Tag: Panel

Categories
World News

All the pieces we discovered at Disney’s parks panel on the 2022 D23 Expo

Everything we learned at Disney's parks panel at the 2022 D23 Expo

A masked family walks past Cinderella Castle in the Magic Kingdom at Walt Disney World in Lake Buena Vista, Florida.

Orlando Sentinel | Tribune News Service | Getty Images

Disney’s theme parks are recovering after the coronavirus pandemic closed their domestic and international locations in 2020.

Disney’s Parks, Experiences and Products division is growing in revenue and the company is seeing steady increases in visitor numbers, room nights occupied and cruise ship travel.

In terms of recent earnings, Disney noted that its new Genie+ and Lightning Lane products helped boost average ticket sales per capita for the quarter. These new digital features have been introduced to curate the guest experience and allow park-goers to skip-the-line at major attractions.

The company said it’s been able to bring back in-park experiences like character meet-and-greets, theatrical performances and nightly events at Disneyland, which has allowed it to increase capacity at its parks, CEO Bob said Chapek back then. Since reopening after the first round of pandemic closures in early 2020, Disney has limited visitor numbers and introduced a new online reservation system to help control crowds.

The company continues to add new features and attractions to its theme parks and cruise lines, which Josh D’Amaro, director of Disney’s parks, experiences and products division, outlined at its D23 Expo on Sunday.

Disneyland resort

D’Amaro welcomed The Mandalorian Executive Producer Jon Favreau on stage to announce that the Mandalorian will be appearing domestically with an animatronic grogu in Galaxy’s Edge as part of his costumed characters, used for meet-and-greets and interactions are available. He arrives in November.

Disney CEO Bob Chapek announced Friday that California-based Disneyland will be getting a third attraction on its Avengers campus. The ride is based on the multiverse and drivers will fight against villains from different universes including King Thanos.

Marvel Studios head Kevin Feige appeared in person, while Mark Ruffalo, who portrays the Hulk, appeared via video to reveal that Hulk will be at the park as part of a meet-and-greet opportunity. Developed as part of Project Exo, the version of Hulk will arrive at the park next week.

(LR): Jonathan Becker (Research and Development Imagineer), Josh D’Amaro (Chairman, Disney Parks, Experiences and Products), Richard-Alexandre Peloquin (Research Engineer Imagineer).

Christian Thomson

Pacific Wharf at Disney California Adventure is transformed into San Fransokyo from Big Hero Six and offers a chance to meet Baymax, the helpful health robot. Also, the Paradise Pier Hotel will become the Pixar Place Hotel.

Downtown Disney will add several new restaurants including Porto’s Bakery and Cafe and Din Tai Fung.

Disneyland’s Toon Town land is getting a version of Mickey and Minnie’s Runaway Railway attraction from Hollywood Studios in Orlando, Florida, along with a number of cosmetic updates and a new children’s playground. These updates are expected in 2023.

Tiana’s bayou adventure, replacing Splash Mountain, is set directly after the events of Princes and the Frog and follows Princess Tiana on her quest to find a missing ingredient for a carnival party. The ride is scheduled to reopen in late 2024.

A model of Tiana’s Bayou Adventure, which will reinvent Disneyland’s Splash Mountain, is on display during the Walt Disney D23 Expo on September 9, 2022 in Anaheim, California.

Patrick T Fallon | AFP | Getty Images

D’Amaro said music will be a big part of the ride and the film’s cast will return to lend their voices to the attraction. Anika Noni Rose, the voice of Tiana, took to the stage to sing “I’m Almost There” and “Dig a Little Deeper” from the 2009 animated film.

Walt Disney World

D’Amaro announced that Disney is in the process of creating a new nighttime extravaganza for Epcot to celebrate the company’s 100th anniversary. Additionally, Journey of Water, inspired by “Moana” announced back in 2019, will open in late 2023.

Also coming to Epcot is Figment, the fan-favorite purple dragon, who will return to the park for meet-and-greets in the future.

Also, the Hatbox Ghost will appear in the Haunted Mansion at Walt Disney World next year.

