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FDA to Authorize Novavax’s COVID Vaccine

Politico reported:

The Food and Drug Administration is expected to authorize Novavax’s coronavirus vaccine for emergency use as early as Wednesday, two people with knowledge of the matter told POLITICO.

The regulatory clearance would likely permit the two-dose vaccine to be given to adults as a primary immunization series, limiting its use in the U.S. since roughly two-thirds of people have already received their initial shots.

But the vaccine — which relies on a protein-based technology used for decades — may appeal to the sliver of the population allergic to components of the messenger RNA vaccines developed by Pfizer-BioNTech and Moderna, or who are skeptical of those shots’ newer technology.

The FDA declined to comment, and the people with knowledge of the matter cautioned the plan could still change.

‘We Are Going to Get Justice’: Families Unite to Call out Questionable Hospital Protocols That Led to Deaths

The Epoch Times reported:

The details in the stories of the families whose loved ones died in the hospital due to what they call “death protocols” are strikingly similar.

The patients were all scorned because of their unvaccinated status and were given a combination of sedatives and the antiviral drug remdesivir. The patients were also kept isolated, malnourished and ultimately put on a ventilator before dying.

After death, the families were left in confusion and with inconceivable stories that many don’t believe — stories of chilling administrative cruelty.

The FormerFedsGroup Freedom Foundation (FFFF) has gathered about 200 of these stories through its COVID-19 Humanity Betrayal Memory Project to build an online database of testimonies for the purpose of surveying accounts of treatment for the sick unvaccinated and prosecuting any cases involving alleged abuse.

Biden Officials Push to Offer Second Booster Shot to All Adults

The Washington Post reported:

Biden administration officials are developing a plan to allow all adults to receive a second coronavirus booster shot, pending federal agency sign-offs, as the White House and health experts seek to blunt a virus surge that has sent hospitalizations to their highest levels since March 3.

Currently, a second booster shot is available only to those 50 and older, as well as to those 12 and older who are immunocompromised. But administration officials are concerned by data that suggests immunity wanes within several months of the first booster shot.

Swiftly expanding access to booster shots also would enable people who are boosted now to receive reformulated shots that target newer virus variants, when those become available, probably later this year. In addition, officials want to use vaccine doses that are reaching their expiration dates and would otherwise be discarded.

While the booster plan still needs formal sign-off from regulators and public health officials, it has the backing of White House coronavirus coordinator Ashish Jha and Anthony S. Fauci, the government’s top infectious-disease expert, according to five officials who like others interviewed in this report spoke on the condition of anonymity because they were not authorized to discuss the plan.

Biden Administration to Again Extend the COVID Public-Health Emergency

Bloomberg reported:

The U.S. government will once again extend the COVID-19 public health emergency, continuing measures that have given millions of Americans special access to health insurance and telehealth services.

The Department of Health and Human Services has repeatedly renewed the emergency since it was originally declared in January 2020, with the most recent extension set to expire on July 15. The next extension is expected to take effect Friday, according to a person familiar with the matter who asked not to be identified because the details aren’t public.

Drug-Resistant Infections and Deaths Among Hospital Patients Grew Amid COVID Pandemic

CNN Health reported:

Years of progress the United States had made in fighting drug-resistant infections were largely erased during the COVID-19 pandemic, with hospital-acquired infections and resulting deaths growing 15% in 2020.

A special report released Tuesday by the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention found that more than 29,400 people died from antimicrobial-resistant infections in 2020. The full number is likely much higher, given that data for half of the 18 pathogens identified as threats are unavailable or delayed.

Nearly 40% of those deaths were among people who got the infection while in the hospital, according to the CDC report.

Emails Confirm Why CDC Changed Definitions of Vaccine, Vaccinated

The Epoch Times reported:

Newly obtained emails confirm that the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) changed its definition for both “vaccine” and “vaccinated” because people were pointing out that definitions didn’t seem to apply to the COVID-19 vaccines.

“The definition of vaccine we have posted is problematic and people are using it to claim the COVID-19 vaccine is not a vaccine based on our own definition,” Alycia Downs, a CDC official, wrote in an email on Aug. 25, 2021, to a colleague.

A flood of inquiries on the definitions was triggered by the fact that the COVID-19 vaccines have been increasingly ineffective against infection by the virus that causes COVID-19, the emails show.

“Our question is how is the CDC and the rest of the world allowed to call the shot a vaccination when it doesn’t even meet your own definition,” one person wrote to the CDC.

