As the public begins receiving booster shots, a new study says what kind of side effects they can have. Plus, a married couple from Michigan died from COVID-19 while holding hands, despite both being vaccinated.
Pfizer submitted its trial data to the FDA on Sept 28 for a COVID-19 vaccine created for kids 5 to 11, but an approval decision might not come until Thanksgiving.
Broadway fans will have to wait a little longer to go over, sideways and under on a magic carpet ride. Just one day after the first performance of “Aladdin,” the Broadway production announced that due to breakthrough COVID-19 cases within the company, the Wednesday performance of the show would be canceled, ABC7 News New York reported. The show is the first COVID-19 related cancelation on Broadway since shows in the theatre resumed in July. “The wellness and safety of our guests, cast, and crew are our top priority,” the company said in a statement shared on Twitter.
Many employers in Zimbabwe, including the nation’s government, are mandating COVID-19 vaccine shots for their staff. However, The Associated Press reports critics say that unlike in richer countries that have used mandates, Zimbabwe’s vaccine rollout wouldn’t be up to the demand. While Zimbabwe says it has plenty of doses for now, vaccine centers sometimes run out of supply, and poorer townships and rural areas have hardly seen access to doses over recent months. “The Zimbabwe government should first focus on making sure that vaccines are equally available to all people without any obstacles before considering making them mandatory,” Dewa Mavhinga, Southern Africa director for Human Rights Watch, told the AP. The Zimbabwean government already requires vaccines at places of worship and has suggested extending the mandates to public buses, which serve as a critical mode of transportation. Access to informal markets could also be restricted.
Unions representing American and Southwest airline pilots are asking lawyers and the White House for an exemption or an alternative to the federal mandate requiring companies with over 100 employees to get vaccinated, ABC News reported. While Southwest’s pilot union was unable to say how many of its members were unvaccinated, roughly 30% of American Airline pilots are not vaccinated, according to the Allied Pilots Association. In a letter to more than 15 people at the Department of Transportation, White House and Congress, union president Captain Eric Ferguson wrote that some of the APA’s members were unable to be vaccinated due to documented medical reasons while others were reluctant to get the jab “based upon concerns about the potential for career-ending side effects.”
CDC numbers show there have been more than 200 million doses of vaccine administered across the U.S., and serious safety problems are very uncommon, not to mention that the potential benefits of the vaccine outweigh the known and potential risks of getting COVID-19, which could also potentially end a pilot’s career. Ferguson also wrote that they were concerned the 60-day-timeline for the implementation of the mandate could result in labor shortages. “Airlines generate a substantial portion of their annual revenue during the holiday period, with a great many travelers depending on us to get them to their destinations,” Ferguson wrote. “Our nation’s airlines, and the traveling public, cannot afford significant service disruptions due to labor shortages.”
While the number of COVID-19 cases and deaths have cycled through waves nationally, an analysis of Health and Human Services data by NBC News shows 20 hospitals nationwide had full ICUs for 52 weeks or more since the beginning of the pandemic. The data shows that some of the hardest-hit hospitals have been at or over capacity for 59 weeks, and hospitals in the South and Southwest appeared to be experiencing the heaviest strain on hospitals.
Out of the 100 intensive care units that have spent the most weeks at or above patient capacity, spanning from July 2020 to Sept. 23, 2021, Texas holds the most in the nation at 17. California holds 13, Florida 10, Alabama seven and both Kentucky and Georgia hold six, respectively. Other states hold no more than five hospitals. “The strain that health care workers are under is unbelievable,” Cindy Zolnierek, CEO of the Texas Nurses Association told NBC News. “And it’s not ending. It’s been a year and a half now. After the vaccine, everyone was feeling, ‘Oh my gosh, there’s a light at the end of the tunnel.’ And then the delta variant came, and it kind of feels like this never-ending nightmare.”
Alabama Gov. Kay Ivey and state officials are moving ahead with a plan to pay for parts of a massive new prison construction project with money from the American Rescue Plan, pandemic relief funds that were given to the state last year. The construction project, which involves the building of three new prisons, has faced sharp backlash from critics who argue that the state is misusing its funds, The Associated Press reported. Jerrold Nadler, U.S. House Judiciary Committee Chairman from New York, has made a request to Janet Yellen, Treasury Department Secretary, to prevent Alabama’s use of the funds for the prisons.
“Directing funding meant to protect our citizens from a pandemic to fuel mass incarceration is, in direct contravention of the intended purposes of the ARP legislation," Nadler wrote.
