Category: Covid-19 Vaccine

The Taft School in Watertown is requiring COVID-19 vaccinations for all age-eligible students next year, according to the school.

School officials said in order to keep the entire school community safe, they have consulted with the medical director and outside health experts and decided to require COVID-19 vaccinations for all students who are age-eligible for next year.

If the vaccine isn't approved for anyone ages 12-15 by the fall, the school will not require it for that age group, the school said.

The school said most of the parents they have talked to have been supportive of the policy.

"Parents are supportive as they want the school to be able to function as fully as possible, and for their children to have as full and safe of an experience as possible," a school spokesperson said in a statement.

Officials said Taft is a boarding school with 600 students from 31 states and 44 countries with 80% of the students living on campus in close proximity to one another with many faculty members and their families living in and supervising student dormitories.

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Taft School in Watertown Requiring COVID-19 Vaccinations for All Age-Eligible Students Next Year - NBC Connecticut

TOMPKINS COUNTY, N.Y.The tone shift from the Tompkins County Health Department regarding the COVID-19 vaccine over the last six weeks or so has been stark. It has moved, gradually then more quickly, from an enthusiastic but measured push, hamstrung somewhat by supply provided by New York State, to a more frenetic effort featuring walk-in appointments and mass clinics throughout the county to reach more rural populations.

That shift is indicative of the county nearing a point that public health officials have warned about, though when exactly it would come has only recently become clearer: the vaccine plateau, or in other words, the point at which everyone who wants to get the vaccine has received it, and how far from the stated herd immunity figure of 75 percent that will be (though that appears to be an ominously moving goalpost).

Now, it seems Tompkins County has reached that stage. With 61.2 percent of county residents having received at least their first vaccine dose as of May 7, and 49.2 percent being fully vaccinated, the rate of people receiving a vaccination has greatly slowed since early April.

To further illustrate that: from April 1 to April 7, 5,839 Tompkins County residents received at least their first vaccine dose (April 1 is the first available data point of that kind). After one other high week, that weekly number has declined each subsequent week, until from April 30 to May 6, just 1,185 residents received at least their first dose.

Part of that is a naturally dwindling number of people who need the vaccine (since theyve already received it), but a group remains that simply doesnt want it and wont take it. Even with the recent slowdown, Tompkins County still leads municipal counties in the state in vaccine rates.

According to Public Health Director Frank Kruppa, the county has officially moved to the point where local supply is outpacing demand. Looking on the bright side, though, Kruppa said he had been impressed by the initial uptake of Tompkins County residents, who had surpassed his expectations that a plateau would likely occur closer to 45 or 50 percent vaccinated.

Since the beginning of the year, I had been thinking that mid-April we were going to make the shift to having more vaccines than people to vaccinate, and thats about when it happened, Kruppa said. Whats been a positive surprise is the number of people weve been able to reach in that timeframe. () Weve still got a ways to go, were still working to get the vaccine into more people, but so far we can be happy about our success.

While supply was the issue early on, access has moved to the forefront of the vaccination efforts by the health department and Cayuga Health System. Thats taken shape in the form of rural pop-up clinics, informed by state data that breaks down vaccine rates by zip code, allowing county officials to see which municipalities are in need of either more access or more awareness.

Ultimately, were going to have to do some work to convince those folks that are on the fence that we really need them to get vaccinated, Kruppa said. One of the best ways we can do that is on a one-to-one basis with our family and friends and those in our circles to talk about our experiences having gotten vaccinated and why it was important to us to do it.

One idea that was under consideration was incentivizing receiving the vaccine. That wouldnt be an entirely novel concept, as states like West Virginia have instituted programs to distribute bonds to those who receive vaccinations. Months ago, Tompkins County had assessed providing some sort of financial compensation to the homeless population, primarily to encourage that particularly transient group to return for a second dose after 3 or 4 weeksbut the emergence of the single-shot Johnson & Johnson vaccine rendered that moot.

Still, Kruppa said it was one approach that county officials have kept on their mind, even if it might be logistically difficult, or look different than a traditional incentivization program.

Incentivizing is something that we definitely have to consider, and we certainly are, and itll depend on the populations and the vaccination numbers, Kruppa said, touting the lifestyle changes that could entice people to receive the vaccine, particularly as proof of COVID-19 vaccination becomes a larger factor in society. Were talking about that in a very targeted way. We need to incentivize vaccinations, but its not always something tangible like money or something to that effect. Theres reasons to be vaccinated beyond protecting yourself and those around you from potentially getting sick, particularly as we reopen.

There is, of course, a substantial amount of the population that isnt currently able to receive the vaccination. Only Pfizers vaccine has been approved for people 16 and over (as opposed to 18 and over for the other available vaccines), meaning that the supply is lessened for that group, and that no vaccines are available for people under 16 years old. That could partially change as soon as next week, but until it does, 10-12 percent of the countys population will remain unvaccinated through no choice of their own.

Independent of further eligibility expansion, Kruppa said this is clearly a different era of vaccine distribution in which it would be nonsensical to employ the same strategies that worked to vaccinate the first 50,000 or so residents of the county.

The days of doing 1,100-1,200 doses up at the mall are behind us, Kruppa acknowledged. Now weve got to get out to the community to get to people and make it as accessible as possible so we can get that next phase of individuals.

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At 61 percent, has Tompkins County reached the COVID-19 vaccine plateau? - The Ithaca Voice

Vials labelled "COVID-19 Coronavirus Vaccine" and sryinge are seen in front of displayed Novavax logo in this illustration taken, February 9, 2021. REUTERS/Dado Ruvic/Illustration/File Photo

Novavax Inc (NVAX.O) said on Thursday it has agreed to start shipping doses of its COVID-19 vaccine candidate to the COVAX program in the third quarter of 2021 in an effort to deliver on its promise to provide 1.1 billion shots to the global vaccination program.

