CDC Director Dr. Rochelle Walensky said wearing a mask is one of several everyday precautions that people can take to reduce their chances of catching or spreading a respiratory virus during the busy holiday season.

The CDC director said the agency is considering expanding its system of COVID community levels to take into account other respiratory viruses such as the flu. The system is the basis for when CDC advises the public to wear masks.

Walensky encouraged people to take proactive action, saying, “One need not wait on CDC action in order to put a mask on. We would encourage all of those preventive measures — hand washing, staying home when you’re sick, masking, increased ventilation — during respiratory virus season, but especially in areas of high COVID-19 community levels.”

The CDC continues to recommend masking for anyone travelling by plane, train, bus or other forms of public transportation.

People with weak immune systems and those who otherwise face a heightened risk of severe disease should also consider wearing a mask.

Walensky strongly encouraged everyone eligible to receive their flu shot and COVID booster. She said flu vaccination coverage is lagging for at-risk groups — children under age 5, pregnant women, and at-risk seniors — compared with last year. There is no vaccine for RSV.

In New York State, 27,000 cases of the flu were reported during Thanksgiving week. This is compared with a then-record-breaking 2019-20 season had a peak of about 17,000 cases in its worst week.

The 27,000 cases in the week ending November 26 had already spiked 76% from the week prior. During that same period, the number of patients hospitalized statewide with lab-confirmed flu was 1,499, a 67% increase over the prior week.

Bivalent COVID-19 Vaccine Booster

The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention has recommended the new omicron boosters for kids as young as age 5.

CDC Director Dr. Rochelle Walensky signed off on the shots Wednesday, just hours after the Food and Drug Administration authorized them. Walensky made the swift decision without a meeting of the CDC’s independent panel of vaccine experts.

Children ages 5 to 11 are eligible for Pfizer’s omicron shots and kids ages 6 through 17 are eligible for Moderna’s shots two months after receiving their primary series or previous booster with the first generation vaccines.

Pharmacies can start administering the shots as soon they have doses. According to a company statement, Pfizer said it will ship to up 6 million booster doses for kids within the next week.

Pfizer’s new boosters were cleared for people ages 12 and up in September, while Moderna’s were authorized for adults ages 18 and older.

The FDA hopes the new boosters, which target the dominant omicron BA.5 subvariant, will provide substantially better protection against infection and disease compared to the first generation of Covid shots.

The FDA authorized the BA.5 shots for kids without direct human data on their effectiveness. The agency cleared the boosters based on adult data from a similar shot that targets the omicron BA.1 subvariant.

The agency also looked at clinical studies in kids who received the original vaccines as boosters.

The new boosters target omicron BA.5 as well as the original strain of Covid that first emerged in Wuhan, China, in 2019. The FDA hopes the shots will provide durable protection even as the virus continues to evolve because they cover a broad range of mutations.

The first generation of Covid shots were developed in 2020 to target the original strain of Covid. They are no longer providing meaningful protection against infection and mild illness because they do not match the dominant omicron variant, which has mutated to evade the antibodies that block the virus from invading human cells.

According to CDC data, more than 11 million Americans ages 12 and older have received the new booster shots so far.

An independent panel of advisers to the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention voted on Saturday to recommend vaccinating all children in the age group with one of two separate COVID-19 vaccines manufactured by Moderna and Pfizer-BioNTech.

CDC director Dr. Rochelle Walensky quickly endorsed the recommendation, the final step before the vaccines could be rolled out.

During a two-day meeting starting Friday, the panelists reviewed data from clinical trials by both pharmaceutical companies, as well data on the need for vaccines for this age group.

According to the CDC, as of May 28, more than 400 children 0 to 4 years old have died due to COVID.

Dr. Matthew Daley, speaking at the meeting Friday, said, “Among people ages 1-4, COVID is fifth most common cause of all causes of death.”

