Category: Corona Virus Vaccine

Coronaviruses are a family of viruses known for containing strains that cause potentially deadly diseases in mammals and birds.

In humans they're typically spread via airborne droplets of fluid produced by infected individuals.

Of the seven coronaviruses kown to infect humans, four spread with seasonal regularity, causing anything from mild cold-like symptoms to flu-like discomforts.

A few more notable strains, including SARS-CoV-2 (responsible for COVID-19), and those responsible for severe acute respiratory syndrome (SARS) and Middle East respiratory syndrome (MERS), can cause death in humans. The cause of death is complex, though is typically the result of heightened immune responses causing damage in multiple systems throughout the body.

First described in detail in the 1960s, the coronavirus gets its name from a distinctive corona or 'crown' of sugary-proteins that projects from the envelope surrounding the particle. Encoding the virus's make-up is the longest genome of any RNA-based virus a single strand of nucleic acid roughly 26,000 to 32,000 bases long.

There are four known genuses in the family, named Alphacoronavirus, Betacoronavirus, Gammacoronavirus, and Deltacoronavirus. The first two only infect mammals, including bats, pigs, cats, and humans. Gammacoronavirus mostly infects birds such as poultry, while Deltacoronavirus can infect both birds and mammals.

Coronaviruses can give rise to a variety of symptoms in different animals. In a high percentage of cases, infection causes no symptoms at all. These individuals can still easily spread the virus without knowing they're infected.

While some strains cause diarrhoea in pigs and in turkeys, in humans infections are usually compared to a bad cold, causing mild to moderate upper respiratory problems such as a runny nose and sore throat.

There are a handful of lethal exceptions, which have had a devastating impact on livestock and human health around the globe. Symptoms in these cases tend to start with a sore throat and fever.

In the specific case of the novel coronavirus COVID-19, most of those infected experience a fever within five days of being infected, followed by a cough. This differs to a flu, which tends to start with a cough.

Severe cases can require hospitalisation from respiratory distress within about a week of the first symptoms showing. Where symptoms continue to worsen, death can follow within two weeks to nearly two months, depending on prognosis and medical care.

COVID-19 is the illness that presents on being infected by a deadly coronavirus called SARS-CoV-2.

This SARS-related virus was first identified in the Chinese city of Wuhan in late 2019. Snakes were originally suspected as a potential source for the outbreak, though other experts have deemed this unlikely and proposed bats as a reservoir instead. Pangolins have been implicated as a potential link in the transfer chain.

As of April 2020, the search for the animal origin of COVID-19 is ongoing.

At the time of writing, numbers of infected are still on the rise, with a mortality rate that varies significantly around the world from less than one to more than 10 percent.

The SARS-CoV-2 pandemic has caused significant disruptions to economies and social activities around the globe throughout 2020. Treatments and protective therapies are currently in development, with programs expected to begin vaccinations in the US by the start of 2021.

SARS was first recognised as a distinct strain of coronavirus in 2003. The source of the virus has never been clear, though the first human infections can be traced back to the Chinese province of Guangdong in 2002.

The virus then became a pandemic, causing more than 8,000 infections of an influenza-like disease in 26 countries with close to 800 deaths.

MERS was first identified in Saudi Arabia in 2012 in people displaying symptoms of fever, cough, shortness of breath and occasionally gastrointestinal problems such as diarrhoea. An animal source for the virus has never been officially confirmed, though evidence points to dromedary camels as a potential reservoir of infection.

The World Health Organisation has identified around 2,500 cases of infection in 27 countries since initial outbreaks, resulting in nearly 860 deaths.

All articles are determined by fact checkers to be correct and relevant at the time of publishing. Information published on the coronavirus during the 2020 COVID-19 pandemic may be updated frequently to reflect the dynamic nature of current understanding.

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What Is a Coronavirus? : ScienceAlert

The U.S. on Wednesday authorized updated COVID-19 boosters for children as young as 5, seeking to expand protection ahead of an expected winter wave.

Tweaked boosters rolled out for Americans 12 and older last month, doses modified to target todays most common and contagious omicron relative. While there wasnt a big rush, federal health officials are urging that people seek the extra protection ahead of holiday gatherings.

Now the Food and Drug Administration has given a green light for elementary school-age kids to get the updated booster doses, too -- one made by Pfizer for 5- to 11-year-olds, and a version from rival Moderna for those as young as 6.

Theres one more step before parents can bring their kids in for the new shot: The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, which recommends how vaccines are used, must sign off.

Americans may be tired of repeated calls to get boosted against COVID-19 but experts say the updated shots have an advantage: They contain half the recipe that targeted the original coronavirus strain and half protection against the dominant BA.4 and BA.5 omicron versions.

These combination or bivalent boosters are designed to broaden immune defenses so that people are better protected against serious illness whether they encounter an omicron relative in the coming months -- or a different mutant thats more like the original virus.

We want to have the best of both worlds, Pfizers Dr. Bill Gruber, a pediatrician, told The Associated Press. He hopes the updated shots will re-energize interest in protecting children for the winter.

The updated boosters are extremely important for keeping kids healthy and in school, said Dr. Jason Newland, a pediatric infectious disease specialist at Washington University in St. Louis.

Parents should know there is no concern from the safety perspective with the bivalent vaccines, whether Moderna or Pfizer, Newland added.

Only people whove gotten their initial vaccinations -- with any of the original-formula versions -- qualify for an updated booster. That means about three-fourths of Americans 12 and older are eligible. As of last weekend, only at least 13 million had gotten an updated booster, White House COVID-19 coordinator Dr. Ashish Jha estimated Tuesday.

To pediatricians chagrin, getting children their first vaccinations has been tougher. Less than a third of 5- to 11-year-olds have had their two primary doses and thus would qualify for the new booster.

This age group will get kid-size doses of the new omicron-targeting booster and they can receive it at least two months after their last dose, whether that was their primary vaccination series or an earlier booster, the FDA said.

