COVID-19 Vaccination Protects You and Everyone

CDC recommends COVID-19 vaccines for everyone 6 months and older and boosters for everyone 5 years and older, if eligible. Use CDC’s COVID-19 booster tool to learn if and when your child or teen can get boosters to stay up to date with their COVID-19 vaccines.

Children and Teens Who Are Moderately or Severely Immunocompromised

Children and teens ages 5 through 17 years who are moderately or severely immunocompromised will need a third dose to complete their primary series, as well as boosters if eligible. Children and teens with a weakened immune system should get:

• 1 booster if they are ages 5 through 11years
• 2 boosters if they are ages 12 years and older

• COVID-19 vaccine boosters can further enhance or restore protection that might have decreased over time after your primary series vaccination.
• People are protected best from severe COVID-19 illness when they stay up to date with their COVID-19 vaccines, which includes getting all recommended boosters when eligible.
• There are different COVID-19 vaccine recommendations for people who are moderately or severely immunocompromised.
• It is never too late to get the added protection offered by a COVID-19 booster. Find a vaccine provider.

Based on what we know about how vaccines and our immune systems work, Omicron is unlikely to be completely resistant to our vaccines and strong immunity will likely prevent serious illness or more severe consequences. This means that getting vaccinated remains the best way to prepare.
 
Encourage the unvaccinated in your community to get their shots as soon as possible. This especially includes children and teens, who more recently became eligible for the vaccine. For those who are vaccinated, encourage them to get their booster shots. The CDC strengthened its booster recommendation this week in response to the news of Omicron. The agency is now saying that all adults “should” rather than “may” receive a booster. The CDC does not make changes like this lightly, so this shows just how seriously U.S. health officials are treating the situation.

Besides getting vaccinated, the other public health measures we’ve used throughout the pandemic continue to be relevant: wash your hands, wear masks in higher-risk situations, spend time in ventilated spaces, and get tested.

It’s also important to advise your community to beware of misinformation that may be spreading about the new variant. Misinformation flourishes during times of uncertainty. Emphasize that people are about to see a lot of misinformation about Omicron, so they should be more skeptical than normal when seeing any information about it.

Learn More

August 4^th, 2022

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE, with PHOTOS

More info: 612-376-7715 or amamedia@amamedia.org

Photo Courtesy: Asian Media Access

Successfully created and debuted

the dance drama “Resonance” at prestigious Wilcox Theater, Grand Rapids, MN

Project HEALINGS’ partners – Asian Media Access, Pan Asian Arts Alliance along with the African American Guzheng musician Jarrelle Barton, and Unity Dance Company, an Asian fusion dance group, successfully debuted the dance drama – “Resonance”  on July 11th at the beautiful Grand Rapids’ Wilcox Theater, to reflect a cross-cultural experience through the pandemic. 

As the COVID-19 virus spread across the world, an increased number of people of Asian heritages in Minnesota, and more broadly, in many other parts of the U.S. have reported experiencing racism over the past two years.  Because COVID-19 was first reported in Wuhan, China, some people felt justified in spreading xenophobic messages that blames people of Asian heritages for this deadly virus. The anti-Asian racism we face only escalated as national leaderships continued to use terms like “Chinese Virus” and “Kung Flu Virus” toward Asians. Racist actions ranging from using xenophobic and racial slurs, to refusing customer services, to deadly physical assaults had all increased.   

WE HOPE our newly created dance drama RESONANCE CAN help slow and REVERSE THE TREND, and to highlight the beauties of cross-cultural collaboration/understanding to support inter-cultural harmony.  The Dance Drama highlighted the pandemic impacts on families, and incorporated 3 new Guzheng music in reflecting the composer’s experience with COVID: from just learning about COVID, not paying much attention, to realizing the disaster it created, to feeling angry and frustration, then learning to adapt, and end with appreciation and hope for all of us. Not only was the music were beautifully played, and the 22 dancer ensemble from the Unity Dance Company clearly illustrated how pandemic progressed as virus evolved, along with sacrifices of many, to where we are now – a new normal. 

One of the dances is to highlight the struggle of Asians during the Anti-Asian hate crimes. Dancers used traditional body movements like twist, tilt, round, curve, lookup, stoop, turn, roll, etc., to express emotions of being labelled and pushed way. Another dance followed, using a clock’s ticking sound to portray the virus multiplying and mutating every second. The precise body techniques stressed such evolutional process in various forms – simply just so amazing to watch.  The finale came with the live performance of the Guzheng accompanying the last dance piece, Dancing Phoenix, that emphasized the inner spirits of resiliency and hope for intercultural harmony, and successfully closed the show. 

Throughout the whole performance, dancers not only needed to showcase the techniques of Asian fusion dances, but also to perfect their moral characters and willpower in order to portray the fundamental inner meaning of “Resonance,” to appreciate the collective power working together to bring a better tomorrow. 

Additionally, the collaborators have expressed the intention to tour the “Project Resonance” throughout the state, to use cultures and arts to engage a deeper discussion with rural communities where having lower vaccination rate.  So far the show has toured at Anoka, Faribault, Itasca, Ramsey, and Rice counties.   Special thanks for our funder – CDC Foundation, Diversity Council, and Chinese American Chamber of Commerce – MN, if further funding allows, the show will continue its mission to spread the vaccination messages throughout MN.   FMI: amamedia@amamedia.org, 612-376-7715

Please check out our beautiful photo collages and video from the show.

YouTube Link: https://youtu.be/7QEAkH_seBI 

Flickr Link: https://www.flickr.com/gp/amamedia/9119KP70BP

Some great photos from Project Resonate, click on the Flickr link for more.