Prime Minister Justin Trudeau is urging Canadians to get theirinfluenzaand COVID-19 vaccines soon to avoid the need for additional health measures this winter.
Speaking at an announcement in Kanata, Ont.onMonday, Trudeau encouraged Canadians to ensure theyreceivethe full complement of COVID-19and seasonalflu vaccines.
"If we are able to get a high enough of level of vaccination, we reduce the danger of having to take other health measures tomake sure that we're all safe and not overloading our hospitals," Trudeausaid.
His remarks cameas health officials expressconcerns over recentupward trends in COVID-19 cases and hospitalizations.
Ontario's Chief Medical Officer of Health Dr.Kieran Mooresaid last week thathe'll recommend the return of mask mandates ifthe province'shealth care system becomes too strained.
In much of the country, emergency rooms are hoveringabove full capacity.
The shareof the population that hasreceived the primary series of a COVID-19 vaccine one or two doses, depending on the producthas levelled out at around 80 per cent since February. About 49 per cent of Canadianshave received the primary series and one additional booster.
Ontario opened appointments Monday for everyone aged 12 and over to receive Omicron-targeted vaccine doses. Earlier this month, HealthCanada approved anupdated Pfizer BioNTech Comirnaty vaccinethat targets the most common variants of the virus currently inthe country.
"There are new formulations that cover both Omicron and the original strain of COVID," Trudeau said. "We encourage everyone to get those vaccinations to keep pressure off of our hospitals, off our frontline heroes who are working so hard to keep people safe, but also tokeep pressureoff of our economy and our communities."
In a statement released earlier this month, the National Advisory Committee on Immunizationissued arecommendation that everyone aged 12 and older be offered a fall COVID-19 booster dose, regardless of the number of booster doses previously received.
The committee also said its "preferred" product for booster doses is a bivalent Omicron-containing mRNA COVID-19 vaccine.
With cold weather approaching, relatively lowflu circulationover the last two years puts children at a greater risk than usual of catching the illness,infectious disease experts have told CBC.
The vaccination process is a two-dose series. It is given 28 days apart and helps prevent the spread of monkeypox.
ST. LOUIS More people are eligible for the monkeypox vaccine in the St. Louis region.
The Missouri Department of Health and Senior Services has expanded eligibility for the vaccine to include anyone who is likely to be exposed to the virus.
Anybody who meets the criteria below from the Department of Health is now eligible for the monkeypox vaccine:
The vaccination process is a two-dose series. It is given 28 days apart and helps prevent the spread of monkeypox.
Vaccines are available across the St. Louis region. The locations ask people to bring their insurance card and a photo ID to their appointment. The locations listed below will provide vaccination if you do not have insurance.
Find the locations available and how to schedule your appointment below:
The monkeypox outbreak has hit Baltimore the hardest of all Maryland jurisdictions, with about a third of the states cases, leaving some of the most vulnerable uninsured and underinsured unable to get the vaccine.
But with more supplies coming from federal sources, and a partnership with the Baltimore Health Department, Nomi Health will begin offering shots through a health clinic on the west side of downtown and a mobile van, the city health commissioner, Dr. Letitia Dzirasa, and other officials announced Tuesday.
This will really increase our capacity, said Adena Greenbaum, assistant Baltimore health commissioner for clinical services and HIV/STI prevention, on a clinic tour ahead of the announcement. We will be able to go beyond the health department and other partners in the community.
The increased availability of shots comes as the monkeypox virus outbreak appears to be on the wane in the United States. the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention reported last week an average of about 60 cases a day down from a high of 580 in early August. That may be due to some vaccinations and lifestyle adjustments by those most at risk.
But public health officials and experts warn the virus continues to infect people and can, like the coronavirus, morph into new variants that are more efficient at infecting humans. Any delays or pullback in tackling the virus could make it more difficult to control, according to research from the University of Maryland.
Just because a disease like monkeypox appears controllable does not mean it will stay controllable, said Philip Johnson, the researchs lead author and University of Maryland biology assistant professor, in a statement. Slowly simmering epidemics like monkeypox have a higher probability of evolution during the time frame while case numbers are low.
The city and Nomi Health will offer the shots by appointment only and take people who pre-registered through a state site. Currently about there are 460 city residents on the list out of about 3,700 statewide.
Patients and advocates have criticized the slow rollout of testing and vaccination nationally, which officials believe was due to a combination of low vaccine supply, public health infrastructure burdened by the coronavirus pandemic and underfunding. A concern about stigmatizing the most hard hit in the gay community also may have played a role.
Now there appears to be ample doses available.
Maryland has received 14,539 vials of vaccine from federal officials in recent weeks, which can be divided up to five doses each using a technique called intradermal vaccination where the shot is given between layers of skin in the forearm instead of in the muscle. The U.S. Food and Drug Administration authorized the method in August to stretch limited doses.
In September, the Maryland Department of Health expanded eligibility to anyone at high risk of a monkeypox infection and not just those directly exposed. So far, 7,353 people have been vaccinated in Maryland.
To get the word out, the health department continues to engage local communities on human monkeypox with a webinar series this month and continuing partnerships with local health departments and community partners, said Chase Cook, a department spokesman.
Previously, health officials had been alerting medical professionals to be on the lookout for symptoms and refer for testing.
