Category: Covid-19 Vaccine

Key Takeaways

Analysts are projecting another difficult quarter for Pfizer Inc. (PFE) in which the company likely suffered a steep drop in revenue as demand for its COVID-19 products declined.

Pfizer is expected to detail adjusted losses of $1.1 billion or 19 cents a share, according to analyst consensus compiled by Visible Alpha, when it issues its earnings report on Jan. 30. For the same period in 2022, the company reported adjusted net income of $6.55 billion or $1.14 per share. The adjusted net loss excludes impact of intangibles, acquisitions and discontinued operations.

Pfizer had to lower its 2023 guidance in October as the demand for its COVID products waned and that continued to weigh on its results. Analysts expect a 40% year-over-year drop in revenue to $14.3 billion in the quarter.

After Pfizer has struggled amid poor demand for its COVID-19 products, including its Paxlovid treatment and the Comirnaty vaccine, investors will want to watch for the companys reported revenue from this segment. Analysts are projecting sales of the vaccine to fall 52% in the fourth quarter to $5.44 billion, coming after three straight quarters where COVID-19 vaccine sales were lower by more than 70%.

Additionally, as Pfizer looks for new market segments to drive growth, analysts forecast that it will grow sales of its Vyndaqel line of heart medication by 38% in the quarter to more than $942 million.

While its COVID-19 revenue fades, Pfizer also has faced some setbacks as it seeks other pipelines for growth. It ended a study of its weight-loss pill because of negative side effects, as it seeks to find an effective oral weight-loss drug to compete with injectables like Novo Nordisk ASs (NVO) popular Ozempic treatment. Its also fighting off a threat from generic competition to its Vyndaqel heart medication.

Pfizers share price was walloped in 2023, falling as much as 42% over the year. In December 2023, the stock tumbled to its lowest level in more than 10 years after it warned revenue would decline in 2024 as demand for COVID products continued to fall. And, so far this year, Pfizer shares have continued that losing streak, down roughly 7% year-to-date.

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What You Need To Know Ahead of Pfizer's Earnings on Tuesday - Investopedia

Health experts are calling for government intervention in the wake of rising COVID outbreaks and plummeting vaccination rates in aged care.

The Department of Health released new data last week that revealed only 30.3 per cent of aged care residents had received a booster dose in the last six months and 68.1 per cent since January 2023.

That comes as there are 459 active COVID outbreaks nationally within aged care facilities, which translates to 2,135 active cases.

In NSW alone there are 146 outbreaks and 688 infections.

Aged care consultant Paul Sadler said he was "concerned" about the numbers.

"The total number of outbreaks and cases is ticking back up a bit at the moment. And it looks like we might have another wave. It could be affecting a large number of homes," he said.

"We've still got 32 people in the last week that died in aged care, so we still have a level of COVID impacting people tragically within the sector."

The Australian Technical Advisory Group on Immunisation recommended from September last year that all those aged 75 and over should get a booster dose every six months, and it should be considered for all adults aged 65 to 74.

RSL LifeCare, which manages 29 retirement homes, has had seven outbreaks in the last month, five of which are still active.

A spokesperson for the clinical care team said the organisation was "vigilant and cautious" when it came to outbreaks butadded that "despite our best efforts, we cannot always prevent COVID-19 entering aged care facilities".

"Our management and care staff teams, in partnership with our consumer's GPs, are always concerned about levels of COVID and other illnesses in the community," they said.

Mr Sadler said the reason behind the falling vaccination rate was either because facilities were treating the virus like other diseases or society's laxity towards COVID had spread to aged care.

"The levels of people who are up to date (with their vaccines) within six months in the community have been falling and I think that's about the effectiveness of public health messaging and governments treating this as a post-pandemic phase."

Adrian Esterman, an epidemiologist at the University of South Australia, is more alarmed by the government's response.

"What's more concerning is that the government say that this is a priority area to get the residents up to date with their booster shots and yet the actual percentage who are up to date is going backwards," he said.

"These are our most vulnerable people."

