Only 40% of Americans know vaccinated people are less likely to test positive, poll says: COVID-19 updates

Adults with pre-existing medical conditions who have already received the Moderna or Pfizer double vaccinations and a third shot will be able to get a fourth one, federal health officials say.

"People who are moderately and severely immunocompromised may receive a total of four COVID-19 vaccine doses," the Centers for Disease Control said in its guidelines updated Tuesday.

The CDC authorized a third dose for immunocompromised people 18 and older in August. The fourth shot should be received at least six months after the third, the CDC said. The CDC does not consider the third shots now being approved for Moderna and Pfizer vaccines as boosters.

Some medical conditions and treatments can make it difficult for immunocompromised people to build and retain immunity, resulting in the need for a fourth shot, the CDC says.

Also in the news:

►The Los Angeles City Council has delayed the date when city workers will have to be vaccinated against COVID-19 until Dec. 18, but in the meantime those who haven't had the shots need to get tested twice weekly at their expense ($65 a pop), the Los Angeles Times reports.

►More than 75% of Maine’s eligible population and about 70% of the entire population are fully vaccinated, according to state data released Wednesday. About 58% of the entire U.S. population is fully vaccinated.

►Massachusetts education officials have extended the mask requirement in all K-12 public schools through at least Jan. 15. School officials can lift the local mandate if they can demonstrate that at least 80% of all students and staff are vaccinated.

►Australian Health Minister Greg Hunt announced that double-vaccinated Australians will be allowed to travel abroad and/or return home starting Monday. Many families have been split apart by the tight border closure that went into effect in March 2020.

►A Brazilian Senate committee recommended on Tuesday that President Jair Bolsonaro face a series of criminal indictments for actions and omissions related to the world’s second-highest COVID-19 death toll.

📈 Today's numbers: The U.S. has recorded 45.6 million confirmed COVID-19 cases and more than 739,000 deaths, according to Johns Hopkins University data. Global totals: More than 244.8 million cases and 4.96 million deaths. More than 190.8 million Americans – 57.8% of the population – are fully vaccinated, according to the CDC.

📘 What we're reading: Own an iPhone? You can now keep a digital version of your COVID-19 vaccine card right in your phone's Apple Wallet.

Keep refreshing this page for the latest news. Want more? Sign up for USA TODAY's Coronavirus Watch newsletter to receive updates directly to your inbox and join our Facebook group.

Poll finds lack of public knowledge about vaccines

President Joe Biden has encountered an ignorance problem in his attempts to lead the country out of the pandemic, and it's affecting the public's trust in his administration.

A new Axios/Ipsos poll finds Americans are uncertain about how well the COVID-19 vaccines work, despite reams of data about their ability to protect people from severe disease, hospitalization and death, and to a lesser extent infection. That lack of knowledge is likely contributing to the continued vaccine holdout of 60 million people who are eligible for the shots, and to diminished faith in the Biden administration.

Confidence that his government can make sure the economy recovers quickly after the pandemic dropped from 52% in late January to 44% in the latest poll.

Some of that eroding confidence may be rooted in how little Americans know about the vaccines, which are central to Biden's plan for the U.S. to escape the pandemic. In the poll, only slightly more than 25% of respondents correctly said that a vaccinated 80-year-old is at greater risk of dying of COVID-19 than an unvaccinated 30-year-old. And only 40% knew that vaccinated people are less likely to test positive for the coronavirus than those who haven't been inoculated.

White House will send millions of vaccine doses for kids as soon as OK is granted

In the wake of an FDA advisory panel supporting the Pfizer-BioNTech COVID-19 vaccine for kids 5-11, the White House COVID-19 response team on Wednesday said millions of doses would be sent to pediatricians, family doctors, pharmacies, children's hospitals and other healthcare entities as soon as the inoculations are authorized.

About 28 million children in that age range could become eligible for the Pfizer vaccine as early as next week.

"We will be ready immediately following FDA and CDC's decisions so that parents can get their kids vaccinated quickly, easily and conveniently,'' said Jeff Zients, the team's coordinator.

Other team members illustrated the importance of getting children vaccinated. Dr. Rochelle Walensky, director of the CDC, said COVID-19 has become one of the 10 leading causes of death among children ages 5-11, and that 8,300 kids those ages have been hospitalized with the illness. A recent CDC study found 42% of American children ages 5-11 had contracted the coronavirus by the end of June.

Presidential adviser Dr. Anthony Fauci reported that a study in the UK showed 4.4% of school-age children who had the disease experienced long-COVID, a number of debilitating and enduring symptoms, for at least four weeks.

For answers to many parents' questions about the kids' vaccine, click here.

COVID's instant millionaires. What did they do with the cash?

