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COVID Vaccine Production Quietly Suspended at Johnson & Johnson + More
COVID Vaccine Production Quietly Suspended at Johnson & Johnson: Report
Johnson & Johnson temporarily halted production of its COVID-19 vaccine in The Netherlands, the only manufacturing hub making usable doses for the pharmaceutical company, according to a New York Times report on Tuesday.
The company stopped production of the vaccine at its facility in the Dutch city of Leiden at the end of 2021 and has instead turned its attention to making another vaccine for an unrelated virus, The Times reported. The pause is temporary and expected to last just a month — but it could reduce Johnson and Johnson’s vaccine supply by a few hundred million doses.
While the Johnson & Johnson vaccine from Janssen Pharmaceuticals has been linked to rare blood clots and is considered less effective than Pfizer and Moderna‘s shots by the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, the vaccines are extremely important in Africa and other low-income countries, which rely on the simpler one-dose shot.
U.S. Funding to Now Cover Study of Novavax’s COVID Shot in Adolescents
Novavax Inc (NVAX.O) said on Monday U.S. government funding for its COVID-19 vaccine had been expanded to cover a late-stage study in adolescents with a booster component.
Novavax in July 2020 had received $1.6 billion in funding to develop its protein-based vaccine under a government program aimed at accelerating access to coronavirus vaccines and treatments, formerly called Operation Warp Speed.
Novavax’s two-dose shot has received authorizations from the European Union and the World Health Organization and was recently cleared for use in adults in Britain and New Zealand. Novavax last year started testing its vaccine in adolescents aged 12 to 17.
Kids in Ireland Given Adult Doses of COVID Vax in Mixup; No Serious Effects
A group of young children in Ireland experienced no major reactions after mistakenly being given adult-sized shots of Pfizer‘s COVID-19 vaccine.
The mistake was noticed by staff at a mass vaccination center where the children came for the second dose of Pfizer‘s two-shot vaccine, the Irish Examiner reported Monday. Only one of the seven children had a mild adverse effect, the paper reports, citing regulators.
Children are supposed to be given a 10-milligram dose of Pfizer’s vaccine, known as Comirnaty, according to Health Service Executive’s National Immunization Office. For adults, the dose is 30 milligrams.
It’s not the first time health workers have confused doses. Kaiser Permanente warned in January that nearly 4,000 patients had received an insufficient dose of the vaccine.
Pfizer Accused of Pandemic Profiteering as Profits Double
Pfizer made nearly $37 billion (£27bn) in sales from its COVID-19 vaccine last year — making it one of the most lucrative products in history — and has forecast another bumper year in 2022, with a big boost coming from its COVID-19 pill Paxlovid.
The U.S. drugmaker’s overall revenues in 2021 doubled to $81.3 billion, and it expects to make record revenues of $98 billion to $102 billion this year.
The bumper sales prompted accusations from campaigners of “pandemic profiteering”. The group Global Justice Now said the annual revenue of $81 billion was more than the GDP of most countries and accused Pfizer of “ripping off public health systems”.
EU Regulator Reviews Extending Pfizer COVID Booster for Kids Aged 12 to 15
The European Union’s drug regulator launched a review to evaluate whether the Pfizer/BioNTech (PFE.N), (22UAy.DE) COVID-19 vaccine can be used as a third booster shot in adolescents aged 12 to 15, even after several countries in the region have already started such a campaign.
In its statement on Tuesday, the European Medicines Agency added that a review of booster shots given to 16- and 17-year-old teenagers was ongoing.
Germany’s vaccine committee last month recommended that all children between the ages of 12 and 17 receive a booster, following the initial two-shot course, as infection rates continue to soar among youngsters in particular. Other states in the region followed suit.
Evidence That Pandemic Worsened Kids’ Mental Health Piles Up — Mental Health Visits Increased in 2020, Especially Among Teen Girls, Canadian Study Finds
Pediatric mental health visits to physicians increased during the first year of the COVID-19 pandemic in Ontario, Canada, according to a population-wide study.
Starting in July 2020, rates of visits to mental health services were consistently 6% to 15% above expected levels — based on prior years — and were sustained as of February 2021 (adjusted relative rate [aRR] 1.15, 95% CI 1.13-1.17), reported Natasha Ruth Saunders, MD, MSc, of the Hospital for Sick Children in Toronto, and colleagues.