He said data from older children and adults show that vaccination prevents death. In fact, he added, among people 5 years and older, the unvaccinated are 10 times more likely to die from COVID than the vaccinated.

The vaccine made by Moderna for 6-month-olds to 5-year-olds is a two-dose series, given four weeks apart. The Pfizer-BioNTech vaccine for 6-month-olds to 4-year-olds is a three-dose series. The first two shots are given three weeks apart, and the third one eight weeks after the second shot.

Many providers across the country have already pre-ordered the vaccine and can start administering it as early as this week.

COVID-19 vaccines

The Food and Drug Administration‘s Advisory Committee approved amending the Emergency Use Authorization for the Moderna and Pfizer/BioNTech COVID-19 vaccine to expand to children ages six months through five years old. Next, the Food and Drug Administration will make a final decision on authorization of the vaccine, followed by recommendations made by the Centers for Disease Control and CDC Director, Dr. Rochelle Walensky.

Governor Kathy Hochul released a statement saying once the vaccine is recommended by the CDC Director, the State Department of Health will draft and issue guidance to providers.

Hochul said New York State is already making preparations to boost vaccination rates among children under the age of five with vaccine providers across the state already placing preliminary orders for 39,000 dosages. She added the State Department of Health is working to ensure providers across the state will be able to request additional doses, as well as developing a comprehensive statewide paid media campaign to encourage vaccinations that will launch this summer.

Governor Kathy Hochul announces mask mandate change

Governor Kathy Hochul has officially lifted the statewide business “mask or vax” requirement.

Hochul, making the announcement on Wednesday, said counties, cities and businesses can still choose to require masks. She said the decision was made based on overall COVID-19 cases being down, hospitalizations being down, and vaccines and booster rates being up in New York State.

Masks will still be required in schools and childcare centers; healthcare settings, adult care and nursing homes, correctional facilities, homeless shelters, and on public transportation.

Hochul said before and after midwinter break, home test kits will be provided for K-12 students. The state will then make an assessment in early March on protocols based on the latest metrics.

George Borrello

State Senator George Borrello issued a statement welcoming Hochul’s news but calling it “long overdue.” He said the mask mandates of the last two years have caused “confusion, controversy, and conflict.”

He also spoke against the continued mask requirement in schools, asking, “Where is the science that confirms masking students has any beneficial impact? These are arbitrary, unjustifiable decisions. It is time for all mandates to end and for New York State to permanently close this chapter of governing by edict.”

As New York joins several other states in dropping mask mandates, the Centers for Disease Control Director Dr. Rochelle Walensky says the CDC continues to recommend people mask in public indoor settings in areas of high and substantial transmission.

Based on CDC data, community transmission remains high across the country, including New York State. The category of high is calculated by the CDC as 100 or more new cases per 100,000 people over seven days or 10% or more positive tests in the last seven days.

In Chautauqua County, cases dropped below one thousand for the first time since the week of January 1 with 652 new cases reported, but there were 6 deaths for the week of January 30 through February 5.

There were 30 people hospitalized with 43% of them are not fully vaccinated. The total number of deaths is now 305.

The county’s 7-day average positivity rate is 8.2%, The community transmission rate is still considered “high” by the Centers for Disease Control.

203 of the new cases are located in the City of Jamestown. Since August 1, 58% of new cases were in people who were not vaccinated.

According to the CDC Vaccination Tracker, 65% of the county’s total population have received at least one dose of the COVID-19 vaccine, and 58% of the total population is now fully vaccinated.

Pfizer

ABC News reports the move puts the process in motion for the FDA to review the data, bring it before its independent advisers and potentially authorize the vaccine in the coming weeks. The FDA independent advisers are already slated to have a public hearing on February 15.

The data would then be brought before the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention‘s independent advisers for another review, and finally, a potential recommendation by CDC Director Rochelle Walensky — all potentially within the month.

