* From the CDC’s Morbidity and Mortality Weekly Report…

Among COVID-19–like illness hospitalizations among adults aged ≥18 years whose previous infection or vaccination occurred 90–179 days earlier, the adjusted odds of laboratory-confirmed COVID-19 among unvaccinated adults with previous SARS-CoV-2 infection were 5.49-fold higher than the odds among fully vaccinated recipients of an mRNA COVID-19 vaccine who had no previous documented infection (95% confidence interval = 2.75–10.99).

What are the implications for public health practice?

All eligible persons should be vaccinated against COVID-19 as soon as possible, including unvaccinated persons previously infected with SARS-CoV-2. [Emphasis added.]

Get your shots, people.

* Tribune…

According to the Food and Drug Administration’s announcement authorizing the use of the Pfizer vaccine in children 5 through 11, the recommendation would be for a two-dose series, three weeks apart, but at a lower dose than has been used for people 12 and older. Younger children would receive 10 micrograms, compared with individuals 12 years and older, who receive 30 micrograms.

The FDA noted that in the U.S., 39% of COVID-19 cases in people younger than 18 are in children 5 through 11 years old, and about 8,300 COVID-19 cases resulted in hospitalization in this younger age group. As of Oct. 17, according to the FDA, 691 deaths from COVID-19 had been reported in the U.S. in people under age 18; 146 of these deaths were of children 5 to 11.

The CDC notes that although fewer children have been infected with the virus compared to adults, kids can be infected, get sick and spread COVID-19. Right now, youths 12 and older receive the same dosage of the Pfizer vaccine as adults, and there are no patient weight requirements for vaccination, nor does the dosage vary by weight.

* Tribune…

Illinois students from economically disadvantaged families — who represent nearly 50% of the state’s roughly 2 million students — appear to have borne the brunt of the disruptions to education during the pandemic, with test scores for students in grades 3-8 plunging in math and English language arts on the Illinois Assessment of Readiness.

Now, with Illinois schools slated to receive around $7 billion in federal COVID-19 relief funding, educators hope to bridge the gap with everything from tutoring and teacher development, to after-school programs and extra social emotional support for students dealing with trauma.

Still, school officials say despite Illinois classrooms being fully reopened for in-person learning this fall, the pandemic is far from over, and academic recovery efforts continue to be hampered by students in quarantine, hiring challenges and educators who are already exhausted, just two months into the new school year.

While around 25% of low-income third graders met proficiency standards for math in 2019, that number declined sharply during the pandemic, with only 13% of third graders in that demographic meeting proficiency standards on the recent assessment.

* CNBC…

About 47,000 patients with the virus are currently hospitalized nationwide, according to a seven-day average of data from the Department of Health and Human Services, and the U.S. is reporting an average of roughly 1,150 Covid fatalities per day, according to Johns Hopkins data. Both figures are flat over the past week.

Besides the plateauing cases, Fauci, also director of the National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases, said the U.S. must focus on vaccinating the roughly 60 million people nationwide who have not yet been immunized. That excludes 28 million children ages 5 to 11 who became eligible to receive Pfizer’s two-dose Covid vaccine earlier this month, he noted.

“There’s a lot of good news, but some challenging news that we really need to address as we go into the winter months,” Fauci said.

Fauci added that those who’ve been fully vaccinated for Covid can gather for the holiday season without concern. But he recommended wearing a mask in indoor congregate settings with cases still hovering at a high level nationwide.

“When you’re with your family at home, goodness, enjoy it with your parents, your children, your grandparents,” he said. “There’s no reason not to do that.”

1,150 deaths per day translates to almost 420,000 per year.

* Get your shots, folks…

Though Lake County remains in the high risk category, the number of new cases of COVID-19 is approximately a quarter of what they were a year ago.

Local health officials say that decline is thanks in large part to the vaccine.

“It was four times higher without the vaccine,” said Lake County Health Department Executive Director Mark Pfister. “The major difference is the vaccine. Most of the new cases and hospitalizations are people who were not vaccinated.”

The county experienced a 10.35% increase of new COVID-19 cases per 100,000 residents in the past week but also crossed the 80% threshold of vaccinated residents with 80.1% of those eligible for vaccination receiving their shots.

* Tribune…

The opponents of vaccination requirements may be loud and litigious, “but they’re not going to get 50% of the vote plus one,” [Chris Mooney, a University of Illinois at Chicago political science professor] said. “And that’s, in some sense, what it’s coming down to for Pritzker.”

* More…

* ‘A real sense of relief’: Illinois school-based vaccine clinics get shots in arms of kids ages 5 to 11

* How one Southwest Side health center is leading Chicago on kids’ COVID vaccinations

* Surge protectors? Experts urge vaccinations as state’s climbing COVID-19 cases spark concerns of ‘yet another wave’