Coronavirus

Pres. Biden Gives Gov. Newsom Thumbs Up on School Vaccine Mandate as Under-17 Cases Spike

Newsom’s new mandate requires all school employees to either provide proof of vaccination or submit to weekly testing.

Published

3 years ago

August 20, 2021

Isabelle Price

Newsom/Biden Photo Courtesy of NBC Bay Area

California Gov. Gavin Newsom announced new COVID-19 guidelines for California’s K-12 public schools on August 11. Two days later, Pres. Joe Biden praised the new mandate in a tweet.

“Gov. @GavinNewsom is leading California through unprecedented crises – he’s a key partner in fighting the pandemic and helping build our economy back better,” the POTUS said about Newsom, who is facing a recall election September 14.

“To keep him on the job, registered voters should vote ‘no’ on the recall election by 9/14 and keep California moving forward,” Biden continued.

Newsom’s new mandate requires all school employees to either provide proof of vaccination or submit to weekly testing.

“This is a state that very proudly was among the first states in the country to mandate mask wearing in the public education system, before this school year and before the CDC aligned with that standard; before the Academy of Pediatrics aligned with that strategy. And before the controversies that have subsequently ensued,” Newsom said when he made the announcement.

In July, COVID-19 cases among children under17 nearly tripled.

Conservative talk show host Larry Elder, who is African American and the frontrunner among candidates vying to replace Newsom in the upcoming recall election said, if he wins, he would not mandate state workers to wear masks or get vaccinated.

“When I become governor, assuming there are mandates for masks and statewide mandates for vaccines, they will be suspended right away,” Elder said. “This is America. We have freedom in America.”

Elder said he does believe people in high-risk categories should be vaccinated.

“But there are many Americans who disagree with me, feel that the vaccine was done too quickly,” he continued, explaining that COVID vaccines have been approved for “emergency use.”

As of August 15, the seven-day average of new COVID cases in California was 12,031. So far, there have been 4.02 million cases in the state since the beginning of the pandemic and 64,183 deaths, according to the California Department of Public Health.

About 51% of all Californians have received both vaccines.

The same day, Newsom tweeted a graph comparing California’s new COVID-19 hospitalizations to those of Texas and Florida, two states vaccine skeptics and “pro-freedom” activists have held up as counterpoints to the California governor’s strict coronavirus policies. The data the graph visualized showed that California hospitalization rates are currently much lower than both states.

Texas and Florida both have outspoken Republican governors who have enacted looser policies in their fights against COVID.

“CA is reporting 141.1 new COVID cases for every 100,000 residents over the last 7 days — a rate HALF of Texas (297.8); and less than ONE-FOURTH of Florida’s rate (653.8), according to data from the CDC,” Newsom tweeted.

Many businesses have either loosened their COVID-19 restrictions or done away with them altogether while many public schools returned to in-person instruction at the beginning of the month.

Despite the growing number of COVID cases among children, some California parents still have reservations about vaccines and masks, even going so far as to sue the state to drop mask mandates in schools.

Newsom’s strategy for addressing these kinds of criticisms, as well as others that have arisen in the midst of his recall election, has been to associate them with the far-right political movement empowered by former President Donald Trump.

Newsom employed this strategy in his response to Biden’s praise.

“Grateful for your support, Mr. President. There’s simply too much at stake — vote NO on September 14th to reject this Republican led recall,” Newsom tweeted.

California Black Media’s coverage of COVID-19 is supported by the California Health Care Foundation.

Isabelle Price

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Bay Area

Authorities Warn: There’s a COVID Surge in California

According to data estimates by the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC), the coronavirus in California’s wastewater has spiked for eight consecutive weeks. Hospitalizations and emergency room visits have also increased since the rise of the new subvariants. Over the last month, Los Angeles County experienced an average of 389 hospital patients per day that tested positive for the coronavirus. The FLiRT subvariants such as KP.3.1.1. Made up over 2% of coronavirus samples nationwide, an increase of more than 7% last month.

Published

3 months ago

August 17, 2024

Oakland Post

Photo provided by California Black Media.

By Bo Tefu, California Black Media

California is experiencing a COVID-19 surge this summer, experts warn, as numbers of infections increased for the third month this year.

State public health authorities attribute the summer COVID surge to more infectious subvariants that have emerged as the coronavirus evolves.

Dr. Elizabeth Hudson, regional chief of infectious disease at Kaiser Permanente Southern California, stated that subvariants of COVID-19 called FLiRT increased in recent months, particularly one named KP.3.1.1 that has become the most common strain in the country.

Dr. Peter Chin-Hong, an infectious diseases expert at UC San Francisco, said that the subvariant KP.3.1.1 seems most adept at transmission.

