National News - Page 216

Breaking Barriers: Women Scientists Shaping the Future

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Opinion by Brett Marie Sansbury and Natalia Rivera-Torres A decade ago, as undergraduate women pursuing degrees and futures in science, we were given regular signals that we were outsiders. From applying for research positions only to see that many of the most competitive labs were staffed largely by males to professors simply not engaging with us as they did our male peers, we learned quickly that science is too often unwelcoming to women. Perhaps this is why only three in 10 scientists worldwide are women, according to the UNESCO Institute for Statistics. This is not only detrimental to women, but

Kentucky Limits No-Knock Warrants After Breonna Taylor

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By Taylor Romine The Kentucky state legislature passed a bill on Tuesday setting restrictions on warrants authorizing entry without notice, more commonly known as no-knock warrants. The legislation comes a little more than a year after the death of Breonna Taylor, a Louisville EMT who was killed by police in March of 2020 after they executed a no-knock warrant. While there are conflicting reports between police and bystanders as to whether police announced themselves during the incident, her death spurred a national conversation about the use of this type of warrant. The legislation doesn’t outlaw no-knock warrants outright, as the

All 50 States Set Dates to Expand COVID-19 Vaccine Access

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By Jacqueline Howard All 50 states have announced when they plan to open up coronavirus vaccinations to everyone eligible under US Food and Drug Administration emergency use authorizations — if they haven’t done so already. Arkansas is the latest state to announce plans to expand vaccine eligibility to anyone 16 and older, starting on Tuesday, Gov. Asa Hutchinson announced. A dozen other states already also have expanded coronavirus vaccine eligibility to anyone 16 and older. And several states that previously announced plans to open up vaccine eligibility by early May have changed their timelines to open up in late March

Biden Launches National Campaign to Boost COVID-19 Vaccines

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By Jeremy Diamond The Biden administration on Thursday unveiled a large-scale effort to encourage Americans to get vaccinated against the coronavirus, rolling out its first national ad campaign and announcing a national network of community organizations, sports leagues and other leaders to boost confidence in the vaccines. The Department of Health and Human Services is spending $10 million to air four new TV ads this month, two administration officials told CNN, framing vaccination as a way for Americans to fight back against the pandemic and reclaim their lives with the slogan “We can do this.” One of the ads is

J&J Vaccine Plant Error Ruins 15 Million Doses in Baltimore

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By Jen Christensen Drugmaker Johnson & Johnson said Wednesday it had found a quality problem at a Baltimore plant helping manufacture its single-dose coronavirus vaccine under contract. The New York Times reported Wednesday. that workers at Emergent BioSolutions, the Baltimore plant that has been making Johnson & Johnson’s Covid-19 vaccine, accidentally mixed up some of the ingredients, ruining as many as 15 million potential doses of vaccine and delaying US Food and Drug Administration authorization of the plant. Emergent is also making the AstraZeneca vaccine, which has yet to be authorized for use in this country. Johnson & Johnson said

CDC Warns of Covid Surge as Variants Spread Across U.S.

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By Christina Maxouris, Jason Hanna and Steve Almasy Though many Americans are eager to return to normal after a year of living through the Covid-19 pandemic, the head of the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) on Wednesday reminded Americans that “we’re not quite there yet.” “We are so close — so very close to getting back to the everyday activities we all miss so much, but we’re not quite there yet,” CDC Director Dr. Rochelle Walensky said at a White House Covid-19 Response Team news conference. “This is a critical moment in our fight against the pandemic,” she

Pfizer Vaccine Proven Effective for 6 Months, Trial Shows

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By Maggie Fox The ongoing Phase 3 clinical trial of Pfizer/BioNTech’s coronavirus vaccine confirms its protection lasts at least six months after the second dose, the companies said Thursday. It’s the first look at how long protection for a coronavirus vaccine lasts, and while six months is a modest target, it’s longer than the 90 days of protection been the best estimate offered to date. The vaccine remains more than 91% effective against disease with any symptoms for six months, the companies said. And it appeared to be fully effective against the worrying B.1.351 variant of the virus, which is

Biden Seeks Transparency on COVID-19 Origins After WHO Report

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By Nicole Gaouette and Jennifer Hansler President Joe Biden believes Americans “deserve better information” about the origin of Covid-19 and further steps from the global community, White House press secretary Jen Psaki said Tuesday after the release of a World Health Organization report that said the pandemic is very likely to have started with transmission from one animal to another, and then to humans. “I think he believes the American people, the global community, the medical experts, the doctors — all of the people who have been working to save lives, the families who have lost loved ones — all

Pfizer Vaccine Shows 100% Efficacy in Teens 12-15

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By Lauren Mascarenhas Clinical trial results of Pfizer/BioNTech’s Covid-19 vaccine showed its efficacy is 100% and it is well tolerated in youths ages 12 to 15, the companies said Wednesday. Pfizer/BioNTech plan to submit the data to the US Food and Drug Administration as soon as possible for expanded emergency use authorization of the two-dose vaccine. In a Phase 3 trial of 2,260 participants ages 12 to 15 in the US, the vaccine elicited strong antibody responses one month after the second dose — exceeding those demonstrated in people ages 16 to 25 in previous trials, Pfizer reported. The vaccine

Dr. Manning on Covid Vaccine Hesitancy in Black Communities

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By Kristen Rogers To get more Black people vaccinated against coronavirus infections, Dr. Kimberly Manning is determined to keep doing what she has had a conviction to do since before the pandemic hit. “I’m determined to make sure that people who, historically, have not been seen or who have felt undervalued know that they matter, that they are extremely important,” said Manning, a professor of medicine and the associate vice chair of diversity, equity and inclusion in the department of medicine at Emory University in Atlanta. She knows that fewer Black people have been vaccinated against coronavirus than White people.

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