Recent executive orders issued in San Francisco and New York City could turn out to be problematic for unvaccinated NBA players. Players scheduled to play at Madison Square Garden in Manhattan or Brooklyn's Barclays Center will need to get at least one COVID-19 shot. To play in San Francisco's Chase Center, they must be fully vaccinated, ESPN reported. Players who do not comply with the vaccine mandates in those cities could end up losing part of their salary. "Any player who elects not to comply with local vaccination mandates will not be paid for games that he misses," Mike Bass, the NBA's executive vice president of communications, said Wednesday according to ESPN.
YouTube announced on Wednesday that it would be wiping all videos containing misinformation and conspiracy theories regarding COVID-19 vaccines. According to a blog post from the company, the new rules prohibit misinformation against vaccines that have been approved by the World Health Organization. The world’s largest video platform added that the rules also apply to false claims about other vaccines, such as for the flu or measles.
“We’ve steadily seen false claims about the coronavirus vaccines spill over into misinformation about vaccines in general, and we’re now at a point where it’s more important than ever to expand the work we started with COVID-19 to other vaccines,” YouTube said in a prepared statement.
Newly reported infections skyrocketed in Auckland, New Zealand, on Wednesday, as 45 new cases were reported amid the current outbreak. On Tuesday, that increase was just eight cases. The country’s current outbreak features 1,230 total infections, at least 33 of which are from household or close contact with an existing case. The news is notable for the country that previously eliminated the coronavirus entirely in 2020 and had remained virus-free until August, when an outbreak of delta cases led to a nationwide lockdown, Reuters reported.
"Delta is here, it may not be possible to eliminate it, and it would almost inevitably arrive into the community again. Whatever happens, we need to reopen to the world and National’s plan outlines how we can do that," National Party leader Judith Collins said.
Married couple Cal and Linda Dunham died holding hands on Monday, both succumbing to COVID-19 within one minute of each other. According to the couple’s daughter, Sarah, the 59-year-old father and the 66-year-old mother were fully vaccinated but began to feel sick after a family camping trip, the Washington Examiner reported. Each had pre-existing health conditions. After being hospitalized and placed on ventilators, doctors told the couple that there was nothing they could do, so the husband and wife were taken off of life-support and wheeled next to each other. Cal died at 11:07 a.m. while Linda died at 11:08 a.m., fulfilling a joking promise Sarah said her mother made.
“She always joked and said, ‘Well, you’re going to go before I am. I’ll be right there behind you. I promise,'" Dunham said of her mother. "She really was, like she really was right there behind him.”
A new study from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) says that the side effects from a third dose of a COVID-19 vaccine are mild or moderate and occur as often as after shot two, AFP reported. The findings are expected to reassure the public about any misgivings about a booster shot.
"The frequency and type of side effects were similar to those seen after the second vaccine doses, and were mostly mild or moderate and short lived," CDC Director Rochelle Walensky said at a press briefing.
Currently, third dose booster shots are authorized for the immunocompromised population, which includes citizens over the age of 65 and those with underlying medical conditions.
Company officials from United Airlines announced on Tuesday that 593 workers were dismissed for refusing to get vaccinated against COVID-19, while another 2,000 employees requested medical or religious exemptions, AFP reported. Chief Executive Scott Kirby and President Brett Hart said over 99% of the remaining staff complied with the company requirement to get vaccinated, which was mandated in early August.
"This is a historic achievement for our airline and our employees as well as for the customers and communities we serve," the company’s memo. "Our rationale for requiring the vaccine for all United's US-based employees was simple –- to keep our people safe –- and the truth is this: everyone is safer when everyone is vaccinated, and vaccine requirements work."
The United States coronavirus positivity rate dipped below 7% on Wednesday, an encouraging sign for the nation that is starting to see its weekly case loads decline. According to the latest figures from Johns Hopkins University, over 2,500 new COVID-19 fatalities were recorded in the U.S. on Tuesday while 111,162 new infections were reported. Outside of the U.S., the country with the largest new case increase was the United Kingdom, which reported 34,847 new infections as the delta variant continues to wreak havoc. For a broader look at the data from around the world, watch the video below.
Over one in 10 English secondary school students and more than a third of staff that have been infected with the coronavirus are seeing long COVID symptoms, Sky News reported. The Office of National Statistics says that 12.3% of students and 35.7% of staff have seen coronavirus symptoms last more than a month. About 9.4% of students and 15.5% of staff say that their daily lives have been significantly altered by the disease. "These findings again reinforce the importance of the COVID vaccination programme, including 12 to 15-year-olds, in helping to reduce the spread of the coronavirus in schools and colleges,” said Geoff Barton, general secretary of the Association of School and College Leaders.
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