Category: Corona Virus Vaccine

SINGAPORE The number of people hospitalised for Covid-19 has increased to about 280 over the past week, said Minister for Health Ong Ye Kung, as he reiterated his call for the vulnerable to get an additional shot of the vaccine.

To make it more convenient for vulnerable seniors to get their vaccinations, mobile Covid-19 vaccination teams will be deployed at selected heartland locations across the island from now until June 28.

The number of Covid-19 hospitalisations has been increasing in recent weeks, with around 250 such cases for the week of May 5 to May 11, up from 181 the week before that.

Speaking at the Kaki Bukit Health Fiesta on May 25, Mr Ong urged residents, especially seniors, to protect themselves by wearing masks or getting an additional dose of the Covid-19 vaccine.

Get your vaccination about once a year, especially if youre older, he said at the event held at Kaki Bukit Community Centre.

This comes amid a wave of Covid-19 infections driven by the KP.1 and KP.2 sub-variants, which account for more than two-thirds of Covid-19 cases here.

As of May 3, the World Health Organisation has classified KP.2 as a variant under monitoring.

The Ministry of Health(MOH), however, has noted there is currently no indication, either globally or locally, that KP.1 and KP.2 are more transmissible or cause more severe disease than other circulating variants.

The ministry said on May 18 that the estimated number of Covid-19 cases for the week of May 5 to May 11 was 25,900, almost double the 13,700 cases for the previous week.

Mr Ong said then that the current wave was expected to peak by the end of June.

Responding to queries from The Straits Times, MOH said about 5,700 people received a dose of the updated Covid-19 vaccine between May 20 and May 23, about half of whom were aged 60 and above.

While this is over 3.5 times the number of people who received a dose of the updated Covid-19 vaccine in the period from May 13 to 16, 2024, most vulnerable Singaporeans are no longer up to date for their Covid-19 vaccinations, said an MOH spokesman.

With each new wave, there is a higher risk of them falling severely ill if infected, he added.

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Covid-19 hospitalisations rise to 280 over past week, seniors urged to get another vaccine shot - The Straits Times

View of vials on a production line at the factory of British multinational pharmaceutical company GlaxoSmithKline (GSK) in Saint-Amand-les-Eaux, northern France, on December 3, 2020, where the adjuvant for Covid-19 vaccines will be manufactured. Francois Lo Presti/AFP via Getty Images hide caption

The two-year effort to produce a global pandemic treaty did not meet its deadline.

On Friday, Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus, director general of the World Health Organization, announced that the negotiators from the groups 194 member nations couldnt find consensus in time for the World Health Assembly that starts next week.

The goal had been to draw up a document that could be adopted at the meeting and then sent to countries for ratification. But the sticking points including the willingness of richer countries to share vaccines and treatments with less well-off countries in the Global South could not be resolved in time.

Nonetheless, Tedros holds out hope.

The world still needs a pandemic treaty. Many of the challenges that caused the serious impact during COVID-19 still exist, said Tedros. So let's continue to try everything.

Experts in global health expect that WHO will grant another six to 12 months for negotiators to complete their work and resolve the sticking points.

It was a huge disappointment, says Lawrence Gostin, a professor of global health law at Georgetown University, after learning about the delay. But there is a strong appetite to carry on.

In the U.S., lawmakers on both sides of the aisle have sought to ensure that any agreement would not infringe on a pharmaceutical companys proprietary information or stifle investment in drug development. A number of Republican governors have also raised concerns about whether the pandemic treaty could grant the WHO too much authority in a public health emergency.

Roland Driece, a top official in the negotiations, says that such concerns reflect disinformation about the treaty that has been circulating. He says that false claims include that WHO would have the ability to require lockdowns and mandate vaccinations.

The idea of a treaty was born at the height of the COVID pandemic when glaring gaps in the worlds collaboration and coordination became apparent and many lives were lost as a result. By one count, more than a million people died because dozens of poor countries had next to no vaccines while some wealthier nations were giving out boosters.

It was a very desperate situation, says Hadley Sultani Matendechero, deputy director general for health in Kenya. [Vaccines] in our minds were the only antidote to this catastrophe, but we were not able to access them.

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The global pandemic treaty didn't meet its deadline : Goats and Soda - NPR

More Resources:Respiratory Virus Information|CDC's COVID Data Tracker

RespiratoryVirus Dashboard

Welcome to the CDPH Respiratory Virus Dashboard.

Here, you'll find weekly updates on deaths and test positivity for both influenza and COVID-19 in California. This dashboard focuses on state-level data to give a clear overview of respiratory virus trends.

