A European Vaccination Card will enable informed vaccination, according to experts working on the EUVABECO project. Latvia, Greece, Belgium, Germany and Portugal will pilot the new tool from September.
Despite decades of awareness, zoonotic diseases those transmitted from animals to humans continue to pose a significant threat to global health.[1] In the face of the unprecedented COVID-19 crisis, our global lack of preparedness for such outbreaks became starkly apparent.
However, it also sparked a surge of innovation, leading to the rapid deployment of multidisciplinary approaches and new technologies that helped us understand, treat, and protect against the virus, ultimately bringing the crisis under control.[2] These innovations included new medicinal products, such as vaccines, as well as advanced tools like those for modelling and forecasting.
As Europe transitions from emergency measures to long-term COVID-19 management, there is a critical opportunity to strengthen resilience and increase preparedness for future health threats. The European Vaccination Beyond COVID-19 (EUVABECO) project seeks to leverage this momentum by initiating pilot projects to develop and test implementation plans for tools that support both routine and crisis vaccination practices.[3]
One key tool that EUVABECO will introduce is the European Vaccination Card (EVC).[4] Scheduled for launch in September 2024, the EVC will initially be piloted in five pilot countries: Latvia, Greece, Belgium, Germany, and Portugal. The card aims to empower individuals by consolidating all their vaccination data in one easily accessible location. It will be available in various formats, including printed cards, mailed copies, and digital versions for smartphones.[5]
Consider the example of Anna*, a 27-year-old nurse who recently moved from Bremaria* to Morvania* with her family. In her new country, Anna needs to provide her vaccination history to comply with local regulations. Using the European Vaccination Card (EVC), Anna can seamlessly transfer her records. She goes online, creates an EVC account with the provider of her choice, and enters her vaccination data from Bremaria.
Anna also needs to create an EVC for her son, Lucas*. She sets up his EVC using her account, transferring information from his paper child health book. Both EVCs are then validated by her doctor, an authorised EVC health professional in Bremaria. This digital record becomes accessible via her smartphone, simplifying the process of sharing it with healthcare providers.
During their first visit to Dr. Mller* in Morvania, Anna presents Lucass printed EVC. With Annas consent, Dr. Mller scans the EVCss QR code, quickly updating Lucass vaccination history in the local system. This seamless process ensures Lucas receives the necessary vaccinations according to Morvanias schedule, allowing Anna to efficiently manage both her and her sons vaccination records.
The EVC empowers individuals like Anna to take control over their own vaccination records, revolutionising vaccination management and ensuring a healthier future for all Europeans. This citizen-centred method of storing and sharing data, rather than relying solely on public health systems, was made possible by the Global Digital Health Certification Network (GDHCN).
Developed during the COVID-19 pandemic for the EU Digital COVID Certificate, the GDHCN is now managed by the World Health Organization, enabling the authenticity of digital vaccination records to be ensured.[7]
EUVABECOs pilot projects aim to pave the way for other countries by harmonising vaccine terminology, developing a common syntax, ensuring adaptability across different healthcare settings, and refining EVC implementation plans. These plans will be publicly released in 2026, extending the EVC system beyond the pilot phases and enabling broad adoption across all EU Member States.
In addition to the EVC, EUVABECO is creating plans for several other innovative tools: a clinical decision system that provides vaccination recommendations, a screening tool to identify and invite vulnerable populations, an electronic Product Information Leaflet (e-PIL) to enable the transfer of vaccines across countries without having to repackage them, and a modeling and forecasting tool to assess the impact of public health interventions.
By leveraging the lessons learned from the COVID-19 pandemic and fostering innovation in vaccination management, Europe is taking crucial steps toward a more resilient and health-secure future.
For more information about the EUVABECO project, visit the project website.
*All names and places are fictional
Authors: Sally Jackson, Francois Kaag, Alain Cimino and Dace Zavadska.
[1] 2020 United Nations Environment Programme. Preventing the next pandemic. Zoonotic diseases and how to break the chain of transmission. [report] (https://unsdg.un.org/sites/default/files/2020-07/UNEP-Preventing-the-next-pandemic.pdf, accessed July 8 2024).
