COVID-19 'Pandemic'
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Bird flu outbreak nears worst ever in U.S. with 37 million dead
Author of the article:Bloomberg News
Bloomberg News
Zijia Song, Elizabeth Elkin and Michael Hirtzer
Publishing date:May 06, 2022 • 17 hours ago • 4 minute read • 19 Comments
A bird flu virus that’s sweeping across the U.S. is rapidly becoming the country’s worst outbreak, having already killed over 37 million chickens and turkeys and with more deaths expected through next month as farmers perform mass culls across the Midwest.
Under guidance of the federal government, farms must destroy entire commercial flocks if just one bird tests positive for the virus, to stop the spread. That’s leading to distressing scenes across rural America. In Iowa, millions of animals in vast barns are suffocated in high temperatures or with poisonous foam. In Wisconsin, lines of dump trucks have taken days to collect masses of bird carcasses and pile them in unused fields. Neighbors live with the stench of the decaying birds.
The crisis is hurting egg-laying hens and turkeys the most, with the disease largely being propagated by migrating wild birds that swarm above farms and leave droppings that get tracked into poultry houses. That’s probably how the virus contaminated egg operations in Iowa, which produce liquid and powdered eggs that go into restaurant omelets or boxed cake mixes. Further north under the same migration paths lie Minnesota’s turkey farms, which supply everything from deli meats for submarine sandwiches to whole birds for the holidays.
Prices for such products are soaring to records, adding to the fastest pace of U.S. inflation in four decades. The supply deficits triggered by the flu also come as world food prices reach new highs. From the war in Ukraine to adverse weather for crops, it’s all throwing supply chains into turmoil and compounding the crisis that’s pushed millions of people into hunger since the start of the pandemic.
Read more: The world’s next food emergency is here as war compounds hunger
“Just when you thought it couldn’t get any worse, here comes the bird flu,” said Karyn Rispoli, an egg market reporter at commodity researcher Urner Barry.
Ventilation Shutdown
Wholesale egg prices touched a record $2.90 a dozen in April in government data. Whole turkeys touched an all-time high $1.47 a pound according to Urner Barry.
The last time bird flu hit the U.S. in 2015, it took the lives of about 50 million animals by the end of the season and cost the federal government over $1 billion dollars, as it handles killing and burying of birds. At the time, the industry beefed up its biosecurity around poultry houses, installing sound canons to repel wild birds, or even carwashes so that farm trucks wouldn’t bring contamination from one farm to another, so that there wouldn’t be a repeat.
This time around, even with that better biosecurity, the industry has failed to prevent the transmission from wild birds, said Michelle Kromm, an executive consultant for the Minnesota Turkey Growers Association. As a precaution, farmers are supposed to go through a laborious process of completely changing their clothing and shoes before entering barns, and making sure all supplies and tools are clean.
Yet weather and migration patterns are making it easier for the virus to win this year. Rare spring snowstorms are originating in the Midwest and travelling up the East Coast, and the cold, wet weather keeps the virus alive for longer, helping it spread. The flu this year is also more lethal than in the past. The deaths so far this season are tracking above previous outbreaks at 37 million chickens and turkeys. The U.S.’s flock of egg-laying hens totals more than 300 million birds (chickens raised for meat, known as broilers, haven’t been as affected).
“We all need to maintain really high awareness that the environment is contaminated,” said Beth Thompson, a veterinarian at the Minnesota Board of Animal Health. The weather “needs to warm up and dry out to kill that virus that’s sitting out there.”
Iowa, the U.S.’s center of egg production, has been hit the worst. One farm, Rembrandt Enterprises, destroyed its giant flock of 5.3 million hens starting in late March using a government-approved yet controversial method called ventilation shutdown plus. The technique, which is being widely used to eliminate millions of chickens at a time during this outbreak, involves closing up barns so that temperatures rise and the animals suffocate over hours. Turkeys can be killed by spraying a firefighting foam that suffocates them.
Rembrandt didn’t respond to requests for comment.
Bird flu is also wreaking havoc in Canada, wiping out almost two million fowl. The virus has never been in multiple provinces at the same time.
“We’re worried. We’re worried for sure,” said Lisa Bishop-Spencer, spokeswoman for Chicken Farmers of Canada.
One person involved in culling infected birds in Colorado has contracted the avian flu, according to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. The risk of the bird flu spreading to humans remains low, even with this case, the agency said. Flus that spread from animals to humans are a concern because in rare instances, the result can be a pandemic.
Longer Recovery
It won’t be easy to recover from the crisis. In 2015, it took the egg industry over a year to ramp back up, according to Maro Ibarburu-Blanc, a research scientist at Iowa State University’s Egg Industry Center. This time, supplies could be hit for longer because farmers whose operations were affected by the virus may make a transition to cage-free production, which is a long-term trend in the industry, said Mark Jordan, a poultry analyst with LEAP Market Analytics.
Massive outbreaks may continue to plague the U.S. poultry industry as long as bigger bird barns stay in vogue. And the trend is toward bigger.
“We continue to see consolidation of facilities, new facilities continue to be built that are for several million birds,” said John Brunnquell, chief executive officer of Egg Innovations.
torontosun.com
Author of the article:Bloomberg News
Bloomberg News
Zijia Song, Elizabeth Elkin and Michael Hirtzer
Publishing date:May 06, 2022 • 17 hours ago • 4 minute read • 19 Comments
A bird flu virus that’s sweeping across the U.S. is rapidly becoming the country’s worst outbreak, having already killed over 37 million chickens and turkeys and with more deaths expected through next month as farmers perform mass culls across the Midwest.
Under guidance of the federal government, farms must destroy entire commercial flocks if just one bird tests positive for the virus, to stop the spread. That’s leading to distressing scenes across rural America. In Iowa, millions of animals in vast barns are suffocated in high temperatures or with poisonous foam. In Wisconsin, lines of dump trucks have taken days to collect masses of bird carcasses and pile them in unused fields. Neighbors live with the stench of the decaying birds.
The crisis is hurting egg-laying hens and turkeys the most, with the disease largely being propagated by migrating wild birds that swarm above farms and leave droppings that get tracked into poultry houses. That’s probably how the virus contaminated egg operations in Iowa, which produce liquid and powdered eggs that go into restaurant omelets or boxed cake mixes. Further north under the same migration paths lie Minnesota’s turkey farms, which supply everything from deli meats for submarine sandwiches to whole birds for the holidays.
Prices for such products are soaring to records, adding to the fastest pace of U.S. inflation in four decades. The supply deficits triggered by the flu also come as world food prices reach new highs. From the war in Ukraine to adverse weather for crops, it’s all throwing supply chains into turmoil and compounding the crisis that’s pushed millions of people into hunger since the start of the pandemic.
