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290 Fully Vaccinated Massachusetts Residents Died of COVID Over 1 Week
International Business Times reported:
Nearly 300 fully vaccinated residents in Massachusetts died of breakthrough COVID-19 over the past week even as case numbers have dropped statewide.
Between Jan. 22 and 29, Massachusetts health officials reported 290 additional breakthrough COVID-19 deaths, bringing the state’s total death toll among the fully vaccinated to 1,789. The figure represents 0.03% of the state’s inoculated population.
During the same period, health officials also recorded 27,530 new breakthrough infections and 555 additional hospitalizations. The state has now reported a total of 422,132 cases and 6,440 admissions among the fully vaccinated.
The CDC Is Finally Recognizing ‘Natural Immunity’ — Legislators Should Follow Suit
There have now been over 65 million people that have recovered from COVID-19 in the United States. While vaccination for COVID-19 has been critically important to protect us against severe disease, hospitalizations and death, the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) are finally acknowledging the strong protection provided from immunity after a SARS-CoV-2 infection: so-called “natural immunity.”
In the CDC report, which analyzed COVID-19 cases in California and New York from May 30 to Nov. 20, the scientists compared the risk of new SARS-CoV-2 infection among four groups of people: those who were unvaccinated without prior COVID-19; those vaccinated without prior COVID-19; those unvaccinated with prior COVID-19 and those vaccinated with prior COVID-19.
The report finally acknowledges what many have suspected for a long time — that surviving COVID-19 provides excellent natural immunity to not only repeat infection but also to hospitalization and death for the Delta variant of COVID-19.
What Actually Changed for Little Kids’ Vaccines?
After months and months of being told to wait, then wait, then wait some more, parents eager to vaccinate their littlest kids against COVID-19 have been gifted some good and very confusing news.
Yesterday, after weeks of weird and cryptic waffling, Pfizer kick-started the process of requesting an emergency use authorization from the FDA for their infant-and-toddler COVID-19 vaccine; if the agency’s advisory-panel meeting, scheduled for the 15th, goes smoothly, the under-5 shots could be available as a two-dose series shortly thereafter, pending a CDC recommendation.
This pivot is, at first glance, bizarre. Six weeks ago, right before Christmas, Pfizer announced that late-stage trials of two mini shots had produced somewhat lackluster antibody results in 2-to-4-year-olds, and a third dose could be necessary to clinch protection. Nothing about the vaccine itself has changed since then; no new data (actually, no data at all) have been publicized.
Somehow, we’ve gone in an instant from two doses aren’t enough to actually, they kind of are. And both statements, somehow, are meant to be true at once.
Coronavirus Vaccination May Soon Be Available for Children Younger Than 5, Prompting Elation and Questions
News that vaccines for children ages 6 months to 5 years old may be available by the end of the month has elicited relief and elation for many as the Omicron variant wave has caused millions of families to struggle with unreliable child care, irregular school and day-care closures, quarantines, lost days at work and fears over their children getting infected.
But it has also unleashed a wave of questions from parents confused about the approach the companies are taking for emergency use authorization of the vaccine and skepticism from some who are weighing whether to get their children vaccinated when the risk of serious infection remains relatively low. Experts worry there will be even more hesitancy among parents; only 22% of children ages 5 to 11 are vaccinated, according to Washington Post data.
So Long, Omicron: White House Eyes Next Phase of Pandemic
The White House is preparing to move on from Omicron.
Emboldened by falling case counts, the Biden administration is plotting a new phase of the pandemic response aimed at containing the coronavirus and conditioning Americans to live with it.
Biden and his top health officials have already begun hinting at an impending “new normal,” in a conscious messaging shift meant to get people comfortable with a scenario where the virus remains widespread yet at more manageable levels.
Fauci Backs Investigation of COVID Origins After Senators Propose Task Force
Dr. Anthony Fauci has said he supports continued investigations into the origins of COVID-19 after two senators proposed a task force that would take up that topic.
