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Friday, December 3, 2021

POLITICO NIGHTLY: The final vax frontier: toddlers and babies

 


 
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BY RENUKA RAYASAM

Presented by the Connected Commerce Council

A person receives a Covid-19 vaccination dose, while carrying a baby in tow in Los Angeles.

A person receives a Covid-19 vaccination dose, while carrying a baby in tow in Los Angeles. | Mario Tama/Getty Images

SPRING PRICKIN’ — When I showed my 3 year old my Covid booster-shot bandage a couple of weeks ago, he asked me, “Why is it on your arm?” He’s used to getting vaccinations in the thigh and then plied with treats afterward.

When it comes to getting a Covid shot to defend against the prospect of an Omicron surge, my two toddlers will have to wait until next spring for their chance at immunity and, perhaps as important, the accompanying Paw Patrol stickers. During our big family Thanksgiving feast, my kids were the only ones who had yet to receive a Covid shot. Everyone else was well above 5 years old.

Toddlers and babies are the biggest pool of unvaccinated people in the country, said Philip Landrigan, a pediatrician and epidemiologist at Boston College and a former CDC official. Because their risks are generally lower and the potential for side effects greater, younger kids have only just started participating in clinical trials for Covid vaccines. Companies aren’t expected to submit their trial data to the FDA until early next year. After an agency review, an approval could come next March or April.

Moderna and Pfizer are currently testing their mRNA vaccines in kids between 6 months and 4 years old. Infants generally have some level of protection from antibodies they receive in the womb of a vaccinated parent, but the age cutoffs are somewhat arbitrary, said C. Buddy Creech, director of the Vanderbilt Vaccine Research Program and a professor of pediatric infectious disease at Vanderbilt University Medical Center.

Moderna is testing about a quarter of its adult dose, and Pfizer is testing about a tenth of its adult dose. Kids tend to produce a better immune response than adults do, meaning they should require a much smaller dose to get the same vaccine benefits, said Creech, who is conducting one of Moderna’s pediatric trials.

Initially, younger children are expected to be on the same dosing schedule as everyone else — two doses a few weeks apart — but that might change over timeCanada has recommended that children who are 5 to 11 get their doses eight weeks apart.

Covid shots are unlikely to be a part of a regular doctor’s visit alongside other routine childhood vaccines. Because researchers are trying to isolate side effects, they are testing Covid shots outside the normal vaccine schedule — at least two weeks before or after they get another shot.

Most of the side effects so far have been mild: fever, fussiness or soreness. Trials are watching closely for signs of myocarditis or heart inflammation, but that should be less of an issue in younger kids, Creech said.

Covid risks in the vast majority of young kids are very, very small, Creech said. It might be because they have low levels of an enzyme that helps the virus infect the body, but also in general they have fewer risk factors like obesity. Still, he added, the case for vaccinating kids without health risks is becoming more urgent with the potential for Omicron or another variant to plow through the U.S. in search of people to infect. Unvaccinated children can contribute to greater Covid spread.

Since the start of the pandemic, 224 kids between the ages of zero and 4 have died from Covid, according to the CDC. Among others, there are concerns about longer-term symptoms. And, as parents of preschoolers and school-age children know, a positive Covid test triggers a disruptive quarantine.

“We are in an arms race with this virus,” Creech said. “We need to provide as much immunity as possible so when the virus finds its way into a community, it cannot get a foothold.”

Welcome to POLITICO Nightly. Reach out with news, tips and ideas at nightly@politico.com. Or contact tonight’s author at rrayasam@politico.com, or on Twitter at @RenuRayasam.

 

A message from the Connected Commerce Council:

An estimated 11 million small businesses (37%) would have closed without access to digital tools. Why is Congress proposing changes that would dismantle small businesses’ digital safety net? Learn more: https://connectedcouncil.org/

 
WHAT'D I MISS?

A flock of birds flies near the U.S. Capitol at dusk.

A flock of birds near the U.S. Capitol at dusk. | Drew Angerer/Getty Images)

— Congress on path to avert shutdown after chaotic scramble: The Senate appears likely to pass a bipartisan deal tonight to avert a government shutdown on Friday , granting conservatives a chance to oppose President Joe Biden’s vaccine mandate in exchange for speedy passage of the funding patch. While nothing is locked in, several Republican senators tonight said they expect to vote on the stopgap spending bill within a matter of hours. Greasing the wheels for passage is a vote on an amendment from Republican Sen. Mike Lee of Utah, aimed at defunding Biden’s vaccination requirements on U.S. businesses. Lee‘s amendment is expected to get a vote at a simple majority threshold, as he has demanded.

— Biden administration to restart ‘Remain in Mexico’ program under court order: The Department of Homeland Security is preparing to revive the Migrant Protection Protocols policy under a federal court order, the department announced today . MPP, more commonly known as the “Remain in Mexico” policy, requires many migrants seeking asylum to stay in Mexico while awaiting their immigration hearings. The Biden administration has tried multiple times to strike down the policy, but in August, a federal judge in Texas ordered the program restored.

 

BECOME A GLOBAL INSIDER: The world is more connected than ever. It has never been more essential to identify, unpack and analyze important news, trends and decisions shaping our future — and we’ve got you covered! Every Monday, Wednesday and Friday, Global Insider author Ryan Heath navigates the global news maze and connects you to power players and events changing our world. Don’t miss out on this influential global community. Subscribe now.