Read more: The world’s next food emergency is here as war compounds hunger
“Just when you thought it couldn’t get any worse, here comes the bird flu,” said Karyn Rispoli, an egg market reporter at commodity researcher Urner Barry.
Ventilation Shutdown
Wholesale egg prices touched a record $2.90 a dozen in April in government data. Whole turkeys touched an all-time high $1.47 a pound according to Urner Barry.
The last time bird flu hit the U.S. in 2015, it took the lives of about 50 million animals by the end of the season and cost the federal government over $1 billion dollars, as it handles killing and burying of birds. At the time, the industry beefed up its biosecurity around poultry houses, installing sound canons to repel wild birds, or even carwashes so that farm trucks wouldn’t bring contamination from one farm to another, so that there wouldn’t be a repeat.
This time around, even with that better biosecurity, the industry has failed to prevent the transmission from wild birds, said Michelle Kromm, an executive consultant for the Minnesota Turkey Growers Association. As a precaution, farmers are supposed to go through a laborious process of completely changing their clothing and shoes before entering barns, and making sure all supplies and tools are clean.
Yet weather and migration patterns are making it easier for the virus to win this year. Rare spring snowstorms are originating in the Midwest and travelling up the East Coast, and the cold, wet weather keeps the virus alive for longer, helping it spread. The flu this year is also more lethal than in the past. The deaths so far this season are tracking above previous outbreaks at 37 million chickens and turkeys. The U.S.’s flock of egg-laying hens totals more than 300 million birds (chickens raised for meat, known as broilers, haven’t been as affected).
“We all need to maintain really high awareness that the environment is contaminated,” said Beth Thompson, a veterinarian at the Minnesota Board of Animal Health. The weather “needs to warm up and dry out to kill that virus that’s sitting out there.”
Iowa, the U.S.’s center of egg production, has been hit the worst. One farm, Rembrandt Enterprises, destroyed its giant flock of 5.3 million hens starting in late March using a government-approved yet controversial method called ventilation shutdown plus. The technique, which is being widely used to eliminate millions of chickens at a time during this outbreak, involves closing up barns so that temperatures rise and the animals suffocate over hours. Turkeys can be killed by spraying a firefighting foam that suffocates them.
Rembrandt didn’t respond to requests for comment.
Bird flu is also wreaking havoc in Canada, wiping out almost two million fowl. The virus has never been in multiple provinces at the same time.
“We’re worried. We’re worried for sure,” said Lisa Bishop-Spencer, spokeswoman for Chicken Farmers of Canada.
One person involved in culling infected birds in Colorado has contracted the avian flu, according to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. The risk of the bird flu spreading to humans remains low, even with this case, the agency said. Flus that spread from animals to humans are a concern because in rare instances, the result can be a pandemic.
Longer Recovery
It won’t be easy to recover from the crisis. In 2015, it took the egg industry over a year to ramp back up, according to Maro Ibarburu-Blanc, a research scientist at Iowa State University’s Egg Industry Center. This time, supplies could be hit for longer because farmers whose operations were affected by the virus may make a transition to cage-free production, which is a long-term trend in the industry, said Mark Jordan, a poultry analyst with LEAP Market Analytics.
Massive outbreaks may continue to plague the U.S. poultry industry as long as bigger bird barns stay in vogue. And the trend is toward bigger.
“We continue to see consolidation of facilities, new facilities continue to be built that are for several million birds,” said John Brunnquell, chief executive officer of Egg Innovations.
Bird flu outbreak nears worst ever in U.S. with 37 million dead
A bird flu virus that’s sweeping across the U.S. is rapidly becoming the country’s worst outbreak, having already killed over 37 million chickens and turkeys and wi…
U.K. PM Johnson loses London strongholds as scandals bite in local elections
Author of the article:Reuters
Reuters
Andrew Macaskill and Elizabeth Piper
Publishing date:May 06, 2022 • 16 hours ago • 4 minute read • Join the conversation
LONDON — British Prime Minister Boris Johnson’s Conservative Party lost control of traditional strongholds in London and suffered setbacks elsewhere in local elections, with voters punishing his government over a series of scandals.
Results on Friday suggested Johnson, a former London mayor who led the campaign to leave the European Union, was losing support in southeastern England while his party also lost seats in Scotland and Wales.
After months of pressure, his supporters moved quickly to say now was not the time to oust a leader they said could still provide leadership and help fix the country’s ailing economy.
Admitting the party had faced a “tough night,” Johnson said it had also made some gains.
“This is a message from voters that what they want us to do … is focus on the big issues that matter to them: taking the country forward, making sure that we fix the post COVID economic aftershock,” he said.
Johnson’s party was ousted in Wandsworth, a low-tax Conservative stronghold since 1978, part of a trend in the British capital where voters used the elections to express anger over a cost-of-living crisis and fines imposed on the prime minister for breaking his own COVID-19 lockdown rules.
For the first time, the opposition Labour Party won the council of Westminster, a district where most government institutions are located. The Conservatives also lost control of the borough of Barnet, which has been held by the party in all but two elections since 1964.
“Fantastic result, absolutely fantastic. Believe you me, this is a big turning point for us from the depths of 2019 general election,” said Labour leader Keir Starmer.
While governing parties often struggle at mid-term elections, the overall tally offers the most important snapshot of public opinion since Johnson won the Conservative’s biggest majority in more than 30 years in the 2019 national vote.
In April he became the first British leader in living memory to have broken the law while in power when he was fined for attending a birthday gathering in his office in 2020, breaking pandemic social distancing rules then in place.
Labour’s Starmer had led the charge that Johnson should resign, however police said on Friday they were now investigating him after they received new information about an event he attended in 2021, blunting any attack.
The loss of key councils in London, where the Conservatives were almost wiped out, will increase pressure on Johnson, who faces the possibility of more police fines over his attendance at other lockdown-breaking gatherings.
But with support for his party holding up in areas of central and northern England that backed leaving the European Union in 2016, some Conservatives said Johnson’s critics were unlikely to have the numbers to trigger a coup, for now.
OUTSIDE LONDON
Johnson upended normal British politics in the 2019 election by winning and then promising to improve living standards in former industrial areas in central and northern England.
But since then, he has been mired in scandal and is facing a growing cost-of-living crisis. The Bank of England warned on Thursday that Britain risks a double-whammy of a recession and inflation above 10%.
John Curtice, a professor of politics at the University of Strathclyde, said however that the results suggested Labour may not emerge as the largest party at the next election.
The Conservatives also did better than some polls had predicted. One poll in the run-up to the elections said they could lose about 800 council seats while two academics said a loss of 350 would mark a bad night.
