Category: Covid-19 Vaccine

By: James Colgan June 6, 2021

The Memorial Tournament hosted the first-ever vaccine clinic at a PGA Tour event this weekend.

James Colgan

DUBLIN, Ohio There is a cruel irony in the news of Jon Rahms positive Covid-19 test and subsequent withdrawal from the Memorial Tournament, and it can be found no more than 200 yards from the spot where Rahm folded over in shock after PGA Tour officials delivered the news.

It is the OhioHealth vaccine pop-up site, a small, green tent located between the main gate and the short-game area. Before Rahms devastating withdrawal on Saturday afternoon, the pop-up site was supposed to serve as the headline in the Tours ongoing efforts against the virus. The site is the first of its kind ever to be held at a PGA Tour event, an idea orchestrated and executed by public health officials from the state of Ohio, with approval from Memorial Tournament officials. For three days this weekend, fans have been invited to receive their free, one-shot Covid-19 vaccine at any time during the course of play.

Dr. Genevieve Messick is the sites medical director, and shes been on-site for all three days this weekend as a liaison, answering questions for members of the public who might be considering receiving a shot.

Its always good to be a source of truth, because now with how fast the vaccines were developed, people have a lot of questions, so we try to give good information based on clinical evidence, Messick said. Our team got together and said, What can we do where wed see a group of people? and I said, How about the Muirfield Tournament?'

Messick says the site has administered roughly 20 vaccines per day, including one to a PGA Tour caddie. The pop-up clinic comes as the PGA Tour and the nation as a whole begins to move past a vaccine inflection point. The number of daily doses administered throughout the country has steadily dropped from earlier in the spring, and the pace of vaccinations has slowed noticeably. The Tour has offered vaccines to players for several months and has incentivized those who undergo a full vaccine course by lifting many of the restrictions required of unvaccinated players. A spokesman for the Tour shared Saturday that north of 50 percent of pros are fully vaccinated, and that number is expected to grow.

We have strongly encouraged our players, our caddies, our staff, and anyone involved with our competition to be vaccinated, and we have presented educational materials and resources to educate them on that, completely understanding that it is an individual choice, said Andy Levinson, the Tours senior vice president of tournament administration. We just want to make sure that people have the proper facts, the unadulterated facts related to that. We have also been out quite a bit at Tour events having one-on-one conversations with people who have questions about the vaccine and are hesitant. And our advisor has been out every week for the last nine or t10 weeks or so doing just that, having one-on-one conversations and thats I think been extremely helpful. So we have strongly encouraged but not mandated.

But those restrictions on unvaccinated players are set to expire at the end of June. Under the new rules, Rahm who tested positive only after entering the PGA Tours contact-tracing protocols for confirmed close contacts likely would not have needed a test until he began presenting symptoms, which could have expanded the risk of infecting others.

This is a particularly prescient point given the makeup of those who have not received the vaccine to date a group Messick says is uniquely in need of motivation, and affected by convenience.

Initially, there was a group of people who wanted to get the vaccine and they all came early on, but what were seeing now is there was a group of people who werent really opposed to getting the vaccine, but it had to be convenient, she said. It was a younger population, theyre busier, they dont have much free time. So the strategy has changed now to make it as convenient as possible. To take the vaccine to where people are.

In the aftermath of Rahms asymptomatic positive test, its fair to wonder whether the Tour rule changes could disincentivize the vaccine process for the group of unopposed but still unvaccinated. After his round with Rahm on Saturday, Patrick Cantlay said since he already had Covid, he didnt feel too concerned.

Obviously it is somewhat of a concern, but I got to imagine that I had it earlier this year, so Im feeling pretty OK about it. Cantlay said.

Perhaps Rahms positive test will be what it takes to convince a large swathe of the PGA Tours vaccine holdouts, but if the golf public is any indication, the early returns at Muirfield Village havent been promising.

Were well aware of what happened yesterday, Messick said. At this point, I dont think its actually brought more people in, but its definitely brought more attention to the whole vaccination process.

James Colgan is an assistant editor at GOLF, contributing stories for the website and magazine on a broad range of topics. He writes the Hot Mic, GOLFs weekly media column, and utilizes his broadcast experience across the brands social media and video platforms. A 2019 graduate of Syracuse University, James and evidently, his golf game is still defrosting from four years in the snow, during which time he cut his teeth at NFL Films, CBS News and Fox Sports. Prior to joining GOLF, James was a caddie scholarship recipient (and astute looper) on Long Island, where he is from.

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At the Memorial Tournament, the PGA Tour confronts a Covid-19 vaccine... - Golf.com

Share of U.S. adults who have received at least one vaccine dose

25% 50% 100% of adults70% by July 4 is the White House goal

Jan. 14June 2July 4

At current pace

At leastone dose

Note: The projection is based on a 7-day rolling average of new vaccinations of people 18 or older.