Clusters of monkeypox began showing up in May in European countries that do not normally have significant cases. Soon after cases were detected in the United States and Maryland. They caused a telltale body rash that can last weeks, swollen lymph nodes and achiness that can be severe.
The state has logged 692 cases, with the most, 255, or nearly a third, in Baltimore. About half the cases have been in the city and surrounding metro area. More than 95% have been male, 61% Black and 47% ages 30 to 39.
Sean Arroyo, vice president of operations at Nomi, a nationwide health care provider to underserved communities, said the West Baltimore Street clinic has been busy in the past year offering COVID testing and vaccines.
The lines that were out the door and down the street at times have dropped significantly though there are still widespread cases and the clinic now offers the bivalent omicron COVID vaccine, he said.
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Now Nomi will add monkeypox vaccine to the lineup, and later flu vaccine, under a $1 million contract with the city health department that lasts through December.
He and city officials are unsure what the demand will be, especially as cases wane and people feel less fearful of a monkeypox infection. The clinic can vaccinate up to 125 people a day and will get the van into neighborhoods in coming weeks.
Registered nurse Diona Harrington, operations manager of Nomi Baltimore holds the door for incoming Nomi Health personnel from out of town as Baltimore health officials plan opening a new monkeypox inoculation clinic at Nomi Health's Baltimore Street location, which aims to make the vaccine more easily accessible. (Karl Merton Ferron/The Baltimore Sun)
Weve seen a national drop-off in demand, but there are pockets of demand so we will be here and bring the van into the communities, Arroyo said. Were working on a plan for the van. Not everyone has transportation to get here.
Health officials say vaccinations will be essential to combating the outbreak.
Waiting until the number of cases is high again would give monkeypox the opportunity to adapt more substantially to humans, the University of Marylands Johnson said.
The research was published last month in the journal The Lancet. It cited Ebola and the omicron variants of the coronavirus as examples of viruses more difficult to control once they evolve from their original form and jump to humans from animals.
We have finite public health resources, meaning that we need more research to develop tools that can identify possible early-stage evolutionary adaptations and help guide control efforts to where theyll be most effective, Johnson said.
MINISTER of Health and Wellness Dr Michael Darville welcomes the arrival of the monkeypox vaccine yesterday - although The Bahamas has had no serious impact from the outbreak so far. Dr Darville also warned of a drop in overall vaccination rates. Photo: Austin Fernander
By LETRE SWEETING
lsweeting@tribunemedia.net
HEALTH officials said that there has been a decrease in the uptake of all vaccine types, amid the arrival of 1,400 monkeypox vaccines at the Lynden Pindling International Airport yesterday.
Shortly after 3pm, health officials, including Health and Wellness Minister Dr Michael Darville, gathered on the tarmac at LPIA to receive the doses of the vaccine, which were acquired through PAHOs revolving fund.
The vaccines, which were requested earlier this year, arrived in the capital on British Airways and will be taken to an appropriate storage unit.
Its been a long time coming, Dr Darville said. I had an idea when it was coming but we wanted to make sure and today on British Airways, the vaccine is here.
We would like to thank the Pan American Health Organisation, our partners, to ensure we have the monkeypox vaccine in the country.
The vaccine will be moved from here to the proper storage site and our teams will be responsible to administer to the high risk groups and individuals that may have been exposed, Dr Darville said.
On behalf of the government, wed like to thank PAHO and the entire team at the Ministry of Health who worked assiduously to ensure that these vaccines arrived in the country.
Though Dr Darville did not reveal a date for the official rollout of the vaccines, he said the high risk groups will receive doses very shortly.
The official roll out will begin very shortly. We have a strategy on how its going to be utilised and we would notify the media exactly how we would roll it out. We have our vaccination consultative committee, which also will play an intricate role, along with our team.
When we talk about high risk groups we talk about people who might have been potentially exposed. We also have other groups that we believe may be at high risk. This is not like COVID, where everyone needs to be vaccinated. It is basically those groups that are at high risk.
When asked if there will be another batch of the monkeypox vaccine doses in the future, Dr Darvile said, We are back in negotiations with PAHO and that possibility exists. That final decision will have to be made along with our entire team. But we are definitely looking at the second batch.
Meanwhile, Dr Cherita Moxey, Ministry of Healths acting chief medical officer and coordinator said as with the paediatric doses of the COVID 19 vaccine, which arrived in The Bahamas several weeks ago, the monkeypox vaccines indicate a step in the right direction.
Like the monkeypox vaccine, its (paediatric doses of the Covid 19 vaccine) arrival here in The Bahamas indicates that the Ministry of Health has taken a very proactive step. There was a lot of demand in the public space for these vaccines, she said.
Unfortunately we have not seen the realisation of that demand at our COVID vaccination centres. Right now were seeing a percentage of less than one percent of that particular population vaccinated.
Not only the COVID-19 vaccines, I also want to speak to the fact that weve had a decrease in uptake for all vaccine types that are on our national immunisation schedule. So, we really want to encourage persons to get vaccinated for COVID 19, but (also) for the other vaccine preventable diseases that are out there.
Last month, Dr Marcos Espinal, PAHOs interim assistant director revealed that batches of monkeypox vaccines are on the way for countries as part of their revolving fund.
PAHO director Dr Carissa F Etienne also said that monkeypox was declared a public health emergency of international concern by the World Health Organisation (WHO) in July and the region is now home to the highest burden of monkeypox cases worldwide.
