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Gain-of-Function Experiments at Boston University Create a Deadly New COVID Virus. Who Thought This Was a Good Idea?
After all the controversy over the past few years about gain-of-function research on viruses, especially the COVID-19 virus, I thought this kind of work was on hold, at least in the U.S. Indeed, the controversy grew so hot that NIH issued a statement in May of 2021 declaring that it wouldn’t support such work.
Nonetheless, some scientists continue to pursue gain-of-function work. In a new study, just released on the preprint server bioRxiv, a group of virologists at Boston University did the following. They took the Spike protein from the Omicron BA.1 strain of SARS-CoV-2 (that’s the strain that spread throughout the world last winter, often slipping past the protection offered by vaccines) and combined it with an early 2020 strain of the COVID-19 virus.
This experiment gave them a brand-new, never-before-seen strain of COVID-19. Was it more deadly? You bet!
This, dear readers is what we mean by “gain-of-function” research. The scientists took sequences from two different strains of the COVID-19 virus, one of which was relatively mild, and created a new strain that is far more infectious and far more deadly. As many scientists (and others) have pointed out, research like this carries great risks, foremost among them the chance that an accidental lab leak could create a new pandemic, killing millions of people.
And the benefits? There must be some pretty major benefits to offset this risk, right? Well, not exactly. The researchers say that these experiments show that the pathogenicity of the COVID virus is determined primarily by something other than the Spike protein. That’s a pretty narrow finding, and the authors don’t seem to consider that they might have learned this without creating an entirely new, more-lethal virus.
CDC Director Rochelle Walensky Tests Positive for COVID Month After Getting Updated Booster Shot
The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention said Saturday that Director Dr. Rochelle Walensky had tested positive for COVID-19. She is experiencing mild symptoms and is up to date with her vaccines.
In September, the director received her bivalent, Omicron-specific COVID-19 booster shot. In a CVS Health tweet, she was seen posing for a photo following the shot with a thumbs up.
Walensky and health officials have warned the American public about an upcoming winter surge of COVID-19 infections.
Pfizer COVID Vaccine Price Hike to Boost Revenue for Years, Rivals May Follow
Pfizer‘s plan to as much as quadruple U.S. prices for its COVID-19 vaccine next year is beyond Wall Street’s expectations and will spur its revenue for years despite weaker than anticipated demand for the new booster shot so far, analysts said.
Analysts said the move could lead to price hikes by rivals. Pfizer shares were up 4.3% at $44.77 in afternoon trading. Expected price hikes sent shares of rivals Moderna (MRNA.O) and Novavax (NVAX.O) surging 9% and 11%, respectively.
Wells Fargo analyst Mohit Bansal said the new pricing range for the vaccine could add around $2.5 billion to $3 billion in annual revenue for Pfizer.
The price range announced by Pfizer represented a more than 10,000% markup over what experts have estimated it costs the vaccine makers to produce the shots, said the People’s Vaccine Alliance, a global vaccine access group.
The Main COVID Symptoms Have Changed, Research Shows
Since the start of the COVID-19 pandemic, patients have reported dozens of different symptoms, ranging from cold and flu-like symptoms to more unique ones, including “COVID tongue.” But like all viruses, the primary symptoms associated with COVID have changed and can vary based on your vaccination status, according to a new list released last week.
The ZOE Health Study — a joint effort by researchers at Massachusetts General Hospital, the Harvard T.H. Chan School of Public Health, King’s College London, Stanford University School of Medicine and the health app ZOE — shared an updated list of the top COVID symptoms currently being reported by its participants.
Researchers have found that for participants in all three groups — fully vaccinated, those who received just one dose and those unvaccinated — four of the five most commonly reported symptoms are the same: sore throat, runny nose, persistent cough and headache.
Their prevalences across the groups, however, vary, as does the fifth symptom. For those who are vaccinated, a blocked nose is the third-most frequently reported symptom. Among the partially vaccinated, it’s sneezing, and the unvaccinated, fever.
Autumn COVID Numbers Peak at Lower Levels — but Flu Cases Are on the Up
Britain’s current wave of COVID-19 cases appears to be peaking at a lower level than previous outbreaks of the Omicron variant of the disease, researchers have revealed.
According to last week’s ONS survey, COVID case numbers have flattened out or are falling in five of nine English regions, as well as in Northern Ireland and Scotland. At the same time, children now have the lowest prevalence of the disease for some weeks.
Scientists have also warned that the nation faces the prospect of a parallel flu epidemic this winter, one that could be fuelled by low immunity levels in a population that has lost protection during COVID pandemic restrictions. This was raised last week when it was revealed that flu cases had climbed in England — though levels are relatively low overall.
Omicron Subvariants Pose a New Threat to People With Immune Deficiencies
People with compromised immune systems face a new winter of discontent as the ever-mutating Omicron virus threatens to outrun the preventive monoclonal antibody cocktail that hundreds of thousands of them have relied upon for extra protection against COVID.
Troubling recent reports reveal the emergence of new Omicron subvariants that not only evade AstraZeneca’s Evusheld, the antibody-drug authorized to prevent COVID infection, but also the sole antibody drug that has retained effectiveness as a treatment for COVID, Eli Lilly’s bebtelovimab.
CDC Is Discussing Using Oral Polio Vaccine for First Time in 20 Years to Stop New York Outbreak
The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention is considering using an oral polio vaccine for the first time in more than 20 years to stop an outbreak in the greater New York City metropolitan area that left an adult paralyzed over the summer.
“We are in discussions with our New York State and New York City colleagues about the use of nOPV,” said Dr. Janell Routh, the CDC’s team leader for domestic polio, referring to the novel oral polio vaccine. The oral vaccine the CDC is considering is a newer form that is more stable and carries less risk of mutation. The New York State Department of Health, in a statement, said it is collaborating with the CDC on potential future options to respond to the outbreak.
U.S. drug regulators pulled the oral vaccine off shelves in 2000 because it contains a live — but weakened — strain of the virus that can, in rare circumstances, mutate into a virulent form that is contagious and can potentially paralyze people who are not vaccinated.
Merck Locates Frozen Batch of Undisclosed Ebola Vaccine, Will Donate for Testing in Uganda’s Outbreak
In a revelation that may help Uganda combat its outbreak of Ebola, the pharmaceutical giant Merck has acknowledged to Science — after repeated inquiries — that it has up to 100,000 doses of an experimental vaccine for the deadly viral disease in its freezers in Pennsylvania and will donate them. The World Health Organization (WHO) and the Ugandan government are discussing if and how these doses can be incorporated into one or more clinical trials of other candidate Ebola vaccines that could launch as soon as next month.
The Merck vaccine targets Sudan ebolavirus, the pathogen currently circulating in Uganda. Merck quietly made the product in 2015 and 2016, soon after it had a landmark success with a similar vaccine against Zaire ebolavirus, a different virus that caused a big epidemic in West Africa between 2014 and 2016.
The company froze the Sudan Ebola vaccine in bulk form and never tested it on people. But it has been shown to protect monkeys challenged with Sudan ebolavirus, and given the efficacy of Merck’s Zaire Ebola vaccine, scientists have high hopes that the Sudan Ebola shots will be safe and effective as well.
