sentenced at a later date.

Brandenburg faces one misdemeanor charge of attempted criminal damage to property in Oazukee County Court.

He pleaded not guilty to that count.

Brandenburg was scheduled to be back in Ozaukee County Court on March 18.

Two weeks ago, a state review board suspended Brandenburg's pharmacy license. The hospital also fired Brandenburg.

In a court document filed five days after the last sabotage attempt, Brandenburg's wife told a divorce judge she feared for their children's safety.

Brandenburg's wife, Gretchen, relayed what she claimed their youngest daughter told her after a weekend stay with her dad.

"This is not our home, Heaven is our home," the mother said the 6-year-old told her.

"Based on these statements, I am concerned that the children are in imminent harm, specially that Steven would take the children to heaven,” the wife told the judge.

CINCINNATI — The Cincinnati Public Schools Board of Education will consider making a COVID-19 vaccine mandatory among district staff.

The board's Policy and Equity Committee Thursday morning advanced the proposal to the full board. As proposed Thursday, the policy would require all district employees to receive one of the three available COVID-19 vaccines. The would-be deadline for employees to receive those shots was left unclear Thursday morning, as the full board still needs to consider the policy. Staff would have the option to apply for an exemption from the policy.

The measure will go to the full board for discussion next month.

The committee's ruling came days after the U.S. Food and Drug Administration granted full approval status to Pfizer's two-shot COVID-19 vaccine for people 16 years and older, with Moderna also in the process of applying for full FDA approval. According to Ohio law, school districts cannot require vaccines that are not FDA-approved.

Board member Eve Bolton said the decision could risk losing district staff but that it's worth the risk.

"People will quit, and we will lose staff, and I am willing to do that," Bolton said during Thursday's committee meeting.

Committee members stopped short of discussing specifics about requiring the vaccine for students old enough to meet the FDA approval's parameters, but Bolton said she'd be interested in the administration exploring the idea.

The full board of education will consider the policy at its next regularly scheduled meeting on Sept. 13.

Some in the nursing home industry are concerned about President Joe Biden’s requirement that all nursing home staff members be vaccinated. Facilities have a lot to lose – including federal funding if those new requirements aren’t met.

“I think that we’re being set up to fail, we’re going to fail the most vulnerable and frail in our community,” said Chase Kohn, chief operating officer Caring Place Healthcare Group.

Nationwide, the numbers show there are more unvaccinated staff members in nursing homes than there are residents. The long-term care industry faced a nationwide shortage of employees before the coronavirus pandemic.

The Caring Place Health Group operates six senior living communities in Southwest Ohio.

“It’s been a tremendous challenge for our entire industry and specifically for us,” Kohn said. “We probably have 15 to 20 openings per facility.”

And with the new vaccination requirements, he said he’s concerned about losing even more employees. Kohn said about 70% of their employees are vaccinated. He’s concerned about their facilities losing Medicaid and Medicare funding if some of his employees decline the vaccine.

“Instead of penalizing us financially, I think the federal government should have been partnering with us to develop better strategies to educate the unvaccinated individuals in our facilities,” Kohn said.

Advocates are hoping for some alternatives like frequent COVID-19 testing and additional PPE.

“Something to give them an option besides quitting and leaving our patients with not enough staff to take care of them,” Ohio Healthcare Association executive director Peter Van Runkle said.

He added that solutions are needed for the sake of those who need help the most.

“What’s better for the patient?” Van Runkle asked. “An unvaccinated staff person who is wearing a mask, PPE as needed and is getting tested regularly, or having so few staff members that they ring their call light and no one comes for 15 minutes because they’re busy taking care of other people? That’s not good for our patients.”

Related video above: Does double masking help stop the spread?

In order to return to some sense of “normal,” roughly 85% of Americans will need to get the COVID-19 vaccine to bring the pandemic to a halt, per Anthony Fauci, M.D., the nation’s leading infectious disease expert.

Vaccine distribution is well underway in most states and President Joe Biden has vowed to have 100 million doses administered to Americans in his first 100 days in office. It’s a lofty goal, as only about 9.8 million people have received both doses of the vaccine as of Feb. 9.

Data shows that the authorized coronavirus vaccines from Pfizer-BioNTech and Moderna, both of which use mRNA technology, can help protect people against developing a severe case of COVID-19. But there’s still one big question that researchers are trying to answer: Can you still spread COVID-19 to others even after you’re fully vaccinated?

Dr. Fauci told CNN in November that “it’s not going to be a light switch” back to pre-pandemic times. “I would recommend to people to not abandon all public health measures just because you have been vaccinated.”

First, a refresher on why we need a COVID-19 vaccine to end the pandemic.

Herd immunity, a.k.a. community immunity, means a significant portion of a population is immune to an infectious disease, according to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC). This ultimately makes the spread of the infectious disease from person to person unlikely.

