Children as Young as 12 Eligible for COVID Vaccine

 https://www.nytimes.com/article/kids-covid-vaccine.html

https://www.nbcnews.com/health/health-news/600-000-children-ages-12-15-have-received-their-first-n1267795

This May, the Food and Drug Administration granted emergency authorization for the Pfizer-BioNTech vaccine for 12-17 year olds, which had been authorized for emergency use for 16-17 year olds since December 2020. As of May 18th, more than 600,000 children ages 12-15 received their first dose of the Pfizer vaccine, with the age group in the US totaling to more than 17 million individuals. Both Moderna and Johnson & Johnson are also conducting studies on this age group. 

According to the American Academy of Pediatrics, more than 3.9 million cases of COVID have been reported among children, which is about 14% of the total COVID cases in the US. Although younger patients are less likely to show severe symptoms, 308 children have died because of COVID-19, and thousands more have developed a multi-system inflammatory syndrome known as MISC. 

Despite lower death rates, children and teens are still at risk for COVID and need to be protected. Increase vaccine availability and increased vaccination rates among younger Americans increases the safety of institutions such as schools, and allows for a more likely return to normal life in the near future. 

In my opinion, the authorization of the Pfizer vaccine for younger age groups is good for combating vaccine hesitancy, as it allows the vaccine to be seen as more trustworthy to hesitant parents and adults thinking about whether to get their own shots. As more COVID vaccines become available for broader age groups, it would be interesting to see whether the overall vaccination rates in the US increase as well. Either way, these authorizations provide a hopeful light after a long period of trial and tribulation.

Discussion questions:

- How do you think the recent Pfizer authorization for younger age groups has affected school districts and other education systems?

- What other methods could be used to combat vaccine hesitancy? 

White House scrambles to reassure public after pause on Johnson & Johnson's vaccine

 

article link: https://www.cnn.com/2021/04/13/politics/white-house-johnson-and-johnson/index.html

    On Tuesday morning April 13, The Food and Drug Administration (FDA) informed President Biden and the public that health agencies across the US are recommending a  shutdown for the administering of the Johnson and Johnson vaccine after several cases of extremely rare blood clotting. Officials claim that the shutdown will not affect the process of vaccinating Americans, as Pfizer and Moderna doses will be provided as replacements. Governors and Health Officials, however, still hold concern that the shutdown will deplete confidence in the vaccine that is so important for the US to come out of the pandemic.

    President Biden gave a speech midday Tuesday where he addressed the situation, saying,"There is enough vaccine that is basically 100% unquestionable, for every single solitary American." Although addressing concern over supply, he did not address the concerns over possible vaccine hesitancy from skeptical members of the public. As of now, all Federal Health cites, vaccination sites, and health centers were told to immediately stop giving out Johnson and Johnson vaccines. The Biden Administration is still on track to vaccinate 200 million citizens by the end of April.

    The possible negative effects of the Johnson and Johnson vaccine target women mainly under the age of 60. Dr.Anthony Fauci said on the pause that the main reason behind it was to warn physicians from giving people in the at-risk group the anticoagulant heparin which is potentially dangerous, and also mentioned that the FDA and CDC would find out whether there are more cases of blood clotting than the six known.

In my opinion, the fallout of the Johnson and Johnson vaccine could be potentially very damaging on vaccine hesitancy. Many Americans have already shown skepticism over the vaccines, and the negative side effects that the Johnson and Johnson vaccine are showing are a cause for public dismay and distrust in the administering of the COVID vaccines which are brand new. Since the government is pushing the vaccines significantly, I do believe this could lead many citizens to be discouraged from attaining vaccines.

discussion questions:

- Do you believe it was rightful to pause the administering of Johnson and Johnson Vaccines?

- How do you think the pause will affect the process of Americans getting vaccinated?

Battling Asian Hate

As a result of the recent surge in violence against Asian Americans, including a brutal attack on a Filipino woman in New York City and shootings of six Asian women at spas in Atlanta, President Biden has detailed plans to stifle the rise of racism. His plans include increased accessibility of hate crime data by publishing a page focused on attacks against Asian Americans and Pacific Islanders. He also plans to provide police with more training, and will have the FBI hold civil rights training for the public to encourage people to report hate crimes, as language barriers have historically made victims reluctant to report. To address the past crimes that have been overlooked, he also plans to support survivors of violence and assault that also face language barriers with $50 million in grants. 

The Justice Department will review how it can more effectively prosecute those who commit hate crimes against Asian Americans. Unfortunately, hate crime charges are difficult to prove beyond reasonable doubt in court because establishing that the reason that victims were targeted was their race, specifically, is extremely difficult, especially since there is no common or unified anti-Asian symbol. Prosecutors are forced to rely on the use of racist slurs or remarks, or on the aggressor’s admission that their crime was a result of race based motives. 