The expert signaled his backing at a White House COVID-19 response briefing on Wednesday when asked about last week’s proposal by Sens Patty Murray (D – Washington) and Richard Burr (R – North Carolina). The legislation put forward by the pair would charge Congress with appointing a task force to examine the initial emergence of the virus and evaluate America’s preparedness for future pandemics.
Asked if he thinks it’s necessary to conduct an inquiry into COVID’s origins, Dr. Fauci gave a lengthy reply but appeared to stop short of explicitly voicing support for the senators’ plans.
In World First, South Africa’s Afrigen Makes mRNA COVID Vaccine Using Moderna Data
South Africa’s Afrigen Biologics has used the publicly available sequence of Moderna‘s COVID-19 mRNA vaccine to make its own version of the shot, which could be tested in humans before the end of this year, Afrigen’s top executive said on Thursday.
The vaccine candidate would be the first to be made based on a widely used vaccine without the assistance and approval of the developer. It is also the first mRNA vaccine designed, developed and produced at lab scale on the African continent.
Amid Scrambles for Teachers, Some Fear Worse Shortages Ahead
As schools scramble to find enough substitute teachers to keep classrooms running through the latest surge of the coronavirus, some experts warn there are longer-term problems with the teacher pipeline that cannot be solved with emergency substitutes, bonuses and loosened qualifications.
For years, some states have been issuing fewer teaching licenses, and many districts have had trouble filling vacancies, particularly in poorer areas. Shortages are being felt much more widely due to absences during a pandemic that is testing educators like no other stretch of their careers, raising fears of many more leaving the profession.
Medicare to Pay for At-Home COVID Tests This Spring
Medicare will soon start to pay for at-home COVID-19 tests, allowing beneficiaries to have the same access to free over-the-counter tests as people with private insurance.
The Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services on Thursday announced a new initiative that will allow Medicare beneficiaries and people with Medicare Advantage plans to access up to eight over-the-counter COVID-19 tests per month for free at participating pharmacies and retailers, beginning “in the early spring.”
Medicare will directly reimburse participating pharmacies and other retailers, allowing Medicare beneficiaries to pick up tests at no cost.
WHO: Europe Entering ‘Plausible Endgame’ to COVID Pandemic
The director of the World Health Organization’s Europe office said Thursday the continent is now entering a “plausible endgame” to the pandemic and that the number of coronavirus deaths is starting to plateau.
As the winter subsides in much of Europe in the coming weeks, when the virus’s transmission naturally drops, Dr. Hans Kluge said the upcoming spring “leaves us with the possibility for a long period of tranquility and a much higher level of population defense against any resurgence in transmission.”
Challenge Trial Shows People With COVID Shed Virus After Just 2 Days
Individuals exposed to SARS-CoV-2 became infectious after just 2 days, which is earlier than scientists originally estimated, according to results from the first human challenge trial investigating COVID-19.
In the study of 36 young and healthy subjects who were deliberately infected with SARS-CoV-2, viral shedding and symptoms began around 2 days post-inoculation, with viral load peaking at 5 days, reported Christopher Chiu, MD, of Imperial College London, and colleagues. The researchers published these findings, which have not yet been peer-reviewed, on the preprint server Research Square.
German Vaccine Commission to Recommend Fourth COVID Shot
Germany’s expert panel on vaccine use (STIKO) is preparing to recommend a fourth COVID-19 vaccine dose, the committee’s head, Thomas Mertens, told media group Funke on Thursday.
“We have data from Israel that shows a fourth dose significantly improves protection from a severe case of illness,” Mertens told Funke. “The STIKO will make the recommendation soon,” he added.
Some countries have already started offering additional booster doses, but a recent study from Israel showed that while a fourth dose of an mRNA vaccine boosted antibodies, the level was not high enough to prevent Omicron infection.
