Iowa news
Iowa counties launch COVID-19 clinics for kids this week
COVID-19 vaccinations for children ages 5-11 are becoming widely available this week with county health departments receiving their first shipments of vaccine doses. Many counties received their first allotment of doses on Monday, and all counties should have them by week’s end. The U.S. Food and Drug Administration approved the dissemination of Pfizer’s vaccine for children late last month. Iowa ordered about 99,000 doses, most of which has now been received. The state’s coronavirus website is expected to soon begin publishing vaccination rates for Iowa children ages 5-11. (Iowa Capital Dispatch)
Iowa joins nine states to challenge vaccine requirements for health care workers
Iowa and nine other states have filed another lawsuit against federal vaccine requirements. The state joined a lawsuit challenging the recent mandate issued by the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services that requires all health care workers at facilities that receive federal Medicare or Medicaid funds to be fully vaccinated by Jan. 4. Iowa joined Alaska, Arkansas, Kansas, Missouri, Nebraska, New Hampshire, North Dakota, South Dakota and Wyoming in the suit. (Des Moines Register)
Gov. Reynolds tells parents with kids 5-11 to talk to their pediatrician about COVID-19 vaccines
Iowa Gov. Kim Reynolds encouraged parents of children between 5 and 11 years old who are now eligible for the COVID-19 vaccine to talk to their pediatricians about it. Gov. Reynolds stopped short of recommending outright that children get the vaccine, as she has encouraged eligible adults to do. The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention approved the Pfizer vaccine for kids ages 5-11 on Nov. 2, making more than 280,000 Iowa children eligible for the shots. (Des Moines Register)
National news
Michigan health system enacts highest level of pandemic protocols
For the first time in its history, Traverse City, Michigan-based Munson Healthcare moved to level red pandemic protocols, the highest of the health system’s five-stage plan. Level red indicates an “overwhelming number of local cases beyond capacity of the health care system.” Care for COVID-19 patients is prioritized in this stage, with some services, including non-essential surgeries, scaled back. This comes as the positivity rate in the health system’s region sits above Michigan’s positivity rate. As of Nov. 7, the positivity rate in Northern Michigan, which includes Munson Healthcare services, was 22.2% compared to the state’s overall 14.3% rate. (Becker’s Hospital Review)
Moderna and U.S. at odds over vaccine patent rights
Moderna and the National Institutes of Health are in a bitter dispute over who deserves credit for inventing the central component of the company’s powerful coronavirus vaccine, a conflict that has broad implications for the vaccine’s long-term distribution and billions of dollars in future profits. The vaccine grew out of a four-year collaboration between Moderna and the NIH, the government’s biomedical research agency — a partnership that was widely hailed when the shot was found to be highly effective. A year ago this month, the government called it the “NIH-Moderna COVID-19 vaccine.” (The New York Times)
Study: Facing racism depletes young adults’ mental health
Making the transition to adulthood can be full of challenges. A new study finds that the effects of discrimination can cause severe mental health damage to the already-struggling young adult age group. The study from researchers at UCLA found that young adults who endure frequent interpersonal discrimination based on race, sex or physical appearance are at greater risk of mental health issues than those who don’t. The authors analyzed data from a 10-year survey and found that people ages 18-28 who experienced consistent short- or long-term discrimination are 25% more likely to experience psychological distress, to be diagnosed with a mental illness or to report excessive drug use. (NBC News)