The United States is roughly on track to meet President Bidens goal of getting at least one Covid-19 shot into the arms of 70 percent of adults by July 4 if the current vaccination pace holds. But demand for vaccines has decreased in much of the country in recent weeks, and the promising national numbers (about 63 percent of adults have received at least one shot) do not reflect the uneven rates among states.

Even if the country as a whole reaches the national target, at least 30 states probably will not. And a handful are unlikely to reach the 70 percent mark before the end of the year, a New York Times analysis shows, potentially prolonging the pandemic.

You reach a certain rate nationally, which looks excellent and would really suggest that you are in a place to reduce the likelihood of infectious spread, but that can be misleading, said Dr. Marcus Plescia, the chief medical officer for the Association of State and Territorial Health Officials, which represents state health agencies.

You still have these significant pockets and states where the rates of immunity are much lower, he added. So we could have another wave pop up.

In many states in the Deep South and Mountain West, vaccinations have leveled off both because of limited access and shot hesitancy. Fewer than half of all adults have received at least one shot in Alabama, Louisiana, Mississippi and Wyoming, and projections show that the rate is unlikely to reach much higher than 50 percent by early July.

70% goal

At leastone dose

By July 4

70% goal

At leastone dose

By July 4

70% goal

At leastone dose

By July 4

Note: The C.D.C. is working with New Hampshire to correct data transmission errors from recent weeks.

Public health experts and officials in states with lower vaccination rates say the presidents benchmark will help reduce cases and deaths but is somewhat arbitrary even if 70 percent of adults are vaccinated, the virus and its more contagious variants can spread among those who are not.

But they are still concerned that their residents are more susceptible to infection as restrictions ease across the country, the sense of urgency to get vaccinated declines and many Americans in warmer climates avoid the heat by heading indoors, where the virus spreads more efficiently.

Weve got a significant percentage of Louisiana that has initiated, but its not herd immunity, Dr. Joseph Kanter, the top health official in Louisiana, said in mid-May, referring to the share of the total population that needs to acquire resistance to the virus to slow transmission. Its nowhere close to it.

Its not insignificant, but its not herd immunity, he added. So were very cognizant of that, and we feel great urgency with the vaccine campaign.

Even statewide figures that appear promising can gloss over local problem areas, Dr. Kanter said. In Louisiana, less than 20 percent of people in some parishes have received a first dose.

State vaccination rates during previous U.S. vaccination campaigns show some similar patterns.

For example, much of the South had lower vaccination rates than the rest of the country during the H1N1 pandemic in 2009 and 2010, and in the flu season just before the Covid-19 pandemic.

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Note: Covid vaccination data is through June 2 and represents those with at least one dose.

Public health experts point to persistent challenges in this region of the country, including lower than average access to health care, especially in rural areas, and higher rates of vaccine hesitancy. Politics may also play a role.

Youre also looking at states that relaxed mandates faster, said Dr. Jodie L. Guest, an epidemiologist at Emory University. Leadership matters. If you set the tone that this isnt serious, its hard to convince people that it is.

Officials in lagging states have said they are hopeful that they can continue to vaccinate more people, but caution that it may take months to work with doctors, employers and community leaders to make inoculations more convenient and to persuade those who are unwilling to get a shot.

To bolster the nations progress, the White House has announced an incentive to give parents and caregivers free child care while they get vaccinated.

I think the question is whether were getting to a place where weve just leveled out, and were just not going to get that many more people, Dr. Plescia said, or whether in a lot of these states it will take longer for people to get vaccinated, and we will continue to make progress, but it will be slow progress.

I just dont know how that will play out, he added.

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Here Are The States Falling Behind Biden's Covid-19 Vaccination Goal - The New York Times

There are several COVID-19 vaccines out right now, including one from AstraZeneca. Although it has been approved for use in other countries, it has not yet been approved by the Food and Drug Administration (FDA).

Knowing more about the AstraZeneca vaccine can help you make informed decisions about which vaccine to get if it does get approved for use in the United States.

The AstraZeneca COVID-19 vaccine, now called Vaxzevria, is a viral vector vaccine, just like the vaccine from Johnson & Johnson.

The vaccine uses a chimpanzee adenovirus to carry spike proteins from the coronavirus into your body to create an immune response. It can be produced on a large scale and inexpensively, which is crucial during a pandemic. It can also be kept in a regular refrigerator, unlike the vaccines from Pfizer and Moderna.

Despite initial pauses about its safety with blood clots, it has been deemed safe by the European Medicines Agency (EMA) and is still recommended by the World Health Organization (WHO).

