Covid News Watch
U.S. Sets $1.74 Billion Deal With Moderna for Updated COVID Vaccine + More
U.S. Sets $1.74 Billion Deal With Moderna for Updated COVID Vaccine
Moderna Inc. (MRNA.O) said on Friday it has signed an agreement with the U.S. government worth as much as $1.74 billion, under which it will supply 66 million initial doses of its Omicron-adapted vaccine.
The initial doses will be delivered this year and the government also has the option to purchase an additional 234 million doses.
The bivalent booster candidate, mRNA-1273.222, contains the fast-spreading Omicron BA.4/5 strains, which are the most prevalent variants of concern in the U.S.
COVID Drove up Drinking, and Americans Are Dying Faster as a Result
As COVID-19 continues to ravage our communities, researchers like myself are focused on evaluating how the pandemic has affected the mental and physical health of Americans — and determining the best path forward for our collective well-being.
Sadly, the more than 1 million American deaths directly caused by this deadly virus don’t tell the whole story. New research I conducted along with my colleagues at the University of North Carolina’s School of Medicine paints a grim picture of rising alcohol-associated liver disease, known as ALD. It’s a disorder that steadily increased over the past two decades, but which dangerously accelerated once the pandemic hit in early 2020.
COVID-19 fueled the perfect storm of increased stress, social isolation, disruptions to work and school and increased unemployment and financial insecurity. This dynamic led to higher alcohol consumption among Americans, and an increased risk of ALD.
A recent national survey of U.S. adults and their alcohol consumption found that excessive drinking — defined as more than four drinks per day or 14 per week for men and three drinks per day or seven per week for women — increased by a startling 21% in the country after the start of the pandemic.
Reformulated Booster Shots Ready by September, White House Says
U.S. News & World Report reported:
Americans could be getting updated COVID booster shots that can battle the newest Omicron variants as soon as mid-September.
People close to deliberations say that the Biden administration plans to offer a booster campaign with new formulations because the makers of the primary vaccines used in the United States — Pfizer and Moderna — have said they can deliver the new doses by then, the New York Times reported.
This could mean that younger Americans not yet eligible for a second booster of the original vaccines will have to wait until the fall for shots.
Dr. Anthony Fauci, Biden‘s chief medical adviser, and Dr. Ashish Jha, the White House pandemic response coordinator, both advocated for expanding second boosters for more Americans now, the Times reported.
San Francisco, New York State Declare Monkeypox Emergencies as Outbreak Grows
San Francisco and the state of New York declared public health emergencies Thursday amid the growing monkeypox outbreak, the latest in escalating measures in response to the rapidly spreading virus.
The action by two of the hardest-hit areas comes after the World Health Organization declared a global emergency this past weekend and as the Biden administration weighs a national emergency declaration.
More than 40% of the nation’s confirmed 4,907 monkeypox cases have been reported in California and New York.
NYC to Receive 10% of Federal Monkeypox Vaccine Order Despite High Local Case Load
New York City will receive about 10% of a new batch of monkeypox vaccine doses secured by the federal government, Senate Majority Leader Chuck Schumer’s office said Thursday, frustrating some local officials who pushed for the city to receive a larger piece of vaccine pie.
Through Wednesday, around 25% of the nation’s confirmed monkeypox cases had been reported in New York City, according to government data. The federal government has been sluggish in its efforts to distribute jabs for the excruciatingly painful but rarely fatal disease.
Reinfection, Severe Outcome More Common With BA.5 Variant; Virus Spike Protein Toxic to Heart Cells
Compared with the earlier Omicron BA.2 subvariant, currently dominant Omicron BA.5 is linked with higher odds of causing a second SARS-COV-2 infection regardless of vaccination status, a study from Portugal suggests.
From late April through early June, researchers there studied 15,396 adults infected with the BA.2 variant and 12,306 infected with BA.5. Vaccines and boosters were equally effective against both sublineages, according to a report posted on Monday on medRxiv ahead of peer review.
However, 10% of BA.5 cases were reinfections, compared to 5.6% of BA.2 cases, which suggests a reduction in the protection conferred by previous infection against BA.5 compared to BA.2, the researchers said.
Moreover, the vaccines appeared to be less effective in reducing the risk of severe outcomes for BA.5 compared with BA.2.
