Category: Covid-19 Vaccine

As more Americans receive Covid-19 vaccines, just how effective are vaccines at combatting variants of the new coronavirus that are surging throughout the United States? Here's what the latest research says.

Your top resources for Covid-19 readiness

According to The Hill, experts are scrambling to determine how well authorized vaccines perform against coronavirus variants because, in several countries, the variants are becoming the dominant version of the virus in circulation.

For example, CDC Director Rochelle Walensky last week said the B.1.1.7 variant, which was first identified in the United Kingdom, is now the United States' dominant coronavirus strain, The Hill reports.

The P.1 variant, which was first detected in Brazil, is now the second-most prevalent version of the virus in the United States, and the country also has reported increasing cases of the B.1.351 variant, which was first detected in South Africa.

There is limited research available on how currently authorized vaccines perform against the variants. However, the research that is availablealthough generally preliminarysuggest that several vaccines are fairly effective at protecting against both the original version of the virus and the range of variants emerging around the globe.

For instance, one study of Johnson & Johnson's vaccinethe distribution of which U.S. officials have temporarily pausedfound it was 85% effective at preventing severe Covid-19 from the B.1.351 variant, which was first discovered in South Africa. Similarly, a small study of Pfizer/BioNTech's vaccine found it was up to 100% effective at preventing even mild cases from the B.1.351 variant.

However, some preliminary research suggests not all vaccines are so effective against all variants. For example, one study of the vaccine developed by Novavaxwhich has not been authorized for use in the United Statesfound that, although it's about 89% effective at preventing mild Covid-19 from the original strain of the coronavirus, that efficacy drops to about 50% against B.1.351.

And several lab experimentsin which blood samples from vaccinated people are exposed to variants or manufactured "pseudo-virus" variantssuggest that the antibodies produced by the Moderna vaccine are less effective against B.1.351 than against the original version of the virus. According to NPR's "Goats and Soda," these experiments suggest it takes about eight times as many of the antibodies produced by the Moderna vaccine to neutralize the B.1.351 variant as to neutralize the original version of the virus.

That said, Salim Abdool Karim, an infectious disease researcher and co-chair of the Covid-19 advisory committee for South Africa, said he was not deeply concerned about those findings. "[T]he Moderna vaccine produces pretty high levels of antibodies," he said, "so there is enough antibody still to neutralize the virus."

However, Abdool Karim expressed more concern about the efficacy of AstraZeneca's vaccine, which has not been authorized in the United States, against certain variants. One very small study suggested that that vaccine was almost entirely ineffective at preventing mild cases of Covid-19 against B.1.351, and a separate experiment found that it takes 86 times as many antibodies from the AstraZeneca vaccine to neutralize B.1.351 as it does to neutralize the original strain of the virus.

"I'm basically not confident about [AstraZeneca's] vaccine at all" in mitigating B.1.351 infections, Abdool Karim said.

Amid these laboratory findings, researchers in Israel recently conducted the first real-world studyalthough still in pre-printassessing the efficacy of the Pfizer/BioNTech vaccine against the B.1.1.7 and B.1.351 variants, with largely positive results.

For the study, researchers compared almost 400 people in Israel who had been infected with the coronavirus after receiving at least one dose of the Pfizer/BioNTech vaccine with a control group of unvaccinated people who had similarly contracted the virus. Of those in the vaccinated group, 149 participants were infected at least one week after their second dose; the rest were infected more than two weeks following their first dose, but less than one week after their second dose.

Overall, the researchers found that the vaccine performed well against all the variants circulating in Israel. However, because the vaccine doesn't have 100% efficacy, a few breakthrough infections occurred among vaccinated peopleand those infections, while generally not severe, were most likely to be caused by the B.1.351 variant.

Specifically, the researchers found that "vaccine effectiveness remains high" against the B.1.1.7 variant. "We see evidence for reduced vaccine effectiveness against the [B.1.1.7] variant, but after two doses, extremely high effectiveness kicks in," Adi Stern, a researcher at Tel Aviv University and senior author on the study, said.

However, the researchers found that B.1.351 accounted for 5.4% of breakthrough infections among people who had received both doses and just 0.7% of the infections among unvaccinated people. "This means that the [B.1.351] variant is able, to some extent, to break through the vaccine's protection," Stern said.

Even so, Stern noted that while the study wasn't able to pinpoint precisely how much lower the vaccine's efficacy was against the B.1.351 variant, she pointed out that "even if the [B.1.351] variant does break through the vaccine's protection, it has not spread widely through the population."

Separately, Richard Lessells, an infectious disease expert focusing on the B.1.351 variant, said he doesn't believe the results of this study should "worry us unduly."