With most results counted across England, Scotland and Wales, the BBC said the Conservatives had lost more than 450 seats, with the Scottish nationalists, Labour and the smaller Liberal Democrats all gaining ground.
In Northern Ireland, Sinn Fein, the former political wing of the IRA, looked set to claim top spot in the elections for the first time, a historic shift that could bring the once-remote prospect of a united Ireland closer.
Oliver Dowden, the chairman of the Conservatives, said the party “had some difficult results” after weeks of what he described as “challenging headlines,” but that Labour was not on course to win the next general election.
“What you see in the Prime Minister is somebody who gets things done, a change maker,” Dowden said. “We need that kind of bold leadership …”
Some local Conservatives disagreed. Carlisle council leader John Mallinson said it had been hard when campaigning “to drag the debate back to local issues” and he urged Johnson to go.
For Daisy Mitchell, 32, in Wandsworth, the vote was an expression of people’s anger over the lockdown-breaking parties.
“Just because he didn’t follow his own rules. A lot of us did … people didn’t see family members for a long time,” she said. “So I think a lot of people thought why can’t you follow your rules?”
torontosun.com
Author of the article:Reuters
Reuters
Andrew Macaskill and Elizabeth Piper
Publishing date:May 06, 2022 • 16 hours ago • 4 minute read • Join the conversation
LONDON — British Prime Minister Boris Johnson’s Conservative Party lost control of traditional strongholds in London and suffered setbacks elsewhere in local elections, with voters punishing his government over a series of scandals.
Results on Friday suggested Johnson, a former London mayor who led the campaign to leave the European Union, was losing support in southeastern England while his party also lost seats in Scotland and Wales.
After months of pressure, his supporters moved quickly to say now was not the time to oust a leader they said could still provide leadership and help fix the country’s ailing economy.
Admitting the party had faced a “tough night,” Johnson said it had also made some gains.
“This is a message from voters that what they want us to do … is focus on the big issues that matter to them: taking the country forward, making sure that we fix the post COVID economic aftershock,” he said.
Johnson’s party was ousted in Wandsworth, a low-tax Conservative stronghold since 1978, part of a trend in the British capital where voters used the elections to express anger over a cost-of-living crisis and fines imposed on the prime minister for breaking his own COVID-19 lockdown rules.
For the first time, the opposition Labour Party won the council of Westminster, a district where most government institutions are located. The Conservatives also lost control of the borough of Barnet, which has been held by the party in all but two elections since 1964.
“Fantastic result, absolutely fantastic. Believe you me, this is a big turning point for us from the depths of 2019 general election,” said Labour leader Keir Starmer.
While governing parties often struggle at mid-term elections, the overall tally offers the most important snapshot of public opinion since Johnson won the Conservative’s biggest majority in more than 30 years in the 2019 national vote.
In April he became the first British leader in living memory to have broken the law while in power when he was fined for attending a birthday gathering in his office in 2020, breaking pandemic social distancing rules then in place.
Labour’s Starmer had led the charge that Johnson should resign, however police said on Friday they were now investigating him after they received new information about an event he attended in 2021, blunting any attack.
The loss of key councils in London, where the Conservatives were almost wiped out, will increase pressure on Johnson, who faces the possibility of more police fines over his attendance at other lockdown-breaking gatherings.
But with support for his party holding up in areas of central and northern England that backed leaving the European Union in 2016, some Conservatives said Johnson’s critics were unlikely to have the numbers to trigger a coup, for now.
OUTSIDE LONDON
Johnson upended normal British politics in the 2019 election by winning and then promising to improve living standards in former industrial areas in central and northern England.
But since then, he has been mired in scandal and is facing a growing cost-of-living crisis. The Bank of England warned on Thursday that Britain risks a double-whammy of a recession and inflation above 10%.
John Curtice, a professor of politics at the University of Strathclyde, said however that the results suggested Labour may not emerge as the largest party at the next election.
The Conservatives also did better than some polls had predicted. One poll in the run-up to the elections said they could lose about 800 council seats while two academics said a loss of 350 would mark a bad night.
With most results counted across England, Scotland and Wales, the BBC said the Conservatives had lost more than 450 seats, with the Scottish nationalists, Labour and the smaller Liberal Democrats all gaining ground.
In Northern Ireland, Sinn Fein, the former political wing of the IRA, looked set to claim top spot in the elections for the first time, a historic shift that could bring the once-remote prospect of a united Ireland closer.
Oliver Dowden, the chairman of the Conservatives, said the party “had some difficult results” after weeks of what he described as “challenging headlines,” but that Labour was not on course to win the next general election.
“What you see in the Prime Minister is somebody who gets things done, a change maker,” Dowden said. “We need that kind of bold leadership …”
Some local Conservatives disagreed. Carlisle council leader John Mallinson said it had been hard when campaigning “to drag the debate back to local issues” and he urged Johnson to go.
For Daisy Mitchell, 32, in Wandsworth, the vote was an expression of people’s anger over the lockdown-breaking parties.
“Just because he didn’t follow his own rules. A lot of us did … people didn’t see family members for a long time,” she said. “So I think a lot of people thought why can’t you follow your rules?”
U.K. PM Johnson loses London strongholds as scandals bite in local elections
LONDON — British Prime Minister Boris Johnson’s Conservative Party lost control of traditional strongholds in London and suffered setbacks elsewhere in local electi…
Obesity may weaken vaccine protection: Study
Author of the article:Reuters
Reuters
Nancy Lapid
Publishing date:May 06, 2022 • 16 hours ago • 3 minute read • Join the conversation
The following is a summary of some recent studies on COVID-19. They include research that warrants further study to corroborate the findings and that has yet to be certified by peer review.
Obesity may weaken vaccine protection in the never infected
Severe obesity may weaken the effectiveness of COVID-19 vaccines in those who have never been infected with the coronavirus, according to a small Turkish study.
Among those in the study without previous SARS-CoV-2 infection who had received the Pfizer/BioNTech vaccine, patients with severe obesity had antibody levels more than three times lower than normal-weight individuals. Among recipients of Sinovac Biotech’s CoronaVac, those with severe obesity and no history of prior infection had antibody levels 27 times lower than normal weight people, according to data being presented this week at the European Congress on Obesity in Maastricht, Netherlands. By comparison, in the 70 volunteers with a previous coronavirus infection, antibody levels were similar in people with and without severe obesity.
For the study, researchers had compared immune responses to vaccines in 124 volunteers with severe obesity – defined as a body mass index of 40 or higher – and 166 normal-weight individuals (BMI less than 25). Overall, 130 participants had received two doses of the Pfizer/BioNTech mRNA vaccine and 160 had received two doses of Sinovac’s inactivated-virus vaccine.
