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COVID Vaccines May Not Protect People With Immune Disorders. NIH Trial Seeks Answers.

NBC News reported:

Millions of Americans have immune disorders or autoimmune diseases — such as lupus, rheumatoid arthritis or Crohn’s disease — that require them to take immune-suppressing treatments for life. Because people with compromised immune systems were largely excluded from the COVID-19 vaccine trials in the U.S. and globally, it’s unknown how much protection they get from vaccination.

A recent study by researchers at Johns Hopkins University found that only half of organ transplant recipients developed antibodies after two doses of a Covid-19 vaccine.

CDC Says It’s Ok to Get a COVID-19 Vaccine Alongside Other Vaccines

CNN Health reported: 

A U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention expert said Wednesday that it’s OK to give the coronavirus vaccine alongside other vaccinations, a major boon for children and teenagers behind on their regular inoculations.

Doctors and other clinicians were previously advised to avoid giving coronavirus vaccine within two weeks of any other vaccine. But Dr. Kate Woodworth of the CDC’s birth defects division said Wednesday that advice has now changed, saying there is substantial data on the safety of the vaccines.

Get Vaccinated in Ohio and Get a Shot at $1 Million, Gov. Mike DeWine Announces

NBC News reported:

Ohio Gov. Mike DeWine on Wednesday announced a novel incentive program for people in his state to get vaccinated — a $1 million lottery.

DeWine, a Republican, said only people who’ve gotten the vaccine will be eligible to win the prize, which will be paid for by federal coronavirus funds.

“Two weeks from tonight on May 26th, we will announce a winner of a separate drawing for adults who have received at least their first dose of the vaccine. This announcement will occur each Wednesday for five weeks, and the winner each Wednesday will receive one million dollars,”DeWine said in a series of tweets.

‘Plausible’ Link Between J&J Vaccine and Blood Clots, CDC Says After Confirming 28 Cases, Including 3 Deaths

The Defender reported:

Officials with the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) said Wednesday they see a “plausible causal association” between the Johnson & Johnson COVID vaccine and potentially life-threatening blood clot disorders after identifying 28 cases — including three deaths — among people who received the vaccine.

Dr. Tom Shimabukuro, deputy director of the CDC’s immunization safety office, presented the new cases at a Wednesday meeting of CDC panel advisers, The New York Times reported.

Tens of Thousands of Lives Could Have Been Saved if Research on COVID Treatments Hadn’t Been Suppressed, Doctors and Economists Say

The Defender reported:

Since the first days of the declared coronavirus pandemic, doctors faithful to their Hippocratic Oath have been searching for — and identifying — effective COVID-19 treatments.

In mid-November, Dr. Peter McCullough, vice chief of internal medicine at Baylor University Medical Center, and three other experts outlined safe and available treatments for the Senate’s influential Homeland Security & Governmental Affairs Committee.

University of Wisconsin critical care specialist Dr. Pierre Kory followed up with more discussion of viable COVID treatments at a Dec. 8 appearance before the same committee.

However, as Children’s Health Defense Chairman Robert F. Kennedy Jr. observed during a March 2021 conversation with McCullough, “we’ve seen this very strange conflict … that many of those treatments that could save lives, instead of being promoted and investigated and studied by the health authorities, are instead being sabotaged and made … inaccessible.”

Tennessee Woman Partially Paralyzed After Rare Reaction to COVID Vaccine Walks Again

NBC4 reported:

Brandy Parker-McFadden walks with a purpose.

“My biggest motivation was to get home to my kids and my husband,” Parker-McFadden said.

Each small, slow step is a part of the story of the Nashville woman’s journey that started nearly four weeks ago when doctors say Parker-McFadden had an extremely rare reaction to Pfizer’s COVID-19 vaccine that left her unable to move her legs. The therapy team wasn’t sure if she’d walk again.

Americans as Young as 12 Begin to Get Vaccinated Against COVID-19 After FDA’s Authorization

CNN health reported:

Some vaccine sites began to inoculate 12-to-15-year-olds against COVID-19 on Tuesday morning, a day after the U.S. Food and Drug Administration authorized Pfizer’s vaccine for the age group.

Jacob Laney, 14, was in line at a Decatur, Georgia, vaccine site early Tuesday in hopes of getting the vaccine …

The shots are somewhat premature, as doctors are technically not supposed to start administering the vaccine to this age group until the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention recommends they do so.