The study results "seem to provide support to what we currently understandthat while the neutralizing antibody response is still developing post-vaccination and has not yet reached peak, there is still a risk of infection."

"It is always important to keep in mind that vaccine protection is never 100%," Stern said. "As long as case counts are high, even fully vaccinated individuals should take precautions" (CIDRAP News, 4/12; Aizenman, "Goats and Soda," NPR, 4/9; Schumaker, ABC News, 4/12; Stein, "Shots," NPR, 4/15; Choi, The Hill, 4/11; Williams, The Hill, 4/09).

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How well Covid-19 vaccines work against variants, according to the latest research - The Daily Briefing

SALISBURY This weeks drive-thru vaccination clinic hosted by the Rowan County Health Department will be 1:45 p.m. to 7 p.m. Thursday.

The clinic will be held in the parking of West End Plaza, 1935 Jake Alexander Blvd. West, and offer roughly 1,400 Pfizer vaccines to the public, including 220 left over from an event at Livingstone College on Saturday. Anyone 16 and older is eligible to be vaccinated Thursday.

There were still plenty of appointments available Monday afternoon. People can sign up for an appointment by visiting rowancountync.gov/covidvaccine or calling the COVID-19 hotline at 980-432-1800 and selecting option No. 1. The Rowan County Health Department asks that people who sign up for an appointment make themselves available for a second dose on Wednesday, May 12.

People can schedule a second appointment after completing the first by calling 980-432-1800 or scanning a QR code received on Thursday.

So far, 33,610 Rowan County residents, or about 23.7%, have received at least one dose of a COVID-19 vaccine, which is below state and national averages and among the worst in the state. The N.C. Department of Health and Human Services says 36.8% of North Carolinians have received at least one dose and 46.6% of state residents 18 or older are vaccinated (a number not available on a county level). The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention says 39.5% of the total U.S. population has received at least one dose.

Rowan residents fully vaccinated number 24,845, which is 17.5% of the population.

The number of new, daily positives in the county remains steady, with 25 new cases reported Monday. There have been 433 positives reported in the previous two weeks.

COVID-19 deaths among Rowan County residents remain at 299, with no new ones reported Monday.

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Afternoon, evening COVID-19 vaccination clinic planned Thursday - Salisbury Post - Salisbury Post

What is a COVID-19 vaccine passport, and will I need one?

Vaccine passports, or vaccine certificates, are documents that show you were vaccinated against COVID-19 or recently tested negative for the virus. They could help you get into places such as stadiums or even countries that are looking to reopen safely.

The certificates are still being developed, and how and whether theyll be used could vary widely around the world. Experts say they should be free and available on paper, not just on apps, since not everyone has a smartphone.

In the U.S., federal officials say there are no plans to make them broadly mandatory. In some states, Republican governors have issued orders barring businesses or state agencies from asking people to show proof of vaccination.

Objections revolve mostly around privacy and security how peoples personal information will be stored and fairness. Critics say the passports will benefit people and countries with more access to vaccines.

Supporters say they could make reopenings faster and easier. Proof of vaccination or a negative test could be a way for businesses and schools to reassure customers, students and parents that steps are being taken to limit transmission of the virus.

International travel bans by countries could also be eased if people are able to show proof theyre vaccinated. Some countries have long had requirements to prove vaccination against yellow fever.

Still, a challenge is creating certification systems that work across vaccine providers and businesses. More than a dozen initiatives are underway to develop a credential that could be stored on a smartphone or printed on paper, using a QR code.

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The AP is answering your questions about the coronavirus in this series. Submit them at: FactCheck@AP.org. Read more here:

I got the Johnson & Johnson COVID-19 vaccine. Now what?

Are some COVID-19 vaccines more effective than others?

I got the COVID-19 vaccine. What can I safely do?

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What is a COVID-19 vaccine passport, and will I need one? - Associated Press

Local leaders and infectious disease experts teamed up Saturday at FEMA vaccination site to encourage the public to step up and roll up their sleeves.

HOUSTON Congresswoman Sheila Jackson Lee joined forces with infectious disease expert Dr. Peter Hotez Saturday at a community FEMA vaccination site. The duo is working to combat vaccine hesitancy.

"Everybody has to play. Everyone has to step forward to get vaccinated," Hotez said.

They're working to convince more people to roll up their sleeves for the COVID-19 vaccine. Hesitancy remains a problem nationwide.

15.6 percent of Americans are hesitant to get vaccinated. That number creeps up to 17.2 percent in Texas.

"We have the vaccines, we have the vaccination hubs, the only thing that could derail this is if people refuse to get vaccinated," Hotez said.

And there are growing concerns blood clot issues with the Johnson & Johnson vaccine could lead to even greater hesitancy. Hotez said the FDA and CDC will get to the bottom of it soon.