Vaccination remains the most effective measure to prevent the severe consequences of COVID-19, Dr. Peter Marks, FDAs vaccine chief, said in a statement.

While children tend to get less seriously ill than adults, as the various waves of COVID-19 have occurred, more children have gotten sick with the disease and have been hospitalized, Marks said.

For the updated booster made by Pfizer and its partner BioNTech, 5- to 11-year-olds would get a third of the dose that anyone 12 and older already receives. Pfizer said it could ship up to 6 million kid-sized doses within a week of authorization, in addition to ongoing shipments of adult-sized doses.

Until now, Modernas updated booster was cleared only for adults. FDA just expanded that adult bivalent dosage to 12- to 17-year-olds, and authorized half the dose for kids ages 6 to 11.

As for even younger tots, first vaccinations didnt open for the under-5 age group until mid-June -- and it will be several more months before regulators decide if theyll also need a booster using the updated recipe.

Exactly how much protection does an updated COVID-19 booster shot offer? Thats hard to know. Pfizer and Moderna are starting studies in young children.

But the FDA cleared the COVID-19 booster tweaks without requiring human test results -- just like it approves yearly changes to flu vaccines. Thats partly because both companies already had studied experimental shots tweaked to target prior COVID-19 variants, including an earlier omicron version, and found they safely revved up virus-fighting antibodies.

Its clearly a better vaccine, an important upgrade from what we had before, Jha said earlier this week.

Jha urged adults to get their updated shot in October like they get flu vaccinations or at least well before holiday gatherings with high-risk family and friends. People whove recently had COVID-19 still need the booster but can wait about three months, he added.

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The Associated Press Health and Science Department receives support from the Howard Hughes Medical Institutes Department of Science Education. The AP is solely responsible for all content.

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COVID-19 boosters for kids as young as 5 (Pfizer) or 6 (Moderna) approved by FDA: What parents need to know - OregonLive

Whats more, the mutations in these new strains could make them more immune-evasive, Adalja says. However, even if thats the case, it doesnt necessarily mean they will render protections from the vaccines or a prior infection completely powerless.

The shots weve had access to so far have helped reduce the risk of hospitalization and death in many, regardless of the variants circulating, points out Aditya Shah, an infectious disease specialist at the Mayo Clinic. We hope that that remains, because we dont want to overwhelm the health care systems this winter.

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More than 3,300 Americans are still being hospitalized every day for COVID-19, data from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) shows. And with apotentially rough flu seasonon the horizon, health care workers are bracing for numbers to swell. (During the 20192020 flu season, 390,000 Americans were hospitalized with the illness, according to the CDC.) Cases of RSV (or respiratory syncytial virus, which is most dangerous in infants and older adults) also typically spike in the cold-weather months.

We are entering into the winter months, where no matter what the respiratory disease is, theres always a risk of an uptick in respiratory diseases, Anthony Fauci, M.D., chief medical adviser to the president, said during a recent USC Annenberg Center for Health Journalism webinar.

One thing that could help subdue a storm of hospitalizations this winter: theupdated COVID-19 bivalent booster shots, which are now available to vaccinated people age 12 and older. Arecent reportfrom the Commonwealth Fund finds that if 80 percent of eligible Americans roll up their sleeves for the shot which targets omicrons BA.4 and BA.5 and also the original strain of the virus for a broad swath of protection 936,706 hospitalizations due to COVID-19 could be averted and nearly 90,000 lives could be saved.

If the booster uptake is even equivalent to recent flu vaccine uptake (about half of adults got their flu shot in 20202021, the latest data available shows), more than 75,000 deaths and 745,409 hospitalizations due to COVID-19 could be prevented. Still, few adults (about 4 percent) have received the new booster. About 20 percent of Americans say they arent even aware of them,a recent pollfrom the Kaiser Family Foundation finds. Older adults are the exception, with about half (45 percent) of people age 65 and older reporting they have received the updated booster or intend to get it as soon as possible.

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Protect Yourself From New COVID Variants This Winter - AARP

In a recent study published in Nature Chemical Biology, researchers investigated the use of aminoadamantane nitrate compounds as anti-severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 (SARS-CoV-2) drugs.

The United States Food & Drug Administration has approved memantine, an aminoadamantane drug, for the treatment of Alzheimers disease. Building upon their experience, researchers explored if they could target the SARS-CoV-2 envelope (E) protein viroporin channel with a molecular warhead to the angiotensin-converting enzyme 2 (ACE2) receptor. ACE2 binds SARS-CoV-2 spike (S) protein which establishes the infection, and inhibiting this reaction could yield a novel drug action mechanism to treat coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19).

Aminoadamantane nitrates could act as chemical probes with dual mechanisms. While the aminoadamantane moiety could block the SARS-CoV-2 E protein viroporin channel, it could also target the delivery of nitric oxide (NO)-related group to S-nitrosylate to inhibit the S and ACE2 binding reaction.

Intriguingly, anecdotal reports suggest that aminoadamantane drugs offer some efficacy against SARS-CoV-2. NO-based therapies have also shown promise in human clinical trials for COVID-19 treatment. However, definitive data supporting these are lacking.

In the present study, researchers developed dual-mechanism aminoadamantane nitrate compounds for inhibiting SARS-CoV-2 entry into host cells by S-nitrosylating ACE2. Further, the researchers tested whether these compounds were non-toxic in vitro using HELA cells and in vivo using the Syrian hamster COVID-19 model.

They exposed HeLa cells stably expressing human ACE2 (HeLa-ACE2) to SNOC and assessed SNO-ACE2 formation by biotin switch assay. In other words, they studied the molecular mechanism whereby NO and its related species inhibit SARS-CoV-2 activity. Furthermore, they evaluated S and HeLa-ACE2 cell binding, for which they incubated the cells with purified recombinant SARS-CoV-S1 and S2.

