WASHINGTON — Pfizer’s CEO says “it’s a question of days, not weeks” before the company and German partner BioNTech submit data to U.S. regulators for federal authorization of a COVID-19 vaccine for children age 5 to 11. That would be an important step toward starting vaccinations for those youngsters, especially with kids now back in […]

Billions more in profits are at stake for some vaccine makers as the U.S. moves toward dispensing COVID-19 booster shots to shore up Americans’ protection against the virus. How much the manufacturers stand to gain depends on how big the rollout proves to be. U.S. health officials late on Thursday endorsed booster shots of the […]

NEW YORK (AP) – New York City schools have been temporarily blocked from enforcing a vaccine mandate for its teachers and other workers by a federal appeals judge just days before it was to take effect. Workers in the nation’s largest school system were to be required to show vaccination proof starting Monday. But late […]

ORLANDO, Fla. (AP) — A day after assuming his job, Florida’s newly appointed surgeon general on Wednesday signed new protocols allowing parents to decide whether their children should quarantine or stay in school if they are asymptomatic after being exposed to someone who has tested positive for COVID-19. The new guidelines signed by Dr. Joseph […]

Pfizer said Monday its COVID-19 vaccine works for children ages 5 to 11 and that it will seek U.S. authorization for this age group soon — a key step toward beginning vaccinations for youngsters. The vaccine made by Pfizer and its German partner BioNTech already is available for anyone 12 and older. But with kids […]

While the holiday's 25-hour fast can be problematic, advocates across the Jewish world are developing alternative rituals in line with Judaism's religious principle of safety first

HOLLYWOOD, Fla. (JTA) — When Orthodox Jewish clients approach local real estate agent Sharon Brandt looking for a home in this South Florida area, she tells them to make sure they have spots for their children in school before they buy. When Rabbi Yoni Fein, head of school at the Brauser Maimonides Academy in Hollywood, […]

NEW YORK (AP) — A hostess at a popular New York City restaurant was assaulted by three women from Texas after she asked for proof they had been vaccinated against COVID-19, police said. The three women punched the hostess at Carmine’s on the upper west side repeatedly and broke her necklace Thursday afternoon after she […]

SPOKANE, Wash. (AP) — Officials in Washington state are upset the Biden administration is challenging a law making it easier for workers who become ill at a former nuclear weapons production site to be compensated. The Supreme Court will likely decide in the next few weeks whether to accept the U.S. Department of Justice’s appeal. […]

MIAMI (AP) — Florida surpassed 50,000 coronavirus deaths since the pandemic began, health officials reported Thursday, with more than one fourth of those succumbing this summer as the state battled a fierce surge in infections fueled by the delta variant. The U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention tallied 50,811 deaths after adding more than […]