Coronavirus vaccine and COVID variant updates for 12-09-2021

<p>This is Vaccine 411, the latest coronavirus vaccine information for December 9th, 2021.</p><p>&nbsp;</p><p>Starting off with a little reassurance. Cases of Omicron have been reported by 21 countries in the EU. All of them have been either asymptomatic or mild with no deaths reported thus far. And the head of the CDC said out of the 42 known cases of Omicron in the U.S., only one has been hospitalized. In South Africa, reports are that even those who are landing in the ER are there for unrelated reasons but test positive during ER admission.</p><p>&nbsp;</p><p>The connection from the very start between severe COVID and obesity has been largely played down and left unmentioned out of fear of political correctness. But the connection is real. Patients who were overweight were more likely to develop severe COVID and more likely to die. Now the New York Times reports researchers have found the virus directly infects fat cells and certain immune cells within body fat, prompting a damaging defensive response.</p><p>&nbsp;</p><p>British Prime Minister Boris Johnson announced tighter restrictions, urging people to again work from home and mandating COVID passes to get into nightclubs and large events. Also, starting Friday, the mask mandate will be widened to most indoor public places including theaters. They say the tighter restrictions will buy time to get more boosters in more arms.</p><p>&nbsp;</p><p>Another milestone, the number of Americans fully vaccinated against COVID has hit 200 million. But that’s against the backdrop of rising cases, especially in highly vaccinated New England states. Deaths are running close to 1,600 a day on average, that’s back to what they were in October. Total U.S. deaths could hit 800,000 in a matter of days.</p><p>&nbsp;</p><p>Around the world, the strategy is to exclude and isolate the unvaccinated. But one small school district in California is saying that’s exactly what we want. It’s setting up a separate in-person instructional program just for its unvaccinated students. As you