A new study out of Israel found that unvaccinated children may get indirect protection from COVID-19 through their vaccinated parents.
Researchers studied households made up of two parents and unvaccinated children, estimating the effect of parental vaccination on unvaccinated children’s risk of catching COVID. The research was conducted during two periods in 2021, corresponding with the alpha and delta variant waves.
The study found that, regardless of household size, having one vaccinated parent decreased the risk of an unvaccinated child catching COVID by 23.4% on average. Two vaccinated parents decreased the risk by an average of 64.9%, although the risk only decreased by 58.1% during the delta wave compared to 71.7% during the alpha wave.
The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention recommends everyone over the age of five receive a vaccine.
Reported child COVID-19 cases have spiked dramatically across the United States with the rise of the highly contagious omicron variant. In the week ending Jan. 20, over 1.1 million COVID-19 cases in children were reported nationwide — a 17% increase from the 981,000 cases a week prior, and double the cases from the two weeks earlier, according to the American Academy of Pediatrics.
Also in the news:
►Former Alaska Gov. Sarah Palin dined at a New York City restaurant Wednesday, days after it was confirmed she tested positive for the coronavirus multiple times. CDC guidelines call for people to isolate themselves for at least five days after the onset of symptoms or a positive test.
►A New York couple is facing felony charges for allegedly using fake COVID-19 vaccine cards to get into the Buffalo Bills’ wild card game against the New England Patriots.
►San Francisco will allow vaccinated office workers, gym members, and other “stable cohorts” of people to stop wearing masks indoors on Feb. 1.
📈Today’s numbers: The U.S. has recorded more than 73 million confirmed COVID-19 cases and more than 878,000 deaths, according to Johns Hopkins University data. Global totals: More than 365 million cases and over 5.6 million deaths. More than 211 million Americans — 63.6% — are fully vaccinated, according to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.
📘What we’re reading: The Biden administration’s mandate that began Jan. 15 calls for those with private health insurance to get a monthly allotment of free tests. Yet health experts say the ambitious federal plan to quickly extend home testing will be challenging because of the nation’s fragmented health care system.
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FDA pulled monoclonal antibodies authorization because they were ‘doing nothing’ against omicron
The Food and Drug Administration pulled its authorization of two of the most used monoclonal antibodies to treat COVID-19 this week, leaving doctors with fewer options to help their patients avoid the hospital.
Why did the FDA shut them down? Because the two, from drugmakers Regeneron and Eli Lilly, don’t work against the omicron variant that now causes more than 99% of coronavirus infections in the United States.
“All the data show that these older antibodies are ineffective against omicron,” said Dr. Daniel Kuritzkes, chief of the division of infectious diseases at Brigham and Women’s Hospital in Boston.
It was clear that for patients with omicron infections the monoclonals were “doing nothing,” said Dr. Eric Topol, founder and director of the Scripps Research Translational Institute in La Jolla, California. “There’s overpowering data (that these) monoclonals are unable to bind to omicron,” he added.
— Karen Weintraub, USA TODAY
Contributing: The Associated Press