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Covid News Watch
Biden Administration Used Billions in Hospital COVID Funds to Pay Drugmakers + More
Biden Administration Used Billions in Hospital COVID Funds to Pay Drugmakers
The Biden administration quietly took nearly $7 billion from a fund meant to help hospitals and clinics affected by the pandemic and used it to buy COVID-19 vaccines and therapeutics, according to a document obtained by STAT.
Now, the hospital money, known as the Provider Relief Fund, has run dry and has no new money left to allocate, according to the agency that administers it. Providers have only been able to submit requests for expenses incurred through March 2021 — before both the Delta and Omicron surges battered the healthcare system.
With the new $7 billion shift, which has not been previously reported, the diversion to drugmakers totals nearly $17 billion, or roughly 10% of the overall money Congress allotted for the fund for hospitals and physician practices.
Congress set aside that money to help healthcare providers pay for pandemic-related expenses including staffing, personal protective equipment, care for uninsured patients, and vaccine distribution.
Sweden Decides Against Recommending COVID Vaccines for Kids Aged 5 to 12
Sweden has decided against recommending COVID vaccines for kids aged 5-11, the Health Agency said on Thursday, arguing that the benefits did not outweigh the risks.
“With the knowledge we have today, with a low risk for serious disease for kids, we don’t see any clear benefit with vaccinating them,” Health Agency official Britta Bjorkholm told a news conference.
She added that the decision could be revisited if the research changed or if a new variant changed the pandemic. Kids in high-risk groups can already get the vaccine.
Wanted: Volunteers to Catch COVID in the Name of Science
The world’s first medical trial authorized to deliberately expose participants to the coronavirus is seeking more volunteers as it steps up efforts to help develop better vaccines.
The Oxford University trial was launched last April, three months after Britain became the first country to approve what are known as challenge trials for humans involving COVID-19.
Its first phase, still ongoing, has focused on finding out how much of the virus is needed to trigger an infection while the second will aim to determine the immune response needed to ward one-off, the university said in a statement on Tuesday.
Moderna Begins Study for Omicron-Specific Booster Shot
Moderna Inc. announced Wednesday that it had begun its first study of an Omicron-specific booster dose of its COVID-19 vaccine.
The biotechnology company said the Phase 2 study of its Omicron-specific booster candidate — an extension of an earlier study — would include two trials, including one with participants who received its two-dose primary series of the vaccine at least six months ago and another with participants who received that series and a booster dose at least three months ago.
The study will evaluate the safety, immunogenicity and reactogenicity of mRNA-1273.529 as a single booster dose in adults aged 18 years and older, which both trials will receive. The vaccine-maker said it expects to enroll approximately 300 participants into each cohort, which will be conducted at as many as 24 sites.
Will Virus Be ‘Over’? Most Americans Think Not
Early in the pandemic, Ryan Wilson was careful to take precautions — wearing a mask, not really socializing, doing more of his shopping online. The 38-year-old father and seafood butcher from Casselberry, Florida, says he relaxed a bit after getting vaccinated last year.
And, like many, Wilson has come to believe COVID-19 is probably never fully going away. “It’ll become endemic and we’ll be stuck with it forever,” he says. “It’s frustrating, but what can you do about it?”
Many Americans agree that they’re going to “be stuck with it forever” — or, at the least, for a long time. A poll from The Associated Press-NORC Center for Public Affairs Research shows that few — just 15% — say they’ll consider the pandemic over only when COVID-19 is largely eliminated.
Why Spotify Picked Joe Rogan Over Neil Young in Its Misinformation Fight
For the last two weeks, Spotify, the Swedish music and podcast streaming giant, has faced mounting public pressure to explain its position on misinformation policies and whether they apply to the platform’s hugely popular podcast personality Joe Rogan, who has repeatedly drawn headlines and public criticism for questioning COVID-19 medical orthodoxy and for featuring guests who have been banned from other platforms for violating health information guidelines.
The controversy hit a new peak Wednesday, with news that Neil Young was pulling his music from the streaming service over his concerns about COVID-19 misinformation on Rogan’s podcast, “The Joe Rogan Experience.”
“We want all the world’s music and audio content to be available to Spotify users,” Spotify said in a statement after the news was first reported in the Wall Street Journal. “With that comes great responsibility in balancing both safety for listeners and freedom for creators. We have detailed content policies in place and we’ve removed over 20,000 podcast episodes related to COVID since the start of the pandemic. We regret Neil’s decision to remove his music from Spotify, but hope to welcome him back soon.”
Does Red Wine Prevent COVID? Scientists Question Study Suggesting It Can
Experts have voiced concern over a study that concluded red wine is associated with a protective effect against COVID.
A Chinese study, published in journal Frontiers, investigated data, including self-reported alcohol consumption, on over 470,000 people held in the U.K. Biobank database. 16,559 of those people were confirmed to have tested positive for COVID.
It found that COVID risk was 10 to 17% lower in red wine consumers compared to non-drinkers. On the other hand, it also found that consumers of beer and cider had between seven and 28% higher COVID risk compared with non-drinkers.
As New Variants Emerge, U.S. Government Turns Attention to a Universal Coronavirus Vaccine
Vaccine makers like Pfizer and Moderna are now exploring tweaked booster shots to match the now-dominant Omicron variant, but the U.S. government is aggressively pursuing a different approach: a pan-coronavirus vaccine that would work equally well against any COVID-19 variant.
Dr. Anthony Fauci, who heads up the National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases, has issued $43 million in research grants across several academic institutions to support development of a pan-coronavirus vaccine, sometimes called a “universal” coronavirus vaccine.
Meet the Novastans: How Novavax Vaccine’s Cult-Like Following Could Alter the Course of COVID
In the ‘hot vax summer’ of 2021, the ’Pfizer Gang’ reigned supreme. Now, in the depths of an Omicron winter, another vaccine fan club is emerging: the Novastans.
Novavax first published clinical trial results in January 2021 showing that its vaccine was up to 90% effective in preventing COVID-19 infections, putting it on par with the efficaciousness of Pfizer and Moderna.
But in the following months, Novavax struggled with manufacturing and regulatory delays that hampered the firm’s ability to bring the drug to market despite its proven efficacy.
EU Regulator Recommends Pfizer’s COVID Pill Be Authorized
The European Medicines Agency has recommended that Pfizer’s coronavirus antiviral drug be authorized for use in the 27-nation European Union, the first time the agency has recommended a pill for treating COVID-19.
In a statement on Thursday, the EU drug regulator said giving the green light to Pfizer’s Paxlovoid could help people infected with COVID-19 avoid more serious disease and being hospitalized. EMA’s expert committee recommended the pill be given to adults who don’t require oxygen and who are at higher risk of severe disease.
The drug was cleared by regulators in the U.S. and Britain in late December, although authorities noted that supplies would be extremely limited.
Why Hong Kong May Become a Living Laboratory in Search for COVID Answers
Hong Kong, a city of 7.5 million people crammed into 427 square miles in Southern China, has a unique combination of characteristics at this point in the pandemic that could make it a living laboratory, if the city is unable to withstand the onslaught of Omicron.
Hong Kong has a zero COVID policy. Like New Zealand and the Chinese mainland, the city has largely succeeded in preventing COVID transmission from taking hold there by requiring incomers to quarantine for 21 days in designated hotels, aggressively testing for the virus, and tracking down contacts when cases emerge.
Less than 50% of adults 70 to 79 have received two doses of vaccine. In adults 80 and older, only 20% have received two shots and only about 4% of people in this highest-risk group have received a booster shot, according to the government’s vaccination dashboard.
If Omicron were to breach the city’s formidable COVID barricades, Hong Kong’s elders would be highly vulnerable to the infection. Things that could appear muddled elsewhere could be clear there.
Fox News Outlines Fresh Questions on What Fauci Knew About COVID Origin + More
Fox News Special Report Outlines Fresh Questions on What Fauci, Government Knew About COVID Origin
Fresh questions are being raised about what American scientists and federal health officials knew about the origins of the coronavirus and whether conflicting evidence was suppressed and hidden from the public.
On Tuesday night’s episode of Special Report with Bret Baier, Fox News dove into the early days of the coronavirus pandemic and explored documents obtained showing that Dr. Anthony Fauci, director of the National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases, was warned early on that the virus may have originated in a Wuhan, China lab.
