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Some media updates:

The South’s Resistance to Vaccination Is Not As Incomprehensible As It Seems. A thought experiment by Angie Maxwell, a professor of political science and director of the Diane Blair Center of Southern Politics and Society at the University of Arkansas, through a provocative analysis of Southern history and psychology, explores the idea that the white South has a collective “inferiority complex” that explains its very specific tendency toward backlash. (Slate, 10/1/21)

See also: Lindsey Graham told Republicans they ‘ought to think about’ getting a coronavirus vaccine. They booed him. (Washington Post, 10/5/21)

Anti-Vaxx Parents Don’t Care If You Get Sick. Central to true wellness is the notion of community care, the proverbial village raising the child. Community care revolves around the sentiment that, for better or worse, we are all interconnected. The anti-vaxx wellness folks seem to me less a network of diverse contributors, feeling responsibility toward one another in pursuit of a greater whole, and more a crowd of individuals who all have landed on the same philosophy for themselves, for their own self-interests. (The Cut, 9/30/21)

See also: COVID vaccine disinformation a big reason behind low inoculation rates, officials say (Los Angeles Times, 10/5/21)

Hollywood Battle Lines Emerge in Simmering Vaccine War. Though Hollywood might appear unified when it comes to embracing such COVID-19 preventive measures as vaccines, the reality is more divided, mirroring the broader American population, where 44 percent are not fully vaccinated, according to the CDC. In the film and TV industry, there are no universal vaccine mandates in place, allowing for individual producers to determine whether those in Zone A — typically the project’s main actors, who cannot wear a mask because of storylines, as well as key crewmembers — require proof of vaccination. (Hollywood Reporter, 10/6/21)

Comedian Russell Brand Has Become a Powerful Voice for Anti-Vaxxers. For the past few weeks, Brand has taken issue with the vaccine, casting doubt on the trustworthiness of the FDA, asking if vaccine mandates are an assault on people’s bodily freedoms, calling the vaccine a “gold rush,” and pondering whether people could trust Bill Gates. Most recently, Brand declared that there was a “vaccine apartheid,” going after CNN anchor Don Lemon after he called out people who refused to get vaccinated. (Daily Beast, 10/3/21)

Judging 'sincerely held' religious belief is tricky for employers mandating vaccines. No major religion has come out in opposition to the COVID-19 vaccines. Jehovah's Witnesses, Christian Scientists, and the Catholic Church have all issued statements saying that their religion does not prohibit members from receiving the COVID-19 vaccine. The Pope has declared getting vaccinated "an act of love." (NPR, 10/4/21)

A Better Name for Booster Shots. The pandemic has, in effect, boosted boosters into the public sphere. And yet, we are still really bad at talking about them. In the top echelons of the CDC, in the back alleys of Twitter, no one can seem to agree on who needs boosters, or when or why, or what that term truly, technically means—even as additional shots that officials are calling boosters continue to enter arms. (The Atlantic, 10/5/21)

HHS vaccination ads use a new tactic to increase Covid-19 vaccination rates: fear. "When you pair that with optimism and a way to take action -- vaccination -- to avoid the negative consequences, you can really make a positive impact," said a senior official with the US Department of Health and Human Services who was involved with the ad campaign. Public opinion experts praised the advertisements, saying it was time to take a new approach -- one that uses the death and misery many Americans are witnessing firsthand. (CNN, 10/6/21)

California will require all schoolchildren to get a COVID vaccine once fully approved. California Gov. Gavin Newsom on Friday announced the nation's first coronavirus vaccination mandate for schoolchildren, requiring that all elementary through high school students get the shots once the vaccine gains final approval from the U.S. government for different age groups. (NPR, 10/1/21)

The Geography of Vaccines. Vaccination is yet another dimension of America’s economic and geographic divides. Factors like class, race and the kinds of places we choose to live, which contribute to our political divide, also work to shape the rate of vaccination across different kinds of places. Correlation, of course, is not causation; yet it’s striking to see how unambiguously the associations line up. (Bloomberg, 10/4/21)