[2] European Observatory on Health Systems and Policies. Drawing light from the pandemic. A new strategy for health and sustainable development. A review of the evidence for the Pan-European Commission for Health and Sustainable Development. [report] (https://iris.who.int/bitstream/handle/10665/345027/9789289051798-eng.pdf?sequence=1&isAllowed=y, accessed July 8 2024).
[3] EUVABECO Project [web portal] (https://euvabeco.eu/, accessed July 8 2024)
[4] Publications Office of the European Union. Provision of options and recommendations for an EU citizens vaccination card [report] (https://op.europa.eu/en/publication-detail/-/publication/111d0610-1c41-11ed-8fa0-01aa75ed71a1/language-en?WT.mc_id=Selectedpublications&WT.ria_c=69089&WT.ria_f=7230&WT.ria_ev=search&WT.URL=https%3A%2F%2Fhadea.ec.europa.eu%2F, accessed July 8 2024)
[5] EUVABECO. European Vaccination Card (EVC): A citizen-held card to foster informed decision-making on vaccination and improve continuity of care across the EU. [news story] (https://euvabeco.eu/news/european-vaccination-card-evc-a-citizen-held-card-to-foster-informed-decision-making-on-vaccination-and-improve-continuity-of-care-across-the-eu/, accessed July 8 2024)
[6] European Commission, European Health and Digital Executive Agency, Provision of options and recommendations for an EU citizens vaccination card. Annex 2, Design and testing of three dual templates, [report] (https://op.europa.eu/en/publication-detail/-/publication/da6517a7-de58-11ed-a05c-01aa75ed71a1/language-en/format-PDF/source-search, accessed July 8 2024)
[7] World Health Organization. Global Digital Health Certification Network [web portal] (https://www.who.int/initiatives/global-digital-health-certification-network, accessed July 8 2024)
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Cambridge (Precision Vaccinations News)
According to a new study published by the journal Nature Medicine, there is emerging evidence that the live herpes zoster (shingles) vaccine might protect against dementia.
However, whether the GlaxoSmithKline plc's Shingrixrecombinant shingles vaccine protects against dementia remains unknown.
This Brief Communication, published on July 25, 2024, stated, 'We used a natural experiment opportunity created by the rapid transition from live to recombinant vaccines to compare the risk of dementia between vaccines. We show that the recombinant vaccine is associated with a significantly lower risk of dementia in the six years post-vaccination.'
'Specifically, receiving the recombinant vaccine is associated with a 17% increase in diagnosis-free time, translating into 164 additional days lived without a diagnosis of dementia in those subsequently affected.'
'The effect was robust across multiple secondary analyses and present in both men and women but greater in women.'
'These findings should stimulate studies investigating the mechanisms underpinning the protection and could facilitate the design of a large-scale randomized control trial to confirm the possible additional benefit of the recombinant shingles vaccine.'
'The recombinant shingles vaccine was also associated with lower risks of dementia compared to two other vaccines commonly used in older people: influenza and tetanus/diphtheria/pertussis vaccines.'
John Todd, Professor of Precision Medicine at the University of Oxfords Nuffield Department of Medicine, commented in a press release,'A key question is, how does the vaccine produce its apparent benefit in protecting against dementia? One possibility is that infection with the Herpes zoster virus might increase the risk of dementia, and therefore, by inhibiting the virus, the vaccine could reduce this risk.'
'Alternatively, the vaccine also contains chemicals which might have separate beneficial effects on brain health,' added Todd.
Researchers at the University of Oxford conducted this study, which included about 200,000 people, and it was funded by the National Institute for Health and Care Research Oxford Health Biomedical Research Centre.
Geneva (Precision Vaccinations News)
While efforts to eradicate poliomyelitis have been ongoing for decades, significant progress has been made in reducing polio cases by 99% over the last 30 years.
However, the last steps in eradicating the disease are proving to be the most challenging, as recent data indicates a resurgence of polio in 2024.