Additionally, since the First Amendment protects free speech rights, a person can not be punished for merely name-calling, verbally abusing, or using hateful speech; they can only be punished under hate crime laws if there are threats of violence or violent actions. Because of this, Biden’s efforts will likely not be enough to prevent anti-Asian sentiments from spreading and wreaking havoc on the Asian American community, but it is definitely a step in the right direction since it will decrease the amount of outright violence.

Article Link

Questions:

1. Do you think Biden is doing enough? What else could he do to prevent hate crimes?
2. How do we combat or punish anti-Asian speech without undermining First Amendment rights?

Biden giving media 'zero access' to border operations: photojournalist

 Article link

CNN, among other news stations, are calling out the Biden administration for refusing to allow reporteres access to the U.S's southern border with Mexico. White House Press Secretary Jen Psaki claims that the children at the border are being kept safe and that the Biden administration is being completely transparent. CNN reporter Pamela Brown notes that "as the situation at the US-Mexico border gets worse, the media is being kept from it.” With the situation at the border changing every day I believe that the media and the people have a right to know. In a country founded on freedoms such as freedom of press, the biden administration cannot be truly transparent while preventing the media and photographers from seeing what is happening at the border. Especially with there being a history of keeping children in cages at the border is it important for people to be able to reliably know what is going on, and the media is the only way for that to happen.

 Article link

1. Do you think the Biden administration should allow the press at the border and if so, why?

2. How important is the media in keeping the public informed?

3. How does the media keep politicians in check?

Georgia Representative Park Cannon Arrested for Knocking on Governor's Door as He Signed a Voting Bill

 

Image from NBC News  Shows Rep. Park Cannon escorted by police officers after she was knocking on Gov. Brian Kemp's door. 

Link to NY Times video of the arrest

Last Thursday, March 25, Georgia Rep. Park Cannon was arrested for knocking on Republican Gov. Brian Kemp's door as he was signing a voting bill into law. According to a NY Times article, this measure corresponds as a blow at minority groups in Georgia, specifically Black Georgians, for the 2020 presidential election since Mr. Trump blames Georgia's expanded voter access for his defeat due to "widespread fraud." The other week in class we learned about the Voting Rights Act of 1965, which eliminated voter literacy tests, enabled federal examiners to register voters in states with a "history of discrimination" and that those same states must receive federal approval to change voting rules. However in 2013, it was ruled by the Supreme Court that states haven't shown evidence of discrimination recently and therefore no longer require federal oversight of voting procedures, or changes to them. Georgia's governor used this to his advantage and has enacted a law which "imposes new voter identification requirements for absentee ballots, empowers state officials to take over local elections boards, limits the use of ballot drop boxes and makes it a crime to approach voters in line to give them food and water" which targets voters of color (CNN article). 

On Friday, President Biden "condemned the law as 'un-American' and 'Jim Crow of the 21st century'" and said, "You don't need anything else to know that this is noting but punitive, designed to keep people from voting" (NY Times article). 

From a CNN Tonight interview with Rep. Park Cannon's attorney, Gerald Griggs, it was revealed that Cannon was only trying to get "transparency" of the signing ceremony but was prevented of it, and now she's facing 8 years of prison on the basis of felony obstruction and disruption. It was also shown that Gov. Kemp responded to the situation with "you'd have to question or ask the Georgia Department of Safety about what happened there. It's unfortunate that a city state representative would actually stomp and kick a Georgia state patrol officer." Cannon was released from Fulton County Jail late Thursday night after newly elected Georgia Sen. Raphael Warnock visited her, but she still is being charged. 

Questions:

1. Seeing the video of Rep. Cannon knocking on the door and then being arrested, I felt helpless and frustrated watching at home while the police put hand cuffs on her and escorted her out. Thankfully cameras on people's mobile phones came in good use to record the whole scene so we can know the truth. What do you think you would have done in that moment if you were Rep. Cannon or someone at the scene? 

2. What are your feelings or opinions on Georgia's new voting bill? What do you think this says about Trump's influence on Republican leaders and America's ability to move on from Trumpism? Do you see any similarities to the Civil Rights Movement events we learned about?

3. What do you think this says about America's ability to make progress from 1965? And when President Biden says "un-American," what does "American" and "un-American" mean to you?