While two doses of the Pfizer/BioNTech vaccine “may generate significantly more antibodies than CoronaVac in people with severe obesity… further research is needed to determine whether these higher antibody levels provide greater protection against COVID-19,” study leader Volkan Demirhan Yumuk from Istanbul University said in a statement
Unvaccinated Omicron patients at risk from variants
Infection with the Omicron variant of the coronavirus can significantly improve the immune system’s ability to protect against other variants, but only in people who have been vaccinated, South African researchers have found.
In unvaccinated people, an Omicron infection provides only “limited” protection against reinfection, they reported on Friday in Nature. In 39 patients who had Omicron infections – including 15 who had been immunized with vaccines from Pfizer/BioNTech or Johnson & Johnson – the researchers measured the ability of immune cells to neutralize not only Omicron but also earlier variants. At an average of 23 days after Omicron symptoms started, unvaccinated patients had 2.2-fold lower neutralization of the first version of the Omicron variant compared to vaccinated people, 4.8-fold lower neutralization of the second Omicron sublineage, 12-fold lower Delta neutralization, 9.6-fold lower Beta variant neutralization, and 17.9-fold lower neutralization of the original SARS-CoV-2 strain. The gap in immunity between unvaccinated and vaccinated individuals “is concerning,” the researchers said.
“Especially as immunity wanes, unvaccinated individuals post-Omicron infection are likely to have poor cross-protection against existing and possibly emerging SARS-CoV-2 variants,” they said. “The implication may be that Omicron infection alone is not sufficient for protection and vaccination should be administered even in areas with high prevalence of Omicron infection to protect against other variants.”
Different vaccines protect well against severe COVID-19
While the mRNA vaccines from Pfizer/BioNTech and Moderna generate higher antibody levels to protect against SARS-CoV-2 infection, AstraZeneca’s viral-vector-based vaccine provides equivalent protection against hospitalization and death from COVID-19, according a review of dozens of studies.
A panel of experts in Southeast Asia reviewed 79 previous studies for a study funded by AstraZeneca. Both types of vaccines showed over 90% efficacy against hospitalization and death, the panelists said in a report posted on Research Square ahead of peer review. “The high level of antibodies formed after the COVID-19 vaccination is often interpreted as the effectiveness of a vaccine. We now understand that while initial antibody response levels can vary across vaccines, their ability to prevent being hospitalized or dying from COVID-19 is equivalent,” panel member Dr. Erlina Burhan, a lung disease specialist at the University of Indonesia, in a statement.
A spokesperson for the panelists said the findings suggest decision-makers should use any vaccine type that is accessible and optimal for their local situation, and that people who have a choice of vaccine should know that the one they can get quickest is best.
A separate study published in Nature Communications found that while Moderna’s mRNA shots provide slightly more protection against coronavirus infection than the Pfizer/BioNTech vaccine, “there are no differences in vaccine effectiveness for protection against hospitalization, ICU admission, or death/hospice transfer.”
researchsquare.com
drive.google.com
torontosun.com
Author of the article:Reuters
Reuters
Nancy Lapid
Publishing date:May 06, 2022 • 16 hours ago • 3 minute read • Join the conversation
The following is a summary of some recent studies on COVID-19. They include research that warrants further study to corroborate the findings and that has yet to be certified by peer review.
Obesity may weaken vaccine protection in the never infected
Severe obesity may weaken the effectiveness of COVID-19 vaccines in those who have never been infected with the coronavirus, according to a small Turkish study.
Among those in the study without previous SARS-CoV-2 infection who had received the Pfizer/BioNTech vaccine, patients with severe obesity had antibody levels more than three times lower than normal-weight individuals. Among recipients of Sinovac Biotech’s CoronaVac, those with severe obesity and no history of prior infection had antibody levels 27 times lower than normal weight people, according to data being presented this week at the European Congress on Obesity in Maastricht, Netherlands. By comparison, in the 70 volunteers with a previous coronavirus infection, antibody levels were similar in people with and without severe obesity.
For the study, researchers had compared immune responses to vaccines in 124 volunteers with severe obesity – defined as a body mass index of 40 or higher – and 166 normal-weight individuals (BMI less than 25). Overall, 130 participants had received two doses of the Pfizer/BioNTech mRNA vaccine and 160 had received two doses of Sinovac’s inactivated-virus vaccine.
While two doses of the Pfizer/BioNTech vaccine “may generate significantly more antibodies than CoronaVac in people with severe obesity… further research is needed to determine whether these higher antibody levels provide greater protection against COVID-19,” study leader Volkan Demirhan Yumuk from Istanbul University said in a statement
Unvaccinated Omicron patients at risk from variants
Infection with the Omicron variant of the coronavirus can significantly improve the immune system’s ability to protect against other variants, but only in people who have been vaccinated, South African researchers have found.
In unvaccinated people, an Omicron infection provides only “limited” protection against reinfection, they reported on Friday in Nature. In 39 patients who had Omicron infections – including 15 who had been immunized with vaccines from Pfizer/BioNTech or Johnson & Johnson – the researchers measured the ability of immune cells to neutralize not only Omicron but also earlier variants. At an average of 23 days after Omicron symptoms started, unvaccinated patients had 2.2-fold lower neutralization of the first version of the Omicron variant compared to vaccinated people, 4.8-fold lower neutralization of the second Omicron sublineage, 12-fold lower Delta neutralization, 9.6-fold lower Beta variant neutralization, and 17.9-fold lower neutralization of the original SARS-CoV-2 strain. The gap in immunity between unvaccinated and vaccinated individuals “is concerning,” the researchers said.
“Especially as immunity wanes, unvaccinated individuals post-Omicron infection are likely to have poor cross-protection against existing and possibly emerging SARS-CoV-2 variants,” they said. “The implication may be that Omicron infection alone is not sufficient for protection and vaccination should be administered even in areas with high prevalence of Omicron infection to protect against other variants.”
Different vaccines protect well against severe COVID-19
While the mRNA vaccines from Pfizer/BioNTech and Moderna generate higher antibody levels to protect against SARS-CoV-2 infection, AstraZeneca’s viral-vector-based vaccine provides equivalent protection against hospitalization and death from COVID-19, according a review of dozens of studies.
A panel of experts in Southeast Asia reviewed 79 previous studies for a study funded by AstraZeneca. Both types of vaccines showed over 90% efficacy against hospitalization and death, the panelists said in a report posted on Research Square ahead of peer review. “The high level of antibodies formed after the COVID-19 vaccination is often interpreted as the effectiveness of a vaccine. We now understand that while initial antibody response levels can vary across vaccines, their ability to prevent being hospitalized or dying from COVID-19 is equivalent,” panel member Dr. Erlina Burhan, a lung disease specialist at the University of Indonesia, in a statement.
