Login
Covid News Watch
Moderna’s COVID Shot Gets Canada Authorization for Kids Aged 6 to 11 + More
Moderna’s COVID Shot Gets Canada Authorization for Kids Aged 6 to 11
Moderna Inc. (MRNA.O) said on Thursday Canada authorized its COVID-19 vaccine for use in children between 6 and 11 years of age. The vaccine, branded Spikevax, was recently cleared for use among kids in the same age group in Australia and the European Union.
Moderna last year said its two-dose vaccine generated virus-neutralizing antibodies in children aged 6-11 years and safety was comparable to that seen in clinical trials of adolescents and adults.
The vaccine, based on messenger RNA (mRNA) technology, is approved in the United States for people aged 18 and above. The company is awaiting a decision from U.S. regulators on the use of its vaccine for children aged 12 through 17 years.
‘They Say It’s Stress’: Sydney Woman Seeks Answers to Migraines and Tinnitus, Six Months After Pfizer
A Sydney finance worker suffering severe neurological problems more than six months after her COVID-19 vaccine says she feels abandoned by the government and the medical community.
Daniella Lenarczyk, 34, says she has experienced migraines, tinnitus, neck pain and numbness in her arm since receiving her first Pfizer dose on Sept. 3 — but that doctors have been left “stumped” and unable to give her any answers.
Ms. Lenarczyk, who fears she may have to give up her “dream job” due to her ongoing health problems, has spent close to $4000 on out-of-pocket medical expenses for specialist appointments, tests, scans and medications and still “no one knows what to do.”
Hospitalizations of Young Children Increased Fivefold During Omicron Surge, but Few Died, Says CDC Report
Young children in the United States were hospitalized at much higher rates this winter as Omicron became the dominant variant than they were during the Delta surge, according to a new report published by the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.
At the peak of the Omicron wave, infants and other children under 5 were hospitalized at about five times the rate documented during the Delta wave, although few deaths were reported, the study said. For infants under six months, hospitalizations were about six times higher during the Omicron surge.
Poll: Americans Sour on Government — and Each Other — 2 Years Into Pandemic
Two years into the pandemic, nearly half of U.S. residents (43%) say they feel “worse” about their “fellow Americans,” according to a new Yahoo News/YouGov poll. Just 10% say they feel “better.”
The political, social and psychological impact of the pandemic, meanwhile, has been just as extensive. Only 14% of Americans say they’re “better off” now than before the pandemic; more than twice as many (35%) say they’re “worse off.”
Two years later, the numbers for how Americans feel about the federal government (44% worse, 16% better), their own state and local governments (34% worse, 17% better) and the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (36% worse, 22% better) are similarly negative.
4th COVID Shot Offered ‘Marginal’ Benefit for Israeli Health Workers — Real-World Data Find Higher Antibody Levels, Subpar Vaccine Efficacy With Extra Dose
A fourth dose of mRNA vaccine offered a boost in antibody levels, but had little effect on vaccine efficacy against the Omicron variant, real-world data from Israel showed.
While a higher percentage of unboosted controls (25%) contracted Omicron versus those who received four doses of Pfizer (18%) or Moderna (21%), vaccine efficacy against any infection was only 30% for Pfizer (95% CI -9 to 55) and 11% for Moderna (95% CI -43 to 44).
This open-label, non-randomized trial included 1,050 healthcare workers who were eligible to receive a fourth dose of Pfizer or Moderna vaccine administered 4 months after three prior doses of the Pfizer vaccine.
While the team did not assess older and vulnerable populations in this study, they concluded that “a fourth vaccination of healthy young healthcare workers may have only marginal benefits.”
The COVID Booster Debate Is Back
Pfizer says that at least some Americans will soon need a fourth shot of its coronavirus vaccine. The problem is that, if true, that may raise questions about the utility of the vaccine in the long run.
Regulators want to see more data before they’re convinced another booster is necessary. If the data does show the third shot’s ability to ward off severe disease drops after a few months, that may suggest Americans need a better booster.
In an interview on Sunday with CBS’ “Face the Nation,” however, Pfizer CEO Albert Bourla didn’t specify which age groups he thinks will need a fourth shot — which raised plenty of eyebrows. “We know that the duration of the protection doesn’t last very long,” Bourla said. “It is necessary, a fourth booster right now.”
“Pfizer seems to be saying that, because their vaccine isn’t very good, people need more of it. If FDA approves another dose it would make sense to use a stronger vaccine instead, like Moderna or eventually Novavax,” said Cornell virologist John Moore.
A COVID Surge in Western Europe Has U.S. Bracing for Another Wave
A surge in coronavirus infections in Western Europe has experts and health authorities on alert for another wave of the pandemic in the United States, even as most of the country has done away with restrictions after a sharp decline in cases.
