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Say Goodbye to the COVID Vaccination Card. The CDC Has Stopped Printing Them
It’s the end of an era for a once-critical pandemic document: The ubiquitous white COVID-19 vaccination cards are being phased out.
Now that COVID-19 vaccines are not being distributed by the federal government, the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention has stopped printing new cards.
The federal government shipped more than 980 million cards between late 2020, when the first vaccines came out, through May 10, according to the latest available data from the CDC.
Federal and local health officials don’t expect the discontinuation of the cards to be a particularly big change, since the days of keeping them tucked in purses and wallets to ensure entry into festivals, bars and restaurants are largely over. If you’ve held on to your card, it’s still valid as proof of vaccination. Otherwise, people who need their COVID-19 immunization records will need to request them just like any other vaccine.
COVID Booster Uptake Hindered by Prior Infections, Fear of Side Effects
Only 20% of Americans eligible for COVID-19 boosters get them, and today in Vaccine, researchers published the results of a new survey of 2,000 US adults to understand why uptake is so low.
Participants were part of the Arizona CoVHORT, a prospective trial that began in May 2020. All 2,196 participants had at least one COVID-19 vaccine dose and were asked if they had received a bivalent (two-strain) COVID-19 booster. If respondents said they had not, they were asked why.
Among the 559 respondents who said they did not get a booster, 39.5% said they did not need one as they had already been infected by SARS-CoV-2 at least once, and 31.5% said they worried about side effects.
The third most common reason cited for not getting a booster, by 28.6% of participants, was respondents’ disbelief that a booster would add more protection over the vaccines they already had.
COVID Vaccine, Infection May Affect Migraine Course Slightly — Researchers Compared Headache Diary Data Before and After Vaccination or Infection
COVID vaccination or SARS-CoV-2 infection may play a small role in migraine worsening, preliminary data suggested.
While some patients reported migraine worsening after either vaccination or infection, headache diaries did not reflect significant differences in migraine frequency, reported Patricia Pozo-Rosich, MD, PhD, of Vall d’Hebron Hospital in Barcelona, Spain, and co-authors.
About half of people with SARS-CoV-2 infection present with headache, and headaches can occur during acute or post-acute phases of infection. Studies also have linked COVID vaccines with mild to moderate head pain which can resolve in a few days.
“Migraine worsening is frequently reported by patients and it has been postulated that COVID-19 or its vaccines may represent risk factors for a transient or prolonged increase in frequency and chronification of migraine, however, data in this area are lacking,” Pozo-Rosich and co-authors added.
CDC Journal and Five Others Rejected Key Paper on COVID Vaccines and Heart Inflammation
Six medical journals rejected a key paper on COVID-19 vaccines and heart inflammation, a condition the vaccines cause, according to documents reviewed by The Epoch Times. The U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) journal, Morbidity and Mortality Weekly Report (MMWR), was one of them.
CDC officials falsely told the paper’s authors that the paper did not add anything to a previously published CDC report, which estimated more COVID-19 hospitalizations would be prevented than cases of heart inflammation, or myocarditis, caused.
The new paper clarified the risk-benefit calculus by separating children without serious underlying conditions such as obesity from children with one or more of the problems. It broke down the age group into two parts, 12- to 15 and 16- to 17. It subtracted incidental hospitalizations or hospitalizations where people test positive for COVID-19 but are actually being treated for other conditions.
The researchers estimated, using similar methods as the CDC, that one million doses would cause more cardiac adverse events in healthy boys than COVID-19 hospitalizations prevented. Among boys aged 12 to 15 without comorbidities, they calculated up to 6.1 times more adverse events among the vaccinated.
Pfizer Resolves Promosome Patent Lawsuit Over COVID Vaccine
Pfizer (PFE.N), BioNTech (22UAy.DE) and biotech firm Promosome told a federal judge in San Diego, California that they have agreed to end Promosome’s lawsuit accusing the COVID-19 vaccine makers of infringing a patent related to messenger RNA technology.
The companies said in a court filing on Wednesday that Promosome would dismiss its case with prejudice, which means it cannot be refiled, and that Promosome had agreed not to bring future claims over the patent against Pfizer and its partner BioNTech. No financial terms were disclosed.
The agreement comes weeks after Promosome abandoned a related lawsuit against COVID-19 vaccine maker Moderna (MRNA.O).
Congress Extends Some Pandemic Preparedness Programs, but Not All
Congress temporarily extended a few pandemic-preparedness programs when it forestalled a government shutdown at the last minute Saturday evening. But a program that encourages the development of countermeasures for big public health problems like pandemics expired without reauthorization.
With hours left before a funding lapse, Congress passed a measure to keep the government running for another 45 days. That temporary funding measure also extended a few programs that are part of the Pandemic All-Hazards Preparedness Act.
The Pandemic All-Hazards Preparedness Act was a Bush Administration priority that Congress passed in 2006 to help the government respond to nuclear and biological attacks and naturally occurring threats, such as pandemics. The law created the HHS Administration for Strategic Preparedness and Response, which runs the country’s stockpile of medical supplies, and the Biomedical Advanced Research and Development Authority, which funds the development of biodefense products.