As of now, Pfizer’s two-dose vaccine is available to anyone over 5 years old. A booster shot after five months is available to anyone over 12 years old. Moderna and Johnson & Johnson are available to adults.

Pfizer announced it had safety and efficacy for its vaccine for kids under 5 in December, but determined that the two-dose regimen wasn’t as effective for children 2, 3 and 4 years-old as it was for adults. The dose for kids under 5 is one-tenth the dose for adults.

On Tuesday, Pfizer again submitted data on two doses of the vaccine, but with the expectation that data will soon be available to make it a three-dose vaccine, which will likely be more effective at preventing illness.

Pfizer is expected to have more information on the efficacy of a three-dose regimen in March or April, but authorizing the first two doses in February would start the immunization process earlier.

The third dose would be given at least eight weeks after the second dose.

Some parents of young kids have been desperate for a shot to be authorized so they can protect their children against severe disease. Kids under the age of 5 have now spent nearly half of their lives in the pandemic, and for many parents their unvaccinated status has been a huge stressor.

A weekly report by the American Academy of Pediatrics and the Children’s Hospital Association said about 808,000 children tested positive for COVID-19 last week, which is down from the peak level of 1,150,000 reported the week ending January 20.

However, the organizations warn that pediatric infections remain “extremely high,” still triple the peak level of the summer delta surge in 2021.

A total of 11.4 million children have tested positive for the virus since the onset of the pandemic. Child COVID-19 cases have “spiked dramatically” during the omicron variant surge, with more than 3.5 million child cases reported in January.

Still, because kids are less likely to get seriously sick from COVID-19, many parents have opted not to vaccinate them even when they become eligible.

Nearly 70% of eligible kids ages 5 to 11 have yet to get a shot, according to a January survey from KFF, a nonpartisan health nonprofit. It’s unclear how many parents will opt to vaccinate their children under 5, when the vaccine becomes available.

But experts point to many reasons to get children vaccinated, including their own health and the health of the community around them.

According to the CDC, unvaccinated 12 to 17-year-olds had an 11 times higher risk of hospitalization than fully vaccinated adolescents.

And while young kids are less likely to end up in the hospital, it’s still possible. They can also be vectors for spread, infecting other, higher-risk adults in their community.

Both the delta and omicron surges saw full pediatric wards in hospitals, often with doctors pleading for communities to increase their vaccination rates.

Photo Credit: CNN

The Pfizer/BioNTech COVID-19 Vaccine has been approved for use as a booster in 16 and 17-year olds.

CNN reports the U.S. Food and Drug Administration authorized the vaccine with the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention recommending it for this age group.

It’s the first COVID-19 vaccine booster authorized for 16- and 17-year-olds in the United States.

Just as with adults, 16- and 17-year-olds are eligible to receive a booster dose six months after their second dose of the Pfizer/BioNTech vaccine. About 2.6 million U.S. teens in this age group would be eligible for boosters already.

FDA Center for Biologics Evaluation and Research Dr. Peter Marks said in a news release, “New evidence indicates that vaccine effectiveness against COVID-19 is waning after the second dose of the vaccine for all adults and for those in the 16- and 17-year-old age group. A single booster dose of the vaccine for those vaccinated at least six months prior will help provide continued protection against COVID-19 in this and older age groups.”

CDC Director Dr. Rochelle Walensky released a statement saying, “Although we don’t have all the answers on the Omicron variant, initial data suggests that COVID-19 boosters help broaden and strengthen the protection against Omicron and other variants.”

Health officials emphasized that vaccinations, booster shots, wearing masks and avoiding large crowds all remain among the most effect methods for fighting COVID-19.

On Wednesday, Pfizer and BioNTech announced preliminary data that suggest its two-dose vaccine does not provide sufficient protection against infection with the Omicron coronavirus variant, although it may still protect against severe disease. However, the companies found, a booster dose increased protection significantly, to nearly the level of protection its two-dose vaccine provided against the earlier strain of the virus.