Infectious-disease experts are closely watching the subvariant of Omicron known as BA.2, which appears to be more transmissible than the original strain, BA.1, and is fueling the outbreak overseas.
In all, about a dozen nations are seeing spikes in coronavirus infections caused by BA.2, a cousin of the BA.1 form of the virus that tore through the United States over the past three months.
A New Strategy for Staying One Step Ahead of the Virus
The hunt for the next big, bad coronavirus variant is on. Scientists around the world are sampling wastewater and amassing nose swabs from the sick; they’re scouring the microbe’s genetic code for alarming aberrations. The world of outbreak surveillance “is all virus,” says Danny Douek, an immunologist at the National Institute for Allergy and Infectious Diseases.
We’re laser-focused on getting eyes on a variant that would be well-equipped to wallop us, then alerting the globe. But that, Douek told me, is just one half of the infectious playing field where offense and defense meet.
The powers of pathogens change over time; so do those of the molecules and cells that our bodies use to fight them, including antibodies and T-cells. Preparedness, Douek said, means keeping good tabs on both. So in the same way we survey viruses to see how they’re evolving over time, we might do well to canvass people too.
Scalise Calls for Fauci to Testify at Upcoming Hearing
House Minority Whip Steve Scalise (R-La.) invited top infectious diseases doctor Anthony Fauci to testify alongside other administration officials at an upcoming hearing about moving beyond the current COVID-19 crisis.
The House Select Subcommittee on the Coronavirus Crisis is holding a hearing on March 30 featuring other top administration health officials, including Centers for Disease Control and Prevention Director Rochelle Walensky and Surgeon General Vivek Murthy.
Fauci was not included among the witnesses.
Fauci has become a top target of congressional Republicans as they conduct their own investigation into the origins of the coronavirus, seeking to find out whether the U.S. government played a role by funding controversial “gain-of-function” research in Wuhan, China. Several Republicans in both the House and Senate allege Fauci has not been transparent and honest about his agency’s funding activities, accusations he denies.
Moderna CEO Stephane Bancel Has Sold More Than $400 Million of Company Stock During the Pandemic
Moderna CEO Stephane Bancel has sold $408 million in company stock since the beginning of the coronavirus pandemic — averaging roughly $3.6 million a week — as the company’s stock soared on the development and rollout of its COVID vaccine, according to CNBC’s analysis of the company’s securities filings.
Moderna’s shots are now the second-most commonly used COVID vaccine in the U.S. after Pfizer, with more than 209 million doses administered, according to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.
Courtney Yu, director of research at Equilar, said the value of Bancel’s sales speak to how well the company’s stock has performed on the success of its vaccine. Equilar, which provides data on executive compensation, independently verified the value of Bancel’s sales.
NH House Gives Green Light to Ivermectin Without Prior Prescription
New Hampshire Union Leader reported:
A pharmacist would have a “standing order” to prescribe the controversial drug ivermectin to treat patients for COVID-19 without a prior prescription under legislation the New Hampshire House of Representatives passed Wednesday.
The House voted 183-159 to send to the Senate for its review the bill (HB 1022) that promotes the drug the medical establishment has yet to embrace that nonetheless has become a viral sensation for many seeking alternative therapy to getting vaccines or booster shots.
What Is the Hybrid ‘Deltacron’ Variant of the Coronavirus?
A hybrid variant of the coronavirus that has characteristics of both the Delta and Omicron strains has been detected in the United States and several European countries, scientists say.
The Delta-Omicron hybrid, informally dubbed “Deltacron,” is what’s known as a recombinant virus, meaning it has melded-together genetic information from both variants. Cases are thought to be rare, but researchers say studying the hybrid and tracking other potential recombinants is crucial for understanding how the coronavirus is changing as the pandemic grinds on.
Here’s what to know about Deltacron.
Alnylam Files Patent Infringement Lawsuits Against Pfizer, Moderna
Alnylam Pharmaceuticals Inc (ALNY.O) said on Thursday it has filed separate lawsuits in the Delaware federal court against Pfizer Inc. (PFE.N) and Moderna Inc. (MRNA.O), seeking damages for infringement of a patent in the manufacture and sale of their mRNA COVID-19 vaccines.
Alnylam said it was seeking compensation for use of its lipid nanoparticles (LNP) technology that carries and delivers RNA-based therapeutics or vaccines in the body.
Pfizer and Moderna’s vaccines infringe Alnylam’s patent through the use of a lipid formulated into LNPs that protect and deliver the vaccines’ mRNA, the pharmaceutical firm said.
Medicago COVID Shot Faces WHO Rejection Over Company’s Tobacco Links
Medicago Inc.’s COVID-19 vaccine is poised to become the first western shot to be rejected by the World Health Organization, because of the company’s links to cigarette maker Philip Morris International Inc.