“The subvariant is the one that people think will continue to take over, not only in the United States, but … around the world,” Chin-Hong said.

The majority of the people who tested positive for COVID-19 complained of a sore throat and a heavy cough. Risk factors that can increase the illness include age, underlying health issues, and vaccine dosage.

Health experts stated that the demand for the COVID-19 vaccine has increased in Northern California. However, people are having a hard time getting the vaccine due to the increasing number of cases.

Oakland Post

Posts by Oakland Post

California Black Media

Gov. Newsom and Gov. DeSantis Go Head-to-Head in Nationally Televised Debate

Conservative Fox News personality Sean Hannity moderated the duel, during which the TV pundit, more than once, injected his opinion, and appeared to be providing subtle assists to DeSantis. As the debate progressed, it was clear that opinions about each topic discussed was representative of the philosophical and political chasm that divides liberal and conservative America, and a preview of campaign mudslinging that is bound to intensify as the 2024 presidential campaign ensues.

Published

11 months ago

December 10, 2023

Oakland Post

The debate between Gov. Gavin Newsom and Gov. Ron DeSantis was moderated by Fox News personality Sean Hannity. California Black Media image.

By California Black Media

In an intense, 95-minute-plus televised faceoff between California Gov. Gavin Newsom and Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis on Nov. 30, the men traded jabs and putdowns, defended their respective gubernatorial records, disagreed sharply on how to solve the country’s most pressing problems, and expressed clashing views on the performance of the Biden-Harris administration.

Conservative Fox News personality Sean Hannity moderated the duel, during which the TV pundit, more than once, injected his opinion, and appeared to be providing subtle assists to DeSantis.

As the debate progressed, it was clear that opinions about each topic discussed was representative of the philosophical and political chasm that divides liberal and conservative America, and a preview of campaign mudslinging that is bound to intensify as the 2024 presidential campaign ensues.

“I’ll tell you why I’m here,” Newsom said. “I’m here to tell the truth about the Biden-Harris record and also compare and contrast Ron DeSantis’ record and the Republican Party’s record” with that of California.

DeSantis blasted Newsom’s management of the COVID-19 crisis and criticized Newsom for prevalent crime, homelessness and deteriorating social conditions in California cities.

“You have the freedom to defecate in public in California,” DeSantis said. “You have the freedom to pitch a tent on Sunset Boulevard. You have the freedom to create a homeless encampment under a freeway and even light it on fire. They’re not the freedoms our founding fathers envisioned.”

Newsom took a jab at DeSantis’ presidential candidacy, predicting that the Florida Governor would be endorsing GOP frontrunner Donald Trump soon.

“There’s one thing we have in common,” Newsom said. “Neither of us will be the nominee for our party in 2024.

Oakland Post

Posts by Oakland Post

BayCityNews

FDA Updates Approval of Pfizer Booster Vaccine for Children Under 5

The U.S. Food and Drug Administration updated its approval Tuesday of the Pfizer-BioNTech booster vaccine, making it available to some children under age 5. Before this update, children under 5 were not eligible for COVID-19 booster shots. Instead, they received three doses of the regular vaccine.

Published

2 years ago

March 22, 2023

Oakland Post

As of December 2022, children age 4 and younger who have not been vaccinated receive the omicron variant-specific booster vaccine as the third dose in their primary vaccine series, following two doses of the original Pfizer vaccine.

By Eli Walsh
Bay City News

The U.S. Food and Drug Administration updated its approval Tuesday of the Pfizer-BioNTech booster vaccine, making it available to some children under age 5.

Before this update, children under 5 were not eligible for COVID-19 booster shots. Instead, they received three doses of the regular vaccine.

However, children in that age range who completed their initial vaccination series before December 2022 only received three doses of the original Pfizer vaccine, and are less protected against more infectious variants of the virus as a result.

FDA officials updated the vaccine’s emergency use authorization Tuesday to allow those children who only received the original Pfizer COVID vaccine to receive one dose of the bivalent booster if it has been at least two months since they completed their initial series.

Other children under age 5 are not eligible for the booster, although everyone age 5 and up is eligible for a booster.

“Currently available data show that vaccination remains the best defense against severe disease, hospitalization and death caused by COVID-19 across all age groups, and we encourage all eligible individuals to make sure that their vaccinations are up to date with a bivalent COVID-19 vaccine,” said Dr. Peter Marks, the director of the FDA’s Center for Biologics Evaluation and Research.

Clinical data has found that both the original Pfizer vaccine and the booster vaccine that targets the omicron subvariants BA.4 and BA.5 are safe for everyone aged 6 months and up and effective at preventing the worst outcomes of COVID infection, including serious illness and death.

COVID vaccines are available at primary care providers, retail pharmacies and some facilities operated by local health departments.

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