Covid News Watch
Family Mistakenly Given COVID Vaccines Instead of Flu Shots, Indiana Attorney Says + More
Family Mistakenly Given COVID Vaccines Instead of Flu Shots, Indiana Attorney Says
The Kansas City Star reported:
A family of four says it was mistakenly given COVID-19 vaccines instead of flu shots at a Walgreens pharmacy in Indiana, according to the family’s attorney.
Attorney Daniel Tuley, also of Evansville, says the four family members went to Walgreens wanting the annual flu shot. They left thinking that’s the shot they each received. But about 90 minutes later, a pharmacy employee called to explain the vaccine mistake.
The family’s children are both experiencing a fever, body aches, coughs, headaches and nausea, according to the news release. The 4-year-old has had a fever for over a week, Tuley said Monday, and they are being treated by a pediatric cardiologist for tachycardia and high blood pressure.
Palm Beach Family Mourning After Vaccinated Husband, Father Died of COVID
A Palm Beach family is heartbroken and shocked after a fully vaccinated husband and father died of COVID-19.
“He was a beautiful, handsome, strong, healthy, kindhearted guy who was loved by so many people,” said Jamie Konidare of her late husband Vincent.
Now Vincent Konidare’s family is left not only with his memories but also questions, like how a man they said had no preexisting conditions and who was fully vaccinated could die from COVID-19.
Next on FDA’s Agenda: Booster Shots of Moderna, J&J Vaccines
With many Americans who got Pfizer vaccinations already rolling up their sleeves for a booster shot, millions of others who received the Moderna or Johnson & Johnson vaccine wait anxiously to learn when it’s their turn.
Federal regulators begin tackling that question this week.
On Thursday and Friday, the Food and Drug Administration convenes its independent advisers for the first stage in the process of deciding whether extra doses of the two vaccines should be dispensed and, if so, who should get them and when. The final go-ahead is not expected for at least another week.
University of Kentucky Part of National Trial to Test Moderna Vaccine in Children
The University of Kentucky is part of a national trial to test the safety and effectiveness of the Moderna COVID-19 vaccine in younger children.
The pediatric research study will define an age-appropriate dose of the Moderna vaccine, test the vaccine’s effectiveness, and monitor any potential side effects in children, collecting information to ensure safe use.
For the current phase of the study, researchers are enrolling children aged 6 months to under two years of age into the study beginning at the end of October.
The Mysterious Case of the COVID Lab-Leak Theory
Since the coronavirus first appeared, at the end of 2019, four and a half million people have died, countless more have suffered, whole economies have been upended, schools have been shuttered. Why?
Did the virus jump from an animal to its first human host, its patient zero? Or, as some suspect, was the catastrophe the result of a laboratory accident in Wuhan, a city of eleven million people in central China?
Kristian Andersen, an infectious-disease expert at Scripps Research, in San Diego, began tracking the virus in January, 2020. He found the degree of contagion not just scary but unusual.
Merck Asks U.S. FDA to Authorize Promising Anti-COVID Pill
Drugmaker Merck asked U.S. regulators Monday to authorize its pill for treating COVID-19 in what would add an entirely new and easy-to-use weapon to the world’s arsenal against the pandemic.
If cleared by the Food and Drug Administration — a decision that could come in a matter of weeks — it would be the first pill shown to treat the illness. All other FDA-backed treatments against COVID-19 require an IV or injection.
A Primer on What We Know About Mixing and Matching COVID Vaccines
Later this week an expert committee that advises the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention will hear about the results of a clinical trial that could influence how COVID vaccines are used in this country at some point in the future. The trial, conducted by the National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases, is a so-called mix-and-match trial, testing the COVID vaccines authorized in the U.S. in combinations with each other.
The goal of the trial was to see whether using a different vaccine as a booster shot improves protection. So does getting a dose of Pfizer vaccine after getting a single dose of Johnson & Johnson’s vaccine trigger production of more antibodies than a second dose of the J&J would? Are the messenger RNA vaccines made by Pfizer and Moderna virtually interchangeable, or does switching even there produce a broader set of immune responses?
