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Vaccines Offer Little Protection Against Long COVID, Study Finds
The COVID vaccines, while holding up strong against hospitalization and death, offer little protection against long COVID, according to research published Wednesday in the journal Nature Medicine.
The findings are disappointing, if not surprising, to researchers who were once hopeful that vaccination could significantly reduce the risk of long COVID.
The COVID vaccines were developed early on in the pandemic, long before doctors, scientists and patients knew of the existence of long COVID. They were never designed to protect against it, said Al-Aly, who is also chief of research at the V.A. St. Louis Health Care System.
Viruses That Were on Hiatus During COVID Are Back — and Behaving in Unexpected Ways
For nearly two years, as the COVID pandemic disrupted life around the globe, other infectious diseases were in retreat. Now, as the world rapidly dismantles the measures put in place to slow the spread of COVID, the viral and bacterial nuisances that were on hiatus are returning — and behaving in unexpected ways.
Consider what we’ve been seeing of late. The past two winters were among the mildest influenza seasons on record, but flu hospitalizations have picked up in the last few weeks — in May! Adenovirus type 41, previously thought to cause fairly innocuous bouts of gastrointestinal illness, may be triggering severe hepatitis in healthy young children.
And now monkeypox, a virus generally only found in West and Central Africa is causing an unprecedented outbreak in more than a dozen countries in Europe, North America, the Middle East and Australia, with the United Kingdom alone reporting more than 70 cases as of Tuesday.
Because of COVID, 2020 Was a ‘Lost Year’ in the Fight Against HIV, Report Suggests
Confronted by the COVID-19 pandemic, an ambitious new plan by the federal government, marshaled by Dr. Anthony Fauci, to accelerate the battle against the stubbornly persistent HIV epidemic in the U.S. appears to have made a markedly disappointing debut.
The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention’s annual HIV Surveillance Report, published Tuesday, provides the first major bird’s-eye view of the turn the country’s four-decade-old epidemic took after the coronavirus upended society.
The report, which includes 2020 data, follows worrisome previous findings that HIV testing plunged as stay-at-home orders swept the country in March 2020.
CDC officials have expressed concern that the extraordinary disruptions the country’s COVID response has caused to HIV-related services have inflicted collateral damage that could take years to undo. It even remains possible that, after decades of hard-fought declines, the national HIV transmission rate has crept up again.
Bay Area COVID Cases Surpass 2021 Winter Surge, but Far Fewer Hospitalized
San Francisco Chronicle via MSN reported:
Coronavirus cases in the Bay Area’s spring surge have surpassed the peaks of the devastating winter wave of early 2021, but high levels of vaccination and immunity in the community are keeping hospitalizations at more manageable levels so far, and deaths remain notably low throughout the region.
The Bay Area is reporting roughly 4,500 new coronavirus cases a day as of Tuesday — about the same as the peak of the winter 2020-21 surge, which was the deadliest period of the pandemic.
Hospitalizations are a fraction of the 2020-21 surge, though — about 516 people are currently hospitalized with COVID in the Bay Area, up from 255 last month and compared to more than 2,000 in the worst days of the pandemic. The region is reporting about three deaths per day, far below the 50 or more deaths reported daily during the deadliest time.
Pfizer CEO Predicts ‘Constant Waves’ of COVID Because of Complacency About the Coronavirus and Politicization of the Pandemic
The world is likely to suffer from “constant waves” of COVID-19, the CEO of Pfizer warned Wednesday. Albert Bourla pointed to complacency about the virus, politicization of the pandemic and diminishing immunity from vaccines and prior infections, according to comments reported by the Financial Times.
People are also growing “tired” of COVID-19 safety regulations, said Bourla, who was speaking at the World Economic Forum in Davos, Switzerland, where world leaders and members of the business elite are gathered for an annual summit.
Pfizer said on May 3 that it expects 2022 revenue from Comirnaty, its COVID-19 vaccine, of around $32 billion.
Bourla said Pfizer believed that antiviral drugs would replace vaccines as the key weapon in fighting the coronavirus, at least until shots providing a longer period of immunity were developed. Pfizer was “doubling down” on producing its antiviral pill Paxlovid, Bourla added.
CDC: New Omicron Subvariant Takes Over as Dominant Coronavirus Strain
U.S. News & World Report reported:
A highly contagious subvariant of Omicron has taken over as the dominant strain circulating in the U.S., according to data from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.
