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Fauci Says Monkeypox Poses ‘Profound Risk’ to Children and Pregnant Women
Top U.S. infectious diseases official Dr. Anthony Fauci said monkeypox poses “a profound risk” to groups including pregnant women and children, despite most cases so far being among men who have sex with men.
Fauci, director of the National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases (NIAID), said scientists still need to understand exactly how monkeypox is spread and who is most at risk.
“We’ve got to understand the modality of transmission, the manifestations, also the risk for people like children and pregnant women. There’s really a profound risk,” he said. “Right now, thank goodness, we have a report of only two cases in children, but they’re all risk populations.”
Experts have said that anyone can get monkeypox and that its spread is not limited to sexual contact between men, nor does it spread solely through sexual contact at all.
U.S. Signs off on 800,000 More Doses of Monkeypox Vaccine
After weeks of delays, nearly 800,000 doses of the monkeypox vaccine will soon be available for distribution, U.S. health regulators said Wednesday.
The announcement comes amid growing criticism that authorities have been too slow in deploying the vaccine, potentially missing the window to contain what could soon become an entrenched infectious disease.
Nearly two weeks ago, the Food and Drug Administration said it had finished the necessary inspections at Bavarian Nordic’s facility in Denmark, where the company fills vials of the vaccine. The FDA said via Twitter on Wednesday that the certification had been finalized. The doses are already in the U.S. “so that they would be ready to be distributed once the manufacturing changes were approved,” the agency said.
U.S. May Need $7 Billion for Monkeypox, Biden Administration Estimates
The Biden administration privately estimated to Congress this month that it may need nearly $7 billion to mount a response to the nation’s monkeypox outbreak that matches “the scope and urgency of the current situation.”
The funding estimate, the details of which were contained in a memo addressed to President Biden and obtained by The Washington Post, reflected early talks among congressional Democrats and White House officials in pursuit of a spending package that could boost the availability of monkeypox tests, vaccine doses and treatments.
The Biden administration also called for as much as $31.4 billion in new funds to combat the coronavirus pandemic, as it seeks to ensure the government has the resources necessary to purchase more treatments, testing and vaccines this year.
River Oaks Doctor Sues Houston Methodist for $25M After Suspension Over COVID Misinformation
Houston Chronicle via MSN reported:
Dr. Mary Talley Bowden, a River Oaks ear, nose and throat specialist in private practice, on Monday filed a defamation lawsuit against Houston Methodist Hospital, arguing the institution ruined her reputation last year when it disciplined her over COVID-19 misinformation.
According to the complaint, filed in the 151st District Court, Bowden says she lost patients and was exposed to “public hatred, contempt, ridicule and financial injury.” Bowden is asking for $25 million in damages. She has hired Steven Biss, an attorney based in Charlottesville, Va., and Cypress lawyer Madhu Sekharan.
Methodist last year temporarily suspended Bowden’s privileges to practice at the hospital, after she made numerous public comments decrying vaccine mandates and flouting widely accepted medical standards around COVID treatment. The hospital, which also cited unprofessional language as a reason for the suspension, in a statement described her comments as “harmful to the community” and “dangerous misinformation.” Bowden later resigned.
The disciplinary action by Methodist, the first hospital in the nation to implement a vaccine mandate, garnered worldwide media attention.
2 New Studies Say COVID Came From Market, Not Lab
The coronavirus that has disrupted the world for almost three years came from a Wuhan market, according to two studies published Tuesday.
Both papers sought to find the origins of SARS-CoV-2, whether that meant the Huanan Seafood Market or the Wuhan Institute of Virology. Both reached the same conclusion: all the early cases were tied to the market.
In the early days of the pandemic, scientists pointed to the market as the likely source for animal-to-human spread of the virus. However, people throughout the world became more suspicious as Chinese authorities refused to share data about the virus’ origins and instead pointed fingers elsewhere.
The two new studies were conducted separately but published the same day by the journal Science. One study, led by Michael Worobey, analyzed where early cases were reported. It found specifically that cases began in the live animal section of the market and then radiated outward.