The largest increase in physician-based mental health visits was recorded for adolescent girls (aRR 1.26, 95% CI 1.25-1.28), they noted in JAMA Pediatrics.
Just 10% in New Poll Say COVID Will Be Eradicated in Next Year
Just 10% of Americans now expect that COVID-19 will be eradicated by this time next year, according to a new poll released Tuesday by Axios-Ipsos.
One in 3 survey takers said they expect to catch COVID-19 within the next month as the results show an American public that is starting to process the concept of living with the coronavirus. The poll does show that Americans are divided on how to live with COVID-19.
Axios reports that there are four fairly evenly split groups on how to go forward with the virus: open up and end all restrictions, open up with precautions, keep precautions and requirements in place, and increase mask and vaccine requirements.
Stealth BA.2 Omicron Variant Found in 67 Countries Will Become Dominant, Says WHO Expert
A sub-variant of the Omicron variant of COVID is spreading rapidly in Europe and Asia and could become the dominant variant of the virus. The so-called “stealth” Omicron COVID sub-variant BA.2 has now been found in 67 countries.
Speaking to The Jerusalem Post, Dr. Dorit Nitzan, regional director for the World Health Organization (WHO), said that the expected trajectory of BA.2 will see the sub-variant become the new dominant variant of COVID once it passes a certain threshold as is being seen in Denmark and the U.K.
Research Director, Co-Director of the MPH Global Health Epidemiology Program CE, and an epidemiologist in Copenhagen, Lone Simonsen, told Newsweek: “BA.2 is already dominant in Denmark, but we see no rise in severe illness and ICU admissions are dropping. My take is BA.2 is a faster but not more deadly variant.”
Hamsters Can Transmit COVID to Humans, Data Suggests
Pet hamsters can transmit COVID to humans and are the likely source of a recent outbreak of the Delta variant in Hong Kong, data suggests.
The research confirms fears that a pet shop was the source of a recent COVID outbreak in the city, which has seen at least 50 people infected and led to the culling of more than 2,200 hamsters.
However, virologists emphasized that, although the pet trade could provide a route for viral spread, existing pet hamsters are unlikely to pose a threat to their owners and should not be harmed.
Unvaccinated Dad Loses Custody of Kids, Including Immunocompromised Child + More
Unvaccinated Dad Loses Custody of Kids, Including Immunocompromised Child
An unvaccinated father in New Brunswick, Canada, lost custody of his three children, one of which is a 10-year-old immunocompromised child, according to reports from the CBC.
The father presented research to the judge that he believed questioned the safety and efficacy of the Pfizer-BioNTech vaccine, but the judge ruled against it.
The order allows the father to interact with the children over Zoom and reevaluate the sentencing if he does get vaccinated, but the mother can overrule his lack of parental consent to get her children vaccinated, according to the ruling, CBC reports.
No Evidence COVID Vaccine Led to Teen’s Death, Probe Reveals
Officials say they’ve found no links between the COVID-19 vaccine and the death of a 13-year-old Michigan boy who died days after getting the shot, WJRT reported.
According to reports, Jacob Clynick died on June 16, 2021, just days after he got his second dose of the Pfizer vaccine at a Walgreens store. “He passed away in the middle of the night at home,” Tammy Burages, Clynick’s aunt, said. She claimed Jacob was healthy and had no known underlying medical issues.
The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention confirmed it was investigating his death to see whether the vaccine had played any role.
The medical examiner’s office conducted an autopsy and reported their findings to the CDC. The boy’s family said an autopsy showed his heart was enlarged when he died and had fluid around it. The FDA is currently reviewing the risk of myocarditis (inflammation of the heart muscle), which has mostly affected young men who got Pfizer’s COVID-19 vaccine.
Protesters Gather Outside Brigham and Women’s Hospital Over Patient Dropped From Transplant List
About 100 protesters gathered outside Brigham and Women’s Hospital Sunday afternoon in support of a Massachusetts man whose family has said he was dropped from its heart transplant waitlist because he hasn’t been vaccinated for COVID-19.
David Ferguson Jr., who is known as D.J., has been hospitalized since November, according to an online fund-raiser. His mother, Tracey Ferguson, has said he has been suffering complications from atrial fibrillation and deteriorating heart failure and has been treated at hospitals around Boston.
