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Two Texas Children Mistakenly Given Adult COVID Vaccine Doses
Health officials in one Texas city are trying to figure out how two children under the age of 12 received adult doses of the COVID-19 vaccine.
Dorothy White, the City of Garland’s public & media relations director, confirmed to Nexstar that the children were both given an injection of the Pfizer vaccine on Sunday, Oct. 31 — two days before the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention approved shots for children ages 5 to 11.
Feds Pay Zero Claims for COVID Vaccine Injuries and Deaths
In fiscal year 2021, the U.S. government paid $246.9 million in claims for vaccine-related injuries and deaths. Not a single payout was related to COVID-19 vaccines.
Each person with a “provable” injury from a COVID vaccine could claim up to $379,000 from a special COVID vaccine fund set up by the federal government. The payout for death could be as high as $370,376.
However, according to an OpenTheBooks.com investigation, the federal government didn’t pay a penny for COVID-vaccine claims. The special fund for these claims is called the Countermeasures Injury Compensation Program (CICP).
Study Shows Dramatic Decline in Effectiveness of All Three COVID Vaccines Over Time
As the Delta variant became the dominant strain of coronavirus across the United States, all three COVID-19 vaccines available to Americans lost some of their protective power, with vaccine efficacy among a large group of veterans dropping between 35% and 85%, according to a new study.
Researchers who scoured the records of nearly 800,000 U.S. veterans found that in early March, just as the Delta variant was gaining a toehold across American communities, the three vaccines were roughly equal in their ability to prevent infections.
But over the next six months, that changed dramatically. And most strikingly, the protective power of Johnson & Johnson’s single-dose vaccine plunged from 86% to just 13% over those six months.
U.S. Cancels Multimillion-Dollar Deal With Coronavirus Vaccine Maker Whose Plant Ruined Johnson & Johnson Doses
The federal government has canceled a deal worth $628 million with Emergent BioSolutions, the Maryland-based vaccine manufacturer that was a vanguard of the Trump administration’s program to rapidly produce vaccines to counter the coronavirus pandemic.
The company disclosed the development on Thursday in a conference call discussing its latest financial results. The cancellation comes after Emergent’s manufacturing facilities in Baltimore were found to have produced millions of contaminated vaccine doses this spring, prompting a months-long shutdown.
Breakthrough COVID Cases in Mass. Rise After Two-Week Decline
More than 54,000 fully vaccinated Massachusetts residents have now tested positive for COVID-19 and 438 of them have died, according to the latest state data on breakthrough cases published Tuesday.
The state Department of Public Health has tracked a cumulative 54,199 confirmed coronavirus infections among those fully vaccinated in the state to date.
In the last week, 3,192 new breakthrough cases — infections in people who have been vaccinated — have been reported. That’s up from 3,078 the previous week after two weeks of declining cases. Health officials said 106 of the new breakthrough cases resulted in hospitalization, down 15 from the week before. Overall, just 0.04% of vaccinated people have now been hospitalized.
Pfizer Says COVID Pill Cut Hospital, Death Risk by 90%
Pfizer Inc. said Friday that its experimental antiviral pill for COVID-19 cut rates of hospitalization and death by nearly 90% in high-risk adults, as the drugmaker joined the race for an easy-to-use medication to treat the coronavirus.
Pfizer said it will ask the FDA and international regulators to authorize its pill as soon as possible, after independent experts recommended halting the company’s study based on the strength of its results. Once Pfizer applies, the FDA could make a decision within weeks or months.
Chicago Public Schools Cancel Classes Nov. 12 to Promote COVID Vaccination for Students
Chicago Public School (CPS) officials canceled classes next Friday in hopes that students will use the day off to get the COVID-19 vaccine, according to a letter sent out to parents and families Thursday.
The letter from CPS said schools will be closed Nov. 12 for “Vaccination Awareness Day” after the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention approved the COVID-19 vaccine for children 5 to 11 years old earlier this week.
Italian Institute of Health Drastically Reduces Its Official COVID Death Toll Number
The Italian Higher Institute of Health has drastically reduced the country’s official COVID death toll number by over 97% after changing the definition of a fatality to someone who died from COVID rather than with COVID.
Italian newspaper Il Tempo reports that the Institute has revised downward the number of people who have died from COVID rather than with COVID from 130,000 to under 4,000.
Of the 130,468 deaths registered as official COVID deaths since the start of the pandemic, only 3,783 are directly attributable to the virus alone.
Gene Linked to Doubling Risk of COVID Death Found by UK Scientists
British scientists have identified a version of a gene that may be associated with double the risk of lung failure from COVID-19, a finding that provides new insights into why some people are more susceptible than others to severe illness and which opens possibilities for targeted medicine.
The high-risk genetic variant is in a chromosome region that is also tied to double the risk of death in COVID-19 patients under age 60. Around 60% of people with South Asian ancestry carry the high-risk version of the gene, researchers at Oxford University said on Friday.
The scientists found the increased risk comes from a gene that regulates the activity of other genes, including one called LZTFL1 involved in the response of lung cells to viruses.
Billions Wiped From COVID Pharma Heavyweights — Including Moderna, Regeneron, Merck — as Pfizer’s Antiviral Pill Triggers Sell-Off
Shares of COVID-19 vaccine makers plummeted Friday morning after Pfizer announced it would seek regulatory approval for an antiviral pill to treat the disease, triggering billions in market value losses as the market responds to a promising and potentially game-changing development.
Pfizer announced Friday it would stop enrolling new patients into its clinical trial for Paxlovid after an early analysis of trial data demonstrated the drug’s “overwhelming efficacy.” The company said the data suggests the pill, taken shortly after symptoms develop, cuts the risk of hospitalization or death from COVID-19 in high-risk patients by 89%.
Paxlovid is on track to become the second antiviral COVID-19 pill on the market, following Merck’s molnupiravir, which was approved by British regulators in early November.
Bill Gates-Backed Chinese Vaccine Maker Valued at $2 Billion Thanks to COVID Jab That’s Especially Potent Against Delta
Chinese vaccine maker Clover Biopharmaceuticals raised $240 million in an initial public offering in Hong Kong on Thursday, giving the Chengdu-based firm a valuation of nearly $2 billion.
The protein-based technology of Clover’s candidate is similar to what’s in Novavax’s COVID-19 vaccine. The jab by Novavax, a U.S. company, produced promising trial results but has earned approval only in Indonesia amid regulatory and manufacturing delays.
CEPI, a research group that’s partially backed by the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation, has partnered with Clover to develop a viable COVID-19 candidate. CEPI granted Clover $360 million in 2020 to fund research and trials for its vaccine.
