Northwest Arkansas Democrat-Gazette
Fauci: Mixed J&J boosters will get a look
Think of vaccination as part of job, police officers urged
President Joe Biden’s chief medical adviser said Sunday that he expects U.S. regulators to consider whether people who got the one-dose Johnson & Johnson vaccine should get an mRNA shot against covid-19 as a booster.
“If you boost people who have originally received J&J with either Moderna or Pfizer, the level of antibodies that you induce in them is much higher than if you boost them with the original J&J,” Anthony Fauci said on ABC’s “This Week” on Sunday.
“But the data of boosting the J&J first dose with a J&J second dose is based on clinical data,” he said. “So what’s going to happen is that the FDA is going to look at all those data, look at the comparison, and make a determination of what they will authorize.”
A so- called mix- andmatch booster has been discussed among scientists and government experts, though no timeline has been released for when it might be officially considered. The issue is complicated by safety, supply and concern about confusing public messaging.
Food and Drug Administration experts recommended a second Johnson & Johnson shot for people 18 and older last week.
They also backed a third dose of the Moderna Inc. shot — which unlike J& J uses mRNA technology — for people at high risk of contracting covid-19. The recommendations require backing by the FDA and the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, which could come as soon as this week.
The Pfizer Inc.-BioNTech vaccine, also based on mRNA technology, was cleared for boosters in September. More than 10 million third shots have been given in the U.S.
Fauci said the individual choice of which booster to get would depend on several factors, including the risk of myocarditis, a heart inflammation that some evidence suggests is a risk for young
men who get Mrna vaccines.
“I believe there’s going to be a degree of flexibility of what a person who got the J& J originally can do, either with J&J or with the mix-and-match from other products,” Fauci said on “Fox News Sunday.”
Fauci also said that people could safely enjoy gathering during the U.S. holiday season if vaccinated — a message to some 66 million eligible people in the country who haven’t been inoculated.
“When you do that , there’s no reason at all why you can’t enjoy the holidays in a family way, the way we’ve traditionally done it all along,” he said on “This Week.”
Meanwhile, in many cities across the country, there is friction between governments and law enforcement unions over requirements that officers get vaccinated against the coronavirus or prove their vaccination status, leading to contentious public clashes.
POLICE HESITANCY
Police officers and others responsible for public safety should view vaccination against covid-19 as a key part of their role, Fauci said on Fox News.
“Think about the implications of not getting vaccinated when you’re in a position where you have a responsible job, and you want to protect yourself because you’re needed at your job, whether you’re a police officer or a pilot or any other of those kinds of occupations,” he said.
In Chicago, the head of the police union told officers to ignore a city order to report their vaccination status by the end of the day this past Friday.
Vaccinations are not required for city workers, but employees who are not vaccinated will be subject to twice-weekly testing. John Catanzara, president of the Fraternal Order of Police in Chicago, released a video last week predicting that Chicago police officers would not report to work because of the vaccination policy.
Mayor Lori Lightfoot said in a statement last week that she “cannot and will not stand idly by while the rhetoric of conspiracy theorists threatens the health and safety of Chicago’s residents and first responders.”
In Seattle, the union said that the city’s shortage of police officers would worsen because of a vaccine mandate. On Sunday, Fauci said that employees in public service who resisted vaccination were misguided.
More than 460 U.S. law enforcement officers have died of covid, according to the Officer Down Memorial Page, making the virus by far the most common cause of duty-related deaths this year and last. More than four times as many officers have died from the virus as from gunfire in that period.
“Things like mandating, be they masks or vaccinations, they’re very important,” Fauci said. “We’re not living in a vacuum as individuals. We’re living in a society, and society needs to be protected. And you do that by not only protecting yourself but by protecting the people around you, by getting vaccinated.”
A federal judge has limited the ability for now for the nonprofit running Oak Ridge National Laboratory to place employees on unpaid leave who receive exemptions to a covid-19 vaccine requirement.
OAK RIDGE POLICY
U.S. District Judge Charles Atchley in Knoxville issued the temporary restraining order Friday barring UT-Battelle from placing employees on indefinite unpaid leave or firing them after they receive a religious or medical accommodation to the vaccine.
The six workers who sued have argued they were told the unpaid leave would be indefinite. Their employer said in a court filing that the leave will last 60 days — with health benefits intact — and then will be reevaluated. Those with security clearances will maintain them for 90 days, the filing states.
The judge wrote that he will decide by Oct. 29 whether to let the order expire or keep it while the case plays out.
He reasoned that “preventing their [employees’] placement on unpaid leave for a matter of two weeks simply will not harm” the organization, while the unpaid leave presents a “functional loss of employment” and other damages for the workers at the lab, which is about 25 miles west of Knoxville.
Atchley wrote that the order shouldn’t be interpreted that he is inclined to block the order permanently, and instead was put in place to avoid the “risk of irreparable harm” until a full hearing can be held.
The employees sued earlier this month, saying they requested religious exemptions to the covid-19 vaccine and two of them also asked for a medical exemption. The lawsuit also seeks class action status, arguing the unpaid leave policy breaches civil rights and disability discrimination protections.
The lawsuit says the workers were not offered alternatives, such as working remotely or periodic testing. All employees currently face a mask mandate at the lab.
The laboratory, which falls under the U.S. Department of Energy, announced on Aug. 26 that all staff needed to be vaccinated by this past Friday, with a request that those who were seeking accommodations for religious or medical reasons to submit them by Sept. 15.
UT-Battelle had 145 employees request accommodations for religious beliefs, and in 24 cases had in-person discussions with the workers. UT-Battelle received 75 requests for medical exemptions, granting 47 of them, denying 25, with three pending, a filing states.
According to the Oak Ridge National Laboratory website, there are 5,700 staff workers at the facility.
The organization discontinued the interviews after an employee on the interview list tested positive for covid-19 on each of the two days, including one employee who was interviewed before receiving test results, “potentially exposing panel members to the virus,” UT-Battelle wrote.
The nonprofit also said “the experience of late summer and early fall shows that testing does not adequately diminish the risk of onsite transmission,” and that employees working from home were “not as effective as in person work” during the pandemic. The organization also noted that as a federal contractor, it falls under vaccination requirements in place through Biden’s executive orders.
“The risk posed by unvaccinated staff members was exemplified by the employees who tested positive on the day they were being interviewed about their religious accommodation requests,” UT-Battelle wrote.