Professor Esterman said the government's lack of "care" made the population less concerned about the pandemic.

"The government has been downplaying COVID-19 now for a year or so," he said.

"But we are still actually still in a global pandemic, and we are still seeing successive waves of COVID-19, which aren't particularly predictable."

"There's this downplaying about how bad things are, and they are bad."

He also raised further issues when it came to vaccinating the elderly and transporting doses to facilities.

"Many of the residents in aged care facilities are demented. That means that if you want permission to vaccinate them you have to get permission from their guardian. So you got this logistical issue of trying to sign up to actually vaccinate them," he said.

"There's also things like the current vaccine requires extremely cold temperatures to transport them."

Professor Esterman said these issues "were all interplaying" but the primary reason "why we're not seeing enough of our aged care residents vaccinated is simply one of complacency from the government downwards".

When asked about how to improve the numbers, Mr Sadler recommended better messaging and reintroducing COVID-safe measures.

"I think if the rate of infection gets any higher and the number of outbreaks continue to grow then it would be very sensible for the government to resume some of the measures they put in place during the height of the pandemic two years ago," he said.

"I'm not suggesting we should go back to lockdowns but absolutely we should allow families to see their residents in aged care, but we need to be trying to improve the vaccination rate."

Professor Esterman called for face mask mandates in aged care facilities to be reintroduced and more GP visits.

GPs and nurses primarily administer booster doses for residents.

"If I was running the place, which unfortunately I'm not, the first thing I'd do would be to reintroduce face mask mandates for staff and visitors," Professor Esterman said.

"It's one thing we know works.Yet it's not mandated, it's left to each facility to decide whether people should wear a face mask or not. To me that's a big cop out."

The Department of Health said it "strongly encouraged" those at "higher risk of severe health outcomes from COVID-19" to be up to date with their booster doses.

"The Department of Health and Aged Care recognises that COVID-19 continues to disrupt the lives of Australians, and as such would like to see the vaccination levels as high as possible for those whom vaccination is recommended,'" a statement read.

The department said it regularly conveyed the importance of vaccines, masks and COVID-19 safe behaviours through the media and social media.

However, there was an acknowledgement that some aged care residents "may not choose to have the booster for a variety of reasons including COVID vaccine fatigue, eligibility, localised COVID outbreaks and potentially waiting for a new vaccine".

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'Downplaying how bad things are': COVID vaccine rates fall and outbreaks rise in aged care - ABC News

(Precision Vaccinations News)

Novavax, Inc. today announced that the United Kingdom's (U.K.) Medicines and Healthcare products Regulatory Agency (MHRA) granted marketing authorizationfor Nuvaxovid XBB.1.5 dispersion for injection, COVID-19 Vaccine (recombinant, adjuvanted)for active immunization to prevent COVID-19 in individuals aged 12 and older.

Recent data indicate Novavax's vaccine can stimulate both arms of the immune system and induce a broad response against circulating variants.

"Today's MHRA authorization is recognition of the role our vaccine can have in protecting the British public against COVID-19 this year," said John C. Jacobs, President and Chief Executive Officer, Novavax, in a press release on January 24, 2024.

"We are in ongoing conversations with additional U.K. partners to identify potential opportunities to offer our protein-based non-mRNA COVID-19 vaccine to all eligible individuals who want one."

"We believe this is critical to supporting long-term, broad uptake of a seasonal COVID-19 vaccine in the U.K."

In clinical trials, the most common adverse reactions associated with Novavax's prototype COVID-19 vaccine (NVX-CoV2373) included headache, nausea or vomiting, muscle pain, joint pain, injection site tenderness, injection site pain, fatigue, and malaise.

If peopleare concerned about an adverse event, it should be reported on a Yellow Card. Reporting forms and information can be found athttps://coronavirus-yellowcard.mhra.gov.uk/.

The U.K. authorization wasbased on non-clinical datashowing that Novavax's updated COVID-19 vaccine induced functional immune responses for XBB.1.5, XBB.1.16, and XBB.2.3 variants.

