Academy takes a stand for vaccination
Aug. 27, 2021
Visitors to the California Academy of Sciences will now need more than a ticket to enter the building in San Francisco’s Golden Gate Park. They will need proof of vaccination against COVID 19 or a negative test showing that they are not infected with the virus.
The new regulations, which took effect on Friday, represent a major tightening of admission policies by the science museum and research institution. So far, the academy is the only public museum in Northern California to take such an action.
Other museums require only that visitors wear face masks to guard against the virus. The San Francisco Department of Public Health issued an order earlier this week mandating proof of vaccination for bars, health clubs and any inside event with more than 1,000 participants.
Though the academy building is capable of hosting as many as 1,000 visitors at a time, crowds have been kept small to prevent virus transmission.
The decision was an affirmation of the academy’s firm belief in public immunization as a major tool in fighting the global pandemic, said Academy Dean of Science Shannon Bennett.
“We thought that it was great that we were trying to coordinate our guidelines with the city’s guidelines, but at the end of the day, what do we believe in?” she said.
“We opted to align with the science that says the vaccine is not only the best but an important toolkit in fighting the pandemic. We just felt that it was time to be firm about our scientific support for vaccination.”
Before entering the building, all visitors over the age of 12 will be required to show a paper vaccination card, a photo of the card or a digital immunization card. Those who are not vaccinated must have paperwork containing their name, the date the test was given and the type of test used. All visitors will also be required to show valid identification and wear a mask indoors.
At the height of the pandemic in 2020, the academy was closed for seven months reopened and closed again when COVID 19 cases increased around the holidays.
The museum reopened this year and slowly reinstated events and access to exhibits as the total number of reported infections dropped to manageable levels.
Some visitors chafed at wearing masks after the state department of public health announced that fully vaccinated individuals would not need them in public, Bennett said.
But such resistance has almost disappeared since the outbreak of the Delta Virus mutation which spreads the infection faster and is capable of infecting vaccinated victims.
Academy visitors now are mostly Bay Area residents who have been supportive of vaccination drives. That could change if more vaccine-resistant tourists arrive, according to Bennett.
“I don’t think they will give us too much trouble,” she said. “This is the right way to go at least for our community. Maybe as viewership changes over time that will become a harder conversation.”
It’s now uncertain whether the new rules will cause a decline in attendance. Many visitors will come to the academy because it is a safe place from the virus and demand has so far been steady, according to Bennett.
Of greater concern is the lack of entry-level employees who work directly with the public. Many were laid off during the closure and recruiting others can be a challenge because many young people are seeking higher paying jobs to live in the costly Bay Area.
“We are competing with reopening restaurants and museums for entry level staff,” Bennett said. “We are hiring as fast as we can and once we get enough staff to serve the floor we will be adding times for people to come.”
Like so many other businesses and institutions, the academy now has a significant number of employees working from home. Those who interact with the public are still on site, along with biologists, collection managers and others who care for the fish and other animals in the exhibits.
But most researchers are working independently and are away from the building two thirds to 75 percent of the time.
“If you came to the academy and walked around the research area it would be very quiet,” Bennett said.
Visitors to the California Academy of Sciences will now need more than a ticket to enter the building in San Francisco’s Golden Gate Park. They will need proof of vaccination against COVID 19 or a negative test showing that they are not infected with the virus.
The new regulations, which took effect on Friday, represent a major tightening of admission policies by the science museum and research institution. So far, the academy is the only public museum in Northern California to take such an action.
Other museums require only that visitors wear face masks to guard against the virus. The San Francisco Department of Public Health issued an order earlier this week mandating proof of vaccination for bars, health clubs and any inside event with more than 1,000 participants.
Though the academy building is capable of hosting as many as 1,000 visitors at a time, crowds have been kept small to prevent virus transmission.
The decision was an affirmation of the academy’s firm belief in public immunization as a major tool in fighting the global pandemic, said Academy Dean of Science Shannon Bennett.
“We thought that it was great that we were trying to coordinate our guidelines with the city’s guidelines, but at the end of the day, what do we believe in?” she said.
“We opted to align with the science that says the vaccine is not only the best but an important toolkit in fighting the pandemic. We just felt that it was time to be firm about our scientific support for vaccination.”
Before entering the building, all visitors over the age of 12 will be required to show a paper vaccination card, a photo of the card or a digital immunization card. Those who are not vaccinated must have paperwork containing their name, the date the test was given and the type of test used. All visitors will also be required to show valid identification and wear a mask indoors.