Right now, no coronavirus vaccine is fully approved by the FDA. The vaccines in use have been granted emergency use authorization. This means that the known and potential benefits of the vaccine outweigh the known and potential risks.

The AstraZeneca COVID-19 vaccine is not yet approved in the United States because the FDA has asked AstraZeneca to show results from a large-scale trial.

The FDA found that in initial trials, some participants mistakenly got half doses of the vaccine. They also found that the trial did not include enough people over age 65. They asked the company to do a larger trial so they could get clearer data.

In March 2021, several European countries paused the use of the AstraZeneca COVID-19 vaccine after several reports of blood clots. The clots that are linked to this vaccine have very specific characteristics:

It was found that people with these blood clots showed some symptoms similar to a condition called heparin-induced thrombocytopenia (HIT). HIT is usually a rare side effect seen in people who have used the anticoagulant medication heparin, though these people had never taken the drug.

At this point, researchers arent sure what part of the vaccine is causing an immune response against a platelet factor involved in this reaction. Because a similar response has been seen in the J&J vaccine, which also uses an adenovirus, and not seen in the vaccines that use mRNA, this may be an issue with vaccines using adenovirus.

Although this is a serious adverse effect, its also important to look at the context.

Over 20 million doses of the AstraZeneca vaccine have been given in the United Kingdom. The risk of a serious blood clot is about 1 in 250,000 people or 4 in a million. COVID-19 carries a much higher risk of blood clots: 7.8 percent of people who have had COVID-19 also have pulmonary embolism and 11.2 percent experience deep vein thrombosis.

The AstraZeneca vaccine uses a common cold-causing chimpanzee adenovirus, or a vector, to transport some of the coronavirus DNA to your cells. Your cells then take that DNA and convert it into the spike protein of the virus, which is what the virus uses to enter cells and cause an infection.

Your cells mount an immune response but the amount of actual virus is so small, you dont actually get an infection with the disease.

The vaccine is given in two doses, with a suggested gap between doses of 8 to 12 weeks.

While Moderna and Pfizer are based on mRNA, the AstraZeneca vaccine is a viral vector vaccine. This means it uses a different mechanism to induce an immune response. The second dose is also given at a longer interval, instead of the 3- to 4-week suggested interval with the others.

Both the AstraZeneca and Johnson & Johnson vaccines are viral vector vaccines. These kinds of vaccines use a modified, harmless version of a virus as a vector a carrier to the cells in the body. Your body then acts accordingly and mounts an immune response to the virus.

The viral vector in these two vaccines is an adenovirus. This vector carries the information that is needed for the body to produce an immune response to SARS-CoV-2, the virus that causes COVID-19.

Studies of the efficacy of this vaccine have been wide-ranging. A pooled analysis of four large studies found that in groups that received two standard doses of the AstraZeneca vaccine, the overall efficacy was 70.4 percent.

Several months later, AstraZeneca announced it was 76 percent effective at preventing symptomatic disease. In a group that received a lower dose initially, the surprising result was a finding of 90 percent efficacy. The reasons for this are unclear, and more research needs to be done.

The AstraZeneca COVID-19 vaccine offers another option for vaccination against COVID-19 in some countries. The AstraZeneca COVID-19 vaccine is not approved for use in the United States.

Although more research is being done regarding blood clots, it seems this is a very small percentage of reactions. If the FDA grants emergency use authorization for the AstraZeneca COVID-19 vaccine, it could be helpful in getting more people vaccinated, especially because it is cheaper and able to be kept at lower temperatures.

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AstraZeneca Vaccine: What You Need to Know - Healthline

PITTSBURGH -- Pirates general manager Ben Cherington said Sunday he believes the team will be at the 85% threshold for COVID-19 vaccinations by the end of the coming week.

Cherington made the announcement on his Sunday morning radio show on 93.7 The Fan.

In some cases, were still getting through that two-week waiting period after the second shot and things like that, Cherington said. But by the end of the week, we expect to be at 85%.

Clubs were informed that MLB and the MLBPA have agreed to relax certain health and safety protocols contained in the 2021 Operations Manual for fully vaccinated Tier 1 Individuals and for clubs where 85% of their Tier 1 Individuals are fully vaccinated. As part of that memo, players and staff were again strongly encouraged to receive one of the approved COVID-19 vaccines when eligible.

The Pirates have encouraged their players to get the vaccination as a safety measure, Cherington said, but he reiterated on Sunday that it has never been a mandate. Through answering questions and addressing concerns raised by players and staff on an individual basis, he believes it could have some deeper effects on the club, too.

In some respects, I think our relationships internally have grown from that, Cherington said. I believe that just because weve had to work through some of these challenging issues together, and I think and hope that that will have benefits for us down the road.