Additional non-clinical data demonstrated that Novavax's vaccine-induced neutralizing antibody responses to subvariants JN.1, BA.2.86, EG.5.1, FL.1.5.1, and XBB.1.16.6, as well as CD4+ polyfunctional cellular (T-cell) responses against EG.5.1 and XBB.1.16.6.

In 2023, the U.S. Food and Drug Administration amended its authorization for Novavax COVID-19 Vaccine, Adjuvanted for use in individuals 12 and older, to include the2023-2024 formula.

Novavax COVID-19 vaccine brands includeNuvaxovid,NVX-CoV2601, CovoVax, NVX-CoV2373, andTAK-019,Trademark filing#90813423.

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U.K. Authorized Updated Protein-based COVID-19 Vaccine Precision Vaccinations News - Precision Vaccinations

In first results from a study that tracked neurodevelopmental differences in babies born to mothers who were vaccinated against COVID-19, researchers found no differences at the 12- and 18-month marks compared to babies born to unvaccinated moms.

The team, from the University of California, San Fransisco, published its findings yesterday in JAMA Pediatrics. Against the backdrop of vaccine hesitancy among pregnant women and even in some of their healthcare providers, the researchers said their goal was to address unanswered questions about the longer-term impacts of COVID vaccination on developmental outcomes.

In the prospective cohort study, the researchers enrolled women who were less than 10 weeks pregnant and their babies in the online study from May 2020 to August 2021, including participants from all 50 states. Of those, 89.3% were White. Of 2,487 women enrolled in the study, 68% said they were vaccinated, of whom 76% reported receiving an mRNA vaccine.

Researchers collected demographic information about the mothers, then tracked babies' neurodevelopment remotely using the Ages and Stages Questionnaire that was completed by the mothers when the children were 12 or 18 months old. The group's analysis includes 2,261 babies who were 12 months old and 1,920 who were 18 months old. Follow-up of the children is ongoing.

The validated screening tool is designed to examine five areas, including communication, gross-motor, fine-motor, problem solving, and social skills.

Crude analysis found that, at 12 months, 30.6% of infants exposed to the vaccine while mothers were pregnant had an abnormal screening result, compared to 28.2% of unexposed infants. At 18 months, the percentages were 20.1% and 23.2%, respectively.

When investigators adjusted for maternal age, race, ethnicity, education, income, maternal depression, and anxiety, however, they found no difference in abnormal neurodevelopmental screening results. Adjusting for preterm birth and infant gender also had no impact on the results.

Concerns about the impact of COVID vaccination on offspring are understandable, and questions about the effects of vaccination on cytokine profiles and inflammatory response are still unclear, the authors wrote. They noted that early clinical data can provide useful clues.

They said earlier studies on fetal exposure to SARS-CoV-2 showed mixed results regarding neurodevelopment, but none had data on maternal COVID vaccination.

"Our findings more generally underscore the importance of ongoing prospective investigations in large, diverse cohorts of children across development, to provide an evidence basis for real-time clinical guidance in the setting of novel exposures to mothers and infants," they wrote.

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No neurodevelopmental issues found in babies of COVID-vaccinated moms - University of Minnesota Twin Cities

News

Dr Lara Herrero and Wesley Freppel assess the latest evidence, including the impact vaccination and emerging variants can have.

