Yes, pregnant women should get COVID-19 vaccine, CDC says
23 April 2021
Federal officials are recommending pregnant women get the COVID-19 vaccine, Centers for Disease Control and Prevention Director Rochelle Walenksy announced at a White House briefing on Friday.
Why it matters: The recommendation clarifies previously conflicting guidance, the Washington Post reports. It also comes on the heels of preliminary CDC findings released this week that said the vaccines appear to be safe for pregnant women.
Details: The preliminary findings published in the New England Journal of Medicine specifically looked at data of more than 35,000 individuals who got either the Moderna and Pfizer-BioNTech vaccines, NPR reported.
- A smaller study published in the American Journal of Obstetrics & Gynecology last month similarly deemed Pfizer and Moderna vaccines safe and effective for pregnant women.
Transcripts show George Floyd told police "I can't breathe" over 20 times
Section2Newly released transcripts of bodycam footage from the Minneapolis Police Department show that George Floyd told officers he could not breathe more than 20 times in the moments leading up to his death.
Why it matters: Floyd's killing sparked a national wave of Black Lives Matter protests and an ongoing reckoning over systemic racism in the United States. The transcripts "offer one the most thorough and dramatic accounts" before Floyd's death, The New York Times writes.
The state of play: The transcripts were released as former officer Thomas Lane seeks to have the charges that he aided in Floyd's death thrown out in court, per the Times. He is one of four officers who have been charged.
- The filings also include a 60-page transcript of an interview with Lane. He said he "felt maybe that something was going on" when asked if he believed that Floyd was having a medical emergency at the time.
What the transcripts say:
- Floyd told the officers he was claustrophobic as they tried to get him into the squad car.
- The transcripts also show Floyd saying, "Momma, I love you. Tell my kids I love them. I'm dead."
- Former officer Derek Chauvin, who had his knee on Floyd's neck for over eight minutes, told Floyd, "Then stop talking, stop yelling, it takes a heck of a lot of oxygen to talk."
Read the transcripts via DocumentCloud.