In the short term, it will open up a lot of benefits for the players. Theyll be able to have family join them on the road; catcher Jacob Stallings spoke earlier this week about the effect that having his family around at home games has had on his mental well-being. The team will be able to unmask in the dugout, use saunas in the training area and utilize game rooms to relax before games.

Small steps, but ones that could have a big impact on the Pirates players and staff.

We think about the pandemic as a medical issue -- and it is, Cherington said, but we also know that there is a mental-health impact that comes from all of the things that the coronavirus has induced in our society and the changes its forced in our lives and other things.

Some of these things may sound small but they add up to helping players and staff feel a little bit better about themselves over the course of a season.

Cherington said No. 12 prospect Miguel Yajures symptoms are getting better after he was scratched from his most recent start due to right elbow discomfort and forearm tightness. Yajure has produced a 3.71 ERA at Triple-A Indianapolis and pitched five scoreless innings in his most recent Major League start on May 14 vs. the Giants.

He had been pitching with some sensation, and just eventually said hed like to let this calm down, Cherington said. So its not something he wasnt performing through, but once he told us that, we wanted to make sure it was right. So well take a little time and let him calm down.

No. 4 prospect Oneil Cruz has committed nine errors in 25 games at shortstop for Double-A Altoona, but Cherington attributes part of that to rust of not having a 2020 season, not to any lacking skills. However, he said Cruz, who entered Sunday with a 10-game hitting streak, wont stick at one spot all the time, as the Pirates value versatility.

Hes going to play other positions, but that has no bearing on whether hes a shortstop or not, Cherington said.

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GM expects 85% threshold by week's end - MLB.com

SINGAPORE - Cows, scholarships and million-dollar lottery draws - governments around the world have dangled these and other incentives in front of their citizens to help them overcome vaccine hesitancy and give national Covid-19 vaccination drives a booster shot.

While Singapore has been making steady progress on the vaccination front, some observers have asked whether offering people additional incentives could help accelerate its pace.

At least one organisation here has embarked on a campaign to offer benefits to Singapore residents who have been vaccinated.

The Minmed Group, which runs four Covid-19 vaccine centres here, has launched an online platform - iamvaccinated.sg - where local businesses can offer discounts and promotions to those who have received their shots.

While some observers believe incentives could nudge those who are still hesitant, others said implementing such a scheme now could be seen as rewarding late adopters and that it could diminish the intrinsic motivation to get the jab out of a sense of social responsibility.

The Singapore Government has so far relied mostly on providing up-to-date and accurate information on the vaccine to convince Singaporeans to take the jab.

Leaders here have also urged citizens to go for the shot. Last Monday, Prime Minister Lee Hsien Loong, in his national address, made a direct appeal to 280,000 seniors who have yet to book a slot to do so.

But other countries have not stopped at educational and information campaigns to convince their citizens to get vaccinated.

In the US state of Ohio, for instance, the state government is incentivising Americans to get vaccinated with cash prizes from a Vax-A-Million lottery totalling US$5 million (S$6.6 million) and another US$600,000 going to scholarships for vaccinated teens.

The idea of providing incentives, including lottery draws, has gained traction among some here, including Associate Professor Jeremy Lim from the National University of Singapore's (NUS) Saw Swee Hock School of Public Health.

Noting that Singapore is grappling with its most severe challenge since independence, he said offering incentives would allow the Government to make the vaccine benefits tangible, short of mandating the shots.

Prof Lim added that such incentives are complementary to robust public health education and engagement.

Albert Winsemius Chair Professor of Economics Euston Quah of Nanyang Technological University said an economic argument can be made to provide incentives for vaccination, as people who have been vaccinated reduce medical and health costs for society.

"The more people are vaccinated, the greater the likelihood that the pandemic will end. Thus, this group of vaccinated people confers a positive external effect on society compared with people who do not get vaccinated," he said.

Some observers have asked whether offering people additional incentives could help accelerate its pace. ST PHOTO: MARK CHEONG

"(Such incentives) reduce a possible market failure in not leaving such important public health implications and costs to individual decisions per se."

Other observers, such as Associate Professor Lim Poh Lian, director of the High Level Isolation Unit at the National Centre for Infectious Diseases, were more cautious about the signals that incentives could send.

She noted that there are currently more than 40 active Covid-19 clusters in Singapore and that cases have been recorded in malls, tuition centres and public housing. "So, the urgent need to get vaccinated has become quite obvious to most people," she said.

Prof Lim added that financial incentives, as an extrinsic motivator, tend to weaken intrinsic motivation.

"When those who got vaccinated out of a sense of duty (intrinsic motivation) see other people getting cash in order to get vaccinated, they get cynical. The next time you call on them to do something out of duty, they may well ask, 'How much are you going to pay me?'"