Pete Vegas had just returned from vacation with his five grandkids when he received a strange text telling him he'd won $1 million. He thought it was a hoax. Vegas, a Colorado resident, was a winner of the state's COVID-19 vaccine lottery, designed to incentivize people to get the shot. He's planning to use the money to fight climate change.

"My immediate reaction was guilt," said Vegas, 65. "Both my wife and I said, wow, we can't keep this money. We have to do something good with it."

Several states funded vaccines lotteries, and at least 24 people nationwide claimed a $1 million prize. Here's a look at what some other vaccine millionaires did with the loot. Read more here.

Infections in meatpacking plants were 2 1/2 higher than believed, House report says

The number of meatpacking workers who contracted the coronavirus was more than 2 1/2 times higher than previously believed, and 269 employees died when COVID-19 tore through the industry last year, according to a new U.S. House report released Wednesday.

The U.S. House Select Subcommittee on the Coronavirus Crisis, which used internal documents from five of the biggest meatpacking companies for its report, said companies were slow to take protective steps such as checking employee temperatures, providing face masks and installing barriers between work stations.

The report estimated the number of infections at more than 59,000, considerably higher than the 22,400 figure from the United Food and Commercial Workers. A large percentage of the workers in the industry are immigrants.

“Instead of addressing the clear indications that workers were contracting the coronavirus at alarming rates due to conditions in meatpacking facilities, meatpacking companies prioritized profits and production over worker safety, continuing to employ practices that led to crowded facilities in which the virus spread easily,” the report said.

In a statement e-mailed to USA TODAY, UFCW President Marc Perrone called on Congress and the U.S. Department of Agriculture to bolster protections for meatpacking workers.

"With federal regulators asleep at the switch when the pandemic began and many non-union plants refusing to disclose the full number of COVID worker infections, far too many Americans on the frontlines were defenseless against the virus,'' Perrone said.

Louisiana eases mask mandate as infection rate plummets

Louisiana Gov. John Bel Edwards lifted his statewide COVID mask mandate except for schools, which must heed recommended quarantine policies before shedding face coverings. Edwards cited a dramatic fall in the state's infection rate and hospitalizations for his decision. He also noted the potential for children to be eligible for vaccines within weeks, while bemoaning Louisiana's lagging vaccination rate as 45th in the nation: "We have to do better." Individual city and parish government leaders, such as New Orleans Mayor Latoya Cantrell, and business owners may still mandate masks at their discretion.

"We have made tremendous progress and I have no doubt that reinstating the mask mandate was a key to this," Edwards said.

– Greg Hilburn, Lafayette Daily Advertiser

Merck to share formula for COVID-19 drug with nations in need

U.S.-based pharmaceutical giant Merck announced a licensing agreement to provide "affordable" global access to its coronavirus drug molnupiravir. The oral, antiviral medicine is for treatment of mild-to-moderate COVID-19 in adults who are at risk for progressing to severe COVID-19 and/or hospitalization. The agreement with the Medicines Patent Pool, which works to make medical treatment and technologies globally accessible, will provide 105 low- and middle-income countries with access to the drug.

“Merck’s mission to save and improve lives is a truly global commitment," said Frank Clyburn, president of Merck's Human Health division. "This agreement with MPP is another important element in our multi-faceted strategy to accelerate broad, affordable access to molnupiravir."

US coronavirus numbers continue to improve

The United States has passed one important milestone in its recovery from a delta variant-driven surge of coronavirus and is close to another. Johns Hopkins University data shows the U.S. reported fewer than 500,000 cases a week through Monday, a number that fell to 476,873 in the seven-day period ending Tuesday. The country hadn't been below 500,000 since July 29, and went on to record some 1.15 million cases in the week ending Sept. 4.

With cases falling for nearly two months, deaths have also been dropping and appear likely to soon dip below 10,000 per week. There were 10,346 COVID-19 deaths in the seven-day period ending Tuesday, the lowest figure since Sept. 6, a holiday, after which every week has reported at least 10,000 deaths. Deaths in the delta-driven wave peaked at 14,648 on Sept. 22, or about 2,100 per day.

– Mike Stucka

Maker of COVAXIN vaccine looks to start US trials

Another COVID-19 vaccine maker is hoping to enter the U.S. market, this time with a traditional type of shot that has already been delivered more than 100 million times in India.

Ocugen Inc., a publicly traded company based in Malvern, Pennsylvania, announced Wednesday morning that it has submitted an application to the FDA to begin a trial of its vaccine, COVAXIN.

The vaccine uses a whole-killed virus, meaning it delivers into the body an inactivated form of the coronavirus. This stimulates a broader immune response than vaccines currently available in the United States, and is more similar to the immune protection provided by a COVID-19 infection, according to Dr. Bruce Forrest, Ocugen’s acting chief medical officer.

Contributing: The Associated Press

This article originally appeared on USA TODAY: Only 40% of Americans know vaccinated people less likely to get virus