D’Amaro shared footage of his test ride of Tron Light Cycle Run, noting that the ride at Magic Kingdom is scheduled to open in Spring 2023.

Disney cruises

Disney’s sixth cruise ship is called Disney Treasure and celebrates Walt Disney’s spirit of adventure. The Great Hall is inspired by Aladdin and features a statue of Jasmine and Aladdin riding the magic carpet.

D’Amaro said the “Disney Wonder” will now travel to Australia and New Zealand starting in October 2023.

The company is also opening a new island resort in the Bahamas called Lighthouse Point. D’Amaro said that 90% of the electricity consumed at this site is provided by solar power.

International resorts

Duffy and Friends, adorable cuddly characters from Shanghai Disney Resort, are getting their own stop motion series on Disney+.

D’Amaro also showed off new images from Zootopia Land, which will feature a large animatronic of Officer Clawhauser. No date has been set for the country’s official opening.

Hong Kong Disneyland is getting a new Walt Disney statue inspired by how Walt watched his kids ride the carousel and inspired the launch of Disney’s theme parks. The park’s Frozen-themed land will open in the second half of 2023.

In Paris, a new promenade will be added to connect the new Frozen-inspired land to the rest of the park, and a Tangled-themed attraction will be added to the new garden area.

Tokyo Disney Resort is also in the process of adding a new land based on Frozen, Tangled, and Peter Pan to its park called Fantasy Springs.

Space Mountain at Tokyo Disneyland will be remodeled in 2024 with a new plaza to be completed in 2027.

Beyond the Great Thunder Mountain

At the end of the panel, D’Amaro discussed what he called “Blue Sky” projects that the Imagineering team is working on. There are projects that are still in the early stages of development and may not see the light of day in the end.

D’Amaro spoke about the opportunity to redesign Dino Land at Animal Kingdom in Orlando, Florida. Initial ideas for the space envisage the possibility of bringing “Zootopia” with its variety of districts and animal species or “Vaiana” into the park.

At Magic Kingdom, Disney asks, “What’s behind Big Thunder Mountain?” The company teased that an area based on “Coco” could be in that location or “Encanto.” Maybe both.

D’Amaro even teased the possibility of also bringing to life an area of ​​Magic Kingdom overrun by Disney villains. The crowd erupted in applause at the suggestion. Most often, villains appear during Disney’s Halloween special events.

“We will never stop pleasing you,” he said.

Categories
Politics

North Carolina Should Enable Former Felons to Vote, Panel Guidelines

North Carolina Must Allow Former Felons to Vote, Panel Rules

North Carolina must immediately allow offenders who are on parole, parole, or supervised release to register for election, a three-person panel in a state court said Monday.

The 2: 1 ruling in a State Superior Court in Raleigh restores the voting rights to a disproportionately black group of approximately 56,000 people who are not in prison but are under some sort of supervision. Black North Carolinians make up 21 percent of the state’s population, but 42 percent of those released on parole or under custody.

The judges said they would later issue a formal decision explaining their decision. Both the Republican-controlled state general assembly and the state electoral committee, which had defended the law in court, said they would await the court’s written opinion before deciding whether to appeal the decision.

The North Carolina State Conference of the NAACP and Forward Justice, a group that campaigns for the equal treatment of minorities in the judicial systems of the South, had overturned the law with three local groups working with former felons.

The judgment “provides a pledge of justice from the North Carolina NAACP half a century ago that all people who live in communities across the state deserve their votes to be heard in elections,” said Stanton Jones of the Arnold & Porter law firm. the senior attorney of the plaintiffs. “And now, 50 years later, the voices of these 56,000 people are finally being heard.”

But State Senator Warren Daniel, Republican chairman of the Senate Electoral Committee, said the judges were ignoring a clause in the state constitution that would bar convicted felons from voting unless their rights were restored under state law. “These judges may think they are doing the right thing by rewriting laws at their own discretion (without bothering to explain their judgment),” he said in a statement. “But each of these rulers tears away the idea that the people make laws through their legislature.”

