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Covid News Watch
Pfizer Signs New $3.2 Billion COVID Vaccine Deal With U.S. Government + More
Pfizer Signs New $3.2 Billion COVID Vaccine Deal With U.S. Government
Pfizer Inc. (PFE.N) and partner BioNTech SE (22UAy.DE) said on Wednesday they signed a $3.2 billion deal with the U.S. government for 105 million doses of their COVID-19 vaccine, which could be delivered as soon as later this summer.
The deal includes supplies of a retooled Omicron-adapted vaccine, pending regulatory clearance, according to Pfizer. Drugmakers have been developing vaccines to target the Omicron variant that became dominant last winter.
The U.S. government also has the option to purchase up to 195 million additional doses, bringing the total number of potential doses to 300 million, the companies said.
The new contract should boost 2022 vaccine sales for Pfizer and BioNTech, which share profits from the shots. Pfizer has forecast COVID-19 vaccine sales of $32 billion this year. Analysts, on average, have forecast 2022 sales of around $33.6 billion for the shots.
Vaccines — Not Just COVID Shots — Linked to Type 1 Diabetes Because of Damage to These Types of Cells
Since early 2021, the Beta Cell Foundation has collected data on vaccine adverse events from 528 patients with type 1 diabetes by using an online database for analysis.
The analysis showed that some patients with type 1 diabetes experienced elevated (or disturbed) blood glucose levels after vaccination with COVID vaccines.
What is the link between type 1 diabetes, COVID and the vaccines?
Omicron-Based Coronavirus Booster Shots Will Roll out This Fall
This fall, vaccine makers will begin rolling out coronavirus booster vaccines tailored to fight the current phase of the pandemic.
Two days after outside experts voted in favor of a new vaccine adapted to protect against Omicron, the Food and Drug Administration announced that the fall shots would include a component from BA.4 and BA.5, the Omicron subvariants gaining ground in the United States.
The change shows the FDA trying to be more nimble in efforts to keep up with a changing virus. The precise formula has not been tested in people yet, but studies showed that vaccines tuned to fight a previous version of Omicron modestly increased the short-term immune response in people compared with more shots of the original. The agency will depend in part on that data as it reviews the new vaccines.
It is quite possible that BA.4 and BA.5 will be eclipsed by new variants by the fall, but the hope is that a new shot will help broaden immunity since they are closer to where the virus is today.
FDA: Don’t Rush a Move to Change the COVID Vaccine Composition
On Tuesday, the FDA’s Vaccines and Related Biological Products Advisory Committee (VRBPAC) voted 19-2 to approve the use later this year of COVID-19 vaccines based on an Omicron variant sequence. One of us (P.A.O.) was among those voting “no.” It is possible these vaccines will be two-component designs that also include the current version. Will Americans soon be better protected against COVID-19?
The COVID-19 vaccines currently authorized for use in the U.S. are all based on the sequence of the original SARS-CoV-2 virus, which was obtained early in 2020. The virus has evolved over the past 30 months, creating variants that are either more infectious, harder to counter by vaccination or both.
Moderna and Pfizer executives have claimed that the Omicron vaccines will be protective for longer. That may be true, but how long is longer? A few weeks? A month or two? Again, detailed modeling of the data might provide important information. It’s important to be sure that changing the booster vaccine to include the Omicron sequence offers enough of an advantage to justify the cost and complexity associated with making the switch.
Pfizer Asks for Formal U.S. Approval of Oral COVID Treatment Paxlovid
Pfizer Inc. (PFE.N) said on Thursday it is seeking full U.S. approval for its oral COVID-19 antiviral treatment Paxlovid, which is currently available under an emergency use authorization (EUA).
Pfizer said it submitted a New Drug Application for Paxlovid to the Food and Drug Administration for the treatment of COVID-19 in vaccinated and unvaccinated people at high risk for progression to severe illness.
