Coronavirus vaccine and COVID variant updates for 12-16-2021

<p>This is Vaccine 411, the latest coronavirus vaccine information for December 16th, 2021.</p><br><p>The Los Angeles school district is the latest in California to delay forcing thousands of unvaccinated students to return to distance learning. Officials decided enforcement would disrupt the education of about 27,000 unvaccinated students, overwhelm the independent study program which already has staff shortages, and risk losing teachers.</p><br><p>A federal appeals court panel lifted a nationwide ban against the vaccine mandate for health care workers but did block the requirement in about half the states. It’s not clear if the Centers for Medicare &amp; Medicaid is going to continue suspension of the rule for all states or go ahead with a patchwork of policies. Plus, the court itself said it looks like mandate opponents will prevail as the case moves through the courts.&nbsp;</p><br><p>We hear about poorer nations having trouble accessing vaccines but guess who’s running short. Germany. The Federal Health Minister says they’re facing a shortage in the first quarter of 2022, right when Omicron will probably be wreaking havoc.&nbsp;</p><br><p>Did you get the Johnson &amp; Johnson vaccine? CDC advisers are revisiting the benefits and risks of it today. They’ll hear presentations about thrombosis and TTS, a rare, serious type of blood clotting that’s been linked to J&amp;J, but not Pfizer or Moderna. The CDC Director wouldn’t say if she still believes the benefits outweigh the risks.</p><br><p>Omicron is a rapid spreader. In the U.S., the percentage of cases caused by it jumped seven times in one week. But why? What makes it spread so fast? Preliminary data tells us Omicron multiplies about 70 times faster in our respiratory tract tissue than Delta does, then reaches higher levels in the tissue 48 hours after infection. This focus on the respiratory tract, instead of deep in the lungs, may suggest Omicron could cause less severe disease but scientists say it’s still too soon to conclude that.&nbsp;</p><br><p>In th