Novavax said it will manufacture and ship 350 million shots itself. India's Serum Institute (SII) will provide the remainder of the 1.1 billion shots to COVAX through a separate agreement.

The COVAX facility is a global initiative aimed at access to COVID-19 vaccines for poorer countries. It is co-led by GAVI, the World Health Organization and the Coalition for Epidemic Preparedness Innovations.

GAVI's chief executive, Seth Berkley, said in a statement that the deal is "a major step towards our goal of delivering 2 billion doses of safe and effective vaccines in 2021."

Novavax reached an preliminary agreement with COVAX in February to make and deliver 1.1 billion doses of its vaccine in partnership with SII.

Its shot has yet to be authorized by regulators in any country but it has posted late stage trial data that shows it is highly effective against the original variant of COVID-19 and a newer variant first found in Britain. read more

Novavax said it will get an upfront payment from GAVI later this month and an additional payment following an emergency use listing for its vaccine by the World Health Organization.

Reuters reported in March that Novavax delayed its supply agreements with the European Union because of production problems, including shortages of raw materials used in making its vaccine. read more Serum has also said that it was having difficulty obtaining the materials needed to make the Novavax vaccine.

Reuters reported earlier this week the company told the European Union it plans to begin delivering its COVID-19 vaccine candidate to the bloc towards the end of this year. read more

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Novavax to start shipping COVID-19 vaccines to COVAX program in third quarter - Reuters

Since the first Covid-19 vaccines were approved in December, the U.S. has administered nearly 250 million doses, getting shots in the arms of more than four in 10 Americans. About a third of the population is fully vaccinated.

Those numbers are far from what experts say is probably necessary to achieve herd immunity, the point at which enough people become immune such that the whole community is protected. And the average daily rate of vaccinations has fallen by almost a third from its peak in mid-April.

While those numbers are frustrating efforts to broaden the vaccinated population, the country does appear to have reached a tipping point in passing the 40% marka figure that many public-health experts call an important threshold where vaccinations gain an upper hand over the coronavirus.

Joel Eastwood contributed to this article.

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Covid-19 Vaccines vs. Infections - The Wall Street Journal

New York City plans to offer tourists a shot of the Covid-19 vaccine as part of a push to draw more foot traffic to city attractions, Mayor Bill de Blasio said Thursday.

Mobile vans would be set up to jab visitors at Central Park, the Empire State Building and other sight-seeing locations, the Democratic mayor said at a press conference. Tourists would be offered the one-shot Johnson & Johnson vaccine. Mr. de Blasio said the vaccinations would offer a positive message to people looking to travel to the city, which saw tourism plummet during the pandemic.

Come here, its safe, its a great place to be, and were going to take care of you," the mayor said.

The initiative still requires state approval because current regulations only allow people living or working in the state to get vaccinated, Mr. de Blasio said. A spokesman for New York Gov. Andrew Cuomo didnt immediately respond to a request for comment.

If approved, vaccination vans are expected to travel to Times Square, Brooklyn Bridge Park and other locations this weekend, according to the mayor.

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New York City to Offer Covid-19 Vaccines to Tourists - The Wall Street Journal

After state and federal officials spent the first several months of the COVID-19 vaccine rollout grappling with the constrained supply of doses, a new challenge now threatens to derail the United States well-won progress inoculating its population against the society-altering disease: Demand.

While more than half of American adults have already gotten at least one shot, health experts say that reaching those who are less eager, hesitant, or simply unwilling to getting the vaccine will require even more painstaking work.

This reluctance to get vaccinated among certain U.S. populations could threaten to derail the progress and really prolong this pandemic, Evan Benjamin, a health policy and management professor at the Harvard T.H. Chan School of Public Health, told reporters during a conference call Friday, noting that roughly 20 percent of Americans are hesitant about the vaccine and another 15 percent say they definitely wont get it.

Some disease experts now think reaching full herd immunity is unlikely in the United States.

However, Benjamin doesnt believe its a lost battle.

Benjamin, who works as the chief medical officer of Boston-based health innovation center Ariadne Labs, led a team that created a toolkit for increasing public confidence in the vaccines.

Theres still progress that we could make to cut down vaccine hesitancy, he said.

According to Benjamin, reluctance to get the vaccine generally falls into three different buckets: concerns about getting sick fromthe vaccine, doubts about whether it actually offers protection, and distrust in the pharmaceutical companies and government officials that developed and approved the vaccines.

The guide looks to directly address those patient concerns, noting that the vaccines provide nearly 100 percent protection against complications from COVID-19 and that the chance of serious side effects are less than one in a million far smaller than the risk of hospitalization or death due to COVID-19 for unvaccinated individuals. It also notes that medical experts have worked on the mRNA science behind the COVID-19 vaccines for years and that they received approval so quickly due to unprecedented government investment and elimination of red tape.

The toolkit also includes best practices for medical providers looking to start those conversations with hesitant patients, from techniques like nonjudgmental listening to tips for easing into a discussion and understanding patients concerns. Polls have shown that doctors and nurses are the most trusted messengers when it comes to decisions about getting the vaccine.

The intention of the conversation guide is to tease out when people are waiting to get the vaccine and then specifically address those reasons, Benjamin said, describing the process as nudging through education. Theres even suggested language to help physicians answer over a dozen common vaccine questions.