Bad News for Paxlovid? Coronavirus Can Find Multiple Ways to Evade COVID Drug
Prescriptions for Pfizer’s blockbuster drug Paxlovid have skyrocketed in recent weeks. That’s good news for many COVID-19 patients, as the pill has been proven to reduce severe disease from SARS-CoV-2 infections.
But a bevy of new lab studies shows the coronavirus can mutate in ways that make it less susceptible to the drug, by far the most widely used of the two oral antiviral drugs authorized to treat COVID-19 in the United States. Researchers have found some of those mutations in variants already circulating in infected people, raising fresh concerns that physicians could soon lose one of their best therapies for fighting COVID-19.
Taken together, the studies show that “when you put pressure on the virus it escapes,” says David Ho, a virologist at Columbia University who was among the first to document drug resistance mutations in HIV some 3 decades ago. Ho was not involved with the new studies but is conducting similar work on SARS-CoV-2. Although the newly identified mutations have yet to become widespread, Ho and many other scientists think it’s only a matter of time. “Given the amount of infections out there, it’s going to come,” Ho says.
The resistance studies come on the heels of other recent concerns about Paxlovid, which in the United States remains restricted to use in people with risk factors making them more likely to develop severe COVID-19.
‘Moderate’ Vax Protection Against Omicron for Young Kids — Vaccine Effectiveness Lower Among the Older Kids in the 5-11 Group
Protection against Omicron in children ages 5-11 years was minimal following a single dose of Pfizer/BioNTech’s COVID-19 vaccine, but hovered around 50% following the second dose, a large observational study from Israel found.
In the 14 to 27 days after the first dose of BNT162b2, vaccine effectiveness (VE) against Omicron was 17% for a documented infection (95% CI 7-25) and 18% for a symptomatic case (95% CI -2 to 34), reported Noa Dagan, MD, Ph.D., of the Clalit Research Institute in Tel Aviv, and colleagues.
WHO: COVID Cases Rising Nearly Everywhere in the World
The number of new coronavirus cases rose by 18% in the last week, with more than 4.1 million cases reported globally, according to the World Health Organization.
The U.N. health agency said in its latest weekly report on the pandemic that the worldwide number of deaths remained relatively similar to the week before, at about 8,500. COVID-related deaths increased in three regions: the Middle East, Southeast Asia and the Americas.
The biggest weekly rise in new COVID-19 cases was seen in the Middle East, where they increased by 47%, according to the report released late Wednesday. Infections rose by about 32% in Europe and Southeast Asia, and by about 14% in the Americas, WHO said.
WHO Director-General Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus said cases were on the rise in 110 countries, mostly driven by the Omicron variants BA.4 and BA.5.
France’s New Wave of COVID Infections Expected to Peak End-July — Scientist
A new wave in France of COVID-19 infections fueled by emerging variants of the disease should peak towards end-July, the French government’s top scientific adviser Jean-Francois Delfraissy said on Thursday.
“The peak is not yet here, this peak of infections will probably be for end-July,” Delfraissy told RTL radio. “Then the BA.5 variant will reappear if it is not overtaken by another variant … in autumn,” he added.
The French government also recommended this week that people should start wearing face masks again in crowded areas, especially in public transport, to counter the latest surge in COVID cases.
Texts Between EU, Pfizer Bosses Vanish Amid Questions About Billion-Dollar Vaccine Deal + More
Texts Between EU, Pfizer Bosses Vanish Amid Questions About Billion-Dollar Vaccine Deal
Text messages exchanged between the European Union‘s boss and Pfizer’s CEO just before they sealed a lucrative COVID vaccine deal have vanished, a letter released Wednesday revealed, in the latest chapter of what Europeans are calling “delegate.”
European Commission President Ursula von der Leyen acknowledged over a year ago that she had been in regular contact with Pfizer boss Albert Bourla while they worked out a deal for 1.8 billion doses of Pfizer’s mRNA vaccine. But after a reporter sought the text messages, the commission, which is the EU’s executive body, said they are gone, according to a letter published by the EU watchdog.