How Zombies Can Help Prevent the Next Pandemic
They have overlooked one tool that might help us prevent the next pandemic: zombie viral genomes.
Zombie viruses are the crippled byproducts of viral infection that can’t reproduce without help. They are intriguing from a therapeutic perspective because they seem to do several things to lessen disease: they prompt the immune system to act, and, without adding to the disease themselves, they suck up some of the machinery that their active counterparts use to copy themselves during an infection.
They also cloak themselves in proteins that normally wrap around viral genomes, resulting in virus-like particles that can tag along when their operational counterparts spread.
A better understanding of how these zombies work could allow researchers like me to engineer zombies as treatments so that when the next pandemic virus hits, we can give people medicinal zombies to keep them from getting really sick.
Latest U.K. COVID Wave Past Peak as Infections Fall by Half a Million in a Week
The U.K.’s latest wave of COVID appears to have passed its peak, with infections falling by more than half a million in a week, according to the Office for National Statistics.
The ONS estimates are based on swabs collected from randomly selected households.
There has been a similar decline in COVID infections in hospitals, with the U.K. Health Security Agency reporting on Thursday that COVID case rates edged downwards across all age groups, regions and ethnic groups in the third week of July. Case rates are highest in the over-80s, the most vulnerable to severe COVID.
CanSinoBIO’s Inhaled COVID Booster Stronger Against BA.1 Omicron Subvariant Than Sinovac Shot
Chinese vaccine firm CanSino Biologic’s inhalation-based candidate elicited a better antibody response as a booster against the BA.1 Omicron sub-variant than Sinovac’s shot, but the antibody level dropped in months, clinical trial data showed.
The result came as top political leaders in China called for proper tracking of virus mutation and developing of new vaccines and treatments in the country’s effort to refine its COVID control strategy.
Mother Sues LAUSD, Claims Son Offered Pizza for a COVID Vaccination Without Her Consent + More
Mother Sues LAUSD, Claims Her Son Was Offered Pizza for a COVID Vaccination
CBS News Los Angeles reported:
A local mother claims her 13-year-old son was given a COVID-19 vaccination at school without her consent, according to a lawsuit filed against the Los Angeles Unified School District.
Maribel Duarte says her son Moises, who is a student at Barack Obama Global Preparation Academy, was offered a piece of pizza for receiving the vaccine. And not only was he vaccinated without her consent, she says Moises was made to forge her name on a consent form.
An image of a vaccine record released during a news conference shows two doses of the Pfizer vaccine were administered in October and November of last year.
Duarte says her son, whom she describes as having had breathing problems and asthma since he was a baby, has suffered side effects from the vaccination. Moises doesn’t sleep as well and is no longer physically able to exercise the way he used to, she said.
Biden Administration Expected to Soon Declare Monkeypox a Health Emergency
The Biden administration is expected to declare monkeypox a public health emergency in the coming days, according to two people with knowledge of the matter.
The declaration, which is made by the Department of Health and Human Services, would follow a similar decision made last weekend by the World Health Organization. By designating the outbreak an emergency, HHS could then take a slew of actions, including accessing new money and appointing new personnel, according to the law that dictates how and when the federal government can declare such an emergency.
The people with knowledge of the matter said the declaration is expected as soon as the end of the week. But the decision is not yet final, and a spokesperson for HHS said the agency “is continuing to explore options.”
HHS Secretary Xavier Becerra is scheduled to hold a press conference on monkeypox Thursday morning.
Pfizer Quarterly Sales Surge to Record High, Driven by COVID Vaccine and Antiviral Treatment Paxlovid
Pfizer’s second-quarter revenue and profit beat Wall Street expectations, driven by sales of its COVID-19 vaccine and its antiviral treatment Paxlovid.
Pfizer booked $27.7 billion in revenue, a 47% increase over the same period last year and its largest quarterly sales on record. The pharmaceutical company reported $9.9 billion in net income, a 78% increase over the second quarter of 2021.
Pfizer’s COVID vaccine brought in $8.8 billion in revenue for the second quarter, while sales of Paxlovid totaled $8.1 billion. The company maintained its 2022 sales guidance for the vaccine of $32 billion and is still expecting $22 billion for Paxlovid.
