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Tensions Run High in House Hearing on COVID Vaccine Safety, Efficacy
House lawmakers exchanged pointed barbs Thursday in what ended up being a rather “political” hearing held by the House Oversight Select Subcommittee on the Coronavirus Pandemic about the safety of COVID-19 vaccines.
Top federal health officials appeared before the subcommittee to discuss how to engender further trust in vaccines as well as examine how the initial COVID-19 vaccine campaigns were carried out. At various points throughout the hearing, however, Democrats accused their colleagues across the aisle of creating further mistrust in immunizations.
Republican members of the panel concentrated largely on the public perception of the coronavirus vaccines’ efficacy, which they characterized as misleading. Rep. Brad Wenstrup (R-Ohio), chair of the select subcommittee, said during the hearing, “When you say reduce, it’s different than saying prevent. And that happened too often.”
Rep. Jill Tokuda (D-Hawaii) blasted her Republican colleagues for spreading “dangerous rhetoric” during the hearing. “I am deeply concerned about some of the dangerous rhetoric we’ve heard throughout today’s hearing, which appears purposely aimed at undermining confidence in vaccines,” Tokuda said.
Largest Multicountry COVID Study Links Vaccines to Potential Adverse Effects
A new study on COVID-19 vaccines that looked at nearly 100 million vaccinated individuals affirmed the vaccines’ previously observed links to increased risks for certain adverse effects including myocarditis and Guillain-Barré syndrome.
The study was conducted by the Global COVID Vaccine Safety project and took into account 99,068,901 vaccinated individuals across eight countries: Argentina, Australia, Canada, Denmark, Finland, France, New Zealand and Scotland.
The report specifically looked at adverse events following administration of the Pfizer, Moderna and AstraZeneca vaccines. The researchers looked for 13 adverse events of special interest that occurred in vaccine recipients for up to 42 days after shots were administered. These conditions included Guillain-Barré syndrome, Bell’s palsy, convulsions, myocarditis and pericarditis.
COVID Vaccine Shedding Is ‘Real,’ FDA and Pfizer Documents Are Proof: Clinicians
The topic of COVID-19 vaccine shedding has long been controversial, but now, some doctors say even the authorities know about it. “Shedding is unfortunately real,” said Dr. Pierre Kory at the Front Line COVID-19 Critical Care Alliance (FLCCC) conference in Phoenix, Arizona, in early February. “The FDA (U.S. Food and Drug Administration) knows that.”
Dr. Kory is a co-founder of the FLCCC, a non-profit advocacy group founded by physicians for the treatment of COVID-19, long COVID, and post-vaccine syndromes. He is also the co-founder of the Leading Edge Clinic and has treated over a thousand long-COVID and post-vaccine patients.
Fact-checkers have largely denied shedding on the basis of definition. The commonly cited definition comes from the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) website, which defines shedding as the release of viruses, bacteria, and their components from live vaccines.
While mRNA and adenovirus vaccines are not live vaccines, they function similarly to gene therapy products. All gene therapy products pose a risk of shedding, according to the FDA.
CDC May Recommend COVID Boosters for Some This Spring
U.S. News & World Report reported:
The U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention is weighing whether to recommend another COVID booster shot this spring, most likely for those who are vulnerable to severe illness.
An advisory panel to the CDC is expected to vote on whether to recommend a spring booster during a Feb. 28 meeting, a source close to the panel told NBC News. The panel is expected to focus on the safety of high-risk Americans, including people 65 and older and anyone with a weakened immune system.
Still, even vulnerable groups like transplant patients, who tend to follow their doctors’ advice, are feeling vaccine fatigue, Dr. William Werbel, associate director of epidemiology and quantitative sciences with the Johns Hopkins Transplant Research Center in Baltimore, told NBC News.
Experts generally recommend that even high-risk patients wait at least two months after a COVID vaccination or COVID infection before getting another shot.
High-Risk Patients Alarmed by CDC’s Plan to Ease COVID Isolation Guidance
Concerns among medically vulnerable people are growing as the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention prepares to drop its long-standing recommendation that those with COVID isolate for five days.
People with compromised immune systems worry that co-workers will return to the office while they’re still contagious. At the same time, the few remaining policies guaranteeing paid leave for employees with COVID are largely coming to an end. New York, the only state that still requires paid leave for COVID isolation, is considering ending that benefit this summer.
Even as many cheer loosening isolation guidance, others are troubled by federal health officials’ latest move to stop treating COVID as a unique respiratory viral threat.
The forthcoming change, first reported by The Washington Post, says people could return to school and work if they have been fever-free for at least 24 hours without the aid of medication and they have mild and improving symptoms.
COVID Variant JN.1 Responsible for Nearly All U.S. Infections
U.S. News & World Report reported:
Omicron subvariant JN.1 is causing nearly all new coronavirus cases in the U.S., according to estimates from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.
The strain, which was responsible for just over 3% of infections in mid-November, has virtually taken over the COVID-19 variant scene in the U.S. in recent months. It was responsible for more than 96% of new infections over the past two weeks, according to the estimates.
JN.1, which is closely related to BA.2.86, or “Pirola,” is also the top variant globally. The World Health Organization in a risk assessment update published last week said that the additional public health risk posed by the strain is still assessed as low at the global level.
Long COVID Is Highest in These States, Says New CDC Report
The effects of COVID are lingering longer among the residents of some states than others. That’s according to the latest Morbidity and Mortality Weekly Report (MMWR) from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC), which tracks reported cases of long COVID throughout the U.S.
The highest prevalence of long COVID was found in West Virginia — where 10.6% of survey respondents reported experiencing long-term effects of the virus in 2022.
Dr. Marc Siegel, clinical professor of medicine at NYU Langone Medical Center and a Fox News medical contributor, who was not involved in the CDC report, called for further studies into how long COVID is reported — including who reports it and the criteria they use to define their symptoms, which varies from region to region.
“We know that obesity, for example, increases the risk of severe COVID dramatically, and severe COVID correlates with persistent symptoms and long COVID,” he said. “In fact, obesity is the highest in the South and Midwest (over 35%),” noted Siegel, “and it is probably no accident that obesity is the highest in the country in West Virginia (41%), which also has the highest rate of long COVID.”
Flu Continues to Rise in Some U.S. Regions as COVID Markers Decline
Respiratory virus activity remains high across the United States, with flu activity up, especially in three regions, and COVID-19 and respiratory syncytial virus (RSV) markers continuing to drop from high levels, the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) said today in its latest updates.
Overall, 27 jurisdictions reported high or very high respiratory virus activity last week, an increase from 25 the previous week, the CDC said in its weekly snapshot.
The CDC still classified wastewater SARS-CoV-2 detections as high, and in its respiratory virus snapshot, it said levels are highest in the South but are falling. Also today, the CDC released its latest variant projections, which show a further rise of JN.1, which now makes up 96.4% of samples.
Similar to COVID, test positivity for RSV is also declining.