The letter released on Wednesday said the messages are no longer in Von der Leyen’s possession and argued that text messages are not subject to public scrutiny anyway. European Parliament Member Kathleen Van Brempt, a Belgian Social Democrat and chair of the special committee on COVID-19, told the Guardian the European Commission’s response was unacceptable.
“The complete lack of transparency benefits the industry, not European citizens,” she said.
Tens of Thousands of Monkeypox Vaccine Doses to Be Distributed Immediately in U.S.
As cases of monkeypox virus surge in the U.S., the Biden administration will start distributing the monkeypox vaccine across the country, focusing on people most at risk and communities with the highest numbers of cases, White House officials announced Tuesday.
The U.S. Department of Health and Human Services will send 56,000 doses of the Jynneos vaccine immediately to areas with high transmission. An additional 240,000 doses will be distributed over the next few weeks, with even more to come this summer and fall. Officials expect to make at least 1.6 million doses available by the end of the fall.
States with the highest numbers of cases include California, New York, Illinois and Florida, as well as Washington, DC, according to the latest count from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.
Dr. Fauci Reveals ‘COVID Rebound’ After Pfizer’s Paxlovid Treatment
The quadruple-vaccinated Dr. Anthony Fauci said he is experiencing a “much worse” COVID rebound after being treated with Pfizer’s antiviral medication Paxlovid.
When his condition took a turn for the worse, he began a five-day course of Paxlovid, which was granted an emergency use authorization by the Food and Drug Administration in December 2021 to treat high-risk COVID patients in an effort to prevent hospitalizations and deaths.
Fauci said Tuesday that after he recovered from his initial bout with the coronavirus, he tested negative for three days, but then tested positive again on the fourth day, reported the San Francisco Chronicle.
“And then over the next day or so, I started to feel really poorly, much worse than in the first go-around,” Fauci said. “So I went back on Paxlovid and right now I am on my fourth day of a five-day course.”
CDC Activates Emergency Operations Center for Monkeypox
The U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention announced on Tuesday the activation of its Emergency Operations Center (EOC) to respond to the U.S. monkeypox outbreak.
The activation of the EOC “allows the agency to further increase operational support for the response to meet the outbreak’s evolving challenges,” the agency said in a news release.
This facility is currently activated for COVID-19 and is where experts monitor information on other public health emergencies, such as hurricanes, earthquakes and oil spills.
Maternal Deaths Increased During the Pandemic — After March 2020, Maternal Mortality Rates Rose by 33%
Maternal mortality rates substantially increased during the COVID-19 pandemic, according to a study using data from the National Center for Health Statistics.
After March 2020, maternal deaths increased by 33.3%, which was higher than the 22% overall excess death estimate expected to result from the pandemic, reported Marie Thoma, Ph.D., of the University of Maryland in College Park, and Eugene Declercq, Ph.D., of Boston University.
The rate of maternal deaths before the pandemic was 18.8 per 100,000 live births, which increased to 25.1 per 100,000 live births during the pandemic, the authors noted in a research letter published in JAMA Network Open.
FDA Panel Recommends Changing COVID Shots to Fight Omicron This Fall
The Food and Drug Administration’s panel of independent vaccine experts on Tuesday voted 19 to 2 to recommend new COVID-19 shots that target the Omicron variant this fall when public health officials are expecting a new wave of infections.
It is the first time the panel has proposed that vaccine makers modify the shots to target a different variant. The FDA will likely accept the committee’s recommendation and authorize a vaccine change. However, the panel did not make a recommendation on which Omicron subvariant the shots should target.
BioNTech, Pfizer to Start Testing Universal Vaccine for Coronaviruses
Germany’s BioNTech, Pfizer‘s partner in COVID-19 vaccines, said the two companies would start tests on humans of next-generation shots that protect against a wide variety of coronaviruses in the second half of the year.