The company also reiterated its overall 2022 revenue and earnings guidance. Pfizer is expecting $98 billion to $102 billion in sales this year and earnings per share of $6.30 to $6.45.
Fauci Calls BA.5 a ‘Moving Target’ That May Subside by the Time Omicron Boosters Are Ready. Scientists Are Pushing for a Universal COVID Vaccine Instead
Vaccines made specifically to tackle the BA.5 subvariant of COVID should be ready by this fall, Dr. Anthony Fauci, U.S. President Joe Biden’s chief medical advisor, told The Hill this week.
But the vaccines could suffer from one major flaw — BA.5-specific vaccines may become less effective once the Omicron subvariant is replaced by another strain, a real possibility given that dominant strains have been replaced with more competitive forms of the virus roughly every six months during the course of the pandemic.
“You’re dealing with a moving target,” he said on The Hill’s Rising television show. “There’s always the possibility that you’re going to have the evolution of another variant…”
The White House and vaccine makers are already trying to head off a worse outcome by accelerating efforts to develop a universal COVID vaccine that would protect against multiple variants.
Biden Emerges From COVID Isolation, Tells Public: Get Shots
President Joe Biden ended his COVID-19 isolation on Wednesday, telling Americans they can “live without fear” of the pandemic if they take advantage of booster shots and treatments, the protections he credited with his swift recovery.
“You don’t need to be president to get these tools to be used for your defense,” he said in the Rose Garden. “In fact, the same booster shots, the same at-home test, the same treatment that I got is available to you.”
He talked more about treatment than prevention, a sign of how the pandemic and his approach have evolved.
Biden tested negative for the virus on Tuesday night and Wednesday morning, allowing him to end his isolation.
Millions of U.S. Children Remain Unvaccinated as BA.5 Spreads and New School Year Looms
Millions of school-age children in the United States are still unvaccinated against COVID-19 as many prepare for a return to school.
A new CNN analysis finds that less than half of children and teens are fully vaccinated against COVID-19, and only a tenth have been boosted.
“What I’ve seen throughout this pandemic is that for every person who wants to get vaccinated, there’s another one that does not,” said Gladys Cruz, district superintendent for Questar III in New York and president-elect of the School Superintendents Association.
Millions Still Without Sense of Smell or Taste After COVID
Still struggling with your sense of smell after a bout with COVID-19? You’re far from alone. About 5% of patients with confirmed cases of COVID-19 — some 27 million people worldwide — are estimated to have suffered a long-lasting loss of smell or taste, a new analysis suggests.
In the analysis published Wednesday in The BMJ (the peer-reviewed medical journal of the British Medical Association), researchers evaluated 18 previous studies of smell and taste loss across several continents and in varying demographic groups. About three-quarters of those affected by the loss of taste or smell regained those senses within 30 days.
Rates of recovery improved over time, but about 5% of people reported “persistent dysfunction” six months after their infection with COVID-19.
The analysis suggests loss of smell and taste could be a prolonged concern that requires more research and health resources for patients struggling with long-term symptoms.
When Will COVID Really Be Over? Three Things That Will Mark the End of the Pandemic
The trouble is that epidemics do not have the sort of neat, objective endings we may imagine. A swift and decisive endpoint, achieved through the speedy application of scientific innovation — a magic bullet treatment — is usually wishful thinking. It is unlikely we will see anything like that with COVID-19.
Analyzing past epidemics shows us that actual endings are long, drawn-out and contested. Societies must grapple not just with the medical realities of the disease, harms and treatments, but the political and economic fallout from emergency measures, and disputes over who has the authority to declare an end and what should be measured to guide this process.
This is why there is so much uncertainty about the current state of COVID-19: different groups have vastly different experiences of the medical, political and social aspects of the epidemic, and different ideas of what an ending may look like.
House Passes Bill to Expand COVID-Era Telehealth Services
The House passed a bill Wednesday to expand telehealth services that were first introduced during the COVID-19 pandemic.
The legislation, titled the Advancing Telehealth Beyond COVID-19 Act, passed in a 416-12 vote. Eleven Republicans and one Democrat objected to the measure. Two Republicans did not vote.
The measure seeks to continue a number of telehealth policies established under Medicare that were first implemented at the beginning of the COVID-19 pandemic. If passed by the Senate and signed into law, the provisions would continue through 2024.