Many people were forming opinions before theyve had conversations with their own physician, Benjamin said. And so the purpose of creating the toolkit was to make sure that actual conversations based on facts, based on listening to concerns, answering with accurate information, making sure those conversations were happening, rather than people making decisions based on anecdotes or their Facebook feeds.

To younger individuals who think they dont need to be vaccinated because their immune systems will naturally fight off infection, Benjmain said that this is much more than about you, explaining they could unknowingly catch the disease and pass it on to someone more vulnerable. He also noted that the more the virus is allowed to freely spread, the more opportunity it has to mutate.

If it mutates into something thats even more transmissible or more deadly, thats a real concern to us or not susceptible to a vaccine, Benjamin said.

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Vaccine hesitancy could prolong the pandemic. A local team created a toolkit to overcome it. - Boston.com

Heres what you need to know:Christy Zahrt receiving the Pfizer vaccine at California State University, Northridge, in Los Angeles on Tuesday.Credit...Allison Zaucha for The New York Times

The Pfizer-BioNTech coronavirus vaccine is extraordinarily effective at protecting against severe disease caused by two dangerous variants, according to two studies published Wednesday.

The studies, which are based on the real-world use of the vaccine in Qatar and Israel, suggest that the vaccine can prevent the worst outcomes including severe pneumonia and death caused by B.1.1.7, the variant first identified in the U.K., and B.1.351, the variant first identified in South Africa.

This is really good news, said Dr. Annelies Wilder-Smith, an infectious disease researcher at the London School of Hygiene and Tropical Medicine. At this point in time, we can confidently say that we can use this vaccine, even in the presence of circulating variants of concern.

Previous research suggested that B.1.1.7 is more infectious and more deadly than other variants but that vaccines still worked well against it. On the other hand, vaccines appeared to be less effective against B.1.351, according to earlier studies.

One of the new studies, which appeared in the New England Journal of Medicine, is based on information about more than 200,000 people that was pulled from Qatars national Covid-19 databases between Feb. 1 and March 31.

In multiple analyses, the researchers found that the vaccine was 87 to 89.5 percent effective at preventing infection with B.1.1.7 among people who were at least two weeks past their second shot. It was 72.1 to 75 percent effective at preventing infection with B.1.351 among those who had reached the two-week point.

The vaccine was highly effective at protecting against the worst outcomes. Overall, it was 97.4 percent effective at preventing severe, critical or fatal disease from any form of the coronavirus, and 100 percent effective at preventing severe, critical or fatal disease caused by B.1.1.7 or B.1.351.

The second new study, which was published in The Lancet, was conducted by researchers at Pfizer and at Israels Ministry of Health. It is based on more than 230,000 instances of coronavirus infection that occurred in Israel between Jan. 24 and April 3. During that period, B.1.1.7 accounted for nearly 95 percent of all coronavirus cases in the country, which has vaccinated more than half of its population.

The researchers found that the vaccine was more than 95 percent effective at protecting against coronavirus infection, hospitalization and death among fully vaccinated people 16 and older. It also worked well in older adults. Among those 85 or older, the vaccine was more than 94 percent effective at preventing infection, hospitalization and death.

Gov. Andrew M. Cuomo of New York announced on Wednesday that baseball fans who have been fully vaccinated against the coronavirus will soon be able to enjoy seating arrangements without social distancing at Yankee Stadium and Citi Field, and that spectators who get vaccinated at either stadium during a game will get a free ticket.

Beginning on May 19, the same day the state is ending most capacity restrictions for businesses, fully vaccinated people will be allowed to sit in sections of the stadiums where every seat can be occupied, though they will have to wear masks. They can also be accompanied by children who are under 16 and unvaccinated, who must also wear masks.

People who have not been vaccinated will sit in sections where only one-third of the seats can be occupied, and will have to observe six-foot social distancing rules. Both Yankee Stadium and Citi Field, the home of the Mets, are mass vaccination sites, and both stadiums will offer a voucher for a free ticket to people who are vaccinated there on game days, as an incentive to receive the vaccine.

You take a vaccine shot, get a voucher, you can go to that game, Randy Levine, the president of the New York Yankees, said at Mr. Cuomos news conference. If that games sold out, you can go tomorrow night, go to a game of your choice.

The Johnson & Johnson vaccine, which only requires one shot, will be offered to game attendees, the governor said, so they will not have to schedule a follow-up appointment.

Social distancing, capacity rules and other safety measures vary significantly from one Major League stadium to another, because of differing local regulations and individual team decisions.

Mr. Cuomo also announced that Broadway shows would start selling tickets on Thursday for full-capacity shows with performances starting Sept. 14.

Broadway, home to 41 theaters with between 600 and 1,900 seats, drew 14.6 million people who spent $1.758 billion on tickets in 2019. The pandemic had forced them all to close since March 12, 2020, and reopening is clearly going to be far more complicated than shutting down.

With as many as eight shows a week to fill, and the tourists who make up an important part of their customer base yet to return, producers need time to advertise and market. They need to reassemble and rehearse casts who have been out of work for more than a year. And they need to sort out and negotiate safety protocols.

But the biggest reason for the delay is more gut-based: Individually and collectively, they are trying to imagine when large numbers of people will be likely to feel comfortable traveling to Times Square, funneling through cramped lobbies and walking down narrow aisles to sit shoulder to shoulder with strangers. (Most Broadway shows lose money even in the best of times, so producers say there is no way they can afford to reopen with social distancing, given the industrys high labor and real estate costs.)

The governor said that the states coronavirus indicators were all trending downward, so reopening made sense, though the state would continue monitoring the situation carefully.

According to a New York Times database, the average number of new cases a day in the state had declined by 46 percent in the past 14 days, as of Tuesday. Thirty-seven percent of the states population was fully vaccinated, as of Wednesday.

