Stash your

By Emily Scott/PNS

SACRAMENTO, Calif. -- Parents are gearing up for their children to return to the classroom for the first time in over a year. However, public health experts are concerned many have missed important checkups and vaccinations due to the pandemic.

A report from Georgetown University’s Health Policy Institute and the American Academy of Pediatrics details the drop in pediatrician visits in 2020. In California, Children Now estimated child vaccination rates were down by more than 10% from 2019 to 2020.

Mike Odeh, director of health policy for Children Now, said programs like Covered California are working to highlight the issue, but more could be done on a state and federal level.

“I think one of the common things we see a lot here in California, as well as I, ‘m sure in other states, is access to culturally and linguistically appropriate care,” Odeh contended. “So, that would be just one area that I think could use some work.”

Odeh argued 2014 and 2019 measles outbreaks in Southern California showed health professionals how important it is to take these numbers seriously.

In May, the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention reported orders for non-influenza childhood vaccines had decreased by a total of 11.7 million doses compared with 2019.

Dr. Lee Beers, president of the American Academy of Pediatrics, said fears are growing lower vaccination rates could result in fewer communities reaching “herd immunity.”

“If too few people in a community are vaccinated against a particular disease, it means that we might see an outbreak of that disease,” Beers explained. “We’ve seen this before with measles and pertussis, and so it’s so important to make sure your child is vaccinated, not just to protect themselves, but also to protect everyone around them.”

California law requires all children enrolled in school to have certain immunizations, including diphtheria, tetanus and pertussis, and measles, mumps and rubella. In some cases, valid medical exemptions from a physician are accepted.

Disclosure: Children Now/ KIDS COUNT contributes to our fund reporting on Children’s Issues and Youth Issues.

American’ Activist Athlete’ Gwenn fails to medal at Tokyo Olympics

By Desert Star Staff

Gwen Berry, the hammer throw hopeful who faced the stands rather than the American flag while holding up a protest shirt and claimed the US national anthem “speaks to slaves” of “our blood being slain,” has failed to win a medal.

Two-time Olympian Berry had promised to “represent the oppressed people” if she won a podium place at the Olympic Games but finished 11th out of 12 competitors in the finals, registering 71.35 meters.

At her country’s Olympic trials in June, the forthright 32-year-old held up a shirt reading ‘Activist Athlete’ while turning away from the flag after winning bronze, as well as venting her anger that ‘The Star-Spangled Banner had rung out.

“If you know your history, you know the full song of the national anthem,” Berry subsequently told Black News Channel. “The third paragraph speaks to slaves in America – our blood being slain... all over the floor.”

Former US President Donald Trump’s daughterin-law, Lara, had warned on Fox News on Sunday that “a lot of people” were hoping Berry “doesn’t make it to that podium because, you know, she’s not doing the right thing with that.”

After Berry’s protest at the trials, she told the same outlet: “I think we all know that this was a stunt. This was an attempt – a very selfish attempt – by her to make a name for herself to cause some waves.

Berry had said that the “people who hate me aren’t here, so they can’t affect me.”

After raising her fist during the ceremony honoring her gold medal at the Pan American Games in Lima in 2019, she was reprimanded by the United States Olympic and Paralympic Committee and warned of further punishments over any future gestures. The committee apologized for the sanction in the aftermath of George Floyd’s killing in the US last year and later amended its rules so that athletes can protest on podiums.

“I am my ancestors’ wildest dreams,” she told her following of more than 44,000 on Instagram last week, posing by the Olympic logo in her Team USA kit. “Forget what you heard. Freedom, power, purpose, change.”

She boarded her flight to Tokyo wearing an ‘Activist Athlete’ t-shirt and wrote a day before she attempted to win a medal: “It’s a movement – not a moment.”

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