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Rare Links Between COVID Vaccines and Adverse Events Studied — Researchers Discuss What We Can Learn From ‘Long Vax’ Symptoms
Two Yale University researchers want to understand why symptoms that emerge rarely after COVID-19 vaccines occur.
Persistent symptoms after vaccination — sometimes called “long vax” — are similar to those reported with long COVID, including small-fiber neuropathy and postural orthostatic tachycardia syndrome (POTS). But studies have largely shown that the risk of post-vaccine events do not exceed background rates, or that the odds of a new diagnosis like POTS are greater after SARS-CoV-2 infection than after vaccination.
Akiko Iwasaki, Ph.D., and Harlan Krumholz, MD, SM, both of Yale University in New Haven, Connecticut, recently expanded their ongoing LISTEN study of long COVID to include people with adverse events after COVID shots, hoping to match abnormal post-vaccine symptoms with corresponding immune responses.
“Around that time, we also became aware that there were people who were reporting a chronic syndrome, with many similar symptoms after receiving vaccination,” Krumholz said. “These people were not political and not anti-vaccination — they had all been vaccinated — but seemed to have symptoms that were persistent and debilitating.”
In Neurology, Avindra Nath, MD, of the National Institute of Neurological Disorders and Stroke in Bethesda, Maryland, pointed out that vaccine side effects, including those that affect the nervous system, are difficult to identify.
‘Fairly Shocking’: Secret Medical Lab in California Stored Bioengineered Mice Laden With COVID
A months-long investigation into a rural California warehouse uncovered an illegal laboratory that was filled with infectious agents, medical waste and hundreds of mice bioengineered “to catch and carry the COVID-19 virus,” according to Fresno County authorities.
Health and licensing said Monday that Prestige Biotech, a Chinese medical company registered in Nevada, was operating the unlicensed facility in Reedley, California — a small city about 24 miles southeast of Fresno. The company, according to Reedley City Manager Nicole Zieba, had a goal of being a diagnostics lab.
Hundreds of mice were also found at the warehouse, where they were “kept in inadequate conditions in overcrowded cages” with no food or water, according to court documents. An associate with Prestige Biotech told investigators that the mice were “genetically engineered to catch and carry the COVID virus,” the documents added.
Zieba said officials called in the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention after about 30 freezers and refrigerators were found, with some set to negative 80 degrees. The CDC detected at least 20 potentially infectious agents, according to court documents.
“Ultimately, what we did find is some viruses, such as HIV, COVID, chlamydia, rubella, malaria, things of that nature,” Zieba said.
Pfizer 2Q Numbers Tumble and COVID Vaccine, Treatment Sales Dry Up
Crumbling COVID-19 vaccine and treatment sales chopped Pfizer’s second-quarter earnings, but both the drugmaker and Wall Street expect a rebound in the back half of 2023.
Pfizer recorded no U.S. sales of its treatment, Paxlovid, in the recently completed quarter, as the company shifts to selling the pills on the commercial market after contracting with the government.
Paxlovid brought in only $143 million in total sales during the quarter after recording $8 billion in last year’s quarter. Sales of the vaccine Comirnaty also slid 83% to $1.49 billion in the quarter, as both products fell short of Wall Street expectations.
Both Pfizer’s leaders and analysts who follow the company had expected a sales drop in the quarter as inventories already on the market were used up. But they also expect a rebound later this year, as commercial sales take hold, COVID-19 cases climb and fall vaccination pushes begin.
Updated COVID Boosters Could Be Authorized by End of Month, Pfizer Says
The Food and Drug Administration could authorize Pfizer‘s updated COVID boosters by the end of August, Pfizer CEO Albert Bourla said during an investor call Tuesday.
The drugmaker asked the FDA in June to authorize an updated version of its COVID booster that is designed to target the XBB.1.5 subvariant, a coronavirus strain that began circulating widely last winter. Moderna made a similar request that same month.
The requests came days after the FDA advised the drugmakers to update the shots to target XBB.1.5 ahead of a fall COVID booster campaign.
XBB.1.5 is no longer the predominant strain, only making up 12.3% of all new COVID cases through the week ending July 22, according to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. It’s been edged out by XBB.1.16, which accounts for about 15% of all new cases.
“We expect a new COVID wave to start in the U.S. this fall,” Bourla said.
New COVID Vaccines Are Coming to the U.S. This Fall, but Uptake May Be Low — Here’s Why
A new round of COVID vaccines is coming to the U.S. this fall — but many Americans may not roll up their sleeves and take one. That’s largely because pandemic fatigue, the belief that COVID is “over” and confusion over personal risk levels could deter some people from getting an additional shot, experts in public health and health policy told CNBC.
In September, vaccine manufacturers Pfizer, Moderna and Novavax are slated to deliver new single-strain COVID shots targeting the Omicron subvariant XBB.1.5, the most immune-evasive strain of the virus to date.
It will be a “very uphill battle” to get people to take those jabs, especially given the sluggish uptake of the most recent shots that rolled out, said Jen Kates, senior vice president of the health policy research organization KFF.
Only about 17% of the U.S. population — around 56 million people — have received Pfizer and Moderna’s bivalent COVID vaccines since they were approved last September, according to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. Bivalent means they target two strains of the virus.
Biden Administration Launches Office for Long COVID Research
U.S. News & World Report reported:
As Americans continue to grapple with the effects of long COVID, the Biden administration on Monday announced the creation of a new office focused on research about the condition that will be part of the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services.
The Office of Long COVID Research and Practice will lead the U.S. response to long COVID, which includes trials that have already been launched, the HHS said in an agency news release. The $1.15 billion RECOVER research program is meant to better understand, treat and prevent long COVID; as many as 23 million Americans have developed the condition, according to HHS estimates.
Brain Fog and Other Long COVID Symptoms Affect Millions. New Treatment Studies Bring Hope
The National Institutes of Health is beginning a handful of studies to test possible treatments for long COVID, an anxiously awaited step in U.S. efforts against the mysterious condition that afflicts millions.
Monday’s announcement from the NIH’s $1.15 billion RECOVER project comes amid frustration from patients who’ve struggled for months or even years with sometimes-disabling health problems — with no proven treatments and only a smattering of rigorous studies to test potential ones.
“This is a year or two late and smaller in scope than one would hope but nevertheless it’s a step in the right direction,” said Dr. Ziyad Al-Aly of Washington University in St. Louis, who isn’t involved with NIH’s project but whose own research highlighted long COVID’s toll. Getting answers is critical, he added, because “there’s a lot of people out there exploiting patients’ vulnerability” with unproven therapies.
Scientists don’t yet know what causes long COVID, the catchall term for about 200 widely varying symptoms. Between 10% and 30% of people are estimated to have experienced some form of long COVID after recovering from a coronavirus infection, a risk that has dropped somewhat since early in the pandemic.