Their experimental work on shots that go beyond the current approach includes T-cell-enhancing shots, designed to primarily protect against severe disease if the virus becomes more dangerous, and pan-coronavirus shots that protect against the broader family of viruses and its mutations.
The two partners, makers of the Western world’s most widely used COVID-19 shot, are currently discussing with regulators enhanced versions of their established shot to better protect against the Omicron variant and its sublineages.
First Reported Case of a Person Getting COVID From a Cat
First, there were sneezing hamsters, now sneezing cats. A team in Thailand reports the first solid evidence of a pet cat infecting a person with SARS-CoV-2 — adding felines to the list of animals that can transmit the virus to people.
Researchers say the results are convincing. They are surprised that it has taken this long to establish that transmission can occur, given the scale of the pandemic, the virus’s ability to jump between animal species, and the close contact between cats and people. “We’ve known this was a possibility for two years,” says Angela Bosco-Lauth, an infectious-disease researcher at Colorado State University in Fort Collins.
Other animals suspected of infecting people include farmed mink in Europe and North America, pet hamsters in Hong Kong and wild white-tailed deer in Canada. Adding cats to the list “expands our understanding of the zoonotic potential of this virus,” says Leo Poon, a virologist at the University of Hong Kong.
Could Llamas Hold the Key to Fighting COVID?
U.S. News & World Report reported:
Llamas are more than beautiful creatures — they could also help protect humans from COVID-19 and a large array of similar viruses.
Contained in their blood samples are tiny, robust immune particles that could protect against every COVID-19 variant, including Omicron and 18 similar viruses, a team of researchers reported.
The findings suggest that these “super-immunity” molecules, known as nanobodies, could be precursors to a fast-acting, inhaled antiviral treatment or spray. This could potentially be stockpiled and used in the ongoing, evolving pandemic and against future virus spread.
Llamas, along with camels and alpacas, have unique immune systems, the researchers explained. They produce antibodies that have a single polypeptide chain instead of two chains. Therefore, their antibodies are roughly one-tenth the size of typical antibodies, are exceptionally stable, and can firmly bind to viruses.
Top Doc: New COVID Wave Starting, ‘Worst Version’ of Omicron
There’s a new COVID wave starting in New York City, and a top epidemiologist there says it’s from one of the stronger subvariants of a strain known as Omicron.
The BA.5 subvariant, which first emerged in South Africa, is considered by some experts to be the “worst version” of Omicron that has emerged. The strain can bypass prior immunity, be transmitted more easily and unlike like some other subvariants of Omicron, appears to target the lungs.
Dr. Jay Varma, a Weill Cornell epidemiologist who served as top public health adviser to the New York City mayor during the pandemic, said “infections appear to have stabilized at a high level in the city, rather than dropping,” NBC New York reported.
Eli Lilly to Supply Additional Doses of COVID Antibody Drug to U.S.
Eli Lilly and Co (LLY.N) said on Wednesday it will supply additional doses of its COVID-19 antibody drug to the U.S. government in order to meet demand through late August.
As per the modified supply agreement with the government, Lilly will provide an additional 150,000 doses of bebtelovimab for about $275 million. The drug has also shown effectiveness against the Omicron variant.
Lilly said bebtelovimab retains effectiveness against Omicron as well as its fast-spreading BA.4 and BA.5 subvariants, which now make up more than 50% of COVID cases in the United States.
Elmo Is Now Vaccinated for COVID + More
Elmo Is Now Vaccinated for COVID
Elmo, everyone’s favorite red Muppet, has received the COVID-19 vaccine.
In a public service announcement released on Tuesday by Sesame Workshop, the nonprofit educational organization behind Sesame Street, Elmo’s dad Louie — also a Muppet — shared his questions about the COVID-19 vaccine for children under 5. Elmo is 3-and-a-half years old.
“Was it safe? Was it the right decision?’ I talked to our pediatrician so I could make the right choice,” Louie said in the PSA.
COVID-19 vaccines are now available for children under 5, and parents may have some questions, said Jeanette Betancourt, senior vice president of U.S. social impact at Sesame Workshop.
