Month: March 2022

President Joe Biden received his second COVID-19 booster shot on Wednesday, as the White House rolled out efforts to help Americans live with the coronavirus, including a new website and a push for vaccinations and funding.  On Tuesday, U.S. health officials authorized a second booster shot for Americans age 50 and older and those who are immunocompromised, two years after the start of the pandemic. The 79-year-old Biden received his fourth dose of the Pfizer vaccine. A second booster of Moderna’s shot also was authorized.

Biden said in remarks at the White House launching COVID.gov, “If we fail to invest, we leave ourselves vulnerable if another wave hits.”  COVID.gov is described as ‘a clearinghouse of information aimed at helping people manage the virus as they seek a return to normalcy.’  Biden, who had sought $22.5 billion in funding, has also asked Congress to pay for current vaccinations and treatments, as well to prepare the nation for future outbreaks.  Biden said:  “We need to secure additional supply now. Congress, please act… immediately. The consequences of inaction are severe.”

Several drugstore chains, including CVS Health and Walgreens said they would start offering second booster doses. Although vaccines and increasingly available therapies for COVID-19 have reduced severe illness and deaths, public health officials are monitoring BA.2, an Omicron sub-variant that now accounts for more than half of all U.S. cases. U.S. officials have said they do not expect another major surge, but noted COVID cases could rise from BA.2 or a subsequent variant, reflecting the administration’s position that the country must learn to live with and adapt to some level of this coronavirus.

Biden this month warned the U.S. government would run out of funding for supplies without more support.  The president warned free COVID vaccines may not be available this autumn without more funds, especially if a new vaccine is needed.

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Pennsylvania state police reported on Wednesday that the death toll from an 80-vehicle pileup on a Pennsylvania highway Monday has risen to six people. Police also said 80 vehicles were involved in the crash — 39 commercial and 41 passenger vehicles — up from previous estimates of more than 50.  The crash also injured 24 people, who were taken to hospitals.

The crash occurred around 10:30 a.m. Monday after a snow squall blinded drivers and led to the crash on Interstate 81 near Minersville, about 100 miles northwest of Philadelphia.  A snow squall is described as ‘an intense, short-lived burst of heavy snowfall accompanied by gusty wind.’  While snow squalls typically only last about an hour and might only leave behind a moderate amount of snow, they can create deadly highway conditions, suddenly reducing visibility for drivers and causing slick roads.

Police reopened the interstate just after midnight Wednesday, according to a tweet from Pennsylvania State Police spokesman David Beohm. Snowy conditions and fires initially made it difficult for emergency services to access the scene. The road was already covered with snow prior to the squall and the pileup, making driving conditions even worse.

https://abcnews.go.com/US/wireStory/stretch-81-pennsylvania-reopens-deadly-pileup-83757158

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On Tuesday, public health officials approved a second round of COVID-19 booster shots for those over the age of 50, with shots to likely be available in pharmacies this week. Those 12 and older are currently eligible for a booster shot five months after their initial vaccine series if they received an mRNA vaccine like Pfizer or Moderna, or two months after getting the Johnson & Johnson vaccine.

For those over 50, officials at the Food and Drug Administration and Centers for Disease Control and Prevention have decided the data on waning immunity justifies making another shot available four months after the first boost.  CDC Director Rochelle Walensky said it was especially important for those 65 and older and those 50 and older with underlying medical conditions. Walensky said on Tuesday: “This is especially important for those 65 and older and those 50 and older with underlying medical conditions that increase their risk for severe disease from COVID-19 as they are the most likely to benefit from receiving an additional booster dose at this time.” 

Dr. Peter Marks, director of the FDA’s Center for Biologics Evaluation and Research, said to reporters:  “If it were my relatives, I would be sending them out to do this again. Because after all, COVID-19 has had a really disproportional adverse effect on people 65 years of age and older and those with comorbidities. By choosing age 50 and up … we felt like we would capture the population that might most benefit from this fourth booster dose. Just to reiterate, the good news is that for most people who have been vaccinated and had one booster, their original booster shot is continuing to provide you with good protection from being hospitalized or dying.”

While Tuesday’s announcement only applies to older Americans, the FDA will convene a panel of vaccine experts on April 6 to discuss the plan for other age groups. They will talk about the efficacy of booster shots and the potential need for a variant-specific booster instead of continual booster shots designed for the initial strain of COVID-19.  A decision would likely be made later this summer or fall.