"The longer we pause, the more people will have outstanding concerns," Hotez said. "This is an extremely rare event. We're talking between 1 and 100,000 and 1 and a million."

The spread of highly contagious variants of the virus means more people will have to get vaccinated to reach herd immunity. That's up to 80 percent of the population, Hotez said.

"Now the bigger problem is access and making people aware of the opportunities that are out there to get vaccinated," Hotez said.

That's why more open vaccination events like this in underserved communities will be critical. Congresswoman Jackson Lee is urging the public to block out the noise and trust the science.

"The rumors will kill you. Bad information will kill you," Jackson Lee said.

More COVID-19 vaccine sites expected to open on May 1 for an area-wide GOTV, or get out the vaccination effort.

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COVID-19 vaccine hesitancy could be the biggest obstacle to getting back to normal - KHOU.com

Jackie Cornejo held her fathers hand for the last time on Jan. 31, as he died from complications of COVID-19. Ricardo Cornejo was a true warrior, her beloved viejito, who taught his daughter to be both generous and strong.

As she helped arrange her fathers funeral, she booked an appointment for her mother, Martha, to get vaccinated. When food service workers were eligible for the vaccine, she made an appointment for her little brother. Then one for her in-laws, her godmother, a sister and friends. At least nine so far.

Its been therapeutic in a way to be able to get ... people within my world vaccinated, said Cornejo, who works on housing policy for the city of Los Angeles when shes not arranging inoculation appointments. It has been a little bit stressful, but its also been part of how Ive been coping. My dad never had a chance.

Cornejo is a vaccine hunter, an unofficial hero of the coronavirus age. Wielding smartphones and tablets, PCs and Macs, these internet wranglers blast through the barriers that stand between loved ones arms and needles filled with Pfizer, Moderna or Johnson & Johnson.

Those barriers are legion. The sign-up process is convoluted. Not everyone has internet access. The vaccine supply has been spotty, and now the Johnson & Johnson offering is on hold because of concerns it may cause blood clots. Some people dont trust the government. Others dont trust the science.

Jackie Cornejo lost her father, Ricardo Cornejo, to COVID-19 on Jan. 31.

(Courtesy of Jackie Cornejo)

In California, Black and Latino residents have fallen ill and died of COVID-19 at higher rates than other groups, and their vaccination rates have also been low.

Which means many families need a vaccine hunter. Until, that is, they dont. Because sometimes these self-appointed saviors fueled by love, duty and a sense that sister knows best can quickly become the family nag.

Or as Cornejos mother warned the 37-year-old, who wouldnt stop sending appointment links to relatives, Te deberas de calmar un poquito. You should calm down a bit.

But when youre the vaccine hunter, youre riding in on your horse, guns ablazing. Its something you can do in a year when you cant do the things you want to do and like to do, said Alison M. Buttenheim, an associate professor and public health researcher at the University of Pennsylvania School of Nursing.

One downside is, you cross a line, she said. You can interfere with a wonderful, trusted relationship if you say, I made you the appointment. Here it is.

Buttenheim knows this firsthand. She studies the behavioral aspects of infectious disease prevention. She founded Dear Pandemic, a social media campaign and website where bona fide nerdy girls post real info on COVID-19.

And shes a vaccine hunter herself.

She thinks its fun. Really.

And its soothing, she said, on a day of relentless Zoom calls, to have five browsers open on her computer screen, to constantly refresh the different appointment portals, to problem-solve for relatives in four states. Its not that they were hesitant; they just needed to be nudged.

The 51-year-old has made appointments for her sister and parents in Massachusetts and her husband in Philadelphia, where they live with a teenage daughter who will soon be eligible for a shot and, thus, Buttenheims appointment attentions. She and her husband also pestered his parents in California and their 21-year-old daughter, at school in Connecticut. All three eventually booked appointments.

Jennifer Eremeeva, Buttenheims sister, lectures on cruise ships about Russian history, Mediterranean history, art and culture. She hasnt worked in more than a year. She has to fill out paperwork proving she is vaccinated if she wants to get back on the job when the industry resumes operations.

Her cruise lines documents listed Pfizer and Moderna vaccines but not Johnson & Johnson.

Alison wasnt only hunting and pecking for an appointment for me, but for a Pfizer or Moderna, Eremeeva said. It was a gift. She doesnt need to get me a Christmas present this year.

But when it came to their parents, who are 78, things got more complicated. The elderly couple spent much of the pandemic with Eremeeva in Massachusetts while waiting to get into a retirement home in Pennsylvania. At first, they figured theyd just get vaccinated when they arrived at their new place. But that wasnt good enough for a certain daughter.