Madhya Pradesh COVID: 30 India Students Vaccinated With One Syringe
A health official is being investigated for vaccinating 30 students with a single syringe in the central Indian state of Madhya Pradesh. The incident took place in a school in the Sagar district where children were being given COVID-19 vaccines.
Single-use disposable syringes are widely used in India to avoid the spread of deadly diseases like HIV. However, there have been multiple incidents in the past where a single syringe has been reused in hospitals due to a shortage of equipment.
Jitendra Rai, who was vaccinating the children, told the media that he was only given one syringe by the health department and he was just following orders.
Parents who had accompanied their children spotted the issue and reported it to the school authorities.
Fauci Says Monkeypox Poses ‘Profound Risk’ to Children and Pregnant Women + More
Fauci Says Monkeypox Poses ‘Profound Risk’ to Children and Pregnant Women
Top U.S. infectious diseases official Dr. Anthony Fauci said monkeypox poses “a profound risk” to groups including pregnant women and children, despite most cases so far being among men who have sex with men.
Fauci, director of the National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases (NIAID), said scientists still need to understand exactly how monkeypox is spread and who is most at risk.
“We’ve got to understand the modality of transmission, the manifestations, also the risk for people like children and pregnant women. There’s really a profound risk,” he said. “Right now, thank goodness, we have a report of only two cases in children, but they’re all risk populations.”
Experts have said that anyone can get monkeypox and that its spread is not limited to sexual contact between men, nor does it spread solely through sexual contact at all.
U.S. Signs off on 800,000 More Doses of Monkeypox Vaccine
After weeks of delays, nearly 800,000 doses of the monkeypox vaccine will soon be available for distribution, U.S. health regulators said Wednesday.
The announcement comes amid growing criticism that authorities have been too slow in deploying the vaccine, potentially missing the window to contain what could soon become an entrenched infectious disease.
Nearly two weeks ago, the Food and Drug Administration said it had finished the necessary inspections at Bavarian Nordic’s facility in Denmark, where the company fills vials of the vaccine. The FDA said via Twitter on Wednesday that the certification had been finalized. The doses are already in the U.S. “so that they would be ready to be distributed once the manufacturing changes were approved,” the agency said.
U.S. May Need $7 Billion for Monkeypox, Biden Administration Estimates
The Biden administration privately estimated to Congress this month that it may need nearly $7 billion to mount a response to the nation’s monkeypox outbreak that matches “the scope and urgency of the current situation.”
The funding estimate, the details of which were contained in a memo addressed to President Biden and obtained by The Washington Post, reflected early talks among congressional Democrats and White House officials in pursuit of a spending package that could boost the availability of monkeypox tests, vaccine doses and treatments.
The Biden administration also called for as much as $31.4 billion in new funds to combat the coronavirus pandemic, as it seeks to ensure the government has the resources necessary to purchase more treatments, testing and vaccines this year.
River Oaks Doctor Sues Houston Methodist for $25M After Suspension Over COVID Misinformation
Houston Chronicle via MSN reported:
Dr. Mary Talley Bowden, a River Oaks ear, nose and throat specialist in private practice, on Monday filed a defamation lawsuit against Houston Methodist Hospital, arguing the institution ruined her reputation last year when it disciplined her over COVID-19 misinformation.
According to the complaint, filed in the 151st District Court, Bowden says she lost patients and was exposed to “public hatred, contempt, ridicule and financial injury.” Bowden is asking for $25 million in damages. She has hired Steven Biss, an attorney based in Charlottesville, Va., and Cypress lawyer Madhu Sekharan.
Methodist last year temporarily suspended Bowden’s privileges to practice at the hospital, after she made numerous public comments decrying vaccine mandates and flouting widely accepted medical standards around COVID treatment. The hospital, which also cited unprofessional language as a reason for the suspension, in a statement described her comments as “harmful to the community” and “dangerous misinformation.” Bowden later resigned.
The disciplinary action by Methodist, the first hospital in the nation to implement a vaccine mandate, garnered worldwide media attention.
2 New Studies Say COVID Came From Market, Not Lab
The coronavirus that has disrupted the world for almost three years came from a Wuhan market, according to two studies published Tuesday.
