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A third of Americans who believe coronavirus vaccine misinformation are aware that they're in disagreement with scientists and medical experts, according to a new survey by The COVID States Project. This suggests that educating people on the science behind vaccines won't be sufficient to change many minds. The survey found that 16% of Americans believe inaccurate information about the vaccines, and nearly half say they're unsure whether at least one vaccine misinformation statement is true. As of January, around 5% of survey respondents said they believe the COVID vaccines contain microchips, 7% said they use aborted fetal cells, 8% think that they can alter human DNA, and 10% said the vaccines can cause infertility. (Owens, 2/15)

KHN: Medical Boards Pressured To Let It Slide When Doctors Spread Covid Misinformation 

Tennessee’s Board of Medical Examiners unanimously adopted in September a statement that said doctors spreading covid misinformation — such as suggesting that vaccines contain microchips — could jeopardize their license to practice. “I’m very glad that we’re taking this step,” Dr. Stephen Loyd, the panel’s vice president, said at the time. “If you’re spreading this willful misinformation, for me it’s going to be really hard to do anything other than put you on probation or take your license for a year. There has to be a message sent for this. It’s not OK.” (Farmer, 2/15)

People who received a different brand of COVID-19 vaccine booster than they did in the primary series had lower rates of infection than those who received the same brand, according to a study in Singapore published late last week in JAMA. The study also found that participants who received a booster of any vaccine brand after the primary Pfizer/BioNTech series had lower rates of severe COVID-19 than did their unboosted peers. In a similar study earlier last week, US scientists writing in the New England Journal of Medicine found better booster protection only among those who initially received the Johnson & Johnson COVID vaccine. (2/14)

Volunteers are rolling up their sleeves to receive shots of experimental vaccines tailored to beat the omicron variant — just as the winter coronavirus surge begins to relent. By the time scientists know whether those rebooted vaccines are effective and safe, omicron is expected to be in the rearview mirror. Already, mask mandates are easing. People are beginning to talk about normalcy. (Johnson, 2/14)

The Food and Drug Administration’s plan to fast-track Pfizer’s Covid vaccine for children under 5 years old was delayed because of a “low number of cases overall in the clinical trial,” Dr. Scott Gottlieb told CNBC on Monday. “Most kids are not getting symptomatic Covid,” said the current Pfizer board member and former head of the FDA. “One case in one direction or another can tip the perception of the vaccine’s overall effectiveness.” “The FDA wanted to take the time for this data set to effectively settle down,” Gottlieb said on “Squawk Box.” (Hur, 2/14)

Emma Burkey, who suffered a devastating brain injury after receiving the Johnson & Johnson COVID-19 vaccine, spends most of her waking hours trying to get better. The 19-year-old Las Vegan spends five hours or more most days undergoing therapy to relearn to walk and to improve fine motor skills in her hands, function lost after a series of strokes caused by a blood clot in her brain. Burkey has come a long way. When she first came out of a medically induced coma, she could not speak, move or even blink her eyes. (Hynes, 2/14)

This is why, even though America’s vaccination and booster rates look better in the older groups compared with the young, they are still too low. As a result, deaths in the United States are still too high. The unvaccinated elderly have been dying at incredibly high rates, but even the vaccinated and unboosted elderly are still dying of COVID at four times the rate of unvaccinated adults under 49. A booster cuts that risk dramatically. This is based on detailed CDC data in early December, which are the latest available. Age continues to be the driver of COVID’s brutal math with Omicron, though: In 2022 so far, three-quarters of COVID deaths in America have been in people 65 and older, 93 percent in people 50 and older. (Zhang, 2/14)