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Let’s Make Sure Lab-Grown Viruses Stay in the Lab
Researchers at Boston University sparked alarming headlines this week by creating a more lethal version of the Omicron COVID variant. At the heart of the uproar is the fact that the researchers didn’t have any obligation to inform anyone beyond an internal review board about what they were doing. Some officials at the National Institutes of Health only heard about the research through the media.
Another recent development could prove even more concerning: Nature reported last week on plans for 40 new virology labs being built around the world. Known as BSL-4 labs, designed to deal with the most dangerous pathogens, they’re being built in India, Singapore, the Philippines, Kazakhstan and Russia, among other countries.
The ostensible aim is to make us safer, but even before this current pandemic, some virologists saw these BSL-4 labs as a problem — the germ equivalent of nuclear proliferation.
European Medicines Agency Recommends Comirnaty and Spikevax COVID Vaccines for Children Over 6 Months
The European Union‘s drug watchdog on Wednesday recommended Pfizer and Moderna‘s COVID-19 jabs for children aged six months and up. The vaccines were recommended by the European Medicines Agency (EMA) amid growing fears of the winter wave of COVID-19.
“EMA’s human medicines committee (CHMP) has recommended extending the use of Comirnaty and Spikevax targeting the original strain of SARS-CoV-2,” the EU’s drug watchdog said in a statement.
The committee recommended the use of Comirnaty for children aged six months to four years and the use of Spikevax in children aged six months to five years. Notably, Comirnaty and Spikevax are already approved in both adults and children aged five and six years respectively. Comirnaty is Pfizer-BioNTech’s vaccine, while Spikevax is Moderna‘s COVID-19 jab.
The agency said that doses of both vaccines in the younger age groups will be lower as compared to doses for already authorized age groups above five years. The EMA also approved a separate shot by Moderna against the BA.4 and BA.5 strains of the Omicron variant of coronavirus.
NIH Probes Whether Boston University COVID Experiments Should Have Triggered Review
The National Institutes of Health is now examining whether experiments performed at Boston University should have triggered a federal review, the agency says, after scientists at the school tested strains they created of the COVID-19 virus combining the ancestral and Omicron variants.
Federal health authorities say they are looking into whether the scientists should have sought their permission before undertaking research that could lead to a “gain of function” in the virus gaining new or enhanced abilities, which can be “inherently risky.”
And locally, a spokesperson for the Boston Public Health Commission says it is now reviewing application materials from the study’s scientists “to confirm that the research was conducted in conformity with protocols and that they were properly overseen.” The commission approved a proposed research protocol submitted by the scientists in March 2020, the spokesperson said.
However, Boston University says its research followed “all required regulatory obligations and protocols” to safely experiment with the viruses. The scientists were studying what role the Omicron variant’s highly-mutated spike protein might play in its generally milder severity compared to previous waves.
Analysis: Falling Demand for COVID Boosters Puts Price Hikes on the Table
With most Americans delaying or skipping new COVID-19 booster shots, analysts and investors are now predicting far fewer will be given each year, pushing the number of shots well below annual flu vaccinations.
With fewer shots needed, vaccine makers including Pfizer Inc., partner BioNTech SE, rival Moderna Inc. (MRNA.O) and Novavax Inc. (NVAX.O) could have to hike prices as much as three times current levels if they hope to meet Wall Street revenue forecasts for the shots for 2023 and beyond, several analysts said.
Last year, many on Wall Street were estimating the number of COVID-19 shots would be in line with the annual flu vaccine, which is the vaccine market leader with more than 160 million shots per year in the United States and 600 million shots globally.
Now the slowing pace of the early COVID revaccination campaigns — particularly in the key U.S. market — is changing that view. A recent poll by Kaiser Family Foundation found that two-thirds of American adults do not plan on getting a COVID vaccine soon. Analysts are expecting the U.S. market to be as low as one-third the size of the flu.
Uninsured Kids Will Still Receive COVID Vaccines for Free After Shots Move to Commercial Market
The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention took a major step Wednesday toward ensuring that kids who are uninsured can receive COVID-19 vaccines for free after the federal government shifts its immunization program to the commercial market.
The CDC’s independent advisors voted unanimously on Wednesday to include COVID shots authorized for kids by the Food and Drug Administration in the federal government’s Vaccines for Children program.
The Vaccines for Children program provides vaccines to kids under age 19 whose families cannot afford them. Children are eligible for the program if they qualify for Medicaid or are uninsured, underinsured or Native American.
The federal government has been providing COVID vaccines to everyone in the U.S. for free during the pandemic. But the Biden administration is working on a plan to transition the vaccination program to the commercial market as soon as 2023, which means people will have to start paying for the shots.
Swiss to Destroy 9 Million Expired Moderna COVID Jabs
Switzerland will destroy 9 million doses of Moderna (MRNA.O) COVID-19 vaccine that have reached their expiry date, with another 5.1 million vaccine jabs set to meet the same fate by February, the government said on Wednesday.
The wastage reflects the Swiss strategy of ordering more vaccines than it needed to ensure its population of around 8.7 million would get sufficient supplies even in the event of supply bottlenecks or quality issues.
Other countries too have destroyed hundreds of millions of doses of expired vaccines.
Omicron Subvariants Reflect a ‘Viral Evolution on Steroids’
An Omicron subvariant is once again demonstrating immune-dodging abilities, posing a threat to both vaccinated and previously infected individuals.
