Canada approves Pfizer's COVID-19 vaccine for children, shipments to start immediately Canada on Friday authorized the use of Pfizer Inc's COVID-19 vaccine for children aged 5 to 11, paving the way for the inoculation of elementary school-age children across the country. Reuters Reuters

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The shot is the first to be made available for young children in Canada. Officials had made clear for weeks that the decision would be favorable, noting that incidences of COVID-19 are highest in those under 12.

Scientists mystified, wary, as Africa avoids COVID disaster HARARE, Zimbabwe (AP) — At a busy market in a poor township outside Harare this week, Nyasha Ndou kept his mask in his pocket, as hundreds of other people, mostly unmasked, jostled to buy and sell fruit and vegetables displayed on wooden tables and plastic sheets. AP NEWS

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Virus surge worsens in Midwest as states expand boosters A surge in cases in the Upper Midwest has some Michigan schools keeping students at home ahead of Thanksgiving and the military sending medical teams to Minnesota to relieve hospital staffs overwhelmed by COVID-19 patients. AP NEWS

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COVID-19 vaccination coverage among hospital-based healthcare personnel reported through the Department of Health and Human Services Unified Hospital Data Surveillance System, United States, January 20, 2021-September 15, 2021

An estimated 30 % of health care workers in the U.S. were still unvaccinated as of Sept  15, 2021.

Promoting COVID-19 vaccine acceptance: recommendations from the Lancet Commission on Vaccine Refusal, Acceptance, and Demand in the US

The Lancet Commission on Vaccine Refusal, Acceptance, and Demand in the USA formed to address the persistent and important threat to public health in the USA posed by suboptimal uptake of some vaccines. ...

Since January, 2021, 20% of adults in the USA have consistently reported that they will either get vaccinated only if required for work, or not get vaccinated at all.

One of the most pressing factors contributing to this reluctance has been the unprecedented political polarisation that has affected virtually all aspects of the US pandemic response, as a partisan divide emerged during the previous administration.

Research in political science, communications, and public health have shown that the politicisation of COVID-19 and the public health response to it has been highly detrimental to the success of the US response to the pandemic. ...