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Covid News Watch
Orthopedic Surgeon Sounds Off on COVID Vaccine After Developing Career-Ending Condition: I’ve Been ‘Abandoned’ + More
Orthopedic Surgeon Sounds Off on COVID Vaccine After Developing Career-Ending Condition: I’ve Been ‘Abandoned’
One orthopedic surgeon had his career ripped away from him by developing a career-ending condition just seven days after receiving the COVID-19 vaccine.
During an appearance on “Fox & Friends Weekend,” Dr. Joel Wallskog shared the chilling details of how he contracted Transverse Myelitis, going from a “completely healthy 50-year-old” to a crippled, unemployed orthopedic surgeon, in a matter of a week.
“I was a completely healthy 50-year-old person with really no medical problems until about seven days after my first — or I should say one and only Moderna shot — that I received on December 30 of 2020. So, I was completely otherwise healthy until seven days after the shot,” Dr. Wallskog shared with co-host Rachel Campos-Duffy.
Campos-Duffy shared her sympathies with Dr. Wallskog, asking the surgeon, “What happens next? Who takes responsibility for this?” Dr. Wallskog replied, “What happens is you’re abandoned.”
Campos-Duffy bolstered Dr. Wallskog’s claim, arguing that Big Pharma has not only evaded the “brunt” of alleged vaccine injuries but made “billions of dollars.” Recognizing that victims are provided no financial support, Dr. Wallskog founded an advocacy organization in an effort to spark change.
There’s New Light — and Lingering Questions — in the Mystery of Wuhan
More than three years into the coronavirus pandemic, the question has yet to be answered: How and why did it begin? On April 8, officials in China gave a news conference at which they insisted they had done everything possible to discover the answers about the global outbreak that began there. Zhou Lei, of China’s Center for Disease Control and Prevention, said Chinese scientists “shared all the data we had” and “adhered to principles of openness, objectivity and transparency.”
They have done neither. A new Post report and a forthcoming Senate investigation once again raise questions that still demand answers from China about what happened in Wuhan in late 2019.
The latest report on what happened in Wuhan came in an examination by Post reporters Joby Warrick and David Willman of China’s spotty biosafety record. They found that China embarked on a significant expansion of the country’s biotechnology sector, pumping billions of dollars into building dozens of laboratories and encouraging cutting-edge research in fields including genetic engineering, experimental vaccines and therapeutics, all part of a government-mandated drive to rival or surpass the United States and other Western powers. But safety practices failed to keep pace.
The Post reporters noted that lab accidents happen everywhere, including in the United States. But Chinese government reports and officials described ongoing equipment problems and inadequate safety training that in some cases resulted in lab animals being illegally sold after being used in experiments, and contaminated lab waste getting flushed into sewers. The problems were exacerbated, they reported, “by a secretive, top-down bureaucracy that sets demanding goals while reflexively covering up accidents and discouraging any public acknowledgment of shortcomings.”
What really happened in Wuhan? The mystery remains. China holds — and should provide — some of the answers.
Ashland County Health Dept. Targeting Amish, ‘Isolated Populations’ With $230K Mobile Vaccination Clinic
The Ashland County Health Department plans to purchase a van outfitted as a mobile health clinic to bring vaccinations to Amish and “isolated populations” across the county.
The health department received the green light from the Ohio Department of Health on Monday to use leftover funds from federal COVID-19 stimulus money, according to Jill Hartson, a community health educator for Ashland County Health Department.
“The van will be ready to use immediately. We will need to do some training on using the items provided in the van and ensure the refrigeration is at temperature before we use it for COVID vaccines,” Vickie Taylor, the health commissioner, said.
The health department has been looking into getting a mobile vaccine unit since October, according to its cover letter dated March 31 to ODH asking for permission to spend up to $300,000 of leftover grant money received from the pandemic.
SARS-CoV-2 Spike Protein Accumulates in the Skull and Brain — Whether Findings Have Implications for Long COVID Is Unclear
SARS-CoV-2 spike protein persisted in the skull and brain, mouse and human autopsy data showed. In mouse models and human postmortem samples, SARS-CoV-2 spike protein was found in the skull marrow, meninges, and parenchyma, according to Ali Ertürk, Ph.D., of the Helmholtz Center Munich in Neuherberg, Germany, and co-authors.