U.S. FDA Staff Says Moderna Did Not Meet All Criteria for COVID Boosters
Scientists at the U.S. Food and Drug Administration said on Tuesday that Moderna Inc (MRNA.O) had not met all of the agency’s criteria to support use of booster doses of its COVID-19 vaccine, possibly because the efficacy of the shot’s first two doses has remained strong.
FDA staff said in documents that data for Moderna’s vaccine showed that a booster does increase protective antibodies, but the difference in antibody levels before and after the shot was not wide enough, particularly in those whose levels had remained high.
The documents were released ahead of a meeting later this week of the FDA’s outside expert advisers to discuss booster doses of the vaccine.
India Recommends Homegrown COVID Vaccine for Kids Aged 2 and Above
U.S. News & World Report reported:
India on Tuesday recommended emergency use of Bharat Biotech’s COVID-19 shot in the 2 to 18 age-group, as the world’s second-most populous nation expands its vaccination drive to include children.
The country has so far fully vaccinated around 29% of about 944 million eligible adults, as per government data, which includes administration of more than 110 million doses of Bharat Biotech’s Covaxin.
The company, however, is still in the process of securing an emergency use listing from the World Health Organization, a decision that is expected later this month.
COVID Variant Medical Detectives Deploying to San Francisco International
The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention on Monday announced the launch of a pilot testing program to identify new COVID variants at the San Francisco International Airport.
For now, the program is limited to passengers on certain international flights coming into San Francisco, as well as JFK and Newark International. The program is part of an effort to get a head start on any new COVID variant entering the United States.
As a mRNA virus, COVID-19 is constantly evolving and changing across the world. A recent example is the Delta variant which is still creating medical havoc in some parts of the country.
AstraZeneca Antibody Cocktail Study Shows Success Treating COVID
AstraZeneca‘s (AZN.L) antibody cocktail against COVID-19, which has proven to work as a preventative shot in the non-infected, was also shown to save lives and prevent severe disease when given as treatment within a week of first symptoms.
The drug, a combination of two antibodies called AZD7442, reduced the risk of severe COVID-19 or death by 50% in non-hospitalised patients who have had symptoms for seven days or less, the Anglo-Swedish drugmaker said on Monday.
New York Times Issues Massive Correction After Overstating COVID Hospitalizations Among Children + More
New York Times Issues Massive Correction After Overstating COVID Hospitalizations Among Children
The New York Times issued a massive correction Thursday after the liberal newspaper severely misreported the number of COVID hospitalizations among children in the United States by more than 800,000.
A report headlined “A New Vaccine Strategy for Children: Just One Dose, for Now,” by science and health reporter Apoorva Mandavilli, was peppered with errors before major changes were made to the story.
The Times initially reported “nearly 900,000 children have been hospitalized” with COVID since the pandemic began, when the factual data in the now-corrected version is that “more than 63,000 children were hospitalized with COVID-19 from August 2020 to October 2021.”
Millions of Kids’ Coronavirus Shots ‘Ready’ to Go; Initial Doses to Be Shared on a Population Basis
The Washington Post via MSN reported:
Within days of regulators clearing the nation’s first vaccine for younger children, federal officials say they will begin pushing out as many as 20 million doses of the Pfizer-BioNTech pediatric vaccine to inoculate school-age kids across America in a bid to control the coronavirus pandemic.
The kickoff of the long-awaited children’s vaccination campaign could begin as soon as early November. And this time round, the government has purchased enough doses to give two shots to all 28 million eligible children, ages 5 to 11.
Pfizer Requests FDA Nod for COVID Shot in Kids 5 to 11, but Convincing Parents Might Be a Tough Sell
Even while pediatric COVID-19 cases remain high in the United States, there remains significant resistance by parents to vaccinate their children. Amid this reluctance, Pfizer and BioNTech have asked the FDA to authorize their vaccine for children aged 5 to 11, the companies revealed on Thursday.