If You Were Infected With COVID During the First Omicron Wave, You ‘Really Don’t Have a Lot of Good Protection’ Against the BA.5 Subvariant: Fauci

Insider reported:

Those who were infected with COVID-19 during the first Omicron wave won’t have much protection against the latest highly-infectious BA.5 subvariant, Dr. Anthony Fauci said during a Tuesday White House briefing.

“Omicron as a broad category has been particularly problematic,” Fauci said at the briefing while discussing the new BA.5 variant, which he said currently accounts for 64% of cases in the U.S.

This new variant, he said, “substantially evades” antibodies from both vaccination and prior infection.

Not Again. Another Cruise Ship Has a Major COVID Outbreak

Forbes reported:

Think you’ve read this article before? Well, you haven’t — not quite. But COVID-19 outbreaks on cruise ships are now such a regular occurrence that you would be forgiven for getting a hefty dose of de ja vu after reading this headline.

Today’s cruise ship outbreak is on the Coral Princess, where over 100 people are currently sick, with many isolating on board the vessel in Brisbane, according to 7NEWSBrisbane. Others are being evacuated to isolate at home or in other accommodations and currently, 1 in 20 people who were aboard the ship are known to have COVID-19.

Many cruise ship companies have instituted vaccination and testing requirements, but with newer COVID-19 variants increasingly able to cause infections even in vaccinated people, these measures seem to be unable to prevent significant outbreaks onboard.

Omicron Subvariants Threaten COVID Resurgence Across U.S.

ABC News reported:

Health officials are once again raising the alarm about the threat of a resurgence of COVID-19 infections across the country, as concerns grow about the new Omicron subvariant, BA.5, which is now the dominant viral strain in the U.S.

The BA.5 variant, first detected in South Africa earlier this year, is currently estimated to account for more than half — 53.6% — of all new COVID-19 cases in the states, according to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.

BA.5 appears to have a growth advantage over the original Omicron variant, according to the World Health Organization, and scientists are closely monitoring the increase in reported cases observed in many countries across the globe.

Nearly three-quarters of the U.S. population is now living in a county with a high or medium community risk level for COVID-19, as defined by the CDC, federal data shows. About one-third of those people — 31.9% — are living in a high-risk community, while 41.6% are living in a medium-risk county.

As Sixth COVID Wave Hits, Many New Yorkers Shrug It Off

The New York Times reported:

New York City’s COVID-19 test positivity rate is 15%, an intensity not seen since January. Transmission levels of the virus, according to federal guidelines, are high in every borough. Even hospitalizations, while far below previous peaks, are rising again, as the most transmissible Omicron variant yet, BA.5, spreads through the city and nation.

Earlier in the pandemic, such news might have been met with a mix of foreboding and fear. Now, New York is meeting the moment with more of a “meh.” As New York City enters its sixth wave of the virus, few seem inclined to get themselves into high alert mode again.

Not the government. Nor many of the people.

Across the city, many New Yorkers — from the unvaccinated to the boosted — said that neither BA.5’s prevalence nor its worrisome attributes — including its ability to override immunity from past infections and vaccines — had them dramatically rethinking risk.

Moderna Says New Booster More Effective Targeting Now-Dominant BA.5 Variant of COVID

The Daily Wire reported:

The pharmaceutical company Moderna on Monday announced that the initial tests of its COVID booster specifically targeting the Omicron variant known as BA.5 show it is more effective than previous shots.

“We are very pleased that our bivalent platform continues to demonstrate better performance than the current booster,” Moderna CEO Stephane Bancel said in a statement.

Researchers collected data from 800 participants in the trial, which tested various formulations of the booster. Moderna said the second formulation of its booster generated “nearly 70% more antibodies effective against BA.5 than a previous version did a month after receipt of the dose,” the Daily Mail reported.

COVID Brain Problems May Stem From Attack on Endothelial Cells — Findings Could Have Implications for Treating Long COVID

MedPage Today reported:

Antibodies that attack the endothelial cells lining the brain’s blood vessels may lead to inflammation and neurologic damage in people with COVID-19, a small autopsy study suggested.

All nine COVID patients in the study had multifocal vascular damage with serum proteins leaking into the brain parenchyma, according to Avindra Nath, MD, clinical director of the National Institute of Neurological Disorders and Stroke in Bethesda, Maryland, and co-authors.

This damage was accompanied by widespread endothelial cell activation, Nath and colleagues reported in Brain. Platelet aggregates and microthrombi were found adhering to endothelial cells along vascular lumina, and deposits of immune complexes were found on endothelial cells and platelets.

The findings suggested that COVID-19 triggers the formation of immune complexes activating the classical complement pathway, the researchers noted.