Brigham and Women’s Hospital has told Ferguson that he was ineligible for a transplant because he was not vaccinated against COVID-19, according to his family. Ferguson’s father, David, told WBZ last month that vaccination against COVID-19 went against his son’s “basic principles. He doesn’t believe in it.”
COVID Infection May Boost Antibodies for up to 20 Months
U.S. News & World Report reported:
If you’ve already had COVID-19, your natural antibodies may last as long as 20 months, a new study suggests.
“Almost everyone with a documented COVID-19 infection had antibodies, and these antibodies seem to persist for quite a long time,” said study author Dr. Dorry Segev, a transplant surgeon at Johns Hopkins University, in Baltimore. “We really need to start incorporating antibodies from natural immunity into the context of immunity evaluation, moving from vaccine verification to immunity verification.”
Still, he cautioned, no level of antibody is a guarantee that you won’t get reinfected. Segev’s findings were published online Feb. 3 in the Journal of the American Medical Association.
Save the COVID Generation — and Our Country
Every American should be worried about the COVID Generation. Over the past two years, our country’s children have lost a huge part of their education — and they’re now at risk of losing their futures.
What’s happening to kids breaks my heart. Even before the pandemic, they were struggling to find the best shot at the best life. Pre-COVID, two-thirds of America’s elementary and middle-school students weren’t proficient in reading. Nearly the same number weren’t proficient at math. Yet instead of helping kids get ahead, the past two years pushed them further behind.
School lockdowns and virtual learning have been a total disaster. It’s now clear that school lockdowns had nearly zero effect on saving lives, but they did dramatic damage to student’s lives.
The Kids’ Vaccine Dilemma
Federal health regulators will soon face their next controversial vaccine decision: whether to authorize Pfizer‘s vaccine for children younger than 5, despite ongoing questions around dosing and effectiveness.
At the request of the agency, Pfizer has asked the FDA for two doses of its coronavirus vaccine to be authorized for emergency use in children between 6 months and 5 years old, even though the plan is for the vaccine to eventually be given as a three-dose series.
An FDA advisory board will meet Feb. 15 to consider whether to recommend authorizing two doses of the vaccine. The FDA will then have to decide whether to authorize it, and the CDC will weigh in as well.
Vitamin D Could Be a Piece of COVID’s ‘Complex Puzzle’, Israeli Scientists Say, After a New Study Finds a Link Between Deficiency and Severe Illness
Israeli scientists said they found “striking” differences in the chances of getting seriously ill from COVID-19 when they compared patients who had sufficient vitamin D levels prior to contracting the disease, with those who didn’t.
A study published Thursday in research journal PLOS One found that about half of people who were vitamin D deficient before getting COVID-19 developed severe illness, compared to less than 10% of people who had sufficient levels of the vitamin in their blood.
The latest research was the first to examine vitamin D levels in individuals prior to them contracting COVID-19, the study authors said.
Bill Maher Says Some COVID Misinformation Has Come From Medical Industry
Bill Maher has ripped the medical industry over its handling of the pandemic, arguing that a lot of COVID-19 misinformation has actually come from those who represent “the science.”
“The same people, who in private care, always say ‘get a second opinion’ want to only allow one in the public debate,” Maher said on Friday’s episode of “Real Time With Bill Maher.”
“The medical-industrial complex has not earned the right to claim monopoly status on information about this virus or medicine in general. Yes, free speech has allowed people to hear misinformation sometimes — and a lot of it was yours.” The 65-year-old comedian railed against the medical industry as he insisted it was time for the U.S. to go back to living normally because there’ll always be another COVID-19 variant.
Kevin McCarthy Says He’ll Probe COVID Origins and Investigate Allegations That the Bidens Have Made Millions From Deals With China if the GOP Wins the House in 2022
House Minority Leader Kevin McCarthy said he would set up a committee on China to investigate the origins of COVID-19 if the Republicans were to take a majority in Congress in 2022.
McCarthy added that a GOP majority in the House would probe whether the Biden family made millions in dealings with the Chinese government while Biden was vice president. He cited a claim by Peter Schweizer, president of the conservative think tank Government Accountability Institute, that the Bidens have benefited from Chinese funds.