The virus does appear to be ebbing in New York City. But the city still faces challenges from uneven vaccine coverage, the slowing pace of vaccinations and the growing prevalence of variants in the city.

The coronavirus variant first discovered in New York City does not appear to be leading to more severe infections, or causing re-infections at a significantly higher rate than older forms of the virus, according to a new, preliminary analysis by city health officials that was published by the Centers for Disease and Control and Prevention on Wednesday.

The findings are the latest sign that the city may have dodged a worst-case scenario with the variant, B.1.526, as the virus seems to be ebbing in the area. Two recent laboratory studies have also shown that antibodies stimulated by the Pfizer-BioNTech and Moderna vaccines work against the variant, which is among the most common versions found in genetically analyzed cases in New York City.

However, the studys lead author underscored that the risks posed by the variant, along with other forms of the virus, including the variant first detected in Britain, B.1.1.7, remain serious, and that New Yorkers should not let down their guard even as restrictions on public life are lifted. In early April, the C.D.C. director said that the B.1.1.7 variant had become the most common source of new infections in the United States, and efforts to improve the U.S.s ability to track variants have received a significant funding boost.

The fact that the B.1.526 and the B.1.1.7 variants are circulating widely in New York City shows that they are able to compete with other variants and continue to make up a growing share of cases, Corinne Thompson, co-lead of the epidemiology data unit for the city health department, said in an email. It is critically important for New Yorkers to get vaccinated and follow public health precautions to minimize their exposure.

The B.1526 variant was first discovered circulating in Upper Manhattan in November by researchers analyzing genomes of the virus. It initially spread rapidly, rising to about 40 percent of all cases genetically sequenced in New York City by late February.

That rapid pace led researchers to conclude that the variant was more contagious that original versions, but they remained unsure if it was more serious or lethal.

In recent weeks, however, the prevalence of the B.1.526 variant has plateaued in genetically analyzed cases, even as sequencing capabilities remain limited. But the percentage of cases that are variants that scientists do believe are more dangerous including B.1.1.7, and P.1, the variant first discovered in Brazil has continued to rise.

Researchers said they were glad to see signs that the B.1.526 variant appeared to be less worrisome than B.1.1.7.

This is very reassuring, in that it is not worse than the more severe U.K. variant, in the most comprehensive analysis of our variant to date, said Denis Nash, an epidemiologist with the City University of New York, who was not involved with the study

However, the news was not all good. On Wednesday, the city released new data showing that the B.1.1.7 variant had overtaken B.1.526 in New York City, accounting for 42 percent of cases sequenced in the week of April 19-25. The P.1 variant now makes up about 4 percent of city cases. (B.1.526 dropped to 37 percent of cases.)

The new analysis published by the C.D.C. underscored the additional danger of B.1.1.7. It found that nearly 6 percent of people who were infected with that variant in New York City had been hospitalized, among cases it analyzed, compared to just over 4 percent of people with B.1.526 and other versions.

The report analyzed roughly 10,000 virus specimens in New York City taken between January 1 and April 5. Although it amounts to the most complete real world study of the genetic balance of cases in New York City to date, researchers cautioned that the data remained preliminary and limited, as only about 3 percent of all cases in the city were genetically analyzed during that period.

The report called for further study and timely genetic analysis to get a better handle on the risks.

Because relatively few specimens were sequenced over the study period, the authors wrote, the statistical power might have been insufficient to detect modest differences in rates of uncommon outcomes such as breakthrough infection or re-infection.

The State Department announced on Wednesday that it would approve the voluntary departure of nonemergency U.S. government employees in India as the country battles a second wave of coronavirus infections.

According to a travel advisory posted on the State Departments website, the agency is urging U.S. citizens to take advantage of commercial flights out of India and has also approved the voluntary departure of family members of U.S. government employees.

Indias surge in Covid-19 cases has prompted other countries to take precautions concerning who is allowed within their borders. Earlier this week Australia began a travel ban, making it a criminal offense for its citizens in India to return home a move some have condemned as overly harsh.

Last week, the Biden administration announced it would begin restricting travel from India to the United States, although restrictions will not apply to citizens or lawful permanent residents, their spouses, minor children or siblings as well as the parents of citizens or lawful permanent residents who are under 21.

Facing mounting pressure, the administration committed to exporting materials for vaccines to India along with therapeutics, rapid diagnostic test kits, ventilators and personal protective gear.

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So we have two sets of guidance. We have guidance for masking, and if youre vaccinated or unvaccinated outdoors, and we also have this camp guidance. Certainly if we have authorization for 12 to 15-year-olds, and they can get vaccinated before going to camp, thats what I would advocate for so that they can take their masks off outdoors. We also have guidance, the camp guidance and the outdoor guidance for individuals who are unvaccinated. So those who are 12 and under who are attending camp, and we have some availability of not wearing your mask outdoors in small groups, in groups with the other children who are vaccinated. What were really trying to avoid in this camp guidance is what we saw in outbreaks in camps last summer. So if you have five, 10-year-olds who are on a soccer field, all in front of the same soccer ball, were trying to make sure that theyre not a lot of heavy breathing around a singular soccer ball with five kids around it at the same time. But for spread out activities, our outdoor mass guidance for unvaccinated people small groups allows for those kids to be unvaccinated. And what we really are trying to do is ensure that all of these kids can have a really good camp experience and keep the camps open without any outbreaks.

As federal regulators prepare to authorize use of the Pfizer-BioNTech coronavirus vaccine in adolescents aged 12 to 15, a top health official said Wednesday that vaccinated individuals in that age group will be able to remove their masks outdoors at camps.