Heres how the sisters tell the tale:

Buttenheim: I said, No, were not waiting three weeks. This is life or death for you. ... I finally saw two appointments 15 miles away. It took my sister, my niece, a laptop and an iPad and my parents standing there with their insurance cards. It felt urgent. I couldnt leave it up to them.

Eremeeva, 54, who was trying to make dinner for husband, daughter and parents as Buttenheim booked appointments from nearly 200 miles away and the black Lab puppy barked: I felt super frustrated and a little pushed around. But she was responding to a need of my parents. ... Im very grateful. ... [Still,] when you have a multigenerational household, I felt like the filling in an Oreo cookie. And not in a good way.

Krysta Villeda moved from Los Angeles to Washington, D.C., in 2012 to attend graduate school and decided to stay. But that hasnt stopped her, her mother jokes, from trying to get her entire hometown vaccinated from more than 2,000 miles away.

First up was Villedas grandmother, who is 78 and lives in South Gate. After three hours on a constantly crashing website, Villeda finally booked the elderly woman an appointment at Kedren Community Health Center in South Los Angeles. One of her sons drove her.

Something that really frustrated me is that no one else in my family took the initiative to make her an appointment or talked about it, the 32-year-old said. I think they just kind of assumed it was going to happen.

Her uncle asked for help next. Since the pandemic began, Villeda also has helped him file unemployment claims every two weeks. She kept track of Washington state vaccine requirements on behalf of her younger sister in Seattle, who was set to get her shot Friday, and Orange County guidelines to help her stepsister, who was inoculated in late March.

Carlos Villeda, her 54-year-old father, was the toughest customer. The Bellflower resident was hesitant because he worried about the vaccines side effects.

So Villeda sent him two TikTok videos shed made of her own vaccinations as part of her job at Project Pulso, a nonprofit digital media start-up that produces content for the Latino community.

Overall, my recommendation is to plan to stay home the day after if you can, just in case, she says on TikTok, wearing a flowered mask and holding a birthday girl balloon after her second shot. At the very least, dont plan anything important for right after. But it honestly wasnt as bad for me as I was expecting.

Her secret weapon was a daughterly threat. She hasnt been home since December 2019. Because of her kidney transplant, she told her father, if you dont get vaccinated, then youre probably not going to see me that much, or if you do, youre going to see me from a distance.

On April 1, the day eligibility opened up for those 50 and older, Carlos relented. Villeda sprang into action.

I was skeptical, but I did it for her, Carlos said. Then he laughed. I didnt think she was going to tell me to go the next day.

Most of Villedas family members wanted to get vaccinated, she said. But she knew that if she didnt step in and help, their success rate would be slow and iffy.

Theyre not very online and didnt exactly know how/where to sign up, she said in a message via Twitter. I definitely felt like the burden was all on me to get these done.

Carina De Los Santos felt a similar responsibility. Standing in line at Kedren on a breezy Monday in April, waiting for her second Moderna shot, she talked about an uncles death from COVID-19.

He went pretty quick, said the 43-year-old from Maywood, who works in the accounting department of a food-service company. We didnt think it was going to happen. He didnt have any health conditions. It was a shock. His wife had it, too.

So De Los Santos searched on behalf of two aunts who dont have the whole computer knowledge and a cousin who had problems getting an appointment. It took several days of lunch hours and other work breaks before her efforts paid off.

The fact of their age and that some have health conditions, I felt I had to give them a little push, she said. After that, its on them.

Research has shown that even people with the intent to get vaccinated have trouble following through, said the University of Pennsylvanias Buttenheim. Only about 45% of adults in the United States get the flu shot every year. Way more than that intend to, she said, but just dont get around to it.

We are very lazy humans, she said. We have these big brains. We live in an environment that pushes a lot of information at us. ... An adaptive response is to look for shortcuts. We look for the thing thats easy to do or is bright and shiny. If the healthcare thing you want to do isnt easy, you look for something else to do.

Ana Lara, 46, set up vaccine appointments for her mother, father and grandfather at the same time and place in early March. The Oakland resident escorted them to get their first dose of Moderna. Her sister took them for their second.

Afterward, Laras uncle in Salinas reached out to their mom: Can you ask the girls if they can find a vaccine for me?

Several weeks ago, Lara contacted a local health center to see if her aunt, who works in a tortilla factory, would qualify for the vaccine. The answer was yes. Lara texted her aunt with the good news and put the 61-year-old on a waiting list.

S, est bien, mija, was the response. But when it came time to actually schedule the shot, the aunt balked. Lara backed off to give her aunt some space to reconsider. Her aunt has since come around, and Lara is on the hunt yet again.