The Next Epidemic May Be Here. The U.S. Isn’t Ready for It
As if dealing with continued waves of COVID-19 isn’t enough, the U.S. is facing a new outbreak — monkeypox — that highlights just how close the U.S. public health system is to its breaking point.
While monkeypox has not technically been categorized as a sexually transmitted infection (STI), it looks and acts like common STIs and shares the same barriers to detection and treatment, including stigma and access to knowledgeable providers.
For people like me who are working inside the broad national response to monkeypox, there are loud echoes of the earliest days of COVID-19 and, long ago, of AIDS. But understanding the country’s capacity to contain monkeypox requires an examination of the STI epidemic that the nation has ignored for years, which is why these diseases continue to be out of control.
U.S. FDA Will Decide on Redesigned COVID Vaccines by Early July
U.S. regulators plan to decide by early July on whether to change the design of COVID-19 vaccines this fall in order to combat more recent variants of the coronavirus, with hopes of launching a booster campaign by October, a top Food and Drug Administration official said on Tuesday.
The committee is scheduled to vote on a recommendation on whether to make the change later on Tuesday.
The updated shots are likely to be redesigned to fight the Omicron variant of the coronavirus, experts say. The exact composition of the retooled shots and whether they also will include some of the original vaccine alongside new components will be considered at the meeting.
Pfizer Inc. (PFE.N), Moderna Inc. (MRNA.O) and Novavax Inc. (NVAX.O) are scheduled to present data at the meeting. All three companies have been testing versions of their vaccines updated to combat the BA.1 Omicron variant that was circulating and led to a massive surge in infections last winter.
Omicron Sub-Variants BA.4, BA.5 Make up More Than 50% of U.S. COVID Cases — CDC
The fast-spreading BA.4 and BA.5 sub-variants of Omicron are estimated to make up a combined 52% of the coronavirus cases in the United States as of June 25, the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) said on Tuesday.
The two sublineages accounted for more than a third of U.S. cases for the week of June 18. They were added to the World Health Organization’s monitoring list in March and designated as variants of concern by the European Centre for Disease Prevention and Control.
Pharma Largely Failed to Follow Human Rights Principles With Its COVID Vaccines and Drugs
More than two years after the COVID-19 pandemic emerged, a new scorecard finds that 19 of 26 pharmaceutical companies that marketed vaccines or therapeutics to contain the virus rank poorly when it came to complying with human rights principles.
The rankings were compiled by examining actions taken to provide access to products, including commitments and measurable targets; transparency in disclosing R&D and production costs, and profits; the extent to which international cooperation was pursued and patents were enforced; and a willingness to provide fair pricing, equitable distribution, and technology transfers, among other things.
Warnings of Mental Health Crisis Among ‘COVID Generation’ of Students
The pandemic has had a lasting legacy on the mental health of the “COVID generation” of students, exacerbating rates of anxiety, depression and self-harm and resulting in a “significant rise” in young people struggling at university, experts have said.
U.K. universities have reported that more students are experiencing mental health problems in the aftermath of the pandemic and that this is expected to continue with the cohort arriving in September, whose school experience was heavily disrupted by the pandemic.
The president of the National Union of Students, Larissa Kennedy said she was “deeply concerned” by the student mental health crisis, which was “getting worse”, with NUS research suggesting “the majority of students are burdened by anxiety.”
Epstein-Barr May Play a Role in Some Long COVID; Coronavirus Can Impair Blood Sugar Processing by Organs
COVID-19 may reactivate a common virus that lurks unseen in most people, and that effect might increase patients’ risk of certain long-lasting symptoms, according to preliminary findings from a study. More than 90% of adults have been infected with Epstein-Barr virus (EBV). Most remained asymptomatic, but some developed mononucleosis as adolescents or young adults.