BA.2.12.1 was responsible for 58% of recorded new coronavirus cases last week, according to the updated data. That’s up from 49% of infections the week prior.
The Omicron subvariant takes the spot over from another Omicron subvariant, BA.2, or “stealth Omicron.” That strain dropped to 39% of new infections last week. BA.2.12.1 is believed to be about 25% more transmissible than BA.2, but there are no signs yet that it causes more severe disease.
CDC Says Monkeypox Doesn’t Spread Easily by Air: ‘This Is Not COVID’
The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention wants to calm public anxiety over how the monkeypox virus is transmitted, emphasizing that it doesn’t spread that easily through the air because it requires close contact with an infected person.
Monkeypox is primarily spread through sustained physical contact such as skin-to-skin touch with someone who has an active rash, CDC officials said this week. The virus can also spread through contact with materials that have the virus on it like shared bedding and clothing. But it can spread through respiratory droplets as well, although not nearly as easily as COVID-19, they said.
“This is not COVID,” Dr. Jennifer McQuiston, a CDC official, told reporters on a call Monday. “Respiratory spread is not the predominant worry. It is contact and intimate contact in the current outbreak setting and population.”
Employers Are Not Accommodating People Disabled by Long COVID, Activists Tell House Panel
Some people disabled by long COVID-19 are struggling in the workplace, with employers refusing to make accommodations for the new condition, disability activists told a House committee on Tuesday.
During a hearing for the House Financial Services Subcommittee on Diversity and Inclusion, witnesses detailed the challenges that disabled people continue to face in accessing financial services, equitable housing and work opportunities.
The rate at which long COVID-19 occurs among patients remains unclear. Symptoms of the condition are diverse and can range from mild to debilitating. Many people report breathing issues, persistent brain fog and fatigue.
Pfizer CEO Says He ‘Wouldn’t Worry Much’ About Monkeypox; Cuts Drug Prices for Low-Income Countries
Pfizer’s CEO said Wednesday that he “wouldn’t worry much” about a recent monkeypox outbreak that has seen cases surge in non-endemic countries. Albert Bourla told CNBC that current data on the disease suggests it doesn’t transmit as easily as other viruses, such as COVID-19, and that it is unlikely to lead to a pandemic.
“That doesn’t mean that we should relax,” however, he continued. “I think we should monitor where the situation goes.”
Bourla noted that the availability of existing treatments presents a reason for optimism. Smallpox vaccinations have proven 85% effective against monkeypox, and already France and Denmark are considering targeted vaccination campaigns for those most at risk of transmitting the disease.
In a separate announcement Wednesday, Pfizer said that it would make all of its patented medicines available at a not-for-profit price for the world’s poorest countries. The pharmaceutical giant said the plan covers 23 wholly-owned, patented medicines and vaccines for infectious diseases, certain cancers and some other rare and infectious diseases.
Long-Term Heart Inflammation Strikes 1 in 8 Hospitalized COVID Patients
U.S. News & World Report reported:
A year after being hospitalized with COVID-19, more than 12% of patients had been diagnosed with heart inflammation, according to a new study of the long-term effects of the virus.
For the study, researchers in Scotland followed 159 patients hospitalized with COVID-19 between May 2020 and March 2021. A year later, many patients had ongoing health conditions.
Besides heart inflammation (myocarditis), inflammation across the body and damage to other organs, including the kidneys, were common, according to the team from the University of Glasgow and NHS Greater Glasgow and Clyde.
Pandemic-Weary Americans Plan for Summer Despite COVID Surge
A high school prom in Hawaii where masked dancers weren’t allowed to touch. A return to virtual city council meetings in one Colorado town after the mayor and others tested positive following an in-person session. A reinstated mask mandate at skilled nursing facilities in Los Angeles County after 22 new outbreaks in a single week.
A COVID-19 surge is underway that is starting to cause disruptions as the school year wraps up and Americans prepare for summer vacations. Many people, though, have returned to their pre-pandemic routines and plans, which often involve travel.
Yet vaccinations have stagnated and elected officials nationwide seem loath to impose new restrictions on a public that’s ready to move on even as the U.S. death toll surpassed 1 million people less than 2 1/2 years into the outbreak.