Shes an administrative assistant for the city of Oakland and works from home. Any time she saw a tweet or Facebook share saying appointments were available, shed take her break and look.

Lara searched from her kitchen table, her home office space, on her tablet while watching television. Finding appointments was always on my mind because her and her sisters priority is always their family, she said.

Getting them vaccinated meant we could be with our parents, she said in a Twitter message. It was really hard in the beginning, my dad got depressed and really sick. I didnt visit my grandma for like 10 months.

She felt burdened sometimes, she said, but helping my parents has always been a part of being the oldest.

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Dragging the family to get a COVID-19 vaccine, one arm at a time - Los Angeles Times

Roughly half of U.S. adults have received at least one dose of the coronavirus vaccine, according to data from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC)released Saturday.

Across the country, more than 128 million people ages 18 and older have received at least one shot, with more than 82 million fully vaccinated with one of the three vaccines approved for emergency use in the U.S., the CDC said.

Overall, 49.7 percent of U.S. adults have received at least one vaccine dose, according to the data, and nearly a third are fully vaccinated.

The milestone comes a day after the CDC announced that 30 percent of U.S. adults had been fully vaccinated, a percentage likely to increase rapidly over the next few weeks following President Bidens decision to open up vaccine eligibility to all Americans ages 18 and older by Monday.

Three vaccines have received emergency authorization in the U.S. inoculations by Pfizer and BioNTech, Moderna, and Johnson & Johnson though federal officials this weekrecommended a pauseinadministrationof the Johnson & Johnson vaccine due to six reported cases of blood clots out of more than 6.8 million people who received the shot.

Johnson & Johnson scientists on Friday said there is currently insufficient evidence of a causal relationship between its single-dose vaccine and the brain blood clot known as cerebral venous sinus thrombosis. The U.S.-recommended pause has raisedconcernsabout the progress of vaccine distributionas well as vaccine hesitancy.

CDC Director Rochelle WalenskyRochelle WalenskyFive global concerns for the Johnson & Johnson vaccine pause CDC: Half of US adults have received at least one COVID-19 vaccine dose Healing the deep wounds of racism, starting with our Black mothers and babies MORE said Friday that an independent advisory panel will meet again next week to resume discussions on whether to continue the pause of the Johnson & Johnson shot.

The distribution pause has alreadyhad an impact on public perception of the vaccine, with an Economist-YouGov poll released Thursday showing that just 37 percent indicated that they believed the inoculation was safe, down from 52 percent who said the same prior to the announcement.

Despite the concernsabout the shots safety, Anthony FauciAnthony FauciThe dangers of pausing the J&J vaccine Sunday shows preview: Russia, US exchange sanctions; tensions over policing rise; vaccination campaign continues CDC: Half of US adults have received at least one COVID-19 vaccine dose MORE, the nations top infectious diseases expert,said Wednesday that he believed the halt could actually diminish vaccine hesitancy by showing how seriously federal agencies are taking vaccine safety.

The updated vaccination figures released Saturday come after officials pushed for larger swaths of the country to get vaccinated. Fauci told Business Insider in an interview last week that between 70 percent and 85 percent of the American population would need to be vaccinated to reach herd immunity.

The U.S. has had a more effective vaccine distribution than some other countries, especially in Europe, where the World Health Organization earlier this month said the vaccine rollouts have been unacceptably slow.

Even amid the increase in vaccinations, cases and deaths across the globe continue to persist, with the world surpassing3 million coronavirus-related fatalities on Saturday, according to data compiled by Johns Hopkins University.

The U.S. has had the most reported COVID-19 deaths by far of any country with more than 566,000, according to the tracker, followed by Brazil with more than 368,000 deaths and Mexico withmore than 211,000.

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CDC: Half of US adults have received at least one COVID-19 vaccine dose | TheHill - The Hill

China is planning to approve its first foreign Covid-19 vaccine before July, according to people familiar with the matter, as pressure mounts from domestic scientists and the foreign business community to expand beyond the countrys own roster of shots.

Chinese officials have been scrutinizing clinical-trial data for the coronavirus vaccine made by Germanys BioNTech SE and are expected to green light domestic distribution of the shot within the next 10 weeks, people privy to these discussions say. Some of the people were told of the timeline during a private discussion with government and health officials. The others were government officials briefed on the internal discussions.

Most of Chinas shot makers cite trial data showing that their vaccines are close to 100% effective in preventing Covid-19 infections serious enough to require hospitalization when fully administered. But some Chinese public-health experts, including the head of Chinas Center for Disease Control and Prevention, have pushed for the introduction of Western vaccines that are better at preventing milder infections.