A spokesperson for the panelists said the findings suggest decision-makers should use any vaccine type that is accessible and optimal for their local situation, and that people who have a choice of vaccine should know that the one they can get quickest is best.
A separate study published in Nature Communications found that while Moderna’s mRNA shots provide slightly more protection against coronavirus infection than the Pfizer/BioNTech vaccine, “there are no differences in vaccine effectiveness for protection against hospitalization, ICU admission, or death/hospice transfer.”
A Southeast Asia Expert Review of Global Real-World Vaccine Effectiveness Against SARS-CoV-2
BackgroundCOVID-19 vaccines have been highly effective in reducing morbidity and mortality during the pandemic. While primary series vaccination rates are generally high in Southeast Asian (SEA) countries, various factors have limited the rollout and impact of booster d...
researchsquare.com
COVIDVACCINEPOSTER.pdf
drive.google.com
Obesity may weaken vaccine protection: Study
Severe obesity may weaken the effectiveness of COVID-19 vaccines in those who have never been infected with the virus, says a small study.
So the obese are still dying from Covid , big surprise.Obesity may weaken vaccine protection: Study
Author of the article:Reuters
Reuters
Nancy Lapid
Publishing date:May 06, 2022 • 16 hours ago • 3 minute read • Join the conversation
The following is a summary of some recent studies on COVID-19. They include research that warrants further study to corroborate the findings and that has yet to be certified by peer review.
Obesity may weaken vaccine protection in the never infected
Severe obesity may weaken the effectiveness of COVID-19 vaccines in those who have never been infected with the coronavirus, according to a small Turkish study.
Among those in the study without previous SARS-CoV-2 infection who had received the Pfizer/BioNTech vaccine, patients with severe obesity had antibody levels more than three times lower than normal-weight individuals. Among recipients of Sinovac Biotech’s CoronaVac, those with severe obesity and no history of prior infection had antibody levels 27 times lower than normal weight people, according to data being presented this week at the European Congress on Obesity in Maastricht, Netherlands. By comparison, in the 70 volunteers with a previous coronavirus infection, antibody levels were similar in people with and without severe obesity.
For the study, researchers had compared immune responses to vaccines in 124 volunteers with severe obesity – defined as a body mass index of 40 or higher – and 166 normal-weight individuals (BMI less than 25). Overall, 130 participants had received two doses of the Pfizer/BioNTech mRNA vaccine and 160 had received two doses of Sinovac’s inactivated-virus vaccine.
While two doses of the Pfizer/BioNTech vaccine “may generate significantly more antibodies than CoronaVac in people with severe obesity… further research is needed to determine whether these higher antibody levels provide greater protection against COVID-19,” study leader Volkan Demirhan Yumuk from Istanbul University said in a statement
Unvaccinated Omicron patients at risk from variants
Infection with the Omicron variant of the coronavirus can significantly improve the immune system’s ability to protect against other variants, but only in people who have been vaccinated, South African researchers have found.
In unvaccinated people, an Omicron infection provides only “limited” protection against reinfection, they reported on Friday in Nature. In 39 patients who had Omicron infections – including 15 who had been immunized with vaccines from Pfizer/BioNTech or Johnson & Johnson – the researchers measured the ability of immune cells to neutralize not only Omicron but also earlier variants. At an average of 23 days after Omicron symptoms started, unvaccinated patients had 2.2-fold lower neutralization of the first version of the Omicron variant compared to vaccinated people, 4.8-fold lower neutralization of the second Omicron sublineage, 12-fold lower Delta neutralization, 9.6-fold lower Beta variant neutralization, and 17.9-fold lower neutralization of the original SARS-CoV-2 strain. The gap in immunity between unvaccinated and vaccinated individuals “is concerning,” the researchers said.
“Especially as immunity wanes, unvaccinated individuals post-Omicron infection are likely to have poor cross-protection against existing and possibly emerging SARS-CoV-2 variants,” they said. “The implication may be that Omicron infection alone is not sufficient for protection and vaccination should be administered even in areas with high prevalence of Omicron infection to protect against other variants.”
Different vaccines protect well against severe COVID-19
While the mRNA vaccines from Pfizer/BioNTech and Moderna generate higher antibody levels to protect against SARS-CoV-2 infection, AstraZeneca’s viral-vector-based vaccine provides equivalent protection against hospitalization and death from COVID-19, according a review of dozens of studies.
A panel of experts in Southeast Asia reviewed 79 previous studies for a study funded by AstraZeneca. Both types of vaccines showed over 90% efficacy against hospitalization and death, the panelists said in a report posted on Research Square ahead of peer review. “The high level of antibodies formed after the COVID-19 vaccination is often interpreted as the effectiveness of a vaccine. We now understand that while initial antibody response levels can vary across vaccines, their ability to prevent being hospitalized or dying from COVID-19 is equivalent,” panel member Dr. Erlina Burhan, a lung disease specialist at the University of Indonesia, in a statement.
A spokesperson for the panelists said the findings suggest decision-makers should use any vaccine type that is accessible and optimal for their local situation, and that people who have a choice of vaccine should know that the one they can get quickest is best.
A separate study published in Nature Communications found that while Moderna’s mRNA shots provide slightly more protection against coronavirus infection than the Pfizer/BioNTech vaccine, “there are no differences in vaccine effectiveness for protection against hospitalization, ICU admission, or death/hospice transfer.”
A Southeast Asia Expert Review of Global Real-World Vaccine Effectiveness Against SARS-CoV-2
BackgroundCOVID-19 vaccines have been highly effective in reducing morbidity and mortality during the pandemic. While primary series vaccination rates are generally high in Southeast Asian (SEA) countries, various factors have limited the rollout and impact of booster d...COVIDVACCINEPOSTER.pdf
Obesity may weaken vaccine protection: Study
Severe obesity may weaken the effectiveness of COVID-19 vaccines in those who have never been infected with the virus, says a small study.
COVID-19 claims 1 million U.S. lives, leaving trail of loss
It represents about one death for every 327 Americans, or more than the entire population of San Francisco or Seattle.
Author of the article:Reuters
Reuters
Maria Caspani
Publishing date:May 11, 2022 • 12 hours ago • 3 minute read • Join the conversation
NEW YORK — The United States has now recorded more than 1 million COVID-19 deaths, according to a Reuters tally, crossing a once-unthinkable milestone about two years after the first cases upended everyday life and quickly transformed it.
The 1 million mark is a stark reminder of the staggering grief and loss caused by the pandemic even as the threat posed by the virus wanes in the minds of many people. It represents about one death for every 327 Americans, or more than the entire population of San Francisco or Seattle.
