Staff Contact: Kara Amann-Kale or Keri Barclay

The U.S. Food and Drug Administration’s Vaccines and Related Biological Products Advisory Committee is hosting a meeting on Tuesday, Oct. 26, to review the Pfizer-BioNTech emergency use authorization request for administration of its COVID-19 vaccine in children ages five to 11. In anticipation of the FDA decision, the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention published the document, “Pediatric COVID-19 Vaccination Operational Planning Information,” which outlines known details and assumptions to inform planning of a COVID-19 vaccination program for children.

Staff Contact: Sarah Willson or Jane Drummond

MHA submitted a waiver request to the Missouri Department of Health and Senior Services related to unlicensed assistive personnel. The waiver would reinstate a previous allowance that extends the required training period for UAPs beyond the first 90 days of employment. MHA will monitor the department’s response and update members with any changes. A current list of health care-related waivers is available.

Staff Contact: Shawn Billings

A recent analysis of electronic health records of nearly 580,000 vaccinated people in the U.S. found that the risk of SARS-CoV-2 breakthrough infection among vaccinated patients with substance use disorder was higher than the risk among vaccinated patients without substance use disorder.

Though vaccines have proven to be highly effective against COVID-19, their effectiveness in individuals with SUDs might be curtailed by compromised immune status and a greater likelihood of exposures, added to the waning vaccine immunity and the new SARS-CoV-2 variants. The study also found that co-occurring health conditions and adverse socioeconomic determinants of health, which are more common in people with SUDs, appear to be largely responsible for the increased risk of SARS-CoV-2 breakthrough infections. People with SUDs also had elevated rates of severe outcomes, including hospitalization and death, following breakthrough infections.

Staff Contact: Jill Williams

The Health Workforce Technical Assistance Center is hosting a webinar, “Immediate and Long-term Economic Impacts of the Pandemic on the Nursing Workforce,” at 2 p.m. CDT Wednesday, Oct. 20. Utilizing data from monthly population surveys, this webinar will examine employment trends throughout the U.S. health care delivery system, as well as employment and earnings trends of registered nurses, licensed practical nurses and nursing assistants. Preliminary estimates of future growth of the R.N. workforce will be explored, and presenters will identify threats to this workforce in coming years.