US regulators last week advised manufacturers to update the Covid-19 vaccine in time for the fall booster program with new formulations that will better protect against the more infectious sub-variants of Omicron that dominate coronavirus transmission in the United States.
“We have advised manufacturers seeking to update their COVID-19 vaccines that they should develop modified vaccines that add an omicron BA.4/5 spike protein component to the current vaccine formulation … so that modified vaccines could potentially are being used starting in the early to mid-fall of 2022,” Dr. Peter Marks, director of the Center for Biologics Evaluation and Research at the US Food and Drug Administration (FDA), said last Thursday. The FDA has not advised manufacturers to change the primary vaccine for those who have not yet received a Covid-19 vaccination.
That same day, the Biden administration announced it had agreed to buy 105 million doses of Pfizer/BioNTech’s Covid-19 vaccine for delivery later this year. “This may include Omicron-adapted Covid-19 vaccines for adults, subject to authorization,” Pfizer said in a statement.
While current vaccines have provided strong protection against severe disease since they were released in late 2020, Omicron’s BA.4 and BA.5 sub-variants are better able to evade immunity from vaccines and previous infections, reports Jen Christensen.BA.4 /5 have been linked to increasing cases in the UK, Portugal, Germany and France. And the spike in infections comes as a pre-print study — based on the health records of more than 5.6 million people treated at the Veterans Affairs Health System — found that repeatedly contracting Covid-19 appears to increase a person’s chances of contracting new ones. and sometimes permanent health problems after the infection. As cases rise, some in the U.S. are wondering when the younger population will get another shot. Marks said last Tuesday that there will be a conversation going forward to determine who needs another booster and what that booster will look like. Currently, the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) recommends the fourth dose only for people over 50 and immunocompromised.
Meanwhile, vaccine makers Pfizer, Moderna and Novavax are already testing updated versions of their vaccines, including some bivalent vaccines that target the Omicron variants.
HE ASKED YOU. WE ANSWERED.
Q: Can the Covid-19 vaccine be taken with other childhood immunizations?
A: The CDC said the Covid-19 vaccine can be given at the same time as other childhood immunizations, according to CNN medical analyst Dr. Leanna Wen.
“A different injection site is used – for example, the Covid-19 shot in one leg and another vaccine in the other leg,” she says, but stresses the importance of children being “up to date with other immunizations to prevent other infectious diseases. ”
If they aren’t, she suggests checking with your pediatrician to see if other vaccines are due. As a mother of two children under the age of five, Wen vaccinates her children as soon as they are able and said the experience is similar to any vaccination appointment.
Submit your questions here. Are you a healthcare worker battling Covid-19? Send us a WhatsApp message about the challenges you are facing: +1 347-322-0415.
READING OF THE WEEK
North Korea claims Covid outbreak from ‘unusual objects’ near South Korean border
As with previous disease outbreaks in North Korea, one of the biggest concerns surrounding the country’s Covid outbreak is that Pyongyang’s penchant for secrecy makes it difficult to accurately gauge its severity, Paula Hancox and Yunjung Seo report.
International NGOs and most foreign embassies have long since left the country, and tightly closed borders mean access is impossible.
The impoverished nation publicly acknowledged that the virus had breached its borders for the first time in May. At the time, its leader, Kim Jong Un, described the outbreak as the “biggest turmoil” ever to hit the country. Two months and millions of suspected cases later, he said he had achieved “brilliant success” in stopping the disease in its tracks.
Last week, North Korean authorities blamed the outbreak on “unusual objects” that several residents came into contact with near the South Korean border, according to state media KCNA. The South Korean government has denied the possibility of the spread of Covid-19 through leaflets sent from the South, citing local and international health experts about the low risk of people being infected through contact with contaminated surfaces or objects.
Fauci says his Covid recovered after Paxlovid
Dr. Anthony Fauci, President Joe Biden’s chief medical adviser, recently revealed that he is experiencing a relapse of his Covid-19 infection after taking the antiviral drug Paxlovid. So far, Paxlovid rebound cases have been limited to small studies and experiences shared on social media.
Fauci described the “interesting course” his own infection took during an appearance at Foreign Policy’s Global Health Forum last week, saying he had tested positive with “very minimal symptoms.” When they increased, given his age, he “passed Paxlovid in five days.” Fauci, 81, believes the drug kept him out of the hospital, Brenda Goodman and Virginia Langmaid report.
After five days on the drug, he tested negative. He had three consecutive days of negative tests. On the fourth day, he tested positive again — only this time his symptoms were worse, experiencing what people call a “Paxlovid rebound,” Fauci said.
Pfizer – the company that makes Paxlovid – said its studies showed that relapses were rare and occurred in both people who took the drug and those who took a placebo pill. Because of this variation, the company does not believe the rebound is related to the drug.
A 14-year-old tiger has died after contracting Covid at an Ohio zoo
A tiger at an Ohio zoo died of health complications caused by Covid-19, officials said last week.
Jupiter, a 14-year-old Amur tiger, died June 26 after developing pneumonia caused by the virus, the Columbus Zoo and Aquarium said in a statement. Jupiter had been undergoing long-term treatment for chronic underlying conditions that made him more susceptible to Covid, the zoo said.
Earlier this year, an 11-year-old snow leopard at Miller Park Zoo in Bloomington, Illinois, died after contracting the virus. Rilu the leopard also developed pneumonia before death, zoo officials said.
TOP TIP
Vitamin D is not a panacea
If you firmly believed that vitamin D was a miracle cure for Covid-19, think again. Taking too much can lead to an overdose due to a toxic buildup of calcium in the blood, causing confusion, disorientation, and heart rhythm problems, among other ailments.
Last week, the journal BMJ Case Reports published an article about a British man who was hospitalized after overdosing on vitamin D.
The man began taking more than 20 over-the-counter supplements every day, including 50,000 international units (IU) of vitamin D three times a day, after seeing a private nutritionist. This is a dose “375 times the recommended dose” in the UK, said co-author of the report and William Harvey Hospital endocrinologist Dr Alamin Alkundi. Within a month, the man began suffering from nausea, abdominal pain, diarrhea and repeated bouts of vomiting, along with leg cramps and ringing in the ears.
LISTEN TO OUR PODCAST
In today’s episode, hear TV legend Norman Lear talk about the secret to a long and happy life with CNN Chief Medical Correspondent Dr. Sanjay Gupta and entrepreneur Mark Hodosh at the LIFE ITSELF Summit. Listen here.
Add Comment