Time - INT (2022-06-20)

12 Time June 20/June 27, 2022

NEWS TICKER

E.U. mandates

change to change to

iPhonesiPhones

European officials European officials

reached an agreement reached an agreement

on June 7 that tech on June 7 that tech

devices devices must use

standard USB-C

connectors by fall

2024—a blow to

Apple, as its products

charge instead with the charge instead with the

company’s Lightning company’s Lightning

cables. Apple has cables. Apple has

claimed the rule would claimed the rule would

stifle innovation, stifle innovation,

but the European but the European

Commission said it Commission said it

would help consumers.would help consumers.

Russia selling

stolen grain, stolen grain,

U.S. wU.S. warnsarns

U.S. diplomats alerted U.S. diplomats alerted

14 countries, mostly 14 countries, mostly

in Africa, in May thatin Africa, in May that

Russian cargo ships

are setting sail

filled with plundered

Ukrainian grain. Some

of the nations being of the nations being

asked to turn away the asked to turn away the

purloined commodities purloined commodities

are experiencing rising are experiencing rising

food prices, shortages, food prices, shortages,

and the risk of famine and the risk of famine

due to drought and due to drought and

armed conflict.armed conflict.

DDozens killed ozens killed

in Nigerian in Nigerian

church attackchurch attack

g

Gunmen who murdered

at least 50 people,

including children,

during a service at

a Catholic Church

in the town of Owo in

southwest Nigeria are southwest Nigeria are

still at large, officials still at large, officials

said on June 6. No said on June 6. No

group has publicly group has publicly

claimed responsibility, claimed responsibility,

although experts said although experts said

that the attack was that the attack was

likely terrorism.likely terrorism.

GOOD QUESTION

When should kids get

COVID-19 boosters?

STudieS have Shown ThaT immuniTy

from the COVID-19 vaccine wanes in kids,

just as it does in adults. But a booster re-

stores protection from the most serious

consequences of COVID-19 to 80% to 90%

in kids as young as 5.

Because of that compelling evidence, ex-

perts say kids ages 5 and up can and should

get boosted. On May 19, the U.S. Centers

for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC)

authorized and recommended the Pfizer-

BioNTech booster for this age group. (Pre-

viously, only kids ages 12 and older were

eligible to get boosted.)

With cases of COVID-19 rising in most

parts of the country, doctors are urging par-

ents to get their children vaccinated and

boosted as soon as possible, in-

stead of waiting until the start

of the school year in the fall.

“When there is enough virus in

the community—which there

is now—and the risk of get-

ting infected becomes higher—

which it is now—delaying vac-

cination makes no sense,” says

Dr. Stan Spinner, chief medi-

cal officer and vice president

of Texas Children’s Pediatrics

and Texas Children’s Urgent

Care. “Kids are out and about, fewer people

are wearing masks, kids are going to camps

and play groups, so they are going to get ex-

posed during the summer. Why wait to im-

munize your child?”

Kids ages 5 to 11 should get a booster dose

five months after finishing their primary

COVID-19 vaccination series of two shots,

the CDC says. For children in this age group,

the Pfizer-BioNTech booster is one-third

the dosage of the adult booster. For chil-

dren ages 12 and up, the booster is identical

to their primary- series shots (which is the

same dosage given to adults).

The CDC recommends a slightly different

regimen for children with weakened immune

systems. Their primary series is actually three

doses instead of the two for other children,

which gives them the strongest immune re-

sponse possible and can reduce their risk of

being hospitalized or dying from COVID-19.

The CDC also encourages booster shots for

immunocompromised children—which

would be a fourth dose—based on their age.

Children ages 5 to 17 years old with weak-

ened immune systems should get a booster

dose three months after receiving their three-

dose primary series. Immunocompromised

children ages 12 and older should also get

boosted a second time—a fifth dose—four

months after the first booster dose to keep

their immune responses as active as possible.

Studies have shown that the Pfizer-

BioNTech vaccines and boosters are safe

in children. Research has found that a very

small number of older kids have experi-

enced multisystem inflammatory syndrome

(MIS-C), a rare disorder in which the

body’s immune system generates an aggres-

sive inflammatory response, after getting

vaccinated, and MIS-C is currently listed

as a potential adverse event in the CDC’s

vaccine safety monitoring system. But it’s

not clear whether the vaccine is associated

with the condition, or whether

the children developing it have

also been infected with the

virus—since SARS-CoV-2 itself

is linked to MIS-C.

The vaccines have also

been associated with a small

number of cases of inflamma-

tion of heart tissues—called

myocarditis—mostly in ado-

lescent males. But children are

far more likely to experience

myocarditis from COVID-

itself than from the vaccine, which is why

the CDC continues to recommend COVID-

19 vaccination for children, based on the

evidence that the benefits of immunization

outweigh these potential risks.

Health officials have not determined

whether children (or adults, for that

matter) will have to continue to receive

boosters every few months. But public-

health experts at the CDC are reviewing

the data to answer this question. So far,

every authorized COVID-19 vaccine has

been developed using the original strain

of SARS-CoV-2. Fortunately, they’ve re-

mained effective at generating strong im-

mune responses to the different viral vari-

ants. But vaccine makers have recently

developed new, not-yet- authorized shots

targeting the latest variants, including

Omicron, and are studying whether those

might produce even stronger, and hope-

fully longer-lasting, protection against seri-

ous disease. —aLiCe PaRK

‘Delaying

vaccination

makes no

sense.’

—DR. STAN SPINNER,

CHIEF MEDICAL

OFFICER AND VICE

PRESIDENT OF

TEXAS CHILDREN’S

PEDIATRICS

THE BRIEF NEWS