TUESDAY, AUGUST 24, 2021
BAKER CITY HERALD — A5
LOCAL & NATION
US regulators give full approval to Pfizer COVID-19 vaccine
By LAURAN NEERGAARD and
MATTHEW PERRONE
Associated Press
WASHINGTON — The U.S. gave
full approval to Pfizer’s COVID-19
vaccine on Monday, Aug. 23, a
milestone that may help lift public
confidence in the shots as the nation
battles the most contagious corona-
virus mutant yet.
The vaccine made by Pfizer and
its partner BioNTech now carries
the strongest endorsement from
the Food and Drug Administration,
which has never before had so much
evidence to judge a shot’s safety.
More than 200 million Pfizer doses
already have been administered in
the U.S. — and hundreds of millions
more worldwide — since emergency
use began in December.
“The public can be very confident
that this vaccine meets the high
standards for safety, effectiveness
and manufacturing quality the FDA
requires of an approved product,”
said acting FDA Commissioner
Janet Woodcock. “Today’s milestone
puts us one step closer to altering
the course of this pandemic in the
U.S.”
The U.S. becomes the first
country to fully approve the shot,
according to Pfizer, and CEO Albert
Bourla said in a statement he hoped
the decision “will help increase con-
fidence in our vaccine, as vaccina-
tion remains the best tool we have
to help protect lives.”
U.S. vaccinations bottomed out
in July. As delta fills hospital beds,
shots are on the rise again — with
a million a day given Thursday,
Friday and Saturday. Just over
half of the U.S. population is fully
vaccinated with one of the country’s
three options, from Pfizer, Moderna
or Johnson & Johnson.
The FDA’s action also may spur
more vaccine mandates by compa-
nies, universities and local govern-
ments. This month New York City,
New Orleans and San Francisco
all imposed proof-of-vaccination re-
quirements at restaurants, bars and
other indoor venues. At the federal
level, President Joe Biden is requir-
ing government workers to sign
forms attesting that they’ve been
vaccinated or else submit to regular
testing and other requirements.
Anxious Americans increasingly
are on board: Close to 6 in 10 favor
requiring people to be fully vaccinat-
ed to travel on airplanes or attend
crowded public events, according
to a recent poll by The Associated
Press-NORC Center for Public Af-
fairs Research.
“Mandating becomes much
easier when you have full approval,”
said Dr. Carlos del Rio of Emory
University. “I think a lot of busi-
nesses have been waiting for it.”
The FDA, like regulators in Eu-
rope and much of the world, initially
allowed emergency use of Pfizer’s
vaccine based on a study that
tracked 44,000 people 16 and older
for at least two months — the time
period when serious side effects
typically arise.
That’s shorter than the six
months of safety data normally
required for full approval. So Pfizer
kept that study going, and the FDA
also examined real-world safety
evidence in deciding to fully license
the vaccine for people 16 and older,
those studied the longest. Pfizer’s
shot still has emergency authoriza-
tion for 12- to 15-year-olds.
Even after hundreds of millions
of shots, serious side effects — such
as chest pain and heart inflamma-
tion in teens and young adults —
remain exceedingly rare, the FDA
said.
As for effectiveness, six-month
tracking of Pfizer’s original study
showed the vaccine remained 97%
protective against severe COVID-19.
Protection against milder infection
waned slightly, from a peak of 96%
two months after the second dose to
84% by six months.
Those data came before the
extra-contagious delta variant be-
Pascal Guyot/AFP via Getty Images-TNS
A Pfizer-BioNtech Covid-19 vaccine vial.
gan spreading, but other data from
the Centers for Disease Control and
Prevention shows the vaccine is still
doing a good job preventing severe
disease caused by that mutant.
As for all the talk about booster
doses, the FDA’s licensure doesn’t
cover those. The agency will decide
that separately.
The FDA already is allowing
emergency use of a third dose of
either the Pfizer or Moderna vaccine
for people with severely weakened
immune systems, such as organ
transplant recipients who don’t
respond as strongly to the usual
two shots. For everyone else who
got those vaccinations, the Biden
administration is planning ahead
for booster starting in the fall — if
the FDA and CDC agree.
Also still to be decided is vac-
cination of children under 12. Both
Pfizer and Moderna are studying
youngsters, with data expected in
the fall.