Setbacks for the AstraZeneca COVID-19 Vaccine

   Early Tuesday, March 23, 2021, the National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases (NIAID) released a statement accusing AstraZeneca of “providing an incomplete view of the efficiency data.” This statement was released just hours after AstraZeneca stated and assured their vaccine is safe and 79% effective in protecting against COVID-19. This being said, both the NIAID and Dr. Anthony Fauci, who is the director of NIAID and President Biden’s chief medical advisor, do not put into question the safety of the vaccine. Both believe the vaccine is safe. Fauci states himself “this is likely a very good vaccine.” The NIAID did not say exactly how the outdated data could affect the clinical trial, but were just raising their concerns over the possibility of outdated and incomplete data. The AstraZeneca vaccine is not yet provided in the U.S, but it is provided in over 50 countries. The vaccine was highly popular in the United Kingdom and did have much success in it’s clinical trials. However, the vaccine is given a bad reputation after reports of serious side-effects, such as blood clots, were occuring in some patients. Some countries even halted the administration of the vaccine such as Germany, France, and Italy, but have since resumed, after additional research concluded the blood clots and the vaccine may not be linked. Unfortunately, both the accusations of providing false data and the serious side-effects have severely damaged the reputation of this vaccine and produced setbacks in further releasing the vaccine to more countries. There is still hope that the vaccine will be available in the U.S. by April, as it has been continuously reassured that the vaccine is safe. 

Personally, when I first read about the accusations that the data could be outdated and incomplete surrounding the vaccine, I was worried. The media has already damaged the reputation of this vaccine so much, that I think this new statement just increased people’s hesitations about the vaccine. All I have heard was that people were having really bad side-effects and given that the vaccine is not available in the U.S. yet, made even myself question whether or not I would trust the vaccine. However, after doing more research, it’s safe for me to conclude that this vaccine is safe and effective. I would still be hesitant if I were to receive it and I think doing more clinical trials would be beneficial to relieve any hesitations and doubts. 

Questions: 

What do you think about the accusations made by the NIAID? 

What are your opinions on the vaccine? 

If you could choose, would you want to receive this vaccine? Why or why not? 

Sources: 

https://www.nbcnews.com/news/world/astrazeneca-covid-vaccine-trial-data-prompts-concern-federal-agency-says-n1261789

https://www.today.com/health/astrazeneca-covid-19-vaccine-trial-data-prompts-concern-federal-agency-t212594?icid=canonical_related

https://www.nbcnews.com/news/us-news/astrazeneca-says-u-s-trial-data-shows-its-covid-19-n1261702

U.S.-China Relations off to a rough start with the Biden Administration

 

                Image Source from CNBC

    Last Thursday, the first major meeting between the U.S. and China took place in Anchorage, Alaska. Relations had been worsening over the passing years under the Trump administration. The meeting was expected to be filled with a degree of tension, however the events that transpired don’t make it seem likely relations will be getting better under President Biden. 

    The meeting was spearheaded by Secretary of State Antony Blinken along with National Security Adviser Jake Sullivan on behalf of the U.S. While China sent Foreign Minister Wang Yi and State Councilor Yang Jiechi. During the opening remarks with the Press present, both sides took shots at each other regarding their actions in recent years. It started with Blinken, who voiced concerns about China’s actions regarding Hong Kong, Taiwan, and Xinjiang. These concerns are duly noted, with China’s crackdown of Hong Kong Protesters in 2019, and increasing militaristic threats towards Taiwan. The ladder of which Xinjiang, being a reference to the Chinese “Re-education” camps for the Uyghur Muslims in the area. The response from the Chinese diplomats was what Beijing has been saying for years, which is that the U.S. has no business concerning itself with internal Chinese affairs. Yang then went on to point out the American hypocrisy. Emphasizing in particular “Black Lives matter” as being a prime example of the nation’s problem with human rights. The comments went on about things like aggressive American foreign policy, and the fragile state of American democracy. This was just the beginning of the meeting, and a similar pattern drove on for the course of an hour before the press left and the diplomats to get down to business.
    The significance of American-Chinese relations cannot be undervalued. Both countries will most likely be the leading nations for the remainder of the 21st century. As it currently stands, relations will only seem to get worse in years to come. While no one wants to see a war, I don’t believe that trying to become best friends with a totalitarian regime is the best course of action. The events of the past few decades have shown that the status quo of economic and diplomatic relations with China have not been in the American people’s best interest. As constant foreign outsourcing of American jobs has been a burden on many working families, and the main reason I think Trump was elected in 2016. On the flip side though, there obviously must be some sort of relationship between our two nations, to prevent chaos and tackle issues like Climate Change. However, I believe that in the coming years as relations and economic ties decay, that we will live through a “New Cold War” with China. Of course, regardless of what does end up happening, there is no doubt that the status of the U.S.-China relationship holds immense significance. Sources: Vox Politico CNBC CNN C-SPAN Questions: 1. What do you make of China's criticisms of the United States? 2. What approach do you think the U.S. should take towards China and what do you think will actually play out? 3. Given the current situation with increased violence towards Asian Americans, do you think that worsening relations with China will increase hate towards Chinese and Asian Americans alike?