The Canadian biopharma company’s request for pre-qualification of its Covifenz shot wasn’t accepted, according to the WHO’s guidance document dated March 2. That means the WHO is unlikely to approve the vaccine for emergency use, which would also keep it out of the Covax global vaccine-sharing facility.
Covifenz is the world’s first plant-based COVID inoculation. It’s made from proteins, grown in plants, that look like the virus that causes COVID to the human immune system. The vaccine also uses GlaxoSmithKline Plc’s pandemic adjuvant, a substance that boosts the immune system’s response. It was jointly developed by Medicago, which is owned by Mitsubishi Chemical and Philip Morris, and Glaxo. The Canadian government provided $173 million in funding to its development and is so far the only country that has cleared it for use.
108 Volunteers Will Test New mRNA Vaccines for HIV + More
108 Volunteers Will Test New mRNA Vaccines for HIV
The next generation of potential vaccines for HIV is set to be tested in humans. This week, the U.S. National Institutes of Health launched an early clinical trial that will track the safety of three experimental HIV vaccines, all being developed by Moderna and based on its mRNA technology, the same platform used for its FDA-approved COVID-19 vaccine.
mRNA is a vital part of how our cells function. It contains the genetic instructions needed for cells to produce proteins. Normally, this mRNA is carried over from the cell’s DNA, but mRNA vaccines deliver their own packet of instructions to cells. In the case of COVID-19, the vaccines tell our cells to produce the spike protein of the SARS-CoV-2 coronavirus, a key part of the virus that allows it to infect cells.
The same principle underlies the three HIV vaccine candidates now being tested by the NIH. They’re all designed to have the body’s cells produce the spike protein of HIV, though they’re encoding slightly different but closely related proteins. Moderna is developing the shots in collaboration with scientists at the Scripps Consortium for HIV/AIDS Vaccine Development at the Scripps Research Institute and the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation-funded IAVI Neutralizing Antibody Center at Scripps.
How Omicron Fueled an Unprecedented Wave of Breakthrough Infections in WA
These so-called “breakthrough” infections started popping up throughout the country last summer. As vaccination rates climbed and infections persisted, concern grew. At the time, the Delta variant was overwhelming the region’s healthcare systems. Then the highly infectious Omicron variant landed in the state and breakthrough cases nearly doubled.
By the end of January, Washington state had reported 342,195 breakthrough infections. About 75% of those had occurred within the prior two months.
“With 85% of eligible people in [King County] completing their primary vaccination series and with the more infectious Omicron variant, we saw more people getting infected who were vaccinated as well,” King County’s health officer, Dr. Jeff Duchin, said during a news briefing last week.
Exclusive: Fauci Said Great Barrington Declaration Reminded Him of AIDS Denialism
Dr. Anthony Fauci tried linking a strategy to avoid lockdowns to scientists who questioned whether HIV causes AIDS, according to an email obtained by The Epoch Times. Fauci, the longtime director of the National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases, and his former boss, Dr. Francis Collins, both strongly opposed the strategy, which was outlined in a document called the Great Barrington Declaration on Oct. 4, 2020.
Martin Kulldorff, then of Harvard University; Dr. Jay Bhattacharya of Stanford University; and Sunetra Gupta, a professor at Oxford University signed the declaration, which promoted policies aimed at minimizing death and social harm while acknowledging that COVID-19 poses a much greater threat to older people than younger people.
“The most compassionate approach that balances the risks and benefits of reaching herd immunity, is to allow those who are at minimal risk of death to live their lives normally to build up immunity to the virus through natural infection, while better protecting those who are at highest risk,” they wrote.
WHO: New COVID Deaths Fell 17% Last Week, but Cases Rising
The number of new coronavirus deaths reported worldwide fell by 17% in the last week while COVID-19 infections rose, reversing a decline in cases that first began in January, according to the World Health Organization.
The biggest increase in cases were seen in the Western Pacific and Africa, where infections rose by 29% and 12%, respectively. Elsewhere, cases dropped by more than 20% in the Middle East, Southeast Asia and the Americas. In Europe, cases inched up by about 2%.
WHO said those numbers “should be interpreted with caution.” It noted that many countries are changing their COVID-19 testing strategies as they exit the acute phase of the pandemic, and are testing far less than previously, meaning that many new cases are going undetected.
Should Parents Be Worried About Vaccine Effectiveness for 5- to 11-Year-Olds? An Expert Weighs In
To many parents’ dismay, a new report from the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention found that the COVID-19 vaccine is less effective against the Omicron variant for children ages 5 to 11 than for older children and adults. Two doses of the Pfizer/BioNTech vaccine reduced the risk of Omicron infection by 31% among children 5 to 11 years old, compared with 59% among those 12 to 15.