In July, paediatric doses of the COVID-19 vaccine, for children aged five to 11 years arrived in The Bahamas.
Dr Darville said the paediatric vaccinations would be voluntary and not mandatory.
Public health experts are optimistic the new approach will ultimately change the trajectory of the virus.
Credit: arvin.temkar@ajc.com
Credit: arvin.temkar@ajc.com
The White House is hopeful, too. Fulton County was singled out for praise by administration officials as an example of a major U.S. metropolitan area thats confronting vaccine inequity. Black men who have sex with other men are not receiving monkeypox vaccines at a rate matching the number of cases affecting their population. Anyone can contract monkeypox, but men who have sex with men have been mainly affected in this latest outbreak.
After an initial cluster of cases in the United Kingdom in May, the first diagnoses started cropping up in Georgia in June and quickly ballooned. Just two short months ago, the situation looked grim. With cases exploding nationwide, the federal government on August 4 declared monkeypox a public health emergency.
Dr. Melanie Thompson, a doctor who cares for people living with HIV and researcher based in Atlanta, described it as heartbreaking to see people struggling to get tested and vaccinated. She said some were turned away from emergency rooms.
One of my patients said, Its like the early days of AIDS. Nobody knows whats going on. Nobody wants to take care of you. Nobody knows where to get help. It just broke my heart, Thompson said.
Right then, she and others in metro Atlanta decided they would not let the past repeat itself.
Kendoll Brinkley Brown, 39, was on three waiting lists for the monkeypox vaccine when he got sick.
During the last week of July, Brinkley Brown developed a bad headache and body aches. At first, he didnt think much of it. He had recently been in a car accident and had just undergone a root canal. A day after the dental procedure, he noticed a lesion filled with pus on the front of his hand. It started itching and other lesions quickly followed on his arms and buttocks.
At that particular point, I was already paranoid about the whole monkeypox outbreak. I stay pretty tucked away in a bubble. So I was hoping that it was not that, but something in my gut was telling me that it was, he said.
Monkeypox causes a distinctive rash that goes through several stages from blisters to scabs before healing. The rash can be located in sensitive areas, cause extreme pain and, in some cases, lead to hospitalization. An infection can last from two to four weeks, and those infected are usually unable to work and must avoid contact with others.
After struggling to reach anyone with the Fulton County Health Department by phone, he eventually decided to go to the health department in person on Aug. 1. He said it took several hours for him to be seen and tested. As he suspected, he had monkeypox.
Before long, he was reeling in pain. To ease the agony, he soaked in warm baths with colloidal oatmeal. He took Ibuprofen.
During his visit to the health department, Brinkley Brown said he had asked for treatment, but was told there was none. And, although the health department promised to contact his doctor, he also said that he heard nothing during or after his bout with monkeypox, which left him frustrated.
He wasnt alone.
The immediate response to the outbreak at the federal, state and local levels was hampered by missteps and delays.
The first pop-up vaccination event in Fulton County took place on July 9, but only a paltry 200 doses of the vaccine were available and required an appointment. At the time, Georgia was ranked No. 5 for the most monkeypox cases in the U.S., but was receiving far fewer vaccines than other parts of the country with far fewer cases. State health officials werent even requesting all of the doses allocated to the state.
A DPH spokeswoman said the state wasnt ordering its allocated vaccines all at once because officials planned to stagger the shipments. They needed time to prepare to store and administer the vaccines.
When vaccines became available, Fulton County sent press releases and posted information about vaccination opportunities on social media. When appointment slots were posted online, they were snapped up within minutes.
It didnt take long for Joshua ONeal, sexual health program director for Fulton County Board of Health, to notice a trend. As a gay white man, I will say that the people who are connected to me on Instagram and my social networks, I talk about this, so they were most activated at the time, said ONeal, and there were other communities who just werent aware and thats when we started seeing the racial disparities.
Though they didnt yet have the data, ONeal, HIV doctors and leaders of community-based organizations said early indications were showing the virus was heavily affecting Black men, especially those who are HIV positive. And they werent getting vaccinated at the same rate as white men, much to the chagrin of the states public health officials.
Initially, people thought they could just put notifications online, and people would sign up for them and everything would be fine, said HIV doctor Thompson. You know, first come, first served. And what we saw were the same disparities being repeated again, the same HIV disparities, the COVID disparities. It was the most impacted populations who were being left out.
But what happened this time is they pivoted, she said of public health officials.
ONeal, at the Fulton County Health Department, and others insisted that they change course and work harder to get vaccines in the arms of the people most at risk.
It was: Why is this not happening? ONeal recalled. But also, if we have such a limited amount of these vaccines, we need to be doing the right thing to get it to all the people who are heavily impacted. he said.
By mid-July, with ONeal taking the lead, Fulton County Health Department started collaborating with several community-based organizations that advocate for the LGBTQ community. Among them, Thrive SS Inc., A Vision 4 Hope and Heres to Life. They were prioritized for vaccine access and given a sign-up link to help their clients get appointments.
With monkeypox cases in the state surpassing 400 by the beginning of August, the new collaborative approach started taking shape in Atlanta and Fulton County: Federal, state, and local public health officials were working closely with activists, community groups and local HIV doctors and clinics. They gave presentations, held town halls, started outreach in bars.
