Las Vegas has joined Los Angeles in returning to mask mandates in public indoor places as new COVID-19 hotspots pop up across the country.
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as new coveted hot spots pop up across the country many kids are heading back to school there are new questions about the effectiveness of the johnson and johnson vaccine against the delta variant kana wentworth is live from chandler arizona where schools are set to open this morning good morning kana george good morning so the staff here at conley elementary school has been working around the clock to mitigate the chances of covid’s spread as they are among the first in the nation to head back in the classroom today with no mask mandate in place and this as covid cases in the united states are the highest they’ve been in two months overnight a new study raising questions about the efficacy of the johnson and johnson vaccine suggesting that the one-shot vaccine could be less effective against the highly contagious delta variant the authors concluding that 13 million americans who received johnson and johnson might need a booster shot but experts point out the findings contradict prior studies indicating the vaccine likely works well against delta and say this study which is not yet peer reviewed looked at blood samples from just 10 patients two and a half months post-vaccination in a statement johnson and johnson saying these results do not speak to the full nature of immune protection the company also saying earlier peer-reviewed studies conducted over an eight-month period show the vaccine generated strong persistent activity against the rapidly spreading delta variant for now the fda and cdc saying none of our currently authorized vaccines need to be boosted with an additional dose the delta variant now estimated to account for 83 percent of all new cases meanwhile public health experts monitoring breakthrough cases among the vaccinated including house speaker nancy pelosi’s aide and a white house staffer dr faushi saying vaccines can protect from hospitalization or death and breakthrough cases are to be expected when you hear about a breakthrough infection that doesn’t necessarily mean the vaccine is failing this as some kids are already heading back to the classroom today lawmakers in eight states including arizona have enacted legislation banning school districts from implementing mask mandates and while kids are less vulnerable a sobering reminder from the cdc director more than 400 children have died children are not supposed to die and so 400 is a huge amount now the american academy of pediatrics recommends universal masking in all schools but george some parents here i spoke with say they really appreciate the freedom to make the best decision for their families okay thanks very much let’s bring in our friend dr ashijah the dean of the brown university school of public health thanks for joining us again this morning dr john let’s start with that new study on the johnson johnson vaccine it doesn’t really track with the other studies out there what’s your big takeaway my big takeaway is that when i put all the data together i think the jnj vaccine is holding up just fine we’re not seeing large numbers of breakthrough infections or hospitalizations in people who’ve gotten the jnj vaccine i think we need more data but for people who’ve gotten the vaccine i would hold tight and not act or worry that this vaccine isn’t going to work for you and even though there are breakthrough cases we still know that these vaccines prevent largely serious illness and death yeah absolutely and we’re going to see breakthrough infections when there are large outbreaks happening overall when you have lots of people infected the the unvaccinated and large numbers of infect virus circulating in the community we’re going to see a few breakthroughs but the good news is people are not getting hospitalized people are not dying if they’ve been vaccinated and that’s the key we’re getting all this different guidance on masks in schools for kids what’s your advice to parents my advice to parents is first of all if your kid is 12 or over get them vaccinated because that’s the best way to keep them safe and to prevent transmission in schools if your kid is under 12 uh if you’re in a hot spot it’s pretty reasonable to be wearing a mask indoors uh if you’re in a place with very few infections uh i don’t think master as uh necessary dr jean thanks very much for your time and your information this morning hi everyone george stephanopoulos here thanks for checking out the abc news youtube channel if you’d like to get more videos show highlights and watch live event coverage click on the right over here to subscribe to our channel and don’t forget to download the abc news app for breaking news alerts thanks for watching