Why is this happening? How worried should parents and caregivers be? Do the new data mean they should keep masks on their kids in school and avoid indoor extracurriculars? What are implications for kids with underlying medical conditions? And what’s the update for kids under 5?
Feds Say They’ll Ration COVID Treatments Amid Funding Standoff
Amid a congressional standoff over COVID funding, the federal government will delay buying “hundreds of thousands” of monoclonal antibody treatments and instead cut state allocations of the drug by 30% starting next week to stretch supplies, senior Biden administration officials said Tuesday.
This is the first time administration officials are threatening pain in the form of cutbacks to the states if Congress doesn’t approve new COVID spending.
The move is likely to spark criticism from Republicans, who most want these treatments, and have already complained that the administration is holding back some therapies. “Even with these cuts, we anticipate that our supply of monoclonal antibody treatments will run out by late May,” a senior administration official said.
Omicron BA.2 Sub-Variant Now Nearly a Quarter of New COVID Cases in U.S., CDC Estimates
The BA.2 sub-lineage of the Omicron variant now makes up nearly a quarter of new COVID-19 infections nationwide, the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention estimated Tuesday, up from around 1 in 10 new cases just a week prior.
BA.2’s prevalence is the highest in the Northeast, according to the CDC’s “Nowcast” estimates published Tuesday. In the region spanning New York and New Jersey, the agency estimates 39.0% of circulating viruses are BA.2. In New England, the prevalence of BA.2 is at 38.6%.
The new estimates come as the sub-lineage has raised concerns abroad, where it has grown to dominate cases reported worldwide — including in countries that are now facing a renewed surge of infections just as they had moved to lift many of their pandemic restrictions.
However, the increase in BA.2’s proportion in the U.S. comes as the CDC has continued to track a nationwide slowdown in the pace of new COVID-19 hospitalizations and cases.
Some Hospitals Ask Patients, Visitors to Remove N95s, Citing CDC
Patients across the country say they are often told to replace their N95s with surgical masks as they enter hospitals. One woman said she was told her mask could be carrying COVID on its surface. A Chicago facility, Northwestern Medicine, said it asks visitors to replace or cover their masks with a surgical mask provided by the hospital for quality control. And inside many hospitals, doctors and nurses often don surgical masks when treating patients, all in line with CDC recommendations.
The CDC and the White House’s COVID response team declined to comment but have argued that even in hospitals, surgical masks provide sufficient protection in many situations. The CDC has stopped short of recommending N95s universally and says the public can also wear cloth masks, which its studies found are the least effective in stopping COVID transmission.
Global Powers Inch Closer to Agreement to Waive COVID Vaccine Patents
Global powers have inched closer to an agreement to waive patents for COVID-19 vaccines, a move that would allow for cheaper generic versions to be manufactured and distributed among developing nations faster.
A leaked document, seen by the Guardian, reveals details of a compromise struck between the United States, the European Union, India and South Africa that would end a deadlock over an intellectual property waiver, 18 months after the proposal was first taken to the World Trade Organization.
If passed, the compromised version of the waiver will see only patents for COVID-19 vaccines suspended for either three or five years, and means that treatment and testing formulas will still be subject to intellectual property protections.
Diabetes & COVID: Scientists Explore Potential Connection
Just six months after a mild case of COVID-19, a Crown Point, Indiana, boy, age 11, was diagnosed with Type 1 diabetes. His parents were floored — it didn’t run in the family, but autoimmune illness did and doctors said that could be a factor.
It’s clear that in those who already have diabetes, COVID-19 can worsen the condition and lead to severe complications. But there are other possible links.
To learn more, scientists in Denmark are enrolling adults recently diagnosed with Type 1 diabetes, including some who had COVID-19. Over time, the researchers will check whether the condition progresses faster in those who had COVID-19, which could help clarify the infection’s role, if any, in developing diabetes, said researcher Dr. Morten Bjerregaard-Andersen, a diabetes specialist at the Hospital of South West Jutland.
Europe Begins Reviewing Application for AstraZeneca COVID Drug
Europe’s drug regulator said on Tuesday it had begun reviewing AstraZeneca Plc’s (AZN.L) application for antibody-based COVID-19 therapy, a key step towards approval of the treatment in the region, but gave no timeline for a conclusion.
AstraZeneca’s antibody cocktail, Evusheld, has already been authorized in the United States to prevent COVID-19 infections in individuals with weak immune systems or a history of severe side effects from coronavirus vaccines.
India Rolls out COVID Vaccine Doses for Children Aged 12-14
India on Wednesday started administering doses of the COVID-19 vaccine to young people aged 12 to 14 as public and private schools re-opened.