Among 280 patients with SARS-CoV-2 infections, including 208 with long COVID, researchers found that at four months after diagnosis, fatigue and problems with thinking and reasoning were more common in study participants with immune cells in their blood showing signs of recent EBV reactivation.
Infection with the coronavirus impairs the activity of multiple genes involved in the body’s chemical processes, including blood-sugar metabolism, and for the first time, researchers have seen these effects not just in patients’ respiratory tract but elsewhere in the body.
The new findings might be a clue to why some patients develop metabolic complications during or after COVID-19, such as insulin resistance, hyperglycemia, hyperlipidemia and new onset of diabetes, the researchers said.
COVID May Increase Risk of Alzheimer’s, Parkinson’s, Stroke: Study
A new Danish study found COVID-19 outpatients had a higher risk of being diagnosed with Parkinson’s, Alzheimer’s, stroke and bleeding into the brain when compared with COVID-19 negative patients, but most neurological disorders were not more frequent after COVID-19 than after other respiratory infections, according to a recent study published in Frontiers in Neurology this June.
“While the risk of ischemic stroke was increased with COVID-19 compared to influenza, reassuringly, most neurological disorders do not appear to be more frequent after COVID-19 than after influenza or community-acquired bacterial pneumonia,” the researchers concluded.
EU Regulator Considers Clearing Smallpox Shot for Monkeypox
The European Medicines Agency says it will begin reviewing data to decide if a smallpox vaccine made by the pharmaceutical company Bavarian Nordic might also be authorized for monkeypox, amid a growing outbreak of the disease across the continent.
In a statement on Tuesday, the EU drug regulator noted that the vaccine, known as Imvanex in Europe but sold as Jynneos in the U.S., is already cleared for use against monkeypox by American regulators.
In Europe, the vaccine is only authorized in adults for the prevention of smallpox, which is related to monkeypox.
CDC Confirmed Post-Vaccination Death From Blood Clotting Two Weeks Before Alerting Public + More
CDC Confirmed Post-Vaccination Death From Blood Clotting Two Weeks Before Alerting Public: Emails
The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) confirmed in late 2021 that a person died from blood clotting after receiving a COVID-19 vaccine that had been linked with an increased risk of blood clotting, but did not alert the public for two weeks, newly obtained emails show.
Dr. Tom Shimabukuro, a CDC official, told colleagues at the CDC and the Food and Drug Administration (FDA) on Dec. 2, 2021, “We have confirmed a 9th thrombosis with thrombocytopenia syndrome (TTS) death following Janssen vaccination,” according to emails obtained by The Epoch Times through a Freedom of Information Act request.
Officials had recommended a nationwide pause on the administration of the vaccine, produced by Johnson & Johnson (J&J) subsidiary Janssen, in April 2021 after six women experienced TTS after J&J vaccination and three died. But they lifted the pause after determining the vaccine remained safe and effective.
Young Men’s Myocarditis Risk 5 Times Higher With Moderna vs Pfizer Vax — but Canadian Study Finds That 8-Week Interval Before Second Dose Attenuates Some of the Risk
The risk of heart inflammation following the second dose of an mRNA COVID-19 vaccine was substantially higher in younger men with Moderna‘s product (Spikevax) versus Pfizer/BioNTech’s (Comirnaty), though some of this risk was reduced with longer spacing between doses, a population-based study from Canada found.
Cases of myocarditis or pericarditis were highest in men ages 18-24, reaching 299.5 cases per million-second doses of Moderna’s vaccine (95% CI 171.2-486.4), as compared to 59.2 cases per million-second doses of Pfizer’s vaccine (95% CI 19.2-138.1), reported Sarah Buchan, Ph.D., of Public Health Ontario in Toronto, and colleagues in JAMA Network Open.
In this group of men, an 8-week interval or longer lowered the second-dose risk, but it was still markedly higher with Moderna’s product:
Data on boys ages 12-17 years were only available with Pfizer’s product (Moderna’s vaccine was not authorized in Canada for this age group during the study period), and this group saw an even higher rate of myocarditis following the second dose (97.3 cases per million, 95% CI 60.3-148.8) than older males who received Pfizer’s vaccine.