Injecting spike protein into skull marrow niches of healthy mice triggered proteome changes and cell death in the brain parenchyma, the researchers reported in a preprint paper on bioRxiv, which has not yet been peer-reviewed.
The findings suggest that spike protein in the skull-meninges-brain axis may be a molecular mechanism or therapeutic target for neurologic long COVID, Ertürk and colleagues proposed.
The clinical relevance of the findings is not clear, added Avindra Nath, MD, of the National Institute of Neurological Disorders and Stroke, who also wasn’t part of the study.
XBB.1.16 ‘Arcturus’ Is New COVID Variant Under Monitoring by the WHO
Guess what? There’s yet another COVID-19 coronavirus variant spreading around the world and in the U.S. This one has the oh-so-easy-to-remember name XBB.1.16 because when has the name of another Omicron subvariant started with the letters XBB, right?
On March 22, the World Health Organization (WHO) classified the XBB.1.16 as a new variant under monitoring (VUM), which isn’t as serious as a variant of interest (VOI) which isn’t as serious as a variant of concern (VOC).
But the spread of the XBB.1.16 seems to have fueled what’s been called by the India-based media publication Business Today a “massive surge” of COVID-19 cases in India and sparked the return of face mask mandates there. These days the term “massive surge” isn’t great to hear unless you are talking about chocolate or sex. So the big question is how concerned should you be about this new subvariant that some have unofficially dubbed the “Arcturus” subvariant?
Well, “Acturus-lly,” the XBB.1.16 has gone from being about 0.21% of all COVID-19 cases worldwide in late February to an estimated 3.96% a month later. In the U.S., the XBB.1.16 accounted for an estimated 7.2% of all COVID-19 samples from April 9 to April 15, according to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC). That’s up from 3.9% the week before and 2.1% the week prior to that.
She Died 4 Days After Getting Her COVID Booster Jab. Singapore Paid Her Family in the Philippines U.S. $169,000
South China Morning Post reported:
The family of a woman who died about four days after receiving a COVID-19 vaccine booster jab was given S$225,000 (U.S. $169,000) under Singapore’s Vaccine Injury Financial Assistance Programme, the Health Ministry said.
Ontal Charlene Vargas, from the Philippines, died on December 13, 2021. The cause of her death was myocarditis or inflammation of the heart, a coroner’s court heard on Friday. State Coroner Adam Nakhoda found that on the balance of probabilities, it was likely to be related to COVID-19 vaccination.
COVID and Aspergillus Are Dangerous Bedfellows — Attention Must Be Paid to This New, Sometimes Deadly Duo
In the Fall of 2022, a World Health Organization (WHO) report named 19 key fungal threats, thus creating the agency’s first-ever “fungal priority pathogens” list. WHO also called for better diagnostics and monitoring of antifungal drug resistance, as well as further research, innovation, and public health measures to control invasive fungal pathogens.
I believe the message was overdue. While some people equate “superbugs” solely with bacteria, specialists who care for immunocompromised patients have long dealt with life-threatening and drug-resistant fungi. Today, experts also worry that environmental factors, including climate change, will nurture scary new species.
Aspergillus is no stranger to Ashrit Multani, MD, my UCLA infectious diseases colleague who’s an expert in pathogenic fungi, especially in patients with compromised immune systems. So, I recently asked whether he was surprised when he started seeing severely ill patients with COVID suffer aspergillosis.
“No, it didn’t surprise me too much,” Multani said. “I think it was just a matter of time before we started to see more and more cases. We’ve seen similar issues with viral infections…for example, there’s been plenty reported in the literature about aspergillosis following flu.”
Queensland Health Report Suggests Long COVID No More Severe Than Lingering Influenza
Queenslanders with long COVID may experience no more severe symptoms than those of lingering influenza, according to a study by the state’s health officials.
But while the Queensland government has held up the study as evidence its handling of the early stages of the pandemic was “textbook”, medical experts treating patients for long COVID say it is only a “first step” towards understanding a condition that has been debilitating for many.
Woman Died of Myocarditis That Was Likely Linked to COVID Vaccine Booster: Coroner + More
Woman Died of Myocarditis That Was Likely Linked to COVID Vaccine Booster She Received 4 Days Earlier: Coroner
A 43-year-old woman who received a COVID-19 vaccine booster died about four days later, a coroner’s court heard on Friday (Apr. 14). The cause of Madam Ontal Charlene Vargas’ death was determined to be myocarditis or inflammation of the heart.