In a Jan. 23 interview on the Fox News talk show “Life, Liberty & Levin,” Schweizer said that the Biden family received “some $31 million from Chinese individuals who are linked to the highest levels of Chinese intelligence” while Joe Biden was vice president.
CDC Weighs Increasing Time Between Vaccine Doses to Lower Risk of Heart Inflammation
U.S. health officials are considering new changes to vaccine guidance that would lengthen the amount of time between doses in order to lower the risk of heart inflammation for immunocompromised people.
The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) told a panel of outside advisers on Friday these proposed changes would apply to the Moderna and Pfizer vaccines. Immunocompromised people, who generally don’t respond as well to vaccines, are the only population advised to get four vaccine jabs.
CDC guidance suggests this group should receive three vaccine doses within two months and a fourth dose around five months after the third. The CDC is now suggesting that immunocompromised people should get their fourth shot as soon as three months after the third.
Study Suggests Omicron-Specific Booster May Not Provide More Protection
A new study conducted in primates suggests there may not be a benefit from updating COVID-19 vaccines to target the Omicron variant at this time.
The work, by scientists at the National Institutes of Allergy and Infectious Diseases’s Vaccine Research Center, shows that animals boosted with the original vaccine had similar levels of protection against disease in the lungs as did primates that received an updated booster based on the Omicron strain. The work was done with Moderna’s licensed vaccine and a booster shot based on the Omicron variant.
Study of blood from the animals showed that many of the measurable immune responses — rises in neutralizing antibody levels, for instance — were not substantially different, regardless of which booster shot they were given.
Moderna’s COVID Vaccine for Teens Awaits OK as Regulators Review Heart Inflammation Risk + More
Moderna’s COVID Vaccine for Teens Awaits OK as Regulators Review Heart Inflammation Risk
For months, the authorization of Moderna’s COVID-19 vaccine for teenagers has been on hold as the Food and Drug Administration reviews the risk of a rare but serious form of heart inflammation that’s affected mostly young men who got the company or Pfizer’s shots.
Moderna applied for emergency approval of its COVID vaccine for 12- to 17-year-olds in June, but the FDA told the company in October that its review of the vaccine for kids wouldn’t be finished before January.
The agency said it needed more time to examine the risk of myocarditis in vaccines based on mRNA technology, which is used in both company’s shots.
The FDA granted full approval for Moderna’s two-dose vaccine for adults on Monday and the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention is expected to soon give its final OK. Its committee of vaccine experts is meeting Friday to review the latest data on myocarditis in teens and adults.
Expert Panel Backs Moderna Shots After Full U.S. Approval
A federal advisory panel voted unanimously Friday to continue to endorse Moderna’s COVID-19 vaccine for adults, now that U.S. regulators have given the shots their full approval.
The decision has little practical effect. Tens of millions of Americans have already gotten Moderna shots, following its emergency authorization by the Food and Drug Administration more than a year ago.
Earlier this week, the FDA gave the product full licensure, following the kind of rigorous, time-consuming review given to other vaccines.
GOP Bills Aimed at Unproven Treatments for COVID
Doctors and hospital leaders are pushing back against a package of Republican bills that seek to bar healthcare providers from withholding unproven treatments for COVID-19.
The three bills released this week would prevent health systems and medical credentialing boards from disciplining doctors for ordering or advocating for therapies or medicine for patients that go against medical opinions held by their employers or regulators.
The legislation would force pharmacists to fill all prescriptions ordered by doctors except in rare circumstances, the Journal Sentinel reported.
The legislation allows doctors and pharmacists to provide COVID-19 patients with drugs that have not been proven to be safe treatments for such infections, such as ivermectin and hydroxychloroquine.
It’s Time to ‘Move on’ From the Pandemic, Says Harvard Medical Professor
It’s time to let the young, healthy and “anyone who wants to move on” from the pandemic do so, said Dr. Stefanos Kales, a professor at Harvard Medical School.
In a paper posted on LinkedIn last month, Kales said that for the majority of children and adults, “COVID-19 is not a serious threat, only a nuisance that impedes schooling, work and travel.”
“Once Omicron peaks, subsequent variants are likely to be even more mild,” he said. “We badly need to allow the general public, particularly the young, to get back to normal life.” He said he favors focusing COVID-19 efforts on “the vulnerable” rather than the population as a whole.