Herd immunity can be achieved when enough people (the percentage varies with each disease) contract an illness and build natural immunity to it or through vaccination. In the case of COVID-19, natural immunity is out of the question, as the virus can be deadly or cause long-lasting side effects in those who survive. So far, more than 460,000 Americans have lost their lives to COVID-19.

That’s why vaccination is crucial: It’s the safest way to achieve herd immunity, says Richard Watkins, M.D., an infectious disease physician and a professor of internal medicine at the Northeast Ohio Medical University.

Herd immunity also helps protect vulnerable people who can’t get vaccinated. When a large portion of people can get the vaccine choose not to do so, those who cannot receive one will remain at risk — and the virus will continue to circulate.

Can you still spread COVID-19 to other people after getting the vaccine?

Most infectious disease experts believe that a highly effective vaccine will help lower the risk that you can spread COVID-19 after you’re immunized, but they’re still trying to determine what the impact looks like on case numbers. Data hasn’t been released yet on whether the vaccines offer what’s known as sterilizing immunity, which means that those who are vaccinated can’t contract or pass on the virus at all.

“We expect that the level of risk of transmissibility is greatly diminished, but not eliminated,” says Stanley H. Weiss, M.D., an epidemiologist and professor at Rutgers New Jersey Medical School and the Department of Biostatistics & Epidemiology at the Rutgers School of Public Health.

“The clinical trials that looked at the vaccines that are authorized for use by the FDA were based on the prevention of symptomatic disease — they weren’t looking at asymptomatic disease,” says infectious disease expert Amesh A. Adalja, M.D., senior scholar at the Johns Hopkins Center for Health Security. “They weren’t designed to determine whether asymptomatic transmission would occur [post vaccination].”

Statistics vary, but research has shown that up to 20% of people who have COVID-19 show no symptoms. (Earlier reports cited a much higher number, but most data now suggest that people who were previously counted as asymptomatic ended up developing symptoms.)

Until studies shows otherwise, there’s a chance that people who are vaccinated can still become infected with COVID-19 without experiencing symptoms and shed the virus. Even after you receive your two doses, the available vaccines are not 100% effective at preventing COVID-19 infection.

So, if the novel coronavirus makes its way into your body after you get the vaccine, your immune system will have a good chance of fighting it off — but it also might allow small amounts of the virus to replicate, says Dr. Adalja. Sure, you may have a mild case or no symptoms at all, but your body can still release the virus via respiratory droplets from your nose and mouth, potentially infecting someone else who does not have the same level of protection from immunization. This is where things become tricky: Researchers really don’t know if this viral load would be big enough to make someone else sick.

There’s also a possibility that you could get COVID-19 right before or after your vaccination. According to the CDC, it takes a few weeks for immunity to fully kick in, so you can still theoretically become infected and pass the virus on to others as your body works on ramping up its immune response.

Recent research released from the University of Oxford and biopharmaceutical company AstraZeneca did look at whether people who had received their vaccine candidate in clinical trials had the potential to pass on the coronavirus.

The preliminary study, which was published in Preprints with The Lancet on Feb. 1, analyzed data from participants in the U.K., Brazil, and South Africa, and found that the overall efficacy of the two-dose vaccine is 82.4%. The research also found that there was a 67% reduction in nasal swabs that were positive for the coronavirus after people were vaccinated, suggesting that they were much less likely to spread COVID-19 afterward.

That said, the AstraZeneca vaccine — which is not yet authorized in the U.S. — was recently found to be less effective in South Africa, particularly against the South African variant of the virus. It’s unclear at this point how the highly infectious coronavirus variants might impact a person’s ability to spread COVID-19 after they are fully vaccinated, Dr. Adalja says.

But experts anticipate that the vaccines we currently have will still be protective and largely effective at containing the spread of the virus when combined with other preventive measures.

What precautions should I take after I get the COVID-19 vaccine?

Dr. Adalja says it might take a while before we have the research to determine that getting vaccinated reduces the risk of spreading the virus to others.

“It’s going to take time to accrue this data,” he says. “People want to see more data before they definitively make something part of public health guidance.”

In an effort to compile this data, researchers are going back to the people who were vaccinated as part of the Pfizer-BioNTech and Moderna trials and looking for antibodies that show they’ve been infected with COVID-19, NPR reports. But it’s not a perfect method, as antibody tests aren’t always accurate and it’s unclear how long these infection-fighters last within the body.

Until we have that information, the CDC emphasizes that “it’s important for everyone to continue using all the tools available to help stop this pandemic as we learn more about how COVID-19 vaccines work in real-world conditions.” As a result, even those who have received the COVID-19 vaccine should continue to wear a face mask, stay at least 6 feet away from people outside of their household, avoid crowds, and wash their hands often.

