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Preteens and teens can now get a COVID vaccine after FDA approves emergency use for Pfizer. (Shutterstock)
Pfizer's COVID-19 vaccine has been approved for emergency use in children between the ages of 12 and15, the Food and Drug Administration announced on Monday.
This is the first COVID vaccine to be allowed for children since Pfizer was originally only approved for those 16 and older. The decision will allow middle school students to get vaccinated before school returns in the summer if parents choose to do so.
The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention will meet on Wednesday to vote on the change in practice.
When will kids in that age group be able to get the vaccine?
Kids should be able to start the immunization process as soon as the CDC approves the change. According to the Biden administration, 15,000 locations across the country are prepared to distribute the vaccine to kids.
Children make up about 20% of the U.S. population. Kids between the ages of 11 and 17 have made up about 1.5 million cases of COVID-19 since the pandemic began, though they tend to have milder symptoms on average. During vaccine trials, 2,260 participants were between 12 and 15, which showed the vaccine was effective in a younger age bracket.
What should you expect when your child gets vaccinated?
If children have a reaction to the Pfizer vaccine, it is likely to be similar to that of adults: pain, fever, chills and fatigue. The second dose tends to have worse side effects than the first.
"Having a vaccine authorized for a younger population is a critical step in continuing to lessen the immense public health burden caused by the COVID-19 pandemic," said Peter Marks, M.D., Ph.D., director of the FDA's Center for Biologics Evaluation and Research. "With science guiding our evaluation and decision-making process, the FDA can assure the public and medical community that the available data meet our rigorous standards to support the emergency use of this vaccine in the adolescent population 12 years of age and older."
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Popular
(Tesla)
Giga Texas, the massive Tesla factory in southeast Travis County is getting even bigger.
The company filed with the city of Austin this week to expand its headquarters with a new 500,000-square-foot building. The permit application notes “GA 2 and 3 expansion,” which indicates the company will make two general assembly lines in the building.
More details about the plans for the building are unclear. The gigafactory has been focused on Model Y production since it opened in April, but the company is also aiming for Cybertruck production to kick off in mid-2023.
While there is room for expansion on the 3.3 square miles of land Tesla has, this move comes after CEO Elon Musk’s recent comments about the state of the economy and its impact on Tesla.
In a May interview with Tesla Owners Silicon Valley, Musk said the gigafactories in Berlin and Austin are “gigantic money furnaces” and said Giga Texas had manufactured only a small number of cars.
And in June, Musk sent a company wide email saying Tesla will be reducing salaried headcount by 10%, then later tweeted salaried headcount should be fairly flat.
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(Dullnig Ranch Sales)
You’ll have to leave city limits if you’re looking for a proper ranch property like 417 Acres Shipp Lake Ranch, aptly named for its acreage. The property comes built out with three farmhouses, one of which has bedrooms and two bathrooms and two of which have two bedrooms and one bathroom. The nearly untouched property, which surrounds the 100-plus-acre Shipp Lake, has remained in the same family since the early 1900s and gives you picturesque views for the making of a dream home. In fact, the previous owners ran a water ski camp on the property.
Sitting waterside on Lake Austin, this home gives you the unique opportunity to own a piece of the lush Hill Country with views of Mount Bonnell. The 2,750-square foot, three-bedroom, four-bathroom house allows you to integrate indoor and outdoor life with large windows opening to an outdoor living area. The crown jewel is the .76-acre parcel of land that tapers off to your own lakeside resort, featuring an covered outdoor kitchen, fire pit, stone boat house to store your water sports supplies and veranda sitting at the mouth of the water, perfect for an entertainer.
Got dreams of becoming a real Texas rancher? 7814 Brown Cemetery Rd. is the perfect place to start with 40 rolling acres of land and its very own swimming hole. Just east of Austin in Manor, the modest-on-the-outside home clocks at 4,412 square feet with five bedrooms and five-and-a-half bathrooms, but there are an additional two living structures on the property. The horseshoe-shaped pond sits in the heart of the property and comes equipped with a water slide, diving board and a fishing dock.