Paul Promises Investigation of Fauci if Republicans Take Senate
Sen. Rand Paul (R-Ky.) says he plans to subpoena Anthony Fauci‘s records if Republicans retake the Senate in November’s midterm elections and he becomes chairman of a committee.
“If we win in November, if I’m chairman of a committee, if I have subpoena power, we’ll go after every one of [Fauci‘s] records,” Paul said during an interview with conservative podcast host Lisa Boothe. “We’ll have an investigator go through this piece-by-piece because we don’t need this to happen again.”
During congressional hearings, Paul, a libertarian ophthalmologist, has repeatedly antagonized the nation’s top infectious diseases doctor over the benefits of masks, vaccinations and the origins of COVID-19.
CDC to Unveil Its Latest Weapon in COVID Detection: Wastewater
Alexandria Boehm, a professor of civil engineering at Stanford University, read about the usual pattern of mutations in the yet-to-be-named variant and sprang into action.
For more than a year, Boehm and her team of 45 people at the Sewer Coronavirus Alert Network, or SCAN, have been collecting and testing daily sludge samples from wastewater processing plants across Northern California, hunting for fragments of the new coronavirus.
For the first time, the CDC will publish data that looks at how much coronavirus is turning up in the country’s wastewater. It will add this testing data to its COVID-19 dashboard.
British Columbia Court Rules Mother Can Decide if Child Gets COVID Vaccine, Despite Dad’s Objections
A British.Columbia judge has ruled that a 10-year-old girl can be vaccinated against COVID-19 despite her father’s objections
In a ruling posted online, the mother, known only as R.S.L to protect the child’s identity, wanted her daughter to be vaccinated against COVID-19 on the advice of her family doctor. However, the girl’s father, known as A.C.L. objected to the vaccine on the grounds that he said it is unsafe. The parents share custody of the child.
Honourable Judge Ted Gouge ordered that the mother make the decision about whether, how and when the daughter is to be vaccinated.
Social Workers Warn of Rise in Mental Health Problems Among Children
Social workers are warning of a rise in the number of children with mental health problems since the start of the pandemic, with official figures recording a 25% increase as successive lockdowns and school closures take a toll.
Councils said they have “grave concerns” over the growing demand for help, with nearly 1,500 children a week presenting with mental health problems — an increase that could cost councils an extra £600m a year.
There were 77,390 children who had been assessed as having a mental health need by councils on 31 March 2021, an increase of 25% on the 61,830 seen two years earlier, according to statistics from the Department for Education.
How Denmark Decided COVID Isn’t a Critical Threat to Society
On February 1, Denmark became the first country in the European Union to lift all pandemic restrictions. Indoor mask mandates? Gone. Vaccine passports at bars, restaurants, and stadiums? See ya. Mandatory isolation for infected individuals? Farvel.
Reading this news, you might assume that Denmark succeeded in eliminating COVID. But its infection rate is currently higher than every other country’s in the world — except one: the South Pacific archipelago nation of Palau.
Michael Bang Petersen, a Danish researcher who led a global survey of COVID attitudes and advises the Danish government, defends the decision. Because of falling ICU admissions and shorter hospital stays, he said, COVID is no longer a socially critical sickness in Denmark.
Iowa Announces Upcoming End to COVID as a Public Health Emergency
Iowa Gov. Kim Reynolds (R) announced on Thursday that the state’s public health emergency proclamation for COVID-19 will end in February.
“We cannot continue to suspend duly enacted laws and treat COVID-19 as a public health emergency indefinitely. After two years, it’s no longer feasible or necessary. The flu and other infectious illnesses are part of our everyday lives, and coronavirus can be managed similarly,” Reynolds said in a statement.
Merck Expecting up to $6 Billion in Sales of COVID Pill This Year
Merck said on Thursday that it had sold $952 million of its antiviral COVID-19 pill and was on track to sell another $5 billion to $6 billion for the year.
The company has already delivered its product to 25 countries and has agreements with over 30 countries, Robert Davis, Merck’s CEO, said on CNBC on Thursday.
UK Scientists Look to Repurpose Existing Antiviral Drugs for COVID
British researchers want to repurpose existing antiviral therapies to treat COVID-19, the University of Oxford said on Friday, in an attempt to sidestep lengthy development processes through readily available drugs.
Scientists will initially screen 138 drugs with known antiviral activity against the COVID-causing SARS-CoV-2 virus to study and identify potent combinations, the university said in a statement on Friday.