Foreign businesses are eager to add Western vaccines to make it easier to travel overseas, where foreign shots are more accepted, according to Ker Gibbs, the president of the American Chamber of Commerce in Shanghai. The chamber has been urging the government to approve the BioNTech vaccine, which is being produced and distributed by Pfizer Inc. in most of the world, since December, he said.

BioNTech agreed in December to work with Shanghai Fosun Pharmaceutical Group Co. to deliver 100 million doses to China in 2021, pending approval.

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China Plans to Approve First Foreign Covid-19 Vaccine by July - The Wall Street Journal

With Covid-19 vaccines, the world hopes to beat back the virus that causes the disease. But some scientists are increasingly concerned that, because of a quirk of our own biology, future iterations of the vaccines might not always be quite as effective as they are today.

The concerns stem from a phenomenon that is known as imprinting, sometimes called original antigenic sin, which is believed to affect how we respond to some pathogens.

In short, when your body is introduced to a particular threat for the first time either through infection or a vaccine that encounter sets your immune systems definition of that virus and what immune weapons it needs to detect and protect against it in the future.

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That imprint can be helpful. In the 2009 H1N1 flu pandemic, elderly adults were protected by immune responses theyd generated more than half a century earlier, in childhood, through encounters with a related virus. But it can also interfere with your bodys ability to mount responses against strains that have evolved from the one you were first exposed to.

In the case of Covid, some scientists are concerned that the immune systems reaction to the vaccines being deployed now could leave an indelible imprint, and that next-generation products, updated in response to emerging variants of the SARS-CoV-2, wont confer as much protection.

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Michael Worobey, who was been involved in groundbreaking research on imprinting with influenza, said he worries the responses to first-generation Covid-19 vaccines will prove to be a high-water mark for peoples immune responses to these inoculations.

I do think its something that we need to be thinking about, Worobey, a professor of evolutionary biology at the University of Arizona, told STAT. We might actually see lower efficacy five years from now, if people are still locked into recalling the response to the first [SARS-2] antigen that they saw.

Sarah Cobey, an associate professor of computational biology at the University of Chicago, shares his worry. As long as we have competition between old antibody responses and new antibody responses then it seems like exactly the right sort of environment to see these phenomena, Cobey said.

I cant think of a reason that should be restricted to influenza, she added.

Not everyone in the conversation is convinced there will be a problem, though.

Vineet Menachery is a coronavirus expert at the University of Texas Medical Branch in Galveston, one of the smallish community of researchers who were studying coronaviruses before the Covid-19 pandemic hit. He noted that the SARS-2 spike protein the protein that projects from the virus surface, giving it the appearance of wearing a crown doesnt have as much wiggle room to change as the hemagglutinin proteins that sit atop of flu viruses.

Both the spike and the hemagglutinin proteins are the means by which their respective viruses attach to the cells they are trying to infect; in the case of SARS-2 viruses, attachment occurs via a receptor known as ACE2. But influenza viruses mutate at a far faster rate than coronaviruses and they have much more leeway to change mutational space, Menachery called it without impeding its functionality.

The changes that we see in the [SARS-2] variants arent whole-hog changes, he said.

Imprinting is one of the reasons why flu vaccines arent as protective as wed like them to be. Flu is a notorious shape-shifter and its constant alterations allow influenza viruses to evade immune system protections generated by either vaccination or previous infections. People who first encountered H1N1 viruses, for instance, never get as much protection from the H3N2 component of a flu shot as they do from the H1N1 part.

Basically, I think of original antigenic sin as some sort of hierarchy in immune memory, meaning you preferentially boost what youve seen before, at the expense of developing responses to the new stuff, Cobey said. It could impact the effectiveness of [Covid] vaccine going forward.

Scott Hensley, a sometimes collaborator of Cobeys, has actually seen some evidence of coronavirus imprinting in his research. An associate professor of microbiology at the University of Pennsylvania, Hensley and colleagues were working to develop Covid-19 antibody tests in the early days of the pandemic. The work involved studying using blood samples from people who contracted Covid. They compared the post-infection samples to blood drawn from the same individuals prior to the pandemic.

In comparing the before and after blood samples, they saw in the post-infection sample a dramatic rise in antibodies to one of the humans coronaviruses that is among the causes of the common cold. It was a virus called OC43, which is in the same coronavirus family as SARS-2, as well as the viruses that cause SARS and MERS.

In other words, Covid infection actually boosted the immune systems protection against a different virus, one that the immune system already knew.

Still, Hensley isnt worried about imprinting or at least not among people who have been vaccinated with mRNA vaccines. The very strong immune response generated by the Moderna and the Pfizer-BioNTech vaccines should override any imprinting impacts as SARS-2 mutates, he said. Hensley worries, though, that people whose immunity to the virus comes from infection, not vaccination, might have more difficulty handling variant viruses because of imprinting effects.