An FDA advisory committee has scheduled a meeting on Oct. 26 to discuss authorization. The submission potentially sets up the vaccine for emergency use approval late October or early November, but the companies may face a tough sell trying to convince parents that the shot is safe.
Last month, only 34% of parents in the U.S. with children ages 5 to 11 said they would vaccinate them “right away,” according to a Kaiser Family Foundation poll. The survey was taken after Pfizer and BioNTech revealed that their vaccine was safe and effective in children of this age group.
Factbox: Countries Respond to Heart Inflammation Risk From MRNA Shots
Some countries have halted altogether or are giving only one dose of COVID shots based on so-called mRNA technology to teens following reports of possible rare cardiovascular side effects.
Europe’s drug regulator said in July it had found a possible link between a very rare inflammatory heart condition and COVID-19 vaccines from Pfizer/BioNTech and Moderna (MRNA.O). read more
237 Fully Vaccinated Oregon Residents Died of COVID; 28,075 Breakthrough Cases Recorded
International Business reported:
More than 200 fully vaccinated residents in Oregon have died of COVID-19, according to the state’s breakthrough cases report.
As of Thursday, at least 237 fully vaccinated people have lost their lives to COVID-19 in Oregon since the beginning of the pandemic, accounting for 0.8% of the state’s vaccinated population.
Since the beginning of the pandemic, Oregon has also recorded 28,075 breakthrough COVID-19 infections, a large majority of which occurred in people between the ages of 30 to 39.
Two Indian Drugmakers to End Trials of Generic Merck Pill for Moderate COVID
Two Indian drugmakers have requested permission to end late-stage trials of their generic versions of Merck & Co’s (MRK.N) oral antiviral drug molnupiravir for moderate COVID-19, raising questions about how effective the experimental medicine is for that group of patients.
The Indian drug regulator’s internal expert committee disclosed on its website that Aurobindo Pharma Ltd (ARBN.NS) and MSN Laboratories had presented interim clinical trial data for this group of patients and asked to end the trials.
Texas Struggled to Teach Students Learning English Before COVID. The Pandemic Made It Worse.
Each year, more people of color, especially Hispanics, come to Texas, with nearly 2 million additional Hispanic people calling Texas home over the last decade, according to the 2020 census. Texans of color as a whole accounted for 95% of the state’s population growth.
So the importance of teaching non-English-speaking children has never been higher.
But the pandemic is threatening what was a fragile area of education to begin with. A recent pre-pandemic study from Rice University suggests that Texas is getting worse at teaching students English, which impacts both their academic success and potential lifetime income.
Denmark Says Moderna Vaccine Remains Available to Under-18s
The Danish Health Agency said on Friday that it was continuing to offer Moderna‘s (MRNA.O) COVID-19 vaccine to under-18s, and that a statement on Wednesday suggesting a suspension had in fact been a miscommunication.
“The Danish recommendations have not been changed,” the agency said.
Georgia Won’t Buy, Receive AstraZeneca Coronavirus Vaccine
Georgia will neither buy, nor receive from donors the British AstraZeneca coronavirus vaccine ‘as the demand for the vaccine is very low in the country,’ head of Georgia’s National Centre for Disease Control (NCDC) Amiran Gamkrelidze stated earlier today.
AstraZeneca was the first coronavirus vaccine Georgia received in March 2021.
However, the death of a nurse in eastern Georgia after receiving the vaccine the same month hampered the vaccination process.
Moderna Founders Make Forbes List of Wealthiest U.S. People + More
Moderna Founders Make Forbes List of Wealthiest People in the U.S.
The Washington Examiner reported:
Two founders of Moderna and one top investor made it on Forbes’s list of the wealthiest people in the United States, following the company’s development of one of the initial COVID-19 vaccines distributed worldwide.
Moderna’s co-founder and chairman Noubar Afeyan, co-founder and board member Robert Langer, and Moderna investor Timothy Springer were featured on the prestigious Forbes 400 list .
