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.