David Topham, an immunologist at the University of Rochester Medical Center and director of the New York Influenza Center of Excellence, also envisages that possibility.

He noted that, in the earliest stages of SARS-2 infection, the immune system mounts a response to a portion of the spike protein called S2. Later, the immune system focuses its attention on other parts of the spike, notably the part of the protein that attaches the virus to cells it invades, known as the receptor binding domain.

Its not yet known if the early focus on S2 which doesnt change much from virus to virus will blind the immune system to the changes elsewhere in the spike protein, the changes updated vaccines would be trying to teach the immune system to respond to, Topham said.

Topham doesnt think this will be a problem in vaccinated people, because of the way the vaccines in use have been designed. The spike proteins they trigger production of appear to hide the S2 region, he said. The immune system cant fixate on something it doesnt see.

For people whose immunity comes from infection, Topham sees three possible scenarios. It can be a problem, because the immune cells specific for S2 outcompete immune cells against other components of the spike protein that you really need in order to get protection. It can be inconsequential in that eventually the responses to the other parts of the protein catch up and it doesnt matter. Or it could actually be a benefit because it gets the immune system revved up more quickly.

Topham is not alone in speculating that an original Covid vaccine with a booster targeting variant viruses could, in fact, lead to a stronger immune response.

You might actually end up with an immune response that is broader, said Florian Krammer, a professor of vaccinology at the Icahn School of Medicine at Mount Sinai Hospital in New York.

Krammer used as an example research done by scientists at the Finnish Institute for Health and Welfare and University of Turku on vaccination against H5N1 bird flu. H5N1 vaccine that dont contain adjuvants boosting compounds appear to generate poor immune responses. But in a paper published in the journal Vaccine, the researchers reported that a priming and boosting regimen that used two different H5N1 vaccines, made with different strains of the virus, induced a strong and long-lasting response.

We may find out whether this is going to be a problem sooner than youd think. Moderna is working with the National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases which helped it design its original Covid vaccine to test an updated version of its vaccine that targets the variant first spotted in South Africa, B.1.351. That variant appears to be able to evade immune responses triggered by earlier versions of the virus.

The Phase 1 studies conducted by Moderna and NIAID will produce immunogenicity data that will address this question, John Mascola, director of NIAIDs Vaccine Research Center, told STAT in an email. So data directly bearing on the question will be forthcoming over the next weeks and months.

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Some experts fear next-generation Covid vaccines may be worse - STAT

HAMPTON ROADS, Va. Eric Cramer and his girlfriend Jo-Beth Strong are both fully vaccinated against COVID-19. They got the Moderna shot, but their side effects differed.

I had migraines, Cramer said. I had back pains, everything. I have a high immune system and I never get sick, and it hit me.

Strong said she hardly had any symptoms and believes it was because she hydrated.

Drink lots water right before and after, she said. He did not; I did, so therefore, I didnt get so much of the side effects.

Virginia Department of Health Chief Deputy Commissioner Dr. Parham Jaberi said experiencing side effects is not necessarily a bad thing.

This is telling you actually the vaccine is doing its job, he said. The vaccine is working.

Dr. Jaberi said with Pfizers and Modernas two-shot vaccine, side effects after the second dose might be more intense.

Common side effects typically begin several hours after the shot and include tiredness, headache, muscle pain, chills, fever and nausea.

Johnson & Johnsons one-shot vaccine has similar side effects.

Modernas shot reportedly had slightly higher side effects than Pfizers, with more people experiencing fatigue and headaches.

According to Pfizer, about 3.8% of their clinical trail participants experienced fatigue as a side effect, and 2% got a headache.

Moderna said 9.7% of their participants felt fatigued and 4.5% got a headache.

All three vaccines include arm pain from the shot.

Dr. Jaberi said younger people are more likely to experience symptoms.

If you are elderly or if your immune system is not quite as robust, then you may not experience all of these side effects, he said. If you dont experience any of the side effects, it does not mean the vaccine is not working.

While theres no specific way to prevent side effects, Dr. Jaberi said you should rest up, drink plenty of fluids and if you have a fever, take over-the-counter pain relief medication after the shot, not before.

If mild symptoms dont go away after a couple days, call your doctor. If you develop a severe allergic reaction after the COVID-19 vaccine, health officials said seek immediate medical attention by calling 911.

Despite some discomfort, Dr. Jaberi said getting the shot is worth it.

Vaccination is the most effective form of prevention, he said. This is the best thing any of our community and residents can do to protect themselves and those around themThe more individuals get vaccinated, the quicker we all get vaccinated, the sooner we can put this pandemic behind us.