NYC Lawmaker Slams ‘Outrageous’ Lack of Monkeypox Vaccine
The state is being urged to boost supplies of monkeypox vaccine after all the city’s vaccination appointments were quickly booked last week.
State Sen. Brad Hoylman is calling on Gov. Hochul and Health Commissioner Mary Bassett to get extra doses from the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) as soon as possible.
“We desperately need additional monkeypox vaccines,” the Manhattan Democrat told the Daily News on Sunday. “It’s an outrage that New York City received 1,000 vaccines for an LGBTQ population that is greater than 700,000 people.”
More than 3,300 cases have been found in the U.S., according to the CDC, with 39 of them in the Big Apple, the city Health Department found. Monkeypox has a low fatality rate in Africa and no deaths have been reported in the new outbreak.
COVID Vaccines for Infants Arrive in Florida. Here’s Why Doctors Are Throwing Them Away
Dozens of South Florida pharmacies, community health centers, children’s hospitals and pediatricians received delivery this week of the first COVID-19 vaccines available for children as young as 6 months old — much earlier than anticipated after state officials missed a deadline for pre-ordering the shots.
But pediatricians and public health advocates working to vaccinate newly eligible children under 5 said they are throwing away the majority of the doses they have ordered because Gov. Ron DeSantis will not authorize state programs to administer the vaccines for infants and toddlers, effectively cutting off supply to many family doctors. The health department also will not promote the vaccines to parents, some of whom are hesitant to have their young children vaccinated.
Parents have mixed feelings about the vaccines. Some are actively seeking it for their children under 5, the last group to be authorized for the COVID vaccines. Others are holding back, concerned about whether there has been enough research on the vaccines and their impact on young children.
As a result, initial demand has been low, and doctors are throwing away vaccines. That’s because each vaccine vial contains 10 doses, and once a vial is opened, it has to be used within 12 hours.
U.S. Grapples With Whether to Modify COVID Vaccine for Fall
U.S. health authorities are facing a critical decision: whether to offer new COVID-19 booster shots this fall that are modified to better match recent changes in the shape-shifting coronavirus.
Moderna and Pfizer have tested updated shots against the super-contagious Omicron variant, and advisers to the Food and Drug Administration will debate Tuesday if it’s time to make a switch — setting the stage for similar moves by other countries.
In an analysis prepared for Tuesday’s meeting, FDA officials acknowledged targeting last winter’s version of Omicron is “somewhat outdated” since it already has been replaced by its even more contagious relatives.
Pfizer Says Its Omicron-Containing Boosters Outperform Current Vaccine
Pfizer said Saturday that using new versions of its COVID-19 vaccine as boosters led to a superior antibody response against the Omicron variant compared to its current shot.
The results in some ways mirror those released by Moderna earlier this month. Data from both companies will be evaluated on Tuesday by a panel of experts convened by the Food and Drug Administration in the hopes of deciding what strains of the SARS-Cov-2 virus should be included in booster shots for the fall. Companies will need lead time to manufacture doses of new vaccines if it is decided they are needed.
The Pfizer data introduce a new question for the FDA panel to consider. Moderna released data from only a bivalent vaccine, meaning that the vaccine contains antigens for both the Omicron variant and the original strain that was prevalent earlier in the pandemic. Pfizer and its partner BioNTech provided data for both the bivalent vaccine and a monovalent one, which contained only antigen for the Omicron variant.
New Hampshire Gov. Chris Sununu Vetoes Bill to Dispense Ivermectin by Standing Order
Republican Gov. Chris Sununu on Friday vetoed a bill that would have permitted pharmacists to dispense a parasite drug to treat COVID-19 by means of a standing order without a prescription.
Sununu said in a news release that New Hampshire currently only has four instances in which pharmacists can dispense medication without a prescription: smoking cessation, contraception, substance use disorder and treatment for sexual assault.
