Science - USA (2021-11-12)

SCIENCE science.org

CREDITS: (DATA U.S. CENTERS FOR DISEASE CONTROL AND PREVENTION; (PHOTO CLIMEWORKS/COVER IMAGES/AP IMAGES

transgender men. Without offering an

explanation, Bolsonaro on 5 November

withdrew Lacerda and Benzaken from the

list. The Brazilian Academy of Sciences

has asked Bolsonaro to reverse his deci-

sion. Scientists were also incensed when

Bolsonaro himself was named “grand

master” of the order last week, a pro

forma recognition that previous presi-

dents of Brazil have also received—even

though he has drawn intense criticism for

denying and ignoring scientific findings

on Amazon deforestation, climate change,

the COVID-19 pandemic, and vaccination.

Risky studies of viruses end

BIOMEDICINE | The only experiments

funded by the U.S. National Institutes of

Health (NIH) that meet the U.S. definition

of risky “gain-of-function” (GOF) virus

research—and that kicked off contro-

versy 10 years ago—have wound down. In

2011, two studies that modified the H5N

bird flu to spread more easily in ferrets

sparked an uproar from scientists worried

about a lab escape. The studies were led

by virologists Yoshihiro Kawaoka at the

University of Wisconsin, Madison, and

Ron Fouchier at Erasmus Medical Center

in the Netherlands. The ensuing storm

led NIH in 2014 to pause funding of a few

especially risky GOF studies. In 2017, the

U.S. government adopted a “framework”

for evaluating research on “enhanced

potential pandemic pathogens” (ePPPs)—

risky human pathogens with modifications

that could make them more dangerous.

Kawaoka’s and Fouchier’s H5N1 grants

were funded again under the new policy

in 2019. But Kawaoka’s ended in August

2020 and Fouchier’s, which was part of a

large contract, stopped in March, accord-

ing to recent updates to federal websites.

Kawaoka tells Science his work has shifted

to pancoronavirus vaccines. Fouchier says

he plans to seek funding in Europe to

continue the experiments. Debate over U.S.

studies of GOF continue: Critics say the

ePPP definition is too narrow and should

have applied to U.S.-funded coronavirus

experiments conducted in China.

HPV jabs ward off cervical cancer

BIOMEDICINE | In girls offered a vaccine

against human papillomavirus (HPV)

at age 12 or 13, the prevalence of cervi-

cal cancer throughout their 20s was

87% lower than in unvaccinated girls,

according to a study published online on

3 November in The Lancet. The authors

examined nearly 28,000 cases of cervical

cancer in U.K. women ages 20 to 30 from

CLIMATE POLICY

U.S. infrastructure bill bolsters climate response

T

he $1.2 billion infrastructure bill that President Joe Biden was expected to sign

into law this week contains numerous provisions to bolster climate adaptation

and accelerate efforts to curb global warming. The law provides $47 billion to

prepare the country for worsening fires, floods, and storms. It funds electric car

charging stations and mass transit and contains $9.5 billion to develop “clean”

hydrogen fuel, produced from low-carbon sources, for industrial use. An additional

$3.5 billion will fund four centers to study ways of removing carbon directly from

the atmosphere. Last week, the Department of Energy set a goal of making such “air

capture” technologies more affordable, with a target cost of $100 per ton of carbon

dioxide within 1 decade. Air capture is currently limited to small-scale tests, such as at

a plant recently opened by Climeworks in Iceland.

The U.S. government will invest in “air capture” of carbon dioxide, a technology already in use in Iceland.

DISEASE

ANNUAL DEATHS

OF CHILDREN

BEFORE VACCINES

AGE

AT DEATH

Hepatitis A 3 (1990–95) <

Varicella

(chickenpox)

16 (1990–94) 5–

Rotavirus (causes

diarrhea, vomiting)

20 (1985–91) <

COVID-19 66 (October 2020–

October 2021)

5–

Comparing childhood risks

U.S. regulators have endorsed several childhood

vaccines, now widely used, for diseases that killed

fewer children than COVID-19 before vaccines.

2006 to 2019. The HPV vaccine Cervarix,

which targets the two strains of HPV that

cause most of these cancers, was intro-

duced in the United Kingdom in 2008,

and the oldest women in the study were

not offered it, forming a comparison

group. The United Kingdom recommends

giving the vaccine at age 12 to 13, because

it is most effective if given before sexual

activity begins. But girls offered catch-up

doses at ages 14 to 16 and 16 to 18 also saw

reductions in cancer prevalence, of 62%

and 34%, respectively. A Danish study

published last month and a Swedish study

that appeared last year reported large

reductions in the risk of cervical cancer

among women vaccinated as teenagers

with a different HPV vaccine, Gardasil-4.

U.S. OKs COVID-19 shots for kids

VACCINES | U.S. regulators last week gave

the long-awaited green light for vaccinating

younger children against COVID-19, and

within hours, the rush to give shots to 5- to

11-year-olds began. On 2 November, advisers

to the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and

Prevention unanimously recommended

Pfizer’s vaccine in this age group, saying

benefits outweighed risks; CDC Director

Rochelle Walensky agreed. The U.S. Food

and Drug Administration had given its bless-

ing the previous week. At the CDC advisers’

meeting, data presented showed COVID-19’s

death toll in children was comparable to or

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