Springer was placed in the 176th slot, with a net worth of $5.9 billion. Langer ranked 222nd, with a net worth of $4.9 billion, while Ageyan was 10 spaces above him in the 212th slot with a net worth of $5 billion.
Pfizer Submits Request to Authorize COVID Vaccine for Kids to FDA
Pfizer Inc. and BioNTech SE have submitted an application to U.S. regulators to administer their COVID-19 vaccine to children ages 5 to 11, bringing shots for school-age kids another step closer.
The companies announced the news Thursday in a tweet by Pfizer. The Food and Drug Administration had previously scheduled an advisory committee meeting to review clinical-trial data on the pediatric vaccine for Oct. 26.
Anthony Fauci, President Joe Biden’s top adviser on COVID-19, has suggested that an emergency clearance could come by Halloween. On Thursday, White House COVID response coordinator Jeff Zients said the shots for children could begin before Thanksgiving.
How the Risk of COVID for Kids Compares to Other Dangers
There were reports this summer of more children under 18 falling ill with COVID-19, and some pediatric hospital wards filling up, leading many to believe that the pandemic is now a serious threat to children, too.
But experts maintain that the risks most children face from COVID-19 are low, even with the Delta variant. “The risk in children has not changed with the new variant as far as we can tell,” Betsy Herold, a pediatric infectious disease physician at the Albert Einstein College of Medicine, told me.
Herold estimates that less than 2 percent of children known to be infected by the coronavirus are hospitalized, and less than 0.03 percent of those infected die.
COVID Immunity Through Infection or Vaccination: Are They Equal?
Dr. Aaron Kheriaty, a psychiatry professor at the University of California, Irvine, felt he didn’t need to be vaccinated against COVID-19 because he’d fallen ill with the disease in July 2020.
So, in August, he sued to stop the university system’s vaccination mandate, saying “natural” immunity had given him and millions of other people better protection than any vaccine could.
A judge last week dismissed Kheriaty’s request for an injunction against the university over its mandate, which took effect Sept. 3.
That having been said, evidence is growing that contracting SARS-CoV-2, the virus that causes COVID-19, is generally as effective as vaccination at stimulating your immune system to prevent the disease. Yet federal officials have been reluctant to recognize any equivalency, citing the wide variation in COVID patients’ immune responses to infection.
Studies Confirm Waning Immunity From Pfizer’s COVID Vaccine
Two real-world studies published Wednesday confirm that the immune protection offered by two doses of Pfizer‘s COVID-19 vaccine drops off after two months or so, although protection against severe disease, hospitalization and death remains strong.
The studies, from Israel and from Qatar and published in the New England Journal of Medicine, support arguments that even fully vaccinated people need to maintain precautions against infection.
One study from Israel covered 4,800 healthcare workers and showed antibody levels wane rapidly after two doses of vaccine “especially among men, among persons 65 years of age or older, and among persons with immunosuppression.”
76% of September COVID Deaths in Vermont Are Vax Breakthroughs
Vermont Daily Chronicle reported:
Just eight of the 33 Vermonters who died of COVID-19 in September were unvaccinated, the Vermont Department of Heath said Wednesday.
Health Department spokesperson Ben Truman said most of the vaccine ‘breakthrough’ COVID-19 fatalities were elderly. Because they were among the first vaccinated, Vermont’s elderly “have had more time to potentially become a vaccine breakthrough case,” he said.
Expressed in percentages, 76% of Vermont COVID-19 fatalities were breakthrough cases. As of Tuesday, 88 percent of all eligible Vermonters (age 12 and over) had been vaccinated with at least one shot.
Israeli Data Favor Higher Estimates of Post-Vax Myocarditis — Results Echo the Controversial VAERS Study From September
The incidence of myocarditis after receipt of the Pfizer-BioNTech COVID-19 mRNA vaccine was several times higher in two reports from Israel compared with some estimates, but remained low through the late spring of this year.