At the height of the pandemic in 2020, the academy was closed for seven months reopened and closed again when COVID 19 cases increased around the holidays.
The museum reopened this year and slowly reinstated events and access to exhibits as the total number of reported infections dropped to manageable levels.
Some visitors chafed at wearing masks after the state department of public health announced that fully vaccinated individuals would not need them in public, Bennett said.
But such resistance has almost disappeared since the outbreak of the Delta Virus mutation which spreads the infection faster and is capable of infecting vaccinated victims.
Academy visitors now are mostly Bay Area residents who have been supportive of vaccination drives. That could change if more vaccine-resistant tourists arrive, according to Bennett.
“I don’t think they will give us too much trouble,” she said. “This is the right way to go at least for our community. Maybe as viewership changes over time that will become a harder conversation.”
It’s now uncertain whether the new rules will cause a decline in attendance. Many visitors will come to the academy because it is a safe place from the virus and demand has so far been steady, according to Bennett.
Of greater concern is the lack of entry-level employees who work directly with the public. Many were laid off during the closure and recruiting others can be a challenge because many young people are seeking higher paying jobs to live in the costly Bay Area.
“We are competing with reopening restaurants and museums for entry level staff,” Bennett said. “We are hiring as fast as we can and once we get enough staff to serve the floor we will be adding times for people to come.”
Like so many other businesses and institutions, the academy now has a significant number of employees working from home. Those who interact with the public are still on site, along with biologists, collection managers and others who care for the fish and other animals in the exhibits.
But most researchers are working independently and are away from the building two thirds to 75 percent of the time.
“If you came to the academy and walked around the research area it would be very quiet,” Bennett said.
National COVID-19 death rate hits historic high
Oct. 3, 2020
A look at government statistics gathered during the COVID-19 emergency reveals one grim fact: the pandemic is a long way from being over.
Despite a nationwide effort aimed at vaccinating the American public from the deadly disease, the death toll reached more than 700,000 by the end of the week.
The pandemic is now the deadliest in our nation’s history, surpassing the Spanish Flu outbreak of 1918 and 1919, which took the lives of 675, 000 Americans.
Though preventative shots are almost universally available, only a little more than half of the nation’s adolescents and adults have elected to roll up their sleeves.
Deaths within the last three months have been among the unvaccinated, mostly in the southern states of Florida, Mississippi and Louisiana where conservative politicians have dismissed the pandemic threat and even tried to reverse decisions by school boards and other agencies to require protective masks.
The need for universal vaccination has increased due to the Delta coronavirus mutation which spreads faster than COVID 19 strains which plagued the nation in the latter half of 2020 and the beginning of this year.
A study by the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention found that those who were unvaccinated were 10 times more likely to die from the Delta strain then those who received the vaccine.
Medical authorities have insisted that post vaccination “breakthrough” cases are much milder and the drug prevents long hospital stays once a victim becomes infected.
But data submitted to the CDC from all 50 states recorded 22,115 deaths or hospitalizations among fully-vaccinated victims. Most were elderly patients who may have suffered from other chronic illnesses.
Vaccines do lose some potency over time and the federal Food and Drug Administration has approved booster shots for people over the age of 65 or whose immune systems are compromised. Only the Pfizer vaccine is being distributed but drug companies Moderna and Johnson and Johnson have applied for FDA booster approval.
Despite the large death and hospitalization toll, resistance to vaccinations remains high with some athletes, health care workers and private employees refusing to take their shots.
President Joe Biden has mandated vaccines for federal employees and contractors. Private businesses with more than 100 employees will be required to vaccinate or perform weekly testing for COVID 19 among their workers, Biden said.
VACCINATION TOTALS (as of Oct. 2)
One dose: 215,233,625
Percentage of population: 64.8
Fully vaccinated: 185,492,579
Percentage of population: 55.9
Boosters: 5,287,357
Percentage of population: 2.9
U.S. PANDEMIC TOTALS
Cases: 43,653,269
Deaths: 701,162
Sources:
Johns Hopkins University
Centers for Disease Control.
A look at government statistics gathered during the COVID-19 emergency reveals one grim fact: the pandemic is a long way from being over.
Despite a nationwide effort aimed at vaccinating the American public from the deadly disease, the death toll reached more than 700,000 by the end of the week.
The pandemic is now the deadliest in our nation’s history, surpassing the Spanish Flu outbreak of 1918 and 1919, which took the lives of 675, 000 Americans.
Though preventative shots are almost universally available, only a little more than half of the nation’s adolescents and adults have elected to roll up their sleeves.
Deaths within the last three months have been among the unvaccinated, mostly in the southern states of Florida, Mississippi and Louisiana where conservative politicians have dismissed the pandemic threat and even tried to reverse decisions by school boards and other agencies to require protective masks.
The need for universal vaccination has increased due to the Delta coronavirus mutation which spreads faster than COVID 19 strains which plagued the nation in the latter half of 2020 and the beginning of this year.
A study by the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention found that those who were unvaccinated were 10 times more likely to die from the Delta strain then those who received the vaccine.
Medical authorities have insisted that post vaccination “breakthrough” cases are much milder and the drug prevents long hospital stays once a victim becomes infected.
But data submitted to the CDC from all 50 states recorded 22,115 deaths or hospitalizations among fully-vaccinated victims. Most were elderly patients who may have suffered from other chronic illnesses.
Vaccines do lose some potency over time and the federal Food and Drug Administration has approved booster shots for people over the age of 65 or whose immune systems are compromised. Only the Pfizer vaccine is being distributed but drug companies Moderna and Johnson and Johnson have applied for FDA booster approval.
Despite the large death and hospitalization toll, resistance to vaccinations remains high with some athletes, health care workers and private employees refusing to take their shots.
President Joe Biden has mandated vaccines for federal employees and contractors. Private businesses with more than 100 employees will be required to vaccinate or perform weekly testing for COVID 19 among their workers, Biden said.
VACCINATION TOTALS (as of Oct. 2)
One dose: 215,233,625
Percentage of population: 64.8
Fully vaccinated: 185,492,579
Percentage of population: 55.9
Boosters: 5,287,357
Percentage of population: 2.9
U.S. PANDEMIC TOTALS
Cases: 43,653,269
Deaths: 701,162
Sources:
Johns Hopkins University
Centers for Disease Control.
BOOSTER SHOTS APPROVED
Vaccine booster shots for older Americans and those most at risk from COVID-19 will soon be available, despite misgivings among scientists in some federal regulatory agencies.
On Friday, Dr. Rochelle Walensky, director of the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, recommended a third immunization of the Pfizer-BioNTech vaccine to Americans who received two previous injections at least six months ago. The booster is designed to fortify the body’s immune system against the Delta mutation of the coronavirus which has sickened or killed thousands of Americans since it was discovered earlier this year.
Delta is more contagious than earlier viral strains, and can even infect those who have been immunized, though its effects then are much milder and seldom fatal.
Walensky’s order covers only Pfizer vaccine recipients. Those who received drugs manufactured by Moderna and Johnson and Johnson will have to wait until those medications are approved by federal regulators for the booster program.
Earlier in the week, officials of the federal Food and Drug Administration recommended boosters for people 65 years of age and older, adults who are at risk from the virus due to other health conditions, and front line workers such as teachers and health care employees, according to the New York Times.
The CDC’s advisory committee agreed but did not endorse boosters for front line workers. The group’s decision reflected disagreement among scientists over whether boosters would be effective, given a lack of research. Advisors also had to weigh whether giving a third shot for only one vaccine was practical because almost half of all Americans have received the Moderna and Johnson and Johnson drugs.
Walensky stressed that her decision did not involve overruling her own advisors.
“This was a scientific close call,” she said. “It was a decision about providing rather than withholding access.”
The Biden administrator has been criticized by leaders of the World Health Organization for allowing booster shots before many African nations have received enough vaccine for even initial doses.
The booster shots will be available at 80,000 locations including 40,000 local pharmacies, a White House spokesman said. CVS and Walgreens have agreed to distribute the vaccines and will rely on clients to determine if they are eligible.
On Friday, Dr. Rochelle Walensky, director of the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, recommended a third immunization of the Pfizer-BioNTech vaccine to Americans who received two previous injections at least six months ago. The booster is designed to fortify the body’s immune system against the Delta mutation of the coronavirus which has sickened or killed thousands of Americans since it was discovered earlier this year.
Delta is more contagious than earlier viral strains, and can even infect those who have been immunized, though its effects then are much milder and seldom fatal.
Walensky’s order covers only Pfizer vaccine recipients. Those who received drugs manufactured by Moderna and Johnson and Johnson will have to wait until those medications are approved by federal regulators for the booster program.
Earlier in the week, officials of the federal Food and Drug Administration recommended boosters for people 65 years of age and older, adults who are at risk from the virus due to other health conditions, and front line workers such as teachers and health care employees, according to the New York Times.