The decision followed a process that revealed the history of the state’s disenfranchisement of blacks in sometimes shocking detail.

The law that went into effect on Monday, enacted in 1877, expanded in response to the 15. But for the previous decade, local judges had responded to the civil war’s liberation of blacks by condemning them en masse and publicly whipping them, thereby causing them they were placed under a law denying the vote to anyone convicted of a crime for which whipping was a punishment.

A handful of black MPs in the General Assembly attempted to repeal the 1877 Act in the early 1970s, but only achieved procedural changes such as restricting judges’ discretion to extend probation or judicial oversight.

In legal disputes, neither side denied the racist origins of the law. Attorneys for the General Assembly and the Electoral Committee argued, however, that the changes in the early 1970s removed that racist aftertaste, even if the consequences – the disenfranchisement of former felons – had not changed.

Mr Daniel also argued Monday that the procedural changes approved in the 1970s established the legal path for ex-offenders – who had served their sentences and no longer under any form of oversight – to regain voting rights, and that the court did not Power to change it.

Plaintiffs said the law violated parts of the state constitution that guaranteed citizens of the state essentially equal voting rights and stated that “all elections should be free”. Both clauses should apply to all felons who had served their sentences regardless of race, they argued. But the law’s apparent discriminatory effect on blacks, they said, was reason enough to put it down.

Monday’s verdict was not entirely unexpected. The same three-judge panel had temporarily blocked enforcement of part of the law ahead of the November general election, stating that most people who have served their sentences cannot be excluded from voting if the only reason is for theirs continued surveillance consists of owing fines or court fees. The judges said it was an unconstitutional poll tax.

Categories
Health

CDC panel prepares to vote on Covid vaccine booster pictures for weak People

CDC panel prepares to vote on Covid vaccine booster shots for vulnerable Americans

Marilyn Lurie, who suffers from frontotemporal dementia, is being monitored in the back yard of her home by elderly caregiver Olga Lopez after receiving her first dose of COVID-19 vaccine as part of a mobile vaccination program on July 16, 2021 in Los Angeles, California.

Mario Tama | Getty Images News | Getty Images

A key advisory group from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention is preparing to vote on Friday on distributing Covid-19 vaccine booster shots to Americans with compromised immune systems.

The CDC’s Advisory Committee on Immunization Practices is due to meet on Friday to consider Covid booster vaccinations for such people, including cancer and HIV patients. On Thursday, the CDC updated their website to indicate that a vote is scheduled for the meeting on Friday around 1 p.m. ET.

The Food and Drug Administration is expected to approve a third Covid vaccination for immunocompromised populations on Thursday, a highly anticipated move designed to protect some of the most vulnerable Americans from the highly contagious Delta variant.

However, the FDA’s OK is not the final go-ahead. The CDC Advisory Committee must then make a recommendation on how to distribute the booster shots. If the CDC accepts the advisory group’s recommendation as expected, third shots could begin immediately.

Immunocompromised populations would be the first group in the US to receive a booster vaccination. Federal health officials are not currently recommending additional doses for the general public.

People with compromised immune systems make up only about 2.7% of the adult US population. Still, they account for around 44% of hospitalized breakthrough Covid cases, according to recent data from the CDC group. A breakthrough case is infection in a fully vaccinated person.

The Senior Medical Advisor to the White House, Dr. Anthony Fauci said last week that new data suggests that immunocompromised people are not generating an adequate immune response after receiving two doses of a Covid vaccine.

CDC Director Dr. Rochelle Walensky, the FDA has worked closely with Pfizer and Moderna to give these vulnerable groups the opportunity to receive booster vaccinations.

“An extra dose could help increase protection for these people, which is especially important as the Delta variant is spreading,” she said during a Covid briefing at the White House. “This action is about ensuring that our most vulnerable, who may need an extra dose to improve their biological responses to the vaccines, are better protected from Covid-19.”