WATCH: Dr. Walensky Encourages Youth to Ask for Vaccine

PBS reported:

The director for the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention is “encouraging children to ask for the vaccine” after regulators on Monday expanded the use of Pfizer’s COVID-19 vaccine to children as young as 12 …

“I would encourage all parents to get their children vaccinated,” said Dr. Rochelle Walensky during a Senate hearing on Tuesday.

“I have a 16 year old myself and I can tell you he wanted to get the vaccine. He wants his life back. These kids want to go back to school. They want to go back to the things they love.”

Despite FDA Approval, Some Schools Say They Won’t Mandate COVID Vaccinations

CNBC reported:

Now that Pfizer’s COVID vaccine has been approved for children ages 12 to 15, more schools may be able to reopen fully in person this fall.

Yet the question remains whether schools will require students to get vaccinated.

“It’s always better to reinforce positive behavior rather than mandate,” said Bob Bollinger, a professor of infectious diseases at the Johns Hopkins University School of Medicine and inventor of the emocha Health app. “But we have a precedent of requiring vaccinations to go to school.”

Yankees Dealing With COVID-19 Issues as Seven Members of Traveling Party Test Positive

CBS Sports reported:

The New York Yankees have had seven members of their traveling party test positive for COVID-19, according to manager Aaron Boone’s pregame comments on Wednesday. Three of the seven positive tests came from coaches and the other four are support staff members. All seven members had previously been vaccinated, and six of the cases are considered asymptomatic in nature, Boone noted. The Yankees had previously had two coaches and one support staff member test positive for COVID-19 ahead of their series opener against the Rays in St. Petersburg on Tuesday.

Here’s What a Moderna Executive Said About the Possibility of a COVID-19 Booster Shot

The Boston Globe via MSN reported:

Moderna’s chief executive on Wednesday discussed the biotech’s progress in developing a booster shot against COVID-19 variants, saying the company hopes to have authorization from the Food and Drug Administration on one of three booster strategies by the end of the summer or early fall.

Speaking from the company’s Norwood facility during a press briefing with Governor Charlie Baker, Stéphane Bancel said Moderna is working on three different options for a single-dose booster shot against variants of concern: the current vaccine, a new variant-specific vaccine, and a 50/50 mix of the two.

Merck, GSK and Pfizer Vaccines Get a Boost as CDC Lifts Two-Week Restriction on Pandemic Shots

FiercePharma reported:

As revenues for several Big Pharma players slumped to start the year, execs blamed part of the problem on the accelerating COVID-19 vaccine rollout. The CDC had recommended people don’t get another shot within two weeks of their COVID-19 vaccine, hitting sales for key products.

Now, the CDC is doing away with that suggestion entirely in an effort to boost routine immunizations among teens. The move could spell financial rewards for leading vaccine companies such as Merck, GlaxoSmithKline and Pfizer.

During the CDC’s Advisory Committee on Immunization Practices (ACIP) meeting on Wednesday, experts endorsed the COVID-19 shot from Pfizer and BioNTech in adolescents aged 12 to 15 and additionally tossed out the agency’s two-week restriction on administering other vaccines.

CDC’s Slow, Cautious Messaging on COVID-19 Seems Out of Step With the Moment, Public Health Experts Say

STAT News reported:

Nearly a year ago, amid concerns about how to prevent transmission of the virus causing COVID-19, scientists were beginning to conclude that rigorous disinfection of surfaces — say, fogging them or deep-cleaning with bleach — was overkill.

Academics were warning that the risk of so-called fomite transmission was wildly overblown. In the fall, research from Israel and Italy found that the virus couldn’t even be cultured from surfaces in hospital infectious disease units. By February of this year, the editorial board of Nature was openly urging the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention to update its guidelines.

The CDC did so — last month.

More Frequent Side-Effects Reported Mixing Pfizer and Oxford COVID Jabs, Study Suggests

The Guardian reported:

Administering one dose of the Pfizer/BioNTech vaccine followed by one of the Oxford/AstraZeneca vaccine (or vice versa) induces a higher frequency of mild to moderate side-effects compared with standard two doses of either vaccine, initial data from a key UK trial suggests.

The Oxford-led Com-Cov study is exploring the safety and efficacy of mixed-dose schedules given that they are being considered in several countries – including the UK – to fortify vaccine rollout programmes that are dependent on unstable vaccine supplies.