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Fauci declines to predict COVID vaccine timetable for kids under 5
January 27, 2022
Parents hoping to vaccinate their young children against COVID-19 will need to be patient, Dr. Anthony Fauci cautioned Wednesday.
The director of the National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases said while he expects the vaccine regimen for children under 5 will be three doses, he couldn’t provide a timeline on when the federal government would approve emergency use of those vaccines.
“I don’t think we can predict when we will see an [emergency use authorization] with that because the company is still putting the data before the FDA,” Fauci said, referring to the Food and Drug Administration.
Fauci said the pace is an indication that the system works, since the FDA is being “scrupulous” in making sure “that when these vaccines become available for children at those ages that we can be certain that they will be safe and they will be effective.”
Pfizer and BioNTech have been testing a vaccine for young children for months, but Fauci said Wednesday that the original data of trial participants between 2 and 4 didn’t reach the level of protection that experts were looking for, even though doses for children between six months old and 2 “worked well.”
The FDA approved COVID-19 vaccines for children 5 to 11 in October under an emergency use authorization, but parents of children younger than that have been stuck in limbo ever since.
Fauci said Wednesday that he wasn’t involved in the FDA’s approval process or privy to the data for the ongoing process.
“Bottom line – I can’t give you a timetable on that,” he said. “We’ll just have to wait and see.”
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The world's largest economy staged a solid recovery last year as it grew at the fastest pace since 1984, but damage from the Omicron variant of Covid-19 still looms.
Surging prices continue to pose a challenge, as inflation picked up speed in the final three months of the pandemic's second year, according to official data released Thursday.
That threatens to dampen the consumer demand that has underpinned the recovery, while supply chain snarls continue to create headaches for businesses, and for President Joe Biden's efforts to return the country to normal.
After the downturn in 2020, US GDP expanded by 5.7 percent last year, the Commerce Department said in its latest quarterly report.
Amid the rise of Omicron in the October-November period, GDP grew 6.9 percent, the data showed. While that topped expectations, economists warn the figure was inflated by businesses' attempts to rebuild depleted inventories.
"The upside surprise came largely from a surge in inventories and the details aren't as strong as the headline would suggest," said Kathy Bostjancic of Oxford Economics.
"What's more, beneath the headline GDP print, the handoff to 2022 is weak. With consumer spending retrenching in December and Omicron dampening economic activity," she said in an analysis.
Ian Shepherdson of Pantheon Macroeconomics agreed, saying the start of the year looks grim: "Our tentative Q1 GDP forecast right now is zero."
But Biden, whose signature social spending bill is stalled in Congress, cheered the report, highlighting "the fastest economic growth in nearly four decades, along with the greatest year of job growth in American history."
And, he said, "for the first time in 20 years, our economy grew faster than China's."
"This is no accident. My economic strategy is creating good jobs for Americans, rebuilding our manufacturing, and strengthening our supply chains here at home to help make our companies more competitive."
Inflation on the rise
Ongoing supply snarls and shortages, combined with strong demand for goods fueled by generous government aid, have created a perfect storm of inflationary pressures that have undercut Biden's approval among American voters.
Prices accelerated during the year, peaking in the October-December period with a 6.5 percent surge in the personal consumption expenditures (PCE) price index -- the measure the Federal Reserve focuses on. That was the biggest increase in 40 years.
For the full year, inflation rose 3.9 percent, according to the data, still far above the Fed's two percent goal.
Excluding volatile food and energy prices which have increased sharply in the year, the core PCE price index rose 3.3 percent in 2021, and 4.9 percent in the fourth quarter.
The Federal Reserve on Wednesday issued a clear signal that it plans to begin raising interest rates in March to tamp down inflation, but that also could restrain growth next year.
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Canadian Prime Minister Justin Trudeau announced Thursday that he had been exposed to Covid-19 and would isolate for five days, in accordance with health rules for vaccinated people.
"Last night, I learned that I have been exposed to Covid-19," Trudeau tweeted. "My rapid test result was negative."
"I feel fine and will be working from home," he said.
He will not be physically present when the House of Commons resumes its session on Monday.
Trudeau, 50, received a Covid-19 booster shot in January. In his tweet, he again urged Canadians to get vaccinated against the virus.
At the start of the pandemic in March 2020, Trudeau had to isolate for 14 days after his wife, Sophie Gregoire Trudeau, tested positive for the coronavirus on her return from a trip to London.
Canada is battling a rise in Covid cases and hospitalizations due to the Omicron variant. The province of Ontario, where Trudeau lives in the Canadian capital Ottawa, requires unvaccinated people to isolate for 10 days.
Ontario, Canada's most populous province, is expected to start easing Covid restrictions from Monday, allowing restaurants, bars, sports venues and movie theaters to reopen.
Canada has recorded more than 2.9 million cases of Covid-19 and 33,192 deaths since the start of the pandemic.
© 2022 AFP
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