State Coroner Adam Nakhoda said on Friday it was likely that the myocarditis was related to the COVID-19 booster vaccine that Mdm Vargas had received, and ruled that her death was a medical misadventure.
Mdm Vargas, a Filipina maid, received her Pfizer-BioNTech’s Comirnaty booster shot on Dec 9, 2021. During the 42 minutes of observation at the clinic, she did not exhibit any adverse effects. However, she grew unwell the next morning, feeling tired and breathless. She called her husband and told him she found it difficult to breathe.
Her condition worsened on Dec 12, 2021, and she suddenly became unresponsive. Despite receiving appropriate medical care, her condition deteriorated rapidly and she died on Dec 13, 2021.
She developed symptoms soon after receiving the vaccine, the court heard. It is reported in the medical literature that myocarditis is a known adverse side effect of receiving the COVID-19 vaccine, said the coroner.
The Biden Administration Will Hang On to Some COVID Pandemic Emergency Powers
Even though the Biden administration is ending its highest-profile COVID-19 emergency declaration next month, it’s still going to hold on to some pandemic-era powers. The Department of Health and Human Services gave governors a heads-up on Friday that it is planning to keep pharmacists’ ability to administer COVID-19 and flu vaccines past the end of the public health emergency.
The legal definition of the COVID-19 emergency is a complex web of different laws that control different areas of the pandemic response. The White House and HHS are in the process of winding those powers down, but they all operate separately from one another.
While the COVID-19 public health emergency will end on May 11, HHS is choosing to extend some powers related to a separate law called the Public Readiness and Emergency Preparedness Act, which offers extra protections to companies and providers making, distributing, and administering medicines and vaccines in times of emergency.
The rules that let pharmacists, pharmacy technicians and pharmacy interns give COVID-19 vaccines and tests and seasonal flu vaccines will stay in place through December 2024, the letter says. The White House’s “Test to Treat” program that allows pharmacists to test people for COVID-19 and prescribe the antiviral Paxlovid will also continue.
World Has 28% Risk of New COVID-Like Pandemic Within 10 Years
There’s a 27.5% chance a pandemic as deadly as COVID-19 could take place in the next decade as viruses emerge more frequently, with rapid vaccine rollout the key to reducing fatalities, according to a predictive health analytics firm.
Climate change, growth in international travel, increasing populations and the threat posed by zoonotic diseases contribute to the risk, according to London-based Airfinity Ltd. But if effective vaccines are rolled out 100 days after the discovery of a new pathogen, the likelihood of a deadly pandemic drops to 8.1%, according to the firm’s modeling.
In a worst-case scenario, a bird flu-type virus that mutates to allow human-to-human transmission could kill as many as 15,000 people in the U.K. in a single day, Airfinity said.
The rapid spread of the H5N1 bird flu strain is already stoking concerns. While so far just a small number of people have been infected and there are no signs of it having made the jump to human-to-human transmission, skyrocketing rates in birds and increasing incursions in mammals have led to concern among scientists and governments that the virus may be mutating in ways that could make it easier to spread.
Study Shows 4.2% of Pfizer COVID Vaccine Batches Made Up Most Adverse Events, Raising Serious Concerns
In Denmark, 4.2% of Pfizer COVID-19 vaccine batches accounted for 71% of suspected adverse events (SAEs), according to Danish researchers in a recent study published in the European Journal of Clinical Investigation on March 30.
The study has raised serious concerns about the inconsistencies in the quality of different vaccine batches and the implications for vaccine recipients. Danish researchers studied the rates of SAEs between different batches of the Pfizer-BioNTech vaccine, BNT162b2, which was administered in Denmark from December 27, 2020–January 11, 2022.
There were approximately 7.8 million doses administered to 3.7 million people from 52 different Pfizer vaccine batches during that time period. “Unexpectedly, rates of SAEs per 1000 doses varied considerably between vaccine batches,” the researchers wrote in the publication.
“These are critically important results,” said Dr. Peter McCullough on Substack. McCullough is a renowned internist, cardiologist and epidemiologist, as well as a contributor to The Epoch Times.