Nearly four years into the pandemic, Australia, like many other countries, is still seeing large numbers ofCOVID cases. Some 860,221 infections were recorded around the country in 2023, while 30,283 cases have already been reported in 2024. This is likely to be a significant underestimate, with fewer people testing and reporting than earlier in the pandemic, but the signs suggest parts of Australia are experiencing yetanother COVID surge. While some lucky people claim to have never had COVID, many are facing our second, third or even fourth infection, often despite having been vaccinated. You might be wondering, how long does immunity last after a previous infection or vaccination? Lets take a look at what the evidence shows. B cells and T cells To answer this question, we need to understand a bit about howimmunityto SARS-CoV-2 works. After being infected or vaccinated, the immune system develops specific antibodies that can neutralise SARS-CoV-2. B cells remember the virus for a period of time. In addition, the immune system produces memory T cells that can kill the virus and remain in the blood for some months after the clearance of the infection or a vaccination. A2021 studyfound 98% of people had antibodies against SARS-CoV-2s spike protein (a protein on the surface of the virus that allows it to attach to our cells) one month after symptom onset. Six to eight months afterwards, 90% of participants still had these neutralising antibodies in their blood. This means the immune system should have recognised and neutralised the same SARS-CoV-2 variant if challenged within 68 months (if an infection occurred, it should have resulted in mild to no symptoms). But what about when the virus mutates? As we know, SARS-CoV-2 has mutated over time, leading to the emergence of new variants such as Alpha, Beta, Delta and Omicron. Each of these variants carries mutations that are new to the immune system, even if the person has been previously infected with an earlier variant. A new variant likely wont beperfectly recognised or evenrecognised at all by the already activated memory T or B cells from a previous SARS-CoV-2 infection. This could explain why people can be so readily reinfected with COVID. A recentreview of studiespublished up to the end of September 2022 looked at the protection conferred by previous SARS-CoV-2 infections. The authors found a previous infection provided protective immunity against reinfection with the ancestral, Alpha, Beta and Delta variants of 85.2% at four weeks. Protection against reinfection with these variants remained high (78.6%) at 40 weeks, or just over nine months, after the previous infection. This protection decreased to 55.5% at 80 weeks (18 months), but the authors noted there was a lack of data at this time point. Notably, an earlier infection provided only 36.1% protection against a reinfection with Omicron BA.1 at 40 weeks. Omicron has been described as animmune escape variant. A prior infection showed a high level of protection against severe disease (above 88%) up to 40 weeks, regardless of the variant a person was reinfected with. What about immunity after vaccination? So far, almost 70 million COVID vaccineshave been administeredto more than22 million peoplein Australia. Scientists estimated COVID vaccines prevented around14.4 million deathsin 185 countries in the first year after they became available. But we know COVID vaccine effectiveness wanes over time. A2023 reviewfound the original vaccines were 79.6% and 49.7% effective at protecting against symptomatic Delta infection at one and nine months after vaccination, respectively. They were 60.4% and 13.3% effective against symptomatic Omicron at the same time points. This is where booster doses come into the picture. Theyre important to keep the immune system ready to fight off the virus, particularly for those who are more vulnerable to the effects of a COVID infection. Plus, regular booster doses can provide immunity against different variants. COVID vaccines are constantly beingreviewed and updatedto ensure optimal protection againstcurrent circulating strains, with the latest shot available designed to targetthe Omicron variant XBB 1.5. This is similar to how we approach seasonal flu vaccines. Arecent studyshowed a COVID vaccination provides longer protection against reinfection than natural protection alone. The median time from infection to reinfection in non-vaccinated people was only six months, compared with 14 months in people who had received one, two or three doses of vaccine after their first infection. This is calledhybrid immunity, and other research has similarly found it provides better protection than natural infection alone. It also seems timing is important, as receiving a vaccine too soon after an infection (less than six months) appears to beless effectivethan getting vaccinated later. What now? Everyones immune system is slightly unique, and SARS-CoV-2 continues to mutate, so knowing exactly how long COVID immunity lasts is complicated. Evidence suggests immunity following infection should generally last six months in healthy adults and can be prolonged with vaccination. But there are exceptions, and all of this assumes the virus has not mutated so much that it escapes our immune response. While many people feel the COVID pandemic is over, its important we dont forget the lessons we have learned. Practices such as wearing a mask and staying home when unwell can reduce the spread of many viruses, not onlyCOVID. Vaccination is not mandatory, but for older adults eligible for a booster under thecurrent guidelines, its a very good idea. Log in below to join the conversation. First published inThe Conversation. Read theoriginal article.

COVID-19 immunity SARS-CoV-2 vaccination

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newsGP -How long does immunity last after a COVID infection? - RACGP

Pfizer-BioNTechs COVID-19 vaccine was highly effective in preventing severe COVID-19 infections in children and adolescents during the Delta and Omicron variants, according to a large, national study recently published in the Annals of Internal Medicine.

