Three things for September 21
1. Texas doctor sued for providing abortion services
Dr. Alan Braid, a San Antonio doctor, has recently faced two lawsuits after violating Texas’ new six-week abortion ban.
“The new law, known as S.B. 8, not only makes performing an abortion after about six weeks illegal but makes it so that anyone who aids anyone else in getting one — by performing the procedure or even by giving them a ride to the clinic where they have the procedure done — runs the risk of being sued for at least $10,000,” reports NPR.
Oscar Stilley filed the first lawsuit yesterday. Felipe N. Gomez filed a second lawsuit against Braid.
Many citizens have been anticipating this moment for Texas since the law began on Sept. 1.
Braid has provided OB/GYN care for almost 45 years in Texas. He said he knew the legal consequences when he performed an abortion under the new law but decided to continue.
2. Old Bradley County jail demolished on Friday
The 86-year-old Bradley County jail owned by the First Cumberland Presbyterian Church on Second Street was demolished on Friday night. The demolition was completed in under an hour.
The jail was built in 1935 and was in use for 50 years before the church bought it. The church renovated the interior of the building and used it to host Sunday school classes until the building was too run down to utilize anymore.
The church will utilize the now-vacated lot for parking.
3. Pfizer COVID-19 vaccine shows promising results in children ages 5-11 in clinical trials
On Monday, Pfizer announced that emergency authorization for the use of the Pfizer COVID-19 vaccine in children ages 5-11 might come as early as late October.
“In participants 5 to 11 years of age, the vaccine was safe, well-tolerated and showed robust neutralizing antibody responses,” Pfizer said in a press release.
The company plans to submit the clinical trial results to the FDA and other global authorities as soon as possible.
“We are pleased to be able to submit data to regulatory authorities for this group of school-aged children before the start of the winter season,” said Dr. Ugur Sahin, CEO and co-founder of BioNTech. “The safety profile and immunogenicity data in children aged 5 to 11 years vaccinated at a lower dose are consistent with those we have observed with our vaccine in other older populations at a higher dose.”
