As the Omicron variant continues to spread across the world, so does the disinformation about it and the vaccine. Unfortunately, some of the spreaders of false information wear lab coats and scrubs.
New York, NY — The Radio City Rockettes’ canceled their “Christmas Spectacular” show “due to increasing challenges from the pandemic.” this past Friday.
According to Mayor Bill de Blasio, more than 5,000 new coronavirus cases have been reported in New York City recorded as of Saturday.
The NYC health commissioner said cases have tripled in the past 30 days and on Thursday, New York City reported that the positivity rate from PCR tests doubled over a four-day period.
As the Omicron variant continues to spread across the world, so does the disinformation about it and the vaccine. However, all of the spreaders of false information are not operating on social media; some of them wear lab coats and scrubs.
Public health organizations have called on medical boards to take disciplinary action against doctors who promote unproven treatments and spread bogus claims about Covid-19 and the vaccine. According to a national poll conducted by the de Beaumont Foundation in a survey of 2,200 adults, 92% of respondents said doctors do not have the right to spread false information on purpose.
“Just because it is physicians, it is no different than if someone called you claiming to be the IRS trying to steal your money,” said Brian Castrucci, president and chief executive officer of the de Beaumont Foundation. “It’s a scam, and we protect Americans from scams.”
At the University of Utah hospital in Salt Lake City, physician Dr. Kencee Graves, said one of her patients decided not to get vaccinated after listening to misinformation from a doctor.
“She was led astray” by someone she should have been able to trust, Graves said, describing the patient as a “very, very sweet older lady.”
The patient recognized her error, and said “I realize now I am wrong, but that is who I thought I should listen to.”
The bottom line is; you can’t believe everything you hear from people just because they wear lab coats.
The Omicron variant continues to spread across the world, for example; according to a news release from his office, Houston Mayor Sylvester Turner has tested positive for Covid-19.
“This afternoon, I learned that I tested positive for the virus that causes Covid-19. I was not feeling well overnight and thought I was suffering from allergies or a sinus infection, so I decided to get tested before starting my daily schedule,” Turner said in the release.
“Before and after getting my test results, I canceled all events for today and the weekend. My symptoms are mild, and I will spend the next several days isolating myself at home and getting some rest.
The NHL’s announced Friday that Colorado Avalanche and Florida Panthers will shut down through Dec. 26 due to “concern with the number of positive cases within the last two days as well concern for continued Covid spread in the coming days,”
Pfizer is including a third dose of its Covid-19 vaccine in trials of the vaccine in children under 16, the company announced Friday.
“The decision to evaluate a third dose of 3 microgram for children 6 months to under 5 years of age reflects the companies’ commitment to carefully select the right dose to maximize the risk-benefit profile,” the company said.
An additional study, in adolescents 12 to 17 years old, will examine the use of a third dose of either 10 or 30 micrograms, the company said.
The booster dose of Pfizer’s vaccine is now available for fully vaccinated people age 16 and olde in the United States.
Kathrin Jansen, head of research and development at Pfizer, said “The effectiveness data for three doses of the vaccine in general for people 16 years and older and the early laboratory data we have seen with Delta and other variants of concern, including Omicron suggests that people vaccinated with three doses of our Covid vaccine may have a higher degree of protection,”
“Therefore, we have decided to modify each of the pediatric studies to incorporate a third dose to the series and seek licensure for a three-dose series rather than a two-dose series as originally anticipated.”
Jansen said the change in the trials is not expected to impact the timeline to submit for emergency use authorization for the vaccine in younger populations, which is still targeted at mid-2022.
Currently Pfizer is studying its vaccine in children 6 months to 2 years old and 2 to less than 5 years old.
“If the three-dose study is successful, Pfizer and BioNTech expect to submit data to regulators to support an Emergency Use Authorization (EUA) for children 6 months to under 5 years of age in the first half of 2022.”
According to data from Italy’s health ministry, Italy recorded 28,632 new coronavirus cases on Friday, which is the highest number of daily cases since the beginning of 2021
The Italian National Institute of Health said in its weekly report “The number of daily Covid positive has steadily increased for the last eight weeks,”
Health institute President Silvio Brusaferro said in a video on Friday that the Delta variant is still dominant in Italy and has confirmed only 55 cases of the Omicron variant.
Since the start of the pandemic. in Italy, a total of 5,336,795 people have been infected.
In the last 24 hours, Italy also reported 120 deaths related to the coronavirus which brings the death toll to at least 135,421 since the beginning of the pandemic.