In the backs of their minds, they kept thinking about the AIDS epidemic decades before, and how it should have been handled better. People were like, Never again. Lets do what we have to do, said David Folkes, community health outreach manager at Thrive SS Inc., which focuses on the health of Black gay men, especially those living with HIV.
They decided to use Atlanta Black Pride week events in early September as an opportunity to reach a large number of people. Smith, of Heres to Life, developed a QR code with details on how to get a vaccine and put it on postcards with information about Pride events. Taking the cards with him, he started making the rounds to local bars, including the one where Carter was sipping his cocktail and had given up on getting an appointment for vaccination.
Credit: arvin.temkar@ajc.com
Credit: arvin.temkar@ajc.com
It was one of those things where we were in an emergency. It was a state of emergency, Smith said. We dont want that stigma on the community. We dont need an outbreak with gay men. It was an easy conversation: Have you had your vaccination? Let me get you on a list.
When Smith brought up the monkeypox vaccine, Carter gladly accepted his help. His name was added to a list of 112 that Smith passed along to the Fulton County Health Department. Two days later, Carter received a text confirming his appointment for the first of the two-dose vaccine.
In Georgia, case numbers were nearly doubling every week in mid-July and continued to jump in August. But, according to the most recent tally released Oct. 12 the total number of cases only rose 1.5% from the previous week.
Public health experts say the decline was likely brought about by a combination of factors, including vaccinations, immunity gained from infection in the population at risk, and a change in sexual behavior in the highest risk group. In a survey conducted by the CDC in August, roughly half of men who have sex with men said they had reduced the number of their partners and one-time sexual encounters.
I really think this is a very interesting case study, said Thompson. Number one, what a difference it makes when there is good communication between the community and county, state and federal governments because what we saw was a concentrated effort.
There are still racial disparity issues to address. As the city prepared to host Atlanta Black Pride on Labor Day weekend, Black people accounted for 78% of monkeypox cases in Georgia but had received only 45% of the vaccines. That inequity in vaccines hasnt changed, according to DPH figures.
And public health officials need to pay attention to the lingering psychological toll, said Brinkley Brown. He started an online journal on Facebook documenting what his days of managing the illness were like. Thats grown into an online support group.
Im glad to have made it through it, he said. Im glad that my experience can be a testimony, and it has helped others come through their experiences.
For most people, the term breakthrough infection was first heard shortly after the rollout of Covid-19 vaccines in 2021. The speed at which the powers that be normalised this plausible-sounding term is almost impressive, particularly given that the very need therefore evidenced the failure of the Covid-19 vaccines to prevent transmission of the virus the first basic tenet upon which vaccination was boldly promoted. In this article, first published on The Defender, an astute review of observational data derived from statistics reported in the UK clearly shows that, in every age group over age 18, the Covid-19 case rate in the unvaccinated is less than the rate in the fully vaccinated and boosted. In addition, graphs documenting the relative infection rates plotted in each age group over the last six months that this data was reported (October 2021-March 2022), illustrate how the infection rate in the vaccinated/boosted is not only greater than in the unvaccinated in every age group, but actually increasing with the passage of time. Nadya Swart
When so many cases of infection occur in vaccinated people and they occur immediately after the therapy should these really be called breakthrough infections?
By Madhava Setty, M.D.*
James Lyons-Weiler, Ph.D., recently posed an interesting question to his Substack readers about the Jynneos monkeypox vaccine.
Based on some rough estimates, Lyons-Weiler calculated that the risk of monkeypox after vaccination, based on a study published in the Journal of the American Medical Association (JAMA), is about 50 times greater than in the unvaccinated population of similar at-risk people.
So he asked his readers, What (respectfully) do you think is going on?
Lyons-Weiler is (respectfully) pointing out the obvious: If a therapy results in more disease in those who are treated, couldnt the therapy be causing the disease?
Medpage Today also covered the results of the JAMA study in this article: Breakthrough Monkeypox Cases Seen Weeks After Second Jynneos Dose, with the subhead, However, most post-vaccination cases in at-risk group occurred within 14 days of first dose.
When so many cases occur and they occur immediately after the therapy should these really be called breakthrough infections?
The term breakthrough infection is a euphemism for vaccine failure.
The word breakthrough connotes an excusable lapse in protection, an inevitable one-off when a wily and ubiquitous virus manages to penetrate a formidable wall of vaccine-mediated protection.
But is it really a wall of protection if the incidence of disease is greater in those who stand behind the wall compared to those who face the attack head on?
In the case of the JAMA study, vaccination wasnt a wall of protection it was actually a magnet for disease.
We are speaking of vaccine efficacy. If the incidence of disease is greater in the vaccinated, vaccine efficacy is negative meaning, there is a benefit in avoiding the vaccine.
Results of the Jynneos monkeypox vaccine trial are difficult to swallow for those who accept that all vaccines are safe and effective as axiom.
The public has slowly come to accept that the protection of vaccines can wane, but when vaccine effectiveness creeps into negative territory, the vaccines can no longer be considered safe, either.
In that sense, negative vaccine effectiveness is also a euphemism. Why dont we call it what it really is harm?
COVID vaccine breakthrough infections
With regard to COVID-19 vaccine effectiveness against infection, observational data from the U.K. shows an increasing level of harm from inoculation.
