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Italy Halts AstraZeneca Vaccine for Under-60s After Teenager Dies

MSN reported:

The Italian government said on Friday it was restricting the use of the AstraZeneca COVID-19 vaccine to people over the age of 60, after a teenager who had taken the shot died from a blood clot.

Camilla Canepa died on Thursday aged 18 after being given the vaccine on May 25, triggering a storm of controversy in Italy over the Anglo-Swedish brand being given to adults of all ages despite previously-raised medical concerns.

“AstraZeneca will only be used for people over 60,” the country’s special COVID commissioner Francesco Figliuolo told reporters at a news conference.

Novavax Says COVID-19 Vaccine Shows 90.4% Overall Efficacy in U.S./Mexico Phase 3 Trial

CNN reported:

The American biotechnology company Novavax announced on Monday that its coronavirus vaccine candidate was found to have an overall efficacy of 90.4% in a Phase 3 trial conducted across the United States and Mexico.

Additional analyses of the trial are ongoing, according to the company, and will be submitted to peer-reviewed journals for publication.

8 Fully Vaccinated Die of COVID in Maine, as States Continue to Report ‘Breakthrough’ Cases

The Defender reported:

Eight people in Maine have died with COVID after being fully vaccinated, according to the latest numbers from Maine’s Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC), which confirmed a total of 457 breakthrough cases in the state.

Initial data suggest breakthrough cases in Maine are more common in older individuals and people with underlying health conditions — the same populations that, among the unvaccinated, are most at risk of hospitalization or death from the virus.

About half of the vaccinated people in Maine who tested positive for COVID had not experienced symptoms when contacted by case investigators, according to the Maine CDC.

Fauci in 2012 Video: Gain-of-Function Experiments ‘a Clear Benefit’ to Society

Mercola reported:

Dr. Anthony Fauci, director of the National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases (NIAID) — an arm of the National Institutes of Health (NIH) that in recent years has funded gain-of-function research on bat coronaviruses at the Wuhan Institute of Virology (WIV) — has denied that such funding occurred.

Fauci told a House Appropriations subcommittee that $600,000 was given to the nonprofit EcoHealth Alliance, which funneled the money to WIV, over a five-year period for the purpose of studying bat coronaviruses and whether they could be transmitted to humans.

However, regarding gain-of-function (GOF) research, which refers to studies that have the potential to enhance the ability of pathogens to cause disease, including enhancing either their pathogenicity or transmissibility, Fauci said, “That categorically was not done.”

Pfizer Begins Low-Dose COVID Vaccine Trials in Young Children

NBC News reported:

With more than 144 million adults now fully vaccinated against COVID-19, Pfizer is moving ahead with low-dose trials in children under 12-years-old and could begin mass vaccinations of kids in the fall. NBC News’ Maura Barrett is in Jefferson, Louisiana, where doctors are testing whether the vaccine is safe for children.

Pfizer Ready to Make COVID Vaccines for New Variants, CEO Says

CBS News via Yahoo!News reported:

Pfizer’s CEO is expressing confidence about the efficacy of his company’s COVID-19 vaccine against the Delta variant, which was first discovered in India and has America’s top scientists sounding the alarm.

“I feel quite comfortable that we cover it,” Pfizer CEO and Chairman Albert Bourla told CBS News’ Jan Crawford. “We will not need a special vaccine for it. The current vaccine should cover it.”

Almost Third of 42 Britons Who Have Died From Delta Variant Had Received Second Vaccine

Express reported:

The Delta variant, also known as the variant first identified in India, is now the dominant COVID variant in the UK. While the COVID vaccine has been shown to be effective against it, new analysis by PHE has revealed 29% of COVID deaths from the strain had received two doses of the jab.

Research Suggests Pfizer-BioNTech COVID-19 Vaccine Reprograms Innate Immune Responses

News Medical reported:

Researchers in The Netherlands and Germany have warned that Pfizer-BioNTech’s coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) vaccine induces complex reprogramming of innate immune responses that should be considered in the development and use of mRNA-based vaccines.

Jorge Domínguez-Andrés and colleagues say that while the vaccine has been shown to be up to 95% effective in preventing infection with severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 (SARS-CoV-2) and subsequent COVID-19, little is known about the broad effects the vaccine may have on the innate and adaptive immune responses.