Categories
Politics

C.D.C. Panel Recommends Third Vaccine Dose for Immunocompromised

C.D.C. Panel Recommends Third Vaccine Dose for Immunocompromised

Dr. Jose U. Scher, a rheumatologist at NYU Langone Health who has studied the effect of vaccines on the immunocompromised, said that the C.D.C. vote — and the guidance from its experts — would help patients who had been agonizing over whether to seek out a third shot. Previously, he said, when people tested themselves for antibodies after vaccination and came up empty, “there were no tools for us to respond to that.”

Updated 

Aug. 13, 2021, 5:00 a.m. ET

“We now know that this population was being left behind,” he said.

Immunocompromised people will not need a doctor’s permission or a prescription to get a third shot, C.D.C. officials said. They will need only to attest that they meet the eligibility requirements for an additional dose. Anyone else, including people with chronic medical conditions, like diabetes or asthma, should not be getting third shots at this point, they said.

Dr. Scher predicted that this honor-system approach could be messy. “I don’t know if there’s any way of corroborating someone’s claim” of being immunocompromised, he said. Requiring some kind of proof, such as a doctor’s note, would be a better process, he said.

The updated F.D.A. authorizations do not apply to immunocompromised people who received the single-dose Johnson & Johnson vaccine. The C.D.C. panel did not offer recommendations on additional shots for that group, which is believed to be small. But the lack of guidance from either the F.D.A. or C.D.C. has left that group in limbo.

Understand the State of Vaccine and Mask Mandates in the U.S.

    • Mask rules. The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention in July recommended that all Americans, regardless of vaccination status, wear masks in indoor public places within areas experiencing outbreaks, a reversal of the guidance it offered in May. See where the C.D.C. guidance would apply, and where states have instituted their own mask policies. The battle over masks has become contentious in some states, with some local leaders defying state bans.
    • Vaccine rules . . . and businesses. Private companies are increasingly mandating coronavirus vaccines for employees, with varying approaches. Such mandates are legally allowed and have been upheld in court challenges.
    • College and universities. More than 400 colleges and universities are requiring students to be vaccinated against Covid-19. Almost all are in states that voted for President Biden.
    • Schools. On Aug. 11, California announced that it would require teachers and staff of both public and private schools to be vaccinated or face regular testing, the first state in the nation to do so. A survey released in August found that many American parents of school-age children are opposed to mandated vaccines for students, but were more supportive of mask mandates for students, teachers and staff members who do not have their shots.  
    • Hospitals and medical centers. Many hospitals and major health systems are requiring employees to get a Covid-19 vaccine, citing rising caseloads fueled by the Delta variant and stubbornly low vaccination rates in their communities, even within their work force.
    • New York. On Aug. 3, Mayor Bill de Blasio of New York announced that proof of vaccination would be required of workers and customers for indoor dining, gyms, performances and other indoor situations, becoming the first U.S. city to require vaccines for a broad range of activities. City hospital workers must also get a vaccine or be subjected to weekly testing. Similar rules are in place for New York State employees.
    • At the federal level. The Pentagon announced that it would seek to make coronavirus vaccinations mandatory for the country’s 1.3 million active-duty troops “no later” than the middle of September. President Biden announced that all civilian federal employees would have to be vaccinated against the coronavirus or submit to regular testing, social distancing, mask requirements and restrictions on most travel.

“We do understand the challenges here, and because of that we will continue to work very diligently to try to have a solution,” Dr. Peter Marks, the F.D.A.’s top vaccine regulator, said at the panel’s meeting. The F.D.A. is waiting on more data that it expects to receive this month, including Johnson & Johnson’s clinical trial data on the safety and efficacy of two doses.

Dr. Kathleen Dooling, a C.D.C. official, said that patients who qualify for a third dose should ideally seek out the vaccine they already received, but that they could take the other two-dose vaccine if necessary.

Presenting studies that supported giving third doses, Dr. Dooling emphasized that immunocompromised people who receive a third dose should still wear a mask, maintain social distancing with people they do not live with, and avoid crowds and poorly ventilated indoor spaces. She said that people with weakened immune systems had also been shown to be at greater risk of breakthrough infection.