Women Vaccinated for COVID Have Higher Risk for Heavier Menstrual Flow
News Medical Life Sciences reported:
A new international study finds that women vaccinated for COVID-19 have a slightly higher risk for a heavier period after vaccination.
The study, led by Oregon Health & Science University reproductive health services researcher Blair Darney, Ph.D., M.P.H., and physician-scientist Alison Edelman, M.D., M.P.H., was published today in the British Journal of Obstetrics and Gynaecology. These findings build on prior work from the same research team that first identified an association between COVID-19 vaccines and menstrual cycle changes.
While there is a growing body of evidence demonstrating that COVID-19 vaccination is associated with a small increase in cycle length, other disturbances such as bleeding quantity are less well known. This study aimed to estimate the effect of COVID-19 vaccination on menstrual bleeding quantity among individuals with normal menstrual cycles.
Cases of Vision-Threatening Clots Rare After COVID Shot, Study Finds — Incidence of Retinal Vascular Occlusion Similar Compared With Influenza, Tdap Vaccines
Retinal vascular occlusion (RVO) did not occur more frequently in the 3 weeks following administration of an mRNA COVID-19 vaccine compared with influenza and tetanus, diphtheria, and pertussis (Tdap) vaccines, a retrospective study showed.
In a propensity score-matched analysis using 3 million electronic health records (EHRs), a new diagnosis of RVO, a serious, potentially vision-threatening condition, occurred in 0.003% of patients within 21 days of COVID vaccination, reported Rishi P. Singh, MD, of the Cleveland Clinic Cole Eye Institute in Ohio, and colleagues.
Of note, the relative risk for a new RVO diagnosis after the first dose of COVID vaccination was greater when compared with the second dose of COVID vaccine (RR 2.25, 95% CI 1.33-3.81).
They said that evaluating the incidence of RVO after COVID vaccination is difficult, and having done so through a comparison with the incidence after influenza and Tdap vaccination is “an ingenious approach.” However, they pointed out that this approach “does not provide a comparison with a group of people who did not receive any recent vaccination or especially those who did not receive COVID-19 vaccination.”
“Without a comparable group of people without mRNA COVID-19 vaccination, it is difficult to rule out an association,” Jampol and Maguire wrote, adding that “we should acknowledge that our understanding of retinal complications after any vaccination is incomplete.”
No Evidence yet Showing Which Animal COVID May Have Come From, Says Former Head of China CDC
There is no evidence yet showing which animal the COVID-causing virus may have come from, the former head of the Chinese Center for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) said on Friday.
George Gao, who was speaking at a London summit on preparing for pandemics, was the head of the agency when COVID first emerged in Wuhan, China, at the end of 2019.
The origins of the COVID-19 pandemic remain unknown, with criticism that China has thwarted efforts to find out more. The Chinese government has said it has always supported all efforts to investigate the source.
The World Health Organization has said that all hypotheses for the origins of COVID-19 remain on the table, including that the virus is linked to a high-security laboratory for the study of dangerous pathogens in Wuhan. China denies any such link.
About 100k Nurses Left Workforce Amid COVID Burnout, Stress: Survey
About 100,000 nurses quit due to stress and burnout during the COVID-19 pandemic and another 800,000 said they intend to leave by 2027, according to a new survey from the National Council of State Boards of Nursing.
There are about 6.2 million registered nurses total in the U.S. according to the survey. One in five of those surveyed said they plan to leave the industry or retire in the next five years, it found.
A majority of nurses, 62%, said their workload increased during the pandemic and about 50% said they felt emotionally drained at work. Just under half said they felt fatigued or burnt out, 49 and 45%, respectively.
Long COVID Is Sticking Around. What’s Causing It?
U.S. News & World Report reported:
At least 65 million people across the world are suffering from long COVID. At this stage in the pandemic, health officials have mostly shifted their attention away from preventing coronavirus infections, instead focusing on stopping hospitalizations and deaths. The strategy means that people will continue to get infected and reinfected with the coronavirus as long as it is circulating.
Knowing the causes of long COVID would likely make both diagnosing and treating long COVID significantly easier, experts say. But the research into what causes long COVID also has another, possibly loftier goal: to help prevent the condition altogether.