The J&J shot is now on pause around the country after the CDC said several people developed blood clots. The CDC is also investigating whether a Virginia womans death is linked to adverse side effects from the shot.

Click here for our full COVID vaccination guide.

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COVID-19 vaccines: side effects and how they compare - wtkr.com - wtkr.com

Now that the new local dial is in place, local officials are gearing up for a big push to get 70% of the community vaccinated in order to move into level green and remove most restrictions on businesses and individuals.

For those interested in receiving a vaccine, heres what you need to know.

As of early April, all Coloradans ages 16 and older are eligible to receive a vaccine. Because vaccines are in short supply, all residents should preregister for an appointment at CoMassVax.org, which is used for the countys drive-thru and neighborhood pop-up clinics.

When residents preregister, they are essentially putting their name on a contact list. Public health officials draw names randomly each week and notify those individuals about available appointments. Brian Bovaird, director of emergency management at the county, said this usually happens soon after the county receives confirmation from the state regarding how many vaccines it will receive for the upcoming week.

Residents are notified about upcoming appointments through an email, which typically comes Friday through Monday, depending on when the county receives confirmation from the state about its vaccine allocation. Public Health Director Amy Wineland said the emails are occasionally getting lost in inboxes and that residents should check their spam folders.

The email will have a link that allows residents to sign up for an appointment. If they are not able to sign up for an appointment that week, their name remains on the contact list to be selected another week.

Bovaird said residents who do not have email should call the county at 970-668-9730 to get help registering. A staff member is available during business hours Monday through Friday to help residents sign up, but individuals can also leave a voicemail after hours. If their name is selected in the system, the county will call and help them schedule an appointment.

Bovaird reiterated that preregistering does not mean individuals are signing up for an appointment. Instead, it just gets them on the list for when appointments become available. Since the county draws names randomly, it could take some time to be notified about available appointments.

To increase the chance of getting the vaccine sooner, Bovaird recommends signing up for appointments at other local vaccine providers, including pharmacies, the Summit Community Care Clinic and Centura Health, which owns St. Anthony Summit Medical Center.

Residents also can sign up in different counties at CoMassVax.org.

They can sign up in multiple different counties as long as they are in Colorado, Bovaird said. Were obviously not doing vaccine pods every single day, and so the advantage of signing up in different counties, if youre able to make it there, is that if timing is an issue or they have clinics on days that we dont, then thats great.

For step-by-step instructions and a guided video on how to register in the statewide system, visit SummitCountyCo.gov/vaccine and click scheduling vaccinations.

Each providers process for administering a vaccine differs, but the drive-thru clinics have the same system each week.

The mass vaccination clinics are held at the Summit Stage bus barn at County Commons, 0222 County Shops Road in Frisco. Individuals are instructed to show up 15 minutes before their appointments.

At the first check-in, an attendant will verify that a resident has an appointment. At the second checkpoint, individuals receive a quick health screening to ensure they dont have COVID-19 symptoms. At the next checkpoint, individuals receive their vaccine. Afterward, they are instructed to pull into a waiting area. The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention recommends individuals wait at least 15 minutes after theyve received their vaccine to make sure they dont have any adverse reactions.

Bovaird said adverse reactions are rare, but if they happen, the county is ready with an ambulance crew staffed at the site.

Usually, the entire process takes about 30 minutes to an hour, and individuals can remain in their cars the entire time.

Though not approved by the Food and Drug Administration, all three vaccines Pfizer, Moderna and Johnson & Johnson have been authorized for emergency use in the U.S.

Dr. Rebecca Blackwell, director of medical affairs at St. Anthony Medical Summit Center, said that doesnt make the vaccines any less safe.

The number of people who have received the vaccine through the emergency-use authorization is greater than the number of people who would receive a vaccine in a vaccine trial whose data would go toward a full FDA approval, Blackwell said. So we actually have, at this point, more information about this vaccine than we would typically have about a vaccine that went through a full FDA approval for the first time.

While the vaccines are safe, each is considered to have possible side effects. In addition to redness, swelling and pain at the injection site, individuals who receive the vaccine could experience a headache, fever, muscle pain, chills, tiredness and nausea. The side effects could occur within a day or two of getting the vaccine.

Health officials have emphasized that the side effects are signs of an immune system response, which means the vaccine is working. But if symptoms worsen or do not go away after a few days, people are advised to contact their doctors.

Life-threatening reactions to the vaccine are extremely rare. Anyone who experiences an allergic reaction should call 911.

As of Friday, the FDA and CDC were still recommending a temporary halt on the use of the Johnson & Johnson vaccine after six cases of a rare and severe type of blood clot.

Read more from the original source:

What to expect when you get a COVID-19 vaccine - Summit Daily News