According to the latest Global Polio Eradication Initiative (GPEI) report, five countries reportednew polio casesthis week.
As of July 24, 2024, Pakistan reported a wild poliovirus type 1 (WPV1) case.This is the ninth WPV1 case reported in Pakistan this year.
And vaccine-derived cases were detected in the Democratic Republic of the Congo (1), Ethiopia (5), Somalia (1), and Yemen (11).
Last week, the GPEI reported that Nigeria confirmed one circulating vaccine-derived poliovirus type 2 (cVDPV2)case. There have been 31 cases reported this year and 87 cases reported in 2023.
The GPEI says cVDPV2 is a public health threat that affects 27 countries, includingAngola, Liberia, Senegal, Sierra Leone, and South Sudan, locatedacross four World Health Organization (WHO) regions.
Based on the current situation regarding WPV1 and cVDPVs and the reports provided by affected countries, the WHO Director-General determined in April 2024 thatpoliovirus detectionscontinue to constitute an emergency.
cVDPV casesare associated with oral polio vaccines (OPV) and can cause paralysis among persons in areas with low population immunity to polioviruses.
To address this issue, thenovel oral poliovaccine(nOPV2) is being rolled out under theWHO Emergency Use Listing (November 2020). The nOPV2 is reported to be more genetically stable than previousOPVs, with a lower risk of reversion to neurovirulence and less likely to mutate and cause paralysis.
On February 28, 204, the U.S. CDC Advisory Committee on Immunization Practices included an Introduction and Considerations for the Potential Use of nOPV2 as an Outbreak Control Measure.
The nOPV2 vaccine is not yet approved by the U.S. FDA.
As of July 2024, over 1 billion doses of nOPV2 have been administered worldwide, says the GPEI.
However, 14.3 million children were missingout on any vaccination in 2022. To reduce the number of polio cases, these so-called zero-dose children also need access to polio vaccines.
The WHO strongly recommends that these children be offered disease-prevention vaccines in 2024.
After trusting the previous cat owner's word, a woman was speechless at a vet appointment after learning the truth about her new fur baby.
Yasmeen, known on TikTok as @yasmeenfarq, bought a cat from an owner who kept referring to the feline as "she" while exchanging messages. That alone would have been enough not to question the cat's gender, but Yasmeen told Newsweek the owner also had the cat checked by a vet.
The whole time, Yasmeen believed she was welcoming home a female cat. She even named it Luna. Then a vet visit for "Luna's" first vaccine left her stunned. The vet broke the news to her that Luna was not a female.
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In the July 18 TikTok video, she addresses the mix-up with her cat by asking if he knew this whole time he was male. Annoyed, he stares back at her because, of course, he knew. He can't believe it took her this long to realize it.
The caption reads: "Still shook. Good thing we were never gonna breed the kitten."
It finally clicked for Yasmeen when she heard the news: No wonder this cat wasn't responding to Luna, his girlie name.
"I was just like mouth open. Then, you are kidding me," she told Newsweek via TikTok. "And then [I] was like, 'The girl we bought her from, well, he said [it] was a girl.' I can't believe that."
Upon hearing the news, Yasmeen knew it was time to give her confirmed male cat a new name. Out with Luna and in with Luis.
Luckily, Luis didn't hold it against her. He even initiated an apology by standing up and offering cuddles when Yasmeen was confronting him. It turned out to be a blessing in disguise.
Yasmeen wrote in the comments section: "I'm honestly quite happy it's a boy now from what everyone's saying about the boy cats being more affectionate."
The hilarious mix-up left viewers laughing. As of Wednesday, the TikTok clip had over 23,800 views and 1,974 likes.
"All this time he hasn't known how to tell you," joked a viewer.
A second user said: "He's like, 'Of course I knew, you didn't?"
Cat parents flooded the comments section in solidarity, with one saying: "This has happened to me THREE times."
Another wrote: "This happened with my first cat! It took 2 vets visits for them to then confirm, Tito was indeed Tati."