There are some leading theories. One is that at least some of the virus lingers in the body post-infection. These so-called “viral reservoirs” could hide in tissue and later cause problems.
Studies have shown that the virus can linger in various parts of the human body, but research is underway to see if it can be directly tied to the symptoms of long COVID.
Another theory is that COVID-19 could reactivate other viruses that were dormant in people’s bodies, bringing new symptoms with it. Additionally, the coronavirus triggers inflammation in the body that for whatever reason persists in some people, causing an array of health problems.
China’s Struggles With Lab Safety Carry Danger of Another Pandemic + More
China’s Struggles With Lab Safety Carry Danger of Another Pandemic
In the summer of 2019, a mysterious accident occurred inside a government-run biomedical complex in north-central China, a facility that handles a pathogen notorious for its ability to pass easily from animals to humans.
There were no alarms or flashing lights to alert workers to the defect in a sanitation system that was supposed to kill germs in the vaccine plant’s waste. When the system failed in late July that year, millions of airborne microbes began seeping invisibly from exhaust vents and drifting into nearby neighborhoods. Nearly a month passed before the problem was discovered and fixed, and four months before the public was informed. By then, at least 10,000 people had been exposed, with hundreds developing symptomatic illnesses, scientific studies later concluded.
The events occurred not in Wuhan, the city where the coronavirus pandemic began, but in another Chinese city, Lanzhou, 800 miles to the southeast. The leaking pathogens were bacterial spores that cause brucellosis, a common livestock disease that can lead to chronic illness or even death in humans if not treated.
As the pandemic enters its fourth year, new details about the little-known Lanzhou incident offer a revealing glimpse into a much larger — and largely hidden — struggle with biosafety across China in late 2019, at the precise moment when both the brucellosis incident and the coronavirus outbreak were coming to light.
Multiple probes into both events by U.S. and international scientists and lawmakers are spotlighting what experts describe as China’s vulnerability to serious lab accidents, exposing problems that allowed deadly pathogens to escape in the past and could well do so again, potentially triggering another pandemic.
Virus Sniffing Dogs Latest Weapon in Battle Against COVID
These COVID-sniffing dogs are becoming the next weapon in the war against the virus. It’s 9 a.m. and Scarlett, a two-year-old yellow Labrador, is already working her little tail off. Scarlett and her canine coworker Rizzo are part of a growing number of dogs across the globe who can detect COVID in humans simply by sniffing people’s socks.
Hired by the California Department of Public Health, Scarlett and Rizzo have been deployed to classrooms and nursing homes all over the Bay Area, essentially serving as walking COVID tests — no need for swabs or even a laboratory, inserted these “labs” come to you.
A dog’s sense of smell is estimated to be 10,000 to 100,000 times better than that of humans. Over the years, they’ve been used to sniff out everything from bombs to illegal drugs, and even cancer. But these days they’re being trained to sniff out an elusive virus that has upended the world over the last three years.
Carol Edwards, the executive director of Early Alert Canines, said the company has been training the dogs almost every day to keep them up to date on all the latest strains. She said not only are these dogs accurate, but they can also tell if someone has COVID even before it shows up in other tests. The cost to train each dog is about $50,000 and can take up to a year.
Babies Exposed to Mild COVID in Womb Show Normal Brain Development
The infants of mothers who had asymptomatic or mild COVID-19 infections during pregnancy showed no neurodevelopment delays compared to peers with no exposures, according to new work from Columbia University researchers. The research is published in JAMA Network Open.
The study builds on a previous assessment of babies born in New York City to mothers who were infected, conducted by the same research group. That small study also showed no significant brain delays in infants born to mothers who had COVID-19 during pregnancy.
The researchers found no significant differences in infants exposed to COVID-19 in utero and those with no exposure. Timing of exposure in any of the pregnancy trimesters also had no link to delays. Moreover, there were no differences among infants whose mothers had been infected with COVID shortly before pregnancy or those who had never been infected.
Quebec Medical College Says Not Its Role to Evaluate COVID Vaccination Safety Concerns
A group of Quebec doctors and scientists is disappointed with the response from the province’s medical college to its efforts to engage on the issue of the safety of COVID-19 vaccination.
After sending several letters and obtaining a meeting with the Collège des médecins du Québec (CMQ) to express its concerns, the organization Réinfo Québec received a response from the CMQ president in late March.