The remarks by the director of the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, Dr. Rochelle Walensky, came after criticism that the agencys recently issued guidance for campers was needlessly strict. That guidance had said children at camps should be masked except when eating, drinking, napping or swimming.

The Pfizer vaccine is now authorized only for people 16 or older, and the two other vaccines in use now in the United States are limited to those 18 or older. But federal regulators are expected to expand the Pfizer authorization to include adolescents as soon as this week.

Dr. Walenksy said on Wednesday that the agencys guidance was intended to prevent a repeat of virus outbreaks last year that were traced to summer camps. She said that unvaccinated, unmasked children who engage in close-contact sports like soccer are at risk of transmitting the virus even when outdoors.

But she said vaccination would mitigate those risks. If we have authorization for 12- to 15-year-olds, and they can get vaccinated before going to camp, thats what I would advocate, so they can take their masks off outdoors, she said.

The C.D.C. said last week that people in the United States who are fully vaccinated no longer need to wear masks outdoors while walking, running, hiking or biking alone, or when in small gatherings with members of their own households. Masks are still necessary in crowded outdoor venues like sports stadiums, the agency said.

If the Food and Drug Administration clears the Pfizer vaccine for broader use, an advisory panel of experts would be expected to meet within a few days to make recommendation to the C.D.C. about whether to go ahead with vaccinating adolescents. The F.D.A. and the C.D.C. have shared responsibility for vaccine use.

White House officials say that the federal government is poised to make shots available for adolescents through pharmacies, pediatricians offices and other sites as soon as the health agencies act. We are prepared to move as quickly as we can after any kind of authorization, Andy Slavitt, a White House pandemic adviser, said Wednesday.

We know that kids want to go to camp this summer, he said. We know that parents want them to be safe. If they want that done without masks, vaccinations are the best answer.

The Biden administration on Wednesday came out in support of waiving intellectual property protections for Covid-19 vaccines, a breakthrough for international efforts to suspend patent rules as the pandemic rages in India and South America.

The United States had been a major holdout at the World Trade Organization over a proposal to suspend intellectual property protections in an effort to ramp up vaccine production. But President Biden had come under increasing pressure to throw his support behind the proposal, including from many congressional Democrats.

Katherine Tai, the United States trade representative, announced the administrations position in a statement on Wednesday afternoon.

This is a global health crisis, and the extraordinary circumstances of the Covid-19 pandemic call for extraordinary measures, she said. The administration believes strongly in intellectual property protections, but in service of ending this pandemic, supports the waiver of those protections for Covid-19 vaccines.

Ms. Tai added that the United States would participate in negotiations at the W.T.O. over the matter, adding, Those negotiations will take time given the consensus-based nature of the institution and the complexity of the issues involved.

Activists have been pressing for the waiver but have also said that a waiver alone will not boost world supply of the vaccine; it must be accompanied by the process known as tech transfer, in which patent holders supply technical know-how and personnel.

This is a start, said Gregg Gonsalves, a Yale University epidemiologist and longtime AIDS activist who has been pressing for the waiver. We need the writing of the text of this waiver now to be transparent and public, but as we have always said we need tech transfer now.

Earlier Wednesday, members of the W.T.O. held another round of discussions about waiving intellectual property protections. Further discussions are expected in the coming weeks, as India and South Africa, which proposed the waiver, are preparing a revised plan for nations to consider.

Ngozi Okonjo-Iweala, the director general of the W.T.O., urged members to proceed with negotiations over the text of the plan.

I am firmly convinced that once we can sit down with an actual text in front of us, we shall find a pragmatic way forward, she said at a meeting of the organizations General Council.

A federal judge on Wednesday struck down the nationwide moratorium on evictions imposed by the Trump administration last year and extended by President Biden until June 30, a ruling that could affect tenants struggling to pay rent during the pandemic.

The decision, by Judge Dabney Friedrich of the U.S. District Court for the District of Columbia, is the most significant federal ruling on the moratorium yet, and follows three similar federal court decisions. The Justice Department immediately appealed, and will seek an emergency stay of the decision, potentially delaying a final resolution of the case past the moratoriums planned June 30 expiration.

It remains unclear how wide an impact the decision will have on renters. It does not necessarily bind state housing court judges, who rule on eviction orders, and two other federal courts have upheld the moratorium, adding to the confusion about its fate.

There are now numerous conflicting court rulings at the district court level, with several judges ruling in favor of the moratorium and several ruling against, said Diane Yentel, president of the National Low Income Housing Coalition, a national tenants advocacy group.

Still, tenants rights groups said the decision on Wednesday could leave more low-income and working-class tenants vulnerable to eviction in coming weeks even as the Biden administration is beginning to disburse tens of billions of dollars in aid to help them catch up on unpaid rent.

Landlords said the decision validated their arguments that the legal basis for the federal moratorium was unsound and overstepped the governments power.

The case was brought in November by the Alabama Association of Realtors and a group of real estate agents in Georgia who claimed the moratorium shifted the burden for rent payments from the tenants to landlords at a time when many owners have been struggling to meet their own expenses.

The moratorium has had a substantial effect. Despite the sharp economic downturn created by the pandemic, eviction filings declined 65 percent in 2020 over the usual annual rate, according to an analysis of court data by the nonprofit group Eviction Lab.

Housing analysts warned that Wednesdays ruling could embolden more landlords to begin eviction proceedings against tenants before the federal government can disburse $45 billion in emergency housing assistance appropriated by Congress.

It couldnt come at a worse time, said Mary K. Cunningham, who studies housing with the Urban Institute, a nonpartisan policy group. This is happening just as communities are trying to beat the clock, waiting for the federal government to get its new housing subsidies out the door before the moratorium expires on June 30. Its terrible news.