Scott Morrison’s Cliched Myths About Australian Resilience Won’t Drown out the National Cry of Anguish
Perhaps the greatest myth some of our political leaders are intent on weaving about the pandemic’s profound emotional impact is that Australians are uniquely, interminably resilient.
Because when we look at friends (on screen), family (ditto), wander about the neighbourhood and listen to experiences from across the country, what we hear is fear, weariness and acute sadness. People are saying, “I’ve had enough – I can’t cope with it any more. I’m beyond my breaking point. I am done.”
The overdemand on mental health services points to a society on a psychological precipice. Yet, perplexingly, we are told on one hand it’s OK to be not OK, to be at the end of our coping capacities and to ask for help, while on the other assured of our resilience.
290 Fully Vaccinated Massachusetts Residents Died of COVID Over 1 Week + More
290 Fully Vaccinated Massachusetts Residents Died of COVID Over 1 Week
International Business Times reported:
Nearly 300 fully vaccinated residents in Massachusetts died of breakthrough COVID-19 over the past week even as case numbers have dropped statewide.
Between Jan. 22 and 29, Massachusetts health officials reported 290 additional breakthrough COVID-19 deaths, bringing the state’s total death toll among the fully vaccinated to 1,789. The figure represents 0.03% of the state’s inoculated population.
During the same period, health officials also recorded 27,530 new breakthrough infections and 555 additional hospitalizations. The state has now reported a total of 422,132 cases and 6,440 admissions among the fully vaccinated.
The CDC Is Finally Recognizing ‘Natural Immunity’ — Legislators Should Follow Suit
There have now been over 65 million people that have recovered from COVID-19 in the United States. While vaccination for COVID-19 has been critically important to protect us against severe disease, hospitalizations and death, the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) are finally acknowledging the strong protection provided from immunity after a SARS-CoV-2 infection: so-called “natural immunity.”
In the CDC report, which analyzed COVID-19 cases in California and New York from May 30 to Nov. 20, the scientists compared the risk of new SARS-CoV-2 infection among four groups of people: those who were unvaccinated without prior COVID-19; those vaccinated without prior COVID-19; those unvaccinated with prior COVID-19 and those vaccinated with prior COVID-19.
The report finally acknowledges what many have suspected for a long time — that surviving COVID-19 provides excellent natural immunity to not only repeat infection but also to hospitalization and death for the Delta variant of COVID-19.
What Actually Changed for Little Kids’ Vaccines?
After months and months of being told to wait, then wait, then wait some more, parents eager to vaccinate their littlest kids against COVID-19 have been gifted some good and very confusing news.
Yesterday, after weeks of weird and cryptic waffling, Pfizer kick-started the process of requesting an emergency use authorization from the FDA for their infant-and-toddler COVID-19 vaccine; if the agency’s advisory-panel meeting, scheduled for the 15th, goes smoothly, the under-5 shots could be available as a two-dose series shortly thereafter, pending a CDC recommendation.
This pivot is, at first glance, bizarre. Six weeks ago, right before Christmas, Pfizer announced that late-stage trials of two mini shots had produced somewhat lackluster antibody results in 2-to-4-year-olds, and a third dose could be necessary to clinch protection. Nothing about the vaccine itself has changed since then; no new data (actually, no data at all) have been publicized.
Somehow, we’ve gone in an instant from two doses aren’t enough to actually, they kind of are. And both statements, somehow, are meant to be true at once.
Coronavirus Vaccination May Soon Be Available for Children Younger Than 5, Prompting Elation and Questions
News that vaccines for children ages 6 months to 5 years old may be available by the end of the month has elicited relief and elation for many as the Omicron variant wave has caused millions of families to struggle with unreliable child care, irregular school and day-care closures, quarantines, lost days at work and fears over their children getting infected.
But it has also unleashed a wave of questions from parents confused about the approach the companies are taking for emergency use authorization of the vaccine and skepticism from some who are weighing whether to get their children vaccinated when the risk of serious infection remains relatively low. Experts worry there will be even more hesitancy among parents; only 22% of children ages 5 to 11 are vaccinated, according to Washington Post data.
So Long, Omicron: White House Eyes Next Phase of Pandemic
The White House is preparing to move on from Omicron.
