Covid News Watch
Fully Vaccinated Michigan Couple Dies From COVID a Minute Apart While Holding Hands + More
Fully Vaccinated Michigan Couple Dies From COVID a Minute Apart While Holding Hands
A fully vaccinated Michigan couple died one minute apart from COVID-19 on Sunday, weeks after coming down with the virus.
Cal Dunham, 59, and his wife Linda, 66, had preexisting conditions and were very cautious, Fox17Online reported. But they came down with symptoms during a recent camping trip and days later were hospitalized and put on ventilators, the report said.
CDC Calls for More COVID Vaccinations Among Pregnant Women
The U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention on Wednesday issued a health advisory to increase COVID-19 vaccinations among women who are pregnant, recently pregnant or trying to become pregnant, to prevent serious illness and death.
The CDC said its data showed only 31% of pregnant people have been vaccinated against COVID-19. Although more pregnant women are now vaccinated, the CDC said uptake of vaccines for pregnant women has been lower compared to the general population.
Harvard Business School Moves Online After Surge in Breakthrough COVID Cases
Exactly one month following the start of its fall term, Harvard Business School announced Monday it has moved all of its first-year MBA students and some of its second-year students to remote learning this week due to “a steady rise in breakthrough” COVID-19 infections among its student population. Students, faculty, and staff at universities across the country have feared these types of on-campus breakthrough infections.
Harvard requires that all community members — students, faculty, staff, and researchers — be vaccinated. As of Sept. 22 figures, 96% of Harvard employees and 95% of Harvard students were vaccinated. That’s a much higher vaccination rate than the U.S. adult population, which currently lands at just more than 64% vaccinated. As of Monday, HBS students have been asked to learn remotely through the weekend.
Pharmacist Pleads Guilty to Giving COVID Vaccine to Kids Under 12 — Vaccines Were Administered to Two Dozen Children Ages 7 to 11
A Puerto Rico pharmacist has pleaded guilty to administering Pfizer’s COVID-19 vaccine (Comirnaty) to children younger than 12, the Justice Department announced.
Liz Ann Banchs, the owner and president of Farmacia Gabriela, a pharmacy in Juana Díaz, pled guilty last week to “participating in a felony conspiracy to convert government property and to commit healthcare fraud in connection with the illegal vaccination of minors between the ages of 7 to 11 with the Pfizer-BioNTech COVID-19 vaccine,” the department said Tuesday in a press release.
Clinical Trial Seeks to Repurpose FDA-Approved Drugs as COVID Treatment
The NIH-funded study is being conducted around the country with the goal of compiling data on three medications to see if they can help treat COVID-19 symptoms.
Those drugs include the inhaled steroid Fluticasone, the antidepressant Fluvoxamine, or a safe dose of Ivermectin.
Sen. Marshall, Doctors Caucus Send Letter to CDC Urging Recognition of COVID Natural Immunity
Sen. Roger Marshall, R-Kan., sent a letter to Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) Director Rochelle Walensky calling on the CDC to “recognize natural immunity” against COVID-19.
Marshall, a medical doctor, led a group of his fellow Doctors Caucus members in a letter to Walensky on Tuesday, warning that not recognizing natural immunity to COVID-19 could have wide-ranging implications from the military to healthcare and the economy.
Some Fear Boosters Will Hurt Drive to Reach the Unvaccinated
The spread of COVID-19 vaccination requirements across the U.S. hasn’t had the desired effect so far, with the number of Americans getting their first shots plunging in recent weeks. And some experts worry that the move to dispense boosters could just make matters worse.
The fear is that the rollout of booster shots will lead some people to question the effectiveness of the vaccine in the first place.
COVID Pandemic Hurt UK Trials for Cancer Drugs, Industry Body Says
The COVID-19 pandemic badly hit enrollment into clinical trials for drugs to treat cancer, heart disease and other conditions, an industry body said in a report on Wednesday, adding that a recovery in recruitment was lagging some European peers.
Last year saw the ground-breaking development of COVID-19 vaccines in record-quick time, with vaccines made by Pfizer (PFE.N) and AstraZeneca (AZN.L) gaining emergency approval in Britain by the end of the year, and treatment dexamethasone shown to reduce death in a British study.
