Page 27 - Florida Sentinel 9-24-21

National
Scientists Examine Kids’ Unique Immune Systems As More Fall Victim To COVID
A Body Found In Wyoming Is Believed To Be Missing Woman Gabby Petito
MOOSE, Wyo. — Authori- ties say a body discovered Sun- day in Wyoming is believed to be Gabrielle "Gabby" Pe- tito, who disappeared while on a cross-country trek with a boyfriend. Brian Laundrie, her boyfriend, has been identi- fied by authorities as a person of interest and is now being sought within a Florida nature preserve.
The FBI said the body was found by law enforcement agents who had spent the past two days searching camp- grounds.
The cause of death has not yet been determined, said FBI Supervisory Special Agent Charles Jones.
"Full forensic identification has not been completed to con- firm 100% that we found Gabby, but her family has been notified," Jones said. "This is an incredibly difficult time for (Petito's) family and friends."
An attorney who has been acting as a spokesman for Pe- tito's family asked in a state-
Gabrielle "Gabby" Petito and fiance Brian Laundrie.
ment that the family be given room to grieve.
"The family and I will be forever grateful," Stafford said in a statement. Attorney Richard Benson Stafford indicated that the family would make a public statement at a later date, and he thanked offi- cials with the FBI, Grand Teton Search and Rescue and other agencies that participated in the search for Petito.
An undeveloped camping
area on the east side of Grand Teton bordering national for- est land will remain closed until further notice while the investigation continues, Jones said.
Jones said investigators are still seeking information from anyone who may have seen Petito or Laundrie around the camp sites, the same area that was the subject of law enforcement search ef- forts over the weekend.
Eighteen months into the COVID-19 pandemic, with the delta variant fueling a massive resurgence of disease, many hospitals are hitting a heart- breaking new low. They’re now losing babies to the coronavirus.
“It’s so hard to see kids suf- fer,” said Dr. Paul Offit, an ex- pert on infectious diseases at Children’s Hospital of Philadel- phia, which — like other pedi- atric hospitals around the country — has been inundated with COVID patients. The first reported COVID-related death of a newborn occurred in Or- ange County, Florida, and an in- fant has died in Mississippi. Merced County in California lost a child under a year old in late August.
Until the delta variant laid siege this summer, nearly all
children seemed to be spared from the worst ravages of COVID, for reasons scientists didn’t totally understand.
Although there’s no evi- dence the delta variant causes more severe disease, the virus is so infectious that children are being hospitalized in large num- bers — mostly in states with low vaccination rates. Nearly 30% of COVID infections reported for the week that ended Sept. 9 were in children, according to the American Academy of Pedi- atrics.
Doctors diagnosed more than 243,000 cases in children in the same week, bringing the total number of COVID infec- tions in kids under 18 since the onset of the pandemic to 5.3 million, with at least 534 deaths.
Big Gap Between Pfizer, Moderna Vaccines Seen For Preventing COVID-19 Hospitalizations
LOS ANGELES — Amid persistent concerns that the protection offered by COVID- 19 vaccines may be waning, a report released Friday by the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention finds that America’s workhorse shot is significantly less effective at preventing severe cases of dis- ease over the long term than many experts had realized.
Data collected from 18 states between March and Au- gust suggest the Pfizer-BioN- Tech vaccine reduces the risk of being hospitalized with COVID-19 by 91% in the first four months after receiving the second dose. Beyond 120 days, however, that vaccine efficacy drops to 77%.
Meanwhile, Moderna’s vac- cine was 93% effective at re-
ducing the short-term risk of COVID-19 hospitalization and remained 92% effective after 120 days.
Overall, 54% of fully vacci- nated Americans have been immunized with the Pfizer shot.
The surprising findings came as a Food and Drug Ad- ministration advisory panel
recommended against offering booster doses of the Pfizer vac- cine to all Americans ages 16 and older. In a striking rebuke, 16 of 18 experts told the agency it had not mustered enough data to make a third shot the norm.
In lengthy briefings to the panel, representatives from Pfizer pointed to clinical trial results involving 306 mostly healthy participants to argue that a booster “restores” the 95% vaccine effectiveness rate seen earlier in the pandemic.
Company officials also touted evidence from Israel, which rolled out boosters after seeing a rise in hospitalizations among people who were fully vaccinated. Those hospitaliza- tions dropped dramatically after third doses were given, Israeli scientists have said.
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