“We wish to remind you that the Collège des médecins du Québec is a professional order and not a scholarly society,” CMQ president Mauril Gaudreault wrote in a March 26 email obtained by The Epoch Times. “Therefore, it is not our responsibility to evaluate the many elements that you have raised during our meeting.”
Dr. René Lavigueur, a family physician and member of Réinfo, told The Epoch Times that even if the CMQ is not a scholarly society, he believes it has a duty to look into the matter as the ethical authority for the profession and as a defender of the public.
Exclusive: China Out of UN’s Wildlife Survey for Pandemic Controls
China is not participating in a United Nations project to survey Asian wet markets and other facilities at high risk of spreading infectious diseases from wild animals to humans, despite long-running talks with Beijing, a UN official told Reuters.
China’s hesitancy to join the UN project involving other Asian nations may compound frustration by global researchers who have been pressing Beijing to share information about the origins of COVID-19, as they seek to prevent future pandemics due to zoonotic, or animal-to-human, disease transmission.
Four Asian countries — China, Thailand, Vietnam and Laos — were initially selected for the survey by the scientific advisory committee of the project, called the Safety Across Asia For the Global Environment (SAFE), because they host multiple facilities presenting risks of animal-to-human disease transmission, the UN official said.
Novavax Cut $50 Million in Costs, Plans to Slash More, CEO Says
Novavax Inc. (NVAX.O) cut about $50 million in costs in the first quarter of 2023 and plans to slash more, Chief Executive John Jacobs said in an interview on Wednesday.
“We’re looking at everything from buildings, leases, land, headcount, and contractors, every aspect of our company and the way we work,” he told Reuters.
Jacobs also said the company is in regular talks with the U.S. Food and Drug Administration over the potential design of its 2023 COVID-19 booster shot and believes Novavax will have a new shot ready in time for the fall.
Novavax, whose COVID-19 vaccine is its lone marketed product after 35 years in business, is relying on an updated COVID shot, cost cutting, and Phase 2 data on its COVID/influenza combination vaccine due in the coming weeks to stay afloat.
‘Arcturus,’ a Highly Transmissible COVID Variant Eyed by the WHO, Appears to Have a New Symptom. Here’s What You Need to Know
A new COVID variant the World Health Organization has its eye on seems to be causing a new symptom in children rarely caused by other Omicron spawn.
XBB.1.16, dubbed “Arcturus” by variant trackers, is fueling a new surge of cases in India, at a time when reported cases are down in much of the rest of the world. The country’s health ministry is holding mock drills to ensure that hospitals are prepared for rising COVID cases, the BBC reported Monday, noting that some states have again made mask-wearing in public mandatory.
Levels of the variant are also rising in the U.S., Singapore and Australia, among others.
The symptoms he’s now seeing among children: high fever, cough and “itchy” conjunctivitis — or pink eye — without pus, but with “sticky eyes.” The latter symptom hasn’t been seen in earlier COVID waves, he noted.
Free COVID Testing Will Fade With U.S. Health Emergency in May
When the COVID-19 public health emergency ends in the U.S. next month, you’ll still have access to a multitude of tests but with one big difference: Who pays for them.
For the first time, you may have to pick up some or all of the costs, depending on insurance coverage and whether the tests are done at home or in a doctor’s office.
Those Injured by COVID Vaccine Still Waiting for Government Compensation + More
Those Injured by COVID Vaccine Still Waiting for Government Compensation
Steve Wenger says he began struggling to walk in May 2021, seven days after receiving the Johnson & Johnson COVID-19 vaccine. He eventually became paralyzed from the waist down and had to go to the hospital. His arms became so weak he couldn’t pick up a glass of water. In clinical notes, his doctor at Mayo Clinic referred to an autoimmune disorder called chronic inflammatory demyelinating polyradiculoneuropathy (CIDP) saying it was “triggered by COVID vaccination.”
It’s almost impossible to sue a vaccine company for a COVID vaccine injury, due to liability protections under the Public Readiness and Emergency Preparedness Act, or PREP Act. Congress deemed these protections necessary years ago in order to “ensure that potentially life-saving countermeasures will be efficiently developed, deployed, and administered,” according to the Congressional Research Service.