Black vaccination rates catching up to White vaccination rates. A joint analysis from Surgo Ventures and Covid Act Now finds racial vaccination disparities are lessening, with Black vaccination rates even surpassing White rates in 36% of counties. (Surgo Ventures, 10/5/21)

Parental consent for vaccination of minors against COVID-19. As of May 2021, emergency use authorization for Pfizer’s COVID-19 vaccine applies to minors at least 12 years of age—some 25 million adolescents across the United States. While this change marks a critical step towards herd immunity and return to normality in everyday life, it also raises a host of questions concerning parental consent for vaccination of minors in pandemic times, most notably: should parental consent be required for COVID vaccine administration? (Vaccine, 10/25/21)

Potential COVID-19 vaccination opportunities in primary care practices in the United States. To quantify the potential benefits of greater primary care engagement in vaccination efforts, we estimated the number of potential vaccination opportunities (PVOs) in primary care in the remaining calendar months of year 2021, and the possible uptake if we supplied enough vaccine to primary care practices to fulfill their opportunities. (medRxiv, 9/28/21)

Vaccines may have prevented a quarter-million Covid-19 cases and 39,000 deaths among seniors. The report from researchers at HHS's Office of the Assistant Secretary for Planning and Evaluation found that vaccinations of Medicare beneficiaries were linked to a reduction in about 265,000 new Covid-19 infections, 107,000 hospitalizations, and 39,000 deaths in that time period. (CNN, 10/5/21)

Federal agencies can start enforcing Biden’s vaccine mandates next month, administration says. The process, which can start on Nov. 9, would begin with agencies counseling such employees. Those who still refuse the vaccines in most cases would then be suspended briefly before potentially being fired, according to an Office of Personnel Management memo and a posting by an administration task force overseeing the mandate. (Washington Post, 10/1/21)

See also: Republicans gird for battle and businesses brace for details of Biden’s new vaccine rule (Washington Post, 10/4/21)

FDA to Hold Advisory Committee Meetings to Discuss Emergency Use Authorization for Booster Doses and COVID-19 Vaccines for Younger Children. On Oct. 14 and 15, the advisory committee will meet to discuss the use of booster doses of the Moderna COVID-19 Vaccine and the Janssen COVID-19 Vaccine. Both vaccines are currently authorized for emergency use to prevent COVID-19 in individuals 18 years of age and older. The committee will also hear presentations and discuss the available data on the use of a booster of a different vaccine than the one used for the primary series of an authorized or approved COVID-19 vaccine (heterologous or “mix and match” booster). (FDA, 10/1/21)

NIAID Awards $36 Million to Pan-Coronavirus Vaccine Development. NIAID has awarded approximately $36.3 million to three academic institutions to conduct research to develop vaccines to protect against multiple types of coronaviruses and viral variants. The awards are intended to fuel vaccine research for a diverse family of coronaviruses, with a primary focus on potential pandemic-causing coronaviruses, such as SARS-CoV-2. (Genetic Engineering & Biotechnology News, 10/6/21)

Acute Myocarditis Following COVID-19 mRNA Vaccination in Adults Aged 18 Years or Older. In this population-based cohort study of 2 392 924 individuals who received at least 1 dose of COVID-19 mRNA vaccines, acute myocarditis was rare, at an incidence of 5.8 cases per 1 million individuals after the second dose (1 case per 172 414 fully vaccinated individuals). The signal of increased myocarditis in young men warrants further investigation. (JAMA, 10/4/21)

Johnson & Johnson asks FDA to authorize booster dose of COVID-19 vaccine. The company said its submission to the FDA included data from a late-stage study that found a second dose administered 56 days after the first shot boosted protection to 94% against symptomatic COVID-19 — and 100% against severe disease — at least 14 days after receiving the booster. (Healio, 10/5/21)