For patients in Israel’s largest healthcare system, Clalit Health Services, the estimate of myocarditis was 2.13 cases per 100,000 vaccinated persons, reaching as high as 10.69 cases per 100,000 in men and boys ages 16 to 29. A separate study using Israel’s government database, capturing active and passive periods of surveillance for myocarditis, supported the higher risk in young men. In this report, males of all ages had myocarditis occur at 0.64 cases per 100,000 persons after the first dose and 3.83 cases per 100,000 after the second dose — with the incidence increasing to 1.34 and 15.07 per 100,000 after the first and second doses, respectively, for teenage boys ages 16 to 19.
Both papers were published online in the New England Journal of Medicine.
Finland Joins Sweden and Denmark in Limiting Moderna COVID Vaccine
Finland on Thursday paused the use of Moderna‘s (MRNA.O) COVID-19 vaccine for younger males due to reports of a rare cardiovascular side effect, joining Sweden and Denmark in limiting its use.
Mika Salminen, director of the Finnish health institute, said Finland would instead give Pfizer’s vaccine to men born in 1991 and later. Finland offers shots to people aged 12 and over.
“A Nordic study involving Finland, Sweden, Norway and Denmark found that men under the age of 30 who received Moderna Spikevax had a slightly higher risk than others of developing myocarditis,” he said.
Behind India’s Ivermectin Blackout: New COVID Cases Dropped 97% in 5 Weeks
In June, five weeks after health officials in Uttar Pradesh, India’s most populous state, launched an aggressive program to fight COVID and the Delta variant, new cases dropped by a staggering 97.1%.
The health officials went door-to-door in the state of 230 million residents, providing a test and treat program with medicine kits. The World Health Organization (WHO) praised the overwhelming success of the program, but would not identify the medicines used in the kits provided to residents.
Each home kit contained the following: Paracetamol tablets [tylenol], Vitamin C, Multivitamin, Zinc, Vitamin D3, Ivermectin 12 mg [quantity #10 tablets], Doxycycline 100 mg [quantity #10 tablets]. Other non-medication components included face masks, sanitizer, gloves and alcohol wipes, a digital thermometer, and a pulse oximeter.
France Extends List of Who Qualifies for COVID Booster Jab
France is to offer a COVID-19 booster vaccination to a wider group of people. It comes after the European Medicines Agency approved boosters for all adults — but this is not expected to happen in France yet.
Who is currently being offered a booster jab in France? People who are most at risk of suffering a severe form of COVID are already being offered a third jab, including the elderly, and those with underlying conditions or who are immunosuppressed.
Now, their carers will also be offered a third, booster vaccination, health authority la Haute autorité de Santé (HAS) confirmed yesterday (October 6).
Top COVID Experts Urge Biden to Scale Back Booster Campaign + More
Top COVID Experts Privately Urge Biden Admin to Scale Back Booster Campaign
A vocal contingent of prominent doctors and scientists is pressing the Biden administration to scrap its plans to provide booster shots to all previously vaccinated adults, according to five people familiar with the matter.
Several of these outside experts, including some who advised President Joe Biden’s transition team, objected to the administration’s approach during a private, off-the-record call last week with federal health officials. Current U.S. data on vaccine performance does not justify using boosters widely to reduce the risk of breakthrough infections and slow the virus’ spread, the experts said.
Sweden, Denmark Pause Use of Moderna COVID Vaccine for Younger Age Groups
Sweden and Denmark said on Wednesday they will pause the use of Moderna‘s (MRNA.O) COVID-19 vaccine for younger age groups after reports of possible rare side effects, such as myocarditis.
The Swedish health agency said it would pause using the shot for people born in 1991 and later as data pointed to an increase of myocarditis and pericarditis among youths and young adults that had been vaccinated. Those conditions involve an inflammation of the heart or its lining.
Denmark said that, while it used the Pfizer/BioNTech vaccine as its main option for people aged 12-17 years, it had decided to pause giving the Moderna vaccine to people below 18 according to a “precautionary principle”.
Fully Vaccinated Richardson ISD Teacher, Student Die From COVID Complications
Richardson ISD says a fully-vaccinated teacher and a student died due to COVID-19 complications last week.
