Thread by @LizSzabo

LIVE: The National Vaccine Advisory Committee from @HHSGov is meeting now.

Watch here, or follow my tweets.
hhs.gov/live/live-1/in…

LIVE: @HHS_ASH says he'd like National Vaccine Advisory Committee to discuss the need to vaccinate children, who has a case fatality rate of 0.2% (although kids can also develop rare inflammatory syndromes). hhs.gov/live/live-1/in…

LIVE: Nearly 180 million flu vaccine doses have been distributed this year, the highest number ever. "The great news is that seasonal influenza activity has remained low this year," said @HHS_ASH.

LIVE: The bad news, 28.8% of Black kids got flu shots this year, down from 32% last year. Meanwhile, more white kids were vaccinated against flu this year than last, said @HHS_ASH. "We need to fix this now. We cannot lose ground against serious diseases that we can prevent."

LIVE: Routine children's vaccinations fell during pandemic, although numbers have begun to recover, said @HHS_ASH. He wants people to know that it's safe to bring kids to doctor for vaccine. (Many pediatricians vaccinate healthy kids early in the day B4 seeing other patients.)

LIVE: Dr. Stanley Plotkin notes 2% of children were admitted to pediatric intensive care. Very low mortality, but "a dead child is not a happy thing. Children are not totally immune." A higher proportion of newborns was severely ill, said Dr. Stanley Plotkin.

LIVE: Dr. Stanley Plotkin notes that the percentage of kids who become seriously/critically ill from covid-19 is about equal to rate seen in Hib. Also, sick children do excrete virus, so they can infect parents, teachers, other kids.

LIVE: Dr. Stanley Plotkin: "We cannot count on universal vaccination of adults. Vaccination of children will eventually result in an immune population," as with measles. "Assuming SARS-2 virus becomes a permanent threat, we are going to have to include children in our plan."

LIVE: Dr. Stanley Plotkin: Although older people should be the priority for vaccination, "looking ahead, I do believe children should eventually be vaccinated" against covid-19.

Tune into this live public meeting. hhs.gov/live/live-1/in…

LIVE: Dr. Stanley Plotkin says covid-10 vaccine trials in kids should start now, so we will get an answer on how well they work by mid-2021, after the high-priority groups have been vaccinated. (My question: Would that give us time to vaccinate B4 start of school in fall?)

LIVE: Dr. Sascha Ellington of @cdcgov says pregnant women w/ covid may have higher risk of preterm delivery. But may be less likely to have symptoms of fever or body aches.

hhs.gov/live/live-1/in…

Complications are more common in pregnant women with covid-19 symptoms compared to those who are asymptomatic.

LIVE: Pregnant women with covid are 3x as likely to be admitted to ICU than non-pregnant women. @CDCGOV has reports of 54 pregnant women with covid who died.

Dr. Jeff Robert of the @fdagov said female participants in covid-19 vaccine trials were tested for pregnancy before being vaccinated, and excluded from study if they were pregnant. A small number of volunteers got pregnant during trial. hhs.gov/live/live-1/in…

LIVE: @fadenethx notes that pregnant women are routinely excluded from clinical trials. Instead, she said including pregnant women should be the default.

Dr. Tom Shimabokuro of @cdcgov notes that ppl vaccinated against covid-19 can register for text msgs and electronic health monitoring, with daily checks for the first week and weekly checks after that. Monitoring will last 12 months. hhs.gov/live/live-1/in…

LIVE: If people who are vaccinated have side effects that make them miss work, @cdgov will reach out to them and file an adverse event report. You can register for daily texts in week after vaccination, weekly texts for next 6 wks, then check-ins every 3 months for one year.

LIVE: Dr. Tom Shimabakuro of @cdgov said several systems are in place to monitor vaccine safety after immunizations begin. hhs.gov/live/live-1/in…

LIVE: @HHSGov officials said that Medicare will pay for COVID-19 vaccines with no copays.

LIVE: The National Vaccine Advisory Committee of @hhsgov is looking at complex issues now about covid-19 vaccines.

Committee recommends a communication campaign about covid-19 vaccines.

Committee makes recommendations.

Committee recommends studying vaccines in children,but cautiously.

Committee recommends vaccine makers start enrolling pregnant women in vaccine trials.

LIVE: National Vaccine Advisory Committee will now take public comment. WAtch here! hhs.gov/live/live-1/in…

LIVE: Dr. Diana Zuckerman of @NC4HR said randomized controlled vaccine trials should continue, even after vaccines are authorized, so that we get longer term efficacy and safety data. Doesn't think placebo group should be given the vaccine after vaccines become widely available.