THE WORLD READS WHITE PLAINS CITIZENETREPORTER — 8,324,077 VISITS IN ONE YEAR

WPCNR FBI WIRE. From the Federal Bureau of Investigation. December 20, 2022:

Damian Williams, the United States Attorney for the Southern District of New York, announced today that SUNI MUNSHANI, the former Chief Executive Officer of a Connecticut-based technology company (the “Victim Company”), pled guilty today in Manhattan federal court in connection with a scheme to defraud the Victim Company of millions of dollars.  Pursuant to his plea agreement with the Government, MUNSHANI agreed to pay $10,485,043 in restitution to the Victim Company.  District Judge Jed S. Rakoff accepted the defendant’s guilty plea. 

U.S. Attorney Damian Williams said: “Not even a year into his appointment as CEO, Suni Munshani began betraying his employer’s trust and breaking the law, stealing millions of dollars to line his pockets.  Company executives are given significant amounts of power, but today’s plea should send the message that this Office will be ready to act if an executive chooses to abuse that power.”

According to the allegations in the Superseding Information and other filings and statements made in court:

Between 2011 and 2019, SUNI MUNSHANI was the CEO of the Victim Company, which provided data security services to its clients. 

Within six months of his appointment as CEO, MUNSHANI and others began an approximately nine-year scheme to defraud the Victim Company.  During the scheme, MUNSHANI created an email account associated with a purported third-party contractor controlled by MUNSHANI and used that email account to correspond with the Victim Company and to obtain payments from the Victim Company totaling at least approximately $3 million dollars for services that were never provided to the Victim Company. 

He also caused the Victim Company to issue a $3.5 million check for a purported tax liability, which check MUNSHANI then deposited into an unauthorized bank account created by MUNSHANI in the name of the Victim Company.  

In addition, MUNSHANI defrauded the Victim Company through fraudulent licensing and reseller agreements between the Victim Company and two other companies (the “Licensing Company” and the “Reseller Company,” respectively). 

Among other things, MUNSHANI instructed another individual to set up the Reseller Company “in the same way as [the Licensing Company],” and then helped create and submit fraudulent invoices from the Reseller Company to the Victim Company.

*                *                *

MUNSHANI, 61, of Easton, Connecticut, pled guilty to one count of conspiracy to commit wire fraud, which carries a maximum sentence of five years in prison. 

The maximum potential sentence in this case is prescribed by Congress and is provided here for informational purposes only, as any sentencing of the defendant will be determined by the judge.

Mr. Williams praised the outstanding investigative work of the Federal Bureau of Investigation’s New York Office.

The prosecution of this case is being handled by the Office’s Complex Frauds and Cybercrime Unit.  Assistant U.S. Attorney Timothy V. Capozzi is in charge of the prosecution.

MODERNA UNDER-5 VACCINE AVAILABLE AT WHITE PLAINS DEPT. OF HEALTH CLINIC FRIDAYS IF YOU CALL FOR AN APPOINTMENT.

By Dr. Katelyn Jetelina, Your Local Epidemiologist, December 20,2022. Reprinted with permission

Buried in the news of the triple-demic, an updated Omicron booster was authorized for kids under 5 years old. My weekly Q&A on Instagram has been flooded with questions from parents. Here’s a quick update.

Who is eligible for a fall booster?

This is very confusing, as it depends on what vaccine series (and how much of that series) they have received:

• Moderna: Every child that had the primary series (2 shots) is eligible for the fall booster
• Pfizer:
  • If your child completed primary series (3 shots), they are not eligible.
  • If your child did not complete the primary series (i.e., had 1 or 2 shots only), they are eligible for the fall booster.
  • EDITOR’S NOTE: Schedule a First Dose Pediatric Moderna Vaccine (Ages 6 Months to 5 years) AT THE WHITE PLAINS WESTCHESTER COUNTY DEPARTMENT OF HEALTH 134 COURT STREET. CALL THE DEPARTMENT OF HEALTH TO SCHEDULE AND FOR DETAILS ON ELIGIBILITY. https://health.westchestergov.com/157-covid-19-updates/2807-vaccine-information

I’m not sure why this was decided this way. Don’t shoot the messenger.

How is the primary vaccine doing?

Safety. The vaccines continue to be safe. We saw this during the clinical trials, but we continue to see it in the real world. The CDC released results of their active (V-Safe) and passive surveillance (VAERS).

• The most frequent reactions: injection site pain, fatigue, and fever.
• Four children received care at a hospital after vaccination: two were unrelated to vaccination, one was unwilling to provide further information, and one is under further review. None have died.
• No cases of myocarditis were reported.

Effectiveness. The clinical trial data was published in the New England Journal of Medicine. However, we have yet to see any real world effectiveness data. (And I looked hard!) This is likely because uptake has been so low that it’s difficult to assess with certainty.

What is vaccine uptake for kids under 5?

Coverage for the primary series is just atrocious. Only 792,000 children under age 5 have one dose, which equates to 8.4% of this population. This varies widely across states—29% of kids in DC have received their first dose compared to 1.7% in Mississippi.

This is incredibly interesting to me given that, in a recent poll, 1 in 2 parents said they are worried their child will get seriously sick from COVID-19. I would be curious to see the below graph organized by age group.

We are not the only country experiencing slow uptake. Data from Nature show that about a dozen countries, including Canada and Israel, have approved vaccination for children from their first year of life. Yet in Canada, for example, only 8.4% of children aged 0-4 have been vaccinated.

What are you doing with your kids?

My girls (2 and 3 years old) had the primary Moderna series, so they are eligible for a fall booster. It’s not clear how much additional help it will provide in preventing hospitalization. But they will be getting the fall booster for two other reasons:

1. Broaden protection. SARS-CoV-2 has changed a lot and the fall booster provides updated instructions for our kids’ antibody factories. In other words, it will tell their antibodies how better to recognize Omicron if they get infected.
2. Short-term protection against infection. A recent study found co-infection of flu and COVID is more severe than just flu or COVID alone for our kiddos.
3. Also, parents missing work due to respiratory illness is at an all time high right now. I’ll take all the help I can get.

Average number of parents who missed work due childcare problems. Source: Department of Labor

I’ve been struggling with timing the fall booster. It’s clear from adult data that delaying the booster is advantageous. My girls finished their primary series 5 months ago. But delaying it too much more won’t be helpful this winter. I talked to Dr. Ruth Link-Gelles about this last week and decided to get them boosted as soon as possible.

That is, if I can find one.

According to vaccines.gov, I have to travel more than 45 miles to get my 2 year old the updated booster, which is absolutely unacceptable. If we want to improve vaccine uptake, we have to make it easier.

Bottom line

The updated booster is here for our little ones. To me, an updated booster still makes sense, but finding one is another story.

As parents, it’s absolutely exhausting how many viruses are circulating right now. Hang in there—every epi curve comes down.