U.S. FDA Leaning Toward Approving Moderna Half-Dose Booster — Bloomberg News
The U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA) is leaning toward authorizing half-dose booster shots of the Moderna Inc (MRNA.O) COVID-19 vaccine, Bloomberg News reported on Tuesday, citing people familiar with the matter.
The FDA had been seeking information about the effectiveness of a full third dose of the Moderna vaccine, but is now ready to move forward and consider the half-dose booster Moderna has proposed, the report said.
China Kills 3 Housecats That Tested Positive for COVID
A city in northern China has killed three housecats after they tested positive for COVID-19, according to a local media report Wednesday, as the country takes increasingly strict measures to contain new outbreaks.
The authorities in Harbin, where 75 cases have recently been discovered, said the action was taken because there was no available treatment for animals with the disease and they would have endangered their owner and other residents of the apartment complex in which they lived, Beijing News online said.
Nursing Homes Charging Ahead to Administer COVID Vaccine Booster Shots + More
Nursing Homes Charging Ahead to Administer COVID Vaccine Booster Shots
Nursing home and assisted living facilities are preparing to roll out COVID-19 vaccine booster shots for their residents and staff, while grappling with an acute labor shortage that’s likely to get worse as a federal vaccine mandate takes effect.
Expressing “how grateful we are that the Biden administration prioritized nursing homes,” Janet Snipes, executive director at Holly Heights Nursing Center in Denver, Colorado, told CBS MoneyWatch that the facility is now working to get individuals’ consent for the boosters. “We’re not completely finished, but we haven’t had anyone decline.”
Pfizer/BioNTech Submit Initial Data on COVID Vaccine for People Ages 5 to 11 to FDA, but Aren’t Seeking EUA Yet
Pfizer and BioNTech said Tuesday they have submitted COVID-19 vaccine data on children ages 5 to 11 to the U.S. Food and Drug Administration for initial review, but are not yet seeking emergency use authorization.
A formal submission to request EUA for the vaccine is expected to follow in the coming weeks, the companies said in a statement.
Sanofi Drops Plans for Messenger RNA Vaccine Against Virus
French drugmaker Sanofi said Tuesday it was shelving plans for a COVID-19 vaccine based on messenger RNA despite positive results from early stage testing.
The Paris-based company said it will continue to develop another vaccine candidate that is already undergoing late stage human trials. That vaccine, developed jointly with Britain’s GlaxoSmithKline, is based on the characteristic spike protein of the virus that causes COVID-19.
Pfizer-BioNTech’s COVID Vaccine Appears Effective Against SARS-CoV-2 Mu Variant
Researchers in Japan have conducted a study showing that the vaccine developed by Pfizer-BioNTech to protect against coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) seems to be adequately effective against the B.1.621 (Mu) variant of severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 (SARS-CoV-2).
The Mu variant, which has been classified by the World Health Organization (WHO) as a variant of interest, has recently triggered concerns after reports indicated that it exhibits increased immune escape capabilities compared with other variants of concern and interest.
4 Charts Show Why Moderna Vaccine Recipients May Not Need Boosters as Much as People Who Got Pfizer’s Vaccine
Emerging evidence suggests that people on #TeamModerna may not need a booster as much as others.
Last week, the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention released data sets from hospitals around the country. That data is starting to indicate that people who got Moderna‘s vaccine are less likely to be hospitalized than people who got Pfizer‘s or Johnson & Johnson‘s.
NIAID Issues New Awards to Fund ‘Pan-Coronavirus’ Vaccines
The National Institutes of Health reported:
The National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases (NIAID), part of the National Institutes of Health, has awarded approximately $36.3 million to three academic institutions to conduct research to develop vaccines to protect against multiple types of coronaviruses and viral variants. The awards are intended to fuel vaccine research for a diverse family of coronaviruses, with a primary focus on potential pandemic-causing coronaviruses, such as SARS-CoV-2.
Said NIAID Director Anthony S. Fauci, M.D., “These new awards are designed to look ahead and prepare for the next generation of coronaviruses with pandemic potential.”
COVID: Fully Vaccinated Patients No Longer Need to Test or Isolate Before Elective Procedures, Hospitals Are Told
Fully vaccinated patients no longer need to have a polymerase chain reaction COVID-19 test or to isolate before elective procedures, as long as they have a negative lateral flow test on the day, the UK Health Security Agency (UKHSA) has told hospitals.