Sha’Niyah “Nienie” McGee, a junior at Berkner High School, and Eroletta Piascyk, a teacher at the Christa McAuliffe Learning Center, both passed away, the district announced on Monday.
District officials said Piascyk was fully vaccinated and had received a booster shot.
COVID Outbreak Doubles at Denver Jail Despite Public Health Order
An outbreak of COVID-19 cases at the two jails operated by the Denver Sheriff Department has only grown, despite measures demanded two weeks ago by the Denver Department of Public Health and Environment.
A website maintained by the City of and County of Denver showed the outbreak grew from 65 cases on Sept. 22, to 159 combined cases on Oct. 4, between the DDC on Colfax Avenue and the Denver County Jail on Smith Road.
So far DSD has administered nearly 1,500 vaccine doses to inmates but it doesn’t keep track of how many inmates declined to get vaccinated.
India’s Bharat Biotech Submits Data on COVID Drug Trial in Children
Bharat Biotech said on Wednesday it had submitted data from its COVID-19 vaccine trial in children aged 2 to 18 years to India’s drug regulator, becoming the country’s first company to have tested its shot in very young children.
The South Asian country is turning its focus towards vaccinating children against the coronavirus, having already administered more than 920 million doses to adults among its population of nearly 1.4 billion.
The Quest for COVID’s Origins
In late September, the World Health Organization announced that it had assembled a new team of scientists to revive its investigation into the origins of the virus that causes COVID-19. The new group will be tasked with examining whether the virus could have originated in a lab, months after its predecessor deemed the possibility too unlikely for serious consideration.
The Intercept obtained documents that shed new light on controversial lab experiments, raising questions about the origins of the coronavirus pandemic. With neither of the main theories — natural spillover versus a lab leak — yet proved true, the Intercept is seeking answers as to how much officials knew about proposed behind-the-scenes experiments.
NIH Director Says COVID Origins Controversy Has ‘Nothing’ to Do With Resignation: ‘Time for New Vision’
Francis Collins, the director of the National Institutes of Health, said Tuesday that mounting accusations surrounding the agency’s involvement in gain-of-function research and the Wuhan Institute of Virology had “absolutely” nothing to do with his resignation.
The 71-year-old physician-geneticist, who oversaw the research center for 12 years, announced his resignation Tuesday, saying he will step down from his post by the end of 2021.
Buyers Clamor for Merck’s COVID Antiviral Molnupiravir, but Pricing Is Already Controversial
Less than a week after Merck and Ridgeback released extraordinary data on the effectiveness of experimental COVID-19 drug molnupiravir, the rush is on to lock up supplies.
On Wednesday, Singapore, Australia and South Korea unveiled deals with Merck to secure the drug. The company is said to be in talks with several other countries including Germany, Malaysia and Thailand.
The brisk business comes amid complaints that Merck is overcharging for the treatment. In the company’s supply agreement with the United States, Merck charged 40 times what it costs to produce the drug, The Independent reports.
Pfizer Study to Vaccinate Whole Brazilian Town Against COVID
Pfizer Inc (PFE.N) will study the effectiveness of its vaccine against COVID-19 by inoculating the whole population over the age of 12 in a town in southern Brazil, the company said on Wednesday.
The study will be conducted in Toledo, population 143,000, in the west of Parana state, together with Brazil’s National Vaccination Program, local health authorities, a hospital and a federal university.
Pfizer said the purpose was to study transmission of the coronavirus in a “real-life scenario” after the population has been vaccinated.
COVID Infections Dropping Throughout the Americas, Says Health Agency
The number of new COVID-19 infections has been dropping over the past month throughout the Americas, even though only 37% of the people in Latin America and the Caribbean have been fully vaccinated, the Pan American Health Organization (PAHO) said on Wednesday.
However, Alaska has the most serious outbreak in the United States today that is overwhelming emergency rooms, and while South America is continuing to see a drop in infections, Chile has seen a jump in cases in the capital Santiago and port cities Coquimbo and Antofagasta.