The team tested the efficacy of memantine/NMT1, amantadine/NMT4, and other aminoadamantane nitrate compounds, NMT2, NMT3, and NMT5-NMT9 in a masked manner against live SARS-CoV-2 in HeLa-ACE2 cells to determine their therapeutic potential based on the selectivity index (SI). As positive controls, they used remdesivir, apilimod, and puromycin. SI compares a compounds half-maximal non-specific cytotoxicity (CC50) in the absence of infection to its half-maximal effective antiviral concentration (EC50).

To further investigate the effect of NMT5 on SARS-CoV-2 S-ACE2 binding, the team performed co-immunoprecipitation (co-IP) experiments of these two proteins in the presence and absence of NMT5 using an anti-ACE2 antibody.

Human ACE2 contains eight cysteines (Cys) residues, of which Cys261 and Cys498 are present as free thiols. These two are likely available for S-nitrosylation via a reversible nucleophilic attack on nitroso nitrogen to form an SNO-protein adduct. Thus, the researchers also performed site-directed mutagenesis of these cysteine residues in ACE2 to validate the results of biotin switch assays. Furthermore, they performed mass spectrometry (MS) following exposure to SNOC to identify sites of S-nitrosylation.

The study findings evidenced that ACE2, the cellular receptor of SARS-CoV-2 S, could be S-nitrosylated by the NO donor and transnitrosylating agent S-nitrosocysteine (SNOC). This nitrosylation reaction appeared to inhibit SARS-CoV-2 entry, infectivity, and cytotoxicity. Site-directed mutagenesis confirmed that C261A/C498A mutation significantly inhibited SNOC-mediated S-nitrosylation on biotin switch assays, and MS confirmed the presence of S-nitrosylated ACE2 at Cys261 and Cys498.

Of the seven aminoadamantane nitrate compounds tested in the study, amantadine and memantine showed no efficacy against live SARS-CoV-2. NMT5 showed the highest protection against SARS-CoV-2, with an EC50 of 5.28 M and SI of 9.2. Moreover, this NMT5 concentration was within the micromolar amounts attainable in human tissues at well-tolerated doses, as observed in two animal species.

The five M of NMT5 diminished co-IP, indicating that it could inhibit the binding of S protein to ACE2 to a significant degree and that the intact Cys residue was essential for S-ACE2 binding. Either Cys mutation or S-nitrosylation could significantly decrease the interaction of S protein with ACE2.

The researchers developed a novel aminoadamantane nitrate compound, NMT5, as a chemical probe for inhibiting SARS-CoV-2 activity by protein S-nitrosylation. Its nitro group targeted ACE2 by blocking the E protein viroporin channel. These mechanistic insights would facilitate the development of aminoadamantane nitrate drugs for acute antiviral therapy for COVID-19.

Since NMT5 could prevent the SARS-CoV-2 S protein from binding to the ACE2 receptor by S-nitrosylating the receptor in a targeted fashion, it should be able to also inhibit new variants of the S protein from binding to ACE2 because ACE2 itself is blocked.

Moreover, aminoadamantane nitrates for COVID-19 drug therapy could complement other drug, vaccine, and antibody therapies that depend on S protein antigenic sites. Furthermore, the binding of NMT5 to the E viroporin channel may confer the ability to block the spread of SARS-CoV-2 from one host to another.

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Researchers report aminoadamantanes that block SARS-CoV-2 infection by S-nitrosylation of the host ACE2 protein - News-Medical.Net

December 14, 2020

Rochester research into RNA structure and function provides key information for developing coronavirus treatments.

The US Food and Drug Administration recently approved emergency use authorization for a COVID-19 vaccine developed by Pfizer and the German pharmaceutical company BioNTech.

The vaccine made history not only because it reported a 95 percent efficacy rate at preventing COVID-19 in clinical trials, but because it is the first vaccine ever approved by the FDA for human use that is based on RNA technology.

The development of RNA vaccines is a great boon to the future of treating infectious diseases, says Lynne Maquat, the J. Lowell Orbison Distinguished Service Alumni Professor in biochemistry and biophysics, oncology, and pediatrics at Rochester and the director of Rochesters Center for RNA Biology.

COVID-19, short for coronavirus disease 2019, is caused by the novel coronavirus SARS-CoV-2. Like many other viruses, SARS-CoV-2 is an RNA virus. This means that, unlike in humans and other mammals, the genetic material for SARS-CoV-2 is encoded in ribonucleic acid (RNA). The viral RNA is sneaky: its features cause the protein synthesis machinery in humans to mistake it for RNA produced by our own DNA.

For that reason, several of the leading COVID-19 vaccines and treatments are based on RNA technology.

A contingent of researchers at the University of Rochester study the RNA of viruses to better understand how RNAs work and how they are involved in diseases. This RNA research provides an important foundation for developing vaccines and other drugs and therapeutics to disrupt the virus and stop infections.

Understanding RNA structure and function helps us understand how to throw a therapeutic wrench into what the COVID-19 RNA doesmake new virus that can infect more of our cells and also the cells of other human beings, Maquat says.

RNA stands for ribonucleic acid.

RNA delivers the genetic instructions contained in DNA to the rest of the cell.

Covid-19 stands for coronavirus disease 2019.

In the past few decades, as scientists came to realize that genetic material is largely regulated by the RNA it encodes, that most of our DNA produces RNA, and that RNA is not only a target but also a tool for disease therapies, the RNA research world has exploded, Maquat says. The University of Rochester understood this.

In 2007, Maquat founded The Center for RNA Biology as a means of conducting interdisciplinary research in the function, structure, and processing of RNAs. The Center involves researchers from both the River Campus and the Medical Center, combining expertise in biology, chemistry, engineering, neurology, and pharmacology.

Our strength as a university is our diversity of research expertise, combined with our highly collaborative nature, says Dragony Fu, an associate professor of biology on the River Campus and a member of the Center for RNA Biology. We are surrounded by outstanding researchers who enhance our understanding of RNA biology, and a medical center that provides a translational aspect where the knowledge gained from RNA biology can be applied for therapeutics.