The recommendation is one of three changes hospitals have been told they can make to the management of COVID-19 infection, prevention, and control measures. They can also reduce physical distancing from two metres to one, and readopt standard rather than enhanced cleaning procedures in low risk areas such as planned or scheduled elective care.
Japan to Lift All Coronavirus Emergency Steps Nationwide
Japan’s government announced Tuesday that the coronavirus state of emergency will end this week to help rejuvenate the economy as infections slow.
Prime Minister Yoshihide Suga said the emergency will end Thursday and virus restrictions will be eased gradually “in order to resume daily lives despite the presence of the virus.” He said the government will create more temporary COVID-19 treatment facilities and continue vaccinations to prepare for any future resurgence.
Pfizer Says Ready Within Days to Ask for Approval of COVID Vaccine for Kids + More
In a Matter of Days, Pfizer CEO Says They’ll Be Ready to Ask for Approval of a COVID Vaccine for Kids
Pfizer/BioNTech plans to ask for authorization of a COVID-19 vaccine for some children under 12 soon, bringing the US one step closer to offering protection to a population that has grown particularly vulnerable as the fall season gets underway.
“It is a question of days, not weeks,” Pfizer Chairman and CEO Albert Bourla told ABC News Sunday about when the company will submit data on children ages 5 to 11 to the FDA for consideration.
Hawaii Residents Share Firsthand Stories of Breakthrough COVID Cases
They all tested positive for COVID-19 despite being fully vaccinated with two doses of either the Pfizer or Moderna COVID-19 vaccines, and would be considered breakthrough cases — defined by the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention as the detection of the coronavirus in a person more than 14 days after completing vaccinations.
State Department of Health officials have repeatedly said breakthrough cases are rare and that vaccines still protect people from severe illness, hospitalization and death due to COVID-19.
But breakthrough cases can, and do, happen. Both in Hawaii and nationally, cases seem to have increased since the highly contagious Delta variant surged over the summer.
Gottlieb: COVID Delta Wave Could Be ‘Last Major Surge’
Former Food and Drug Administration (FDA) commissioner Scott Gottlieb said on Monday the COVID-19 Delta wave, which is finally slowing in many regions after weeks of rising cases, could be the “last major surge” in the U.S.
“On the back end of this Delta wave, I do think this is the last major surge of infection, barring something unexpected like a new variant coming along that pierces the immunity offered by vaccination or prior infection,” Gottlieb told CNN.
Still, the former FDA commissioner cautioned that he expects the Delta variant will still strike northern areas of the U.S. harder in the coming weeks, following widespread outbreaks in the South and Midwest. “I think by Thanksgiving, it’s probably going to have run its course across the whole country,” he said.
Here’s Why Vaccine-Hesitant Utahns Say They’re Avoiding the COVID Shot
The Salt Lake Tribune reported:
Roughly half of all Utahns who are hesitating to get their COVID-19 vaccine are worried about side effects from the shot, according to new survey estimates from the U.S. Census Bureau.
The concern ranks as the most commonplace reason for vaccine hesitancy in the Beehive State, but the survey suggests that wait-and-see attitudes and disbelief that the shot is necessary are also holding many people back.
The survey shows that the answers people give shift as their resistance hardens — and begin to center on distrust of the vaccine and of the officials promoting it as a lifesaving public health measure. The data comes from the bureau’s biweekly Household Pulse Survey and covers the first two weeks of September.
Do Monoclonal Antibodies Help COVID Patients?
Monoclonal antibody (mAb) therapies are among the most effective. In this treatment, patients are infused with high concentrations of antibodies specifically engineered to fight SARS-CoV-2, the virus that causes COVID.
Governor Ron DeSantis, who has been dismissive of COVID vaccines as a personal choice without broader impact on society has nevertheless touted mAbs, calling them “the best thing we can do to reduce the number of people who require hospitalization.”
Florida has rolled out more than 20 nonclinical infusion centers — including libraries, theaters and churches — to administer mAbs to people who either have COVID or have been recently exposed to someone who does. DeSantis said that more than 90,000 people have received the treatment as of September 16.
The Young NJ Kids Who Eagerly Joined Pfizer COVID Vaccine Trials
Almost immediately after New Jersey’s COVID vaccination rollout began at the end of last year, 10-year-old Maya Gandhi started thinking about getting the shot.
The Bergen County girl watched as her parents, both doctors, got vaccinated. In May, when her brothers, ages 13 and 14, got their Pfizer vaccines, she asked her mother Nisha when it would be her turn.