The CDC’s advisory committee agreed but did not endorse boosters for front line workers. The group’s decision reflected disagreement among scientists over whether boosters would be effective, given a lack of research. Advisors also had to weigh whether giving a third shot for only one vaccine was practical because almost half of all Americans have received the Moderna and Johnson and Johnson drugs.
Walensky stressed that her decision did not involve overruling her own advisors.
“This was a scientific close call,” she said. “It was a decision about providing rather than withholding access.”
The Biden administrator has been criticized by leaders of the World Health Organization for allowing booster shots before many African nations have received enough vaccine for even initial doses.
The booster shots will be available at 80,000 locations including 40,000 local pharmacies, a White House spokesman said. CVS and Walgreens have agreed to distribute the vaccines and will rely on clients to determine if they are eligible.
Zoo animals vaccinated
Archie, ferret at the Oakland Zoo, receives a COVID-19 vaccine while enjoying a treat. Photo courtesy of the Oakland Zoo
The nation’s zoo animals are now getting more than their usual allotment of food and water each day. Like their human counterparts, they are being immunized against the Coronavirus.
Spurred on by reports of infections in tigers and apes, veterinarians are administering an experimental vaccine developed by Zoetis, a drug company specializing in animal care.
Zoetis is distributing more than 11,000 doses of the drug free of charge to 70 zoos, animal sanctuaries and other institutions. The drug was originally developed for cats and dogs and is now authorized by the U.S. Department of Agriculture on a case-by-case basis.
Despite being kept at a distance from the public, some zoo animals have caught COVID-19. Big cats at the Bronx Zoo became infected in April of 2020 and in June, two tigers died after testing positive for the virus at a zoo in India, according to the National Geographic.
An outbreak among a gorilla troop in February at the San Diego Zoo Safari Park prompted officials to request the vaccine which was administered there to 266 animals including lions, tigers, bears and hyenas.
Veterinarians at the Oakland Zoo begin vaccinating tigers, black bears, mountain lions, ferrets and chimpanzees in June. None of the animals showed COVID-19 symptoms, so the treatment was considered preventative.
Some animals are now receiving their second injection and haven’t experienced any side effects with the exception of one bear who had slight irritation at the injection site, but is fine, said zoo spokeswoman Erin Harrison.
News of the Oakland vaccinations sparked a flurry of protests from anti-vaxxers who berated the zoo for experimenting on their furry charges. Many vowed to retaliate by contacting the animal advocacy group, People for the Ethical Treatment of Animals (PETA).
The zoo’s leadership fought back with a strongly worded July 8 statement, pointing out that all COVID-19 vaccines were considered experimental because the virus broke out two years ago so no long-term studies were available.
“Development studies by Zoetis demonstrated the vaccines to be safe and have a reasonable expectation of efficacy in mounting an immune response in cats and dogs,” it said. “There were no adverse reactions when the vaccine was administered to cats and dogs.”
“If you know the Oakland Zoo, you know that nothing is more important to us that the health and safety of our animals, and the decision to vaccinate them against the COVID-19 and the Delta variant along with the demonstrated safety of the vaccine itself, is based on that. We do not experiment on our animals.”
PETA also came to the zoo’s defense with its own announcement pointing out that the benefits of vaccination clearly outweigh the risks of COVID-19 infection.
Vaccinating animals against the virus is an important element in the battle to control COVID-19 worldwide.
Outbreaks have been rampant among minks raised commercially for their lustrous pelts. More that 12,000 of this nation’s three million minks have died from COVID-19 along with thousands in Denmark and the Netherlands.
Scientists fear that because the virus can be transmitted from animals to humans and vice versa, failure to treat an infected species could serve as a kind of viral reservoir prolonging the pandemic for years to come.
Spurred on by reports of infections in tigers and apes, veterinarians are administering an experimental vaccine developed by Zoetis, a drug company specializing in animal care.
Zoetis is distributing more than 11,000 doses of the drug free of charge to 70 zoos, animal sanctuaries and other institutions. The drug was originally developed for cats and dogs and is now authorized by the U.S. Department of Agriculture on a case-by-case basis.
Despite being kept at a distance from the public, some zoo animals have caught COVID-19. Big cats at the Bronx Zoo became infected in April of 2020 and in June, two tigers died after testing positive for the virus at a zoo in India, according to the National Geographic.
An outbreak among a gorilla troop in February at the San Diego Zoo Safari Park prompted officials to request the vaccine which was administered there to 266 animals including lions, tigers, bears and hyenas.
Veterinarians at the Oakland Zoo begin vaccinating tigers, black bears, mountain lions, ferrets and chimpanzees in June. None of the animals showed COVID-19 symptoms, so the treatment was considered preventative.
