New Mexico Relaxes Mask Rules For The Fully Vaccinated – Associated Press New Mexico has adopted guidance on facemasks from the Centers for Disease Control
Associated Press
New Mexico is now administering the Pfizer vaccine for COVID-19 to children ages 12 to 15, as state health officials pushed Thursday for more people to get vaccinated.
The move by the state Health Department follows authorizations this week by the federal Food and Drug Administration and the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.
The state is encouraging families to register children on its vaccine website.
The expanded availability applies only to the Pfizer vaccine, which until now was only available to people ages 16 and older. The Moderna and Johnson & Johnson vaccines are authorized for people 18 and older.
State officials say more than half of eligible residents are now considered fully vaccinated.
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BILLINGS, Mont. (AP) U.S. officials said Thursday they will try to stamp out wildfires as quickly as possible this year as severe drought tightens its grip across the West and sets the stage for another destructive summer of blazes.
By aggressively responding to smaller fires, officials said they hope to minimize the number of so-called megafires that have become more common as climate change makes the landscape warmer and dryer.
A similar approach was taken last year, driven by the pandemic and a desire to avoid the large congregations of personnel needed to fight major fires. Nevertheless, 2020 became one of worst fire years on record with more than 10 million acres (4 million hectares) of land scorched and almost 18,000 houses and other structures destroyed, according to federal data and the research group Headwaters Economics.