By the time the World Health Organization (WHO) declared COVID-19 a global pandemic on March 11, 2020, the virus had claimed 36 lives in the United States. In the months that followed, the deadly virus spread like wildfire, finding fertile ground in densely populated urban areas such as New York City and then reaching every corner of the country.
By June 2020, the U.S. death toll had surpassed the total of the country’s military deaths in the First World War and it would exceed the American military losses of the Second War World by January 2021 when more than 405,000 deaths were recorded.
The disease has left few places on Earth untouched, with 6.7 million confirmed deaths globally. The true toll, including those who died of COVID-19 as well as those who perished as an indirect result of the outbreak, was likely closer to 15 million, the WHO said.
Some of the images associated with COVID death are forever burned in the collective mind of Americans: refrigerated trucks stationed outside hospitals overflowing with the dead; intubated patients in sealed-off intensive care units; exhausted doctors and nurses who battled through every wave of the virus.
Millions of Americans eagerly rolled up their sleeves to receive COVID vaccines after distribution began in late 2020. By early 2021, the virus had already claimed a staggering 500,000 lives.
At one point in January of that year, more people died from COVID-19 every day on average than were killed in the Sept. 11 attacks in 2001.
COVID-19 preyed on the elderly and those with compromised health, but it did not spare healthy youth either, killing more than 1,000 children. Researchers estimate 213,000 U.S. children lost at least one parent or primary caregiver during the pandemic, taking an immeasurable emotional toll.
While nestling in big cities, coronavirus has also ravaged rural communities with limited access to medical care.
The pandemic had a disproportionate impact on native communities and communities of color. It hit harder where people lived in congregate settings, such as prisons, and decimated entire families. It exposed inequalities deeply entrenched in U.S. society and set off a wave of change affecting most aspects of life in the United States.
With the COVID-19 threat subsiding after the Omicron wave last winter, many Americans have shed masks and returned to offices in recent weeks. Restaurants and bars are once again teeming with patrons, and the public’s attention has shifted to inflation and economic concerns.
But researchers are already working on yet another booster shot as the virus continues to mutate.
“By no means is it over,” said top U.S. infectious disease expert Dr. Anthony Fauci at a recent event. “We still are experiencing a global pandemic.”
TRACKING THE PANDEMIC
Tracking the COVID-19 pandemic is not an exact science. Reuters and the other organizations who make tallies are reaching 1 million U.S. deaths at different times. The variation is due to how each organization counts COVID deaths. For example, Reuters includes both confirmed and probable deaths where that data is available.
The precise toll of the pandemic may never be truly known. Some people who died while infected were never tested and do not appear in the data. Others, while having COVID-19, may have died for another reason, such as a cancer, but were still counted.
The CDC estimates that 1.1 million excess deaths have taken place since Feb. 1, 2020, mainly from COVID. Excess mortality is the increase in total number of deaths, from any cause, compared with previous years.
You can read more about the Reuters methodology for tracking COVID cases and deaths here:
graphics.reuters.com
You can find more information on CDC excess deaths here:
cdc.gov
imperialcollegelondon.github.io
reuters.com
torontosun.com
It represents about one death for every 327 Americans, or more than the entire population of San Francisco or Seattle.
Author of the article:Reuters
Reuters
Maria Caspani
Publishing date:May 11, 2022 • 12 hours ago • 3 minute read • Join the conversation
NEW YORK — The United States has now recorded more than 1 million COVID-19 deaths, according to a Reuters tally, crossing a once-unthinkable milestone about two years after the first cases upended everyday life and quickly transformed it.
The 1 million mark is a stark reminder of the staggering grief and loss caused by the pandemic even as the threat posed by the virus wanes in the minds of many people. It represents about one death for every 327 Americans, or more than the entire population of San Francisco or Seattle.
By the time the World Health Organization (WHO) declared COVID-19 a global pandemic on March 11, 2020, the virus had claimed 36 lives in the United States. In the months that followed, the deadly virus spread like wildfire, finding fertile ground in densely populated urban areas such as New York City and then reaching every corner of the country.
By June 2020, the U.S. death toll had surpassed the total of the country’s military deaths in the First World War and it would exceed the American military losses of the Second War World by January 2021 when more than 405,000 deaths were recorded.
The disease has left few places on Earth untouched, with 6.7 million confirmed deaths globally. The true toll, including those who died of COVID-19 as well as those who perished as an indirect result of the outbreak, was likely closer to 15 million, the WHO said.
Some of the images associated with COVID death are forever burned in the collective mind of Americans: refrigerated trucks stationed outside hospitals overflowing with the dead; intubated patients in sealed-off intensive care units; exhausted doctors and nurses who battled through every wave of the virus.
Millions of Americans eagerly rolled up their sleeves to receive COVID vaccines after distribution began in late 2020. By early 2021, the virus had already claimed a staggering 500,000 lives.
At one point in January of that year, more people died from COVID-19 every day on average than were killed in the Sept. 11 attacks in 2001.
COVID-19 preyed on the elderly and those with compromised health, but it did not spare healthy youth either, killing more than 1,000 children. Researchers estimate 213,000 U.S. children lost at least one parent or primary caregiver during the pandemic, taking an immeasurable emotional toll.
While nestling in big cities, coronavirus has also ravaged rural communities with limited access to medical care.
The pandemic had a disproportionate impact on native communities and communities of color. It hit harder where people lived in congregate settings, such as prisons, and decimated entire families. It exposed inequalities deeply entrenched in U.S. society and set off a wave of change affecting most aspects of life in the United States.
With the COVID-19 threat subsiding after the Omicron wave last winter, many Americans have shed masks and returned to offices in recent weeks. Restaurants and bars are once again teeming with patrons, and the public’s attention has shifted to inflation and economic concerns.
But researchers are already working on yet another booster shot as the virus continues to mutate.
“By no means is it over,” said top U.S. infectious disease expert Dr. Anthony Fauci at a recent event. “We still are experiencing a global pandemic.”
TRACKING THE PANDEMIC
Tracking the COVID-19 pandemic is not an exact science. Reuters and the other organizations who make tallies are reaching 1 million U.S. deaths at different times. The variation is due to how each organization counts COVID deaths. For example, Reuters includes both confirmed and probable deaths where that data is available.
The precise toll of the pandemic may never be truly known. Some people who died while infected were never tested and do not appear in the data. Others, while having COVID-19, may have died for another reason, such as a cancer, but were still counted.
The CDC estimates that 1.1 million excess deaths have taken place since Feb. 1, 2020, mainly from COVID. Excess mortality is the increase in total number of deaths, from any cause, compared with previous years.