Emboldened by falling case counts, the Biden administration is plotting a new phase of the pandemic response aimed at containing the coronavirus and conditioning Americans to live with it.
Biden and his top health officials have already begun hinting at an impending “new normal,” in a conscious messaging shift meant to get people comfortable with a scenario where the virus remains widespread yet at more manageable levels.
Fauci Backs Investigation of COVID Origins After Senators Propose Task Force
Dr. Anthony Fauci has said he supports continued investigations into the origins of COVID-19 after two senators proposed a task force that would take up that topic.
The expert signaled his backing at a White House COVID-19 response briefing on Wednesday when asked about last week’s proposal by Sens Patty Murray (D – Washington) and Richard Burr (R – North Carolina). The legislation put forward by the pair would charge Congress with appointing a task force to examine the initial emergence of the virus and evaluate America’s preparedness for future pandemics.
Asked if he thinks it’s necessary to conduct an inquiry into COVID’s origins, Dr. Fauci gave a lengthy reply but appeared to stop short of explicitly voicing support for the senators’ plans.
In World First, South Africa’s Afrigen Makes mRNA COVID Vaccine Using Moderna Data
South Africa’s Afrigen Biologics has used the publicly available sequence of Moderna‘s COVID-19 mRNA vaccine to make its own version of the shot, which could be tested in humans before the end of this year, Afrigen’s top executive said on Thursday.
The vaccine candidate would be the first to be made based on a widely used vaccine without the assistance and approval of the developer. It is also the first mRNA vaccine designed, developed and produced at lab scale on the African continent.
Amid Scrambles for Teachers, Some Fear Worse Shortages Ahead
As schools scramble to find enough substitute teachers to keep classrooms running through the latest surge of the coronavirus, some experts warn there are longer-term problems with the teacher pipeline that cannot be solved with emergency substitutes, bonuses and loosened qualifications.
For years, some states have been issuing fewer teaching licenses, and many districts have had trouble filling vacancies, particularly in poorer areas. Shortages are being felt much more widely due to absences during a pandemic that is testing educators like no other stretch of their careers, raising fears of many more leaving the profession.
Medicare to Pay for At-Home COVID Tests This Spring
Medicare will soon start to pay for at-home COVID-19 tests, allowing beneficiaries to have the same access to free over-the-counter tests as people with private insurance.
The Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services on Thursday announced a new initiative that will allow Medicare beneficiaries and people with Medicare Advantage plans to access up to eight over-the-counter COVID-19 tests per month for free at participating pharmacies and retailers, beginning “in the early spring.”
Medicare will directly reimburse participating pharmacies and other retailers, allowing Medicare beneficiaries to pick up tests at no cost.
WHO: Europe Entering ‘Plausible Endgame’ to COVID Pandemic
The director of the World Health Organization’s Europe office said Thursday the continent is now entering a “plausible endgame” to the pandemic and that the number of coronavirus deaths is starting to plateau.
As the winter subsides in much of Europe in the coming weeks, when the virus’s transmission naturally drops, Dr. Hans Kluge said the upcoming spring “leaves us with the possibility for a long period of tranquility and a much higher level of population defense against any resurgence in transmission.”
Challenge Trial Shows People With COVID Shed Virus After Just 2 Days
Individuals exposed to SARS-CoV-2 became infectious after just 2 days, which is earlier than scientists originally estimated, according to results from the first human challenge trial investigating COVID-19.
In the study of 36 young and healthy subjects who were deliberately infected with SARS-CoV-2, viral shedding and symptoms began around 2 days post-inoculation, with viral load peaking at 5 days, reported Christopher Chiu, MD, of Imperial College London, and colleagues. The researchers published these findings, which have not yet been peer-reviewed, on the preprint server Research Square.
German Vaccine Commission to Recommend Fourth COVID Shot
Germany’s expert panel on vaccine use (STIKO) is preparing to recommend a fourth COVID-19 vaccine dose, the committee’s head, Thomas Mertens, told media group Funke on Thursday.
“We have data from Israel that shows a fourth dose significantly improves protection from a severe case of illness,” Mertens told Funke. “The STIKO will make the recommendation soon,” he added.
Some countries have already started offering additional booster doses, but a recent study from Israel showed that while a fourth dose of an mRNA vaccine boosted antibodies, the level was not high enough to prevent Omicron infection.