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U.S. to Ship 144,000 More Monkeypox Shots and Expand Testing as Cases Top 700
The U.S. is stepping up its efforts to address the snowballing monkeypox outbreak — the country’s largest to date by far, with 700 confirmed cases.
The Department of Health and Human Services (HHS) announced Thursday that it will distribute 144,000 doses of the two-shot Jynneos vaccine, which is approved for monkeypox and smallpox, to cities and states starting Monday. That’s on top of 56,000 doses the department made available last week, of which 41,000 have been delivered.
The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention also announced Wednesday that Labcorp has begun testing for monkeypox at its main lab in North Carolina, which can accept samples from across the country. Labcorp expects to be able to perform up to 10,000 tests a week, the CDC said, which would double the country’s testing capacity.
HHS has vowed to distribute 1.9 million doses in total this year, followed by 2.2 million more in the first half of next year.
Uruguay Suspends COVID Vaccination for Children Under 13
Uruguay stopped administering coronavirus vaccine to children under age 13 after a judge ordered on Thursday that all inoculations in that age group halt until officials present documents relating to contracts signed with vaccine manufacturers.
Judge Alejandro Recarey issued the injunction under a petition filed by a lawyer who represents a group of anti-vaccine activists, who have demanded that contracts with vaccine manufacturers be made public.
NYC Mayor Adams Promises ‘New Weapons’ in Fight Against Latest COVID Surge, Defends Dropping Color-Coded Alert System
Mayor Adams vowed Thursday to replace his administration’s color-coded coronavirus alert system with a set of “new weapons” in the face of yet another wave of COVID cases descending upon New York City.
Speaking at Brooklyn’s Maimonides Hospital, a COVID-19 epicenter in the early days of the pandemic, Adams said the color-coded system is not effective against the city’s current surge in infections.
Adams did not elaborate on what shape the “new weapons” will take or how soon to expect them. But he said he plans on “bringing in experts from all across the globe” to help devise them.
Throughout New York State, there has been a sharp uptick in cases over the past few weeks due to BA.5, a highly contagious subvariant of the Omicron COVID-19 strain that appears exceedingly capable of infecting fully vaccinated people.
Slow Pace for Youngest Kids Getting COVID Vaccine Doses
Nearly 300,000 children under 5 have received COVID-19 shots in the two weeks since they became available, a slower pace than for older groups. But the White House says that was expected for the eligible U.S. population of about 18 million kids.
The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention was to publish initial data on shots for the age group later Thursday, reflecting doses administered since regulators authorized them on June 18. The first vaccinations didn’t begin until several days later because the doses had to be shipped to doctors’ offices and pharmacies.
‘Headed in a Bad Direction’: Omicron Variant May Bring Second-Largest U.S. COVID Wave
The BA.5 version of COVID-19 has become the majority variant of the virus in America in a matter of weeks, in a troubling development that comes amid what may already be America’s second-largest wave of the pandemic.
It also comes at a time when much of the U.S. has relaxed nearly all COVID restrictions in public and life has largely returned to normal.
As BA.5, one of the Omicron sub-variants, begins buffeting the U.S., “we’re headed in a bad direction,” said Jason Salemi, an associate professor of epidemiology at the University of South Florida’s College of Public Health. “We’ve seen it coming for a while … We’ve seen it go pretty unabated.”
Let’s Call Monkeypox What It Is: A Pandemic
It is time for the global public health community to recognize a growing reality: Monkeypox is now a pandemic. And unless we declare an emergency and act quickly to combat it, we risk repeating the same mistakes we made with our COVID-19 battle.
No longer contained to a single continent or found only among travelers, the monkeypox virus is undergoing community transmission in dozens of countries worldwide and spreading unchecked at an alarming rate.
Yet despite the growing number of cases, the World Health Organization has largely played down the outbreak. On June 24, the agency failed to declare a public health emergency — just as it repeatedly failed to issue emergency and pandemic declarations for the coronavirus, until finally declaring a pandemic in March of 2020.
South Africa’s Afrigen Partners With U.S. on mRNA Vaccine Research
South Africa’s Afrigen Biologics Limited said on Friday that it will collaborate with U.S. government researchers to develop mRNA vaccines and therapeutics.
The agreement will enable the sharing of scientific expertise, technical skills and materials with the U.S. National Institutes of Health (NIH) to help Afrigen produce mRNA vaccines against COVID-19 and other diseases, said the Cape Town-based biotech start-up.
mRNA is the technology used for COVID-19 shots by market leaders such as Pfizer Inc. (PFE.N) and Moderna Inc. (MRNA.O). Both have declined international requests to share their technology and expertise, citing the complexity of the manufacturing process.
The Fourth COVID Vaccine Dose May Not Be Enough to Curb New Omicron Sub-Variants. Here’s Why.
Australians aged 30 and above will be eligible to receive their fourth COVID-19 vaccine dose from Monday in an attempt to grapple with a new wave of Omicron sub-variants during winter.
The federal government has accepted the advice from the Australian Technical Advisory Group on Immunisation (ATAGI) that people aged between 50 to 64 are “highly recommended” to receive the fourth so-called “winter dose.”
But ATAGI has warned that even its recommendation for more Australians to receive their fourth COVID-19 vaccine “is expected to be limited” in its effect on curbing the virus outbreak.
“[The sub-variants] are worse actors in terms of being more able to get around our immune system and they’re more transmissible, and they’re easier to catch, even if you’ve had a vaccine or had COVID,” said Nancy Baxter, Head of the Melbourne School of Population and Global Health at the University of Melbourne.
Millions in COVID Funds yet to Be Distributed to Workers
A $34 million state fund created by Connecticut lawmakers last year to provide financial help to qualified essential workers has remained mostly untouched, Comptroller Natalie Braswell said Thursday.
The program aims to help those who lost wages and faced out-of-pocket medical expenses and burial costs due to COVID-19.