You can read more about the Reuters methodology for tracking COVID cases and deaths here:
Coronavirus around the world: the latest counts, charts and maps
Tracking the global COVID-19 outbreak, updated daily
Excess Deaths Associated with COVID-19
Figures present excess deaths associated with COVID-19 at the national and state levels.
cdc.gov
COVID-19 Orphanhood Calculator
Global minimum estimates of children affected by COVID-19-associated orphanhood and deaths of caregivers
A million lives lost
Two years into the COVID pandemic, the U.S. is grieving a once unthinkable death toll.
COVID-19 claims 1 million U.S. lives, leaving trail of loss
The United States has now recorded more than 1 million COVID-19 deaths, according to a Reuters tally.
1million covid deaths equates to about .3% of the population. Much less depending on how many were about to die anyway and covid was just the last nail in the coffin.COVID-19 claims 1 million U.S. lives, leaving trail of loss
It represents about one death for every 327 Americans, or more than the entire population of San Francisco or Seattle.
Author of the article:Reuters
Reuters
Maria Caspani
Publishing date:May 11, 2022 • 12 hours ago • 3 minute read • Join the conversation
NEW YORK — The United States has now recorded more than 1 million COVID-19 deaths, according to a Reuters tally, crossing a once-unthinkable milestone about two years after the first cases upended everyday life and quickly transformed it.
The 1 million mark is a stark reminder of the staggering grief and loss caused by the pandemic even as the threat posed by the virus wanes in the minds of many people. It represents about one death for every 327 Americans, or more than the entire population of San Francisco or Seattle.
By the time the World Health Organization (WHO) declared COVID-19 a global pandemic on March 11, 2020, the virus had claimed 36 lives in the United States. In the months that followed, the deadly virus spread like wildfire, finding fertile ground in densely populated urban areas such as New York City and then reaching every corner of the country.
By June 2020, the U.S. death toll had surpassed the total of the country’s military deaths in the First World War and it would exceed the American military losses of the Second War World by January 2021 when more than 405,000 deaths were recorded.
The disease has left few places on Earth untouched, with 6.7 million confirmed deaths globally. The true toll, including those who died of COVID-19 as well as those who perished as an indirect result of the outbreak, was likely closer to 15 million, the WHO said.
Some of the images associated with COVID death are forever burned in the collective mind of Americans: refrigerated trucks stationed outside hospitals overflowing with the dead; intubated patients in sealed-off intensive care units; exhausted doctors and nurses who battled through every wave of the virus.
Millions of Americans eagerly rolled up their sleeves to receive COVID vaccines after distribution began in late 2020. By early 2021, the virus had already claimed a staggering 500,000 lives.
At one point in January of that year, more people died from COVID-19 every day on average than were killed in the Sept. 11 attacks in 2001.
COVID-19 preyed on the elderly and those with compromised health, but it did not spare healthy youth either, killing more than 1,000 children. Researchers estimate 213,000 U.S. children lost at least one parent or primary caregiver during the pandemic, taking an immeasurable emotional toll.
While nestling in big cities, coronavirus has also ravaged rural communities with limited access to medical care.
The pandemic had a disproportionate impact on native communities and communities of color. It hit harder where people lived in congregate settings, such as prisons, and decimated entire families. It exposed inequalities deeply entrenched in U.S. society and set off a wave of change affecting most aspects of life in the United States.
With the COVID-19 threat subsiding after the Omicron wave last winter, many Americans have shed masks and returned to offices in recent weeks. Restaurants and bars are once again teeming with patrons, and the public’s attention has shifted to inflation and economic concerns.
But researchers are already working on yet another booster shot as the virus continues to mutate.
“By no means is it over,” said top U.S. infectious disease expert Dr. Anthony Fauci at a recent event. “We still are experiencing a global pandemic.”
TRACKING THE PANDEMIC
Tracking the COVID-19 pandemic is not an exact science. Reuters and the other organizations who make tallies are reaching 1 million U.S. deaths at different times. The variation is due to how each organization counts COVID deaths. For example, Reuters includes both confirmed and probable deaths where that data is available.
The precise toll of the pandemic may never be truly known. Some people who died while infected were never tested and do not appear in the data. Others, while having COVID-19, may have died for another reason, such as a cancer, but were still counted.
The CDC estimates that 1.1 million excess deaths have taken place since Feb. 1, 2020, mainly from COVID. Excess mortality is the increase in total number of deaths, from any cause, compared with previous years.
You can read more about the Reuters methodology for tracking COVID cases and deaths here:
You can find more information on CDC excess deaths here:Coronavirus around the world: the latest counts, charts and maps
Tracking the global COVID-19 outbreak, updated daily
Excess Deaths Associated with COVID-19
Figures present excess deaths associated with COVID-19 at the national and state levels.COVID-19 Orphanhood Calculator
Global minimum estimates of children affected by COVID-19-associated orphanhood and deaths of caregiversA million lives lost
Two years into the COVID pandemic, the U.S. is grieving a once unthinkable death toll.COVID-19 claims 1 million U.S. lives, leaving trail of loss
The United States has now recorded more than 1 million COVID-19 deaths, according to a Reuters tally.
COVID-19 symptoms linger two years for some: Study
Author of the article:Reuters
Reuters
Nancy Lapid
Publishing date:May 12, 2022 • 19 hours ago • 3 minute read • 19 Comments
The following is a summary of some recent studies on COVID-19. They include research that warrants further study to corroborate the findings and that has yet to be certified by peer review.
COVID-19 symptoms still afflict many two years later
Half of the COVID-19 patients discharged from a Chinese hospital in early 2020 still have at least one symptom two years later, a new study shows.
Overall, regardless of initial disease severity, the 2,469 COVID-19 survivors in the study had improvements in physical and mental health over time. Nearly 90% of those who were employed returned to their jobs within two years. But the survivors had a “remarkably” lower health status than the general population at two years, and their burden of symptoms from after-effects “remained fairly high,” the researchers reported on Wednesday in The Lancet Respiratory Diseases. At two years, 55% still had at least one COVID-19 after-effect, according to the report. Fatigue or muscle weakness were the most frequently reported symptoms during the study. Patients who had required mechanical ventilation for critical illness still had high rates of lung impairments at two years.
“Our findings indicate that for a certain proportion of hospitalized COVID-19 survivors, while they may have cleared the initial infection, more than two years is needed to recover fully from COVID-19,” the researchers said.
Protein ‘patterns’ may help classify long COVID patients
Patterns of inflammatory proteins in the blood of people with long COVID may someday help guide individualized treatment, new findings suggest.