Some animals are now receiving their second injection and haven’t experienced any side effects with the exception of one bear who had slight irritation at the injection site, but is fine, said zoo spokeswoman Erin Harrison.
News of the Oakland vaccinations sparked a flurry of protests from anti-vaxxers who berated the zoo for experimenting on their furry charges. Many vowed to retaliate by contacting the animal advocacy group, People for the Ethical Treatment of Animals (PETA).
The zoo’s leadership fought back with a strongly worded July 8 statement, pointing out that all COVID-19 vaccines were considered experimental because the virus broke out two years ago so no long-term studies were available.
“Development studies by Zoetis demonstrated the vaccines to be safe and have a reasonable expectation of efficacy in mounting an immune response in cats and dogs,” it said. “There were no adverse reactions when the vaccine was administered to cats and dogs.”
“If you know the Oakland Zoo, you know that nothing is more important to us that the health and safety of our animals, and the decision to vaccinate them against the COVID-19 and the Delta variant along with the demonstrated safety of the vaccine itself, is based on that. We do not experiment on our animals.”
PETA also came to the zoo’s defense with its own announcement pointing out that the benefits of vaccination clearly outweigh the risks of COVID-19 infection.
Vaccinating animals against the virus is an important element in the battle to control COVID-19 worldwide.
Outbreaks have been rampant among minks raised commercially for their lustrous pelts. More that 12,000 of this nation’s three million minks have died from COVID-19 along with thousands in Denmark and the Netherlands.
Scientists fear that because the virus can be transmitted from animals to humans and vice versa, failure to treat an infected species could serve as a kind of viral reservoir prolonging the pandemic for years to come.
Venom is scary but holds promise for medical treatment
An exhibit now showing at the California Academy of Sciences explores a substance most of us would rather avoid: venom.
The painful and sometimes fatal chemical found in many animals is the dark side of nature; creatures inject it into victims to keep from being killed or to subdue their prey.
But “Venom: Fangs, Stingers, and Spines” is not all bad news. The chemistry found in snakebites, for example, can lower blood pressure and researchers are finding more medicinal spinoffs from the compounds found in these toxic secretions.
Venom is defined as any poisonous compound secreted by an animal intended to harm or disable another. The substance must be injected into the victim from a stinger like a bee or sharp fangs like those found in snakes. As with so much in nature there are exceptions such as spitting snakes that can transmit deadly liquids by spitting it into the eyes of prey.
Many people use the term poisonous incorrectly to describe venomous creatures. Poisonous animals must be eaten or otherwise ingested to cause harm.
To date, between 175,000 and 200,000 venomous creatures have been identified by science. They run the gamut from spiders and scorpions, sea snakes and their terrestrial kin and even one species of octopus.
The exhibit contains a variety of venomous creatures including a jellyfish, spider, a nest of bees and even coral. It also mentions research into cures that are being found by bio medical researchers exploring the chemistry of venom.
“There are things about venom that are being explored for a wide range of therapeutics including pain killers, nervous system disorders or infections that have become resistant to traditional antibiotics,” said Lauren Esposito, an academy entomologist who is featured in the exhibit.
For more on Lauren, visit Meet the Scientists
The painful and sometimes fatal chemical found in many animals is the dark side of nature; creatures inject it into victims to keep from being killed or to subdue their prey.
But “Venom: Fangs, Stingers, and Spines” is not all bad news. The chemistry found in snakebites, for example, can lower blood pressure and researchers are finding more medicinal spinoffs from the compounds found in these toxic secretions.
Venom is defined as any poisonous compound secreted by an animal intended to harm or disable another. The substance must be injected into the victim from a stinger like a bee or sharp fangs like those found in snakes. As with so much in nature there are exceptions such as spitting snakes that can transmit deadly liquids by spitting it into the eyes of prey.
Many people use the term poisonous incorrectly to describe venomous creatures. Poisonous animals must be eaten or otherwise ingested to cause harm.
To date, between 175,000 and 200,000 venomous creatures have been identified by science. They run the gamut from spiders and scorpions, sea snakes and their terrestrial kin and even one species of octopus.
The exhibit contains a variety of venomous creatures including a jellyfish, spider, a nest of bees and even coral. It also mentions research into cures that are being found by bio medical researchers exploring the chemistry of venom.
“There are things about venom that are being explored for a wide range of therapeutics including pain killers, nervous system disorders or infections that have become resistant to traditional antibiotics,” said Lauren Esposito, an academy entomologist who is featured in the exhibit.
For more on Lauren, visit Meet the Scientists
