COVID-19

At a board meeting on Tuesday, St. Louis Public Schools voted to require the COVID-19 vaccine for all employees. The policy takes effect in mid-October.

Eric Schmitt has filed a reverse class-action lawsuit in an attempt to stop schools from implementing mask mandates.

The director of the National Institutes of Health, Dr. Francis Collins, says that after vaccine companies submit their trial data, the FDA will have to review it, which could take time.

After the Food and Drug Administration granted full approval to the Pfizer COVID-19 vaccine, at least one hospital system in Missouri announced it would mandate the shots for employees. Just over half of Missouri adults are fully vaccinated, and doctors hope the full approval will persuade more skeptical patients to seek out the shot.

Missouri was awarded nearly $185 million in federal funds to support the program’s implementation.

The approval replaces the emergency use authorizations granted last December and could make it easier for employers, the military and universities to mandate vaccination.

Doctors are urging parents to get vaccinated against the coronavirus as kids head back to school. While previous strains of the coronavirus didn’t affect many young kids and teens, more are now getting sick as the more contagious delta variant circulates in the state.

“We could reach or exceed the highest we’ve ever been in by the second week of September,” Mike McManus said during St. Clair County’s weekly COVID-19 briefing on Wednesday.

St. Louis Mayor Tishaura Jones announced Wednesday that the city will soon require its 6,000 employees to get the COVID-19 vaccine or take a weekly coronavirus test. The requirement comes as more than 900 people test positive for the coronavirus each day in the St Louis region.

A COVID-19 vaccine for children younger than 12 is not yet available, but research is well underway and the first shot for some kids in this age group is expected in the fall, doctors say.