A report published Wednesday in the New England Journal of Medicine suggests that the subvariant, called BA.4.6, could drive reinfections.
These subvariants are far from the only strains that experts worldwide are keeping their eyes on. Other Omicron subvariants that have piqued the interest — and concerns — of scientists read like a viral alphabet soup: BQ.1, BQ.1.1, BF.7. (Those three, as it turns out, each account for around 5% of new U.S. cases.)
Gone are the days of identifying COVID by Greek letters, such as Alpha and Delta. Ever since the Omicron variant emerged, it’s been Omicron all the way down, with Omicron subvariants splitting off into their own subvariants.
The Extraordinary Rise and Fall of the COVID Billionaires
In a little less than three years, COVID-19 has changed everything: how we live, work and play, educate our kids. And, it turns out, how vast wealth can be made — and lost — faster than anyone might’ve thought possible.
The roll-out of Moderna Inc.’s vaccine propelled scientist Stephane Bancel’s net worth to $15 billion as the shares soared almost 2,400%. Eric Yuan, denied a U.S. visa eight times before moving from China, watched his fortune hit $29 billion as Zoom Video Communications Inc. became the world’s go-to video-conferencing tool. And the father-son duo behind online used-car seller Carvana Co. amassed a $32 billion fortune at the peak.
The men belong to an exclusive club of 58 billionaires whose wealth multiplied at an eye-popping pace thanks to changes brought about by COVID and cheap money, only to plummet even quicker. Their rise and subsequent slump were sharper than the other 131 members of the Bloomberg Billionaires Index whose net worth more than doubled but weren’t as reliant on how COVID altered lives across the globe.
Together, they’re a monument to these strange financial times that both spawned extraordinary fortunes and plunged legions into extreme poverty.
What We Know and Don’t Know About Long COVID
After two years of research and one of the largest public health campaigns in human history, doctors and scientists don’t yet have a test to detect the mysterious affliction called long COVID-19, let alone a head count of the afflicted.
Based on the latest wave of studies, long COVID-19 may beset 4% of the population who catch the virus, or 14.8% or 48%. Its toll on the body spans dozens of possible symptoms, from fatigue to chest pains to fuzzy thinking to hair loss. The symptoms overlap with those seen in scores of other illnesses.
Many long COVID-19 cases clear up after several months or a year. Some seem to be permanent. Only time will tell. A long COVID-19 study released last week by Scottish researchers raised eyebrows around the globe. Six to 18 months after COVID-19 infection, 48% of people surveyed said they had not fully recovered.
That report is an outlier. The World Health Organization puts the prevalence of long COVID-19 at 10 to 20%. Other recent estimates range across the map. An ongoing survey by British health officials, updated in July, found long COVID-19 in only 4% of cases. A Canadian government survey, updated this week, found that 14.8% of adults with COVID-19 retained symptoms three months after infection. A U.S. government survey, updated this month, found that 30% of adults who had the coronavirus believed they had experienced long COVID-19.
Study Debunks Use of Antidepressant Luvox as COVID Treatment
U.S. News & World Report reported:
A study testing drugs that are used for other conditions for their potential in treating COVID-19 has found that the antidepressant fluvoxamine (brand name Luvox) offered no benefit, at least at an initial smaller dose. Study participants took 50 mg of the medication twice daily for 10 days, hoping to treat mild-to-moderate COVID-19 symptoms. A control group took a placebo.
The institute led the study in partnership with Vanderbilt University in Nashville, Tenn. It was part of ACTIV-6, a nationwide virtual study. The researchers looked at rates of sustained recovery — or three days without symptoms. About 75% of participants were still reporting symptoms at day seven, though 82% of them reported no limitation in activities.
Fluvoxamine is one of three U.S. Food and Drug Administration-approved repurposed medications being tested in ACTIV-6. A selective serotonin reuptake inhibitor used to treat obsessive-compulsive disorder and depression, it was chosen because previous evidence suggested it might reduce inflammation from the virus.
WHO: COVID Vaccination Rates Have Dropped 50% in Africa
The number of COVID-19 vaccine doses given in Africa has dropped by more than 50% over the last three months, the World Health Organization said Thursday, even though less than a quarter of all Africans have been vaccinated.
Despite the increased availability of vaccines on the continent, Africa still lags far behind the global average, with only 24% of the population having completed their primary series of COVID-19 vaccination compared to 64% worldwide.
Africa now has adequate vaccines available, Dr. Matshidiso Moeti, the WHO regional director for Africa, said Thursday. But as case numbers have fallen, so too has an interest in being vaccinated. Only 4,281 new cases were reported on the continent last week — about 1.3% of Africa’s peak during December 2021, the WHO said.
The Black Death Is Still Affecting the Human Immune System
The Black Death, the world’s most devastating plague outbreak, killed half of medieval Europe’s population in the space of seven years in the 14th century, shifting the course of human history.
But what about the survivors of what remains the single greatest mortality event ever recorded? New research published Wednesday in the journal Nature suggests it was more than luck that determined who lived and who died.
Analysis of centuries-old DNA from both victims and survivors of the Black Death has identified key genetic differences that helped people survive the plague, according to a study published in the journal Nature.
These genetic differences continue to shape human immune systems today, with genes that once conferred protection against the plague now linked to a greater vulnerability to autoimmune diseases such as Crohn’s and rheumatoid arthritis, the study said.