According to the timeline of events laid out by Baier, Fauci was told on January 27, 2020, that his NIAID had been indirectly funding the Wuhan lab through EcoHealth — a U.S.-based scientific non-profit that had been working with novel coronaviruses.
Special Report’s findings highlight frustration in the scientific community stemming from lack of openness and incomplete or inaccurate facts as Republican lawmakers on Capitol Hill push for more information on what the federal government knew about the origins of the virus and when.
County Becomes First to Change ‘Fully Vaccinated’ Definition as CDC Backs Initial Guideline
The definition of “fully vaccinated” has been changed for the first time in one U.S. county, despite the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) sticking with the original sequence for now.
As of Tuesday, Maui County, the third-largest county in Hawaii, now requires residents or visitors to have a booster shot to be considered fully vaccinated against COVID-19. Adults over 18 that are eligible for boosters will have to show proof of vaccination in order to do things like dining at restaurants or bars or visiting gyms.
Boosters will be required five months after getting the second dose of the Pfizer or Moderna vaccines, or two months after the single-dose Johnson & Johnson vaccine. Those who have not gotten a booster can show a negative COVID test that is less than 48 hours old.
Colorado Schools Nix COVID Vaccine Clinics After Videos Claim Kids Could Get Shots Without Parental OK
Littleton Public Schools will no longer hold COVID-19 vaccination clinics on school campuses after two videos circulated online of students being offered shots without parental consent.
The school district sent a letter to parents on Tuesday, saying that it is “aware of a situation” that happened at a vaccine clinic held at Heritage High School in Littleton on Jan. 21, but did not provide details on what occurred beyond saying that they don’t agree that the company that staffed the clinic — Jogan Health — followed proper protocols.
Littleton Public Schools had assumed all clinics in the state required a parent to be present during a vaccination, wrote Littleton Public Schools Superintendent Brian Ewert in the letter to parents.
COVID Vaccine Booster Drive Is Faltering in the U.S.
The COVID-19 booster drive in the U.S. is losing steam, worrying health experts who have pleaded with Americans to get an extra shot to shore up their protection against the highly contagious Omicron variant.
Just 40% of fully vaccinated Americans have received a booster dose, according to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. And the average number of booster shots dispensed per day in the U.S. has plummeted from a peak of 1 million in early December to about 490,000 as of last week.
It’s Very Difficult to Get Access to Antiviral COVID Treatments
Antiviral COVID treatments are hailed as a pandemic game-changer, but they’re currently in very short supply — and that’s only one of several barriers to access for high-risk patients.
The big picture: Even when supply ramps up, it will still be tricky to connect some of the most vulnerable patients to the pills without changes to the process.
Why it matters: Recently approved antivirals reduce the risk of hospitalization and death by up to 89%.
Iowa Doctor Goes National and Stages Hospital ‘Jailbreaks’ for COVID Patients
An Iowa-licensed physician who has questioned the use of vaccines and face masks in fighting COVID-19 says that each day she treats up to 40 patients from around the country and is staging “jailbreaks” that involve pulling patients out of hospitals against the medical advice of other doctors.
Dr. Mollie James, who operates a clinic in Chariton, is a surgeon and critical care specialist who trained at Mercy Medical Center in Des Moines and the University of Minnesota. She has practiced in Des Moines, St. Louis and New York City. Her license is in good standing with the Iowa Board of Medicine.
Scolding the Unvaccinated Left Biden Unprepared for Omicron
A full year into President Joe Biden‘s term, Americans have watched the China-originated COVID-19 virus work its way through half of the Greek alphabet. We’ve learned much along the way, including that the Biden administration vastly overstated the COVID vaccines’ ability to keep most everyone from getting the virus.
Biden has adopted a strategy of scaring Americans into getting vaccinations and boosters. He said on Dec. 14 that “This is a pandemic of the unvaccinated,” and asked “How about making sure that you’re vaccinated, so you do not spread the disease to anyone else?”
Meanwhile, supposedly non-partisan public health agencies, such as the CDC, NIH and FDA, have become thoroughly politicized and have repeatedly downplayed or ignored data that contradict the White House narrative.
When such data emerge, the White House has not taken it into account. Biden conspicuously neglected to mention that the CDC has stated that anyone with an Omicron variant infection, including the vaccinated, can spread the virus to the vaccinated or unvaccinated.
Yamhill County Commissioner Threatens Her Own Health Department for Failing to Discredit COVID Vaccines
The Oregonian via MSN reported:
A Yamhill County commissioner has threatened to punish her own health department if it fails to publish information discrediting the safety and efficacy of COVID-19 vaccines.
“I’ve been asking our public health department to put some numbers on our public health website, because I don’t want to be an accomplice to another kid dying from myocarditis,” Starrett said, referring to a rare side-effect of COVID-19 vaccines.
“And I don’t want to be an accomplice to this lie, that vaccines and masks will keep you healthy.”
More Hospitals Are Removing Transplant Patients From Lists Due to COVID Vaccine Status
A Boston man fighting for his life at Brigham and Women’s Hospital has been removed from the heart transplant list for refusing to get the COVID-19 vaccine.
A man seeking a kidney transplant has also been denied a place on the active transplant list because he chose not to get vaccinated. Shamgar Connors, 42, is a patient at University of Virginia Hospital who is now listed as “inactive” on the list for a life-saving kidney transplant. Connors said his entire family had COVID-19 and doesn’t believe he needs the vaccine.
Similarly, a Colorado woman was denied a kidney transplant because she refuses to get the vaccine for religious reasons.
Spotify Silent After Neil Young Reportedly Threatens to Pull Songs From Platform Over Joe Rogan
Spotify has noticeably kept mum amid news that Neil Young reportedly asked the streaming giant to remove his music.
The veteran rocker fired off a public missive to his management on Monday, demanding that they remove his music from Spotify in protest of Joe Rogan spreading misinformation about the COVID-19 vaccine on his popular podcast, “The Joe Rogan Experience.”
But soon after, the letter disappeared from view on Young’s website. As of Wednesday morning, listeners could still listen to many of the 76-year-old’s hits.
China Hasn’t Reported a Single COVID Death in a Year, as Questions Remain About Accuracy of Its Data
China’s health authorities have now gone a full year without reporting a single death from COVID-19 despite facing sporadic outbreaks across parts of the country during the same period, suggesting its “zero-COVID” approach may be effective — but also raising more questions about the accuracy of its public data, concerns that have dogged China since the very beginning of the pandemic.
The country’s last reported COVID-19 death was on January 26, 2021 — one year ago — in the northeastern province of Jinlin.
Since the start of the pandemic, several questions have been raised about the accuracy of China’s COVID-19 data.
BioNTech Preps Hiring Spree at mRNA Vaccine Plant, Boosting Workforce by 50%
In just two short years, BioNTech will have more than doubled the size of its workforce at the German biologics facility it bought from Novartis at the height of the pandemic.
BioNTech is hiking the headcount at its Marburg, Germany, vaccine plant by 50%, the company confirmed via email Wednesday. Since it picked up the site from Novartis in 2020, BioNTech has added about 200 employees. Now, it’s planning to recruit an additional 250 staffers before the year is out, a company spokesperson said.
At the same time, the German mRNA specialist is socking some €50 million (about $56.4 million) into the site. It’s planning to add additional office space there as it weighs options for future growth, BNN Bloomberg reports.
Fewer Czechs Dying of COVID Despite Record Infections
The number of Czech citizens dying of COVID-19 has been steadily declining despite a recent record surge in coronavirus infections caused by the highly transmittable Omicron variant.
The figures released by the Health Ministry on Wednesday show that 121 people died in the last seven days, down from 206 the previous period and 289 another seven days back.
Vaccinated Mother With COVID Intubated Days After Delivering Baby + More
Vaccinated First-Time Mother With COVID Intubated Days After Delivering Baby
A Texas mother is fighting for her life after she was intubated just days after giving birth to her first child despite being vaccinated.
Alexandra Chandler tested positive for COVID-19 before going into labor on Jan. 9, according to a GoFundMe page. Three days after a successful c-section, Chandler and her son Beau returned home.
The next day Chandler and her son Beau began experiencing shortness of breath. Both Chandler and her newborn son went to the ER to undergo evaluation, but Chandler’s health began to rapidly decline.
Patient Removed From Heart Transplant List for Refusing COVID Vaccine
A Boston-area hospital said it will not perform a heart transplant on a patient who refuses to get a COVID-19 vaccination.
DJ Ferguson, 31, was previously prioritized for a heart transplant at Brigham and Women’s Hospital, but is no longer eligible as he refuses to get vaccinated, said Ferguson’s family, according to a report by CBS Boston.
Ferguson’s family has said they are unsure of what to do next given his refusal to receive the COVID-19 vaccine. They have considered transferring him to a different facility but acknowledge he might not survive the trip.
Pfizer and BioNTech Begin Clinical Trial for Omicron-Specific Vaccine
Pfizer and BioNTech have begun a clinical trial for their Omicron-specific COVID-19 vaccine candidate, they announced in a news release on Tuesday.
The study will evaluate the vaccine for safety, tolerability and the level of immune response, as both a primary series and a booster dose, in up to 1,420 healthy adults ages 18 to 55.
BioNTech: Watchdogs’ Requirements May Defer Planned Launch of Omicron Shot
BioNTech (22UAy.DE) said it and partner Pfizer (PFE.N) may not be able to stick with their plan to launch an Omicron-targeting vaccine by the end of March, depending on how much clinical trial data regulators will require.
“Regulatory requirements are currently under discussion with the relevant authorities. Inclusion of clinical trial data in the regulatory filings may have an impact on the delivery of initial batches, currently expected to be ready by end of March,” a spokesperson told Reuters on Tuesday.
Pfizer and BioNTech said earlier they started a clinical trial to test a new version of their vaccine specifically designed to target the COVID-19 Omicron variant, which has eluded some of the protection provided by the original two-dose vaccine regimen.
CDC Study: Omicron Appears to Cause Less Severe Disease
The Omicron variant is on average causing less severe disease than surges with previous variants of the virus, a new Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) study finds.
The ratio of hospital admissions to cases and ratio of deaths to cases were lower during the Omicron wave than during the Delta variant peak last year or the winter of 2020-2021, the study found.
J&J Expects Jump in COVID Vaccine Sales in 2022, Eyes Device Deals
Johnson & Johnson (JNJ.N) on Tuesday forecast as much as $3.5 billion in sales of its COVID-19 vaccine in 2022, a 46% jump for the shot that has fared poorly compared to rivals, and said it would take a more aggressive stance on deals for its medical device unit.
J&J’s 2022 revenue forecast for the vaccine was above Wall Street estimates, which had been lowered due to safety concerns as well as low uptake in the United States.
Pfizer Inc (PFE.N) by comparison is forecasting $29 billion in 2022 sales of the COVID-19 vaccine it developed with German partner BioNTech SE , while Moderna Inc (MRNA.O) is projecting $18.5 billion in vaccine sales this year.
FBI Searches Headquarters of National COVID Testing Company
Federal agents executed a search warrant at the Chicago-area headquarters of a national pop-up testing chain called the Center for COVID Control, a spokesperson for the Health and Human Services inspector general said Monday.
The Center for COVID Control has the same registered address as a laboratory called Doctors Clinical Laboratory, which conducted hundreds of thousands of PCR tests using specimens collected by the pop-up testing company, a company spokesperson said.
Both the pop-up testing company and the lab have been under investigation by the federal Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services, as well as multiple state attorneys general.
The company has billed the federal government more than $120 million for testing uninsured people, according to federal records.
DeSantis Opens New Battle With Biden Over COVID Treatments
Gov. Ron DeSantis has picked a new fight with the Biden administration over COVID treatments.
DeSantis shut down the five state administration sites he opened last week after the U.S. Food and Drug Administration on Monday cut Florida’s weekly allotment of monoclonal antibody cocktails. DeSantis fired back at the Biden administration for pulling the medicines, claiming the federal government withdrew the treatments without evidence.
“We’re going to fight back against this because this is just wrong,” DeSantis said Tuesday at a news conference in Crawfordville, about 20 miles from the Capitol in Tallahassee. “This is not the way you know that you help people.”
Stealth Omicron Sub-Variant BA.2 Found in Almost Half of U.S. States
Almost 100 cases of the Omicron sub-variant BA.2 have been detected in the U.S. across more than 20 states, virus genetic data shows.
According to the virus database GISAID, which scientists can use to share sequenced COVID samples from around the world, 92 BA.2 cases had been reported from the U.S. by about 5:15 a.m. ET on Tuesday.
Experts say it’s too early to know whether BA.2 will cause a difference in disease severity compared to BA.1, though Cornelius Roemer, a computational biologist at the University of Basel in Switzerland, called it “the Omicron sibling to watch” in a tweet on Monday.
Subject Expert Committee Says No to Clinical Trial Waiver for Pfizer’s COVID Pill
The Subject Expert Committee (SEC) under India’s drug regulator turned down applications by Hetero Labs and Optimus Pharma to launch the generic version of Pfizer‘s COVID-19 antiviral drug paxlovid without local clinical trials. Both companies had approached the drug regulator last week seeking waivers.
The SEC asked the companies to conduct bioavailability and bioequivalence (BA/BE) studies and submit safety data at its meeting on Friday, said people with knowledge of the matter.
277 Fully Vaccinated Indiana Residents Died of COVID in 3 Weeks + More
277 Fully Vaccinated Indiana Residents Have Died of COVID in 3 Weeks
International Business Times reported:
More than 270 fully vaccinated residents in Indiana have died of COVID-19 over the past month as the state continues to see an increasing number of infections.
Between Dec. 31, 2021, and Jan. 20, 2022, Indiana health officials reported 277 new breakthrough COVID-19 deaths. The latest figure brings the state’s total number of COVID-19 deaths among the fully vaccinated to 1,367, according to the state’s latest COVID-19 Vaccination Breakthrough report.
Israel, One of Most-Vaccinated Countries in the World, Sets New COVID Case Record
The Israeli Ministry of Health announced this week that more than 72,000 people tested positive for the CCP (Chinese Communist Party) virus, the largest rise in infections since the start of the pandemic.
Total active cases in the country rose to nearly 400,000 people, of whom 533 are currently hospitalized in critical condition, according to a Jan. 19 statement posted by the country’s health ministry.
Israel, which has one of the highest COVID-19 vaccination rates in the world with already nearly half of its citizens having received three shots, is leading the world in new daily cases per capita, according to Jan. 20 data.
Only 44% of Americans Trust What the CDC Has Said About COVID: Poll
Americans trust what their employers and schools have said about the COVID-19 pandemic more than they trust what the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) has said, according to a new poll.
The survey, published by NBC News, found that only 44% of Americans trust what the CDC has communicated about the virus.
While 44% said they trusted the CDC’s statements, 43% said they did not. Eleven percent said they weren’t aware of what the agency has said about COVID, or had no opinion on the matter. Two percent of respondents said they weren’t sure.
We’re a Physician and Mathematician and a Data Scientist. N95s Won’t Work for Kids.
The Berkeley Unified School District (BUSD) in the SF Bay Area where we live, announced on Tuesday that it was planning on “transitioning all students and staff” to KN95 respirators. These respirators would be required for the entire school day, including outdoors during gym and recess.
Unfortunately, the effectiveness of respirators is vastly overestimated, and there is scant evidence that they stop community transmission. Moreover, NIOSH-approved respirators are tight, uncomfortable, and can impede breathing.
The truth is, the burdens of these masks outweigh their benefits for kids. We need to consider more effective, less harmful interventions as we come together to keep schools open and safe.
Australian Children Facing ‘Generation-Defining Disruption’ Due to Pandemic, Experts Say
The indirect effects of the pandemic on children and adolescents are as substantial — if not more so — than the impact of being infected with COVID-19, pediatricians say.
A research review from the Murdoch Children’s Research Institute led by pediatrician Prof Sharon Goldfeld said interventions needed to be developed now to address growing disparities in child health and wellbeing due to the pandemic.
Goldfeld said children were facing a “generation-defining disruption” with public health restrictions and interventions such as online learning, social distancing, increased screen time, reduced access to healthcare, less community sport and less outside play all having repercussions.
Pfizer CEO Says an Annual COVID Vaccine Is Preferable to Periodic Boosters
Pfizer Chief Executive Albert Bourla said on Saturday that an annual COVID-19 vaccine would be preferable to more frequent booster shots in fighting the coronavirus pandemic.
In an interview with Israel’s N12 News, Bourla was asked whether he sees booster shots being administered every four to five months on a regular basis. “This will not be a good scenario. What I’m hoping (is) that we will have a vaccine that you will have to do once a year,” Bourla said.
We are looking to see if we can create a vaccine that covers Omicron and doesn’t forget the other variants and that could be a solution,” Bourla said.
Bourla has said Pfizer could be ready to file for approval for a redesigned vaccine to fight Omicron, and mass produce it, as soon as March.
FDA May Limit Use of Two COVID Antibody Treatments
U.S. News & World Report reported:
The U.S. Food and Drug Administration may soon curtail the use of two monoclonal antibody treatments that do not appear to work against the highly contagious Omicron variant.
The treatments made by Regeneron and Eli Lilly performed well against earlier variants, but only GlaxoSmithKline’s antibody therapy has stayed strong against Omicron.
Last week, the National Institutes of Health updated its guidelines to advise clinics against using these treatments on patients with mild-to-moderate COVID-19 due to their diminished effectiveness.
Fauci Optimistic Omicron Will Peak in February
Dr. Anthony Fauci, the nation’s top infectious disease specialist, said Sunday he is “as confident as you can be” about the prospect of most states reaching a peak of Omicron cases by mid-February.
“You never want to be overconfident when you’re dealing with this virus,” Fauci told ABC “This Week” co-anchor Martha Raddatz, adding that the COVID-19 virus has “surprised us in the past.”
“Things are looking good. We don’t want to get overconfident, but they look like they’re going in the right direction right now,” he said.
Half of First-Wave COVID Cases May Have Lasting Harm to Sense of Smell
Nearly half of those who became ill with COVID in the first wave of infections may have long-term and even permanent changes to their sense of smell, according to preliminary research from Sweden.
A sudden loss of smell, or an impaired or distorted perception of odors, emerged as an unusual symptom of COVID early on in the pandemic. While many people swiftly recovered, others found that their sense of smell never quite returned to normal.
To find out how common the impairments might be, scientists at the Karolinska Institute in Stockholm ran comprehensive tests on 100 individuals who caught COVID in the first wave of infections that swept through Sweden in spring 2020.
Do Not Assume COVID Pandemic Reaching ‘End Game,’ Warns WHO
The head of the World Health Organization (WHO) warned on Monday that it was dangerous to assume the Omicron variant would herald the end of COVID-19‘s acutest phase, exhorting nations to stay focused to beat the pandemic.
“The COVID-19 pandemic is now entering its third year and we are at a critical juncture,” he told a news conference earlier. “We must work together to bring the acute phase of this pandemic to an end. We cannot let it continue to drag on, lurching between panic and neglect.”
In South Los Angeles, Busy Hospital Deals With More Widespread but Less Severe COVID Infections
This time, hospital officials say, the virus is more widespread but not as deadly. That has flooded the emergency room with people who are not as sick, and whose preexisting conditions have been exacerbated by the virus.
During this surge, most COVID-19 cases are mild enough that patients are tested, given medication and released. But given the sheer number of people coming in, the hospital is full. And like other facilities, it is short-staffed, as the coronavirus is infecting healthcare workers throughout the state.
“We’re seeing a lower percentage of people being admitted to the hospital,” said Dr. Elaine Batchlor, the hospital’s chief executive. “We’re seeing shorter lengths of stay.”
Over-12s Should Be Able to Get COVID Vaccine in Australia Without Parental Consent, Say Experts
Children aged 12 or over should be allowed to receive a COVID vaccine without the consent of their parents, leading ethicists and pediatricians say, while also calling for clearer national guidelines on the issue.
Traditionally, parents have been asked to consent to vaccinations of their children, including those in high school, with vaccine providers “usually reluctant to vaccinate, fearing legal consequences or complaints against them” if this consent is not given.
While the federal and some state governments have developed guidelines that allow medical practitioners to treat mature minors without parental consent, some providers are not aware of these and even if they are, are still worried about potential legal issues or find them confusing, Massie said.