Due to changes in reporting requirements for hospitals, CDPH is no longer including hospitalization data on the CDPH dashboard. CDPH remains committed to monitoring the severe outcomes of COVID-19 and influenza, including the impact on hospitals. CDC's National Healthcare Safety Network (NHSN) will remain open to accept data, and CDC and CDPH strongly encourage all facilities to continue reporting.

Tracking Respiratory Viruses in California

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Welcome to the CDPH Respiratory Virus Dashboard. - CDPH

The latest edition of the World Health Statistics released today by the World Health Organization (WHO) reveals that the COVID-19 pandemic reversed the trend of steady gain in life expectancy at birth and healthy life expectancy at birth (HALE).

The pandemic wiped out nearly a decade of progress in improving life expectancy within just two years. Between 2019 and 2021, global life expectancy dropped by 1.8 years to 71.4 years (back to the level of 2012). Similarly, global healthy life expectancy dropped by 1.5 years to 61.9 years in 2021 (back to the level of 2012).

The 2024 report also highlights how the effects have been felt unequally across the world. The WHO regions for the Americas and South-East Asia were hit hardest, with life expectancy dropping by approximately 3 years and healthy life expectancy by 2.5 years between 2019 and 2021. In contrast, the Western Pacific Region was minimally affected during the first two years of the pandemic, with losses of less than 0.1 years in life expectancy and 0.2 years in healthy life expectancy.

There continues to be major progress in global health, with billions of people who are enjoying better health, better access to services, and better protection from health emergencies, said Dr Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus, WHO Director-General. But we must remember how fragile progress can be. In just two years, the COVID-19 pandemic erased a decade of gains in life expectancy. That's why the new Pandemic Agreement is so important: not only to strengthen global health security, but to protect long-term investments in health and promote equity within and between countries.

COVID-19 rapidly emerged as a leading cause of death, ranking as the third highest cause of mortality globally in 2020 and the second in 2021. Nearly 13 million lives were lost during this period. The latest estimates reveal that except in the African and Western Pacific regions, COVID-19 was among the top five causes of deaths, notably becoming the leading cause of death in the Americas for both years.

The WHO report also highlights that noncommunicable diseases (NCDs) such as ischemic heart disease and stroke, cancers, chronic obstructive pulmonary disease, Alzheimer's disease and other dementias, and diabetes were the biggest killers before the pandemic, responsible for 74% of all deaths in 2019. Even during the pandemic, NCDs continued to account for 78% of non-COVID deaths.

The world faces a massive and complex problem of a double burden of malnutrition, where undernutrition coexists with overweight and obesity. In 2022, over one billion people aged five years and older were living with obesity, while more than half a billion were underweight. Malnutrition in children was also striking, with 148 million children under five years old affected by stunting (too short for age), 45 million suffering from wasting (too thin for height), and 37 million overweight.

The report further highlights the significant health challenges faced by persons with disabilities, refugees and migrants. In 2021, about 1.3 billion people, or 16% of the global population, had disability. This group is disproportionately affected by health inequities resulting from avoidable, unjust and unfair conditions.

Access to healthcare for refugees and migrants remains limited, with only half of the 84 countries surveyed between 2018 and 2021 providing government-funded health services to these groups at levels comparable to their citizens. This highlights the urgent need for health systems to adapt and address the persisting inequities and changing demographic needs of global populations.

Despite setbacks caused by the pandemic, the world has made some progress towards achieving the Triple Billion targets and health-related indicators of the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs).

Since 2018, an additional 1.5 billion people achieved better health and well-being. Despite gains, rising obesity, high tobacco use and persistent air pollution hinder progress.

Universal Health Coverage expanded to 585 million more people, falling short of the goal for one billion. Additionally, only 777 million more people are likely to be adequately protected during health emergencies by 2025, falling short of the one billion target set in WHOs 13th General Programme of Work. This protection is increasingly important as the effects of climate change and other global crises increasingly threaten health security.

While we have made progress towards the Triple Billion targets since 2018, a lot still needs to be done. Data is WHOs superpower. We need to use it better to deliver more impact in countries, said Dr Samira Asma, WHO Assistant Director-General for Data, Analytics and Delivery for Impact. Without accelerating progress, it is unlikely that any of the health SDGs will be met by 2030.

The World Health Statistics report is WHOs annual compilation of the most recent available data on health and health-related indicators. For inquiries, contacthealthstat@who.int

Continued here:

COVID-19 eliminated a decade of progress in global level of life expectancy - World Health Organization (WHO)

image:

Colorized scanning electron micrograph of an apoptotic cell (green) heavily infected with SARS-COV-2 virus particles (yellow), isolated from a patient sample. (Image credit: NIAID)

Credit: National Institutes of Health National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases

LA JOLLA, CANew research from scientists at La Jolla Institute for Immunology (LJI) suggests people who received COVID-19 vaccines and then experienced "breakthrough" infections are especially well armed against future SARS-CoV-2 infections.

By analyzing blood samples from study volunteers, the LJI researchers discovered that people who experienced symptomatic breakthrough infections develop T cells that are better at recognizing and targeting SARS-CoV-2, including the Omicron and Delta variants. The researchers describe this increased protection as an "immunity wall."

"The virus evolves, but, importantly, so does the immune system. T cells do not sit idle. Instead, they learn to recognize the parts of the virus that mutate," says LJI Professor Alessandro Sette, Dr.Biol.Sci., who co-led the Cell Reports Medicine study with LJI Professor Shane Crotty, Ph.D., and LJI Research Assistant Professor Alba Grifoni, Ph.D.

Key findings:

T cells gain fighting power

Many studies have shown that vaccination against SARS-CoV-2, the virus that causes COVID-19, provides people with significant immune protection against severe disease. Several LJI-led studies have shown that this immune protection is long-lasting and can even help protect the body from new viral "variants of concern."

For the new study, LJI scientists investigated exactly how breakthrough infections affect T cells and B cells. The researchers followed a large group of study volunteers who had been vaccinated against SARS-CoV-2, the virus that causes COVID-19. Over time, many of these volunteers experienced breakthrough infections. The LJI scientists followed up with these volunteers to collect new blood samples post infection.

"With this study volunteer cohort, we were in a unique position to see how the immune system looked before and after a breakthrough infection," says Grifoni.

Study co-first author and LJI Postdoctoral Researcher Alison Tarke, Ph.D., spearheaded research showing that breakthrough infections prompted T cells to expand their "repertoires." That meant the cells could recognize multiple features, or antigens, on SARS-CoV-2.

These T cells appeared to develop their broad repertoires due to a combination of vaccination and breakthrough infection. COVID-19 vaccines taught the T cells to recognize a key part of SARS-CoV-2 called the "Spike" protein. Meanwhile, SARS-CoV-2 infection prompted T cells to recognize Spike, as well as several other viral proteins.

Breakthrough infection had left these study volunteers with T cells that could recognize and target SARS-CoV-2, even if part of it was mutated.

More layers of protection

Breakthrough Omicron and Delta variant infections also prompted B cells to produce more diverse antibodies. These antibodies could target epitopes that the vaccine and the infecting SARS-CoV-2 variant had in common.

In fact, most of these new antibodies were good at attacking epitopes that the vaccine and the variants had in common. "New B cell responses that are only specific to the infecting variant, but not the vaccine, are very rare," says study co-first author and LJI Instructor Parham Ramezani-Rad, Ph.D.

The researchers uncovered another interesting trend in people with breakthrough infections. COVID-19 vaccines tend to be given in the upper arm, which means anti-SARS-CoV-2 immune cells develop far away from the upper respiratory system. SARS-CoV-2 tends to infect the upper respiratory tract first, which means there can be a delay getting the right immune cells to the scene of infection. "A breakthrough infection has the potential of adding a layer of protection on top of a vaccine," says Grifoni.

What about asymptomatic infections?

As they worked, the scientists also found markers of previous SARS-CoV-2 infection in about 30 percent of study volunteers who had never shown COVID-19 symptoms. These volunteers appeared to have contracted asymptomatic cases of COVID-19 at some point earlier in the pandemic.

"Our study suggests most people who never thought they got a breakthrough infection actually did," says Grifoni. "The majority of the population appears to be affected by a combination of vaccination and one or more breakthrough infections."

No evidence of T cell exhaustion

The new study also addresses concerns that repeated infection or COVID-19 vaccine might lead to a phenomenon called T cell exhaustion, where T cells lose their ability to target a pathogen.

The researchers discovered that breakthrough infections prompted T cells to produce more types of cytokines, signaling molecules that help fight infection. Before a breakthrough infection, T cells might produce one or two types of cytokines, Grifoni explains.

"After the breakthrough infection, the same cells produce multiple types of cytokines, making them more efficacious," says Grifoni. "Not only are our T cells not exhausted, but they are actually improving their capabilities."

The "immunity wall" does seem to have limits. Following an asymptomatic breakthrough infection, T cell abilities appeared to plateau in response to a subsequent symptomatic infection. B cells continued to produce neutralizing antibodies following subsequent breakthrough infections, but the researchers didn't see the same big "boost" to neutralizing antibody levels.

So should people continue to get SARS-CoV-2 booster vaccines? The LJI scientists point out that SARS-CoV-2 continues to evolve, and COVID-19 can still cause serious illness in immunocompromised people. Their advice is to follow all current CDC guidelines on who should receive booster vaccines.

Discovery may guide vaccine efforts

This research is also an important step toward the development of new vaccines against future SARS-CoV-2 variants and many other viruses with pandemic potential.

Ramezani-Rad says the study helps answer important questions about how breakthrough infections alter antibody responses. Going forward, he is curious how future SARS-CoV-2 variantsor new vaccine designsmight further tweak the immune system.

"Studies of local B cell responses in the upper airwaywhere the infection occurswill also be informative on how B cells responses are induced, particularly after breakthrough infection," says Ramezani-Rad.

Sette and Grifoni are focused on how to train T cells to recognize many types of coronaviruses at once. Their research is critical for developing a "pan-coronavirus" vaccine.

In a 2023 study, their laboratories worked with scientists at the University of Genoa to show that some T cells can recognize multiple coronaviruses at once. This new study shows them how breakthrough infections can shape T cell responses to fight novel SARS-CoV-2 variants.

"We're very interested to see if this phenomenon could be exploited in general to prepare against other potential pandemic threats," says Sette. "This is a step in a journey to help us protect against viral infections and potential pandemics."

Additional authors of the study, "SARS-CoV-2 breakthrough infections enhance T cell response magnitude, breadth, and epitope repertoire," include Tertuliano Alves Pereira Neto, Yeji Lee, Vanessa Silva-Moraes, Benjamin Goodwin, Nathaniel Bloom, Leila Siddiqui, Liliana Avalos, April Frazier, Zeli Zhang, Ricardo da Silva Antunes, and Jennifer Dan.

This study was supported by the National Institutes of Health (NIH; T32AI125179), the NIH National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases (75N93021C00016, 75N9301900065, and AI142742.)

DOI: 10.1016/j.xcrm.2024.101583

About La Jolla Institute

The La Jolla Institute for Immunology is dedicated to understanding the intricacies and power of the immune system so that we may apply that knowledge to promote human health and prevent a wide range of diseases. Since its founding in 1988 as an independent, nonprofit research organization, the Institute has made numerous advances leading toward its goal: life without disease. Visit lji.org for more information.

Cell Reports Medicine

Experimental study

Cells

SARS-CoV-2 breakthrough infections enhance T cell response magnitude, breadth and epitope repertoire

22-May-2024

A.S., B.P. and M.N. are inventors of certain technologies discussed herein and receive a share of applicable licensing revenues in accordance with the policies of their home institutions.

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How COVID-19 'breakthrough' infections alter your immune cells - EurekAlert

A Centers for Disease Control and Prevention program that provides uninsured adults access to free COVID-19 vaccines is set to expire.

The CDC said its Bridge Access Program will end in August.

The program also offers free vaccines to those with insurance plans that do not fully cover the cost of the shots.

While many health insurance, Medicare and Medicaid plans cover COVID-19 vaccines, there are still 25 million to 30 million adults either without insurance or whose insurance only provides partial coverage.

The program expanded access for millions to get their shots at no cost. Those eligible must be living in the U.S. and be 18 or older.

Officials with the Biden administration are seeking a permanent solution to free COVID-19 shots for those without access through the Vaccines for Adults program proposed in the fiscal year 2023 and 2024 presidential budgets.

People looking to see if their COVID-19 shots are covered by insurance should contact their health insurance provider or search their coverage plan on their providers website.

Scripps News has reached out to the CDC for more information.

See the rest here:

CDC program that provides free COVID vaccines for the uninsured ending in August - KBZK News

Figure1a shows that heat-related mortality (red lines, with red shading indicating its 95% confidence interval) in England and Wales primarily occurred between July and September during the study period of 30 January 2020 to 31 December 2022. A total of 8481 excess deaths (95% confidence interval: 638710,493) were attributable to high temperatures, with daily heat-related mortality peaking at 580 deaths (95% confidence interval: 484670) on 19 July 2022, when England recorded 40.3C unprecedented extreme heat. Figure1b zooms in on the time evolution of mortality during this heatwave for greater legibility. Although the UK Met Office and UK Health Security Agency (UKHSA) have issued Level 2 (yellow) and Level 3 (amber) Heat Health Alerts for all regions except North East England since 11 July 2021 to warn the public about this heatwave, which they subsequently raised to the highest Level 4 (red) alert for all regions on 18 July 2021 to trigger a national emergency response5, peak heat-related mortality during this heatwave exceeded the maximum daily level from the previous ten years (i.e., 2010-2019; red error bar in Fig.1a), which was 376 deaths (95% confidence interval: 304445).

In both panels, red lines indicate the best estimate of heat-related deaths, with red shading indicating its 95% confidence interval. Blue lines indicate the best estimate of cold-related deaths, with blue shading indicating its 95% confidence interval. All temperature-related deaths here represent the sum of regional deaths estimated from individual temperature-mortality associations for ten regions in England and Wales (see Methods). Purple lines indicate COVID-19 deaths as shown on death certificates. Black lines indicate the total number of deaths from all causes. In panel (a) dotted vertical lines indicate the time of emergence of dominant COVID-19 variants in the UK during the study period of 30 January 2020 to 31 December 2022. The solid vertical line indicates the time around which 50% of the population aged 12 or above have received two doses of COVID-19 vaccines in regions within England and Wales. The error bars in panel a indicate the range of heat-related, cold-related, and all-cause deaths in the period 1 January 2010 to 31 December 2019, with the centre points indicating the mean values. In panel (b), which zooms in on the July 2022 UK heatwave, the red arrow indicates the date on which 40.3C was recorded.

In months other than July, August and September, cold-related mortality (blue lines, with blue shading indicating its 95% confidence interval) dominated over heat-related mortality. Over the study period, a total of 128,533 excess deaths (95% confidence interval: 107,430153,642) were attributable to low temperatures, indicating a fifteen-fold larger cold-than-heat mortality burden. These results are consistent with the literature, which found that most days of the year are considered moderately cold in England and Wales, resulting in a large number of cold-related deaths24. Daily cold-related mortality peaked at 531 excess deaths (95% confidence interval: 493574) on 15 December 2022, but this falls within the range from the previous ten years (maximum: 691 deaths, 95% confidence interval: 643743).

These temperature-related deaths are theoretically independent of COVID-19 deaths because they are calculated from distributed lag nonlinear models (DLNMs) that describe the relationships between daily mean temperature and daily all-cause mortality after COVID-19 mortality has been removed (see Methods). For comparison, Fig.1 also shows the time evolution of daily COVID-19 mortality according to death certificates (purple lines). Distinct surges in COVID-19 deaths were seen soon after the first emergence of COVID-19 in early 2020 and the domination of the Alpha variant in December 2020 (dotted vertical line in Fig.1a)25, with the highest daily mortality level being 1382 deaths on 19 January 2021. The emergence of the Delta and Omicron variants was not followed by as large a surge in deaths, likely because COVID-19 vaccination had become more common by then (see FigureS1), with about half of the population above the age of 12 having had two doses of COVID-19 vaccines by 1 July 2021 (solid vertical line in Fig.1a), in all regions in England and Wales except London (see TableS1). Over the whole study period, 194,480 COVID-19 deaths were reported on death certificates in England and Wales.

Figure1a shows that from June to October 2020, March to August 2021, and from September 2021 to the end of 2022, temperature-related deaths (the sum of heat- and cold-related deaths) exceeded COVID-19 deaths. These exceedances were driven by heat-related mortality spikes when COVID-19 mortality was relatively low, e.g., during the July 2022 heatwave (Fig.1b), as well as cold-related mortality dominating in the colder months after COVID-19 vaccination was introduced. To further examine the respective mortality impacts of non-optimal temperatures and COVID-19, Fig.2 shows the ratios of cumulative deaths from these two causes for each region in England and Wales, across the whole study period (panel a), and during heatwaves and cold snaps therein (panels b and c).

Panel a shows regional ratios for the whole study period, i.e., 30 January 2020 to 31 December 2022. Panel b shows regional ratios on 70 heatwave days (in a total of 10 heatwaves) during the study period. Heatwaves are defined following the UKHSA definition. Panel c shows regional ratios on 70 cold snap days (in a total of 8 cold snaps) during the study period. Cold snaps are defined as days on which a Level 3 Cold Health Alert was issued for any region in England.

Considering the whole study period of 30 January 2020 to 31 December 2022, cumulative temperature-related deaths exceeded cumulative COVID-19 deaths by 8% in South West England. While this exceedance did not occur in the other regions, temperature-related deaths amounted to 58% (East Midlands) to 75% (London) of COVID-19 deaths by the end of 2022. These results demonstrate the importance of increasing public health messaging about heat and cold, which tends to be far less prevalent than the messaging about COVID-19. Reducing temperature-related mortality would free up resources and capacity for health services to respond to major pandemics when they occur.

Since extreme weather events are where we would expect the health effects to be largest, focusing on them provides important information on their interplay with other parallel health crises, including their compound health effects. Figure2b shows that during the ten heatwave episodes (spanning a total of 70 days; see TableS2) in the study period, identified through UKHSAs Heat Mortality Monitoring Reports5,26,27, temperature-related deaths outnumbered COVID-19 deaths in 9 of the 10 regions (except in North West England). This exceedance is particularly apparent in the southern regions where heat stress is more pronounced28. The ratios of temperature-related deaths to COVID-19 deaths in the southern regions range from 1.7 in East of England and South East England to 2.7 in London. The ratios for the rest of the regions lie between 1.1 and 1.3, except for North West England which has a ratio of 0.8. These results highlight that even during the COVID-19 pandemic, heatwaves posed a serious threat to public health, which is often downplayed29 or misrepresented as something enjoyable by the media in the UK30.

Figure2c shows the corresponding results during eight cold snaps in the study period, which are defined here as days on which a Level 3 Cold Health Alert was issued by UKHSA for any region in England (also spanning 70 days; see TableS2). A Level 3 (amber) Cold Health Alert represents a situation in which impacts are likely to be felt across the health and social care sectors, and potentially the whole population31. During these cold snaps, temperature-related deaths were lower than COVID-19 deaths in all regions, with the ratios ranging from 0.4 in East of England to 0.8 in South West England. These results are likely to be driven by the large surges in COVID-19 mortality following the first emergence of the coronavirus and the domination of the Alpha variant, both of which occurred in winter (Fig.1a and S1). In this sense, our results should not be interpreted as low temperatures being less important than COVID-19 to health in winter, as we have already shown that cold-related mortality occurs throughout the year and dominated over COVID-19 in the second half of the study period (Fig.1a). Future outbreaks of COVID-19 or novel viruses could have a different seasonal pattern from the COVID-19 pandemic studied here. Therefore, they could have different health impacts relative to extreme cold in winter.

The co-occurrence of non-optimal temperatures and COVID-19 meant that all-cause mortality in England and Wales was, on average, higher in the study period than in the previous ten years (black line and bar in Fig.1a). During extreme events, the health system needed to deal with an unprecedented compound health impact from both extreme weather and COVID-19. Figure3a shows the total number of deaths arising from high temperatures and COVID-19 during the 70 heatwaves days in the study period. Regional compound (heat-related and COVID-19) mortality ranged from 19 deaths per 100,000 people (95% confidence interval: 1622) in North West England, to 24 deaths per 100,000 people (95% confidence interval: 2029) in Wales.

Panels (a) and (b) show regional sums of temperature-related and COVID-19 deaths on 70 heatwave days (in a total of 10 heatwaves; panel (a)) and 70 cold snap days (in a total of 8 cold snaps; panel (b)), during the study period of 30 January 2020 to 31 December 2022. Panels (c) and (d) show regional numbers of temperature-related deaths on the same number of heatwaves (panel (c)) and cold snap days (panel (d)) but from the period 20102019. The numbers in panels c and d are estimated from the average number of temperature-related deaths per heatwave or cold snap day in the period 20102019, multiplied by 70 days. Panels (e) and (f) show regional ratios of deaths during the study period to the 20102019 period for heatwaves (panel (e)) and cold snaps (panel (f)).

These compound mortality levels are put into context by comparing Fig.3a with Fig.3c, which shows the reference levels of heat-related mortality from 70 heatwave days, calculated from the average of all identified heatwaves in the ten years that preceded COVID-19 (i.e., 20102019; see Methods). Substantially fewer heat-related deaths occurred during 70 heatwave days in 20102019, with the regional number ranging from 6 deaths per 100,000 people (95% confidence interval: 38) in North West England, to 14 deaths per 100,000 people (95% confidence interval: 1215) in London. In other words, demand for regional health services was 1.6 (London) to 3.2-fold (North West England) when extreme heat coincided with COVID-19 in the study period, compared to the previous decade (Fig.3e).

During the 70 cold snap days in the study period (30 January 2020 to 31 December 2022), regional compound (cold-related and COVID-19) mortality ranged from 80 per 100,000 people (95% confidence interval: 7586) in Yorkshire and the Humber, to 127 deaths per 100,000 people (95% confidence interval: 123132) in East of England (Fig.3b), highlighting the higher absolute demand on the health system during cold snaps than heatwaves in the study period. These compound mortality numbers are substantially higher than the reference numbers of cold-related deaths from the same number of cold snap days in 20102019 (Fig.3d), which ranged from 35 deaths per 100,000 people (95% confidence interval: 3238) in London, to 48 deaths per 100,000 people (95% confidence interval: 4355) in Wales. This means that depending on the region, demand for health services was 2 (South West England) to 3.4-fold (East of England) when extreme cold co-occurred with COVID-19, compared to extreme cold in the previous decade (Fig.3f).

By adding temperature-related deaths (with COVID-19 deaths removed before calculation) and COVID-19 deaths together to estimate the compound mortality impact, we have assumed that they are independent of each other. Figure4 shows the average number of temperature-related deaths per 100,000 population per day of individual heatwaves (panel a) and cold snaps (panel b) in all regions in 2016-2019 (non-COVID-19 years; grey markers) and 20202022 (COVID-19 years; coloured markers), versus the average temperatures of these events. While heat-related mortality generally increased with the average heatwave temperature for all events, and cold-related mortality generally decreased when cold snaps were milder, the extreme temperature events that co-occurred with COVID-19 have different distributions (black solid ellipse contour) from the events that occurred without COVID-19 co-occurrence (grey dashed ellipse contour). For heatwaves (Fig.4a), mean temperature and heat-related mortality shifted higher in the COVID-19 years, compared to events that were not affected by COVID-19. For cold snaps (Fig.4b), the variances in temperature and cold-related mortality were larger in events in the COVID-19 years than in non-COVID-19 years. Two-sample KolmogorovSmirnov tests confirm that the COVID-19 event distributions are significantly different from the non-COVID-19 distributions at the 5% significance level. These results suggest that COVID-19 may have impacted temperature-related mortality during extreme weather events.

The markers indicate the regions. In panel (a), grey markers indicate heatwaves in 20162019, whereas coloured markers indicate heatwaves in COVID-19 affected years: 2020 (pink), 2021 (red) and 2022 (dark red). In panel (b), grey markers indicate cold snaps in 20162019, whereas coloured markers indicate cold snaps in COVID-19-affected years: 2020 (light blue), 2021 (blue) and 2022 (dark blue). In both panels, the grey dashed ellipses indicate the two standard deviation confidence of the covariance of mortality and temperature of all heatwaves or cold snaps in the non-COVID-19 period of 2016-2019. The black solid ellipses indicate the same but for the COVID-19 period of 20202022.

On the other hand, extreme heat may have exacerbated COVID-19 mortality in England and Wales too. This is evident on the hottest day ever recorded in the UK (19 July 2022), when 91 more daily COVID-19 deaths occurred, compared to the average on days between 10 July and 25 July 2022 (Fig.1b). Separating the factors contributing to winter deaths is also challenging because low temperatures tend to be linked to influenza-like illnesses and respiratory diseases. Modelling COVID-19 mortality is not within the scope of this study, but our results highlight the complex interplay between extreme temperatures and the COVID-19 pandemic, as well as its implications on population health and health services capacity.

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Compound mortality impacts from extreme temperatures and the COVID-19 pandemic - Nature.com

According to the UN agency, between 2019 and 2021 the early years of the global health emergency - life expectancy around the world dropped by 1.8 years to 71.4 years, which is the 2012 level.

Responding to the findings, WHO Director-General Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus highlighted the fragility of global health advances when confronted with unprecedented emergencies like the pandemic,which caused more than seven million confirmed deaths.

In just two years, the COVID-19 pandemic erased a decade of gains in life expectancy, Tedros said. That's why the new Pandemic Agreement is so important: not only to strengthen global health security, but to protect long-term investments in health and promote equity within and between countries.

Regionally, the Americas and South-East Asia felt the biggest impact of the coronavirus, with life expectancy dropping by around three years.

In contrast, Western Pacific countries were minimally affected during the first two years of the pandemic, with only small losses in life expectancy and healthy life expectancy.

The WHOs World Health Statistics 2024 report confirmed that COVID-19 was the third highest cause of death globally in 2020 and the second highest a year later.

The coronavirus was also the leading cause of mortality in the Americas for 2020 and 2021.

Staff of Elmhurst Hospital in Queens, arrives with a new patient during the COVID-19 outbreak in New York. (file)

Before the pandemic, noncommunicable diseases remained the top killer, the UN health agency said, accounting for 74 per cent of all deaths in 2019.