Categories
Politics

Trump pushed DOJ to overturn 2020 election outcomes: Home panel

Trump pushed DOJ to overturn 2020 election results: House panel

Then-President Donald Trump put pressure on his new acting attorney general to overturn the 2020 vote, telling him, “Just say the election was corrupt + leave the rest to me and the R. Congressmen,” it says a phone call that was posted on Friday to a House Committee.

Trump also suggested he consider replacing the Justice Department leadership, according to the records of then-Assistant Attorney General Richard Donoghue, who called on Dec. 27.

Donoghue’s report on the call shows that Trump “directly directed our nation’s chief law enforcement agency to take steps to overturn a free and fair election in the final days of his presidency,” said House Oversight and Reform Committee Chair Carolyn Maloney, DN.Y in a press release.

The committee has already started scheduling witness interviews “to investigate the full extent of the former president’s corruption,” Maloney said.

Donoghue’s notes do not specify which Republican lawmaker Trump was referring to to overthrow Joe Biden’s victory. But Trump mentioned GOP representatives Jim Jordan from Ohio, Scott Perry from Pennsylvania, and Senator Ron Johnson from Wisconsin elsewhere on the call.

Jordan spokesman Russell Dye told CNBC in a statement that the congressman “has not pressured anyone in the Justice Department about the 2020 election, has not pressured them,” and that he “continues to agree with President Trump that it is perfectly.” is appropriate to raise concerns about electoral integrity. “

Johnson “had no discussions with President Trump about the DOJ questioning the election results,” said his spokeswoman Alexa Henning.

Chairwoman Carolyn Maloney, DN.Y., speaks during a House Oversight and Reform Committee hearing on DC statehood on Tuesday, February 11, 2020.

Caroline Brehman | CQ name call | Getty Images

The notes also show that Rosen and Donoghue are trying to inform Trump that his claims of widespread electoral fraud are not supported by evidence. Just four days before the call, Rosen became Trump’s incumbent AG after the resignation of William Barr.

“Much of the information you are receiving is inaccurate,” the phone notes shared with Trump said.

Later in the conversation, Trump claimed, “These people who say the elections are not corrupt are corrupt,” the notes read.

A Trump spokeswoman did not immediately respond to CNBC’s request to comment on the committee’s release. A Perry spokesman also did not immediately respond to a request for comment.

Trump has never admitted defeat to Biden. After his loss, Trump aggressively spread a wide range of baseless conspiracy theories in support of the false claim that the elections were rigged against him.

His lawyers and allies filed dozens of lawsuits in key states, all aimed at undoing Biden’s victory. No one was able to reverse the votes or change the results of the state elections.

CNBC policy

Read more about CNBC’s political coverage:

Donoghue’s notes are just the latest material House investigators have held up as evidence of Trump’s efforts to rely on government institutions to contest his electoral defeat.

Last month, Maloney’s committee dumped more than 200 pages of emails between DOJ officials and White House staff allegedly attempting to ask the Supreme Court to overturn major state election results.

Earlier this week, the DOJ announced former Trump administration officials that they would be able to partner with House and Senate investigations into Trump’s election reversal efforts in the final months of his only term in office.

Maloney’s committee has sent letters to Rosen and Donoghue asking them to appear for transcribed interviews. The panel has also asked former White House Chief of Staff Mark Meadows, former Assistant Attorney General Jeffrey Clark, former Assistant Attorney General Patrick Hovakimian, former U.S. Attorney for the Northern District of Georgia Byung Jin Pak, and former Acting U.S. Attorney General Prosecutor for interviewing District Bobby Christine.

Categories
World News

Third member of prestigious FDA panel resigns over approval of Biogen’s Alzheimer’s drug

Third member of prestigious FDA panel resigns over approval of Biogen's Alzheimer's drug

A sign for the Food and Drug Administration is seen outside of the headquarters on July 20, 2020 in White Oak, Maryland.

Sarah Silbiger | Getty Images

A third member of a key Food and Drug Administration advisory panel has resigned over the agency’s controversial decision to approve Biogen’s new Alzheimer’s drug, Aduhelm, CNBC has learned.