Do-it-yourself
Wallowa Lake Dam
funding goes through political redistricting
By BILL BRADSHAW
Wallowa County Chieftain
ENTERPRISE — Now that the $14 million
in state lottery funds has been approved by the
Oregon Legislature for the refurbishment of the
century-old Wallowa Lake Dam, the big question
that remains is what kind of fish passage the dam
will include.
State Sen. Bill Hansell, R-Athena, confirmed
last month the lottery funds were approved by the
Legislature and Gov. Kate Brown was expected to
sign the budget.
“We’ve got the funding across the goal line,
and now it’s implementing the application of it,”
Hansell said. “Now the baton will be handed off to
where they sell the bonds.”
He said the bonds are expected to be sold in
the spring of 2022 and the actual funds will come
through later. He said he is unsure of the exact
timeline.
“As far as I know we’re back to what we’ve
always done,” he said.
He added the stakeholders in the dam project
can begin spending on it before getting the pro-
ceeds from the bonds, but they do so at their own
risk.
The four major stakeholders are the Wallowa
Lake Irrigation District — the owner of the dam
— the Oregon Department of Fish and Wildlife,
the Nez Perce Tribe’s Department of Fisheries
Resources Management and the Confederated
Tribes of the Umatilla Indian Reservation. Minor
stakeholders also are involved, including the U.S.
Fish and Wildlife Service, which has jurisdiction
over bull trout; the National Oceanic and Atmo-
spheric Administration; and the Oregon Depart-
ment of Environmental Quality.
A year ago, lottery sales were far too low to
fund the bonds.
“We didn’t collect enough to spend what we’d
authorized,” Hansell said.
The project originally called for a $16 million
refurbishment of the dam that would improve
the spillways, include a fish passage, add more
concrete for weight, replace the five conduit gates
with new ones and to upgrade the electrical and
instrumentation, according to the June 23, 2020,
Wallowa County Chieftain.
Dan Butterfield, president of the irrigation
district, was encouraged by the news from the
Legislature.
“We keep gaining,” he said. “Everything’s look-
ing good.”
The $2 million difference between the lottery
funds and the overall cost is supposed to be made
up by “other sources,” Butterfield said, adding that
the stakeholders may need to reassess the final
cost given the increasing cost of building materials.
Jim Harbeck, the field office supervisor for Nez
Perce Fisheries, said the latest cost estimates were
from 2017.
“I imagine those costs are higher now,” he said.
Butterfield said the stakeholders have applied
for a grant through the American Rescue Plan Act
By GARY WARNER
Oregon Capital Bureau
Bill Bradshaw/Wallowa County Chieftain
Swimmers on July 30, 2021, enjoy the
water of Wallowa Lake near the Wallowa
Lake Dam. Sen. Bill Hansell, R-Athena,
confirmed the Legislature approved the
$14 million in state lottery funds being
counted on to pay the lion’s share of
replacing the dam.
that could help with the extra funding.
He said the project has been in the works for
about 20 years. Now, he said they are planning to
begin construction in fall 2022 and have it ready
by spring 2023.
“That’s what our engineer’s designing for and
planning for,” he said. “We sure would’ve loved to
have had that dam this year. … We’ll be able to go
another 8 feet (of water) with the new dam. Hav-
ing that extra storage will be huge for this valley.”
Fish passage options
But it’s up to the engineer, McMillen, Jacobs
and Associates of Boise, Idaho, to determine the
type of fish passage that will be included and to
finalize the plans for the dam.
Wallowa County native Mort McMillen, the
engineer on the project, said a fish passage to allow
both upstream and downstream migration of fish
is being worked into the project. It will be deter-
mined by the stakeholders based on the plans his
firm comes up with.
“Everybody has their preferences,” McMillen
said. “We haven’t arrived at the final selection. …
We’re working really good as a group.”
The fish passage is a crucial element of the
dam’s new design. In fact, Harbeck said, state law
requires the inclusion of a satisfactory fish passage.
There are different options for the type of fish
passage. The tribe prefers a “volitional passage” —
one that allows fish to ascend to or descend from
the lake at their own volition. That allows adults
to swim upstream to spawn and juveniles to swim
downstream once hatched.
“It lets fish pass when they so choose as op-
posed to putting some type of human time stamp
on it,” he said.
Jeff Yanke, a watershed manager with the
ODFW, said it’s up to the engineer to select a type
of passage.
“We’ve been talking concepts and it’s up to
them to pick one,” he said.
The “volitional passage” is often known as a
fish ladder.
Another option is the “trap and haul” option,
which is a type of water elevator to move the fish,
Yanke said.
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Solar panels sold separately.
