CDC Advisory Group: Add Covid Shot to Kids’ Vaccine Schedule, By

COMMUNITY NEWS

CDC Advisory Group: Add Covid Shot to Kids’ Vaccine Schedule

By Jondi Gumz

On Oct. 20, an advisory committee to the federal Centers for Disease Control and Prevention voted unanimously in favor of adding the Covid vaccine to the recommended immunization schedule for children and adults. The existing schedule recommends 27 doses of vaccine between birth and age 6.

Starting at 6 months, children should get the Covid vaccine, plus boosters, according to the Advisory Committee on Immunization Practices. The new bivalent boosters mix vaccine for the original strain of SARS-CoV-2, which is no longer circulating, and the currently dominant Omicron variants BA.4 and BA.5, which are far less deadly.

The CDC, which is expected to sign off on the recommendation, plans to provide a recommended vaccine schedule in 2023.

To expedite the review process, federal officials asked drug-makers to test on mice rather than humans. Pfizer submitted data based on 8 mice.

The CDC said its recommendation is not a mandate, noting the decision on which vaccines are required to attend school is a state or local decision.

“Local control matters,” said Dr. Nirav Shah, director of the Maine Center for Disease Control and Prevention, said at the ACIP meeting. “And we honor that the decision around school entrance for vaccines rests where it did before, which is with the state level, the county level and at the municipal level, if it exists at all.”

Kansas officials have no plans to require the Covid-19 vaccine to attend school.

Texas law protects parents’ rights to decide their children’s vaccination.

Florida’s Surgeon General Joseph Ladopo, M.D., recommended against Pfizer and Moderna’s Covid-19 mRNA vaccines for men 18 to 39 after his health department found an “84% increase in the relative incidence of cardiacrelated death among males 18-39 years old within 28 days following mRNA vaccination.”

California

California’s SB 277 requires students be vaccinated to attend public school with no exemptions for personal belief. Homeschoolers are exempt.

Covid cases in kids declined in October, according to the American Academy of Pediatrics. Children represent 13% of new cases.

Dr. Tom Shimabukuro reported to the ACIP meeting that a boy died 13 days after his first dose of Pfizer Covid vaccine. The boy had a fever, then abdominal pain and vomiting in the emergency room before he died. The autopsy showed the cause of death was heart inflammation known as myocarditis, with tests finding no evidence of viral infection.

The death was reported to the federal Vaccine Adverse Effects Reporting System, and verified by the CDC.

The committee members did not discuss the death, but determined the Covid vaccine benefits outweigh the risks.

The CDC stopped reporting Covid cases on Sept. 21, recognizing 95% of Americans 16 and up have some immunity, either from vaccination or infection.

On Oct. 21, CDC Director Dr. Rochelle Walensky tested positive for Covid despite being “up to date with her vaccines.” She reports “mild symptoms.”

This prompted Dr. Vinay Prasad of UC San Francisco to ask, “What is the vaccine efficacy of the bivalent booster you have received? What is it for any symptomatic disease? What is it for severe disease?”

He said there are no answers “because the leadership at the White House has permitted this product to come to the US market without any credible evidence that it has any vaccine effectiveness. We simply don’t have human randomized data for clinical endpoints.”

Prasad recommends requiring Pfizer to “randomize nursing home residents,” who are most at risk, and look at all cause mortality.

Omicron Less Deadly

Omicron variants are less deadly than the Delta variant, which raged in 2021.

Santa Cruz County reported 49 Covid deaths after Omicron, compared to 225 as of Dec. 15, before Omicron.

One statistic is similar: 79% to 81% of those who died had medical conditions.

Why do people fear Omnicron?

They may have a medical condition (high blood pressure, diabetes, asthma).

Half of Americans do, so they are at higher risk for severe Covid illness. So are people 85 and older. Thanksgiving A sign of normal: The veterans who put on the Thanksgiving Day dinner prepared by India Joze Schultz at the Santa Cruz Vets Hall will bring the event back this year. Volunteers can contact organizer Steve Pleich at: vetshalldinner@ gmail.com

In Santa Cruz County, one death was reported after a month of no fatalities. The last seven deaths were people who were vaccinated, according to the county dashboard, all 65 or older with medical conditions.

Santa Cruz County, which updates the numbers on Mondays and Thursdays, has 620 active cases, not escalating.

With 64,000 county cases since the pandemic began, natural immunity may be a factor.

Soquel Union Elementary School District reports 8 active cases: Main Street Elementary, 2 students, 1 staff, Soquel Elementary, 2 students, New Brighton Middle, 2 students, Santa Cruz Gardens Elementary, 1 student.

On Friday, the state reported 13 people in Santa Cruz County hospitalized with a positive Covid test, including one in intensive care.

Santa Cruz County wastewater data shows Covid-19 Omicron levels plunging since July 26, then stable.

According to the Santa Cruz County Office of Education, cases in local schools peaked at 4,407 on Jan. 27, dropped to 44 on April 1, rose to 1,025 on May 23, dropped to 442 on June 11, and now 180.

The 14-day positivity rate, 12.25% on January, dropped to .79%, rose to 9.63% and is now 1.22%.

The Santa Cruz County Office of Education has completed 632,700 tests with Inspire Diagnostics.

The very contagious variant BA.5 and waning immunity from vaccines boosted cases this summer.

The CDC reports BA.5 comprised 67.9% of cases as of Oct. 14, with new subvariants BA.4.6 at 12.2%, BQ.1 at 5.7%, BQ.1.1 at 5.7%, and BF.7 at 5.3%.

On Oct. 13, U.S. Health and Human Services Secretary Xavier Becerra extended the Covid emergency for 90 days.

With the U.S. averaging 196 deaths a day, compared to 3,000 last winter, there is no evidence the Omnicron subvariant causes more serious illness.

On Oct. 25, President Biden got his bivalent booster. His administration agreed to buy 105 million doses of Pfizer’s bivalent Covid booster for $3.2 billion.

Pfizer’s bivalent booster has emergency use authorization for children age 5 and up and Moderna’s bivalent has emergency use authorization for children 6 and up. Both are available in Santa Cruz County.

“COVID Update” page 9