CNN: Moderna seeks emergency use authorization for Covid-19 vaccine for children ages 6 months through 5 years. “Moderna is seeking emergency use authorization from the US Food and Drug Administration for its Covid-19 vaccine for children 6 months through 5 years of age, the company said Thursday.”
Ars Technica: Fauci confirms parents’ nightmare: FDA may delay COVID vaccines for kids under 5. “The Food and Drug Administration is considering holding off on reviewing Moderna’s COVID-19 vaccine for children under age 5 until it has data from Pfizer and BioNTech on their vaccine for young children. The plan would push back the earliest possible authorization for a vaccine in the age group from May to June—yet another blow to parents who are anxious to protect their young children as the rest of the country ditches pandemic precautions, despite recent upticks in cases.”
Boing Boing: A child born in 2020 tries to get hand sanitizer out of a brick, and everything else, in adorable video. “A cute little girl born during the pandemic plays make-believe by walking around trying to squirt hand sanitizer from every square-shaped object in reach. A true sign of the times.”
Pittsburgh Post-Gazette: Some women extend breastfeeding to get COVID antibodies into their babies. “At just 19 months old, Ashley Bournias’ son, Theodore, is too young to receive any of the COVID vaccines. But Ms. Bournias has found a way to give him some protection against the virus: through antibodies in her breast milk…. Ms. Bournias, of McCandless, is part of a group of women sometimes referred to as long-haul breastfeeders, who are continuing to breastfeed longer than they had planned, in order to protect their toddlers from COVID-19.”
BuzzFeed News: People Are Frustrated There Isn’t A COVID Vaccine For Babies — And It’s Not Just Parents. “BuzzFeed News asked readers to tell us how they feel about the vaccine delay and received over 1,000 responses from parents, teachers, and other people who interact with and take care of children. While we may be only weeks away from a safe and effective vaccine for kids under 5, many people have felt lost and isolated in the process.”
Axios: CDC study: COVID vaccination during pregnancy protects infants. “Getting vaccinated against the coronavirus while pregnant can protect infants 6 months and younger from being hospitalized for COVID, according to a recent study from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.”
New York Times: Unvaccinated women with Covid are more likely to lose fetuses and infants, Scottish data show.. “Researchers in Scotland reported on Thursday that pregnant women with Covid were not only at greater risk of developing severe disease, but also more likely to lose their fetuses and babies in the womb or shortly after birth, compared with other women who gave birth during the pandemic.”
WWLP: Vaccinated women pass COVID-19 antibodies to breastfeeding babies. “Women vaccinated against COVID-19 transfer SARS-CoV-2 antibodies to their breastfed infants, potentially giving their babies passive immunity against the coronavirus, according to University of Massachusetts Amherst research.”
Washington Post: In coronavirus-hit Mexico, many women are ‘determined to not have babies’. “Everyone knew the pandemic would bring death. Edith García Díaz thought it would also bring birth — lots of birth. As a state health official, she worried the crisis would impede access to contraceptives, leading to a rise in pregnancies…. But as the data trickle in, one state after another has reported the opposite tendency. Births in Mexico dropped 11 percent in the first six months of this year compared with the same period in 2020, according to preliminary Health Ministry data.”
Washington Post: Pfizer to test a third dose of coronavirus vaccine in young children after two-dose regimen falls short. “The companies reported that two doses of the pediatric vaccine failed in 2-, 3- and 4-year-olds to trigger an immune response comparable to what was generated in teens and older adults. The vaccine did generate an adequate immune response in children 6 months to 2 years old. If three doses are successful at triggering a protective immune response, the companies expect to submit the data to regulators in the first half of next year.”
CNET: What to know about COVID vaccines and boosters during pregnancy. “As of mid-September, only 31% of pregnant people were vaccinated against COVID-19 — a much lower rate than the general US adult population — but they had a 70% increased risk of dying from symptomatic COVID-19 compared to people who weren’t pregnant. Now, research is showing that pregnant people with COVID-19 have a higher risk of their baby being stillborn, according to a November report by the CDC. ”
Stony Brook University: Study Shows Pandemic, Discrimination Contribute to Fewer Infant Vaccinations. “A new study summarized in a research letter published in JAMA Pediatrics reveals that a number of factors, including negative impacts from the pandemic during pregnancy, healthcare experiences, and reports of discrimination, made it less likely that infants received their recommended vaccinations in the first months of their lives.”
WRAL: ‘Miracle baby’: NC woman in coma fighting COVID-19 gives birth to her first child. “A first-time mother in North Carolina has not yet seen her newborn daughter, because she is a COVID-19 patient in a medically-induced coma. Her family says as Vicki Goodson battles the virus, they won’t give up hope.
Newswise: Study: No Serious COVID-19 Vaccine Side Effects in Breastfeeding Moms, Infants. “In a recent study, published in the online edition of Breastfeeding Medicine, researchers at University of California San Diego School of Medicine found that breastfeeding mothers who received either the Pfizer-BioNTech or Moderna vaccination reported the same local or systemic symptoms as what has been previously reported in non-breastfeeding women, with no serious side effects in the breastfed infants.”
Texas Tribune: Texas children and children’s hospitals are under siege from two viruses: RSV and COVID-19. “More children are being treated in Texas hospitals for COVID-19 than ever before. But there’s a second factor that is putting pediatric hospitals on the path to being overwhelmed: an unseasonable outbreak of respiratory syncytial virus or RSV, a highly contagious virus that can require hospitalization mostly among children five years and younger and especially infants.”
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