NUS sociologist Tan Ern Ser said that while cash would likely help nudge people into doing what they might be reluctant to do, it could also establish an unhealthy expectation.

Yio Chu Kang MP Yip Hon Weng added that offering an incentive for vaccination might send a signal that the vaccines are somehow undesirable or unsafe, hence needing incentives to encourage uptake.

Instead of incentives, he suggested that the Government consider bundling health check-ups with vaccination appointments, or offering the remaining unvaccinated members of the household to be vaccinated together, so that household transmission could be further reduced.

But NUS' Prof Jeremy Lim said concerns about unhappy precedents being set and the public expecting future incentives are unwarranted.

"We are in a crisis situation and we should be bold, doing whatever it takes to get us to the required population vaccination numbers," he said.

Sembawang GRC MP Mariam Jaafar said that while incentives can provide a "short-term boost" to the vaccination rate, multiple strategies including subsidising some alternative vaccines and tailoring communication to specific needs are needed.

A retired tuition teacher, who wanted to be known only as Mrs Chia, disagreed with handing out cash vouchers or lottery tickets to encourage vaccinations.

The 68-year-old had hesitated taking the jab due to concerns about its safety. She decided to get it only in late April after being repeatedly urged by her children.

"I will be very disappointed with the Government if it takes such an approach. The decision to take the vaccine is a serious matter, and we should be educating the public properly about it instead of treating it like some kind of game," said Mrs Chia.

Ohio is offering lottery draw chances for those who get inoculated against Covid-19, and some other American states have followed suit.

California is offering US$100 million (S$132 million) in US$50 prepaid cards for the next two million newly vaccinated people and US$16.5 million in cash prizes for all vaccinated Californians.

In Oregon and Colorado, those who have received at least one dose of the Covid-19 vaccine by a prescribed date are automatically entered into lottery draws where they can win up to US$1 million.

The Hong Kong authorities have also dangled a vaccine lottery featuring a new flat worth HK$10.8 million (S$1.84 million), which has reportedly led to a surge in vaccine bookings since the lottery was announced on May 28.

Not to be outdone, the mayor of a farming town near Manila has promised to raffle a cow each month from September to get his constituents to take vaccine shots from Russia or China.

Here in Singapore, the Minmed Group recently launched an initiative where residents can enjoy special privileges such as discounts and cash vouchers from merchants by showing their HealthHub vaccination record. The initiative is supported by public healthcare technology agency Integrated Health Information Systems.

At least 40 merchants have joined the initiative so far.

Ms Inez Lim, the founder of Kittea, a tea retailer which is a participating merchant under this scheme, believes life could start going back to a new normal when a significant proportion of the population has been vaccinated.

"Everyone loves a good discount, and if enough brands come on board, the pull factor can be appealing enough to overcome any minor fears people may have about getting their jabs," she said.

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Should Singapore offer lottery draws to boost Covid-19 vaccination rate? - The Straits Times

Vaccination in Bahrain Mazen Mahdi/AFP/Getty Images

The World Health Organization recently granted emergency use approval to China's Sinopharm and Sinovac COVID-19 vaccines, but the countries that have put the Chinese-made vaccines in the arms of their residents are reporting mixed results, at best.

"In the Seychelles, Chile, and Uruguay, all of whom have used Sinopharm or ... Sinovac in their mass vaccination efforts, cases have surged even as doses were given out," The Washington Post reports. And in Bahrain, one of the first countries to embrace the Sinopharm shot, The Wall Street Journal adds, "daily COVID-19 deaths have leapt to 12 per million people in recent weeks an outbreak nearly five times more lethal than India's prompting the island nation's government to shut down shopping malls and restaurants in an effort to limit the spread."

Dr. Waleed Khalifa al Manea, Bahrain's undersecretary of health, told the Journal that the recent upsurge in cases "came mainly from family gatherings we had Ramadan, which is a very social event in Bahrain," but he also said the country is urging older people and those with chronic illness to get a six-month booster shot with the Pfizer-BioNTech vaccine. Bahrain and the neighboring United Arab Emirates started offering booster shots in late May "after studies showed that some of those vaccinated had not developed sufficient antibodies," the Post reports.

"In Dubai, the most populous of the seven members of the UAE, the emirate's health authorities have also quietly begun revaccinating with Pfizer-BioNTech those residents who had been fully inoculated with Sinopharm," the Journal reports.

"Despite the concern about Sinopharm's effectiveness, experts say the vaccine still works as intended in most cases and that it could play a significant role in shortages of vaccine doses around the world," the Post reports. The WHO says it has a low level of confidence in the vaccine's effectiveness in older people, due to a lack of data.