Dr. Aaron Kesselheim, a professor of medicine at Harvard Medical School, said the agency’s decision on Biogen “was probably the worst drug approval decision in recent U.S. history,” according to his resignation letter obtained by CNBC.

“At the last minute, the agency switched its review to the Accelerated Approval pathway based on the debatable premise that the drug’s effect on brain amyloid was likely to help patients with Alzheimer’s disease,” he wrote in resigning from the FDA’s Peripheral and Central Nervous System Advisory Committee.

He wrote it was “clear” to him that the agency is not “presently capable of adequately integrating the Committee’s scientific recommendations into its approval decisions.”

Shares of Biogen surged 38% Monday after the FDA approved the biotech company’s drug, the first medication cleared by U.S. regulators to slow cognitive decline in people living with Alzheimer’s and the first new medicine for the disease in nearly two decades.

The agency’s decision was a departure from the advice of its independent panel of outside experts, who unexpectedly declined to endorse the drug last fall, citing unconvincing data. At the time, the panel also criticized agency staff for what it called an overly positive review of the data.

This is a developing story. Please check back for updates.

Categories
Politics

Biden’s Decide to Lead ATF Seems Earlier than Senate Panel

Biden's Pick to Lead ATF Appears Before Senate Panel

David Chipman, President Biden’s election to head the Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives Bureau, faced waning criticism from Republicans during his confirmation hearing Wednesday of his history of scathing comments on gun ownership.

Mr. Chipman, a two-decade veteran of the ATF who advised gun control groups, was selected in part because of his willingness to face an industry that has handcuffed the agency that enforces gun laws.

But his comments – including an interview last year in which he jokingly compared frantic gun purchases during the coronavirus pandemic to a zombie apocalypse – have been the subject of repeated questions from Republicans on the Senate Judiciary Committee.

“Many see it as a dedicated gun control advocate like David Chipman, who is in charge of ATF, a tobacco manager who is in charge of the Department of Health and Human Services, or Antifa, who is in charge of the Portland Police Department “said Senator Charles E. Grassley, Republican of Iowa and the senior committee member.

As the hearing began, news reports of a fatal shooting in San Jose, California began pinging on lawmakers’ phones. “I’m not lost that there is another mass shooting,” said Senator Amy Klobuchar, a Minnesota Democrat.

The National Rifle Association launched a coordinated campaign against Mr. Chipman’s nomination, citing his promises to regulate automatic weapons and his support for universal background checks.

The organization has effectively exercised a veto power over the appointment of stable leadership at the ATF and blocked several potential directors, including a conservative police union official who was tapped by President Donald J. Trump. The gun lobby has also waged a decades-long campaign to fight the ATF, fighting against fund increases and efforts to modernize their paper-based firearms tracking system.

Republicans said Mr. Chipman’s penchant for provocation made him an unacceptable choice in hopes of sinking his nomination, just as a story of inflammatory Twitter posts doomed Neera Tanden’s nomination, Mr. Biden’s first choice, to be his Head of household office.

Senator Mike Lee, Republican of Utah, barbecued Mr. Chipman for jokingly said in an interview last year that some first-time gun buyers were “preparing for end-time scenarios and zombie apocalypses.”

Mr Chipman, who appeared to be trying to avoid back and forth with Republicans, said the statements were “self-deprecating”. He also diverted questions about his advocacy of progressive politics by saying he considers himself a “policeman”.

Minutes later, after Texas Republican Senator Ted Cruz criticized him for calling for restrictions on AR-15-style rifles, Mr. Chipman thanked the Senator for telling me “me a Dr. Pepper offered ”.

Mr Biden elected Mr Chipman after a lobbying campaign by gun safety organizations led by former representative Gabrielle Giffords. For the past several years, Mr. Chipman has worked with groups led by Ms. Giffords and Michael R. Bloomberg, former Mayor of New York City, who also urged his selection.

The White House was initially reluctant to nominate anyone who would provoke such fierce opposition, but Mr Biden decided he had to take a risk after the mass murders in Atlanta and Boulder, White House officials said.

