A3
THE ASTORIAN • SATURDAY, AUGUST 14, 2021
Extra vaccine shot approved for
those with weak immune systems
By LAURAN
NEERGAARD and
MATTHEW PERRONE
Associated Press
Pacifi c Northwest National Laboratory
Scientists are using satellites to help map wildfi re perimeters and hot spots, like with this
image of the Jack fi re in Oregon.
View from space helps
fi refi ghters on the ground
By COURTNEY FLATT
Northwest News Network
Northwest researchers are
looking to the skies to help
monitor wildfi res as well as
spot new ones with a new fi re
behavior forecasting system.
The system uses satellites to
help fi refi ghters on the ground.
The views from space have
helped map multiple wildfi res
this year. Satellites use infra-
red technology to peer through
smoke. Data that satellites col-
lect can supplement the often
dangerous work tradition-
ally mapped with special sen-
sors on aircraft that fl y at night
above the fl ames.
Andre Coleman, a scientist
at Pacifi c Northwest National
Laboratory, created the sys-
tem. He said the satellites can
collect more data, tracking the
fi res multiple times through-
out the day as they orbit over
the Earth.
“This becomes really
important as you have these
big, big fi res that are highly
dynamic and fast moving,”
Coleman said.
He said, in a lot of cases,
doing a once-a-day data col-
lection just isn’t enough.
While it can take helicop-
ter pilots all night to survey
fi re lines, satellites can collect
the data quickly. However,
downloading that huge chunk
of information does take time,
Coleman said. He said he
hopes to get the process down
from around fi ve hours to 90
minutes in the next few years.
Once the information is down-
loaded, it takes 10 minutes to
generate a map, he said.
Scientists initially devel-
oped the system to help in
other disasters, such as hurri-
canes, fl oods and earthquakes.
One day the system could even
provide information during
the Northwest’s so-called Big
One, Coleman said.
Last year, though, scientists
realized the technology could
be used to help map wildfi res
and predict their behavior.
Scientists have discovered
they can track fi re lines and
can quickly draw attention to
spot fi res. Speed helps inci-
dent commanders plan on-the-
ground tactics, such as where
to put fi refi ghters or where to
drop fi re retardant, Coleman
said.
The system also can help
monitor smaller fi res that
might not receive as much
support, he said.
“Our system is able to pro-
cess data on any known fi re in
the U.S. and will do so auto-
matically,” Coleman said.
That, he said, means that
small fi res will be noticed as
readily as larger fi res.
Agencies, such as the U.S.
Geological Survey, are cur-
rently using these satellites for
Earth observations. Coleman
has roughly six satellites he’s
using to gather information.
One particularly help-
ful tool is a system, known
as ECOSTRESS, designed at
NASA’s Jet Propulsion Lab-
oratory. Jet Propulsion Labo-
ratory scientist Christine Lee,
who joked that NASA has an
obsession with acronyms, said
that ECOSTRESS stands for
ECOsystem Spaceborne Ther-
mal Radiometer Experiment
on Space Station.
The ECOSTRESS instru-
ment is special because it’s set
up on the International Space
Station, which takes a diff erent
orbit than other Earth observa-
tion satellites. That allows the
instrument to monitor diff er-
ent areas, Lee said.
Earth observation satellites
have a very prescribed orbit,
she said.
However, like the other
Earth observation satellites,
ECOSTRESS wasn’t set
up to monitor wildfi res. It’s
main purpose is to measure
high resolution thermal data.
That information can show
how plants are stressed when
they don’t have enough water.
ECOSTRESS started collect-
ing data in July 2018.
Scientists discovered that
temperature
measurement
also works particularly well to
monitor wildfi res, Lee said. If
the lack of water stresses dif-
ferent types of plants, they
could be more susceptible to
burning, she said.
ECOSTRESS can look at
pre-fi re conditions, the sever-
ity of active wildfi res and how
the landscape is recovering,
Lee said.