As of March 2022, the risk of getting COVID-19 was 2.5 to 5 times higher in people over age 18 (see Table 14 below).
Unfortunately, U.K. health officials unceremoniously announced these statistics would no longer be reported, stating:
From 1 April 2022, the UK Government will no longer provide free universal COVID-19 testing for the general public in England, as set out in the plan for living with COVID-19.
Such changes in testing policies affect the ability to robustly monitor COVID-19 cases by vaccination status, therefore, from the week 14 report onwards this section of the report will no longer be published.
It is unclear how the elimination of free COVID-19 testing will affect the U.K.s ability to robustly monitor COVID-19 cases by vaccination status.
If anything, it will decrease the amount of indiscriminate testing of asymptomatic individuals a practice that will (and has) exaggerated the incidence of the disease in everyone tested. One could argue that this change in policy will actually increase the ability to robustly monitor COVID-19 cases.
Nevertheless, here are the last numbers reported by the U.K.:
The first two columns compare rates of infection between fully vaccinated and boosted individuals with the unvaccinated. In every age group over 18, the COVID-19 infection rate is significantly higher.
The authors of this report caution the reader to not jump to any conclusions. They explain:
The case rates in the vaccinated and unvaccinated populations are unadjusted crude rates that do not take into account underlying statistical biases in the data and there are likely to be systematic differences between these 2 population groups. For example:
The first three points are valid concerns when examining two groups of unmatched populations in any observational study. These factors may skew vaccine effectiveness in either direction.
Without any randomised, placebo-controlled, matched cohorts we are left only with large observational data sets like this one from which to draw conclusions. Why wouldnt they continue to report these numbers if thats all we can do?
The fourth point is puzzling. The authors suggest that the unvaccinated have some natural immunity because they are more likely to have caught COVID-19 prior to this period of comparison.
Though the authors minimise the protective benefit of natural immunity in their wording, their argument necessitates that natural immunity is superior to vaccination. How else can they use their argument to explain the significantly lower incidence of disease in the unvaccinated?
At the very least, this is a subtle nod to the superiority of natural immunity. However, the authors assumption that the unvaccinated were more likely to have caught COVID-19 in the weeks or months prior to the period covered in the report flies in the face of their own data.
Were the unvaccinated more likely to have caught COVID-19 prior to this reporting period? No.
Heres what the previous report showed:
Once again, in every age group over age 18, the case rate in the unvaccinated is less than the rate in the fully vaccinated and boosted. If the unvaccinated are succumbing to COVID-19 less frequently in February, how can they be better protected in March?
According to the authors hypothesis, a higher infection rate among the vaccinated in February should have led to a lower infection rate in March. Not only did this not happen, the difference between vaccinated and unvaccinated infection rates were even larger than they were before.
Not only are the vaccinated obtaining a smaller level of future protection from infection compared to the unvaccinated, they are becoming more vulnerable as time passes.
Trend of growing harm
In fact, if we look further back in time we can see that the protective benefit of being unvaccinated is growing month over month. To put it less euphemistically, as time goes on it is becoming clearer that the vaccinated in the U.K. are being harmed.
To better illustrate the growing harm, below are the relative infection rates plotted in each age group over the last six months that this data was reported (October 2021-March 2022).
The infection rate in the unvaccinated is in green, and the infection rate in the boosted/vaxxed is in blue.
The ratio of the infection rates is plotted separately in black. A ratio greater than 1 means the infection rate in the boosted/vaxxed is bigger than in the unvaxxed.
Notice that the infection rate in the vaxxed/boosted is not only greater than in the unvaccinated in every age group, but it is increasing with the passage of time. This means that with respect to SARS-CoV-2 infection, the vaccinated/boosted population is doing progressively worse.
In every age category, the COVID-19 infection rate in the boosted is proportionately larger and larger with subsequent months. By March 2022, boosted individuals between the ages of 30 to 79 have approximately a 4 times greater chance of getting COVID-19 than their unvaccinated counterparts.
COVID-19 infection should protect against subsequent infections. However, what we see in the U.K. is that despite having higher infection rates, the vaccinated continue to become infected at even higher rates in subsequent months.
Lets be clear. The incidence of the disease the vaccine was designed to protect against is several times higherand growingin those who got the vaccine. Is the virus breaking through? Or is it being encouraged to enter?
Finally, they offer this mystifying caveat in footnote 1 of Table 14:
Comparing case rates among vaccinated and unvaccinated populations should not be used to estimate vaccine effectiveness against COVID-19 infection.
Really? How exactly should vaccine effectiveness be estimated? Is there a better way?
Lets refer to page 4 of the same report, where they explain how it should be done correctly:
Vaccine effectiveness is estimated by comparing rates of disease in vaccinated individuals to rates in unvaccinated individuals.
No harm in the U.S.?
Despite the disturbing trends in the U.K., Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) data continue to demonstrate a benefit with regard to infection rates in the vaccinated.
The most recent data from the U.S. (August 2022) indicates that unvaccinated individuals have a 2.4 times greater risk of contracting COVID-19 than those who are jabbed.
However, CDC data from March 2022 (the period covered in the last U.K. report), show that unvaccinated people under the age of 50 had a lower incidence of disease than those who were fully vaccinated and boosted.
When will the CDC update its datasets? Will the CDC continue to report vaccine effectiveness against infection if it goes negative? Or will it follow the U.K.s lead and leave us to wonder?