Do you have funny and adorable videos or pictures of your pet you want to share? Send them to life@newsweek.com with some details about your best friend and they could appear in our Pet of the Week lineup.
Newsweek is committed to challenging conventional wisdom and finding connections in the search for common ground.
Newsweek is committed to challenging conventional wisdom and finding connections in the search for common ground.
The Marshall-Harrison County Health District (MHCHD) is set to host its annual Back to School Vaccine clinic from 8 a.m. to 6 p.m. Monday, July 29 and Tuesday, July 30.
The event will be held at the MHCHD facility, located at 805 Lindsey Drive. During the event, MHCHD will offer free vaccines for children ages four years to eighteen years old who qualify under the Texas Vaccines for Children (TVFC) Program. All vaccines will be given on a walk-in basis with no appointment needed. A parent or guardian must be present and bring the childs vaccine record.
According to Jennifer Hancock, Executive Director, anyone wishing to have their children vaccinated prior to the Back to School Vaccine event may do so during MHCHDs normal operating hours.
We host this event annually to help parents or guardians beat the back to school rush for vaccines in August, explained Hancock.
The first 50 children to receive their age appropriate vaccines will receive a new backpack and school supplies.
We will also have a photo booth for anyone who would like to take a cute picture of their kids, stated Hancock.
Although the Marshall-Harrison County Health District is only able to provide vaccines at no charge for children who qualify through the TVFC program, anyone may bring their childs vaccine record and have MHCHD staff review it at no charge.
We offer this service to help parents know if their child is missing any vaccines that are needed prior to the start of school, stated Hancock. Its not just incoming kindergarten students who may be due for a vaccine.
In conjunction with the vaccine event, MHCHD is also hosting a school supply drive and asks the community to partner with them in providing the much-needed school supplies for the event.
We are often asked how others can join us in our service to the community. This year we are seeking school supplies for all ages including pencils, glue sticks, crayons, markers, Kleenex, highlighters, and wide ruled paper to be given out to kids who attend the clinic, explained Hancock.
Anyone wishing to donate school supplies may drop them off at the MHCHD office at 805 Lindsey Drive or email media@mhchd.org for more information about specific supplies needed.
For more information about recommended vaccines for both adults and children, please contact providers office or call the Marshall-Harrison County Health District at (903) 938-8338.
On both dates, the clinics will be open from 9 a.m. to 1 p.m. Vaccines that will be available at both clinics inlude DTap, Tdap, Hep B, Polio, Kinrix, MMR, Varicella and COVID-19. For more information, staff at the Family and Community Resource Center (FCRC) can be reached at 559-730-7566.
What We Know about Long COVID Right Now
Researchers are still working to understand the complicated and debilitating condition dubbed long COVID
By Ziyad Al-Aly & The Conversation US
Researchers are gaining key insights into the ways that the SARS-CoV-2 virus can lead to long COVID symptoms.
The following essay is reprinted with permission from The Conversation, an online publication covering the latest research.
Since 2020, the condition known as long COVID-19 has become a widespread disability affecting the health and quality of life of millions of people across the globe and costing economies billions of dollars in reduced productivity of employees and an overall drop in the work force.
The intense scientific effort that long COVID sparked has resulted in more than 24,000 scientific publications, making it the most researched health condition in any four years of recorded human history.
If you're enjoying this article, consider supporting our award-winning journalism by subscribing. By purchasing a subscription you are helping to ensure the future of impactful stories about the discoveries and ideas shaping our world today.
Long COVID is a term that describes the constellation of long-term health effects caused by infection with the SARS-CoV-2 virus. These range from persistent respiratory symptoms, such as shortness of breath, to debilitating fatigue or brain fog that limits peoples ability to work, and conditions such as heart failure and diabetes, which are known to last a lifetime.
I am a physician scientist, and I have been deeply immersed in studying long COVID since the early days of the pandemic. I have testified before the U.S. Senate as an expert witness on long COVID, have published extensively on it and was named as one of Times 100 most influential people in health in 2024 for my research in this area.
