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Congress Must Modernize Our Approach to Rare Vaccine Injuries
One important ongoing way to combat vaccine hesitancy is to ensure consumers are swiftly and fairly compensated should they suffer a rare vaccine-related injury, an injury usually caused by an error in the administration of the vaccine, rather than the vaccine itself.
To provide such compensation, in 1986, Congress established the National Vaccine Injury Compensation Program (VICP), a no-fault alternative to the traditional legal system that reimburses consumers for vaccine-related injuries. While I strongly disagree with dangerous anti-vax misinformation campaigns, I believe those who suffer rare injuries associated with vaccines, including COVID-19 vaccines, deserve compensation for medical bills and other losses.
Unfortunately, for the few who have suffered adverse effects from the COVID-19 vaccine, fair compensation is being delayed and denied. Due to the unique circumstances in which that vaccine was approved, COVID-19 claims are being considered under a separate, inadequate process known as the Countermeasures Injury Compensation Program (CICP). The CICP has far fewer consumer protections and no judicial review. It is still very slow and provides very inadequate compensation. Of the few COVID-19 claims processed by the CICP, payments have been made for only four — each less than $4,000.
Compensation under the VICP accounts for medical costs, any work-loss compensation, and damages. Outrageously, after decades, the damages cap has never been increased — leaving too many consumers without sufficient protection. Our legislation would raise the cap in line with inflation and index it moving forward.
Biden’s Fall COVID Vaccine Rollout for the Uninsured Won’t Include Pharmacies at First
The Biden administration’s effort to provide free COVID-19 vaccines to the uninsured will not start at retail pharmacies until mid-October, weeks after the government plans to make an updated version of the shot available to the broader public.
The gap in timing, which comes as COVID hospitalizations have ticked up in recent weeks, means that millions of Americans without health coverage will not be able to immediately get a no-cost vaccine at popular places like CVS and Walgreens, even as it will be widely available for those who have insurance.
The CDC expects the updated vaccine rollout to begin the third or fourth week of September, she said. But the contracts with pharmacies will likely not be finished until mid-October.
The uninsured will instead need to go to federal health centers or individual providers for free vaccines during the first stage of the fall vaccination campaign. That adds a layer of complexity, public health officials warn, that could discourage people from getting the shot.
The CDC Works to Overhaul Lab Operations After COVID Test Flop
In early February 2020, Kirsten St. George and her team at New York State’s public health lab received a test developed by the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention to diagnose people infected with the new, rapidly spreading coronavirus.
But, like many labs around the country, it quickly found the test gave inaccurate results. So test samples had to be sent back to the CDC for processing, wasting time and leaving state officials “sort of blind to what the situation was with the disease,” said St. George, chief of the laboratory of viral diseases at the Wadsworth Center, one of the nation’s largest state public health labs.
An independent panel of laboratory researchers, public health and policy experts, and doctors say the CDC’s flawed diagnostic test was one of the “most consequential” of the agency’s pandemic missteps because it stymied national efforts to contain COVID-19 as the disease spread.
The CDC’s original COVID test had two key problems, according to an internal analysis in 2021 by a group of agency staff. A design flaw and contamination during production at the CDC led the tests to give false positive results.
Which Arm Gets the COVID Booster May Make a Difference, Study Shows
When you go to get your newly updated COVID-19 booster this fall, you might want to choose the arm the vaccine goes in carefully. The immune response may be stronger if your booster goes in the same arm as your last COVID-19 shot, according to a study published on August 11 in the journal eBioMedicine.
“The question seems so banal, so trivial that nobody before has thought to ask it,” study coauthor Martina Sester, a biologist and head of the department of the Institute of Infection Medicine at Saarland University Hospital in Germany, said in a news release.
The researchers used the data of 303 people who received the mRNA vaccine as well as a booster shot as part of Germany’s vaccine campaign. Two weeks after the booster, the number of “killer T cells” was significantly higher in those who had both shots in the same arm, according to the study.
The immune cells are important for quickly destroying the virus, but antibodies are also important to prevent further harm, the study said. And researchers did not find a larger number of antibodies.
CDC Tracking New COVID Variant BA.2.86 After Highly-Mutated Strain Reported in Michigan
The U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention announced Thursday it is tracking a recently discovered COVID-19 strain, BA.2.86 after a case of the highly-mutated variant was discovered in Michigan.
Experts say reports of BA.2.86 being spotted in countries on multiple continents — Denmark, Israel, U.K. and the U.S. — suggest it is at least capable of transmitting widely and could have been spreading undetected for some time.
It comes after the World Health Organization announced it had classified BA.2.86 as a “variant under monitoring” due to its large number of mutations.
This strain’s rapid escalation to the WHO’s “variant under monitoring” category is uncommon. Just three cases had been spotted of the variant worldwide. Virus trackers officially designated the strain as BA.2.86 just a day ago.
The strain’s dozens of genetic changes — an evolutionary jump on par with the emergence of the original Omicron variant in 2021 — have raised eyebrows among virologists as cases have started to crop up around the world. Its mutations include some changes at key parts of the virus that could help it better dodge the body’s immunity from prior infections or vaccination.
Moderna Says New COVID Vaccine Was Effective Against Eris Variant in Early Trial
Moderna’s new COVID vaccine generated a robust immune response against the now-dominant Eris variant and another rapidly spreading strain of the virus in an early clinical trial, the biotech company said Thursday.
The updated shot is designed to target Omicron subvariant XBB.1.5, but the results suggest that the jab may still be effective against newer variants of the virus that are gaining ground nationwide. That includes Eris and another variant nicknamed Fornax, both of which are also descendants of the Omicron virus variant.
Moderna’s vaccine and new shots from Pfizer and Novavax are slated to roll out within weeks, pending potential approvals from the U.S. Food and Drug Administration.
The World Health Organization designated Eris a “variant of interest,” meaning it will be monitored for mutations that could make it more severe. Fornax, or FL 1.5.1, is also beginning to surge in parts of the U.S. It accounted for 8.6% of all cases nationwide as of earlier this month, the CDC said.
U.K. Reports First Case of New COVID Virus Variant
The U.K. Health Security Agency (UKHSA) said on Friday the first case of COVID-19 variant BA.2.86 had been detected in the country in an individual with no recent travel history.
On Thursday, the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention said it was tracking the new, highly mutated variant of the virus that causes COVID.
The variant has also been identified in Israel, Denmark and the United States.
COVID Booster Jabs Could Go on Sale Privately in U.K. in 2024
COVID booster vaccines may become available for the U.K. public to buy for the first time after health officials reiterated their backing for the proposal.
Pharmacists and private clinics will be allowed to offer jabs for sale on the high street, as they do with the flu vaccine. They are unlikely to be available in time for an autumn booster campaign but could become available next year.
A U.K. Health Security Agency (UKHSA) official said there were “no blanket restrictions” on the private sales of vaccines after scientists backed the move amid concerns over a new wave of the virus that could worsen in autumn and winter.
In addition, sources said health authorities would not prevent manufacturers from initiating a private market for the vaccines. In the U.K., COVID jabs have only been available on the NHS, where they are free at the point of delivery since the first jab was administered in December 2020.
