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 | | Daily reported coronavirus cases in the United States, seven-day average.The New York Times |
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If all goes well, federal regulators could grant emergency authorization for the shots by the end of February, according to people familiar with the discussions, who were not authorized to speak publicly. |
"In some quarters, there's absolute jubilation," said my colleague Jessica Grose, who writes the Parenting newsletter. "There are certainly parents who feel a tremendous sense of relief, like they have been waiting for this moment. They feel like they have been left behind, that their children have just been an afterthought, and their lives continue to be upended by the virus." |
However, Jessica said, the joy comes with an asterisk. |
"This request for authorization is not as much of a silver bullet as previous requests for authorization," she said, because there are still a lot of open questions about the level of protection two shots provides. "For parents with kids under five, they really want a vaccine that works." |
In December, Pfizer announced mixed results for shots for young children. Children 6 months to 2 years old were given two doses of the vaccine at a tenth of the strength of adult doses, the company said. They produced an immune response comparable to that in older teenagers and young adults, the standard for a successful trial. |
But among children aged two to four, two doses failed to produce the hoped-for immune response. However, because some children in the trial became infected, researchers saw at least hints that, nonetheless, the vaccine worked to stave off the virus. |
The company began testing a third low dose of the shot in young children. But rather than wait for those results, federal regulators took the unusual approach of encouraging Pfizer to apply for authorization for the two-dose regimen, to protect children from the Omicron variant and other future variants, according to four people familiar with the strategy. |
Officials expect the regimen will eventually include three doses. |
The messaging in the coming weeks could affect how quickly parents get their youngest children vaccinated. The pace of vaccination for children between 5 and 11 remains even lower than health experts had feared — with only about 30 percent having received at least one dose. Jessica said she expected that the younger cohort would fare similarly, or worse. |
"The numbers are depressingly bad for that for children ages five to 12," Jessica said. "If they want people to have their children take this vaccine, which they will already be skeptical of, you've got to explain to them what is going on." |
How far should a swab go? |
Your nasal cavity is much larger than your nose — it extends far into your skull and drains into the back of your throat. Inhaled coronavirus particles can attach to different soft tissues in your nasal cavity or throat. |
 | | Julia Rothman |
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The best place to test for the coronavirus is in the nasopharynx (in yellow below), where the back of your nose meets the top of your throat. But getting there is uncomfortable: A testing swab must move through four inches of sensitive tissues. |
 | | Julia Rothman |
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Nasopharynx swabs can feel like you're being poked in your brain. They are very good at picking up even small traces of the virus, but it takes training to reach the right spot. Don't try to do it yourself. |
The swabs in at-home tests are typically designed to use samples from the middle or shallow parts of your nose. Their performance improves when you have a higher viral load in your nose, making at-home tests excellent at flagging people who are highly contagious. Swab just inside your nostril and follow the test manufacturer's instructions. |
The Times built an augmented reality effect that shows you the interior of a nasal cavity, and how far each type of swab reaches, on your own head. To experience this effect, you'll need the Instagram app. |
What else we're following |
I've owned a retail business, The Ink Pad in New York City, for over 23 years. We moved the business and had just been open for two weeks when the shutdown occurred. Aftertwo years of struggling to keep the business afloat, waiting patiently for customers, tourists and New Yorkers to return to offices, we will be closing in a few weeks. It is heart-wrenching. What's even more disturbing is the economic impact beyond just me trying to make a living. Three people who've worked for me each for over 15 years, artists themselves, will now be unemployed. Small mom-and-pop vendors, many female-owned, will no longer receive orders from me. Everyone says "go online, that's where it's at," but it's not the same work, the same living for me. I love meeting people, hearing their stories, helping them plan their craft projects. It's a social shop, a gathering place, and sadly, now on its way to being one of those stories, long before I ever meant it to become one. — Anna Chiang, New Jersey |
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