The Special Olympics has dropped a coronavirus vaccine mandate for its games in Orlando after Florida moved to fine the organization $27.5 million for violating a state law against such rules.
Republican Gov. Ron DeSantis on Friday announced the organization had removed the requirement for its competition in the state, which is scheduled to run June 5 to June 12.
“In Florida, we want all of them to be able to compete. We do not think it’s fair or just to be marginalizing some of these athletes based on a decision that has no bearing on their ability to compete with honor or integrity,” DeSantis said at a news conference in Orlando.
The Florida health department notified the Special Olympics of the fine in a letter Thursday that said the organization would be fined $27.5 million for 5,500 violations of state law for requiring proof of coronavirus vaccination for attendees or participants.
Florida law bars businesses from requiring documentation of a COVID-19 vaccination. DeSantis has strongly opposed vaccine mandates and other virus policies endorsed by the federal government.
In a statement on its website, the Special Olympics said people who were registered but unable to participate because of the mandate can now attend.
Total Doses Distributed = 749,151,955. Total Doses Administered = 588,223,208. Number of People Receiving 1 or More Doses = 258,685,370. Number of People Fully Vaccinated = 221,406,167.
The Biden administration said Thursday that children under 5 may be able to get their first COVID-19 vaccination doses as soon as June 21, if federal regulators authorize shots for the age group, as expected.
White House COVID-19 coordinator Aashish Jha outlined the administration’s planning for the last remaining ineligible age group to get shots. He said the Food and Drug Administration’s outside panel of advisers will meet on June 14-15 to evaluate the Pfizer and Moderna shots for younger kids. Shipments to doctors’ offices and pediatric care facilities would begin soon after FDA authorization, with the first shots possible the following week.
Jha said states can begin placing orders for pediatric vaccines on Friday, and said the administration has an initial supply of 10 million doses available. He said it may take a few days for the vaccines to arrive across the country and vaccine appointments to be widespread.
“Our expectation is that within weeks every parent who wants their child to get vaccinated will be able to get an appointment,” Jha said.
The Biden administration is pressing states to prioritize large-volume sites like children’s hospitals, and to make appointments available outside regular work hours to make it easier for parents to get their kids vaccinated.
Jha acknowledged the “frustration” of parents of young children who have been waiting more than a year for shots for their kids.
“At the end of the day we all want to move fast, but we’ve got to get it right,” he said.
Americans may soon get a new COVID-19 vaccine option — shots made with a more tried-and-true technology than today’s versions. The big question: Why should they care?
After long delays, the Food and Drug Administration is expected to decide within weeks whether to authorize Novavax’s vaccine. It’s late in the pandemic for a new choice, with about three-quarters of U.S. adults already vaccinated.
But the company is hoping to find a niche among some of the unvaccinated millions who might agree to a more traditional kind of shot — a protein vaccine — and also to become a top choice for boosters, regardless of which type people got first. Only about half of vaccinated adults have gotten a booster.
The Novavax vaccine already is used in parts of Europe and multiple other countries, but FDA clearance is a key hurdle. And health experts are closely watching to see if a new tool offers advantages, either in enticing vaccine holdouts or maybe even offering somewhat broader immunity.
“What I’ve seen of the Novavax data so far is it’s a really impressive protein vaccine,” said University of Pennsylvania immunologist E. John Wherry.
WHAT’S DIFFERENT?
The Novavax vaccine trains the body to fight the coronavirus by delivering copies of its outer coating, the spike protein. Those spike copies are grown in insect cells, purified and packaged into nanoparticles that to the immune system resemble a virus, said Novavax research chief Dr. Gregory Glenn.
Then an immune-boosting ingredient, or adjuvant, that’s made from the bark of a South American tree is added that acts as a red flag to ensure those particles look suspicious enough to spark a strong response.
“It’s basically a soap bubble. It’s made of stuff that you find in root beer,” Glenn said. “When an immune cell sees that, it becomes quite activated. … We supercharge the immune response.”
Protein vaccines have been used for years to prevent hepatitis B, shingles and other diseases.
It’s a very different approach than the Pfizer and Moderna shots. Those so-called mRNA vaccines have saved countless lives and changed the course of the pandemic but still, some people are uncomfortable with the new technology that delivers genetic instructions for the body to make its own spike copies. A third U.S. option, from Johnson & Johnson, isn’t as widely used.
WHY SO LATE?
Manufacturing problems held up the vaccine globally, but Novavax CEO Stanley Erck said those problems have been resolved and “are well behind us.” The company said more than 40 million doses had been distributed by March to countries in Asia, Europe and elsewhere.