The government aims to swiftly expand vaccine coverage by also dropping a restriction on booster doses for those older than 60 only if they had a co-morbidity condition.
The children, estimated by the government to number 50 million, will receive the Corbevax vaccine, made by Biological E, a domestic firm that secured emergency approval for its use in children.
Rand Paul Introduces Amendment to Eliminate Fauci’s Position as NIAID Director + More
Rand Paul Introduces Amendment to Eliminate Fauci’s Position as NIAID Director
Sen. Rand Paul, R-Ky., on Monday introduced an amendment that would eliminate Dr. Anthony Fauci’s position as the Director of the National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases (NIAID) and decentralize it, so that no one person can act as “dictator-in-chief” in the name of public health, the senator said.
Paul’s amendment would reorganize NIAID by breaking it down into three separate national research institutes, all with their own director, including the National Institute of Allergic Diseases, the National Institute of Infectious Diseases, and the National Institute of Immunologic Diseases.
“We’ve learned a lot over the past two years, but one lesson in particular is that no one person should be deemed ‘dictator-in-chief,’” Paul said in a statement announcing the amendment. “No one person should have unilateral authority to make decisions for millions of Americans.”
‘I’m Fat-Splaining,’ Bill Maher Rants on Reality of Obesity, COVID Deaths
Television host Bill Maher says that American media outlets have “blood on their hands” for failing to report on COVID-19 deaths that are linked to obesity.
Maher, the host of HBO‘s political talk show Real Time With Bill Maher, has been a consistent critic of the media’s reporting on obesity as the COVID-19 pandemic rampaged through the U.S. In a Sunday appearance on a conservative platform, Maher said he was “not fat-shaming” but “fat-splaining” about the country’s obesity problem.
Maher said that he feels the link between obesity and COVID has not been well-documented by the media. “Seventy-eight percent of the people who died or were hospitalized were obese, and that’s another one that’s not a popular opinion to talk about,” Maher said to the show’s host, Ben Shapiro. “If you just said to somebody, okay, there’s an X-factor in this, of 78% of the people who get [COVID]…die or go to the hospital, wouldn’t you be a little curious if you’re a news organization? Wouldn’t you be talking about that fact all the time?”
Pfizer-BioNTech to Seek U.S. OK for Second COVID Booster for 65 and Older — Report
Pfizer Inc. (PFE.N) and its German partner BioNTech SE (22UAy.DE) will seek emergency use authorization for a second booster shot of their COVID-19 vaccine for people aged 65 and older as soon as Tuesday, the Washington Post reported.
The submission to the U.S. Food and Drug Administration, anticipated as soon as Tuesday, is expected to include “real-world data” collected in Israel, one of the few countries that has authorized a second booster for older people, the report said, citing three people familiar with the matter.
Moderna President Says 4th COVID Shot Is Probably Only Necessary for Older and Immunocompromised People
Pfizer CEO Albert Bourla told CBS’s “Face the Nation on Sunday that a fourth dose, or second booster shot, was indeed necessary, since a third dose doesn’t protect well against infections and immunity wanes quickly. COVID-19 vaccines still offer strong protection against hospitalization and death.
But Moderna President Stephen Hoge told Insider on Monday that people can be more selective about boosters from now on.
“For those who are immune-compromised, those who are older adults, over the age of 50 or at least 65, we want to strongly recommend and encourage [a fourth shot], the same way we do with flu vaccines,” he said.
The Profound Costs of Global Learning Loss, and What Can Be Done About It
Since the start of the pandemic, educators and scholars have been ringing the alarm about learning loss and the long-term effects it will have on students and society at large. But as we contemplate this issue — one so colossal that it is difficult to fully grasp — many of us are probably not considering the education that’s been lost worldwide, and what that has to do with us.
Nearly 1.6 billion learners across the globe endured school closures that lasted from a few months to two years, and the consequences of these learning gaps will reverberate for generations, according to a recent report from the World Bank, UNESCO and UNICEF. Students now risk losing $17 trillion in lifetime earnings, or about 14% of today’s global GDP, because of COVID-19-related school closures and economic shocks.
U.S. Offering Families of COVID Victims Up to $9,000 to Pay for Funerals
A new program launched by the U.S. Federal Emergency Management Agency (FEMA) will provide up to $9,000 to families of coronavirus victims to help them pay for funerals.
The COVID-19 Funeral Assistance program has received more than $2 billion from the federal government to offer financial aid to families, the Associated Press reported. Any deaths connected to COVID-19 since January 20, 2020, can be covered by the program.
U.S. Will Run out of Key COVID Treatments Without More Funds, White House Says
The U.S. government will run out of supplies of COVID-19 treatments known as monoclonal antibodies as soon as late May and will have to scale back plans to get more unless Congress provides more funding, the White House said on Tuesday.
