By Laura Smith – University of New Mexico/Talk Radio News Service

Health officials announced today that there are about 30 million doses of the H1N1 vaccine available for states to order.

The annoucement was coupled with good news for people who health officials believe are at serious risk of contracting the virus. Anthony Facui, Director of the National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases, said that results from a series of vaccine tests done on groups such as pregnant women were encouraging.

“The data show that nearly all the pregnant women who received a single 15 microgram dose have a robust immune response that is likely predictive of protection,” Facui said.

He added that children between six months and nine-years-old who receive a 15 microgram dose of the vaccine had a “less robust immune response” and would most likely need a second dose of vaccine.

Not all of the news surrounding H1NI is positive, however. Anne Schuchat, Director of the National Center for Immunization and Respiratory Diseases at the Center for Disease Control and Prevention, said that the virus has spread to all but two states in the U.S. Schuchat was hopeful that, as the number of hospitalizations and deaths as a result of the virus continue to increase, so will the medical response nationwide.

“We expect more vaccine doses to become available and eventually shipped out to the states for use,” she said.

A full report on the study was posted today on flu.gov.

Rep. Carolyn McCarthy (D-N.Y.) says the future of our country depends on whether or not we get health care reform soon. Rep. McCarthy says government subsidized health care worked great for her when she was a child, thus it will probably work well for today’s youth. (:26)

 

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U.S. Secretary of Education Arne Duncan and Senior White House Adviser David Axelrod read to young children at the Education Department’s outdoor plaza. The “Read to the Top!” initiative promotes summer reading among young children. June 30, 2009

Camilla Taylor, Senior Staff Attorney at the Midwest Regional Office of Lambda Defense & Education Fund talks about evidence suggesting that children raised by gay families do just as well in their endeavors as children of heterosexual families. (0:14)

 

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By Kayleigh Harvey – Talk Radio News Service

Senator Bob Casey (D-Pa.) discusses his two child care bills during a press conference.
The first bill, The Starting Early Right Act, would amend the Child Care and Development Block Grant Act of 1990 to improve access to high-quality early learning and child care for low-income children and working families.
The second bill, The Child Care Facilities Financing Act of 2009, introduced by Casey, would set up a grant for improvement of child care facilities and construction of child care facilities.
Casey said, “I think both bills are critically important and essential in any environment because we are not doing nearly enough on child care…both of these bills speak to that basic challenge.

 

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By Kayleigh Harvey – Talk Radio News Service

Speaker of the House Nancy Pelosi’s weekly press conference took a different turn today as she fielded questions from children instead of reporters.

The elementary schoolers were visiting the Capitol as part of the annual “Take Your Son’s and Daughter’s to work day.”

Pelosi was asked by children sitting in a circle around her questions such as: “What does the Speaker do?;” “What was the favorite law that you have passed?;” “How did you get your job,” and others.

When asked what she wanted to be as a child, Pelosi said “I wanted to be a Mom.”

A young boy asked Pelosi: “Why did you join them and not us, and by them I mean the Democrats, and by us I mean the Republicans?” Pelosi responded in good humor. “I am delighted you associate yourself with a political party. I wish more people would and I hope the next generation will take back the Republican Party for the grand old party that it used to be,” she said.

Pelosi was also asked what sports teams she supports. When asked between choosing sides between the Baltimore Orioles or the San Francisco Giants, Pelosi said it was a “tough choice.”

After distributing chocolate coins engraved with the Speaker of the House seal, Pelosi fielded questions from reporters.

Dr. E. Faye Williams, National Chair of the National Congress of Black Women, discusses education and the Obama administration.

“On the streets of Miami, an AK-47 is cheaper to buy than a Playstation”, said Manny Diaz, Mayor of Miami and President of the US Conference of Mayors. He spoke about the challenge to the next presidential administration to invest in solutions to the growing problems that threaten America’s cities and metropolitan areas.

Diaz said that over 85 percent of Americans live in metropolitan cities. In addition he said that 1 in 6 children in America currently live in poverty, and that 60 percent of children cannot read or do math at their appropriate grade level. In addition, he said that America’s infrastructure is severely underfunded. He worries that in the 21st century we will see the economic decline of the United States much in the way Europe declined during the 20th century.

Though initially backing Sen. Hillary Clinton (D-N.Y.) for president, Diaz has not given an official endorsement to either Sen. Barack Obama (D-Ill.) or Sen. McCain (R-Ariz.). However, he did say that he would only consider backing either candidate should they choose to endorse the Mayors’ 10-Point Plan, which outlines 10 policy issues that many mayors across the nation feel the upcoming presidential administration must address to foster stronger cities and metropolitan regions.

Edward Schor, vice president for child development and preventative care at the Commonwealth Fund speaks about the amount of children that can be positively affected by changes in the children’s health care. (1:06)

 

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In a conference call today, the Commonwealth Fund discussed a new report which ranks all 50 states and the District of Colombia on key measures of how each state’s health care systems are working for children. The report, to be released tomorrow, assesses states on 13 measures on their health care, quality care, health care costs, health care equity and the potential to lead long healthy lives. (more…)