White House officials believe Mr Chipman has just enough votes – they estimate 50-52 – to overcome near-unanimous Republican opposition.

Two critical Democrats, Senators Joe Manchin III from West Virginia and Kyrsten Sinema from Arizona, have told Democratic leaders that if the hearings go well, they will likely vote for him. Two Republicans, Senators Susan Collins from Maine and Patrick J. Toomey from Pennsylvania, haven’t ruled out their support.

Categories
Business

Biden urges mother and father to get children vaccinated after CDC panel endorses shot

Biden urges parents to get kids vaccinated after CDC panel endorses shot

United States President Joe Biden makes remarks on the Covid-19 response and vaccination program on May 12, 2021 in the South Court Auditorium of the White House, Washington, DC.

Nicholas Comb | AFP | Getty Images

President Joe Biden urged parents on Wednesday to vaccinate their children just before the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention approved the use of the Pfid and BioNTech Covid-19 vaccine for teens ages 12-15.

The previous Wednesday, the CDC’s Advisory Committee on Immunization Practices (ACIP) issued its recommendation, which was accepted 14-0 with one abstention. CDC director Dr. Rochelle Walensky gave final approval to the approval later that day.

Speaking at a press conference, Biden said the approval was “another big step in our fight against the pandemic”.

Almost 17 million Americans can now get vaccinated, Biden said during a speech on the White House’s Covid-19 response and vaccination campaign. “I encourage each of them and their parents to get their vaccination shots right away,” he said.

In the clinical study of 12-15 year olds, the vaccine was found to be 100% effective at two doses. The most commonly reported side effects were pain at the injection site and in joints and muscles, fatigue, headache, chills and fever, said Pfizer scientist Dr. John Perez told the CDC panel on Wednesday. Side effects usually subsided within a day or two, he said.

The Biden government is working to make the Pfizer BioNTech vaccine available in more locations in the United States, including pediatrician offices and local pharmacies, according to senior government officials.

The CDC, in partnership with states, has made efforts to enroll more pediatricians and general practitioners as Covid vaccination providers to expand access to shots in the coming weeks. The CDC will also work with community health centers to provide vaccinations for adolescents.

The CDC panel’s approval comes ahead of the summer camp season and July 4th – a date the Biden government hopes will mark a turning point in the nation’s fight against the virus. According to the Johns Hopkins University, more than 3.3 million people have died of Covid-19 worldwide, almost 600,000 of them in the United States.

Vaccinating children is seen as critical to ending the pandemic. The nation is unlikely to achieve herd immunity – if enough people in a given community have antibodies to a given disease – until children can be vaccinated, health officials and experts say.

As of Tuesday, more than 150 million Americans ages 18 and older had received at least one dose, according to the CDC. Around 115 million American adults are fully vaccinated, according to the CDC. About 13% of adults say they definitely won’t get a vaccine, while 21% say they will “wait and see” or just get one if needed, according to the Kaiser Family Foundation.

Categories
Health

5 issues to know earlier than CDC panel votes on use in adolescents

5 things to know before CDC panel votes on use in adolescents

A student receives her first Pfizer Biontech COVID vaccine at Ridley High School on May 3, 2021 as part of a clinic for students ages 16-18.

Pete Bannan | MediaNews Group | Daily times via Getty Images

A key CDC advisory body is due to vote on Wednesday on whether to recommend the use of Pfizer and BioNTech’s Covid-19 vaccine for children ages 12-15.

The widely awaited approval from the CDC’s Advisory Committee on Immunization Practices is the final step before US officials put their thumbs up on states to allow millions of teenagers to be vaccinated as early as Thursday.

Allowing teenagers to get the shots will accelerate the nation’s efforts to fight infection and return to some form of normalcy, say public health officials and infectious disease experts. It also allows states to vaccinate middle school students before summer camps start and school starts in the fall.