It’s a new video game that
comes with a big prize.
It’s not streaming on
Twitch or play on an Xbox
console.
It’s on OLIS, which is not
a gaming company, but the
Oregon Legislative Informa-
tion System.
The point of the game is
to design a new political map
of Oregon — a patchwork of
blue and red.
The grand prize is po-
litical sway in Oregon for the
next 10 years.
Normally this once-a-
decade resizing of political
districts has the legislature
drawing maps, the legisla-
ture voting on maps and the
governor signing off on maps.
The public role is in hearings.
If all goes swimmingly —
somewhat of a historical rar-
ity — there is a new political
atlas for the next election.
This year, mapmaking
is going pro-am as amateur
cartographers can get on the
OLIS video game to draw
their own political dream
maps. They’ll get the same
recently arrived, deeply
detailed U.S. Census tract
information and software
program as lawmakers use.
“Oregonians can begin
drawing new lines using the
gold standard data,” said
Shelly Boshart Davis, R-
Albany, co-chair of the House
Redistricting Committee.
The starting point is
https://www.oregonlegisla-
ture.gov/redistricting. After
creating an account, taking a
tutorial, and preparing a lot
of patience to deal with the
wonky program, mapmaking
can begin.
As a template, the current
districts with a 37-22 Demo-
cratic majority in the House
and 18-12 edge in the Senate
can be called up for reference.
So can the U.S. House map of
the delegation’s four Demo-
crats and one Republican.
A few valley curves, a
straight-edge county line,
following a river path, or run-
ning up against a mountain
range will be challenging. But
with enough effort and time,
voila! your own version of the
political landscape of Oregon.
The full slate of work
includes:
• Six congressional dis-
tricts of 710,000 people each
• 30 Senate Districts of
127,700 people each
• 60 House Districts of
63,850 people each
The computer will tell you
whether your maps meet geo-
graphical requirements and
demographic goals.
One of the biggest trip-
ping points is Oregon’s
requirement that two House
districts be completely
“nested’ inside each Senate
District. So, for example,
House Districts 59 and 60
fit completely inside Senate
District 30.
There also are federal
voting rights laws. Oregon’s
state directives say districts
must be contiguous, be of
equal population, utilize
existing geographical or po-
litical boundaries, not divide
“communities of common
interest” and be connected by
transportation links.
The full set of does and
don’ts, rules, laws, and other
mapmaking stuff is on the
website.
When done, the map can
be submitted to the legisla-
ture for consideration. The
deadline is Sept. 7 by 5 p.m.
A note of receipt of the
map will be sent by email.
Whether maps found to have
flaws will be noted in time for
resubmission is still unde-
cided.up in the air.
“It depends on how many
maps we receive,” said Allison
Daniel, a legislative policy
and research analyst.
Those that make the cut
by checking all the boxes for
size, shape, location, equity,
and other items will pop up
on the legislature’s redistrict-
ing website.
New At The Library
• “The Authoritarian
Moment : How The Left Wea-
ponized America’s Institu-
tions Against Dissent,” Ben
Shapiro
• “I Alone Can Fix It : Don-
ald J. Trump’s Catastrophic
Final Year,” Carol Leonnig and
Philip Rucker
• “This Is Your Mind On
Plants,” Michael Pollan
• “The Truth About CO-
VID-19: Exposing The Great
Reset, Lockdowns, Vaccine
Passports, and the New
Normal,” Dr. Joseph Mercola,
Ronnie Cummins.
Patrons can reserve
materials in advance online
or by calling 541-523-6419.
Baker County Library’s
new additions include 50
new bestsellers, eight new
movies, 12 new audiobooks,
four new music CDs, 25 new
children’s books, and 116
other new books, including
70 that are available online.
See everything new this
week to Baker County Library
District at wowbrary.org.
FICTION
• “Billy Summers,” Ste-
phen King
• “Second First Impres-
sions,” Sally Thorne
• “Seven Days in June,” Tia
Williams
• “The Noise,” James Pat-
terson and J.D. Barker
• “The Paper Palace,”
Miranda Cowley Heller
MOVIES
• “Buck Breaking” (Docu-
mentary)
• “The Great Buster: A
Celebration” (Documentary)
• “The Greatest Adven-
tures Of The Bible: Noah’s
Ark” (Family)
• “The Impressionists”
(Documentary)
• “Older Wiser Workouts:
Easy Does It” (Documentary)
NONFICTION
• “American Marxism,”
Mark R. Levin
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