White House Summit Sets Lofty Goals for New COVID Vaccines — but Largely Sidesteps Questions of Funding
Top White House officials spent Tuesday laying out a vision for a COVID vaccine utopia. In the future they depicted, vaccines will be cheap and widely available. Instead of merely providing protection against hospitalization and death, they will stop infections from occurring in the first place. Instead of requiring a needle injection, they will be administered by nasal mist or skin patch.
Only on a few fleeting occasions, however, did President Biden’s top pandemic response advisers acknowledge the elephant in the room: money.
The audience at the event — likely the largest indoor gathering of U.S. public health leaders since the pandemic began in early 2020 — constituted a who’s-who of “COVID Twitter”: a collection of top academics and current or former Biden advisers, many of whom expressed delight at meeting each other in person for the first time.
Notably, however, the event did not include lawmakers or any government official with substantial control over federal spending.
The Future of COVID Vaccines Could Be Sprays, Not Shots
The future of COVID-19 vaccines might not be shots in the arm or leg. Instead, picture a nasal spray or a patch stuck onto the skin for a few minutes.
A group of scientists, doctors and administration health officials gathered at the White House on Tuesday to discuss the next generation of inoculation against COVID and its viral cousins; they were in agreement that there is room for improvement.
The future could include vaccines that protect equally against all variants — or even vaccines that stop infections from happening in the first place.
The “holy grail,” Dr. Anthony Fauci said, is “not only to protect against disease, but to protect against acquisition, and by acquisition, transmission.” Dr. Akiko Iwasaki, an expert on nasal vaccines from Yale University who spoke at the summit, said the only way to fully achieve that goal — Fauci‘s “holy grail” — would be nasal vaccines.
Researchers Link Pediatric Hepatitis Cases to Common Virus, Find No Connection to COVID: Study
Researchers in the U.K. found evidence linking the recent pediatric hepatitis cases detected around the world to the coinfection of two viruses that normally do not cause severe illness and found no connection to COVID-19.
Earlier this year, health authorities in the U.S., Western Europe and Japan noted what seemed to be an increase in pediatric hepatitis cases resulting from an unknown cause. In the U.S. alone, more than 300 cases across 42 states are being investigated, according to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.
Now, researchers from University College London (UCL) say they have found a possible link between the hepatitis cases and the common adeno-associated virus 2 or AAV2. The virus was found in 96% of cases observed in the studies.
Pfizer Starts Mid-Stage Trial for Vaccine Against Omicron Subvariant
Pfizer Inc. (PFE.N) and its German partner BioNTech SE (22UAy.DE) said on Wednesday they had started a mid-stage study of a modified COVID-19 vaccine that targets both the original as well as the BA.2 Omicron subvariant.
Pfizer said the vaccine is in an initial proof-of-concept study to gather more data.
Together, the BA.4 and BA.5 subvariants are estimated to make up nearly 95% of the circulating coronavirus variants in the United States for the week ended July 23.
House Passes Bill for Research on Cognitive Effects of Coronavirus, 69 Republicans Vote ‘No’
The House passed a bill on Tuesday to allow a government agency to award grants into the cognitive effects of COVID-19.
The measure calls on the director of the National Science Foundation to award grants to eligible entities — including higher education institutions or other groups made up of universities and nonprofit organizations — to assist them in researching “the disruption of regular cognitive processes associated with both short-term and long-term COVID-19 infections.”
Research eligible under the bill includes studies on the effects COVID-19 infections have on cognition, emotion and neural structure and function as well as the influence coronavirus-related psychological and psychosocial factors have on the disruption of cognitive processes.
BioNTech, Pfizer Sue CureVac in U.S. Over COVID Vaccine Patent Claims
COVID-19 vaccine maker BioNTech (22UAy.DE) said on Tuesday that it and partner Pfizer (PFE.N) have filed a complaint with the U.S. District Court in Massachusetts, seeking a judgment that they did not infringe U.S. patents held by rival CureVac (5CV.DE).
The lawsuit, filed Monday, said CureVac is trying to profit from the success of BioNTech and Pfizer’s COVID-19 vaccines after CureVac’s efforts to create its own vaccine failed.
CureVac earlier this month filed a patent lawsuit in Germany against BioNTech over its use of mRNA technology and did not rule out further legal action against BioNTech’s partner Pfizer or rival mRNA vaccine maker Moderna Inc. (MRNA.O).
