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Fully Vaccinated Michigan Couple Dies From COVID a Minute Apart While Holding Hands
A fully vaccinated Michigan couple died one minute apart from COVID-19 on Sunday, weeks after coming down with the virus.
Cal Dunham, 59, and his wife Linda, 66, had preexisting conditions and were very cautious, Fox17Online reported. But they came down with symptoms during a recent camping trip and days later were hospitalized and put on ventilators, the report said.
CDC Calls for More COVID Vaccinations Among Pregnant Women
The U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention on Wednesday issued a health advisory to increase COVID-19 vaccinations among women who are pregnant, recently pregnant or trying to become pregnant, to prevent serious illness and death.
The CDC said its data showed only 31% of pregnant people have been vaccinated against COVID-19. Although more pregnant women are now vaccinated, the CDC said uptake of vaccines for pregnant women has been lower compared to the general population.
Harvard Business School Moves Online After Surge in Breakthrough COVID Cases
Exactly one month following the start of its fall term, Harvard Business School announced Monday it has moved all of its first-year MBA students and some of its second-year students to remote learning this week due to “a steady rise in breakthrough” COVID-19 infections among its student population. Students, faculty, and staff at universities across the country have feared these types of on-campus breakthrough infections.
Harvard requires that all community members — students, faculty, staff, and researchers — be vaccinated. As of Sept. 22 figures, 96% of Harvard employees and 95% of Harvard students were vaccinated. That’s a much higher vaccination rate than the U.S. adult population, which currently lands at just more than 64% vaccinated. As of Monday, HBS students have been asked to learn remotely through the weekend.
Pharmacist Pleads Guilty to Giving COVID Vaccine to Kids Under 12 — Vaccines Were Administered to Two Dozen Children Ages 7 to 11
A Puerto Rico pharmacist has pleaded guilty to administering Pfizer’s COVID-19 vaccine (Comirnaty) to children younger than 12, the Justice Department announced.
Liz Ann Banchs, the owner and president of Farmacia Gabriela, a pharmacy in Juana Díaz, pled guilty last week to “participating in a felony conspiracy to convert government property and to commit healthcare fraud in connection with the illegal vaccination of minors between the ages of 7 to 11 with the Pfizer-BioNTech COVID-19 vaccine,” the department said Tuesday in a press release.
Clinical Trial Seeks to Repurpose FDA-Approved Drugs as COVID Treatment
The NIH-funded study is being conducted around the country with the goal of compiling data on three medications to see if they can help treat COVID-19 symptoms.
Those drugs include the inhaled steroid Fluticasone, the antidepressant Fluvoxamine, or a safe dose of Ivermectin.
Sen. Marshall, Doctors Caucus Send Letter to CDC Urging Recognition of COVID Natural Immunity
Sen. Roger Marshall, R-Kan., sent a letter to Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) Director Rochelle Walensky calling on the CDC to “recognize natural immunity” against COVID-19.
Marshall, a medical doctor, led a group of his fellow Doctors Caucus members in a letter to Walensky on Tuesday, warning that not recognizing natural immunity to COVID-19 could have wide-ranging implications from the military to healthcare and the economy.
Some Fear Boosters Will Hurt Drive to Reach the Unvaccinated
The spread of COVID-19 vaccination requirements across the U.S. hasn’t had the desired effect so far, with the number of Americans getting their first shots plunging in recent weeks. And some experts worry that the move to dispense boosters could just make matters worse.
The fear is that the rollout of booster shots will lead some people to question the effectiveness of the vaccine in the first place.
COVID Pandemic Hurt UK Trials for Cancer Drugs, Industry Body Says
The COVID-19 pandemic badly hit enrollment into clinical trials for drugs to treat cancer, heart disease and other conditions, an industry body said in a report on Wednesday, adding that a recovery in recruitment was lagging some European peers.
Last year saw the ground-breaking development of COVID-19 vaccines in record-quick time, with vaccines made by Pfizer (PFE.N) and AstraZeneca (AZN.L) gaining emergency approval in Britain by the end of the year, and treatment dexamethasone shown to reduce death in a British study.
U.S. FDA Leaning Toward Approving Moderna Half-Dose Booster — Bloomberg News
The U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA) is leaning toward authorizing half-dose booster shots of the Moderna Inc (MRNA.O) COVID-19 vaccine, Bloomberg News reported on Tuesday, citing people familiar with the matter.
The FDA had been seeking information about the effectiveness of a full third dose of the Moderna vaccine, but is now ready to move forward and consider the half-dose booster Moderna has proposed, the report said.
China Kills 3 Housecats That Tested Positive for COVID
A city in northern China has killed three housecats after they tested positive for COVID-19, according to a local media report Wednesday, as the country takes increasingly strict measures to contain new outbreaks.
The authorities in Harbin, where 75 cases have recently been discovered, said the action was taken because there was no available treatment for animals with the disease and they would have endangered their owner and other residents of the apartment complex in which they lived, Beijing News online said.
