The Food and Drug Administration on Monday authorized booster shots of the Pfizer-BioNTech coronavirus vaccine for 12- to 15-year-olds, an effort to bolster protection as schools reopen amid a surge of infections caused by the omicron variant.
The agency also cleared booster shots for children 5 to 11 with compromised immune systems. And it said anyone eligible for a booster could get the shot five months after receiving the second Pfizer-BioNTech shot, down from six months.
The FDA actions are expected to be reviewed by the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention and its panel of outside vaccine advisers this week. Assuming the Advisory Committee on Immunization Practices, which is scheduled to meet Wednesday, signs off on the additional shots, CDC director Rochelle Walensky is expected to officially recommend them later that day.
Here's the weekly look at the rate of COVID-19 cases & deaths at the county level since the end of June, broken out by partisan lean (i.e, what percent of the vote Donald Trump received in 2020).
The partisan ratio of case rates are now only running 1.6x higher per capita in the reddest tenth of the country than the bluest tenth, down from 3.0x higher in late October, 2.4x higher two weeks ago and 2.0x higher just a week ago, reflecting how contagious the Omicron variant is in terms of infecting people even if they're fully vaccinated (death rates are clearly a very different story, however, as you'll see below):
Completed applications/redeterminations processed through the integrated eligibility system: 18,856
I'm not entirely sure what the 18,856 figure refers to, but I've confirmed that it's already included in the larger number.
Last year's final OEP enrollment tally for Connecticut was 104,946 QHP selections, which they're now 1.4% ahead of...with over 2 weeks left for CT residents to get covered (they have until New Year's Eve to enroll for coverage starting January 1st, and from January 1st - January 15th for coverage starting February 1st).
UPDATE: Quite a few people are telling me that I'm being too conservative in my assumptions below, and they make a very good case based on the anti-mask and anti-vaxx mindset among Republicans, Trump voters tendency to be older than Biden voters and so forth. I AGREE WITH ALL OF THIS. I'm still trying to be as cautious/conservative as possible, however, because this is a very ugly & touchy subject and because there are still a lot of unknowns.
As I note below, even in a heavily Trump-leaning county, the bulk of the COVID deaths could be among Biden voters. It's not likely but it's possible and I'm trying to keep that in mind here.
Certified Enrollment Assistors Will Be On-site at Select Farmers Markets During 2022 Open Enrollment Period
Expanded financial help available for 2022 health plans
ALBANY, N.Y. (December 27, 2021) – NY State of Health, the state’s official health plan Marketplace, today announced it is once again partnering with the New York State Department of Agriculture and Markets in an effort to educate shoppers at farmers markets throughout New York State about low-cost, high quality health coverage during the 2022 Open Enrollment Period. Certified Enrollment Assistors will be on-site at various markets from January 1 through January 31, 2022.
Washington Health Benefit Exchange (Exchange) reports that as of Dec. 24, over 230,000 customers have signed up for health coverage for 2022, an increase of 7% over last year. That number includes nearly 30,000 new customers who have signed up so far this year. Washingtonians still looking for 2022 coverage have until the final open enrollment deadline of Jan. 15 to sign up through Washington Healthplanfinder, the online marketplace operated by the Exchange.
Not only is 230K up 7% over the same point last year, it's already up 3.3% over last year's final OEP enrollment total (222,731 QHP selections). They'll have to add at least 13,300 more between now and January 15th in order to beat the state's all-time record set in 2018, however.
The Affordable Care Act includes a long list of codified instructions about what's required under the law. However, like any major piece of legislation, many of the specific details are left up to the agency responsible for implementing the law.
While the PPACA is itself a lengthy document, it would have to be several times longer yet in order to cover every conceivable detail involved in operating the ACA exchanges, Medicaid expansion and so forth. The major provisions of the ACA fall under the Department of Health & Human Services (HHS), and within that, the Centers for Medicare & Medicaid (CMS)
Every year, CMS issues a long, wonky document called the Notice of Benefit & Payment Parameters (NBPP) for the Affordable Care Act. This is basically a list of proposed tweaks to some of the specifics of how the ACA is actually implemented.
NOTE: See important updates towards the bottom, including age-adjusted versions of both the monthly & cumulative graphs.
Back in August, a very smart & savvy Twitter friend of mine who goes by the name of Propane Jane started a thread about the racial (and racist) aspects of the COVID pandemic response, both in terms of infection, death & vaccination rates as well as other societal policies like in-person schools, mask mandates and so forth. It's a great thread and I highly recommend reading the whole thing, which starts here.
Covered California’s first open-enrollment deadline is this week: People need to sign up by Dec. 31 in order to have their coverage start on Jan. 1.
The deadline comes as the omicron variant is spreading across California, with the average cost of COVID-related hospitalizations and ICU care at $127,000, underscoring the importance of having insurance to avoid medical debt.
Having health care coverage, staying COVID-safe and getting vaccines and booster shots are critical to protecting your health and the health of your family and community.
An estimated 1.1 million Californians are uninsured and eligible for financial help from Covered California or Medi-Cal, and the majority could get comprehensive coverage at no cost.
Idaho is unique among the 50 U.S. states + DC this year in that it's the only one whose ACA exchange ended their 2022 Open Enrollment Period (OEP) before the official January 15th final deadline set by the Biden Administration.
Your Health Idaho was originally going to stick with December 15th as their final Open Enrollment deadline (most states made 12/15 the deadline for January coverage, but are giving residents until 1/15 to enroll for coverage starting in February). They ended up extending that deadline out until December 22nd in the end, but that's it--going forward, Idahoans will only be eligible for ACA coverage if they become eligible thanks to a Qualifying Life Event (QLE) such as losing their existing coverage, moving to a different rating area, turning 26 and so on.
In any event, even without the January final deadline, YHI still managed to beat last year's enrollment numbers by 6.6%:
Here are the OE 2022 numbers with year over year change included (the YoY is Dec. 22, 2021 vs Dec. 31, 2020).