A graphic created by the New York Times illustrates how the coronavirus that causes COVID-19 enters the body through the nose, mouth, or eyes and attaches to our cells. Once the virus is inside our cells, it releases its RNA. Our hijacked cells serve as virus factories, reading the viruss RNA and making long viral proteins to compromise the immune system. The virus assembles new copies of itself and spreads to more parts of the body andby way of saliva, sweat, and other bodily fluidsto other humans.

Once the virus is in our cells, the entire process of infection and re-infection depends on the viral RNA, Maquat says.

One of the reasons viruses are such a challenge is that they change and mutate in response to drugs.

That means novel virus treatments and vaccines have to be created each time a new strain of virus presents itself. Armed with innovative research on the fundamentals of RNA, scientists are better able to develop and test therapeutics that directly target the RNAs and processes critical to a viruss life cycle.

Traditional vaccines against viruses like influenza inject inactivated virus proteins called antigens. The antigens stimulate the bodys immune system to recognize the specific virus and produce antibodies in response, with the hope that these antibodies will fight against future virus infection.

RNA-based vaccinessuch as those developed by Pfizer/BioNTech and American biotechnology company Modernado not introduce an antigen, but instead inject a short sequence of synthetic messenger RNA (mRNA) that is enclosed in a specially engineered lipid nanoparticle. This mRNA provides cells with instructions to produce the virus antigen themselves.

Once the mRNA from a vaccine is in our body, for example, it instructs the protein synthesis machinery in our cells, which normally generates proteins from the mRNAs that derive from our genes, to produce a piece of the SARS-CoV-2 virus spike protein. Since the SARS-CoV-2 virus spike protein is foreign to our bodies, our bodies will then make antibodies that inactivate the protein.

Should the virus enter our body from an infected person, these antibodies will bind to and inactivate the virus by binding to its spike proteins, which coat the outside of the viral capsule, Maquat says.

An RNA-based vaccine therefore acts as a code to instruct the body to make many copies of the virus proteinand the resulting antibodiesitself, resulting in an immune response.

Unlike more traditional vaccines, RNA-based vaccines are also beneficial in that they eliminate the need to work with the actual virus.

Working with a live virus is costly and very involved, requiring that researchers use special biosafety laboratories and wear bulky personal protective equipment so that the virus is biocontained, and no one gets infected, Maquat says.

Developing a vaccine from a live virus additionally takes much longer than generating an mRNA-based vaccine, but no one should think the process is simple, Maquat says of the Pfizer/BioNTech vaccine. Since it is the first of its kind, a lot had to be worked out.

Researchers Douglas Anderson, Dragony Fu, and Lynne Maquat are among the scientists at the University of Rochester who study the RNA of viruses to better understand how RNAs work and how they are involved in diseases. (University of Rochester photos / Matt Wittmeyer / J. Adam Fenster)

Maquat has been studying RNA since 1972 and was part of the earliest wave of scientists to realize the important role RNA plays in human health and disease.

Our cells have a number of ways to combat viruses in what can be viewed as an arms race between host and virus. One of the weapons in our cells arsenal is an RNA surveillance mechanism Maquat discovered called nonsense-mediated mRNA decay (NMD).

Nonsense-mediated mRNA decay protects us from many genetic mutations that could cause disease if NMD werenot active to destroy the RNA harboring the mutation, she says.

Maquats discovery has contributed to the development of drug therapies for genetic disorders such as cystic fibrosis, and may be useful in developing treatments for coronavirus.

NMD also helps us combat viral infections, which is why many viruses either inhibit or evade NMD, she adds. The genome of the virus COVID-19 is a positive-sense, single-stranded RNA. It is well known that other positive-sense, single-stranded RNA viruses evade NMD by having RNA structures that prevent NMD from degrading viral RNAs.

Maquats lab has been collaborating with a lab at Harvard University to test how viral proteins can inhibit the NMD machinery.

Their recent work is focused on the SARS-CoV-2 structural protein called N. Lab experiments and data sets from infected human cells indicate this virus is unusual because it does not inhibit the NMD pathway that regulates many of our genes and some of the viruss genes. Instead, the virus N protein seems to promote the pathway.

SARS-CoV-2 reproduces its RNA genome with much higher efficiency than other pathogenic human viruses, Maquat says. Maybe there is a connection there; time will tell.

In the Department of Biology, Fu andJack Werren, the Nathaniel and Helen Wisch Professor of Biology, received expedited funding awards from the National Science Foundation to apply their expertise in cellular and evolutionary biology to research proteins involved in infections from COVID-19. The funding was part of the NSFs Rapid Response Research (RAPID) program to mobilize funding for high priority projects.

Werrens research will be important in ameliorating some of the potential side effects of COVID-19 infections, including blood clots and heart diseases, while Fus research will provide insight into the potential effects of viral infection on human cell metabolism.

Our research will provide insight into the potential effects of viral infection on host cellular processes, Fu says. Identifying which cell functions are affected by the virus could help lessen some of the negative effects caused by COVID-19. Green = said twice.

Douglas Anderson, an assistant professor of medicine in the Aab Cardiovascular Research Institute and a member of the Center for RNA Biology, studies how RNA mutations can give rise to human disease and has found that alternative therapeutics, such as the gene-editing technology CRISPR, may additionally usher in a new approach to how we target and combat infectious diseases, he says.

For the past few years, Andersons lab has developed tools and delivery systems that use the RNA-targeting CRISPR-Cas13 to treat human genetic diseases that affect muscle function. CRISPR-Cas13 is like a molecular pair of scissors that can target specific RNAs for degradation, using small, programmable guide RNAs.

