FDA Staff Recommends Watching For Bell’s Palsy In Moderna And Pfizer Vaccine Recipients

(Children’s Health Defense Team) — FDA Staff Recommends Watching for Bell’s Palsy in Moderna and Pfizer Vaccine Recipients. CNBC reported:

“U.S. Food and Drug Administration staff recommends monitoring people who get Pfizer or Moderna’s COVID-19 vaccine shots for possible cases of Bell’s palsy, saying it’s not necessarily a side effect but worth watching out for after a handful of trial participants got the condition, which causes half of your face to droop.”

Moderna’s COVID-19 Vaccine Clears First U.S. FDA Hurdle. Al Jazeera reported:

“Moderna’s COVID-19 vaccine appeared to be set for regulatory authorisation this week after US Food and Drug Administration (FDA) staff members did not raise any major new concerns about it in documents released on Tuesday.

“The FDA reviewers said a two-dose regimen of Moderna’s vaccine was highly effective in preventing confirmed cases of COVID-19 and did not raise any specific safety issues with using the vaccine in adults over the age of 18.”

Should Pregnant People Take the Vaccine? FDA and CDC Say That’s Up to Them. Intelligencer reported:

“Over the weekend, after initial fears that pregnant and lactating health-care workers would be barred from receiving the COVID-19 vaccine because of a lack of safety data from clinical trials, the FDA and the CDC instead left the door open for them to choose. What comes next will fall on the institutions distributing the vaccines, and the individual health-care worker having to decide as early as next week whether to get that shot, based on limited information.

Survey Shows Generational Vaccine Attitudes. Medical Economics reported:

“The majority of the three younger reporting groups (56 percent of Gen Z, 57 percent of Millennials, and 60 percent of Gen X) are concerned about getting the flu and COVID-19 at the same time. Meanwhile less than half of the respondents younger than 65 received their flu shot previous to the survey compared to 70 percent among those over 65, the release says.

“More than a quarter of the younger respondents say that they do not plan to receive the flu shot this year, while a majority of those who had not received the shot (68 percent of Gen Z, 80 percent of Millennials, and 78 percent of Gen X) say that they usually do not receive a flu shot, according to the release.”

With Pfizer Shot Spoken for, U.S. Snaps Up 100M More Moderna COVID-19 Vaccine Doses. Fierce Pharma reported:

“The U.S. government on Friday tapped its option to buy additional doses of Moderna’s COVID-19 vaccine candidate, mRNA-1273, snapping up 100 million more doses for around $1.68 billion. The deal raises the U.S. order to 200 million doses, enough to vaccinate 100 million people. The shot is up for review at an FDA advisory panel meeting Thursday.

“The latest slate of Moderna shots are set for delivery in the second quarter of 2021. Ahead of that, Moderna plans to ship out some 20 million doses this month and deliver 80 million more in the first quarter, the company said—provided it wins an emergency FDA authorization as expected.”

Trump Scraps Plan to Have Top White House Personnel Among First Vaccinated Against COVID-19. CBS News reported:

“President Trump said Sunday he was reversing an administration directive to vaccinate top government officials against COVID-19, while public distribution of the shot is limited to frontline health workers and people in nursing homes and long-term care facilities.

“Mr. Trump made the announcement hours after his administration confirmed that senior U.S. officials, including some White House aides who work in close proximity to Mr. Trump and Vice President Pence, would be offered coronavirus vaccines as soon as this week under federal continuity of government plans.”

Report: Cornell University Makes Flu Vaccination Mandatory – But Only for White Students. Law Enforcement Today reported:

“An Ivy League university is requiring that white students receive an annual flu vaccination, while providing an exemption for students belonging to any other race.

“Because of ‘historical injustices and current events,’ Cornell University will grant  to ‘people of color’ an exemption from its requirement that all students get a flu vaccination.”

A Century After 1918 Pandemic Killed 675,000 Americans, U.S. Remains a Country Divided Over a COVID-19 Vaccine. New York Daily News reported:

“An Associated Press-NORC Center for Public Affairs Research poll illustrated the stark vaccine schism among Americans, even as the pandemic’s second wave wreaks continued havoc across the country.

“According to the poll, roughly one in four Americans say they will not get vaccinated. And another one in four say they remain unsure if they will or won’t get inoculated when the vaccine is made available via the largest vaccination program in U.S. history.”

Why a COVID-19 Vaccine Doesn’t Mean You Can Stop Wearing a Mask. CNN reported:

“Here’s what the studies don’t yet show. They haven’t looked at whether the vaccine prevents someone from carrying COVID-19 and spreading it to others. It’s possible that someone could get the vaccine but could still be an asymptomatic carrier. They may not show symptoms, but they have the virus in their nasal passageway so that if they’re speaking, breathing, sneezing and so on, they can still transmit it to others.”