Novavax, a small biotech company, created the vaccine in its research lab, but the Serum Institute of India, the world’s largest vaccine maker and other factories produce the shots.
Erck said the Serum Institute recently passed an FDA inspection, clearing the way for the agency to finish evaluating the vaccine.
HOW WELL DO THE SHOTS WORK?
Earlier in the pandemic, large studies in the U.S., Mexico and Britain found two doses of the Novavax vaccine were safe and about 90% effective at preventing symptomatic COVID-19. When the delta variant emerged last summer, Novavax reported a booster dose revved up virus-fighting antibodies that could tackle that mutant.
Now an even more contagious branch of the coronavirus family tree is dominant, the omicron mutant and its relatives. While none of the world’s COVID-19 vaccines have proved as strong against omicron, Glenn said lab tests show Novavax shots do trigger cross-protective antibodies.
Like other vaccine makers, Novavax is brewing shots updated to better target omicron. It opened a study in Australia to test how well an omicron-targeted booster revs up immunity in people who initially got Pfizer or Moderna doses.
And in flasks full of insect cells in the company’s Maryland-based research lab, scientists are designing spike proteins to match even newer omicron siblings, in case they’re needed.
WHAT’S NEXT?
On June 7, the FDA’s scientific advisers will publicly evaluate evidence backing the Novavax vaccine for adults — and almost certainly will debate when and how it might be used as a booster. If the FDA authorizes the vaccine, the next step would be recommendations from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention on how to use it.
European regulators are considering expanding Novavax shots to teenagers based on a U.S. study of those as young as 12 during last summer’s delta wave. The company plans further tests in younger children soon.
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The Associated Press Health and Science Department receives support from the Howard Hughes Medical Institute’s Department of Science Education. The AP is solely responsible for all content.
Zhu Rongfang was among a group of friends revisiting their favorite haunt in the center of Shanghai’s historic old town Thursday following the easing of COVID-19 restrictions that had confined many of the city’s 25 million residents to their homes for two months.
The 65-year-old retiree said she had a renewed sense of freedom that was “very nice.”
“The mood during lockdown is very different from now, really. Now it is a kind of re-liberation, a feeling of being released,” Zhu said.
Zhu was taking pictures in front of the City God Temple and its scenic pond that sit at the center of the Yuyuan Garden, which usually bustles with visitors from abroad and within China.
In-restaurant dining is still forbidden in Shanghai, Beijing and other Chinese cities and many communities remain under various levels of lockdown. Authorities in Shanghai have dialed back some of the most intrusive measures that prompted rare public protests, but local Communist Party neighborhood committees have continued to restrict how far and for how long residents can venture out.
Xia Huzheng, who owns a traditional instrument store in Yuyuan Garden, said he was hopeful tourists would return despite China largely keeping its borders closed. Travel between cities and even within districts is discouraged, though not officially banned.
“No foreigners, much less visited and fewer tourists. It should get better, right? It’ll recover gradually,” said Xia, 51, who has been performing on the Xiao flute and selling Chinese classical musical Instruments for more than 20 years.
China has stuck to a “zero-COVID” strategy that requires lockdowns, mass testing and isolation for those infected or in contact with someone testing positive.
Employment prospects for migrant workers and the 11 million new college graduates have been substantially crimped and private sector forecasters have cut their estimates for this year’s economic growth to as low as 2%, well below the ruling Communist Party’s target of 5.5%.
Shanghai reported just 13 new cases of COVID-19 on Thursday, furthering hopes that all restrictions will soon be lifted.
Commercial outlets in the city’s major business districts have gradually resumed work, opening their doors to customers who still need to show a negative test result over the past 72 hours.
“Today, more than 90% of our stores and merchants are operating normally,” said Hu Huiya, an executive with the office and shopping complex Plaza66 in central Shanghai.
Merchants told the Shanghai Media Group that customers have shown strong desire for shopping on the first day of reopening.
“Now the entire passenger flow is the kind of scene we could only see on weekends before lockdown,” said Shi Jing of Florentia Village, a designer outlet in Shanghai’s Pudong District.
The city’s subway lines also resumed operations on Wednesday, although passenger levels remained at half of those before the lockdown, reflecting an exodus of migrants who have lined up for hours at train stations and airports to return home.
Total Doses Distributed = 747,974,855. Total Doses Administered = 587,821,662. Number of People Receiving 1 or More Doses = 258,655,540. Number of People Fully Vaccinated = 221,350,544.