Once the nation sees a significant decline in positive cases, hospitalizations, and deaths, and a significant uptick in fully vaccinated people, public health officials will definitely let us know when it’s time to pack away the masks—until then, keep wearing one.

CHARLOTTESVILLE, Va. — In terms of the COVID-19 vaccine, doctors are weighing in on the concept of delaying the second dose of the shot.

Dr. Bill Petri, an infectious diseases professor at the University of Virginia, has been studying the effects of COVID-19.

“We all need to be vaccinated so there's herd immunity that we can stop the pandemic,” Petri told WTKR.

He’s also keeping a close eye on the two-dose messenger RNA (mRNA) vaccines from Pfizer and Moderna.

“They're almost miraculous in their ability to protect us against COVID-19,” Petri said. “What we think the second dose is doing is to further develop the antibody response and help make it long-term.”

The CDC says the Pfizer doses should be administered three weeks apart, while Moderna's should be one month apart.

However, if the recommended interval isn't possible, the agency said the second dose may be administered up to six weeks, or 42 days, after the first dose.

“Under special circumstances, it's better to delay that couple of weeks than not do it at all,” Dr. Anthony Fauci, Director of the National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases said.

Fauci said U.S. data from Moderna and Pfizer doesn't support the move of a second dose delay.

“We will go by the science, which is dictated for us, the optimal way to get the 94-95% response, which is in fact, durable for the period of time that we've been following it,” Fauci said.

Petri believes the second dose is crucial and that the shots work best within that three- or four-week time frame.

“The second dose is like the icing on the cake. That's what's going to give you the 95% and lock that in,” he said. “Moderna did their study with four weeks apart. Pfizer did it three weeks apart. We're kind of scared to vary from that because we know what works. It's kind of like, ‘Don't fix it if it's not broke.”

While there is wiggle room, Petri told WTKR that it's important to stay on schedule as best as possible for vaccination for the best protection, especially with new variants of the virus in the U.S.

“If we miss that second dose, your antibody levels are going to be a little bit lower,” Petri said. “The more that you can adhere to the schedule, the better the chances that your antibody levels are going to be high enough to protect you, even against these new variants of the coronavirus.”

This story was first reported by Zak Dahlheimer at WTKR in Norfolk, Virginia.

Dr. Anthony Fauci, the director of the National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases, projected on Thursday’s NBC “Today” it will be “open season” for coronavirus vaccines in April.

While coronavirus vaccines have been limited to high-risk groups, the number of Americans who qualify for vaccinations has steadily risen in recent weeks. It is his hope the US will get to a point where all groups can begin getting vaccinated by April.

Fauci cautions that with limited supply, it could still take months for everyone who wants a vaccine can get a vaccine.

“If you look at the projection, I would imagine by the time we get to April, that will be what I would call, for better wording, open season, virtually anybody and everybody in any category could start to get vaccinated,” Fauci said. “From then on, it would likely take several more months, just logistically, to get vaccine into people’s arms, so that hopefully as we get into the middle and end of the summer, we will have accomplished a goal of what we’re talking about, namely the overwhelming majority of people in this country having gotten vaccinated.”

Meanwhile on Thursday, Biden announced that the US has purchased enough coronavirus vaccines for every American.

As of Thursday, roughly 1 in 10 Americans have received at least one dose of the coronavirus vaccine, representing more than 34 million people. Of those people, 11 million have been fully vaccinated.

There are currently two vaccines that have emergency use authorization from the FDA. Both are two-shot vaccines, which require patients to return three to four weeks later for a booster. Other one-shot vaccines, such as Johnson and Johnson’s candidate, could soon be administered throughout the US if given authorization. Johnson and Johnson applied for an emergency use authorization last week.

Meanwhile on Thursday, Fauci told ProPublica that he projects that children can start getting vaccinated before the fall. While data indicates young children do not spread the virus nearly as efficiently as adults, there is evidence that teenagers are spreaders of the virus.

Fauci said getting children vaccinated for the coronavirus would come in phases.

“We’re in the process of starting clinical trials in what we call age de-escalation, where you do a clinical trial with people 16 to 12, then 12 to 9, then 9 to 6,” Fauci told ProPublica. “I would think by the time we get to school opening, we likely will be able to get people who come into the first grade.”

There are ongoing vaccine trials for children as young as 12. Fauci expects that data to be available in the coming months.

“It is critical that pediatric patients of all ages be included in trials as quickly as possible,” said American Academy of Pediatrics President Lee Savio Beers in a statement last week. “We are especially concerned about children who belong to racial, ethnic, and cultural groups that have been disproportionately affected by the pandemic or who have underlying conditions that place them at increased risk for developing severe COVID-19 infection.”