Over the first half of 2024, a flurry of reports and scientific papers on long COVID added clarity to this complex condition. These include, in particular, insights into how COVID-19 can still wreak havoc in many organs years after the initial viral infection, as well as emerging evidence on viral persistence and immune dysfunction that last for months or years after initial infection.
A new study that my colleagues and I published in the New England Journal of Medicine on July 17, 2024, shows that the risk of long COVID declined over the course of the pandemic. In 2020, when the ancestral strain of SARS-CoV-2 was dominant and vaccines were not available, about 10.4% of adults who got COVID-19 developed long COVID. By early 2022, when the omicron family of variants predominated, that rate declined to 7.7% among unvaccinated adults and 3.5% of vaccinated adults. In other words, unvaccinated people were more than twice as likely to develop long COVID.
While researchers like me do not yet have concrete numbers for the current rate in mid-2024 due to the time it takes for long COVID cases to be reflected in the data, the flow of new patients into long COVID clinics has been on par with 2022.
We found that the decline was the result of two key drivers: availability of vaccines and changes in the characteristics of the virus which made the virus less prone to cause severe acute infections and may have reduced its ability to persist in the human body long enough to cause chronic disease.
Despite the decline in risk of developing long COVID, even a 3.5% risk is substantial. New and repeat COVID-19 infections translate into millions of new long COVID cases that add to an already staggering number of people suffering from this condition.
Estimates for the first year of the pandemic suggests that at least 65 million people globally have had long COVID. Along with a group of other leading scientists, my team will soon publish updated estimates of the global burden of long COVID and its impact on the global economy through 2023.
In addition, a major new report by the National Academies of Sciences Engineering and Medicine details all the health effects that constitute long COVID. The report was commissioned by the Social Security Administration to understand the implications of long COVID on its disability benefits.
It concludes that long COVID is a complex chronic condition that can result in more than 200 health effects across multiple body systems. These include new onset or worsening:
heart disease
neurologic problems such as cognitive impairment, strokes and dysautonomia. This is a category of disorders that affect the bodys autonomic nervous system nerves that regulate most of the bodys vital mechanisms such as blood pressure, heart rate and temperature.
post-exertional malaise, a state of severe exhaustion that may happen after even minor activity often leaving the patient unable to function for hours, days or weeks
gastrointestinal disorders
kidney disease
metabolic disorders such as diabetes and hyperlipidemia, or a rise in bad cholesterol
immune dysfunction
Long COVID can affect people across the lifespan from children to older adults and across race and ethnicity and baseline health status. Importantly, more than 90% of people with long COVID had mild COVID-19 infections.
The National Academies report also concluded that long COVID can result in the inability to return to work or school; poor quality of life; diminished ability to perform activities of daily living; and decreased physical and cognitive function for months or years after the initial infection.
The report points out that many health effects of long COVID, such as post-exertional malaise and chronic fatigue, cognitive impairment and autonomic dysfunction, are not currently captured in the Social Security Administrations Listing of Impairments, yet may significantly affect an individuals ability to participate in work or school.
Whats more, health problems resulting from COVID-19 can last years after the initial infection.
A large study published in early 2024 showed that even people who had a mild SARS-CoV-2 infection still experienced new health problems related to COVID-19 in the third year after the initial infection.
Such findings parallel other research showing that the virus persists in various organ systems for months or years after COVID-19 infection. And research is showing that immune responses to the infection are still evident two to three years after a mild infection. Together, these studies may explain why a SARS-CoV-2 infection years ago could still cause new health problems long after the initial infection.
Important progress is also being made in understanding the pathways by which long COVID wreaks havoc on the body. Two preliminary studies from the U.S. and the Netherlands show that when researchers transfer auto-antibodies antibodies generated by a persons immune system that are directed at their own tissues and organs from people with long COVID into healthy mice, the animals start to experience long COVID-like symptoms such as muscle weakness and poor balance.
These studies suggest that an abnormal immune response thought to be responsible for the generation of these auto-antibodies may underlie long COVID and that removing these auto-antibodies may hold promise as potential treatments.