Raising the alarm about depleted funding for the U.S. pandemic response, the White House said the government also would not have enough money to provide additional COVID-19 booster shots or variant-specific vaccines without a new injection of cash.
The White House has requested $22.5 billion in immediate emergency funding to fight the pandemic, but, after objections from Republicans and Democrats, the money was removed from the latest government funding bill passed by lawmakers last week.
Iowans’ Support for Non-COVID Vaccine Requirements in Schools Erodes, Iowa Poll Finds
Support for strict vaccination requirements for schoolchildren has fallen in Iowa, a new Des Moines Register/Mediacom Iowa Poll shows.
Just 34% of Iowa adults now say all children should be required to receive standard shots unless they have a doctor-signed statement showing they have a medical reason not to be vaccinated, the poll shows. That’s down from 59% who supported such a requirement in 2015, when the Iowa Poll asked a similar question about childhood vaccinations.
The shifting opinions come amid controversy over COVID-19 vaccines, which are not included in the list of shots Iowa children are supposed to receive before attending school. The list of state-mandated shots includes those against measles, polio, mumps and whooping cough, which have been required for decades.
The new poll specifically asked how Iowans feel about the state law requiring children to be vaccinated against diseases other than COVID-19.
Millions of Vulnerable Americans Likely to Fall off Medicaid Once the Federal Public Health Emergency Ends
As many as 16 million low-income Americans, including millions of children, are destined to fall off Medicaid when the nation’s public health emergency ends, as states face a herculean mission to sort out who no longer belongs on rolls that have swollen to record levels during the pandemic.
The looming disruption is a little-noticed side effect of the coronavirus crisis, and it is stoking fears among some on Medicaid and their advocates that vulnerable people who survived the pandemic will risk suddenly living without health coverage.
For the Biden administration — which will make the decision on when to lift the health emergency — there is the potential political stain of presiding over a surge of poor, newly uninsured Americans, depending on how things go once states resume checking which Medicaid beneficiaries still qualify.
Merck’s COVID Pill Heavily Used so Far Despite Concerns
The Wall Street Journal reported:
A new COVID-19 pill from Merck & Co. and Ridgeback Biotherapeutics LP has been more widely used than expected since rolling out late last year, though regulators and many doctors consider it a last resort.
Many doctors and health officials anticipated a rival pill, Pfizer Inc.’s Paxlovid, would be the COVID-19 drug of choice. Paxlovid was found to be far more effective than Merck-Ridgeback’s molnupiravir in clinical trials, and regulators and guidelines recommended using Paxlovid if possible.
Doctors said they turned to molnupiravir, especially during the recent Omicron surge, often because Paxlovid supplies were limited and some antibody drugs didn’t work against the new variant. In addition, some patients couldn’t take Paxlovid because of the potential harm from mixing it with other medicines they take.
COVID Exposed the Cracks in the U.S. Food System — Meet the People Trying to Fix Them
Long before most of the emergency rooms were overloaded, it was the food system that showed the first signs of the enormous impact the pandemic would have. Empty shelves at the supermarket. Closed restaurants. Farmers dumping milk out into their fields or euthanizing animals as meat processing plants became overwhelmed or shut down.
And it wasn’t just farmers or the restaurant owners or the agricultural industry that suffered: hunger spiked across the country. Food insecurity in the U.S. increased from 11% to 15% during the pandemic, with at least 60 million Americans visiting a food bank during 2020, an increase of 50% from the year before.
COVID’s upturning of the U.S. food system gave those in the industry a preview of a future where pandemics, global conflict and extreme weather events exacerbated by the climate crisis will wreak havoc on our ability to provide food reliably and equitably (the latest IPCC report on the climate crisis warns about exactly this).
‘You Cannot Stop the Flow of Our Medicine to Russia’: Pfizer CEO Albert Bourla
Pfizer (PFE) announced it is halting new clinical trials in Russia and donating revenue from Russia to the Ukrainian cause, joining other big pharmaceutical companies.
“Our medicines are medicines, not like [an] iPhone Pro, for example, or the new Mac,” Pfizer CEO Albert Bourla told Yahoo Finance’s Julie Hyman at SXSW Monday. Sanctions against Russia do not include medicines, though the economic penalties could provide challenges in delivery.
“Ending delivery of medicines, including cancer or cardiovascular therapies, would cause significant patient suffering and potential loss of life, particularly among children and elderly people,” the company noted.
Scientists Call for Immediate Rollout of COVID Jab for UK Primary School Children
Scientists are calling for the immediate rollout of COVID vaccines to primary-aged children, as new data suggests that even a single dose of the Pfizer jab helps to prevent older children against infection, and shortens the duration and severity of symptoms if they do get infected.