What (respectfully) do you think is going on?
The views and opinions expressed in this article are those of the authors and do not necessarily reflect the views of Childrens Health Defense.
[10/18/22] Childrens Health Defense, Inc. This work is reproduced and distributed with the permission of Childrens Health Defense, Inc. Want to learn more from Childrens Health Defense? Sign up for free news and updates from Robert F. Kennedy, Jr. and the Childrens Health Defense. Your donation will help to support us in our efforts.
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So, I decided to get the Monkeypox (MPXV) vaccine.
Why, you ask?
I wish I could say it was mainly because I wanted to do my part and look out for the community. Yes, that was part of it, but the main reason I chose to get jabbed was the symptoms.
MPXV symptoms can include a rash, painful skin lesions or sores on the face, mouth, genitals, and anus. This is usually accompanied by fever, headache, fatigue and swollen lymph nodes.
Painful lesions on my genitals and anus?
Listen, if theres a vaccine that protects me from painful lesions and sores below the waist, or anywhere else on my body, jab my brains out.
According to ACON, MPXV is transmitted through close physical contact as well as contact with the clothing of with someone who has symptoms.
MPXV can also be transmitted if you breathe in the respiratory droplets of an infected person.
Australia has received a supply of the third-generation JYNNEOS vaccine. In order to be fully vaccinated, you must get two doses of the vaccine, spaced at least 28 days apart.
Currently, the vaccine is being administered intradermally. This means it is given via a shallow injection into the forearm.
According to Australias Deputy Chief Medical Officer, Professor Michael Kidd, The advantage of the intradermal route is that you can provide vaccination to four or five people with the same dose that was used previously via the subcutaneous route to get to one person. In other words, this method allows clinics to squeeze four to five doses from a single standard dose, which allows a significantly larger number of people to get protected.
Between May 20 and October 13, 2022, there were 140 MPXV cases in Australia, including 69 in Victoria, 54 in New South Wales, 7 in Western Australia, 5 in Queensland, 3 in the Australian Capital Territory, and 2 in South Australia.
Sure, lining up with other gay and bisexual men to get a vaccine that temporarily leaves a small raised bump at the injection site feels a bit like a scarlet letter. But wear that scarlet letter with pride.
If anything, think of all the grateful genitals.
On Thursday, the Health and Human Services Department renewed the COVID-19 public health emergency for another 90 days at least, extending the Biden administrations ability to access certain flexibilities and waivers for its pandemic response. The Trump administration first declared the emergency in January 2020.
This comes as federal public health officials are bracing for a possible winter surge in COVID-19 cases and a few weeks after President Biden said in a 60 Minutes interview the pandemic is over, which led to Republicans calling on the administration to act like it. Here are some of the other recent headlines you might have missed.
Dr. Ashish Jha, White House COVID-19 response coordinator, said during the White House briefing on Tuesday that there are challenges ahead with winter coming, but what occurs in the coming weeks and months will have a big impact on how it goes. He encouraged everyone to get their updated booster if they havent already. On Tuesday, Politico reported that just 5% of the then-eligible population had received the updated dose amid confusion over the shot, declining cases and profound pandemic fatigue.
Once again, he reiterated the administrations plea for more funding. We do not have an adequate stockpile of that or of tests because we had to pull resources to make sure that we had enough vaccines, said Jha. We do not have funding for the next generation of vaccines and treatments. Our vaccine campaign has been more limited because of lack of funding. So, Congress bears a lot of responsibility for the complexities of the moment we find ourselves in.
Kids as young as five can now get the updated COVID booster, following the authorization from the Food and Drug Administration and sign off from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention this week.
An estimated 85% of applicants to the Small Business Administration's COVID-19 relief program for arts and entertainment industries found the various changes to the programs guidance at least somewhat challenging, according to the Government Accountability Office. Overall, the dissatisfaction of [Shuttered Venue Operators Grant program] applicants with SBAs communications and customer support suggests there are lessons to be learned for future emergency response efforts, said a Government Accountability Office report published on Tuesday. Because SBAs existing plans for communication during disasters or emergencies focus on regional loan programs serving all small businesses, they are not well suited for a program like [the shuttered venues program], a national grant program serving a specific industry. GAO also found that SBA could improve how it roots out fraud in the program.
Amb. Pamela Hamamoto has been selected to be the lead U.S. pandemic negotiator for the proposed accord on pandemic preparedness, response and prevention currently being debated at the World Health Organization. Hamamoto will assume management and oversight of U.S. engagement in these important discussions, which we believe must yield an accord that effectively strengthens global health collaboration, improves systems for monitoring disease or pandemic outbreaks, bolsters national health security capacities, and enhances equity in pandemic preparedness and responses, said a joint statement from Secretary of State Antony Blinken and Secretary of Health and Human Services Xavier Becerra on Tuesday.
This week the Internal Revenue Service is sending letters to over 9 million individuals and families who might qualify for various tax benefits, but didnt claim them; this includes the third round of economic impact payments to help mitigate the impacts of the pandemic. To help people claim these benefits, without charge, Free File will remain open for an extra month this year, until November 17, 2022, said the IRS in a press release on Thursday. This enables people whose incomes are $73,000 or less to file a return online for free using brand-name software.
Help us understand the situation better. Are you a federal employee, contractor or military member with information, concerns, etc. about how your agency is handling the coronavirus? Email us at newstips@govexec.com.