Researchers studied 55 people with long COVID who had been only mildly ill with COVID-19 and found that roughly two-thirds had high levels of inflammatory proteins in their blood, with the ongoing inflammation most likely to be found in individuals with the highest burden of long COVID symptoms. “While earlier research has shown high levels of such proteins in long COVID patients, we provide the first evidence that more than half” have a specific signature, or pattern, while others do not, the researchers reported on Tuesday on bioRxiv ahead of peer review.
“At least two different patterns of inflammatory proteins were detected,” said study leader Troy Torgerson of the Allen Institute for Immunology in Seattle. The existence of these patterns suggests the immune system is being activated in specific ways that could be responsive to treatment with existing anti-inflammatory or immunosuppressive medicines, Torgerson said. “Measurement of these proteins in blood could help to identify long COVID patients who may be good candidates for treatment studies using these drugs or possible future treatments.”
Mingling among vaccinated can make vaccines appear less effective
Increased contact among vaccinated people can give the false impression that COVID-19 vaccines are not working, researchers warn.
Some studies have suggested that vaccinated individuals are becoming infected at higher rates than unvaccinated individuals, but these studies are likely to involve statistical errors, particularly if they did not account for different contact patterns among vaccinated vs unvaccinated people, said Korryn Bodner of St. Michael’s Hospital, Unity Health Toronto. Using computer models to simulate epidemics with a vaccine that protects against infection and transmission, her team identified conditions that could create “a perfect storm for observing negative vaccine effectiveness even when a vaccine was efficacious,” Bodner said. Effective vaccines could appear ineffective when vaccinated people have more contact with each other than with unvaccinated people, when vaccine benefits become lower but are not absent (as has happened with new SARS-CoV-2 variants), or when effectiveness is measured while an epidemic is growing (such as when a new variant is emerging), according to a report posted on medRxiv ahead of peer review.
The simulations do not prove that this type of bias affected studies of vaccine effectiveness versus the Omicron variant. They show, however, that “even if vaccines work, increased contact among vaccinated persons can lead to the appearance of the vaccine not working,” Bodner said.
medrxiv.org
biorxiv.org
torontosun.com
Author of the article:Reuters
Reuters
Nancy Lapid
Publishing date:May 12, 2022 • 19 hours ago • 3 minute read • 19 Comments
The following is a summary of some recent studies on COVID-19. They include research that warrants further study to corroborate the findings and that has yet to be certified by peer review.
COVID-19 symptoms still afflict many two years later
Half of the COVID-19 patients discharged from a Chinese hospital in early 2020 still have at least one symptom two years later, a new study shows.
Overall, regardless of initial disease severity, the 2,469 COVID-19 survivors in the study had improvements in physical and mental health over time. Nearly 90% of those who were employed returned to their jobs within two years. But the survivors had a “remarkably” lower health status than the general population at two years, and their burden of symptoms from after-effects “remained fairly high,” the researchers reported on Wednesday in The Lancet Respiratory Diseases. At two years, 55% still had at least one COVID-19 after-effect, according to the report. Fatigue or muscle weakness were the most frequently reported symptoms during the study. Patients who had required mechanical ventilation for critical illness still had high rates of lung impairments at two years.
“Our findings indicate that for a certain proportion of hospitalized COVID-19 survivors, while they may have cleared the initial infection, more than two years is needed to recover fully from COVID-19,” the researchers said.
Protein ‘patterns’ may help classify long COVID patients
Patterns of inflammatory proteins in the blood of people with long COVID may someday help guide individualized treatment, new findings suggest.
Researchers studied 55 people with long COVID who had been only mildly ill with COVID-19 and found that roughly two-thirds had high levels of inflammatory proteins in their blood, with the ongoing inflammation most likely to be found in individuals with the highest burden of long COVID symptoms. “While earlier research has shown high levels of such proteins in long COVID patients, we provide the first evidence that more than half” have a specific signature, or pattern, while others do not, the researchers reported on Tuesday on bioRxiv ahead of peer review.
“At least two different patterns of inflammatory proteins were detected,” said study leader Troy Torgerson of the Allen Institute for Immunology in Seattle. The existence of these patterns suggests the immune system is being activated in specific ways that could be responsive to treatment with existing anti-inflammatory or immunosuppressive medicines, Torgerson said. “Measurement of these proteins in blood could help to identify long COVID patients who may be good candidates for treatment studies using these drugs or possible future treatments.”
Mingling among vaccinated can make vaccines appear less effective
Increased contact among vaccinated people can give the false impression that COVID-19 vaccines are not working, researchers warn.
Some studies have suggested that vaccinated individuals are becoming infected at higher rates than unvaccinated individuals, but these studies are likely to involve statistical errors, particularly if they did not account for different contact patterns among vaccinated vs unvaccinated people, said Korryn Bodner of St. Michael’s Hospital, Unity Health Toronto. Using computer models to simulate epidemics with a vaccine that protects against infection and transmission, her team identified conditions that could create “a perfect storm for observing negative vaccine effectiveness even when a vaccine was efficacious,” Bodner said. Effective vaccines could appear ineffective when vaccinated people have more contact with each other than with unvaccinated people, when vaccine benefits become lower but are not absent (as has happened with new SARS-CoV-2 variants), or when effectiveness is measured while an epidemic is growing (such as when a new variant is emerging), according to a report posted on medRxiv ahead of peer review.
The simulations do not prove that this type of bias affected studies of vaccine effectiveness versus the Omicron variant. They show, however, that “even if vaccines work, increased contact among vaccinated persons can lead to the appearance of the vaccine not working,” Bodner said.
Higher contact among vaccinated can be a mechanism for negative vaccine effectiveness
Evidence from early observational studies suggested negative vaccine effectiveness for the SARS-CoV-2 Omicron variant. Using transmission modeling, we illustrated how increased contact between vaccinated individuals, vaccinated contact heterogeneity, paired with lower vaccine efficacies could...
Persistent serum protein signatures define an inflammatory subset of long COVID
Long COVID or post-acute sequelae of SARS-CoV-2 (PASC) is a clinical syndrome featuring diverse symptoms that can persist for months after acute SARS-CoV-2 infection. The etiologies are unknown but may include persistent inflammation, unresolved tissue damage, or delayed clearance of viral...
Health outcomes in people 2 years after surviving hospitalisation with COVID-19: a longitudinal cohort study
Regardless of initial disease severity, COVID-19 survivors had longitudinal improvements in physical and mental health, with most returning to their original work within 2 years; however, the burden of symptomatic sequelae remained fairly high. COVID-19 survivors had a remarkably lower health...
thelancet.com
COVID-19 symptoms linger two years for some: Study
Half of the COVID-19 patients discharged from a Chinese hospital in early 2020 still have at least one symptom two years later, says a study.