The UK’s Joint Committee on Vaccination and Immunization (JCVI) approved the vaccination of healthy 5- to 11-year-olds on Feb. 16. At the time, Sajid Javid said the NHS would prepare to extend this “non-urgent” vaccination offer to all children during April “to increase protection against potential future waves of COVID-19” — but parents are still unable to book an appointment, and it is unclear how vaccines will be delivered to this age group.
Dr. Gottlieb Says China Is ‘Very Vulnerable’ to Omicron Subvariant Spread Despite ‘Zero-COVID Policy’
Low levels of natural immunity are complicating China’s efforts to limit spread during its recent surge in cases of the new COVID Omicron BA.2 subvariant, Dr. Scott Gottlieb told CNBC on Monday.
“China has a population that’s very vulnerable to this new variant. This is a much more contagious variant, it’s going to be harder to control, and they don’t have a population that has natural immunity,” the former Food and Drug Administration commissioner said in an interview on “Squawk Box.”
Children in China Diagnosed With Leukemia After COVID Vaccination + More
Children in China Diagnosed With Leukemia After Taking Chinese Vaccines
After receiving her first dose of the COVID-19 vaccine, Li Jun’s 4-year-old developed a fever and cough, which quickly subsided after intravenous therapy at the hospital. But after the second shot, the father could tell something was wrong.
Swelling appeared around his daughter’s eyes and did not go away. For weeks, the girl complained about pains on her legs, where bruises started to emerge seemingly out of nowhere. In January, a few weeks after the second dose, the 4-year-old was diagnosed with acute lymphoblastic leukemia.
He is among hundreds of Chinese that belong to a social media group claiming to be suffering from or have a household member suffering from leukemia, developed after taking Chinese vaccines. Eight of them confirmed the situation when reached by The Epoch Times. Names of the interviewees have been withheld to protect their safety.
The leukemia cases span across different age groups from all parts of China. But Li and others particularly pointed to a rise in patients from the younger age group in the last few months, coinciding with the regime’s push to inoculate children between 3 and 11 years old beginning last October.
Two Years Into the Coronavirus Pandemic, Fauci Hopes the World Will Not Forget Lessons From a ‘Catastrophic Experience’
As the two-year anniversary of the coronavirus pandemic declaration approached last week, Dr. Anthony Fauci was in no mood to predict the future.
“The answer is: we don’t know. I mean, that’s it,” Fauci told CNBC when asked what may come next for COVID vaccinations. Given the durability of protection from the shots, “it is likely that we’re not done with this when it comes to vaccines,” he said.
While he acknowledged “we are going in the right direction” as cases, hospitalizations and deaths decline after the Omicron surge, he pointed out “we have gone in the right direction in four other variants” before the pandemic took a devastating turn.
For These Young People, the Pandemic Has Been Harsh. Here Are Their Hopes for the Future.
In 2021, as the pandemic showed no signs of abating, young people across the country were dealing with isolation and altered dreams, and were trying to figure out what their futures would be like. We were among them — two college students who wanted to see how our generation was coping.
For six months, we crisscrossed 23 states and interviewed more than 80 young people suspended in that transitional time between adolescence and adulthood.
Yet, like us, they hung on to hopes for a future free of COVID-19, the disease caused by the coronavirus. We asked members of this “Generation Pandemic” to respond to the open-ended statement “After the pandemic, I want to … ” Here is how they responded, in their own writing:
About 1 in 6 U.S. Couples Disagrees on COVID Vaccination
U.S. News & World Report reported:
A new study found that about 1 in 6 U.S. couples have one partner who is vaccinated against COVID-19 and one who is not, and there are several reasons why.
The study involved a survey of 1,300 people who lived with a significant other and most said either both they and their partner were vaccinated (63.3%) or unvaccinated (21%). But 15.6% said one partner was vaccinated and the other was not (discordant couples).
Survey participants from those discordant couples were asked to rank 10 common reasons for being unvaccinated on a scale of 0 to 10. And people on both sides of the vaccine divide ranked safety as the No. 1 reason why they or their partners have said no to the shots.
NYC’s Schools Forever Changed by COVID
New York City schools are forever changed since COVID-19′s March 2020 arrival — and some ways are just becoming clear two years later. A forced year-and-a-half-long experiment in remote learning and the cascading economic, medical and emotional fallout of the pandemic left an indelible mark on the nation’s largest school system.
Some of the changes can be measured in numbers: 73,000 fewer K-12 students on school rosters after a pandemic-fueled enrollment decline; an extra $9 billion in the Education Department’s budget this year thanks to a flood of state and federal recovery dollars, and the exodus of more than 1,000 school safety agents and 3,800 classroom paraprofessionals since summer 2020.
