Tag: COVID-19 delta variant

Pfizer to seek FDA authorization for booster of COVID-19 vaccine

The Hill logo

Pfizer and BioNTech announced Thursday that they plan to seek authorization from the Food and Drug Administration (FDA) for a third dose of their COVID-19 vaccine, saying it would provide even stronger protection.

In a statement released Thursday afternoon, the companies said they have seen “encouraging data” from an ongoing trial of the booster shot, adding that it provides levels of neutralizing antibodies five to 10 times higher, when administered six months after the second dose. The companies plan to submit data “in the coming weeks.”

It will be up to U.S. regulators — the FDA and the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention — whether to recommend a third dose. Continue reading.

Risks rise as vaccination gap with Trump counties grows wider

The Hill logo

A stark divide in the vaccination rates of blue and red states has grown more prominent in recent months, imperiling a full national recovery.

While a partisan divide fueled in large part by former President Trump has been a defining characteristic of COVID-19 in the United States, the gap is becoming more worrisome once again with the deadly delta variant.

According to data across 2,415 counties analyzed by the Kaiser Family Foundation (KFF), the vaccination gap between counties that voted for Trump in the 2020 election and those that voted for President Biden has nearly doubled in less than two months.  Continue reading.

Woman Afraid of Vaccine Side Effects Dies From Delta Variant: ‘I Couldn’t Convince Her’

Newsweek Logo

A woman in Missouri was afraid of the side effects from COVID-19 vaccines and chose not to get the shots, but later contracted the Delta variant of the novel coronavirus and died in the hospital.

Deborah Carmichael, the mother of now-deceased 45-year-old Tricia Jones, is speaking out and urging those hesitant about the vaccine to get the jab after losing her daughter in June. She spoke to Kansas City’s news channel Fox 4 WDAF-TV about her daughter’s death and vaccine hesitancy in an interview broadcast this week.

“She was afraid of the side effects, I think. You hear a lot of horror stories. I, myself, when I had the shot, it was rough, so it scared her and freaked her out. So she didn’t want to do it. I couldn’t convince her,” Carmichael told the Missouri news channel. Continue reading.