When the health crisis first became apparent in Wuhan, China, researchers in Andersons lab turned their focus toward developing a CRISPR-Cas13 therapeutic aimed at SARS-CoV-2. Applying the knowledge already available about coronavirus RNA replication, they designed single CRISPR guide RNAs capable of targeting every viral RNA that is made within a SARS-CoV-2 infected cell. Using a novel cloning method developed in Andersons lab, multiple CRISPR guide-RNAs could be packaged into a single therapeutic vector (a genetically engineered carrier) to target numerous viral RNA sites simultaneously. The multi-pronged targeting strategy could be used as a therapy to safeguard against virus-induced cell toxicity and prevent escape of viruses which may have undergone mutation.

Infectious viruses and pandemics seemingly come out of nowhere, which has made it hard to rapidly develop and screen traditional small molecule therapeutics or vaccines, Anderson says. There is a clear need to develop alternative targeted therapeutics, such as CRISPR-Cas13, which have the ability to be rapidly reprogrammed to target new emerging pandemics.

While many new treatments for the novel coronavirus are being considered, there is one thing that is certain, Maquat says: Targeting RNA, or the proteins it produces, is essential for therapeutically combatting this disease.

Most people living in the United States today have only read about the 1918 flu pandemic and the relatively recent RNA viruses, such as Ebola or Zika, that are seen largely in other countries.

RNA treatments will most likely be a wave of the future for these and other emerging diseases, Maquat says. Epidemiologists know new infectious pathogens are coming given how small the world has become with international travel, including to and from places where humans and animals are in close contact.

Bats, in particular, are reservoirs for viruses. Many bat species are able to live with viruses without experiencing ill effects, given the bats unusual physiology. If these bat viruses mutate so they become capable of infecting humans, however, there will be new diseases, Maquat says.

It is just a matter of when this will happen and what the virus will be. The hope is that we will be ready and able to develop vaccines against these new viruses with the new pipelines that have been put in place for COVID-19.

This story was originally published on April 28, 2020, and updated on December 14, 2020.

FDA votes to approve emergency use of Pfizer coronavirus vaccineResearchers and volunteers in Rochester have been involved in the testing of the Pfizer/BioNTech vaccine since May, and technologies used in the development of the vaccine can trace their origins to decades of infectious disease research conducted at Rochester.

Tags: Arts and Sciences, Center for RNA Biology, COVID-19, Department of Biochemistry and Biophysics, Department of Biology, Douglas Anderson, Dragony Fu, featured-post, Lynne Maquat, medical center

Category: Science & Technology

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COVID-19 vaccine: Whats RNA research got to do with it?

In a recent study posted to the medRxiv* preprint server, researchers investigated the differences in vaccination- and previous infection-induced immunities against the Omicron BA.2 and BA.4/5 subvariants of severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 (SARS-CoV-2).

Since November 2021, the SARS-CoV-2 Omicron subvariants have increased the number of coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) cases due to their increased transmissibility and immune evasion capabilities. The Netherlands experienced a surge in cases during the dominance of the BA.1 Omicron subvariant during late 2021, followed by subsequent BA.2, BA.4, and BA.5 dominance periods from early- to mid-2022.

The Omicron subvariants have mutations in the spike protein residues, resulting in increased humoral immunity evasion. Studies have shown that the BA.4 and BA.5 subvariants exhibit the highest degree of neutralization escape, raising concerns about the recurrence of severe COVID-19 outcomes.

The present study examined the effect of vaccination- and prior infection-induced immune status on the occurrence of BA.2 and BA.4/5 between May and July 2022 the transition phase between BA.2 and BA.4/5 predominance.

The researchers used SARS-CoV-2-positive test results from national community testing performed between 2 May to 24 July 2022 and carried out spike (S)-gene target failure (SGTF). The pseudonymized demographic and vaccination status information was also procured from the national community testing register.

The SGTF test was performed using TaqPath COVID-19 real-time polymerase chain reaction (RT-PCR). Combined with quantification cycles less than or equal to 30 to amplify the open reading frame 1 a and b (ORF1ab) and nucleocapsid (N) genes, the inability to detect the S-gene is a proxy for variants containing S 69/70 deletion, such as the Omicron subvariants BA.4 and BA.5. Samples that were non-SGTF were considered to be BA.2 positive, while SGTF samples were BA.4/5 since SGTF cannot distinguish between BA.4 and BA.5.

Whole genome sequencing (WGS) of random SGTF samples was also carried out to see the proportion of BA.4 to BA.5 samples. A combination of WGS and SGTF results from previous infections was used to determine the variants of previous SARS-CoV-2 infections. The immune status groups were defined according to vaccination history and prior infections. The BA.2 and BA.4/5 infections were correlated to these immune status groups using various statistical analyses.

The results found that irrespective of vaccination status, the frequency of BA.4/5 cases was higher than BA.2 cases among individuals with previous infections, suggesting higher immune evasion by BA.4/5. BA.2 and BA.4/5 showed no association with vaccination status, implying that vaccines granted equal protection against all three subvariants.

Prior infection with the BA.1 subvariant presented lower and shorter protective effects against BA.4/5 than BA.2. The authors noted that a similar study from Denmark and other in vitro studies corroborated their results on BA.1 infection-induced immunity being ineffective against BA.4/5. They also discussed studies from the United Kingdom and Portugal, which substantiate their findings about similar vaccination-induced immunity against BA.2 and BA.4/5.

However, the authors believe that the evasion exhibited by BA.2 and BA.4/5 from prior infection-induced immunity is smaller than those seen for BA.1 or the Delta variant, which indicates high antibody escape between the earlier variants of concern than between Omicron subvariants.

The study had a few limitations. Based on the lack of confidence in the previous infection information, the authors believe some individuals might have been misclassified as not previously infected. Additionally, the BA.4 and BA.5 infections could not be separated for the entire dataset due to a lack of WGS data. Furthermore, the 90% threshold used for the TaqPath RT-PCR tests could have resulted in the misclassification of the subvariants. The authors believe, however, that these limitations are unlikely to change the results significantly.

