Bivalent COVID-19 vaccines available for children
Earlier this month, federal regulators signed off on an updated shot that’s intended to better protect against the omicron variant, as well as other new strains of the virus. It wasn’t available to children under five at the time, but that changed recently.
Approval came last week, and local health departments started getting shipments in.
Children under 5 need to stick with the same manufacturer, and they can get the bivalent vaccines two months after their second primary shot.
For more information or to schedule a vaccine, you can contact your pediatrician or a county health department.
Warming shelters
Organizations that help people who don’t have a warm shelter are prepping for several nights of aid as cold weather makes its way to Oklahoma.
On a normal night, Oklahoma City’s eight community shelters are able to provide around 850 beds. But with temperatures dipping below freezing, some of the organizations that run the shelters are opening up overflow.
Kinsey Crocker with the Homeless Alliance says Salvation Army, City Care and City Rescue Mission are three groups with additional beds. However, Crocker says even those will likely fill up.
The Homeless Alliance plans to open up its Day shelter Thursday thru Saturday at night to aid 80 people and their pets. The organization is working with EMBARK and coordinating transportation to their Day shelter and the night shelters in preparation for the cold.
Norman Police and ODOT close homeless encampment
Norman Police and the Oklahoma Department of Transportation cleared out a homeless encampment below a bridge yesterday.
Fox25 reports the homeless encampment under the bridge at I-35 and the Canadian river was removed due to structural damage on one of the bridge pillars from what appeared to be a fire. ODOT will soon assess and repair the damage.
Some of the people living in the encampment say they have nowhere else to go because they say the shelters in Norman are full. ODOT says they posted signs around the area 10 days ago alerting those in the encampment that they needed to be out by Monday.
The transportation department said the damage to the bridge pillar is a safety hazard for both the encampment and the people traveling across the bridge.
Holiday travel is forecast to close in on pre-pandemic numbers
With the worst of the COVID-19 pandemic behind us, Triple-A Oklahoma says we can expect a significant increase in holiday travel this year.
The organization estimates nearly 1.1 million Oklahomans will travel 50 miles or more for the holidays-that's an increase of about 28 thousand people compared to last year.
Triple-A spokesperson Leslie Gamble says travel will be extended this year due to Christmas and New Year’s Day falling on Sundays.
2022 is expected to be the third busiest year for holiday travel since the automobile agency began tracking it in 2000.
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