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The House panel investigating the Jan. 6 insurrection at the Capitol has identified an almost 8-hour gap in official White House records of then-President Donald Trump’s phone calls as his supporters stormed the building. The time-gap extends from a little after 11 a.m. to about 7 p.m. on Jan. 6, 2021, and involves White House phone calls.  The committee is investigating the gap in the official White House log, which includes the switchboard and a daily record of the president’s activities.

The House panel has made broad requests for separate cell phone records and has talked to more than 800 witnesses, including many of the aides who spent the day with Trump. The committee also has thousands of texts from the cell phone of Mark Meadows, who was then Trump’s chief of staff.

The committee is focusing on what the president was doing in the White House as hundreds of his supporters beat police, broke into the Capitol and interrupted the certification of Democrat Joe Biden’s 2020 presidential election victory. The missing records raise questions of whether Trump purposefully circumvented official channels to avoid records.

The committee also is continuing to receive records from the National Archives and other sources, which could produce additional information and help produce a full picture of the president’s communications. During the roughly eight hours in question on Jan. 6, Trump addressed a huge crowd of supporters at the nearby Ellipse and told them to walk to the Capitol, make their voices heard and “fight like hell.” He then returned to the White House and watched as the mob broke into the Capitol.  Several of Trump’s calls that day are already publicly known. He spoke to Vice President Mike Pence between 11 a.m. and 11:30, lobbying Pence publicly and privately to object while presiding over the certification. He also spoke with several GOP members of the House and Senate as his allies in Congress were preparing to challenge the official vote count.

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A federal judge has ruled that former President Donald Trump and legal adviser John Eastman ‘likely’ committed federal felonies in connection with the Jan. 6, 2021, attack at the U.S. Capitol by radical Trump supporters.

U.S. District Judge David Carter wrote in his 44-page ruling (which can be viewed here in full)  that dozens of documents authored by Eastman should be made available to the House committee investigating the attack, and that sufficient evidence exists to conclude that Trump committed multiple crimes. Eastman is believed to have helped craft Trump’s White House legal strategy to get then-Vice President Mike Pence to overturn the 2020 presidential election. Pence, who presided over the certification of the vote during a joint session of Congress on Jan. 6, rejected the pressure.

Wrote Judge Carter: “Based on the evidence, the court finds it more likely than not that President Trump corruptly attempted to obstruct the joint session of Congress on Jan. 6, 2021.”  In the civil case ruling, Carter found that 101 emails written by Eastman were not covered by attorney-client privilege in part because Trump “likely knew” a plan advanced by Eastman to have Pence unilaterally act to overturn President Joe Biden’s election victory “was illegal.”  Carter wrote that there’s sufficient evidence to conclude that Trump likely committed at least two felonies — obstruction of an official proceeding and conspiracy to defraud the United States.

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On Monday, Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis signed into a law a controversial measure restricting what can be taught in classrooms on gender identity or sexual orientation, which critics have dubbed the “Don’t Say Gay” bill. DeSantis signed House Bill 1557, officially known as the Parental Rights in Education bill, at the Classical Preparatory School in Spring Hill, Fla.

The new law prohibits classroom discussion about sexual orientation or gender identity and also bars educators from discouraging or prohibiting “parental notification and involvement in critical decisions affecting a student’s mental, emotional, or physical well-being.”  The governor told reporters the measure it is meant to protect the rights of parents to shield their children from “clearly inappropriate” instruction on sexual orientation or gender identity.  DeSantis claimed six school districts in Florida had policies that cut parents out of decisions regarding what their children are taught on the subjects.

The measure is strongly opposed by LGBTQ+ advocates, student groups, President Joe Biden, Democratic lawmakers, the Walt Disney Company and many entertainment figures.  Opponents argue it interferes with the rights of students who identify as lesbian, gay, bisexual, transgender or queer, to speak out about who they are, and potentially harms them by outing them as LGBTQ to parents under a notification provision.

Disney, one of the largest employers in the state, had vowed to help repeal the legislation, saying in part: “We are dedicated to standing up for the rights and safety of LGBTQ+ members of the Disney family, as well as the LGBTQ+ community in Florida and across the country.”

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