To summarize, the study found that BA.4/5 exhibits higher antibody escape than BA.2 against immunity induced by previous infections from other subvariants such as BA.1, irrespective of vaccination status. Vaccination was seen to grant uniform protection against BA.2 and BA.4/5 infections.

The findings are significant as they suggest that vaccination provides better immunity against the Omicron subvariants than humoral immunity from previous infections. Therefore, vaccine updates and investigation of immune evasion by emergent subvariants should be prioritized.

medRxiv publishes preliminary scientific reports that are not peer-reviewed and, therefore, should not be regarded as conclusive, guide clinical practice/health-related behavior, or treated as established information.

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Differences in protection from previous infection or vaccination against infection with Omicron BA.4/5 or BA.2 - News-Medical.Net

The Covid-19 pandemic wretched havoc in most parts of the world, leading to detrimental consequences.

Its outbreak led to serious loss of lives. As of today September 2022, the virus had claimed over 6.6 million lives. The numbers usually vary by region, and with time, influenced by healthcare system quality, government response, testing volume, initial outbreak, population characteristics etc.

Different nations have put measures to curb the spread of the pandemic, such as restriction of movements, quarantine measures, vaccination and putting on of the face masks.

The pandemic led to a lot of challenges to the global travel industry, with restrictions and travel guidelines enforced in different economies. However, it is significant and encouraging that there is stabilization of the travel activities in different parts of the country.

In countries such as China, the travel activities were low in February. However, there has been consistent recovery in place. Entry restrictions for different international travels have also been place in some countries but have since been abolished. That means that the visitors are no longer required to document and present vaccination proof or negative Covid-19 test.

Moreover, there have been considerable decline in the reported cases of the virus, suggesting a low contraction rate of the novel virus. However, one of the fundamental questions we need to ask ourselves is; is the world free from Covid-19 pandemic, are we out of the hood yet? The answer to this question is subjective, depending on where one exists.

An individual who dwells in an area where numerous deaths have been experienced would probably disregard the notion and plead with the government to intensify measures to curb the spread of the virus, while an individual living in an area regarded as Covid-19 free regions would nod in agreement that we have finally fought the fight and won the battle.

However, in it is crucial to dig deep and analyze the probability of finally being free from the pandemic, because any relaxation on the containment measures would lead more spread to low risk regions.

While the world continues to fight the highly contagious virus, countries such as New Zealand have shown their potential to contain and defeat the deadly virus. Amid this, New Zealand together with other countries such as Vatican, Fiji, Tanzania, Montenegro, St Kitts and Nevis, Seychelles, Timor-Leste and Papua New Guinea have provided a ray of hope that the crisis might improve in future. The countries have been declared as free from the virus so far and they have been successful in containing the Covid-19 pandemic spread.

Despite the milestone attained, the Director General of WHO warned that we have not reached a completely free virus state. The roll out of therapies and vaccines has assisted in stemming out deaths as well as hospitalization. Even though the deaths from Covid-19 have reached their lowest rates currently, it is important to remain consistent in containing the virus and reap from the hard work towards preventing the spread of the virus.

Countries should take a hard look at their policies and effectively strengthen them for the Corona virus and the future viruses. There should also be a 100 percent vaccination of the high risk groups and to continue to test the virus. As such, with more than one million deaths in 2022 alone, the pandemic is an emergency globally and within several countries.

The global picture

The majority of countries across the world reported falling covid-19 infection numbers. Many countries have extended their overall reporting intervals, making reporting of the identified cases viable and easy. Several countries in the world adopted the vaccination, a means to increase immunity and prevent contraction or severe cases of Covid-19.

Through this, many countries are able to contain the virus because the newly reported cases are relatively low across the continents.

As of June 2022, the countries that have more than 50 percent of its population infected include Andorra, San Marino and Iceland. On the other hand, countries that have between 40 and 50 percent of infection rate of the population are Seychelles, Cyprus, Israel, Switzerland and Georgia. However, countries with less than 1 percent population infected are Algeria, Gambia, Haiti, Cambodia, China and Tanzania.

In general, the overall cases of Covid-19 cases have declined. Most countries have also relaxed their Covid-19 containment measures such as putting on of face masks, restricting movements and enforcing vaccination. Travelling is also easy across the globe, with fewer requirements on the testing of the virus before travelling.

There has been improvement on the overall health of people, with few people getting exposed to the virus. The number of deaths has also declined significantly. Trade, sports activities and tourism has improved with more people visiting their tourist destination. The virus is currently top of the issues that worry the world leaders based on the latest research. Therefore, the major way of handling the issues is through vaccination to prevent further spread, especially in high risk countries.

The Covid-19 situation in Africa

With the population of more than one billion in Africa, the number of coronavirus across Africa has been found to be small compared to different continents. The World Health Organization estimates that about 8.7 million cases, with 75 percent of the cases experienced in Tunisia, Morocco and South Africa.

Fatalities have been low compared to other continent, with the WHO reporting a 2 percent of the overall cases in the world. The success of curbing the spread and intensity of the virus is not the full story. Most of the Africans are worse off than they were at the start of 2020.

The effect of the virus in Africa has majorly been an impact of secondary and tertiary effects. The current challenge in the continent is getting vaccines to countries that have low income and ascertaining that people get vaccinated.

However, as was the case with Ebola, concerning fears and myths, the lack of trust that several Africans have in their governments is justified on how people perceive initiatives such as vaccine drives. This is quite understandable given the political environments that many different people have grown up in. However, it is a challenge to clear for preventing the spread of the Covid-19 in African continent.

Kenya not in a bad shape

The Covid-19 pandemic has been a defining global health crisis of our time as well as the greatest challenge the world has faced since World War II. Since its outbreak in Asia, the virus has spread in almost all continents. Cases emerged in Asia, Europe, America and Africa.