He said all of them “have gone through rigorous reviews and vetting to ensure they meet all the necessary protocols prior to a medication being dispensed via standing order.”
He also said ivermectin remains available for individuals if prescribed by their doctor.
Experts Expect Subvariants to Cause ‘Substantial’ Summer Cases of COVID
The Boston Globe via MSN reported:
Until last week, Dr. Ali Mokdad expected the United States to have “a very good summer” in terms of COVID-19. Projections by the Institute for Health Metrics and Evaluation, where he works, forecasted falling cases, hospitalizations and deaths through at least September.
Then, circumstances changed: Researchers discovered that BA.4 and BA.5 — subvariants of Omicron spreading in the United States — are “immune escapes,” adept at avoiding the antibodies the body produces after vaccination or infection to neutralize the virus.
“That has changed our view of what will happen this summer,” Mokdad said. Though he still expects cases to decrease, the decline will be slower and smaller than projected.
WHO: Monkeypox Outbreak Not yet a Global Public Health Emergency
The World Health Organization on Saturday declined to declare the unprecedented monkeypox outbreak that has spread around the world a public health emergency as of now.
A public health emergency of international concern, or PHEIC, grants the WHO director-general certain powers, such as the ability to recommend how countries should respond. While it’s a legal lever the agency can use, it’s also a tool that can grab public attention and steer it to try to address burgeoning health threats. Such a declaration could further rally donors and member countries to increase funding.
The WHO can revisit its decision. In January 2020, for example, the WHO didn’t declare the emerging coronavirus crisis a PHEIC, only to do so a week later.
America Is in the ‘Figure It out Yourself’ Era of the Pandemic
In 2018, while reporting on pandemic preparedness in the Democratic Republic of Congo, I heard many people joking about the fictional 15th article of the country’s constitution: Débrouillez-vous, or “Figure it out yourself.” It was a droll and weary acknowledgment that the government won’t save you, and you must make do with the resources you’ve got. The United States is now firmly in the débrouillez-vous era of the COVID-19 pandemic.
Across the country, almost all government efforts to curtail the coronavirus have evaporated. Mask mandates have been lifted on public transit. Conservative lawmakers have hamstrung what public-health departments can do in emergencies. COVID funding remains stalled in Congress, jeopardizing supplies of tests, treatments and vaccines.
Detection Dogs Sniff out Long COVID, Leading to Hopes for Better Therapy
COVID-19 detection dogs can also detect long COVID-19 in people, according to new research by veterinarians in Germany.
Scientists at the University of Veterinary Medicine in Hannover found that canines specialized in sniffing out the SARS-CoV-2 virus were also able to determine samples of patients suffering from long COVID effects.
These symptoms can include headaches, breathlessness and a variety of cognitive dysfunction.
Previous scientific examination revealed that specialized dogs could identify samples of people suffering from acute COVID-19. Their abilities regarding long COVID had not been determined prior to the Hannover veterinarians’ pilot study.
Can Our Mitochondria Help to Beat Long COVID?
At Cambridge University’s MRC Mitochondrial Biology Unit, Michal Minczuk is one of a growing number of scientists around the world aiming to find new ways of improving mitochondrial health. This line of research could help provide much-needed treatments for people with long COVID, as well as revolutionizing our understanding of everything from neurodegenerative illnesses such as Parkinson’s disease to the aging process.
Mitochondria, tiny tube-shaped structures that are found in their hundreds, sometimes thousands, in nearly all of our cells, are best known as the body’s power plants, continuously converting the food we eat into ATP, a complex chemical that acts as a form of energy currency for cells. Without ATP, every one of our cells, from the brain to the muscles, would lack the fuel they need to keep churning away, and our organs would swiftly grind to a halt.
While hacking the mitochondrial genome could change healthcare in years to come, finding more immediate ways of improving mitochondrial health could help the millions of people with long COVID and chronic fatigue syndrome, also known as ME/CFS.