COVID-19: CDC, FDA and CMS Guidance

This page includes AHA Today stories and other AHA content on coronavirus COVID-19 guidance from the CDC, FDA, and CMS.

The Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services (CMS) today released updated guidance for compliance with the agency’s COVID-19 vaccination requirement for health care staff.
AHA, hospital groups ask U.S. Department of Health and Human Services Secretary, Xavier Becerra, to renew the COVID-19 public health emergency (PHE).
The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention yesterday broadened its masking guidance, enabling visitors of health care facilities to wear N95 masks.
Pfizer asked the Food and Drug Administration to authorize a second booster dose of its COVID-19 vaccine for adults age 65 and older who received an initial booster of any authorized or approved COVID-19 vaccine, based on data from Israel showing the additional booster reduced infections and severe…
Weekly COVID-19-associated hospitalization rates among U.S. infants and children under age 5 have declined since peaking Jan. 8, but peak rates during omicron predominance were about five times those during delta predominance, the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention reported.
The Food and Drug Administration recently authorized extending from six to nine months the shelf life for refrigerated Johnson & Johnson COVID-19 vaccine stored at 2-8 degrees Celsius (about 36-46 degrees Fahrenheit), based on data submitted by the company. 
The Transportation Security Administration will continue to require masks on public transportation through April 18 to protect against COVID-19, as the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention recommends. 
In a study of 1,364 children aged 5-15, two doses of the Pfizer COVID-19 vaccine reduced the risk of omicron infection by 31% in those under 12 and 59% in older children, the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention reported.
Effective April 4, the Department of Health and Human Services will no longer require COVID-19 testing facilities to report negative results for tests authorized for use under a Clinical Laboratory Improvement Amendment certificate of waiver, the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention reports. 
An estimated 28% of children aged 5-11 received a first dose of the Pfizer COVID-19 vaccine between Nov. 1 and Jan. 18, while 19% received a second dose, according to a report released by the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention