Category: Covid-19 Vaccine

The West Virginia Department of Health and Human Resources (DHHR) reports as of April 5, 2022, there are currently 263 active COVID-19 cases statewide. There have been seven deaths reported since the last report, with a total of 6,716* deaths attributed to COVID-19.

DHHR has confirmed the deaths of a 77-year old female from Summers County, a 65-year old male from Kanawha County, a 78-year old male from Berkeley County, a 100-year old male from Grant County, a 91-year old female from Marion County, a 74-year old male from Kanawha County, and a 75-year old male from Mercer County.

We offer our deepest condolences as our state grieves more losses due to COVID-19, said Bill J. Crouch, DHHR Cabinet Secretary. Scheduling a COVID-19 vaccine and booster shot is the most powerful way to prevent further loss of life to this devastating disease.

*As part of ongoing efforts to improve data quality while maintaining timely reporting of COVID-19 associated deaths, a reverse death reconciliation process has been completed for calendar year 2021 by the epidemiologists at DHHRs Bureau for Public Health. This process looks at all the death reports received by DHHR to ensure the death was certified by the National Center for Health Statistics as a COVID-19 death on the death certificate. Of the 3,948 deaths reported in 2021, 122 (or 3.0%) have been determined not to be COVID-19 deaths and have been retracted from todays dashboard. Additionally, 5 duplicates from 2021 were identified during the death reconciliation process and 3 additional deaths from 2020 were determined not to be COVID-19, and therefore were retracted from the dashboard. This means the deaths were originally reported to DHHR as COVID-19 deaths through a death report, but the death certificate later determined that the cause of death was not COVID-19.

CURRENT ACTIVE CASES PER COUNTY: Barbour (2), Berkeley (19), Boone (0), Braxton (0), Brooke (2), Cabell (20), Calhoun (1), Clay (1), Doddridge (0), Fayette (1), Gilmer (1), Grant (2), Greenbrier (3), Hampshire (3), Hancock (2), Hardy (1), Harrison (11), Jackson (2), Jefferson (13), Kanawha (12), Lewis (3), Lincoln (3), Logan (4), Marion (10), Marshall (1), Mason (2), McDowell (3), Mercer (19), Mineral (2), Mingo (3), Monongalia (28), Monroe (1), Morgan (5), Nicholas (4), Ohio (4), Pendleton (4), Pleasants (2), Pocahontas (1), Preston (4), Putnam (20), Raleigh (6), Randolph (2), Ritchie (4), Roane (3), Summers (0), Taylor (3), Tucker (1), Tyler (2), Upshur (2), Wayne (5), Webster (0), Wetzel (3), Wirt (1), Wood (8), Wyoming (4). To find the cumulative cases per county, please visit http://www.coronavirus.wv.gov and look on the Cumulative Summary tab which is sortable by county.

Delays may be experienced with the reporting of information from the local health department to DHHR. As case surveillance continues at the local health department level, it may reveal that those tested in a certain county may not be a resident of that county, or even the state as an individual in question may have crossed the state border to be tested. Please visit http://www.coronavirus.wv.gov for more detailed information.

West Virginians ages 5 years and older are eligible for COVID-19 vaccination; after the primary series, first booster shots are recommended for those 12 and older. Second booster shots for those age 50 and over that are 4 months or greater from their first booster have now been authorized by FDA and recommended by CDC, as well as for younger individuals over 12 years old with serious and chronic health conditions that lead to being considered moderately to severely immunocompromised. To learn more about COVID-19 vaccines, or to find a vaccine site near you, visit vaccinate.wv.gov or call 1-833-734-0965.

Free pop-up COVID-19 testing is available today in Barbour, Berkeley, Braxton, Cabell, Clay, Fayette, Gilmer, Grant, Greenbrier, Hancock, Jefferson, Lewis, Lincoln, Logan, Marion, Mason, Mingo, Monroe, Nicholas, Ohio, Preston, Raleigh, Randolph, Taylor, Upshur, Wood and Wyoming counties.

Barbour County

8:30 AM - 3:30 PM, Community Market, 107 South Main Street (across the street from Walgreens), Philippi, WV (optional pre-registration: https://labpass.com/en/registration?access_code=WVBBC)

3:00 PM - 7:00 PM, Junior Volunteer Fire Department, 331 Row Avenue, Junior, WV (optional pre-registration: https://unityphr.com/campaigns/wvlabs/covid)

Berkeley County

8:30 AM - 3:30 PM, Airborne Church, 172 Creative Place, Martinsburg, WV

8:30 AM - 4:00 PM, Shenandoah Community Health, 99 Tavern Road, Martinsburg, WV (optional pre-registration: https://unityphr.com/campaigns/wvlabs/covid)

4:15 PM - 8:00 PM, Dorothy McCormack Building, 2000 Foundation Way, Martinsburg, WV

9:00 AM - 3:00 PM, 891 Auto Parts Place, Martinsburg, WV (optional pre-registration: https://unityphr.com/campaigns/wvlabs/covid)

Braxton County

9:00 AM - 4:00 PM, Braxton County Memorial Hospital (parking lot), 100 Hoylman Drive, Gassaway, WV (optional pre-registration: https://labpass.com/en/registration?access_code=Braxton)

Cabell County

8:00 AM - 4:00 PM, Marshall University Campus (parking lot), 1801 6th Avenue, Huntington, WV (optional pre-registration: https://wv.getmycovidresult.com/)

8:00 AM - 4:00 PM, Cabell-Huntington Health Department (parking lot), 703 Seventh Avenue, Huntington, WV (optional pre-registration: https://wv.getmycovidresult.com/)

Clay County

8:30 AM - 3:00 PM / 1:00 PM - 3:00 PM, Clay County Health Department (parking lot), 452 Main Street, Clay, WV (optional pre-registration: https://labpass.com/en/registration?access_code=WVClayCounty)

Fayette County

10:00 AM - 2:00 PM, Fayette County Health Department, 5495 Maple Lane, Fayetteville, WV

Gilmer County

8:00 AM - 3:00 PM, Minnie Hamilton Health System (parking lot), 921 Mineral Road, Glenville, WV (optional pre-registration: https://labpass.com/en/registration?access_code=WVMHCT11)

Grant County

11:00 AM - 5:00 PM, Petersburg City Parking Lot, South Main Street (across from Walgreens), Petersburg, WV

Greenbrier County

9:30 AM - 3:00 PM, State Fair of WV, 891 Maplewood Avenue, Lewisburg, WV (optional pre-registration: https://labpass.com/en/registration?access_code=WVGBC)

Hancock County

10:00 AM - 12:00 PM, Hancock County Health Department, 100 North Court Street, New Cumberland, WV (optional pre-registration: https://roxbylabs.dendisoftware.com/patient_registration/)

Jefferson County

9:00 AM - 5:00 PM, Hollywood Casino, 750 Hollywood Drive, Charles Town, WV (optional pre-registration: https://unityphr.com/campaigns/wvlabs/covid)

Lewis County

8:30 AM - 3:00 PM, City Parking Lot, 95 West Second Street, Weston, WV (optional pre-registration: https://labpass.com/en/registration?access_code=WVMavLewis1)

Lincoln County

10:00 AM - 2:00 PM, Lincoln County Health Department, 8008 Court Avenue, Hamlin, WV (optional pre-registration: https://wv.getmycovidresult.com/)

Logan County

10:00 AM - 2:00 PM, Old 84 Lumber Building, 100 Recovery Road, Peach Creek, WV

Marion County

10:00 AM - 6:00 PM, Dunbar School Foundation, 101 High Street, Fairmont, WV

Mason County

8:30 AM - 3:00 PM, Krodel Park, 1186 Charleston Road, Point Pleasant, WV (optional pre-registration: https://labpass.com/en/registration?access_code=WVMavCOUNTY12)

Mingo County

9:00 AM - 3:00 PM, Delbarton Volunteer Fire Department, 68 Farley Avenue, Delbarton, WV (optional pre-registration: https://labpass.com/en/registration?access_code=WVMGC)

Monroe County

9:00 AM - 2:00 PM, Church of God Fellowship Hall, 96 Bud Ridge Road, Union, WV (optional pre-registration: https://labpass.com/en/registration?access_code=WVMRC)

Nicholas County

9:00 AM - 3:30 PM, Summersville Regional Medical Center, 400 Fairview Heights Road, Summersville, WV (optional pre-registration: https://labpass.com/en/registration?access_code=WVNL)

Ohio County

9:00 AM - 3:30 PM, Ohio Valley Medical Center (back parking lot at the top of 22nd Street), 2000 Eoff Street, Wheeling, WV (optional pre-registration: https://roxbylabs.dendisoftware.com/patient_registration/)

Preston County

2:00 PM - 6:00 PM, Terra Alta Community Ambulance Squad Station, 1124 East State Street, Terra Alta, WV (optional pre-registration: https://wv.getmycovidresult.com/)

Raleigh County

9:00 AM - 4:00 PM, Beckley-Raleigh County Health Department, 1602 Harper Road, Beckley, WV (optional pre-registration: https://labpass.com/en/registration?access_code=MavBeckleyRaleigh)

Randolph County

8:30 AM - 3:30 PM, Davis Health Center, 812 Gorman Avenue, Elkins, WV (optional pre-registration: https://labpass.com/en/registration?access_code=WVRDC)

Taylor County

10:00 AM - 12:00 PM, Grafton-Taylor Health Department, 718 West Main Street (parking lot at Operations Trailer), Grafton, WV (optional pre-registration: https://wv.getmycovidresult.com/)

Upshur County

8:30 AM - 3:30 PM, Buckhannon Fire Department (parking lot), 22 South Florida Street, Buckhannon, WV (optional pre-registration: https://labpass.com/en/registration?access_code=WVUSC)

Wood County

8:00 AM - 3:00 PM, Vienna Baptist Church, 3401 Grand Central Avenue, Vienna, WV (optional pre-registration: https://labpass.com/en/registration?access_code=WVMavWood1)

Wyoming County

11:00 AM - 3:00 PM, Wyoming County Fire Department, 12 Park Street, Pineville, WV

Please check with the testing site, DHHRs social media pages and the COVID-19 website https://dhhr.wv.gov/COVID-19/pages/testing.aspx for any last minute cancellations, and to find other free testing opportunities across West Virginia.

See more here:

COVID-19 Daily Update 4-5-2022 - West Virginia Department of Health and Human Resources

File photo of a vaccination clinic in Fulton March 2021 - Judy Grandy, director of environmental health for the Oswego County Health Department, is pictured talking with a patient. Photo courtesy of Sonia Robinson.

OSWEGO COUNTY The Oswego County Health Department continues to offer COVID-19 vaccines for county residents at twice-weekly vaccination clinics, including Wednesday walk-in clinics starting April 6.

COVID-19 vaccines are also available at medical provider offices and local pharmacies. Anyone seeking general immunizations, or a COVID-19 vaccine, can contact the Oswego County Health Department at 315-349-3547.

To view a list of upcoming clinics, visit health.oswegocounty.com/vaccines. The following upcoming clinics are scheduled:

Tuesdays, April 5, 12, 19, 2612:30-3:30 p.m. Nick Sterio Public Health Clinic, 70 Bunner St., OswegoGeneral childhood and adult immunizations, including available pediatric and adult COVID-19 vaccines. Appointments are required. Call 315-349-3547 to schedule an appointment.

Wednesdays, April 6, 13, 20, 279-11 a.m. and 1-3 p.m. Nick Sterio Public Health Clinic, 70 Bunner St., OswegoAttendees aged 5 and older can receive age-appropriate recommended doses of the Pfizer-BioNTech vaccine, and anyone aged 18 and older can receive recommended doses of the Moderna or Janssen/Johnson & Johnson vaccines.No appointments needed on Wednesdays. Walk-ins are welcome.

At-home COVID-19 test kits will be distributed to individuals who are vaccinated at upcoming clinics. Test kits will be distributed while supplies last.

Face masks are required at all health care settings regulated by the state Department of Health, including the Oswego County Health Department and any vaccination site.

For more information, go to the Oswego County Health Departments COVID-19 page at health.oswegocounty.com/covid-19 or call the COVID-19 hotline at 315-349-3330.

Residents should contact their medical providers directly for personal medical advice related to COVID-19 vaccinations, booster shots or treatments.

Under New York State Public Health Law, the Oswego County Health Department is the local public health authority regarding the COVID-19 pandemic response within the County of Oswego. The Oswego County Health Department works closely with New York State Department of Health regarding COVID-19 monitoring, response and reporting.

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COVID-19 Vaccine Continues To Be Offered At Twice Weekly Clinics This Month - Oswego Daily News

1. Is it possible to overdo it with COVID-19 vaccine boosters?  The Mercury News
2. Should you get a second COVID-19 vaccine booster?  Star Tribune
3. Governor Hochul Announces Eligibility for Second COVID-19 Vaccine Boosters  URBAN CNY
4. Eligibility for second COVID-19 vaccine booster announced  Times Union
5. What to Know About a Fourth COVID-19 Vaccine Dose  TIME
6. View Full Coverage on Google News

More:

Is it possible to overdo it with COVID-19 vaccine boosters? - The Mercury News

TORONTO -- Ontario is entering a sixth wave of COVID-19 with few remaining public health measures and experts say now is the time for a renewed vaccination strategy aimed at boosting third-dose uptake, shots for kids and preparing for wider fourth doses.

When first and second doses became available, Ontario - and Canada at large - was the envy of the world in how quickly the population got vaccinated, said Dr. Fahad Razak, an internist and member of the province's science advisory table.

But while 91 per cent of Ontarians 12 and older have received two doses of a COVID-19 vaccine, only about 60 per cent have received three.

A lot of the energy and the innovation that went into getting the first and second doses in, we haven't been able to replicate that magic to the same extent for the third dose, Razak said.

We have to make sure that the messaging about moving towards a period of less public health measures that does not mean that the risk to an individual or the risk to people over time has diminished if they still get infected.

Two doses are effective at preventing severe illness, but three doses can cut the risk of infection even against the Omicron variant and are still important, Razak said. Infection means people can't work, kids can't go to school, and brings a risk of lingering complications known as long COVID.

Infectious diseases expert Dr. Isaac Bogoch said Ontario is likely in better shape than the sheer percentage of boosters would suggest. Two doses plus infection provides roughly the same protection as three doses, Bogoch said, and millions of Ontarians have been infected since the Omicron variant emerged late last year.

But there is still much room for improvement in booster coverage, particularly among vulnerable people, and Ontario has not made enough use of behavioural change experts in figuring out how to communicate its vaccination messages, Bogoch said.

When we stop and take a 30,000-foot view of what we're trying to do here, what we're trying to do is change people's behaviour, he said.

It is not sufficient to have, you know, me - a boring, middle-aged doctor - get on TV and say, 'Get your vaccine,' or a senior political or public health official give a press conference and change policy at 3 p.m. on a weekday.

Another strategy that could help get more people vaccinated is making better use of family medicine, Razak said.

I think one of the most underutilized resources in the entire pandemic has been family doctors, he said.

Making them a larger part of the vaccine strategy would help Ontario deliver any additional doses because there's no need to ramp up an external infrastructure, Razak said.

Of course, if there's time pressures ... you can use that mass vaccination strategy. But every year and every time it shouldn't be a mass vaccination strategy. It should be closer to influenza.

Whether additional booster doses come annually, like flu shots, or they are needed on a different schedule isn't yet known, but experts say it's likely more doses will be rolled out. Regardless, the planning should happen now, Bogoch said.

We can be proactive and have a plan in place so that we're not trying to do influenza vaccines in concert with ... COVID vaccines, he said.

Even telegraphing that we're planning to do it, we just don't know what the policy is going to look like. There's a lot of heavy lifting that can be done ahead of time to prepare for potential vaccine rollout.

Dr. Paul Roumeliotis, the medical officer of health for the Eastern Ontario Health Unit, said he is developing contingency plans to redeploy staff to mass vaccination clinics for whenever fourth doses are more broadly rolled out. The National Advisory Committee on Immunization is expected to release guidance on fourth doses in early April.

Many public health units are closing their mass clinics in favour of pop-up clinics and hyper-local strategies. Toronto has been running time-limited clinics at transit stations and libraries.

When it comes to children aged five to 11, however, Roumeliotis said the issue isn't one of location, but parental fears.

It has nothing to do with accessibility because they can virtually walk into any clinic any time and get vaccinated, said the doctor, who is also president of the Association of Local Public Health Agencies.

About 56 per cent of children in that age group have at least one dose and 33 per cent have two.

Roumeliotis's health unit is trying to educate parents and answer any questions they may have through town halls, seminars with schools, social media outreach and a video campaign, he said.

Ontario is also set to receive its first shipment next week of Novavax, which is a more traditional vaccine, without the mRNA technology used by Pfizer and Moderna. The experts said it's unlikely it will have much of an effect on vaccination rates, as anyone still unvaccinated at this point will probably remain so.

A one-dose, non-mRNA vaccine by Johnson and Johnson has been available in Ontario since early December upon request and 3,134 doses of J&J have been administered in the province as of March 31.

Ontario's chief medical officer of health, Dr. Kieran Moore, said earlier this year he was excited about the pending arrival of Novavax and hoped it appeals to people who don't want an mRNA vaccine.

Moore ended his weekly briefings last month and denied several requests over three weeks by The Canadian Press for an interview about the province's vaccine strategy going forward.

A spokeswoman for Health Minister Christine Elliott sent a statement about what the province has already done on vaccination, including communications, a mobile bus vaccine clinic, holding school-based clinics, and increasing hours of vaccine clinic operation to help reach communities with lower rates.

Go here to read the rest:

It's time for a new COVID-19 vaccination strategy in Ontario, experts urge - CP24 Toronto's Breaking News

TAMPA, Fla. (WFLA) For the millions of Americans that have gotten COVID-19, the health care journey isnt over. The U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention confirmed in a new report that the risk of cardiac complications persists following infection and recovery.

The report released April 1 paints the picture of ongoing risks and negative health outcomes that could spring up after a patient has gotten COVID-19. The report also touches on the potential risk of heart issues after receiving an mRNA vaccine for the coronavirus. The two mRNA vaccines currently available are from Pfizer and Moderna.

The report said cardiac complications, particularly myocarditis and pericarditis, have been tied to COVID-19 infection and mRNA COVID-19 vaccination. Additionally, the study by the CDC found cases of multisystem inflammatory syndrome, which the health agency described as a rare but serious complication of SARS-CoV-2 infection with frequent cardiac involvement.

Pericarditis is swelling of the thin tissue surrounding the heart while myocarditis is inflammation of the middle layer of the heart wall, according to Mayo Clinic.

The study found the risk for all three cardiac conditions was increased between one and three weeks after infection or vaccination.

Male youths were the patient group with the highest level of risk for developing cardiac conditions after both vaccination and infection. For male patients 12 to 17 years old, the CDC said the risk for cardiac outcomes was highest after the second vaccine dose of an mRNA vaccine, but was even higher after a COVID-19 infection.

The incidence of cardiac outcomes after mRNA COVID-19 vaccination was highest for males aged 1217 years after the second vaccine dose; however, within this demographic group, the risk for cardiac outcomes was 1.85.6 times as high after SARS-CoV-2 infection than after the second vaccine dose, the CDC said. The risk for cardiac outcomes was likewise significantly higher after SARS-CoV-2 infection than after first, second, or unspecified dose of mRNA COVID-19 vaccination for all other groups by sex and age.

However, the CDC study specifically focuses on risks from mRNA vaccines, meaning the Johnson & Johnson shot is not included in the treatments and prevention options that may provide additional risks to patients.

Overall, the CDC noted that the study still supports the use of COVID-19 vaccinations. According to the U.S. Food and Drug Administration, the vaccines continue to prove safe and effective.

The data used was pulled from 40 health care systems to study the risk of cardiac complications from COVID-19 and mRNA vaccinations for COVID-19, among male and female patients across multiple age demographics.

See the rest here:

CDC study finds risk of heart issues after COVID-19 infection, 2nd vaccine dose - KRQE News 13

In this week's roundup, the latest scientific research on the coronavirus suggests that people recovering from COVID-19 may get additional protection from vaccines, convalescent plasma succeeds to lead to a lower rate of hospitalization of people with COVID-19 and omicron infects more small children than the delta variant.

Although people who recover from COVID-19 usually gain some immune defenses against reinfection, they get additional protection from vaccines, especially against severe disease, according to two studies published on Thursday in The Lancet Infectious Diseases.

One study of 22,566 people in Brazil who had recovered from COVID-19 found that all four vaccines in use there Sinovac Biotech, AstraZeneca, Johnson & Johnson, and Pfizer-BioNTech provided significant additional protection. Effectiveness against infection starting 14 days after vaccination completion ranged from 39.4% for Sinovac's CoronaVac to 64.8% for the Pfizer-BioNTech shots. Effectiveness against hospitalization or death ranged from 81.3% for CoronaVac to 89.7% for Pfizer-BioNTech's vaccine.

The second study, using data from more than 5 million people in Sweden, found that "hybrid immunity" from a combination of previous infection and receipt of either one or two doses of a vaccine provided additional protection for at least nine months. "One-dose hybrid immunity was associated with an additional 94% lower risk of COVID-19 hospitalization, and two-dose hybrid immunity with an additional 90% lower risk of COVID-19 hospitalization," compared to natural immunity alone, the researchers said. Neither study included patients infected or reinfected with the omicron variant.

Two gold-standard trials published in The New England Journal of Medicine on Wednesday help settle questions about two controversial therapies touted by many early in the pandemic with decidedly mixed results failure for the antiparasite drug ivermectin and success for antibody-rich blood plasma from COVID-19 survivors.

In Brazil, 3,515 patients with symptoms of COVID-19 for a week or less and at least one risk factor for the serious disease were randomly assigned to receive ivermectin once daily for three days, another treatment or a placebo. Four weeks later, ivermectin failed to lead to a lower rate of hospitalization or prolonged emergency room visits, the researchers reported. The horse dewormer was popular with conservative commentators and anti-vaxxers despite warnings from health officials not to use it to treat COVID-19.

For the study of so-called convalescent plasma, U.S. researchers enrolled more than 1,000 mostly unvaccinated adults within eight days of the onset of COVID-19 symptoms. Half of the participants were randomly assigned to receive a convalescent-plasma transfusion. Four weeks later, 2.9% of those who received the plasma had been hospitalized for COVID-19, compared to 6.3% of those who did not receive it. After accounting for individuals' risk factors, the treatment reduced the risk of hospitalization by 54%, the researchers said. "COVID-19 convalescent plasma is available in low-income and middle-income countries, has no patent limitations, and is relatively inexpensive to produce ... (and probably) less vulnerable to the emergence of antibody resistance," they added.

Among children under age 5 who were ineligible for coronavirus vaccines, the omicron variant caused 6- to 8-times more infections than the delta variant, but severe COVID-19 was less common with omicron, U.S. researchers found.

They reviewed data collected in 2021 and early 2022 on 651,640 children younger than age 5, including 66,692 with delta infections and 22,772 with omicron infections. When delta was predominant, two to three children among every 2,000 became infected every day, the researchers calculated. When omicron first started to circulate, that rate rose to roughly five to 13 new infections per day among every 2,000 children, the researchers reported on Friday in JAMA Pediatrics. By mid-January 2022, more than 16 of every 2,000 small children were becoming infected with omicron every day, with the highest infection rates seen in children under age 2.

Children infected with omicron, however, were at significantly lower risk for severe disease compared to similar children infected with delta. The findings may aid considerations about school attendance, mask use and vaccine implementation for young children, the research team said.

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COVID-19 roundup: Vaccines after illness, ivermectin failure | Daily Sabah - Daily Sabah

The number of Mainers fully vaccinated against the coronavirus has reached beyond 1 million, a milestone for the state.

As of Saturday, 1,004,046 Mainers are fully vaccinated meaning they received two doses of the Pfizer or Moderna vaccine or one dose of the Johnson & Johnson vaccine against the virus, according to the Maine Center of Disease Control and Prevention. Thats 74.7 percent of the states population of 1.34 million.

Among eligible Mainers which only includes ages 5 and up and 1.28 million people 1,004,030 are fully vaccinated, the Maine CDC reports, accounting for 78.4 percent of that population.

Those numbers do not include Mainers who have also received the booster shot, which stands at 594,360.

The milestone comes as community levels of COVID-19 have dropped substantially in every Maine county, according to the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.

COVID-19 cases have been steadily falling throughout the state after reaching record levels throughout December, January and early February. On Saturday, another 212 coronavirus cases were reported.The statewide death toll from the virus now stands at 2,202.

The number of Mainers hospitalized with COVID-19 has also stayed below 100 for the last week and a half, and daily reported COVID cases have stayed below 500 for nearly a month. As of Saturday, 91 Mainers were hospitalized with 17 in critical care and five on a ventilator.

More articles from the BDN

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More than 1 million Mainers are fully vaccinated against COVID-19 - Bangor Daily News

Moderna COVID-19 Vaccine May Be More Effective in CLL Patients  Cancer Therapy Advisor

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Moderna COVID-19 Vaccine May Be More Effective in CLL Patients - Cancer Therapy Advisor

Go ahead line up for your second booster shot, Americans. But as you do, take a moment to consider how lucky you are to live in a part of the world where the healthcare system, for all its flaws, puts protection from COVID-19 within reach.

Because its not that way everywhere.

The vaccine shots that you and I can schedule with a simple call to our local Rite-Aid or CVS are not available to everyone.

The outrageous truth is that two years into the pandemic that has killed 6 million people worldwide, 65% of Americans have received two vaccine shots and are considered fully vaccinated. (Many others have chosen not to be.) But only 14.5% of people in low-income countries have received even a single dose, according to data compiled by Oxford University.

It is a lesson in how the other half lives.

Opinion Columnist

Nicholas Goldberg

Nicholas Goldberg served 11 years as editor of the editorial page and is a former editor of the Op-Ed page and Sunday Opinion section.

Why should Americans be closing in on their second, third and fourth shots before millions of poor people around the world have received their first?

People in the U.S. have no greater right to health than people elsewhere in the world, says Brook K. Baker, a Northeastern University Law School professor who specializes in access to medicines. Were all human. Health is a positive good for everyone. Yet were living under a monopoly-based system where giant pharmaceutical corporations make billions in profits at the expense of poor people in poor countries who are denied access to life-saving medicines.

Even for our own selfish reasons we should be fighting for universal access because infectious diseases dont respect national borders. If the virus continues to spread in lower-income nations, it will keep mutating until a more virulent variant emerges. And that variant will eventually reach us here at home.

There is only one victor in a world of vaccine haves and vaccine have-nots: the virus itself, said U.N. Secretary-General Antonio Guterres.

So what are we doing about this?

Not enough, it seems.

COVAX, the global initiative created to ensure equitable access to vaccines for people in low-income countries, fell woefully short of its 2021 vaccination goals. This year, doses are still going disproportionately to wealthy nations.

The developed world has repeatedly failed to rise to the occasion. Last week, for instance, U.S. senators announced they were close to a deal to pass the latest COVID response package but only at the cost of cutting $5 billion that had been designated for global vaccine efforts.

Today, 77% of Americans have received at least one vaccine dose. So have 87% of Canadians. The oil-rich United Arab Emirates tops the list with 99% having received at least one dose.

But in Burundi only 0.1% of the population has received a shot. In Congo, its 1%. In Haiti, 1.5%. In Chad, 1.8%. All across Africa, countries have posted rates well below 20%.

This is not to suggest that Americans should be denied vaccinations or boosters while others get them, but rather that more supply needs to be made available at more affordable prices.

How did we get to this point after developing such highly effective vaccines faster than ever before in history?

Wealthy countries raced to grab what they could, buying up and stockpiling much of the initial supply before it could be more fairly allocated.

Pharmaceutical manufacturers, many of which received lavish public subsidies to fund their research, were allowed to sell the new vaccines with no strings attached, so they controlled the quantity they produced, the price they charged and whom they sold to.

The manufacturers also resisted sharing their intellectual property with other pharmaceutical companies, which would have allowed production and distribution to be accelerated.

In many cases when poorer countries did receive vaccine supplies, they were close to their expiration date, donated because they were leftovers. As a result they often had to be used quickly.

But that was a problem because having the doses in hand is just one step toward getting shots in arms. You also need syringes, trained workers, refrigerators for the mRNA doses, trucks and waste disposal equipment. Many poor countries lack the necessary healthcare infrastructure.

Then theres the vaccine skepticism that is plaguing countries everywhere.

All those factors combined to keep vaccination rates unconscionably low in many less developed countries.

It is worth nothing that many countries in Africa appear to have relatively low COVID death rates. Some people attribute those rates to Africas younger population, its lower population density or the fact that people spend more time outside. Some say it argues for focusing the continents limited resources on inoculating the most vulnerable rather than the general population.

But others believe the statistics are badly misleading the result of drastic underreporting. This happens because so many COVID sufferers in poor countries never reach a hospital but die in their homes. Theyre never tested and their deaths may never be counted, making the official COVID tallies unreliable, according to Baker of Northeastern University.

In March, Oxfam estimated that for every life lost in a rich country, another four people have died in a poorer nation.

I dont mean by such comparisons to minimize American suffering. More than 978,000 people here have died.

And no one is happier than I am that were beginning, at least for the moment, to emerge from lockdown, drop our masks and fortify ourselves, if were eligible, with another round of protection.

But when I get my next shot Im going to try to remember my privilege, wealth and luck, and keep in mind that the worlds poorest countries need our help. The U.S. has an obligation to do more contact your representative and senators! not just because its the smart thing to do (which it is), but because its the right thing to do.

@Nick_Goldberg

Read more from the original source:

Nicholas Goldberg: While we line up for a fourth shot, the worlds poor havent gotten their first - Los Angeles Times

After dramatic declines in coronavirus cases, Los Angeles County has hit another plateau this week that comes amid the spread of the highly infectious BA.2 Omicron subvariant.

BA.2 has led to new increases in cases in other areas, from a significant surge in Britain that has resulted in an increase in hospitalizations and deaths, and the apparent beginning of a wave in New York and Massachusetts.

Similar trends have not yet been seen in Los Angeles County or in California overall, and officials cant say with certainty what will come next.

Although it is possible that California could see an echo of what Britain is seeing, some experts have also said that the states winter Omicron surge which brought many hospitals under pressure in Southern California and the Central Valley could help provide some protection against a possible BA.2-fueled surge.

Nationally, the decline in new coronavirus cases may have ended in just the last few days, with the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention reporting about 26,000 new cases a day, a number that has stayed essentially stable in the last week. Its the lowest figure since July, but still above the pre-Delta surge number of about 12,000 cases a day in June.

L.A. Countys public health director said the best way to prepare for the coming weeks is to get up to date on vaccinations and booster shots and to wear masks in indoor public settings.

At some point, we knew that it was likely we were going to stop declining because we know that theres still transmission. We know that there are still people who are getting exposed, L.A. County Public Health Director Barbara Ferrer said during a briefing Thursday. Personally, I wish we were at a lower level when were doing this plateauing, but we have seen a significant decrease, and that is the good news.

BA.2 has already fueled a new wave of infections across other parts of Europe and Asia. It can still be quite deadly in areas where vaccination rates are relatively low, as is the case among Hong Kongs elderly population. A devastating spike in cases has led Hong Kong to run short on coffins.

BA.2 is believed to be 30% to 60% more contagious than the original Omicron variant that spread through California last winter.

BA.2 is now estimated to be the dominant version of the coronavirus circulating nationwide, which underscores the need for continued caution, Ferrer said.

Given the increased risk for spread of BA.2, it is important that we take steps now to maximize protection against spread, she said. Encouragingly, the [World Health Organization] reported that in countries with high levels of vaccination, especially among those most vulnerable to COVID-19, the recent increase in cases has not translated yet into high rates of hospitalizations or deaths.

But Ferrer has warned that L.A. County still needs more people vaccinated and boosted. In L.A. County, 1.7 million people ages 5 and older havent received a single dose of vaccine, and an additional 2.8 million vaccinated residents age 12 and up who havent received their first booster.

According to a county tally, which does not include cases reported late due to a backlog, L.A. County is averaging about 725 coronavirus cases a day, or 50 cases a week for every 100,000 residents considered on the edge between a moderate and substantial level of transmission. The last time cases were consistently this low was last summer, when California was still basking in the afterglow of its full economic reopening.

The number of hospitalized COVID-19 patients has also tumbled to one of the lowest levels of the entire pandemic. On Thursday, 287 such individuals were hospitalized countywide. At the height of the Omicron surge in January, COVID-19 hospitalizations peaked at 4,814.

However, the countys coronavirus case rate stopped consistently falling about a week ago.

L.A. Countys most recent rate of 50 cases a week for every 100,000 residents was higher than the previous weeks rate of 44. The week before that, L.A. Countys case rate was 60; and prior to that, it was 77.

A rate below 50 is considered a moderate level of transmission, according to the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. Below 10 is deemed a low level of transmission.

Trends vary by region, and case rates in mid-March were influenced by a backlog of late-reported cases that reflected infections from the winter Omicron surge. The California Department of Public Health is aware of these reporting delays, which affect case counts across many parts of the state, L.A. County health officials said March 21.

Orange County is still seeing case rates fall. For the week ending Thursday, Californias third most populous county was reporting 26 cases a week for every 100,000 residents. The prior weeks rate was 47. The week before that, it was 52.

In the San Francisco Bay Area, the case rate trend is essentially flat. The most recent rate was 64 identical to the previous weeks, but higher than the prior weeks rate of 53.

Some parts of the country where BA.2 became dominant earlier have seen a sustained increase in cases. New York Citys case rate is 104; the prior week, the rate was 83. But hospitalizations are still declining there.

Two bellwether states in the U.S. are New York and Massachusetts, where BA.2 comprises more than 80% of new cases, according to Dr. Eric Topol, director of the Scripps Research Translational Institute in La Jolla.

In a tweet, Topol said New Yorks and Massachusetts BA.2 wave was starting at a case rate about one-third of that seen when the first Omicron wave began last fall. Topol said it was too early to know how big a BA.2 wave will ultimately be, but suggested itll be likely much less that the first Omicron wave.

In Britain, health officials estimated a record number of new coronavirus infections in a single week. The Office for National Statistics projected that 1 in 13 residents tested positive for the coronavirus in England between March 20 and March 26; while in Scotland, 1 in 12 tested positive.

The BBC reported some hospitals in Britain coming under pressure, with facilities in Scotland seeing record high numbers of coronavirus-positive patients, although few of them are critically ill.

But not all European countries are seeing a BA.2-fueled surge. Spains case rate has essentially been steady throughout all of March.

Although a Delta infection didnt necessarily provide much protection against Omicron, recently surviving the earlier Omicron subvariant BA.1 likely provides additional short-term protection against BA.2.

L.A. Countys recent experience is not necessarily a surprise. As Ferrer noted: Every single time we have reduced the restrictions or the levels of protection that are required, we have always seen an uptick.

Our job right now is to make sure that this doesnt lead to a significant increase in cases because that really would be, in some ways, a step that I think is avoidable, she said.

Over the last month and a half, L.A. County has relaxed its outdoor masking rules, lifted an order for residents to wear masks in indoor public settings; and rescinded the requirement for patrons to provide proof of COVID-19 vaccination at indoor bars, wineries, breweries, distilleries, nightclubs and lounges.

Separately, the L.A. City Council on Wednesday voted to officially strike a set of far-more-expansive vaccine-verification rules, which also applied to indoor restaurants, gyms, movie theaters and numerous other businesses.

California on Friday also lifted a requirement for attendees to show proof theyve been vaccinated for COVID-19 or recently tested negative for the coronavirus as a condition of entering indoor events with more than 1,000 people, such as concerts, conventions and sporting contests.

Given how widely rules have been relaxed, officials say its vital to closely monitor metrics that could point to a coronavirus resurgence.

An early indication of a potential rise in confirmed coronavirus cases involves detecting viral levels in wastewater. So far, theres no clear indication of an elevated increase of the virus in sewage in L.A. County, Ferrer said. One bit of data shows a potential rise in coronavirus levels in wastewater coming from the city of Los Angeles recently, but its also possible the data just represents a lot of fluctuation and may not be indicative of a trend.

Theres been a lot of variation in wastewater concentration that was noted over the first two weeks in March. And its unclear to us right now if this is really an upward trend, Ferrer said.

If we see these continued increases, she added, it may provide us with an early alert that cases could soon be rising.

Ferrer said another early sign of trouble would be a sudden increase in coronavirus-related visits to emergency rooms, which in the past have preceded increases in reported coronavirus cases.

The good news is that as of Sunday, only 3% of emergency room visits in L.A. County were related to the coronavirus, Ferrer said. This is another positive sign of lower transmission that despite the BA.2 increases that were starting to see theyre not resulting yet in increases in COVID-19 related [emergency department] visits, Ferrer said.

Ferrer urged that people get up-to-date on their vaccinations, including seeking a second booster shot for those age 50 and up who are at higher risk of COVID-19 complications should they get infected.

There continue to be significant complications that survivors of a coronavirus infection can face, such as long COVID and increased risk of heart disease and diabetes. That really should give all of us another reason to double down on efforts to avoid getting infected as much as possible, Ferrer said, including wearing a mask in indoor public settings, which remains strongly recommended by L.A. County and state health officials.

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Coronavirus cases are spiking elsewhere. Will L.A. County be hit hard or be spared? - Los Angeles Times