Both papers sought to find the origins of SARS-CoV-2, whether that meant the Huanan Seafood Market or the Wuhan Institute of Virology. Both reached the same conclusion: all the early cases were tied to the market.
In the early days of the pandemic, scientists pointed to the market as the likely source for animal-to-human spread of the virus. However, people throughout the world became more suspicious as Chinese authorities refused to share data about the virus’ origins and instead pointed fingers elsewhere.
The two new studies were conducted separately but published the same day by the journal Science. One study, led by Michael Worobey, analyzed where early cases were reported. It found specifically that cases began in the live animal section of the market and then radiated outward.
White House Summit Sets Lofty Goals for New COVID Vaccines — but Largely Sidesteps Questions of Funding
Top White House officials spent Tuesday laying out a vision for a COVID vaccine utopia. In the future they depicted, vaccines will be cheap and widely available. Instead of merely providing protection against hospitalization and death, they will stop infections from occurring in the first place. Instead of requiring a needle injection, they will be administered by nasal mist or skin patch.
Only on a few fleeting occasions, however, did President Biden’s top pandemic response advisers acknowledge the elephant in the room: money.
The audience at the event — likely the largest indoor gathering of U.S. public health leaders since the pandemic began in early 2020 — constituted a who’s-who of “COVID Twitter”: a collection of top academics and current or former Biden advisers, many of whom expressed delight at meeting each other in person for the first time.
Notably, however, the event did not include lawmakers or any government official with substantial control over federal spending.
The Future of COVID Vaccines Could Be Sprays, Not Shots
The future of COVID-19 vaccines might not be shots in the arm or leg. Instead, picture a nasal spray or a patch stuck onto the skin for a few minutes.
A group of scientists, doctors and administration health officials gathered at the White House on Tuesday to discuss the next generation of inoculation against COVID and its viral cousins; they were in agreement that there is room for improvement.
The future could include vaccines that protect equally against all variants — or even vaccines that stop infections from happening in the first place.
The “holy grail,” Dr. Anthony Fauci said, is “not only to protect against disease, but to protect against acquisition, and by acquisition, transmission.” Dr. Akiko Iwasaki, an expert on nasal vaccines from Yale University who spoke at the summit, said the only way to fully achieve that goal — Fauci‘s “holy grail” — would be nasal vaccines.
Researchers Link Pediatric Hepatitis Cases to Common Virus, Find No Connection to COVID: Study
Researchers in the U.K. found evidence linking the recent pediatric hepatitis cases detected around the world to the coinfection of two viruses that normally do not cause severe illness and found no connection to COVID-19.
Earlier this year, health authorities in the U.S., Western Europe and Japan noted what seemed to be an increase in pediatric hepatitis cases resulting from an unknown cause. In the U.S. alone, more than 300 cases across 42 states are being investigated, according to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.
Now, researchers from University College London (UCL) say they have found a possible link between the hepatitis cases and the common adeno-associated virus 2 or AAV2. The virus was found in 96% of cases observed in the studies.
Pfizer Starts Mid-Stage Trial for Vaccine Against Omicron Subvariant
Pfizer Inc. (PFE.N) and its German partner BioNTech SE (22UAy.DE) said on Wednesday they had started a mid-stage study of a modified COVID-19 vaccine that targets both the original as well as the BA.2 Omicron subvariant.
Pfizer said the vaccine is in an initial proof-of-concept study to gather more data.
Together, the BA.4 and BA.5 subvariants are estimated to make up nearly 95% of the circulating coronavirus variants in the United States for the week ended July 23.
House Passes Bill for Research on Cognitive Effects of Coronavirus, 69 Republicans Vote ‘No’
The House passed a bill on Tuesday to allow a government agency to award grants into the cognitive effects of COVID-19.
The measure calls on the director of the National Science Foundation to award grants to eligible entities — including higher education institutions or other groups made up of universities and nonprofit organizations — to assist them in researching “the disruption of regular cognitive processes associated with both short-term and long-term COVID-19 infections.”
Research eligible under the bill includes studies on the effects COVID-19 infections have on cognition, emotion and neural structure and function as well as the influence coronavirus-related psychological and psychosocial factors have on the disruption of cognitive processes.
BioNTech, Pfizer Sue CureVac in U.S. Over COVID Vaccine Patent Claims
COVID-19 vaccine maker BioNTech (22UAy.DE) said on Tuesday that it and partner Pfizer (PFE.N) have filed a complaint with the U.S. District Court in Massachusetts, seeking a judgment that they did not infringe U.S. patents held by rival CureVac (5CV.DE).
The lawsuit, filed Monday, said CureVac is trying to profit from the success of BioNTech and Pfizer’s COVID-19 vaccines after CureVac’s efforts to create its own vaccine failed.
CureVac earlier this month filed a patent lawsuit in Germany against BioNTech over its use of mRNA technology and did not rule out further legal action against BioNTech’s partner Pfizer or rival mRNA vaccine maker Moderna Inc. (MRNA.O).
Most Parents of Kids Under 5 Have No Plans to Give Them COVID Shots + More
Poll: Most Parents of Kids Under 5 Have No Plans to Give Them COVID Shots
Most parents of young children do not plan to get them vaccinated against COVID-19, according to a new poll from the Kaiser Family Foundation released Tuesday.
More than 40% of parents of children under 5 said they will “definitely not” vaccinate their kids, compared to about 10% who said they want to get their kids vaccinated as soon as possible, according to Kaiser’s latest survey. Only 7% said they already have gotten their kids vaccinated.
The hesitation isn’t just coming from people who are unvaccinated. Even among parents who are vaccinated, about one in four said they will “definitely not” get their young child their shots, according to the poll.
Many parents expressed concerns about the newness of the vaccine and not enough testing or research, according to the poll. There were also concerns over side effects, and worries over the overall safety of the vaccines.
Biden’s COVID Diagnosis Is Proof Vaccines Aren’t Enough to Fight Virus
President Joe Biden’s COVID-19 diagnosis is the latest data point showing our government’s “vaccine only” approach needs an immediate course correction. If four doses of a vaccine cannot protect the leader of the free world from infection, it is time to consider other tactics.
These measures should include generic medicines that have been dismissed by the mainstream medical community and media.
Don’t take my word for it. Use Biden’s own standard for success. Exactly one year before testing positive, the President declared, “You’re not going to get COVID if you have these vaccinations.”
The push for vaccines from the administration has continued unabated. Following Biden’s diagnosis, the White House tried to take a political victory lap. In their first press briefing following news of the diagnosis, White House press secretary Karine Jean-Pierre stressed the president’s vaccination status as, “what’s most important here.”
Worker’s ‘I Have COVID’ Sign Slams Management Who ‘Says It’s OK to Work’
An alarming sign taped to a gas station store on Sunday warned customers of the potential health risk waiting inside.
Eric Coble works at a gas station convenience store in New York state, according to his social media. He fell sick with COVID-19 and continued to suffer from serious symptoms over a week later, but his manager ordered him back to work, he said. Since he had no choice in exposing patrons, he decided to issue the public health warning himself.
His video of the sign taped to his store door has amassed 1.2 million views on TikTok.
“I have COVID, but management says it’s OK to work,” the sign said. Coble tested positive again on July 23. He told his manager, but she said that time was up. He recalled her saying, “‘Since you’re vaccinated and boosted, you only need the five days the CDC says to take off.'”
Monkeypox Cases in NYC Surpass 1K, Says Health Department
The number of people who’ve tested positive for monkeypox in New York City surpassed 1,000 on Monday — a deeply worrying milestone as the Big Apple continues its efforts to manage that disease and COVID-19 simultaneously.
According to the city Health Department, 1,040 people have tested positive for monkeypox as of Monday — a jump of about 200 compared with the city’s official count of 839 on Friday.
That spike comes just two days after the World Health Organization labeled monkeypox a “public health emergency of international concern,” the highest alert designation the entity has and one shared by only two other diseases — COVID and polio.
Omicron BA.5 Makes up 82% of COVID Variants in U.S. — CDC
The BA.5 subvariant of Omicron was estimated to make up 81.9% of the circulating coronavirus variants in the United States for the week ended July 23, the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) said on Tuesday.
Omicron subvariant BA.4 was estimated to make up 12.9% of the circulating variants in the United States, the data showed.
The U.S. Food and Drug Administration has asked vaccine manufacturers to target the two currently dominant subvariants for a potential fall season booster dose.
Fauci Holds up BA.5 Booster as Best Approach to Handling COVID This Fall
Anthony Fauci, President Biden’s chief medical adviser, said on Monday that a COVID-19 vaccine booster specific to the BA.5 Omicron subvariant — which is currently dominant in the U.S. — is the “best guess” for dealing with the virus this fall amid the ever-evolving coronavirus pandemic.
Appearing on Hill.TV’s “Rising,” Fauci reiterated that it is difficult to predict how SARS-CoV-2 will mutate and noted that the U.S. is currently in a “BA.5 mode,” with roughly 80% of cases caused by the subvariant.
Both Pfizer and Moderna have said they are working on BA.5 specific boosters that should be ready by the fall.
Fauci said the Food and Drug Administration will likely authorize these updated boosters heading into the fall, adding that they would be bivalent vaccines, meaning that they would target BA.5 along with the ancestral strain of COVID-19.
These Vaccines Will Take Aim at COVID — and Its Entire SARS Lineage
Early in the pandemic, vaccination or a bout with COVID-19 seemed to ward off the risk of another infection. But now, new viral variants are increasingly able to dodge that hard-earned protection. Keeping track of those variants and how they escape immune protection is an exhausting game, one that scientists would like to squelch with a new type of vaccine the virus hasn’t managed to out-evolve.
Scientists have tried several routes to attack the problem. The narrowest starts with the existing COVID mRNA vaccines and seeks to create updated boosters that target the virus’s most recent variants, an effort that drugmakers Moderna and Pfizer are attempting with Omicron’s progeny.
The broadest, most ambitious route is to invent a vaccine that would target the entire coronavirus family, including the merbecoviruses that cause MERS, the embecoviruses responsible for ordinary colds and the sarbecovirus subgenus that gave rise to both COVID and the original SARS virus that broke out in 2002.
But there’s a middle path: a vaccine that would attack just the sarbecoviruses, meaning the COVID virus and all of its future offspring, as well as any new SARS-CoV siblings that might appear in the future.
Is the War Against COVID Variants Won in the Nose?
U.S. News & World Report reported:
The best booster for COVID vaccinations might not be yet another shot, but a nasal spray, an early study hints.
Since early on in the pandemic, some researchers have speculated that the most effective way to fight COVID is through vaccines that not only spur an immune response in the blood, but also in the mucus membranes of the nose and the rest of the respiratory tract.
That type of immune response, called mucosal immunity, meets viruses at their entry point into the body. In theory, a nasal-spray vaccine could help the body mount a stronger initial defense against SARS-CoV-2 — keeping it from breaching the gates, explained Jie Sun, the lead researcher on the new study.
Such a vaccine, given as a booster after mRNA vaccination, could potentially prevent “breakthrough” infections and transmission of the virus, said Sun, a professor at the University of Virginia School of Medicine.
Biden Administration Weighs Declaring Monkeypox a Health Emergency
The Biden administration is weighing whether to declare the nation’s monkeypox outbreak a public health emergency and also plans to name a White House coordinator to oversee the response as officials attempt to keep the virus from becoming entrenched in the United States.
White House and health agency leaders deliberated through the weekend about their next steps to fight the virus, after the World Health Organization on Saturday declared monkeypox a Public Health Emergency of International Concern, the agency’s highest-level warning.
Almost 18,000 cases have been confirmed outside of Africa since May — including nearly 3,500 in the United States — as infections continue to climb in countries where the virus is not historically found.
Cory Franklin and Robert Weinstein: Herd Immunity Against COVID Is Unlikely. But We Aren’t Powerless.
What went wrong with the herd immunity theory? In essence, two things. First, vaccine protection is incomplete and does not last long enough. Second, the virus is constantly mutating to circumvent vaccine protection.
The theory of herd immunity, like all scientific theories, depends on several assumptions, and these assumptions proved not to be true in real life. The first fallacy was that people who have acquired immunity would not acquire or pass on the disease; they must remain resistant.
One year ago, after a July 4 gathering in Provincetown, Massachusetts, where nearly everyone was vaccinated, about 1,000 people came down with COVID-19. That disproved the assumption that vaccinated individuals could not acquire or transmit COVID-19. We have since learned that vaccine-induced immunity wanes over time, thus prompting the need for booster shots, which themselves wane in effectiveness over time.