According to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, more than 15.6 million U.S. children were reported to have tested positive for COVID-19 since the onset of the pandemic and the age group represents less than 1 percent of total COVID-19 deaths.

Vaccination rates among children vary widely by state, according to the American Academy of Pediatrics, ranging from 3 to 45 percent having received their first dose.

The new study included data from more than 200,000 young people from childrens hospitals around the country during the Delta and Omicron waves of the pandemic. During the Delta wave, the BNT162b2 vaccine was found to be more than 98 percent effective against infection in children under 18 compared to those who were unvaccinated, according to the study. During Omicron, effectiveness against documented infection among children was estimated to be 74 percent compared to unvaccinated counterparts.

The BNT162b2 vaccine was most effective in preventing severe COVID-19 infections and hospitalizations, according to the study. Investigators found no significant side effects of the vaccine, but did find that vaccine effectiveness waned over time, especially during the Omicron period of the pandemic.

The results show that the BNT162b2 vaccine was a safe and effective way to prevent COVID-19 and the complications that can come with a serious infection, said Ravi Jhaveri, MD, division chief and the Virginia H. Rogers Professor of Infectious Disease in the Department of Pediatrics, who was a co-author of the study.

The main takeaway is an important result that comes up in virtually every study thats done on this: vaccination has a really powerful protective effect against COVID-19, Jhaveri said. There may be subtle differences depending on what variant and what era youre looking at, but the bottom line is that for children, theres a really powerful effect.

Moving forward, Jhaveri hopes to study the effectiveness of vaccines in preventing long COVID in children, he said.

What we want to do is to better define the protective effects of vaccines for post-COVID syndromes, including the long COVID fatigue and the multi-system, inflammatory syndrome that we saw in children, Jhaveri said. Were really working hard to try to see if we can show that the vaccine protects against those sequelae.

The study was funded by the National Institutes of Health and the RECOVER: Researching COVID to Enhance Recovery initiative.

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COVID-19 Vaccines Highly Effective for Children During Delta and Omicron Waves, Study Finds - News Center - Feinberg News Center

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A Case of Combination of IgA Nephropathy and Interstitial Nephritis After COVID-19 Vaccination - Cureus

In a recent study published in the journal JAMA Pediatrics, researchers carried out a large cohort study to investigate the association, if any, between in-utero exposure to COVID-19 vaccination and subsequent neurodevelopmental delay in infants. The cohort comprised 2,261 and 1,940 babies ages 12 and 18 months, respectively, with the Ages and Stages Questionnaire used to assess neurodevelopment rates across five parameters. Mixed-effects logistic modeling of results failed to find significant differences between observed and expected neurodevelopmental rates, highlighting the safety of COVID-19 vaccines administered during pregnancy on the neurological health of offspring.

Study:In Utero Exposure to Maternal COVID-19 Vaccination and Offspring Neurodevelopment at 12 and 18 Months.Image Credit:Prostock-studio/ Shutterstock

The coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) pandemic represents an unprecedented loss of human life and economic collapse. Since its emergence in Wuhan, China, in late 2019, the virus has been responsible for a death toll of nearly 7 million, with more than 700 million individuals infected thus far. The medical and scientific panic induced by the pandemic spurned intensive research for a means to combat the disease, either by curing it or preventing its acquisition/transmission, resulting in the rapid development of anti-viral vaccines against the conditions causative pathogen the severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 (SARS-CoV-2).

Despite extensive fast-track preclinical trials of prospective vaccines, a focal risk group, namely pregnant women, was excluded from large-scale clinical trials due to mounting concerns over the negative impacts of vaccines on mothers and their to-be offspring. Even now, following the acute pandemic phase, little literature is available on the outcomes of during-pregnancy vaccinations for the next generation.

Sources of vaccine hesitancy include unknown risks to the fetus. Although a popular concern linking childhood vaccination and risk of autism spectrum disorder has been debunked, misinformation persists.