Instead of filing a lawsuit, people injured by a COVID vaccine can seek government compensation through the Countermeasures Injury Compensation Program, or CICP. Wenger says he filed his claim in October 2021. A year and a half later, he’s still waiting to hear back about whether he’s eligible.
Wenger isn’t alone in the waiting process. His claim is one of more than 8,000 others alleging injury or death from the COVID-19 vaccine. Zero such claims have been compensated as of March 1. Twenty-one have been determined eligible for compensation, but not paid. Three hundred have been denied as of March 29.
Report: Spring COVID Booster to Be Authorized for High-Risk People in U.S.
The U.S. government will soon authorize another round of COVID-19 vaccine booster doses to certain high-risk populations, namely people 65 and older and those with compromised immune systems, according to a Washington Post report that cited anonymous officials familiar with the plan.
The spring booster plan for high-risk individuals in the U.S. would resemble booster offerings already in place in Canada and the United Kingdom, and it would put the country largely in agreement with updated recommendations released last week by the World Health Organization.
The agency’s advisory group on immunizations determined that, as of now, healthy adults and children do not need additional boosters in the near term, but certain high-risk groups should be offered boosters every six to 12 months.
‘Everyone Is Kind of Tired and Has Given Up’ on COVID. But This New Variant Is ‘One to Watch,’ the WHO Says
The World Health Organization has its eye on a new COVID variant thought to be driving a new surge of cases in India — at a time when reported cases are down in much of the rest of the world.
XBB.1.16, dubbed “Arcturus” by variant trackers, is very similar to U.S. dominant “Kraken” XBB.1.5 — the most transmissible COVID variant yet, Maria Van Kerkhove, COVID-19 technical lead for the WHO, said earlier this week at a news conference.
But additional mutations in the virus’s spike protein, which attaches to and infects human cells, have the potential to make the variant more infectious and even cause more severe disease. For this reason, and due to rising cases in the East, XBB.1.16 is considered “one to watch,” Van Kerkhove says.
Only time will tell when it comes to what if any, differences in severity XB.1.16 will display. Mutations that seem concerning, in theory, aren’t always concerning in real life because of the highly complex nature of population immunity.
Arbutus Files Patent Infringement Lawsuit Against Pfizer/BioNTech Over COVID Shots
Arbutus Biopharma (ABUS.O) on Tuesday sued U.S. drugmaker Pfizer Inc. (PFE.N) and its German partner BioNTech SE in a New Jersey district court, claiming their mRNA COVID-19 vaccines infringe five of Arbutus’ patents.
Arbutus, along with its licensee Genevant Sciences, is seeking damages, including reasonable royalties, over the use of lipid nanoparticle (LNP) delivery technology in Pfizer/BioNTech vaccines to carry and deliver genetic material into the body.
Arbutus Biopharma had also sued Moderna Inc. (MRNA.O) in the Delaware federal court last year, claiming the latter’s mRNA COVID-19 vaccine also infringes its patents.
South African Court Urged to Revoke Authorization of Pfizer’s COVID Vaccine
A court in South Africa is being urged to revoke the authorization for Pfizer’s COVID-19 vaccine, noting alarming trial data and evidence of side effects.
The High Court of South Africa should set aside the authorization because trial data did not show the vaccine was effective against severe disease or death, which have become the promoted purposes of the vaccine since it performs so poorly against infection as newer variants have emerged, the new filing says.
Six-month data from Pfizer’s trial, for instance, showed that there were 20 deaths among the vaccinated arm and just 14 among the unvaccinated, the Freedom Alliance of South Africa noted in the filing.
The group is asking for a judicial review of the South African Health Products Regulatory Authority’s decision to authorize the vaccine as a primary series and, later, as a booster.
Pandemic Pounds Push 10,000 U.S. Army Soldiers Into Obesity
After gaining 30 pounds during the COVID-19 pandemic, U.S. Army Staff Sgt. Daniel Murillo is finally getting back into fighting shape.
Murillo wasn’t the only service member dealing with extra weight. New research found that obesity in the U.S. military surged during the pandemic.
In the Army alone, nearly 10,000 active duty soldiers developed obesity between February 2019 and June 2021, pushing the rate to nearly a quarter of the troops studied. Increases were seen in the U.S. Navy and the Marines, too.