A peer-reviewed study published May 26 found the Sinopharm vaccine was 78 percent effective against symptomatic illness, but the trial participants were mostly healthy young men, the Journal reports. "In a separate, unpublished, real-world study of Sinopharm in Serbia, 29 percent of 150 participants were found to have zero antibodies against the virus three months after they received the first of two shots of the vaccine. The average age of the people who participated in the Serbian study was higher than 65."

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China's COVID-19 vaccines don't appear to be effective at preventing outbreaks in the real world - Yahoo! Voices

Whether we would develop immunity to COVID-19, or how long that would last if we did, has been a mystery since the early months of the pandemic.

However, two new studies are helping us better understand how our immune systems adapt to infection, and what that might mean for vaccination.

The studies, published in May, find that infection-induced immunity might last months or longer. But experts believe vaccination may lengthen the duration of this immunity.

Another important finding from both studies is that many people who have recovered from COVID-19 and later receive an mRNA vaccine (like the Moderna or Pfizer-BioNTech vaccine) may not need booster shots.

Both studies examined people exposed to the coronavirus roughly a year earlier.

According to one study, published in Nature, immune cells located in our bone marrow keep a memory of the coronavirus and are able to create protective antibodies to prevent reinfection.

The other study, which is not yet peer-reviewed, found these immune cells can mature and strengthen for about a year after infection.

The data suggest that immunity in convalescent individuals will be very long lasting and that convalescent individuals who receive available mRNA vaccines will produce antibodies and memory B cells that should be protective against circulating SARS-CoV-2 variants, the study authors wrote.

According to Dr. Miriam Smith, chief of infectious disease at Long Island Jewish Forest Hills, Northwell Health in New York, our immune systems include B cells, which are a type of white blood cell (WBC) responsible for humoral immunity.

They originate and mature in the bone marrow, then migrate to the spleen and lymph nodes, she told Healthline. B cells become activated in response to an antigen, a virus, or bacterium.

Smith explained that B cells have receptors on their surface that can bind to these pathogens.

With help from the T cells, another component of the immune system, the B cells will differentiate into plasma cells to produce antibodies that will trap the virus or bacterium invader and allow other cells (macrophages) to destroy the invader, Smith said.

She said that after infection, the memory B cells stay around, so if that same virus or bacterium invades again, the immune system remembers and reactivates to fight it off.

Its still important for those people to be vaccinated, said Dr. Len Horovitz, pulmonary specialist at Lenox Hill Hospital in New York. Their immunity, as far as we know, may not be long-lived more than the 11 months that were documented.

He explained that this means people whove had the disease cannot rely on previous infection to achieve immunity the way people could with measles, mumps, and rubella, and those arent necessarily permanent immunity, but lets say lifelong, he added.

According to Horovitz, reinfections dont necessarily mean a milder case of the disease.

It can be milder, it can be the same in degree of severity, and it can be worse, he explained. So, theres a lot we dont know.

According to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC), reinfection means someone got sick once, recovered, and then got sick again. The CDC emphasizes that although uncommon, reinfection can happen with COVID-19.

We do not know the exact rate [of reinfection], Horovitz said. We know it can occur, we know that its not common, but its not rare.

If reinfection is possible, Horvitz pointed out, then you can spread it to other people.

He said this means people who contract another infection will not contribute to herd immunity.

So, it is important if youve had COVID not to rely on the fact that youve had it and probably wont get it again, Horvitz said. And you need to be immunized because the antibodies that you get from infection are different from the antibodies that you get from immunization. Theyre two different measurable antibodies.

These new studies also suggest that a majority of people who have recovered from COVID-19 and were later immunized with one of the mRNA vaccines will not need booster shots to maintain protection against the virus.

However, vaccinated people who didnt have a previous infection will likely require booster shots, as will the small number of people who had the disease but didnt produce a sufficiently strong immune response.

According to Horovitz, booster shots may likely help.

In fact, there was an article this week in The New York Times where they looked at the response of people whove had COVID and are vaccinated, and they had an unbelievable immune response much more than somebody who was COVID nave [hadnt had a previous infection], he said.

So, someone whos had COVID-19, gets immunized, then they never have to have a booster, he continued. They have more immunity than someone whos been vaccinated [and never had a previous infection], it would seem.

Two recently published studies have found that people who recover from COVID-19 develop antibodies that may last almost a year.

Experts say that reinfection, while uncommon, can still happen and being vaccinated with one of the mRNA vaccines (like the Moderna of Pfizer-BioNTech vaccine) can significantly boost immunity.

Experts also say that people who have had COVID-19 may not require booster shots to maintain protection, since the mRNA vaccines elicit such a powerful immune response in this group.