A popular argument against maternal vaccination is potential developmental issues with their offspring, with neurodevelopmental disorders the most often cited. Historically, vaccinations against influenza and rubella have been observed to have long-term, often life-long, adverse impacts on the neurological and psychiatric health of individuals with in-utero exposure. The trickle-down effect of this vaccine hesitancy is arguably the most significant factor in the dearth of knowledge and overabundance of misinformation regarding vaccination reception during pregnancies.

Despite being poorly studied in the context of COVID-19 vaccinations, neurodevelopmental disorders have been well-characterized. The term refers to a cohort of behaviorally defined conditions typically characterized by the early emergence of cognitive, language, motor, or social development abnormalities.

A range of genetic and environmental factors may underlie neurodevelopmental disorders, and fetal exposure to maternal inflammation represents a potential source of risk that has found increasing support from converging lines of epidemiologic and animal model evidence.

In the present study, researchers used data from a large prospective study representative of the United States of America (US) and Puerto Rico, comprising 2,487 mothers and 4,201 infants. Methodologies and outcomes are reported using the Strengthening the Reporting of Observational Studies in Epidemiology (STROBE) reporting guidelines. Participant recruitment was conducted between May 2020 and August 2021 and initially comprised 7,880 individuals. Study inclusion criteria included age (above 18 years) and questionnaire completion status.

Data collection comprised demographics (including self-reported ethnicity), medical history (including SARS-CoV-2 infection status), vaccination status (including type of vaccine received and number of booster doses), and three questionnaires. The Ages and Stages Questionnaire, third edition (ASQ-3), was used to measure the infants outcomes of interest five parameters encompassing the five neurodevelopmental subdomains: 1. Communication, 2. Fine motor, 3. Gross motor, 4. Social-, and 5. Problem-solving skills. The Patient Health Questionnaire (PHQ-9) and Generalized Anxiety Disorder (GAD-7) questionnaires were used to measure maternal outcomes.

Vaccination, either with mRNA vaccines or viral-vector vaccines, was considered the study exposure. Mixed-effects logistic regression models constituted statistical analyses and were used to reveal the relationship between vaccination and subsequent neurodevelopment.

Of the 7,780 participants who initially enrolled in the study, 2,487 met the inclusion criteria and were included in the analyses. Most participants identified as White (89.3%) with a mean age of 33 years. 68% of participants reported receiving vaccinations during their pregnancy, 76.2% of which were mRNA vaccinations.

Notably, this study could not reveal any association between in-utero COVID-19 vaccine exposure and subsequent adverse neurodevelopment (stunted or delayed) outcomes. Encouragingly, neither offspring nor their mothers were found to experience any unexpected neurological outcomes, even when adjusting models to account for demographics and medical histories. SARS-CoV-2 infection status was also observed to have no significant bearing on the rate of neurodevelopment.

These findings highlight the importance of ongoing extensive prospective studies, especially in newborns and infants, to improve real-time mother and child care.

As our basic science colleagues tease out the dynamic mechanistic underpinnings of in-utero exposures, together we can transform these early data into knowledge to promote the health and well-being of our communities.

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Study confirms safety of COVID-19 vaccination during pregnancy for infant neurodevelopment - News-Medical.Net

Americans look to you as the highest public health official in the land; it would speak volumes if, in addition to other actions, you appealed directly to residents and their family members, Katie Smith Sloan, president of industry group LeadingAge, wrote in a Dec. 22 letter to Becerra.

More than 170,000 nursing home residents have died since Covid arrived four years ago. But after the all-hands-on-deck effort to vaccinate elderly people in 2020 and 2021, Americas most vulnerable citizens are now largely on their own.

Sloan gave Becerra a to-do list to help the homes: allow them to make small vaccine orders that fit slackening demand, enlist hospitals in the vaccination campaign, permit the industry to bill Medicare more for administering the shots, and come up with a message that works.

A day later, at the second meeting, Becerra didnt offer new aid, but did reiterate the federal rules requiring homes to offer vaccines.

