Coronavirus vaccine and Delta variant updates for 8-16-2021

<p>This is Vaccine 411, the latest coronavirus vaccine information for August 16th, 2021.</p><p><br></p><p>&nbsp;</p><p>The director of the National Institutes of Health said the U.S. could decide in a couple of weeks to offer booster shots to Americans this fall. First in line to get them would be health care workers, nursing home residents and other older Americans.</p><p>&nbsp;</p><p>It’s been peer reviewed, published in the American Journal of Therapeutics, and is the most comprehensive review of data taken from clinical, in vitro, animal, and real-world studies. The report’s conclusion - ivermectin is an effective prophylaxis and treatment for COVID-19. Statistically significant reduction in mortality, time to recovery and viral clearance in COVID-19 patients. South Africa, Zimbabwe, Slovakia, Czech Republic, Mexico, and India have already approved the drug for use.</p><p>&nbsp;</p><p>Afghanistan has fallen to the Taliban, and while that has many implications, there are also implications related to COVID. They have reportedly already started banning the vaccine in certain regions of the country. Regional hospital employees have been warned to stop distributing it and vaccine wards are being closed.</p><p>&nbsp;</p><p>The number of children hospitalized for COVID-19 reached an all-time high in the US over the weekend according to the Department of Health and Human Services. Kids now make up 2.4% of those hospitalized with COVID. Texas leads the country in that with 311 pediatric hospitalizations.</p><p>&nbsp;</p><p>A 70-year-old hermit lives in a small mountain cave in Serbia. He moved there 20 years ago, sleeps on a bed of hay and lives mostly on foraged mushroom and fish from a nearby creek. He emerged from isolation a year ago to discover the pandemic ravaging the world. And even though he’s an isolated hermit, even he wanted the vaccine immediately. He said he didn’t understand the hesitancy, and that the virus isn’t picky, and it could come to his cave.</p><p>&nbsp;</p><p>In the United States cases were