A recent study published in the Pulmonary Pharmacology & Therapeutics journal described different inhalation therapeutic agents for treating respiratory viral infections like coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19).
The COVID-19 pandemic has presented a challenge to people in terms of both treatment and prevention. Scientists were unable to provide prompt therapy or protection against severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 (SARS-CoV-2) infections despite advances in the medical field. A number of medications, including antivirals, were administered to patients to lower mortality and morbidity rates.
Review: Treatment of respiratory viral infections through inhalation therapeutics: Challenges and opportunities. Image Credit:Jan Schneckenhaus/ Shutterstock
Scientists face several challenges in developing antivirals that kill viruses without causing harm to hosts. In the present study, researchers reviewed inhalable antiviral formulations against SARS-CoV-2 and significant clinical study outcomes.
Worldwide, viruses cause numerous deaths and life-threatening diseases, but there are very few antivirals available for treatment. In contrast to bacterial infections, viral pathogens need the host protein to operate and live inside the host cells, making them challenging targets for antivirals. Ensuring that the drug does not harm the hosts while acting against viruses is the main difficulty facing antivirals. Antiviral drug resistance is another factor in which pathogens make minute adjustments to their deoxyribonucleic acid (DNA) and proteins, thus rendering them resistant to the medication.
Ribavirin, a purine nucleoside analog developed synthetically, has antiviral properties. It is now utilized to treat viral hemorrhagic fevers, hepatitis C virus, and respiratory syncytial virus (RSV) in high-risk newborns because of its broad spectrum of activity against DNA and ribonucleic acid (RNA) viruses in vitro and in vivo. Ribavirin has demonstrated ineffectiveness against naturally occurring influenza infections in people when administered systemically. This might result from the liver's quick metabolism of ribavirin, which concentrates in erythrocytes. Aerosol delivery of the drug effectively combated these issues. In contrast to oral ribavirin, which results in hemolytic anemia, ribavirin administered as an aerosol is efficient and safe in newborns and adults.
An oral neuraminidase inhibitor called oseltamivir phosphate is used to treat influenza A and B and prevent the flu after exposure. Oseltamivir phosphate (OP) oral therapy is linked to gastrointestinal issues such as nausea, vomiting, and diarrhea and adverse effects on the central nervous system like vertigo, exhaustion, headache, dizziness, and sleeplessness. Post-marketing surveillance has been linked to thrombocytopenia, hepatic issues, and skin rashes.
The safety of OP-DPI on lung cells was demonstrated by the MTT (3-(4,5-dimethylthiazol-2-yl2,5-diphenyltetrazolium bromide) assay that employed Calu-3 cells originating from bronchial cancer. Due to this discovery, inhalation OP treatment was found to be more efficient and practical than oral OP treatment. However, the poor advantage of OP nebulization is confirmed by the fact that only 2% of OP prodrugs are pre-systematically transformed into the active form.
A transition state analog of N-acetylneuraminic acid (sialic acid) called zanamivir prevents influenza virus neuraminidase from functioning, interfering with the de-aggregation and release of viral progeny and interrupting the viral replication cycle. Because zanamivir has a low oral bioavailability of less than 5%, intranasal and dry powder inhalation delivery is a suitable and efficient method.
It is authorized for use as an aerosol inhalation in treating influenza A and B infection in adults and pediatric patients older than seven years old who have had no more than two days of symptoms. For prophylaxis purposes, it is also allowed for use in adults and pediatric patients older than five years old.
A neuraminidase inhibitor called laninamivir octanoate (CS-8958) is used to treat and prevent influenza A and B viruses. It is administered as a once-daily dose of 40 mg for adults and 20 mg for children younger than 10 in the form of dry powder inhalation. The 50% inhibitory concentration (IC50) of laninamivir against the majority of influenza neuraminidases is higher than the active form of laninamivir that is retained in the airways. Only 15% of the medication is absorbed systemically after inhalation. Laninamivir, along with its prodrug, laninamivir octanoate, has demonstrated strong inhibitory effects against various influenza viruses, including seasonal H1N1, pandemic H1N1, H3N2, and influenza viruses.
Glycoproteins called interferons are members of the cytokine family and are created and released by various cells in response to an inflammatory response to a viral infection. It is used to prevent viral infections, particularly viral infections of the respiratory system, such as rhinovirus, influenza A and B, parainfluenza, adenovirus, and coronavirus, due to its broad antiviral efficacy. The use of 500 g of aerosolized recombinant interferon-gamma (rIFN-) over the course of 12 days has been found to be safe and well tolerated. Additionally, inhaled rIFN- can be well tolerated even at greater dosages in contrast to the subcutaneous method, which results in adverse side effects.
Overall, the study findings provided information on antiviral medications that can be administered as aerosols. The development of inhalable dosage forms has been studied in many ways. However, very few preclinical and clinical research have been carried out. This is concerning because there is a lack of data on the safety or efficacy available of inhalable antivirals.
A recent Pharmacological Reports study describes current approaches to managing the coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19), including diagnostic, therapeutic, and preventive measures.