Landlords and real estate agents downplayed concerns that lifting the moratorium will create an eviction crisis. With rental assistance secured, the economy strengthening and unemployment rates falling, there is no need to continue a blanket, nationwide eviction ban, a spokesman for the National Association of Realtors said in a statement.

The executive order covers any single renter making less than $99,000 a year and families making twice that much. About 8.2 million tenants reported that they had fallen behind in their rent payments during the pandemic, according to Census Bureau estimates.

Federal decisions, like the one issued Wednesday, are significant but serve as guidance rather than an order although an unequivocal ruling from a prominent federal court is likely to sway some local judges, said Eric Dunn, director of litigation for the National Housing Law Project, a tenant advocacy group.

A single dose of the Moderna coronavirus vaccine given as a booster rapidly increased the level of antibodies in people who had already been vaccinated, the company announced on Wednesday.

The antibodies produced by the booster were effective against the original form of the virus, as well as against the variants of concern first identified in South Africa and Brazil. A second booster specifically designed to counter B.1.351, the variant identified in South Africa, produced an even stronger immune response against that variant.

The results are from an early stage of Modernas trial of the boosters and have not yet been published or vetted by other scientists. Moderna plans to post the findings to the preprint server bioRxiv, the company said on Wednesday.

We are encouraged by these new data, which reinforce our confidence that our booster strategy should be protective against these newly detected variants, Stphane Bancel, Modernas chief executive officer, said in a statement.

The boosters, tested in 40 participants, were administered as a third shot six to eight months after the two-shot immunization with the current vaccine. Antibodies from the initial vaccination were detectable in 37 of those people, but in about half the participants, the antibodies performed poorly against the variants that have pummeled South Africa and Brazil. The boosters raised the levels of the antibodies against both variants, although the boosters were still slightly less effective than against the original form of the virus.

The mRNA platform used in the Pfizer and Moderna vaccines can be readily tweaked, enabling the companies to produce newer versions within weeks. Moderna began modifying its vaccine to combat the variant identified in South Africa, after reports emerged that the existing vaccines are slightly less effective against that variant. The variant carries a mutation that helps the virus sidestep the immune system.

Moderna is testing three strategies for enhancing the immunity produced by the current vaccine: using the current vaccine as a booster; using the booster designed specifically to combat B.1.351; and a combination of the two in a single vaccine.

Wednesdays announcement refers to results achieved two weeks after immunization with either a booster of the original vaccine or of the booster modified for B.1.351. The company plans to release data from later time points, and from tests of the combination booster, as they become available.

BOGOT, Colombia A teenager shot to death after kicking a police officer. A young man bleeding out on the street as protesters shout for help. Police officers firing on unarmed demonstrators. Helicopters swarming overhead, tanks rolling through neighborhoods, explosions echoing in the streets. A mother crying for her son.

We are destroyed, said Milena Meneses, 39, whose only son, Santiago, 19, was killed in a protest over the weekend.

Colombians demonstrating over the past week against the poverty and inequality that have worsened the lives of millions since the pandemic began have been met with a powerful crackdown by their government, which has responded to the protests with the same militarized police force it often uses against rebel fighters and organized crime.

The clashes have left at least 24 people dead, most of them demonstrators, and at least 87 missing. They have also exacerbated the anger with officials in the capital, Bogot. Protesters say the government is increasingly out of touch with peoples lives.

Experts say this explosion of frustration could presage unrest across Latin America, where several countries face the combustible mix of an unrelenting pandemic, growing hardship and plummeting government revenue.

We are all connected, said Len Valencia, a political analyst, noting that past protests had jumped from country to country. This could spread across the region.

The marches began last week after Mr. Duque proposed a tax overhaul meant to close a pandemic-related economic shortfall, and since then the crowds have grown. Demonstrators now include teachers, doctors, students, members of major unions, longtime activists and Colombians who have never before taken to the streets.

Latin America was one of the regions hardest hit by the virus last year, with cemeteries filling past capacity, the sick dying while awaiting care in hospital hallways, and family members spending the night in lines to buy medical oxygen in an attempt to keep loved ones alive.

The regions economies shrank an average of 7 percent. In many places, unemployment, particularly among the young, spiked. And in the first few months of 2021, the Covid-19 situation has worsened.

Members of the global Indian diaspora, nearly 17 million, have mobilized from afar to help back home, where the Indian health system is buckling under the weight of a devastating coronavirus wave. Here is one U.S. residents story.

One evening in late April, as the coronavirus was surging in India, Prarthana Sannamani, a Microsoft software engineer in Seattle, was growing increasingly worried about her parents, who live near the southern Indian city of Bangalore.

Gosh, Im so far away. What if my family gets sick and needs help? she recalled thinking.

Ms. Sannamani, who is in her 20s and has lived in the United States for four years, began scouring the internet and compiling a document with phone numbers for ambulances and hospitals for her parents, in case they fell ill.

But the list kept growing because I just started finding so much information, and then I thought, hey, I really want this to reach more people, she said.

Ms. Sannamani planned to share the list on Twitter, until she realized that only a small fraction of Indias 1.3 billion people used the social network, she said. One night, she came up with the idea of building a website. By the time she went to bed six hours later, at 4 a.m., Ms. Sannamani had created covidresourcesindia.com, with contact information for hospitals and emergency services in Bangalore.

Excerpt from:

Covid-19: Studies Indicate Pfizer-BioNTech Vaccine Protects Against the Most Severe Outcomes of Some Virus Variants - The New York Times

A COVID-19 vaccine from French company Valneva has yet to complete clinical trials. But it has caught the eye of governments in the UK, Europe and Australia.