However, experts caution that people who havent had a previous infection will likely need them.

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Will COVID-19 Vaccines Give Lifelong Immunity to the Disease? - Healthline

Health authorities are trying to determine whether heart inflammation that can occur along with many types of infections could also be a rare side effect in teens and young adults after the second dose of Covid-19 vaccine.

An article on seven U.S. teen boys in several states, published online Friday in Pediatrics, is among the latest reports of heart inflammation discovered after Covid-19 vaccination, though a link to the vaccine has not been proven.

The boys, aged 14 to 19, received Pfizer shots in April or May and developed chest pain within a few days. Heart imaging tests showed a type of heart muscle inflammation called myocarditis.

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None were critically ill. All were healthy enough to be sent home after two to six days in the hospital and are doing doing pretty well, said Preeti Jaggi, an Emory University infectious disease specialist who co-authored the report.

She said more follow-up is needed to determine how the seven fare but that its likely the heart changes were temporary.

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Only one of the seven boys in the Pediatrics report had evidence of a possible previous Covid-19 infection and doctors determined none of them had a rare inflammatory condition linked with the coronavirus.

The cases echo reports from Israel in young men diagnosed after receiving Pfizer shots.

The U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Preventionalerteddoctors last month that it was monitoring a small number of reports of heart inflammation in teens and young adults after the mRNA vaccines, the kind made by Pfizer and Moderna.

The CDC hasnt determined if theres really a link to the shots, and continues to urge that everyone 12 and older get vaccinated against Covid-19, which is far riskier than the vaccine. The Pfizer vaccine is available to those as young as 12; the Moderna shot remains cleared only for adult use.

This kind of heart inflammation can be caused by a variety of infections, including a bout of Covid-19, as well as certain medications and there have been rare reports following other types of vaccinations.

Authorities will have to tease out whether cases following Covid-19 vaccination are occurring more often than that expected background rate.

For now, the CDC says most patients were male, reported symptoms after the second dose, and their symptoms rapidly improved.

I think were in the waiting period where we need to see whether this is cause-and-effect or not, said John Grabenstein of the Immunization Action Coalition, a former director of the Defense Departments immunization program.

A Pediatrics editorial noted that among U.S. children under age 18, there have been over 4 million Covid-19 cases, more than 15,000 hospitalizations and at least 300 deaths.

The CDC on Friday reported that Covid-19-related hospitalizations of kids aged 12 to 17 fell early this year but rose again in March and April. Possible reasons include the spread of new virus variants, more kids going back to school, or the relaxing of mask and social distancing rules, agency researchers said.

While infected kids are less likely to become critically ill than adults, the CDC data on about 200 hospitalizations from 14 states show that one-third were treated in intensive care units. The report had no mention of any heart involvement.

CDC Director Rochelle Walensky said the hospitalizations raise concerns and urged parents to get their kids vaccinated.

Vaccination is our way out of this pandemic, she said in a statement.

The Pediatrics editorial said the heart inflammation cases warrant more investigation but added that the benefits of vaccination against this deadly and highly transmissible disease clearly far outweigh any potential risks.

Editorial co-author Yvonne Maldonado, head of an American Academy of Pediatrics infectious diseases committee, is involved in Pfizer vaccine studies, including a Covid-19 vaccine study in children.

Lindsey Tanner and Lauran Neergaard

Link:

Heart reaction probed as possible rare Covid-19 vaccine link in teens - STAT

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PORTLAND, Ore. (AP) All of Oregon's publicly funded universities will now require the COVID-19 vaccination for returning students. The final two universities to announce the decision were the Oregon Institute of Technology and Eastern Oregon University.

Oregon Public Broadcasting reports that all the schools will have a process for students to get legal exemptions.

Students who attend class fully online and who dont engage in any on-campus activities will not be required to be vaccinated.

OIT made its announcement Wednesday afternoon, and EOU followed on Thursday.

EOU President Tom Inkso said during a board meeting in May that many students and faculty were split on the decision to mandate the COVID-19 vaccine. In a survey, the majority of faculty at EOU were in favor of a vaccine mandate, while the majority of students were against one.

