Coronavirus vaccine and Delta variant updates for 10-13-2021

<p>This is Vaccine 411, the latest coronavirus vaccine information for October 13th, 2021.</p><p>&nbsp;</p><p>The British government didn’t get a very good report card from Parliament on how it handled COVID. A critical report said the country waited too long to impose a lockdown in the early days, and that missed a chance to contain the disease and led to thousands of unnecessary deaths. The delay attributed to a dangerous level of “groupthink” that caused dismissal of more aggressive strategies. The committees did praise the government’s early focus on vaccines and vaccine development.</p><p>&nbsp;</p><p>A French study of 22.6 million people over 50 found vaccination reduces the risk of dying or being hospitalized by 90%. It also found vaccines appear to protect against the worst effects of Delta. The study’s authors said, “This means those vaccinated are nine times less at risk of being hospitalized or dying from Covid than those unvaccinated.”</p><p>&nbsp;</p><p>Explosive accusations against Prevent Senior, which operates 10 hospitals in Sao Paulo, Brazil. Whistleblowing doctors testified the hospitals enlisted participants to test unproven drugs without proper consent and forced doctors to prescribe unproven drugs touted by Brazil’s President. Some senators say it also looks like the system falsified death certificates to omit COVID as cause of death.</p><p>&nbsp;</p><p>The FDA declined to take a stand on whether it should back booster shots of Moderna’s vaccine, mostly because data shows two doses are still enough to protect against severe disease and death in the U.S. They also didn’t take a stand on Pfizer’s booster shots last month and rejected Pfizer’s original plan to distribute boosters to everyone 16 and older.</p><p>&nbsp;</p><p>A national poll by NPR find the pandemic put Americans increasingly behind the economic 8-ball. More are experiencing serious financial problems, rent's overdue, evictions are looming, two-thirds of parents say their kids fell behind in school, and one in five households say