Kenya has not been exempted from the challenges posed by the virus. Despite the severe case experienced before, the current corona case in Kenya points to a scenario that has been contained. The reported cases of Covid-19 have been low.

The government has also relaxed the containment measures such as wearing masks in public. Putting on of masks in outdoor places is deemed optional. However, an individual is required to put on the masks when in confined or closed spaces like aircraft, offices, markets, churches and supermarkets. All in order meetings have also been given a go ahead and they can continue at full capacity if the participants are fully vaccinated.

The Kenyan government has approved the vaccine in a bid to curb the spread of the virus. The move is aimed at preventing contracting the contagious disease and deaths. The vaccines are available for the Kenyan citizens, with the vaccines such as Moderna, Oxford, Johnson and Johnson and Pfizer available. The Kenyan government has not put travel restrictions. Thus, citizens across the world are permitted to enter as long as they are above the age of 12.

Those entering must show proof of negative PCR test conducted not less than 72 hours before departure.

The overall reported Covid-19 cases in the world has reduced. There are few cases compared to the time of its outbreak in Asia. The number of deaths has also declined significantly, and as such, many economies have opted to relax Covid-19 containment measures.

This is good news because the world economies can trade seamlessly, and other economic activities that spur economic growth have resumed. The reduction in the Covid-19 cases is therefore an achievement for most world economies. If the current state is anything to go by, then soon, normalcy will return and there will be total abolition of measures to curb the virus, including vaccination.

Chris DiazBusiness Leader and Brand Africa TrusteeTwitter: @DiazchrisAfrica

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Diaz: Is the world free from Covid-19 pandemic? - Capital FM Kenya

Latest: UAE mask rules dropped in most public places as authorities relax Covid restrictions

Face masks will no longer be mandatory in many indoor places and quarantine rules will be eased as part of a major overhaul of the UAE's Covid-19 safety measures being brought into force on Wednesday.

People will only be required to wear face coverings in places of worship, hospitals and on public transport - which includes buses, metros and taxis, - the authorities said in a televised briefing on Monday.

The relaxation of Covid-19 protocols comes amid a sharp drop in infection rates in recent months.

But other rules remain in place to help to win the fight against the disease.

Here is The Nationals guide to the latest Covid-19 rules.

Members of the public have been required to wear masks in indoor settings, such as at malls and when entering restaurants and cafes, under safety rules in place since the early stages of the pandemic.

In February, however, authorities lifted the requirement to wear face coverings outside.

Now wearing masks will be optional in most indoor settings.

From Wednesday, schools nationwide will not require children or teachers to wear masks.

Airlines are to decide on whether or not masks are obligatory.

Staff at restaurants and other eateries would still be required to wear masks while working.

Vaccinated people and those with exemptions will be required to have tests once every 30 days to keep Al Hosn app green. It was every 14 days previously.

Those who are unvaccinated must take a PCR test every seven days to maintain green status.

Active green pass status is required to enter many public buildings in the capital, including malls, supermarkets and restaurants.

Al Hosn allows the user to show proof they have taken a coronavirus vaccine, or had a recent test.

People in Abu Dhabi have been required to display proof of their Green status since August 20, 2021, to enter supermarkets, malls and gyms, among other premises.

Covid-19 PCR testing stations inside three Majid Al Futtaim malls in Dubai are now open to public. All photos by Pawan Singh / The National

The UAE will require people who catch Covid-19 to quarantine at home for five days instead of 10 under the relaxed measures confirmed on Monday.

People exposed to infected cases must take a PCR test, while vulnerable groups are asked to undertake a test and monitor their condition for seven days.

People exposed to infected cases must undergo a PCR test. Vulnerable people exposed to an infected person are advised to undergo a lab test and monitor their condition for seven days.

As of March 25, quarantine is not required for those who came in close contact with a positive case of Covid-19. The directive was issued by the National Emergency Crisis and Disasters Management Authority (Ncema).

However, they must undergo a PCR test on day one and seven, or when the contact starts showing symptoms of Covid-19.

Each emirate has the freedom to set its own rules and in Dubai, close contacts of positive cases who are not experiencing any symptoms do not have to take a PCR test.

Abu Dhabi Public Health Centre advises family members of positive cases to avoid contact with the patient and conduct PCR tests when required. All household members are urged to stay at home until the patient returns a negative tests.

From Wednesday, schools nationwide will not require children or teachers to wear masks.

Classrooms emptied and pupils switched to distance learning in the early months of the pandemic.

The UAE has sought to ease safety rules in recent months, including a widespread return to in-person education.

In early April, the Abu Dhabi Department of Education and Knowledge relaxed school-related Covid-19 prevention protocols.

The protocols removed classroom and bubble closure requirements.

As of February, passengers flying to Abu Dhabi and Dubai from all countries do not require a PCR test before flying if fully vaccinated.

Those not vaccinated must present a negative Covid-19 result issued within 48 hours of their flight or a valid medical certificate demonstrating they had recovered from Covid-19 within one month of their arrival.

It is now no longer mandatory to take a PCR test upon arrival in Abu Dhabi International Airport.

The UAE lifted a ban on overseas travel for unvaccinated Emiratis in April.

Citizens must present a negative result from a PCR test taken within 48 hours of travel under the updated Covid-19 safety measures announced on Wednesday.

They must also complete travel forms in Al Hosn app to turn their application status green.

Authorities had prevented unvaccinated citizens from travelling from January 10 as part of efforts to limit the spread of the virus.

If travelling from the UAE, passengers must check the requirements of the country they are travelling to because these change frequently.

When travelling from Dubai with Emirates airline, a PCR test before departure is not needed, unless the destination requires it.

When travelling from Abu Dhabi with Etihad Airways, you need to take a test only if it is required at your final destination.

Updated: September 27, 2022, 8:52 AM

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What are the UAE's latest Covid-19 rules on masks, quarantine and Al Hosn green pass? - The National

A report from StatisticsKorea showed that 5,030 people died from Covid-19 in 2021, which is five times more than the Covid-19 related deaths in 2020.

