The @FDA is expected to authorize updated COVID-19 vaccines any day, & @CDC’s ACIP will then vote on 9/12. Once recommended, COVID vaccines will enter the commercial market for the first time. Will you have to pay for them? 🧵 Generally, if you have insurance (private or public ), you are in good shape. COVID vaccines — and any ACIP recommended vaccine (for flu, etc.) — should cost you nothing.

If you are uninsured? You once again may face costs to access recommended, life-saving interventions.

With reports suggesting that the administration may soon end the public health emergency (PHE) declaration for #Mpox, I thought I’d do a little review of the #PHE itself 🧵(1/x)
Here's the news report on this: politico.com/news/2022/11/3…) Most people probably became familiar with the PHE declaration when first declared for #COVID in January 2020. It has been an important tool in the nation’s response to COVID and its end will have significant implications, as we explore here. (2/x) kff.org/coronavirus-co…

As expected, the @US_FDAjust authorized COVID-19 bivalent boosters (Pfizer and Moderna) for kids ages 5-11 and the @CDCDirector has just recommended them. What might we expect from uptake? 1/12🧵
fda.gov/news-events/pr…) The bivalent booster authorization for 5-11 year-olds, as for adults, is for administration at least 2 months after completion of primary or booster vaccination. (the monovalent booster is no longer authorized). 2/12

NEW: While the #monkeypox (MPX) outbreak seems to be slowing, it's increasingly concentrated in communities of color, with big disparities in cases and vaccine access.
w/@SArtiga2 @LindseyH_Dawson
kff.org/racial-equity-… MPX case rates among Black people are five times greater than among Whites (14.4 vs. 2.6 per 100,000). Rates among Hispanic people are 3 times greater (8.3 per 100,000).

What do we know about uptake of the new #COVID19 booster? Some data from @CDCgov and from our latest @KFF COVID Vaccine Monitor. 🧵1/10 From @CDCgov: As of September 28, 7.6 million people had received an updated booster. Most boosters are Pfizer (65%), with Moderna accounting for the remainder (35%). 2/10 covid.cdc.gov/covid-data-tra…

With news from Pfizer today on positive results from its COVID19 vaccine trial for kids ages 5-11, we looked at the demographics of this population. Of the approximately 28 million kids, ages 5-11, in the U.S., about half are children of color, including approximately 26% who are Hispanic and 14% who are Black.

The #COVID19 relief bill passed by the House early this morning includes funding for several COVID-related public health measures in the U.S., including funding for states. I'll highlight them in this thread. *$7.5 billion to HHS/CDC for vaccine distribution
*$1 billion for vaccine confidence
$46 billion to HHS for testing, contact tracing, surveillance, mitigation
*$5.2 billion to HHS for R&D and purchasing of vaccines, therapeutics, medical products

IMPORTANT UPDATE: In advance of the upcoming #ACIP meeting, the @HIVinfo_NIH "Guidance for COVID-19 and People with HIV", recommends that #HIV be included as a high-risk medical condition for #COVID19 vaccine priority.
clinicalinfo.hiv.gov/en/guidelines/… ACIP has already recommended that people with high-risk medical conditions be prioritized in phase 1c. However, HIV has been in the "may be at risk" category and therefore not necessarily prioritized; in fact, most states have not done so. In our analysis,

My colleagues released a new survey of OBGYNs today - please read it! Among the many important findings:

*While 88% of OBGYNs said they were prepared to meet the sexual/reproductive health needs of LGBQ patients, only 56% said the same for transgender patients.

https://twitter.com/a_salganicoff/status/1365060691212689408

*Only a quarter of OBGYNs (28%) work at practices that provide gender affirming care, including hormone therapy or gender affirming surgery.

The #ACIP meeting is starting. It looks like they have revised their 1b recommendation (still to be voted on) to be those 75+ and frontline essential workers.
cdc.gov/vaccines/acip/… 1c) rec will be those aged 65–74 years; those aged 16–64 years with high-risk medical conditions; and other essential workers.

So, what about kids and #COVID19 and schools? @joshmich and I explore this in a new @KFF brief as schools across the country contemplate reopening and the federal government is encouraging it.
kff.org/coronavirus-co… The U.S. is considering reopening schools even though it has much greater community transmission than other countries, at the time they reopened (see Table). A greater # of cases, cases per capita and, in all cases but one, a greater positivity rate.