Vaccine uptake slow as cases among youngest children rise
ATLANTA — Sesame Street’s Elmo, who is 3½, recently got his COVID-19 vaccine.
The littlest muppet’s shot was intended to spark interest in vaccinating the nation’s youngest children against COVID-19, after recent federal approval of the shots for those ages 6 months to 5. But interest in the vaccine remains low in Georgia, even as cases among children under 5 statewide have been rising for eight weeks. The youngest age group is the only population other than those 70 and over to show such a trend, according to Amber Schmidtke, a public health researcher.
Besides doing little to slow the spread of COVID among toddlers and infants, the lagging uptake in the new vaccine is contributing to an untold number of wasted doses, as the vaccines for children under 5 are packaged 10 to a vial. Once a vial is opened, all doses must be used or discarded within 12 hours. Several Atlanta metro area pediatricians told the AJC they’ve had to throw out more than half their doses.
The vaccine rollout for this age group is of particular importance in Georgia due to the state’s large populations of Black and Hispanic children under 5 — racial and ethnic groups disproportionately affected by the pandemic. In Georgia, 32.7% of all children under 5 are Black, the third-highest rate in the nation, according to the Kaiser Family Foundation (KFF). Fifteen percent of the youngest Georgians are Hispanic.
—The Atlanta Journal-Constitution
Beto O’Rourke raises record amount in race for Texas governor vs. Greg Abbott
AUSTIN, Texas — Gubernatorial hopeful Beto O’Rourke raised $27.63 million between Feb. 20 and June 30, the most a state-level candidate in Texas has ever raised in one reporting period, his campaign said Friday.
In fundraising, O’Rourke likely still trails incumbent GOP Gov. Greg Abbott, who hasn’t released any numbers. But at minimum, the Democrat’s huge haul means he’ll be able to advertise steadily in the state’s 20 media markets this fall.
It also means O’Rourke is likely to mount at least as well-financed a bid for governor as former Fort Worth Democratic state Sen. Wendy Davis did eight years ago. In one period, O’Rourke has raised nearly 15 times as much as former Dallas County Sheriff Lupe Valdez took in during her entire 2018 bid for governor ($1.86 million).
O’Rourke took in more than 511,000 contributions — 98.9% of them online — in the more than four-month-long period that his report to the Texas Ethics Commission will cover, his campaign said.
—The Dallas Morning News
Three Percenters of Missouri militia group adopts portion of highway in Kansas City
KANSAS CITY, Mo. — A militia group with ties to an extremist movement that has engaged in terrorist activity has adopted part of a highway in the Kansas City area.
The Original Three Percenters of Missouri adopted a section of Interstate 70 at the Interstate 470 interchange in Kansas City, the Missouri Department of Transportation said. Signs bearing the group’s name recently appeared along a stretch of highway after the group applied and was accepted into the program.
The Adopt-a-Highway program allows volunteers to help clean up trash along Missouri roadways, MoDOT spokesperson Linda Horn said. When a person or group adopts a portion of the highway, one sign is placed in each direction along the adopted section of the road.
The Three Percenters is a militia organization that believes in citizens mobilizing against tyranny, according to the Anti-Defamation League, a national anti-hate organization. According to the ADL, the group has a track record of criminal activity — from weapons violations to terrorist plots and attacks.
—The Kansas City Star
Xi takes defiant victory tour as he closes in on third term
Xi Jinping’s trip to Xinjiang this week was the latest stop in a campaign-style tour that demonstrates the Chinese president’s willingness to defy foreign pressure before he secures a precedent-breaking third term.
Xi spent Tuesday through Friday visiting sites in the far western region that highlight policies the U.S. and other Western nations say amount to genocide against the region’s Muslim minority. He called Beijing’s policy on minorities “good and effective,” state radio reported Friday.
It follows similar trips to Hong Kong, where he praised a crackdown on the pro-democratic opposition, and the central city of Wuhan, where he reaffirmed China’s controversial zero-tolerance approach to COVID-19.
The victory lap comes in the final run-up to a twice-a-decade leadership reshuffle, in which Xi is expected to gain Communist Party approval to stay in power for at least another five years. Xi’s effort to show that China is strong enough to overcome its own internal challenges without bowing to external criticism has helped propel him to the pivotal moment.
—Bloomberg News