Long COVID Exercise Trials Proposed by NIH Raise Alarm
Patients and patient advocates are calling on the U.S. National Institutes of Health (NIH) to reconsider its decision to include exercise trials in its RECOVER initiative, which aims to study and find treatments for long COVID.
They argue that a large proportion of people with long COVID have reported experiencing post-exertional malaise (PEM) — a worsening of symptoms such as fatigue, difficulty regulating body temperature and cognitive dysfunction, after even light exercise — and worry that putting certain RECOVER participants through exercise trials could cause them harm. In a petition and multiple letters, the advocates request that the NIH and affiliated physicians explain their rationale for this testing and share the trial protocols.
Up to 23 million people in the United States have developed long COVID, according to a report from the U.S. Government Accountability Office. The condition has affected their lives and livelihood: an analysis of people with long COVID who filed workers’ compensation claims in New York State between January 1, 2020, and March 31, 2022, found that 18% of them had still not returned to work more than a year after being infected with the coronavirus SARS-CoV-2.
Advocates want to see the RECOVER exercise protocols because they are concerned that trial participants will not be adequately informed about the potential risks; that participants will not be properly screened for PEM; and that researchers will not sufficiently monitor people for harm in the hours after the exercise regimen or after the trial concludes.
15 Million Americans Could Lose Medicaid Coverage as Pandemic-Era Policy Ends
Some 15 million people could lose their Medicaid coverage over the next few months as pandemic-related emergency provisions come to an end — though residents in five states will feel its impact earlier than others.
During the pandemic, the yearly reapplication process for Medicaid was paused and states stopped checking if people were still eligible for its coverage. But starting April 1, people in Arizona, Arkansas, Idaho, New Hampshire and South Dakota could see their loss of healthcare coverage as Medicaid begins to verify eligibility and will begin to disenroll patients.
Fourteen more states will cut off coverage for people who are no longer eligible in May, and another 20 (plus the District of Columbia) will do so in June, affecting the more than 90 million Americans who are currently enrolled in Medicaid.
People With Smell Disorders May Get Relief With an Experimental Treatment
A numbing procedure usually used to treat pain and post-traumatic stress disorder is being tested as a way to restore smell and taste in people with long COVID.
It’s called a stellate ganglion block. In the procedure, a doctor uses a temporary, local anesthetic — like what a dentist would give before filling a cavity — and injects it into a specific bundle of nerves called the stellate ganglion on both sides of a person’s neck. The nerves are part of the sympathetic nervous system, which controls automatic bodily functions, such as blood pressure, digestion and heart rate.
The area is not known to have any impact on how a person perceives odors, however, leaving some experts skeptical of the approach. Other doctors say they have seen real improvements in patients who either can’t smell anything or find previously delicious food and drinks now taste repulsive.
A survey last year found that about 15% of people with COVID-related olfactory loss still had trouble smelling correctly six months later.
A New Approach to a COVID Nasal Vaccine Shows Early Promise
Scientists in Germany say they’ve been able to make a nasal vaccine that can shut down a COVID-19 infection in the nose and throat, where the virus gets its first foothold in the body.
In experiments in hamsters, two doses of the vaccine — which is made with a live but weakened form of the coronavirus that causes COVID-19 — blocked the virus from copying itself in the animals’ upper airways, achieving “sterilizing immunity” and preventing illness, a long-sought goal of the pandemic.
Although this vaccine has several more hurdles to clear before it gets to a doctor’s office or drug store, other nasal vaccines are in use or are nearing the finish line in clinical trials.
China and India both rolled out vaccines given through the nasal tissues last fall, though it’s not clear how well they may be working. Studies on the effectiveness of these vaccines have yet to be published, leaving much of the world to wonder whether this approach to protection really works in people.
COVID Booster Vaccine to Be Offered to Millions in England
Millions of people in England will be offered a COVID booster jab this week, health officials have announced, as recent estimates show infections have climbed to their highest level this year.
Care home residents will be the first to receive the spring COVID-19 booster vaccine from Monday, with millions more people invited to book an appointment from Wednesday.
About 5 million people will be eligible for a booster until the end of June, including those aged 75 and over and anyone aged five and over who is immunosuppressed. Everyone will be able to book a jab online from April 5, with the first appointments available from April 17.