 
 

— Senators propose ban on FTC ‘zombie votes’: Six GOP senators are introducing legislation that would bar the Federal Trade Commission from counting the votes of departed commissioners — a practice that has drawn new Republican criticism to agency Chair Lina Khan. The bill, spearheaded by Kansas Sen. Jerry Moran, would be retroactive to the beginning of 2021, invalidating dozens of votes left behind by Democrat Rohit Chopra when he departed the agency in October to take the helm of the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau. POLITICO reported on the issue a month later, noting that the agency’s rules could allow Chopra to serve as the deciding vote through at least December.

— Meadows’ book possible ‘waiver’ of executive privilege, Jan. 6 investigators say: Jan. 6 investigators have tried to pry information from Mark Meadows for months. Now, excerpts from his forthcoming book have piqued the select committee's interest. In interviews, members of the committee say Meadows may have damaged his case for maintaining the secrecy of his contacts with former President Donald Trump on Jan. 6 by divulging selected details in his book, due to publish Tuesday.

 

A message from the Connected Commerce Council:

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IDEA OF THE DAY

These are the variables we must focus on to protect public health and stay ahead of variants:

1. Make testing routine, accessible. Find ways to directly distribute tests to Americans. Make it easy to test!

2. Get more immunity into population with focus on boosters and kids vax

We’re in markedly different position as #Omicron emerges. Unclear if it’s a U.S. threat but if it spreads we have deeper immunity, oral drugs, highly effective antibody therapeutics, widespread rapid testing. Massive sequencing! This isn’t spring 2020. We have very solid footing.

— FORMER FDA COMMISSIONER SCOTT GOTTLIEB, IN A TWITTER THREAD TODAY

 

STEP INSIDE THE WEST WING: What's really happening in West Wing offices? Find out who's up, who's down, and who really has the president’s ear in our West Wing Playbook newsletter, the insider's guide to the Biden White House and Cabinet. For buzzy nuggets and details that you won't find anywhere else, subscribe today.

 
 
AROUND THE WORLD

Secretary of State Antony Blinken and his Russian counterpart Sergei Lavrov pose at the start of their meeting.

Secretary of State Antony Blinken and his Russian counterpart Sergei Lavrov pose at the start of their meeting. | Jonathan Nackstrand/AFP via Getty Images

NOT QUITE THE SWEDE SPOT — It was less a matter of differences than seemingly irreconcilable realities as the U.S. and Russia’s top diplomats clashed over Ukraine today, David M. Herszenhorn writes.

While Secretary of State Antony Blinken reiterated a demand that Russia withdraw troops from the Ukrainian border and resume peace talks, Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov warned that his country regarded the eastward expansion of the NATO military alliance as a “fundamental security threat.”

“No one should strengthen their security at the expense of the security of others,” Lavrov told reporters, speaking in Stockholm ahead of a meeting with Blinken. “Further advance of NATO to the east will unambiguously affect the fundamental interests of our security.”

Blinken, sitting alongside Lavrov, repeated U.S. and NATO threats to punish Russia should its forces once again invade Ukraine, as they did in Crimea in 2014. “We have deep concerns about Russia’s plans for renewed aggression against Ukraine,” Blinken said, adding: “We have a strong, ironclad commitment to the sovereignty and territorial integrity of Ukraine. The best way to avert a crisis is through diplomacy.”

NIGHTLY NUMBER

1 in 44

The rate at which autism is diagnosed in 8 year olds, according to an analysis of 2018 data from nearly a dozen states released by the CDC today. That rate compares with 1 in 54 identified in 2016.

PARTING WORDS

GOING STAG? NOT REALLY — Republicans are portraying Biden’s Democrats as the party of “stagflation,” in a bid to recall the grim era of slow economic growth and skyrocketing prices that doomed Jimmy Carter’s presidency in 1980.

Trouble is, the “stag” part of stagflation hasn’t shown up, Ben White writes. And it may not anytime soon.

Wall Street banks are busy jacking up their estimates for fourth-quarter economic growth to as much as 8 percent as pent-up demand following Covid lockdowns drives consumption and the economy steadily recovers more of the vast ground lost to the pandemic. Jobless claims are falling, employment growth is brisk and consumer demand remains hot. And while inflation is at a more than three-decade high, even prices at the fuel pump may ease as oil prices drop.

Morgan Stanley recently cranked up its growth estimate for the last three months of the year to an annualized rate of 8.7 percent from 3 percent because of strong consumer demand and declining jobless claims. Goldman Sachs sees growth of 6 percent and JPMorgan bumped its projection to 7 percent from 5 percent. The Federal Reserve Bank of Atlanta, whose model incorporates most real time economic data, forecasts a 9.7 percent jump.

 

A message from the Connected Commerce Council:

Digitally enabled small businesses saw 50% more revenue during the pandemic than businesses that did not use digital tools. Now, Congress is considering legislation that could hurt the digital economy – and put small businesses at risk. Learn more: https://connectedcouncil.org/

 


 

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Tyler Weyant @tweyant

Renuka Rayasam @renurayasam

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