Read more at: https://apnews.com/article/oregon-coronavirus-pandemic-health-coronavirus-vaccine-4ba1ea48f3f111e0869248b4716705a3

Coronavirus / Education / News / Oregon-Northwest

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All of Oregon's public universities will require COVID-19 vaccines this fall - KTVZ

Baltimoreans are going to have to keep wearing face masks indoors through at least the middle of the summer.|| COVID-19 updates | Maryland's latest numbers | Get tested | Vaccine Info ||Mayor Brandon Scott on Friday announced more than 55% of city's adult population has received at least one dose of the COVID-19 vaccine -- that's a 1% gain in the span of one week -- about 4,400 additional doses administered."We are making steady progress toward our goal of 65% of the adult vaccination before the health commissioner lifts the mask requirement for indoor spaces," Scott said.Health Commissioner Dr. Letitia Dzirasa said the city will keep its indoor mask order in place until at least 65% of adults have received at least one or the single-dose vaccine."Reaching our 65% benchmark to lift the indoor mask mandate, as well as a longer term goal of 80% of all residents being vaccinated by early 2022, means that we need to acknowledge the difference between earlier vaccination efforts and where we are today," Dzirasa said. "There are more transmissible variants and we're keenly aware of the possibility of a fall or winter surge of coronavirus cases if we don't reach a majority of the city's residents with vaccines. This summer is the time to get vaccinated."If the city continues at its current pace of vaccinations, Dzirasa said she estimates it could be mid-July when the city reaches its goal."We're happy that people are getting vaccinated. We want more folks to get vaccinated, and I think that's clear," Scott said. "We are taking the vaccine to those communities, working with people so that we're eliminating every excuse to allow people to get vaccinated."Watch the mayor's news conference in its entirety:And Baltimore City is not alone, according to Dr. Bill Moss, the executive director of the Johns Hopkins University Bloomberg School of Public Health's International Vaccine Access Center."The pace of vaccination in the United States has decreased," Moss said.Moss said the pace is slowing down as mass vaccination sites close and mobile clinics take over, racing to reach the vaccine benchmarks from City Halls 65% to President Joe Biden's 70% by July 4."That is an arbitrary benchmark. It doesn't have biological significance, but it's an important one," Moss said.Dzirasa said the city will continue to launch pop-up and mobile vaccination sites through the summer."The pop-up and mobile sites planned for the summer will see our success measured in the hundreds and thousands per week, and less so in the ten-thousands," Dzirasa said. The mayor said the city is focused on getting the vaccine to homebound and vulnerable populations.There were no clear plans detailed Friday by city leaders to boost the number or frequency of mobile clinics and pop-up sites, but they did announce the city's large-scale vaccination clinic at Baltimore City Community College is closing.

Baltimoreans are going to have to keep wearing face masks indoors through at least the middle of the summer.

|| COVID-19 updates | Maryland's latest numbers | Get tested | Vaccine Info ||

Mayor Brandon Scott on Friday announced more than 55% of city's adult population has received at least one dose of the COVID-19 vaccine -- that's a 1% gain in the span of one week -- about 4,400 additional doses administered.

"We are making steady progress toward our goal of 65% of the adult vaccination before the health commissioner lifts the mask requirement for indoor spaces," Scott said.

Health Commissioner Dr. Letitia Dzirasa said the city will keep its indoor mask order in place until at least 65% of adults have received at least one or the single-dose vaccine.

"Reaching our 65% benchmark to lift the indoor mask mandate, as well as a longer term goal of 80% of all residents being vaccinated by early 2022, means that we need to acknowledge the difference between earlier vaccination efforts and where we are today," Dzirasa said. "There are more transmissible variants and we're keenly aware of the possibility of a fall or winter surge of coronavirus cases if we don't reach a majority of the city's residents with vaccines. This summer is the time to get vaccinated."

If the city continues at its current pace of vaccinations, Dzirasa said she estimates it could be mid-July when the city reaches its goal.

"We're happy that people are getting vaccinated. We want more folks to get vaccinated, and I think that's clear," Scott said. "We are taking the vaccine to those communities, working with people so that we're eliminating every excuse to allow people to get vaccinated."

Watch the mayor's news conference in its entirety:

And Baltimore City is not alone, according to Dr. Bill Moss, the executive director of the Johns Hopkins University Bloomberg School of Public Health's International Vaccine Access Center.

"The pace of vaccination in the United States has decreased," Moss said.

Moss said the pace is slowing down as mass vaccination sites close and mobile clinics take over, racing to reach the vaccine benchmarks from City Halls 65% to President Joe Biden's 70% by July 4.

"That is an arbitrary benchmark. It doesn't have biological significance, but it's an important one," Moss said.

Dzirasa said the city will continue to launch pop-up and mobile vaccination sites through the summer.

"The pop-up and mobile sites planned for the summer will see our success measured in the hundreds and thousands per week, and less so in the ten-thousands," Dzirasa said.

The mayor said the city is focused on getting the vaccine to homebound and vulnerable populations.

There were no clear plans detailed Friday by city leaders to boost the number or frequency of mobile clinics and pop-up sites, but they did announce the city's large-scale vaccination clinic at Baltimore City Community College is closing.

Go here to read the rest:

Baltimore 10% short of COVID-19 vaccination goal to lift indoor mask order - WBAL TV Baltimore