Weve chased down all these to-do items for three years running I dont think theyve had the impact, one senior administration official, granted anonymity to discuss the administrations response, said of the nursing homes demands. The person said the agency would examine the latest requests and continue to work with the industry, but was skeptical it would radically change the outcome even if the administration acceded to them.

I dont think this letter with the items in it, even if we checked off every box, would all of a sudden, magically change the vaccination rate, the official said.

Nursing home residents, because of their age and underlying conditions, are particularly vulnerable to Covid-19.

When the first Covid shots arrived in nursing homes late in 2020 in government-run clinics, almost every resident chose vaccination a massive relief, given the outsize death toll in the homes to that point.

[The administration] had the major pharmacies that were on board. They brought the clinics to the nursing homes and by and large, the residents received their vaccines, David Grabowski, professor of health care policy at Harvard Medical School, recalled.

But that success has faded along with the broader vaccination campaign.

Theres no clear answer why, but two shifts have likely contributed, according to industry and government leaders.

First, interest in vaccination has declined as they proved unable to halt transmission, as have disagreements over who needs an annual shot even as theres consensus among experts that elderly people do.

Second, the administration stopped buying and managing distribution of the shots starting with the rollout of the updated vaccine last September.

The move coincided with the administrations decision to end the public health emergency, which justified the move to shift responsibility to insurers, pharmacies, doctors offices and the other private health care organizations that manage other vaccinations.

For nursing homes, that means they have to source the shots and manage how theyre given, creating logistical and reimbursement challenges.

Though government and industry leaders agree that a number of other factors could also be at play, the result is clear: Only 38 percent of nursing home residents have gotten the most recent shot a significant drop from the initial vaccination campaign.

Theres a wide variation among states. Both North and South Dakota report more than 60 percent of nursing home residents are vaccinated whereas only 20.1 percent of Arizona nursing home residents are.

And Covid continues to claim lives in the homes nearly 600 residents died in the first two weeks of 2024. As of Jan. 14, more than 14,700 Covid-19 cases were confirmed among nursing home residents since the start of winter a much lower rate of cases than in previous years.

People in the administration point to discrepancies across states as reason to believe providers could do more.

At some homes, most residents are vaccinated, at others almost no one, leading Becerra to remind nursing home executives that they are legally required to at least offer shots to their residents.

We know they can do it, the administration official said. Better is possible.

And the administration can point to facilities, such as those in the Dakotas, that have vaccinated most of their residents.

Its absolutely about that trust, said Dr. Jeremy Cauwels, who oversees the Good Samaritan Society, South Dakota-based Sanford Healths long-term care provider.

He said yearslong relationships with patients were powerful enough to overcome vaccine skepticism. In some Sanford-owned facilities, he said uptake is over 90 percent.

Sloan acknowledged that some homes are doing a better job than others in vaccinating residents more than half of residents at LeadingAge facilities have had the latest shot indicating that the facilities can help boost trust.

But she also said she has noticed the administration doing less to persuade Americans to get vaccinated than it did in the past.

One of the things that we talked to the secretary about was really the role that HHS in particular can play in using its bully pulpit as the primary public health communicator in the country, Sloan said. That, to me, is a huge, huge role.

Centers for Disease Control and Prevention Director Mandy Cohen told POLITICO in October that getting nursing home residents vaccinated was a top priority for her agency given the risk they face.

Leading up to this virus season, and throughout the fall, CDC worked with other federal agencies, state and local health departments, and health care partners to address vaccine access issues and encourage uptake. We expect to see improvement, an agency spokesperson wrote in an email.

But some in the administration also said that its appropriate that the shift from a government-run distribution system to one managed by the private sector should also mean a shift away from the governments pandemic role promoting vaccination.

There was some thought that maybe it might be better if the messaging came from the manufacturers and from private entities, the senior official said, believing that the hard sell from the administration was merely reinforcing vaccine skepticism in some communities.

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Covid killed 170000 in nursing homes. Most residents still haven't gotten the latest shot. - POLITICO

In a recent article published inBMC Public Health,researchers analyzed the association between time-varying coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) vaccination rates and COVID-19 case-hospitalization risk (CHR), a proxy for disease severity at an individual level and disease burden on healthcare systems at the population level across various severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 (SARS-CoV-2) variant waves in the United States (U.S.).