Pfizer Begins Study of Oral Drug for Prevention of COVID
Pfizer Inc (PFE.N) said on Monday it has started a large study testing its investigational oral antiviral drug for the prevention of COVID-19 infection among those who have been exposed to the virus.
The drugmaker and its rivals, including U.S.-based Merck & Co Inc (MRK.N) and Swiss pharmaceutical Roche Holding AG (ROG.S), have been racing to develop an easy-to-administer antiviral pill for COVID-19.
The mid-to-late-stage study will test Pfizer’s drug, PF-07321332, in up to 2,660 healthy adult participants aged 18 and older who live in the same household as an individual with a confirmed symptomatic COVID-19 infection.
Understanding How Bats Resist COVID Could Inform Human Treatments
Scientists from Australia and China recently released a comprehensive review of SARS-CoV-2’s immunological interaction with its host — bats. The review appears in the journal Science Immunology.
Although bats can contract SARS-CoV-2, they do not get sick. Understanding why that is might guide scientists as they develop new therapies for COVID-19.
Human immunologists and microbiologists collaborated with an expert in bat immunology Dr. Aaron Irving. First author, Dr. Michael Christie, and his colleagues joined forces with Dr. Irving to elucidate the similarities and differences in how bats and humans combat viruses.
Could DNA Vaccines Be the Next Tool in the World’s Battle Against COVID?
India last month began boasting that it has created — and its regulatory body approved — the world’s first DNA vaccine, ZyCoV-D.
The vaccine, developed by a company called Zydus Cadila, expects to have it available for use as early as next month, giving hope to a country that has suffered more than 447,000 deaths at the hand of the virus.
What is a DNA vaccine and could this new class of vaccination become the next tool in the world’s fight against COVID-19? A DNA vaccine is a form of a software vaccine, explained Tel Aviv University’s Prof. Jonathan Gershoni.
Japan Ready to Lift COVID State of Emergency: Report
Officials in Japan reportedly expect to end the state of emergency covering all 19 of the nation’s prefectures by the end of the month as COVID-19 cases decline.
Japan’s capital, Tokyo, reported 299 new cases on Sunday, marking the 11th consecutive day the city’s case count has fallen below 1,000.
Booster Confusion Takes Hold as Biden Announces Expanded Eligibility + More
Booster Confusion Takes Hold as Biden Announces Expanded Eligibility
President Joe Biden said his administration will begin to deliver booster shots this week after the nation’s two leading health agencies endorsed a third dose of the Pfizer-BioNtech vaccine for individuals older than 65 and people at high risk.
“We have the tools to beat COVID if we come together as a country and use the tools we have,” Biden said in a speech Friday. “This week we took a step in protecting the vaccinated with booster shots. I’ve made clear all along…the decision of which booster shot to give and who will get them is left to the scientists and the doctors.”
A Daily Pill to Treat COVID Could Be Just Months Away, Scientists Say
The Kellys, who live in Seattle, had agreed just after their diagnoses to join a clinical trial at the nearby Fred Hutchinson Cancer Research Center that’s part of an international effort to test an antiviral treatment that could halt COVID early in its course.
By the next day, the couple were taking four pills, twice a day. Although they weren’t told whether they had received an active medication or a placebo, within a week, they said, their symptoms were better. Within two weeks, they had recovered.
The Kellys have a role in developing what could be the world’s next chance to thwart COVID: a short-term regimen of daily pills that can fight the virus early after diagnosis and conceivably prevent symptoms from developing after exposure.
Which Treatments Are Effective for Kids Hospitalized With COVID-19?
Dr. Meena Iyer, the chief medical officer at Dell Children’s Medical Center and vice-chair of clinical affairs at UT Austin Dell Medical School, says that most kids hospitalized with COVID-19 at Dell Children’s are 13 and older. She says about 90% of those kids are unvaccinated, even though they are old enough to receive the vaccine. Iyer says most in that group either are obese, have hypertension or have other underlying health issues.
She said most kids coming in are just in need of a small amount of oxygen, but if kids are hospitalized with more severe symptoms, the hospital has found multiple treatments to be effective. That includes remdesivir, blood thinners, steroids and immunomodulators.
If a child is not hospitalized but has COVID-19 symptoms and underlying health issues, they may qualify to receive monoclonal antibody treatments. These treatments have been shown to help keep people out of the hospital.