One of the vaccines main selling points is its apparent ability to mount a more general immune response against SARS-CoV-2, the virus that causes COVID-19, rather than rely on the spike protein to do this.

This means the vaccine is more likely to be effective against the type of virus variants weve already seen emerging, and may emerge in the future. Some reports describe it as variant proof.

The hope is vaccines using this technology would be able to provide protection for longer, rather than keep being reformulated to get ahead of these new variants.

Valnevas vaccine, called VLA2001, is based on tried and tested vaccine technology. Its the technology used in the vaccine against poliovirus and in some types of flu vaccines. And the company already has a commercially available Japanese encephalitis vaccine based on the same technology.

VLA2001 uses an inactivated version of the whole virus, which cannot replicate or cause disease.

The virus is inactivated using a chemical called beta-propiolactone or BPL. This is widely used to inactivate other viruses for vaccines. It was even used to make experimental versions of vaccines against SARS-CoV, the virus that caused SARS (severe acute respiratory syndrome).

This type of inactivation is expected to preserve the structure of the viral proteins, as they would occur in nature. This means the immune system will be presented with something similar to what occurs naturally, and mount a strong immune response.

Read more: From adenoviruses to RNA: the pros and cons of different COVID vaccine technologies

After being inactivated, the vaccine would be highly purified. Then, an adjuvant (an immune stimulant) is added to induce a strong immune response.

VLA2001 isnt the first inactivated vaccine against COVID-19. Leading COVID-19 inactivated vaccines, such as those developed by Sinopharm and Bharat Biotech, have been approved for use in China and received emergency approval in other countries, including India.

However, VLA2001 is the only COVID-19 vaccine candidate using whole inactivated virus in clinical trials in the UK and in mainland Europe.

This approach to vaccine development presents the immune system with all of the structural components of the SARS-CoV-2 virus, not just the spike protein, as many other COVID-19 vaccines do.

So Valnevas vaccine is thought to produce a more broadly protective immune response. That is, antibodies and cells of the immune system are able to recognise and neutralise more pieces of the virus than just the spike protein.

As a result, Valnevas vaccine could be more effective at tackling emerging COVID-19 virus variants and, if approved, play a useful role as a booster vaccine.

Valnevas vaccine can be stored at standard cold-chain conditions (2-8) and is expected to be given as two shots.

Read more: UK, South African, Brazilian: a virologist explains each COVID variant and what they mean for the pandemic

According to the company, no safety concerns or serious adverse events were associated with VLA2001 in early-stage clinical trials.

VLA2001 was given as a low, medium or high dose in these trials with all participants in the high-dose group generating antibodies to the virus spike protein.

One measure of immune response in the high-dose group after completing the two doses indicated antibody levels were, after two weeks, at least as high as those seen in patients naturally infected with SARS-CoV-2.

Interestingly, VLA2001 induced immune responses against a number of virus proteins (including the spike protein) across all participants, an encouraging sign the vaccine can provide broad protection against COVID-19.

The vaccine has since advanced to phase 3 clinical trials in the UK. The trial, which started in April 2021, will compare its safety and efficacy with the AstraZeneca vaccine.

The phase 3 trial is expected to be completed by the northern hemispheres autumn this year. And if successful, would be submitted for regulatory approval after that.

Read more: A single vaccine to beat all coronaviruses sounds impossible. But scientists are already working on one

Despite phase 3 clinical trials only just starting, the UK government has pre-ordered more than 100 million doses of the vaccine from Valneva, with the option of buying more down the track. If trials prove successful and pass regulatory approval, this means the vaccine could be used as a booster in time for this years northern hemispheres winter.

Australia has confirmed its also in talks with Valeneva about importing the vaccine. Some countries in Europe are also reportedly keen to strike a deal.

As new cases of COVID-19 increase globally, well continue to see new viral variants emerge that threaten to escape the protection existing vaccines offer.

Already, we are seeing vaccines from companies such as Moderna and Novavax begin to reformulate their spike protein-based vaccines to get ahead of emerging variants.

So Valnevas vaccine, with the potential to elicit a more broadly protective immune response, may prove to be a useful tool to combat the rise of the virus and its mutations. However, whether the vaccine is really variant proof or merely less affected by emerging variants remains to be seen.

Excerpt from:

What's the Valneva COVID-19 vaccine, the French shot that's supposed to be 'variant proof'? - The Conversation AU

President Biden on Wednesday came out in favor of the World Trade Organization's proposed waiver of patent protections for COVID-19 vaccines. Evan Vucci/AP hide caption

President Biden on Wednesday came out in favor of the World Trade Organization's proposed waiver of patent protections for COVID-19 vaccines.

President Biden threw his support behind a World Trade Organization proposal on Wednesday to waive intellectual property protections for COVID-19 vaccines, clearing a hurdle for vaccine-strapped countries to manufacture their own vaccines even though the patents are privately held.

"This is a global health crisis, and the extraordinary circumstances of the COVID-19 pandemic call for extraordinary measures," U.S. trade representative Katherine Tai said in a statement. "The Administration believes strongly in intellectual property protections, but in service of ending this pandemic, supports the waiver of those protections for COVID-19 vaccines."

The pace of vaccinating against COVID-19 in the U.S. is slowing down. In some places, there are more vaccine doses than people who want them.

Meanwhile, India is now the epicenter of the pandemic, and just 2% of its population is fully vaccinated.

The World Trade Organization is considering a proposal to address that inequity as India, South Africa and more than 100 other nations advocate to waive intellectual property rights for COVID-19 vaccines and medications, which might let manufacturers in other countries make their own.