The Center for Disease Control and Prevention Panel meeting will take place two days after the Food and Drug Administration announced that it would approve Pfizer and BioNTech’s application to allow young teenagers to be vaccinated in an emergency. The vaccine is already approved for use in people aged 16 and over. It’s given in two doses three weeks apart in teenagers, the same regimen for 16 years and older, according to the FDA.

Here’s what to expect.

When do you vote?

According to a draft agenda, the meeting will take place from 11 a.m. to 5 p.m. The vote usually takes place towards the end.

Prior to voting, medical experts will evaluate clinical trial data from Pfizer and BioNTech and provide their views on the vaccine, including whether the benefits outweigh the risks for use in adolescents. The companies announced in late March that the vaccine was 100% effective in a clinical study involving more than 2,000 adolescents. The side effects were generally consistent with those seen in adults, they added.

What happens next?

Dr. Peter Marks, director of the FDA’s Center for Biologics Evaluation and Research, told reporters Monday he expected the first shots for young teenagers to be given as early as Thursday until the panel is approved and approved by the CDC director.

The distribution of vaccines will be different across the US, officials told reporters, as states have different regulations about who can give shots to younger age groups. The Biden government has announced plans to send vaccines directly to pediatrician offices and make doses available in other locations such as community centers.

Is the Vaccine Safe?

In a statement on Monday, incumbent FDA commissioner Dr. Janet Woodcock told parents that the agency “did a rigorous and thorough review of all available data” before clearing it for use on younger teenagers.

The FDA said the side effects in adolescents were consistent with those reported in clinical trial participants aged 16 and over. It was suggested that the vaccine should not be given to anyone who has had a history of severe allergic reactions, including anaphylaxis, a severe and potentially life-threatening allergic reaction.

The most commonly reported side effects, according to the FDA, were pain at the injection site, joints and muscles, fatigue, headache, chills, and fever. With the exception of pain at the injection site, more teens reported side effects after the second dose than after the first, the agency said. The side effects usually lasted one to three days.

When do younger children get access?

Studies are currently being carried out to test Covid vaccines in children under the age of 12. However, researchers believe these studies will take longer as they gradually examine younger age groups and experiment with lower doses after the vaccines are shown to be safe in older children.

FDA approval for children under the age of 12 could come in the second half of this year. In a presentation to coincide with the company’s earnings release on May 4th, Pfizer expects to file for approval of its toddler vaccine in September and toddler vaccine in November.

Moderna and Johnson & Johnson, whose vaccines are approved for people aged 18 and over, are also testing their recordings in younger age groups.

Do children need recordings for school and activities?

Possibly. For example, schools can legally require that students be vaccinated, according to Dorit Reiss, a law professor at UC Hastings College of Law.

Several colleges and universities have already stated that they need Covid vaccinations for students returning in the fall. It is possible that vaccinations are required to participate in after-school activities such as sports, arts, and other personal activities after school.

The federal government is unlikely to prescribe vaccines for children or other groups, public health experts say.

The CDC has previously said schools can safely reopen without vaccinating teachers or students. Biden’s government has announced it will invest $ 10 billion in Covid testing for schools to accelerate the return to one-to-one tuition across the country this fall.

Categories
Health

CDC panel debates J&J Covid vaccine after uncommon blood clot challenge

CDC panel debates J&J Covid vaccine after rare blood clot issue

[The stream is slated to start at 11 a.m. ET. Please refresh the page if you do not see a player above at that time.]

An advisory panel from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention is holding an emergency meeting Friday to discuss Johnson & Johnson’s Covid-19 vaccine and its use after six women developed a rare but potentially life-threatening bleeding disorder called the one left dead.

A positive recommendation from the CDC Advisory Committee on Immunization Practices could pave the way for US regulators to lift the recommended hiatus for the use of the J&J shot earlier this weekend.

The CDC panel decided to postpone a decision on the vaccine last week while officials continued to investigate cases of six women who developed cerebral sinus thrombosis (CVST) within about two weeks of receiving the shot.

Earlier this week, J&J announced that it would restart its vaccine rollout in Europe after regulators there backed the single vaccine by recommending adding a warning to the label. The European Medicines Agency has examined all available evidence, including reports from the United States.