Colorado Clinic Fined $40K for Marketing Ivermectin as Cure for COVID
A medical clinic in Colorado has been fined $40,000 for continuing to market ivermectin and other IV therapies to cure COVID-19 even after the Colorado Department of Law issued a cease-and-desist order.
On Thursday, Colorado Attorney General Phil Wesier announced that Siegfried Emme, the owner of Loveland Medical Clinic, would be fined for failing “to stop illegally marketing and overstating the effectiveness of alleged cures for COVID-19.”
The Leader of CDC Just Made a Rare Call to Allow COVID Booster Shots for More People
The head of the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention overruled an advisory panel Friday by approving the distribution of Pfizer and BioNTech’s COVID-19 booster shots to a wide array of workers across the U.S.
CDC Director Dr. Rochelle Walensky signed off on a series of recommendations from the panel, including distributing the shots to older Americans and adults with underlying medical conditions at least six months after their first series of shots.
But she broke from the panel by also clearing boosters for those in high-risk occupational and institutional settings in an unusual decision that’s likely to stoke protests from anti-vaccine advocates.
DNA Sensor Can Spot When COVID Is Contagious
U.S. News & World Report reported:
A new DNA sensor can detect viruses and tell if they are infectious or not in minutes, a new study finds.
The sensor was developed by using DNA technology, and does not require the need to pretreat test samples. Researchers demonstrated this technique with the human adenovirus (which causes colds and flu) and the virus that causes COVID-19.
“The infectivity status is very important information that can tell us if patients are contagious or if an environmental disinfection method works,” said researcher Ana Peinetti, who did the work while a postdoctoral researcher at the University of Illinois Urbana-Champaign (UIUC).
WHO Recommends Antibody Treatment for Some COVID-19 Patients
The World Health Organization has recommended that an antibody treatment be used for some COVID-19 patients in an update to its coronavirus treatment guidelines.
The recommendation, issued on Friday and based off of experimental trials, encourages the two antibodies produced by Regeneron — casirivimab and imdevimab — be used on COVID-19 patients “who are non-severe and at higher risk for hospitalization.”
In the United States, the antibody treatment is recommended for use on patients with mild-to-moderate coronavirus cases to prevent a need for hospitalization.
I Got Moderna. Can I Boost With Pfizer? — ‘There’s All Sorts of Anarchy Going On’
With FDA authorizing boosters for Pfizer‘s COVID-19 vaccine (Comirnaty) for certain groups, recipients of the Moderna vaccine are wondering if they can crossover to Pfizer for a third dose.
Experts are quick to point out that there are no data to guide that decision—and that no federal health agency explicitly recommends doing so. Nonetheless, people already have been taking matters into their own hands, said John Moore, PhD, a virologist and professor at Weill Cornell Medical College in New York City.
“It’s anarchy,” Moore told MedPage Today. “People are getting a third dose on the grounds that they can, not that they need to. They’re just wandering into Walgreens and wandering out with an armful of vaccine.”
Local Hospitals Providing Monoclonal Antibody Treatments to Help Fight COVID-19
As hospitals continue to come near or reach capacity during the COVID-19 pandemic, local medical professionals say there’s a drug that can help with that problem.
Local hospitals such as Mountain View, Idaho Falls Community and Madison Memorial offer outpatient monoclonal antibody treatments. The treatment was designed to keep people from “progressing to severe COVID and getting admitted to the hospital,” according to Jacob Cooley, Assistant Director of Pharmacy Outpatient Services who’s over Mountain View infusions.
“This is the same kind of an antibody your body would make to the virus, but this one was made in a lab,” Mountain View Hospital’s Director of Pharmacy Whitney Cooley explained. “In a lab, they were able to identify very good targets for antibodies to the coronavirus. This has two different antibody types in it … to try and help us make sure we’re covering the variants that have come out.”
Records From DC COVID-19 Vaccine Clinic Stolen in Car Break-In
The paper vaccination records of more than 100 people were stolen after a COVID-19 vaccination clinic in Washington, D.C., earlier this month.
The documents are not vaccine cards but internal records confirming the person received the first dose of the vaccine.
Efforts are underway to notify people who attended the COVID-19 vaccination clinic at the Fort Stanton Recreation Center on Erie Street SE on Sept. 2, 4 or 7 before their next dose is due.