Study:Association between vaccination rates and COVID-19 health outcomes in the United States: a population-level statistical analysis. Image Credit:Nhemz/Shutterstock.com

There were 1.1 million deaths in the U.S. due to COVID-19 by 1 March 2023. COVID-19 vaccines most effectively curbed the disease and its impact, including the socioeconomic burden on the country's people and health care system.

However, studies evaluating the effectiveness of COVID-19 vaccines relied upon individual-level data confounded by unquantified factors and inconsistent quality.

So, for the U.S., high-resolution data was unavailable at the population level, reflecting the real-world relative associations between available COVID-19 vaccines and COVID-19 CHR over time.

The present study used Generalized Additive Models (GAMs) to investigate the relationship between COVID-19 vaccination rates and CHR in 48 U.S. states between 19 April 2021 and 1 March 2022.

The study model captured nonlinear dynamics, accounting for dynamic (time-changing) and static (temporally constant) factors potentially contributing to COVID-19 CHR and disease transmission.

The former were natural immunity derived from previous severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 (SARS-CoV-2) infection, government policies, activity-related engagement levels in the population, and local healthcare infrastructure.

In contrast, the latter comprised the social vulnerability index (SVI), race/ethnicity, comorbidities, and healthcare expenditures of each state, considered significant in previous studies.

Additionally, the model reported COVID-19 case incidence rates (CIR) as a distinct outcome variable. The study framework used a variable transformation method to capture the spatial variations in relative associations.

The study period spanned the pre-Delta, Delta, and Omicron waves of COVID-19, and they evaluated all of these independently in this study.

The study results point to several key findings concerning population-level COVID-19 vaccine effects in the U.S.

The GAMs using relative COVID-19 CHR (RCHR) as an outcome variable showed deviance explained values between 46.8% and 72.3% for variant waves.

Moreover, the correlation between observed and predicted RCHRs displayed strong positive correlations ranging from 0.67-0.81.

Population-level vaccination was significantly associated with reduced COVID-19 CHR.

Intriguingly, past SARS-CoV-2 infections (one to four months old) displayed robust negative associations with RCHR across different waves; however, this effect remained variable and inconsistent at both individual and population levels.

Activity-related engagement levels in the population (e.g., gym visits), government policies, and local healthcare infrastructure added to the explanatory power of the study model, favoring the significance of considering these on population-level outcomes of COVID-19 vaccines.

However, their associations were inconsistent over time and across different variants. For instance, the association between COVID-19 CHR and hospital visits transitioned from negative to positive between the pre-Delta to Delta and Omicron waves.

Moreover, the observed correlation between the relative weekly testing rate and RCHR was negative and decreased from the pre-Delta wave to the Omicron wave.

Additionally, U.S. states with higher SVI consistently showed higher RCHR, and Medicaid spending per person showed a consistent negative association with RCHR.

The GAMs using RCIR as the outcome variable demonstrated lower performance, suggesting a more dynamic relationship concerning COVID-19 transmission, particularly during the Omicron wave.

The deviance explained for Model Omicron-Booster-RCIR was 17%, suggesting that booster vaccination conferred additional protection against severe COVID-19 during the Omicron waves. However, their effect on Omicron infection itself was limited.

The study provides robust evidence of the efficacy of COVID-19 vaccines against COVID-19 CHR across various variant waves in the United States.

Despite the emergence of new variants, vaccines remained effective and remarkably mitigated adverse outcomes of COVID-19 and its socioeconomic burden on healthcare systems. Thisdata could help inform future public health policies in the U.S.

Future studies should identify other factors that may capture the dynamics of COVID-19 transmission during the Omicron period.

Furthermore, studies should investigate the complex and evolving nature of COVID-19 transmission.

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Effects of varying COVID-19 vaccination rates on population-level health outcomes across variant waves in the U.S. - News-Medical.Net