A politically appointed board will hear an appeal from property owners who want to bury sandbags along a South Carolina beach to fight erosion. Opponents fear sandbag walls are likely to make the beach wash away faster. A three-member committee of the Department of Health and Environmental Control board voted unanimously last week to hold a hearing before the full board early next year. The board will consider overturning a staff decision denying permission to keep sandbags in place on Debordieu Island, south of Myrtle Beach. Coastal regulators say the bags were put in illegally by seven landowners after a 2020 hurricane.
State health officials say the available vaccines are safe and effective, despite scattered reports from North Carolina of people fainting after getting the Johnson & Johnson vaccine.
Dr. Brannon Traxler, the state Department of Health and Environmental Controlâs interim director of public health, described the reaction as âvasovagal syncope,â a sudden drop in blood pressure and heart rate in response to an overreaction. She said in a Friday media briefing some people faint as a result of this kind of reaction, and it can be triggered by the sight of needles or blood, among other triggers.
âAt this point there have been no serious adverse effects that have caused us any alarms for any of these vaccines,â she said.