During the pandemic, chronic conditions such as heart disease and stroke, cancer and dementia were behind 78 per cent of non-COVID deaths.

Other major causes of lives being cut short are malnutrition, undernutrition, overweight and obesity. In 2022, over one billion people aged five years and older lived with obesity, while more than half a billion were underweight.

Malnutrition in children was also striking, the WHO report said, with 148 million children under five years old affected by stunting - too short for age - 45 million suffering from wasting - too thin for height - and 37 million overweight.

The WHOs World Health Statistics report also highlighted the challenges faced by people with disabilities, refugees and migrants.

In 2021, about 1.3 billion people, or 16 per cent of the global population, had a disability. This group is disproportionately affected by health inequities resulting from avoidable, unjust and unfair conditions, the UN health agency insisted.

A COVID-19 testing site in South Korea.

Similar medical aid access problems exist for refugees and migrants, the WHO noted, after finding that only half of the dozens of countries surveyed between 2018 and 2021 provided publicly funded healthcare to them at the same level as other citizens. This highlights the urgent need for health systems to adapt and address the persisting inequities and changing demographic needs of global populations, WHO said.

Despite the multiple setbacks to public health caused by COVID-19, the UN health agency insisted that progress has been made towards achieving better health for all, in line with the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs). These include the fact that since 2018, an additional 1.5 billion people achieved better health and wellbeing globally, and 585 million more people today have access to universal health coverage.

In a bid to head off a future pandemic, the WHO is leading highly complex discussions with UN Member States to draft and negotiate a convention to agree on the collective steps that will be needed from governments around the world.

The aim is to present the outcome of these negotiations at the nextWorld Health Assembly meeting in Geneva next week, where the WHOs 194 Member States are scheduled to adopt the international accord.

Participation in the agreement by countries would be voluntary contrary to online disinformation campaigns falsely alleging that the accord would mean surrendering sovereignty - and in the interests of the citizens of those countries and others, offering more effective pandemic preparedness and response.

According toWHO, negotiations on a future agreement revolve around the need to ensure equitable access to the tools needed to prevent pandemics vaccines, protective equipment, information and expertise and universal access to healthcare for everyone.

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COVID-19 eliminated a decade of progress in global level of life expectancy - UN News

As summer approaches, many people with spring allergies are still suffering. And as new Covid variants circulate, experts say we may also soon see an uptick in cases. (Though wastewater data suggests that Covid cases are currently fairly low.)

It can be tricky to distinguish between seasonal allergy symptoms, early signs of the coronavirus or just a run-of-the-mill cold.

The clearest way to get an answer is to take a Covid test. But at-home rapid tests have become more difficult to get a hold of since the public health emergency expired. Here are other tips to help you identify the source of your suffering.

Some people with Covid can experience the worst symptoms during, say, their third infection compared to their first two. But in most cases, the more immunity someone has built up through repeat infections, vaccinations or a combination of the two the milder Covid symptoms tend to be.

In most people, its the sneezy, stuffy nose its like my allergies, for sure, said Dr. Davey Smith, an infectious disease specialist at the University of California, San Diego.

People with allergies rarely develop high fevers; if you are running a temperature above 100.4 degrees its more likely to be Covid or another viral infection, said Dr. Purvi Parikh, an allergist and immunologist at NYU Langone Health.

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Allergies, Covid or a Cold? Heres How to Tell the Difference. - The New York Times

Your immune system has a memory, which can be both a good and bad thing.

When it comes to COVID-19 boosters, scientists at Washington University recently discovered that the body isnt just "remembering" its previous vaccines it uses that memory to fight viruses it hasn't met yet.

On this episode of St. Louis on the Air, Dr. Michael Diamond, lead author of a new study in the journal Nature, discussed the workings of vaccine imprinting and what his labs research can tell us about the future of COVID-19 vaccines and boosters.

Among other findings, that research adds to evidence that boosters not only protect people from the variants existing at the time, but also ones that we anticipate in the future, that might come with a new pandemic virus if it ever occurred, said Diamond.

Listen to St. Louis on the Air on Apple Podcasts, Spotify or YouTube.

St. Louis on the Air brings you the stories of St. Louis and the people who live, work and create in our region. The show is produced by Miya Norfleet, Emily Woodbury, Danny Wicentowski, Elaine Cha and Alex Heuer. Roshae Hemmings is our production assistant. The audio engineer is Aaron Doerr. Send questions and comments about this story to talk@stlpr.org.

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Wash U researchers find COVID-19 boosters add protection from future viruses - STLPR