The consequences of not passing the waiver are "staggering," Mustaqeem de Gama, South Africa's World Trade Organization counselor, told NPR "not only on the level of the loss of human lives but also on the economic level."

"We believe that intellectual property rights constitute a very substantial barrier to ensure equitable access," he said. "We believe that if we could have a limited, targeted waiver to ensure that we can ramp up production in various parts of the world, we would go a long way to ensure that we address not only the prevention but also the treatment of COVID-19."

Previous to Wednesday's announcement, the U.S. was among several other wealthy nations including the U.K., Canada and Japan that resisted WTO negotiations about the proposal.

In response to the administration's support, the Pharmaceutical Research and Manufacturers of America, a drug industry trade group, expressed strong opposition and argued that the move represents a break in long-standing U.S. policy over medical patents amid global inequities.

"In the midst of a deadly pandemic, the Biden Administration has taken an unprecedented step that will undermine our global response to the pandemic and compromise safety," a statement from PhRMA reads. "This decision will sow confusion between public and private partners, further weaken already strained supply chains and foster the proliferation of counterfeit vaccines."

The trade group added that the decision will compromise U.S. job creation and the country's place as a leader in biomedical innovation.

The battle mirrors the one during the HIV/AIDS epidemic in the 1990s, when drug companies warred with global health officials who sought to produce generic treatments. Drugmakers eventually retreated after former South African President Nelson Mandela accused the companies of using patents to profit from his country's health crisis.

The HIV crisis gave way to a precedent in relaxing patent restrictions: In 2001, the WTO added the Doha Declaration to its Trade-Related Aspects of Intellectual Property Rights (TRIPS) agreement to allow low-income nations to import and develop generic versions of patented medicines.

The head of the World Health Organization praised the Biden administration's intent to lift the proprietary limits on COVID-19 vaccines.

"This is a monumental moment in the fight against #COVID19," Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus said on Twitter. "The commitment by @POTUS Joe Biden & @USTradeRep @AmbassadorTai to support the waiver of IP protections on vaccines is a powerful example of leadership to address global health challenges."

Read the original:

Biden Backs Waiving International Patent Protections For COVID-19 Vaccines - NPR

Mixing different kinds of COVID-19 vaccines might help boost immune responses, but the idea has been slow to catch on. Angela Weiss/AFP via Getty Images hide caption

Mixing different kinds of COVID-19 vaccines might help boost immune responses, but the idea has been slow to catch on.

Typically, if you get a COVID-19 vaccine that requires two doses, you should get two of the same vaccine. Two Pfizer shots, or two Moderna shots. Not one and then the other.

But in the future, that could change, either by necessity or by design.

This idea of using two types of vaccines isn't a new concept. It's known as heterologous vaccination, although there's a more colloquial term.

"In the U.K. at the moment, we're sort of calling it 'mix and match,' " says Helen Fletcher, a professor of immunology at the London School of Hygiene & Tropical Medicine. She says shortages of a vaccine or concerns about side effects may induce health officials to adopt a mix-and-match strategy.

Health agencies in France and Germany are already encouraging people who've gotten the AstraZeneca vaccine to consider getting one of the mRNA vaccines for their second shot.

"So there's a practical reason why you would want to mix two different types of vaccine. But there is also a scientific reason as well," Fletcher says.

Basically, all vaccines work by showing people's immune systems something that looks like an invading virus but really isn't. If the real virus ever comes along, their immune systems will recognize it and be prepared to fight it off.

Using two different vaccines is a bit like giving the immune system two pictures of the virus, maybe one face-on and one in profile.

"If you give two different types of vaccine, then you tend to get a better immune response than if you give the same vaccine twice," Fletcher says.

Some vaccine manufacturers have embraced this approach and are making vaccines of two different types by design.

One is a company called Gritstone bio, based in Emeryville, Calif.

"The natural human response to a virus is to mobilize two distinct arms of the immune system," says Gritstone CEO Andrew Allen. One utilizes antibodies; the other relies on something called CD8 T cells. Unlike antibodies, CD8 T cells don't recognize a virus directly, but they do recognize a cell that has been infected by a virus and they can destroy the infected cell.

Gritstone has developed two different vaccines to activate each arm: a viral vector vaccine and an mRNA vaccine. The viral vector vaccine is very good at stimulating the production of CD8 T cells.

"The mRNA [vaccine] makes a really good antibody response. And so potentially by combining these, you kind of get the best of both worlds," Allen says.

Gritstone's approach is already being tested in human volunteers.

This mix-and-match approach has been tried with vaccines for a variety of diseases.

"Diseases such as HIV, malaria, TB, even influenza," says Bali Pulendran, Violetta L. Horton professor and professor of immunology and microbiology at Stanford University. "So there's ample evidence for the benefits of such strategies."

If it's such a good idea, why isn't it used routinely?

Pulendran speculates there are two main reasons. One has to do with the way new vaccines are approved.

"Regulatory authorities love simplicity," Pulendran says. "The simpler the vaccine regimen, the more palatable they find this to be."

The other reason is that while mix and match may make scientific sense, it doesn't always make business sense.

"For example, if Company A makes one vaccine and Company B makes another vaccine, unless there's some overarching incentive for the two companies to enter into some sort of a marriage, I think either company would in general prefer to go along with their own," Pulendran says.

Of course, if a small company like Gritstone shows that a mix-and-match strategy really leads to a dramatically better vaccine, you can bet other pharmaceutical companies will find a way to solve the business problem.

See the article here:

Giving 2 Doses Of Different COVID-19 Vaccines Could Boost Immune Response - NPR