Study:Recent review of COVID-19 management: diagnosis, treatment and vaccination. Image Credit: Anatta_Tan / Shutterstock.com
The severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 (SARS-CoV-2), the causative pathogen of COVID-19, is an enveloped positive-sense, single-stranded ribonucleic acid (RNA) virus that primarily transmits between individuals through respiratory droplets and aerosols. Binding between the SARS-CoV-2 spike protein and the host cell membrane angiotensin-converting enzyme 2 (ACE-2) receptor allows the virus to enter cells and replicate.
Although most COVID-19 patients remain asymptomatic or mildly symptomatic, the infection can be severe in susceptible individuals, including the elderly, immunocompromised patients, and individuals with comorbidities. In its severe form, COVID-19 can lead to hypoxemia, acute respiratory distress syndrome (ARDS), cardiovascular problems, hyperinflammation, autoimmune responses, liver and kidney complications, gastrointestinal complications, neuropsychiatric complications, dermatological and musculoskeletal complications, multiorgan failure, and even death.
Throughout the pandemic, many SARS-CoV-2 variants have emerged worldwide, including those denoted as variants of concern (VOCs). VOCs are associated with improved transmission and infection efficiency.
More recently, the SARS-CoV-2 Omicron VOC has shown a significantly greater ability to evade pre-existing anti-SARS-CoV-2 immunity, which has led to a sharp rise in new COVID-19 cases worldwide.
The laboratory methods primarily used to diagnose COVID-19 include reverse transcription-polymerase chain reaction (RT-PCR), reverse transcription loop-mediated isothermal amplification (RT-LAMP), antigen testing, point-of-care testing, and fluorescence-based biosensor tests. In addition, chest computed tomography (CT) scans and chest x-rays may also be used for clinical COVID-19 diagnosis.
RT-PCR, a highly specific and accurate method that detects viral RNA in respiratory samples, is considered the gold standard for COVID-19 diagnosis. Chest CT scans are particularly effective in detecting and assessing the severity of COVID-19-related pneumonia. Fluorescence-based biosensors are cost-effective solutions used to rapidly detect anti-SARS-CoV-2 antibodies in the blood.
Several strategies have been developed to improve the diagnostic efficacy of these methods. A novel approach that combines RT-LAMP and CRISPR-Cas12 has been developed to rapidly and efficiently detect COVID-19. The Automatic Integrated Gene Detection System COVID-19 RNA detection kit has also accurately identified specific viral variants in respiratory samples.
Regarding COVID-19 antibody testing, sensitive and powerful biotools have been developed to detect SARS-CoV-2 nucleocapsid antibodies in the blood. These tools are based on the surface of magnetic microbeads functionalized with nucleocapsid and internally expressed spike proteins.
The United States Food and Drug Administration (FDA) has approved the repurposing of several drugs to treat COVID-19. Most of these drugs are small molecule inhibitors that target viral entry and replication pathways.
Among these, remdesivir has shown potency in reducing the duration of hospital stay and symptom intensity. In addition, clinical studies on lopinavir/ritonavir have highlighted the efficacy of these drugs in reducing adverse disease outcomes, viral load, infection rate, and steroid use.
Arbidol is considered to be more effective than lopinavir in terms of reducing viral load and mortality. However, no clinical benefits of chloroquine and hydroxychloroquine have been observed in COVID-19 patients.
Molnupiravir, a broad-spectrum antiviral drug, has recently received FDA approval to treat COVID-19 patients. Clinical studies have shown that molnupiravir effectively reduces disease progression, oxygen therapy requirements, and mortality.
In addition to repurposed drugs, biological products, including polyclonal and monoclonal antibodies, convalescent plasma, and hyperimmune -globulin, have been used as immunotherapy to treat COVID-19 patients.
Vaccination is a vital prophylactic measure to prevent SARS-CoV-2 infection and transmission, severe COVID-19, hospitalization, and mortality. Several types of vaccines have been developed against COVID-19, including messenger RNA (mRNA)-based, viral vector-based, DNA-based, protein subunit and peptide-based, dendritic cell-based, and virus-like particle-based vaccines.
According to recent data, about 67% of the world population has received at least a single dose of COVID-19 vaccines. Most approved vaccines have been associated with high potency in inducing robust and durable virus-specific humoral and cellular immune responses. However, regarding safety, some rare events of blood clotting and thrombosis with thrombocytopenia syndrome have been documented concerning adenoviral vectors-based vaccines.
In the initial phase of vaccine rollout, a two-dose primary vaccination regimen was approved by federal authorities to control the pandemic trajectory. However, a reduction in vaccine efficacy over time has been observed globally, thus necessitating the approval of a third vaccine booster dose.
This reduction in vaccine efficacy could be due to the emergence of more competent and immunologically fit viral variants like Omicron. However, many studies conducted in real-world settings have shown that the three-dose regimen of COVID-19 vaccines is highly effective in neutralizing several viral variants, including Omicron.
The use of artificial intelligence (AI) for diagnostic and drug discovery purposes has also shown promise in various aspects of COVID-19 research. To this end, AI can be applied for rapidly analyzing several pre-existing datasets to identify novel drug targets. This approach can also be used for contact tracing and risk-group identification.
Nanotechnology is another essential approach that has been considered to improve COVID-19 management. Some adopted strategies include nanoparticle-incorporated personal protective equipment, nanoparticle-based vaccines and drug delivery systems, nanosensor- and nanofilter-based face masks, ACE2-targeting nanoparticles, and nanoparticle-based biosensors for COVID-19 detection.
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