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Herpes Infection Possibly Linked to COVID-19 Vaccine, Study Says

New York Post reported:

Herpes infections may be a side effect of a COVID-19 vaccine, experts have revealed.

Scientists in Israel identified six cases in a new study of patients developing a skin rash known as herpes zoster — or shingles — after receiving the Pfizer vaccine, according to a study in the Rheumatology journal.

Herpes zoster starts off as a small, itchy skin rash, but if left untreated, it could cause nerve damage and pain, the Jerusalem Post reported.

33-Year-Old Woman Hospitalized for ‘Mysterious’ Paralysis 12 Hours After Pfizer Vaccine

The Defender reported:

A healthy 33-year-old woman in Bethel Park, Pennsylvania, who asked to remain anonymous, experienced paralysis 12 hours after getting her first dose of the Pfizer COVID vaccine and is still hospitalized, WPXI-TV reported.

The Pennsylvania woman said she initially felt fine after being vaccinated, but woke up in the middle of the night with no feeling in her arms or legs.

“It was the scariest thing in the world to go to sleep completely fine (and walking), to wake up 1:30 in the morning and not be able to move at all,” the woman said. “I’m literally counting on my daughter to hand me my phone to call to get help.”

Paramedics rushed her to the hospital where she was later transferred to the Cleveland Clinic where doctors ran tests to figure out how and why she suffered paralysis. An MRI and spinal tap were clear and blood work all came back negative, ruling out any rare diseases or disorders.

EU Regulators Find ‘Possible Link’ Between J&J Vaccine and Blood Clots, U.S. Still Investigating

The Defender reported:

The European Medicines Agency (EMA) said Tuesday it found a “possible link” between the Johnson & Johnson (J&J) COVID vaccine and very rare blood clots, but concluded the vaccine’s benefits still outweigh the risks.

EMA’s safety committee (PRAC) said a warning should be added to the product label,  but the blood clot-related disorders should be listed as “very rare” side effects of the vaccine.

J&J had delayed the vaccine’s rollout in the EU after concerns about blood clots led U.S. regulators to call for a pause. The company said Tuesday it will resume shipment of the vaccine, distributed under its Janssen subsidiary, in the EU, Norway and Iceland.

In reaching its conclusion, the committee said it took into consideration all currently available evidence including eight reports from the U.S. of serious cases — one of which was fatal — of unusual blood clots. All cases occurred in people under 60, and all occurred within three weeks after vaccination. The majority were women.

Young, Healthy Adults Will Be Deliberately Reinfected With COVID-19 to Boost Vaccine Development

Market Watch reported:

Healthy, young volunteers who have previously had COVID-19 will be deliberately exposed to coronavirus for a second time to see how the immune system responds, as part of a new U.K. study.

Researchers at the University of Oxford on Monday launched the “human challenge” trial to investigate what happens when volunteers who have recovered from the coronavirus disease are then reinfected with the virus a second time.

The study, which is funded by the Wellcome Trust, is expected to start in the next few weeks after receiving ethics approval, and could help accelerate the development of new treatments and vaccines against the disease.

Human challenge studies have played a crucial role in the development of treatments for a number of diseases, including malaria, typhoid, cholera and flu.

Mexico President Touts ‘No Risks’ as He Receives AstraZeneca Vaccine

US News reported:

Mexican President Andres Manuel Lopez Obrador received the AstraZeneca shot against COVID-19 on Tuesday, urging trust in vaccines after several countries limited the use of AstraZeneca due to suspected links to rare blood clots.

Lopez Obrador, 67, has said the benefits of getting inoculated outweighed the risks of the low-cost shot, which is a core pillar of Mexico’s vaccination strategy.

The Race to Curb the Spread of COVID Vaccine Disinformation

Scientific American reported:

Researchers are launching projects to track and tag vaccine misinformation and disinformation on social media, as well as collecting massive amounts of data to understand the ways in which misinformation, political rhetoric and public policies all interact to influence vaccine uptake across the United States.

Scientists have identified a wide variety of disinformation surrounding COVID-19 and vaccines, ranging from conspiracy theories that the pandemic was engineered to control society or boost hospital profits, through to claims that the vaccines are risky and unnecessary.

One research consortium, dubbed the Virality Project, is expanding on strategies pioneered during the election to help inform how platforms such as Twitter and Facebook tackle vaccine disinformation. Created by researchers at multiple US institutions — including Stanford University in California, the University of Washington in Seattle and New York University — the team is working with public-health agencies and social-media companies to identify, track and report disinformation that violates their rules.

With the Competition Struggling, Pfizer’s COVID Vaccine Sales Could Hit $24B This Year

Fierce Pharma reported:

Messenger RNA COVID-19 vaccines are sailing along as viral vector shots encounter setback after setback. How will the recent headlines affect vaccine sales in 2021?

In his weekly notes to investors, Bernstein analyst Ronny Gal offered eye-popping revenue estimates for the mRNA shots from Pfizer-BioNTech and Moderna. He sees the Pfizer team picking up $24 billion in revenues this year, compared with $14 billion for Moderna.

Why such a difference? It’s about Pfizer and BioNTech’s more extensive manufacturing network, Gal wrote to clients Monday.

Johnson & Johnson’s COVID-19 Vaccine Adds $100 Million to Quarterly Sales

The Wall Street Journal reported:

Johnson & Johnson ’s COVID-19 vaccine contributed $100 million to the company’s sales growth in the latest quarter, as U.S. health authorities re-evaluate the vaccine during a pause amid safety concerns.

As vaccination campaigns help ease the pandemic’s severity, Johnson & Johnson’s results from its other business lines showed a trend toward normality compared with the tumultuous first months of 2020.

No, We Don’t Know If Vaccines Change Your Period

The New York Times reported:

A spate of reports from women stating that their periods changed after they got their coronavirus vaccines has left many women worried that the jab is affecting their cycle.

So far, there’s no data linking the vaccines to changes in menstruation. Even if there is a connection, one unusual period is no cause for alarm. There is a long list of triggers that can cause changes to the menstrual cycle, including stress, illness and changes in diet and physical activity.

But that raises the question: If so many things can affect periods, why don’t we know more about how these vaccines — or any others — affect menstruation? It’s part of a long history of medicine not taking women’s bodies seriously.

Adagio Raises $336 Million to Advance COVID-19 Antibody Treatment

The Boston Globe reported:

Adagio Therapeutics announced on Monday that it has raised $336 million in additional funding to rapidly advance its COVID-19 antibody therapy to treat and prevent the disease, caused by the coronavirus, as well as illness resulting from new variants.

Last week, the Waltham biotech began recruitment for a global clinical trial to test the drug’s efficacy as a treatment for high-risk individuals with mild or moderate COVID-19. The goal: to determine whether a single intramuscular dose could prevent hospitalization and death.

Free Joints for Vaxxed People in DC Today

Washingtonian reported:

A DC group will hand out joints to anyone who can show they’ve been vaccinated on Tuesday, April 20. DC Marijuana Justice isn’t publicizing the locations of “Joints for Jabs” “because we do not want lines or crowding,” the group says in a tweet, adding, “If you were already vaccinated, we suggest going back to that location!”