The Covid-19 death rate per 100,000 people was 9.8, an increase of 7.9 from the previous year's 1.9.

By age, the Covid-19 death rate per 100,000 people was highest among those in their 80s with 124, followed by 70s (36.7), 60s (11.5), and 50s (3.1). Deaths over 60 years old accounted for 92.4 percent of the total fatalities last year.

The report also showed men had a higher mortality rate from Covid-19 than women. The Covid-19 death rate per 100,000 people for men was 10.4, which was higher than the mortality rate for women (9.2).

By month, more than half of the deaths occurred in November and December of last year, with the two months accounting for 2,985 deaths.

Seoul had the highest Covid-19 death rate per 100,000 people at 19.3, followed by Gyeonggi Province (11.5) and South Chungcheong Province (8.4). Compared to 2020, the Covid-19 death rate per 100,000 people increased in all cities except Daegu.

On Tuesday, Korea added 39,425 new Covid-19 infections, including 308 cases from abroad, bringing the total caseload to 24,673,663, according to the Korea Disease Control and Prevention Agency (KDCA).

Tuesday's figure was some 21.5 percent lower than a week ago, and the lowest figure for any Tuesday since July 12.

The nation also reported 26 more Covid-19 deaths, raising the death toll to 28,272. The fatality rate stood at 0.11 percent. The number of critically ill patients came to 401, down 26 from the previous day, the KDCA said.

The government has also started accepting advance reservations for booster vaccinations using an improved bivalent vaccine that can also respond to the Omicron variant from Tuesday.

The improved vaccine is a vaccine developed to respond to both the initial Corona 19 virus and Omicron variant (BA.1). The government plans to use Moderna's bivalent vaccine for the booster shots.

Those aged 60 and over, with weakened immunity, and patients in long-term care hospitals and facilities are given priority in receiving the vaccine.

According to the KDCA, about 44.67 million among 52 million Koreans have been fully vaccinated. In addition, about 33.59 million people had received their first booster shots, and 7.42 million had their second booster shots.

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Over 5,000 people died of Covid-19 in 2021 < Policy < - KBR

Its the news that public health experts expect but dread: virus-hunting researchers have discovered a new coronavirus in bats that could spell trouble for the human population. The virus can infect human cells and is already able to skirt the immune protection from COVID-19 vaccines.

Reporting in the journal PLoS Pathogens, scientists led by Michael Letko, assistant professor in the Paul Allen School of Public Health at Washington State University, found a group of coronaviruses similar to SARS-CoV-2 that were initially discovered living in bats in Russia in 2020. At the time, scientists did not think the virus, called Khosta-2, posed a threat to people.

But when Letkos team did a more careful analysis, they found that the virus could infect human cells in the lab, the first warning sign that it could become a possible public health threat. A related virus also found in the Russian bats, Khosta-1, could not enter human cells readily, but Khosta-2 could. Khosta-2 attaches to the same protein, ACE2, that SARS-CoV-2 uses to penetrate human cells. Receptors on human cells are the way that viruses get into cells, says Letko. If a virus cant get in the door, then it cant get into the cell, and its difficult to establish any type of infection.

Khosta-2 doesnt appear to have that problem, since it seems to infect human cells readily. Even more troubling, when Letko combined serum from people who have been vaccinated against COVID-19 with Khosta-2, the antibodies in the serum did not neutralize the virus. The same thing happened when they combined the Khosta-2 virus with serum from people who had recovered from Omicron infections.

We dont want to scare anybody and say this is a completely vaccine-resistant virus, Letko says. But it is concerning that there are viruses circulating in nature that have these propertiesthey can bind to human receptors and are not so neutralized by current vaccine responses.

The good news is that Letkos studies show that, like the Omicron variant of SARS-CoV-2, Khosta-2 does not seem to have genes that would suggest it could cause serious disease in people. But that could change if Khosta-2 starts circulating more widely and mixing with genes from SARS-CoV-2. One of the things were worried about is that when related coronaviruses get into the same animal, and into the same cells, then they can recombine and out comes a new virus, says Letko. The worry is that SARS-CoV-2 could spill back over to animals infected with something like Khosta-2 and recombine and then infect human cells. They could be resistant to vaccine-immunity and also have some more virulent factors. What the chances of that are, who knows. But it could in theory happen during a recombination event.

Its a sobering reminder that pathogens are ready and waiting to jump from any number of animal species into humans. And in many cases, as with SARS-CoV-2, these microbes will be new to people and therefore encounter little resistance in the form of immunity against them. These viruses are really widespread everywhere, and are going to continue to be an issue for humans in general, says Letko.

The findings come as the World Health Organizations (WHO) ACTAccelerators Council Tracking and Accelerating Progressworking group report that continued response to the COVID-19 pandemic, in the form of testing, vaccinations, and treatments, is stalling. With lower global immunity to the current SARS-CoV-2 virus, combating any new pathogens, including new coronaviruses like Khosta-2, would become more difficult. According to the latest data collected by the WHO, a quarter of people around the world still have not received a primary series of COVID-19 vaccination.

Ultimately, having deeper dossiers on the microbial world, especially information on how well certain viruses can infect human cells, for example, will be important to making the response to public health threats more efficient and more powerful. Letko is working on building a database that includes information on which human receptors viruses use to infect cells, and whether or not those viruses can evade existing vaccines. That way, he says, when new microbes are discovered that are similar to those in the database, researchers could have a head start on understanding how to control them. At some point in the future, as these outbreaks continue, we wont have to scramble whenever a new virus spills over into people, he says. We could plug the virus into the database, and understand that it probably uses these receptors to get into human cells, and might be resistant to these types of vaccines or treatments. Its a 10- to 20-year goal, but its possible. Its not just a pipe dream.

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Scientists Find a New Coronavirus in Bats That Is Resistant to Current Vaccines - TIME