Other changes are harder to quantify: A new embrace of technology in schools after a forced shift to remote learning; an upending of academic measures that schools have relied on for decades; a greater appreciation for the small joys of the student-teacher bond; lingering trauma and loss that will shape the lives of kids and educators for years to come.
Pandemic Isolation Harmed Kids’ Social Skills. How One Cincinnati Provider Is Helping.
It is a coronavirus pandemic side effect: Children who haven’t mastered social and emotional skills they need to interact in a classroom and kids with mental and behavioral health conditions gone unseen because of isolation.
“It’s not just about, do they know their colors, do they know their numbers,” said Angenita Brown, manager of Success by Six, a collaborative launched by United Way of Greater Cincinnati. “But do they know how to stand in line? Do they know how to raise their hand?”
Best Point is providing intervention that many of these children in the Cincinnati area need. The biggest surge in referrals to the nonprofit’s outpatient services since the pandemic started in 2020 has been for children ages 3 to 6 years old. The kids in the age group 3 to 9 need the highest level of treatment care that Best Point provides, said April Kandil, director of campus-based programs at Best Point Education and Behavioral Health.
Five COVID Challenges on the Two-Year Anniversary of the Pandemic
Two years ago Friday, the World Health Organization officially declared the coronavirus a pandemic. In that time, there have been nearly 1 million American deaths. But while cases are plummeting, and many Americans are getting on with their lives, there are still challenges ahead.
Here are five of them.
Obama Tests Positive for COVID, Says He’s ‘Feeling Fine’
Former President Barack Obama said on Sunday that he had tested positive for the coronavirus, though he’s feeling relatively healthy and his wife, Michelle, tested negative.
“I’ve had a scratchy throat for a couple days, but am feeling fine otherwise,” Obama said on Twitter. “Michelle and I are grateful to be vaccinated and boosted.”
Obama encouraged more Americans to get vaccinated against the coronavirus, despite the declining infection rate in the U.S.
Exclusive: U.S. Seeks to Expand Trump-Era COVID Data Collection Under CDC
The Biden administration wants to expand a federal COVID-19 tracking system created during the pandemic to provide a more detailed view of how respiratory and other infectious diseases are affecting patients and hospital resources, according to a draft of proposed rules reviewed by Reuters.
The plan would build upon a hospital data collection system designed by the Department of Health and Human Services (HHS) under the Trump administration. Management of the program was transferred last month to HHS’s lead public health agency, the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC).
The hospitals would be required to provide data — without names — on patients’ vaccination status, pre-existing conditions, age, ethnicity and other details that would shed light on health outcomes among various populations.
CDC Wants to Monitor Poop: States Aren’t All on Board
There’s just one problem with the Biden administration’s plan to monitor the nation’s sewage in the hopes of preventing the next pandemic: Many states are not yet on board.
California, Florida, Texas and Pennsylvania only have clusters of collection sites up and running primarily in major population centers. Minnesota and New Jersey are unsure of how large their programs will be. North Dakota and Wyoming don’t plan to participate.
State health officials and wastewater experts told POLITICO that sewage surveillance operations in some areas have grappled with privacy concerns and logistical challenges, such as figuring out how to coordinate dozens of treatment plants routinely sending in sewage samples to a handful of labs and standardizing processing protocols.
COVID Antigen Test Recalled After Officials Say It Was Counterfeit, Not FDA Approved
A coronavirus antigen test has been recalled after officials discovered that it was a counterfeit and not approved by the Food and Drug Administration (FDA) for use in the United States.
ACON Laboratories Inc., which legally manufacturers the FDA-approved Flowflex COVID-19 Antigen Home Test, discovered “the U.S. distribution of unauthorized, adulterated and misbranded counterfeit product having the trade name Flowflex SARS-CoV-2 Antigen Rapid Test (Self-Testing),” according to the recall notice posted by the FDA.
ACON says it’s not importing the “Flowflex SARS-CoV-2 Antigen Rapid Test (Self-Testing)” into the United States and that it’s “only authorized for sale in Europe and other markets, under the CE mark.”
New COVID Coronavirus Wave in Europe May Have Already Begun, Data Suggests
When it comes to the COVID-19 coronavirus pandemic, things may be looking up again in Europe, but not in a good way. The past week has seen yet another upswing in reported COVID-19 cases and hospitalizations in countries such as the U.K., Ireland, the Netherlands, Switzerland and Italy.
On Saturday, Eric Topol, MD, founder and director of the Scripps Research Translational Institute, tweeted, “The next wave in Europe has begun,” along with graphs of COVID-19 cases and hospitalizations over time from Our World in Data:
This European upswing is coming about a month after various countries and locations in Europe began lifting COVID-19 precautions such as face mask requirements for indoor public locations.