She said she hopes the high
resolution and frequent mea-
surements the ECOSTRESS
instrument takes will help
when fi res grow very large.
She hopes ECOSTRESS
will help other researchers
gather more high resolution
details about where fi res are
occurring.
Celebration of Life for
James B McDermott
August 21st 11 am to 1 pm
at the Warrenton Shilo Columbia Room
WASHINGTON — U.S.
regulators say transplant
recipients and others with
severely weakened immune
systems can get an extra
dose of the Pfi zer or Mod-
erna COVID-19 vaccines
to better protect them as the
delta variant continues to
surge.
The late-night announce-
ment Thursday by the U.S.
Food and Drug Admin-
istration applies to sev-
eral million Americans
who are especially vulnera-
ble because of organ trans-
plants, certain cancers or
other disorders. Several
other countries, including
France and Israel, have sim-
ilar recommendations.
It’s harder for vaccines
to rev up an immune system
suppressed by certain med-
ications and diseases, so
those patients don’t always
get the same protection as
otherwise healthy people —
and small studies suggest
for at least some, an extra
dose may be the solution.
“Today’s action allows
doctors to boost immu-
nity in certain immuno-
compromised individuals
who need extra protection
from COVID-19,” Dr. Janet
Woodcock, the FDA’s act-
ing commissioner, said in a
statement.
The FDA determined
that transplant recipients and
others with a similar level
of compromised immunity
can receive a third dose of
the vaccines from Pfi zer
and Moderna at least 28
days after getting their sec-
ond shot. The FDA made no
mention of immune-com-
promised patients who
received the single-dose
Johnson & Johnson vaccine.
The
announcement
comes as the extra-conta-
gious delta version of the
Charles Krupa/AP Photo
The U.S. Food and Drug Administration said transplant
recipients or those with weak immune systems can get an
extra shot of the Moderna or Pfi zer coronavirus vaccines.
coronavirus surges through
much of the country, push-
ing new cases, hospitaliza-
tions and deaths to heights
not seen since last winter.
Importantly, the FDA’s
decision only applies to this
high-risk group, estimated
to be no more than 3% of
U.S. adults. It’s not an open-
ing for booster doses for the
general population.
Instead, health authori-
ties consider the extra dose
part of the initial prescrip-
tion for the immune-com-
promised.
For
exam-
ple, France since April
has encouraged that such
patients get a third dose four
weeks after their regular
second shot. Israel and Ger-
many also recently began
recommending a third dose
of two-dose vaccines.
Separately, U.S. health
offi cials are continuing to
closely monitor if and when
average people’s immunity
wanes enough to require
boosters for everyone —
but for now, the vaccines
continue to off er robust
protection for the general
population.
The U.S. Centers for Dis-
ease Control and Prevention
was expected to formally
recommend the extra shots
for certain immune-com-
promised groups after a
meeting Friday of its out-
side advisers.
Transplant
recipients
and others with suppressed
immune systems know
they’re at more risk than the
average American and some
have been seeking out extra
doses on their own, even if it
means lying about their vac-
cination status. The change
means now the high-risk
groups can more easily get
another shot — but experts
caution it’s not yet clear
exactly who should.
“This is all going to be
very personalized,” cau-
tioned Dr. Dorry Segev, a
transplant surgeon at Johns
Hopkins University who is
running a major National
Institutes of Health study
of extra shots for organ
recipients. For some peo-
ple, a third dose “increases
their immune response. Yet
for some people it does not
seem to. We don’t quite
know who’s who yet.”
One recent study of more
than 650 transplant recip-
ients found just over half
harbored virus-fi ghting anti-
bodies after two doses of the
Pfi zer or Moderna vaccines
— although generally less
than in otherwise healthy
vaccinated people. Another
study of people with rheu-
matoid arthritis and similar
autoimmune diseases found
only those who use partic-
ular medications have very
poor vaccine responses.