Despite overwhelming evidence of the wide-ranging risks of COVID-19, a great deal of messaging suggests that it is no longer a threat to the public. Although there is no empirical evidence to back this up, this misinformation has permeated the public narrative.
The data, however, tells a different story.
COVID-19 infections continue to outnumber flu cases and lead to more hospitalization and death than the flu. COVID-19 also leads to more serious long-term health problems. Trivializing COVID-19 as an inconsequential cold or equating it with the flu does not align with reality.
This article was originally published on The Conversation. Read the original article.
The number of coronavirus infections is on the rise in Japan, prompting experts to encourage preventative measures during the summer holiday season.
NHK World visited a clinic in Tokyo's Shinjuku Ward on July 18, where a steady stream of patients suffering fever and other symptoms sought attention.
One man in his 40s with a fever of about 38 degrees complained of a sore throat. Tests confirmed he was infected with the coronavirus. He reported no known exposure.
Out of 24 patients seen that day, 11 tested positive. Ando Sakuro, the clinic's head doctor, said about 10 people have been testing positive every day since the end of June.
Symptoms, including fever and sore throat, resemble those of the common cold, making it hard to distinguish. But Ando warns that COVID-19 is more contagious.
"The summer holidays will bring more opportunities for people to interact with others," he said. "I suggest taking basic infection control measures, such as hand-washing, ventilation and wearing a mask if coughing."
The average number of coronavirus patients confirmed at select medical facilities across Japan for the week ending July 14 was 11.18. That's 1.39 times higher than the previous week, marking the 10th straight weekly increase.
By prefecture, Kagoshima topped the list with 31.75. Saga followed with 29.46 and Miyazaki had 29.34. The figure increased in most of the 47 prefectures.
Hamada Atsuo, visiting professor at Tokyo Medical University and an expert on infectious diseases, said the recent increase in infections can be partly attributed to the KP.3 variant, a type of Omicron strain.
"KP.3 is a virus derived from JN.1 and has become a mainstream epidemic not only in Japan but also in the Northern Hemisphere, including Europe and the United States. There are reports that it is slightly more contagious than other variants," Hamada said. "The severity of symptoms is not much different from other variants."
He expected the number of COVID patients to increase until around mid-August, as more people visit summer vacation destinations.
"As we enter the epidemic season, everyone should take anti-infection measures, such as thorough ventilation and hand-washing, and seek medical treatment as soon as possible if symptoms appear," Hamada said. "And for the elderly who are more susceptible to serious illness, I recommend wearing masks when out in crowds."
US COVID activity continues a steady rise across most of the nation, according to the latest indicators today from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC).
In its latest respiratory illness snapshot, the CDC said most areas of the country are seeing consistent rises in COVID activity. "Surges like this are known to occur throughout the year, including during summer months," it said, adding there are many effective tools for preventing the spread of the virus or becoming seriously ill.
Test positivity is at 14.3% nationally, the highest since August 2023, according to CDC data. Levels are much higheraveraging 23.4%--in Texas and surrounding states, with levels in other parts of the Southwest also tracking higher than the rest of the nation.
Emergency department visits for COVIDat the highest level since the middle of February rose 13.5% compared to the previous week and make up nearly 2% of all ED visits. The levels are highest, at the moderate range, in Florida, Hawaii, and Texas.
Heading into July, hospitalization levels rose to the highest level since early March. In its respiratory virus snapshot today, the CDC said hospitalization rates are increasing, especially among people ages 65 and older.
Meanwhile, deaths from COVID are up slightly, with levels highest in Puerto Rico compared to the rest of the nation. Currently, only 1.1% of deaths are due to COVID, up 10% compared to the previous week.
Nationally, wastewater detections of SARS-CoV-2 have been at the high level over the past few weeks, with the highest levels in Western states over the summer months. However, the CDCs latest data show though detections in the West are still the highest in the nation, the level declined in the most recent reporting week.
Wastewater detections are still rising steadily in the South. In the Midwest and Northeast, detections are still increasing, but at a slower pace.
