As COVID-19 cases began to accelerate again this spring, federal data suggests the rate of breakthrough COVID infections in April was worse in boosted Americans compared to unboosted Americans though rates of deaths and hospitalizations remained the lowest among the boosted.
The new data do not mean booster shots are somehow increasing the risk. Ongoing studies continue to provide strong evidence of additional protection offered by booster shots against infection, severe disease, and death.
Instead, the shift underscores the growing complexity of measuring vaccine effectiveness at this stage of the pandemic. It comes as officials are weighing key decisions on booster shots and pandemic surveillance, including whether to continue using the "crude case rates" at all.
It also serves to illustrate a tricky reality facing health authorities amid the latest COVID-19 wave: even many boosted Americans are vulnerable to catching and spreading the virus, at a time when officials are wary of reimposing pandemic measures like mask requirements.
"During this Omicron wave, we're seeing an increased number of mild infections at-home type of infections, the inconvenient, having a cold, being off work, not great but not the end of the world. And that's because these Omicron variants are able to break through antibody protection and cause these mild infections," John Moore, a professor of microbiology and immunology at Weill Cornell Medical College, told CBS News.
"So, one of the dynamics here is that people feel, after vaccination and boosting, that they're more protected than they actually are, so they increase their risks," he said. "That, I think, is the major driver of these statistics."
On the CDC's dashboard, which is updated monthly, the agency acknowledges several "factors likely affect crude case rates by vaccination and booster dose status, making interpretation of recent trends difficult."
The CDC had rolled out the page several months ago, amid demands for better federal tracking of breakthrough cases. It has now grown to encompass data from immunization records and positive COVID-19 tests from 30 health departments across the country
For the week of April 23, it said the rate of COVID-19 infections among boosted Americans was 119 cases per 100,000 people. That was more than double the rate of infections in those who were vaccinated but unboosted, but a fraction of the levels among unvaccinated Americans.
That could be because there is a "higher prevalence of previous infection" right now among those who are unvaccinated and unboosted, the CDC said. More boosted Americans may now have abandoned "prevention behaviors" like wearing masks, leading to an uptick.
Some boosted Americans might be more likely to seek out a lab test for COVID-19, as opposed to relying on over-the-counter rapid tests that go largely unreported to health authorities.
"Home testing has become, I think, the single biggest concern in developed countries that can interfere with our measurements," CDC's Ruth Link-Gelles told a conference hosted by the National Foundation for Infectious Diseases last month.
Some federal officials have floated the possibility of adopting a survey similar to those relied on by authorities in the United Kingdom as an alternative way to track a "ground truth" in COVID-19 cases, though plans to stand up such a system do not appear imminent.
"Moving beyond this crisis, I do think the future is in random sampling. And that's an area that we're looking at closely," Caitlin Rivers, a top official on the agency's disease forecasting team, told an event hosted by the National Academies last week.
Meanwhile, federal officials are also preparing for key decisions on future COVID-19 vaccine shots, which might up the odds that additional shots might be able to fend off infections from the latest variants.
In the short term, CDC Director Dr. Rochelle Walensky recently told reporters that her agency was in talks with the Food and Drug Administration about extending the option for second boosters to more adults.
Right now, only adults 50 and over and some immunocompromised Americans are eligible to receive a fourth dose.
Further down the road, a panel of the Food and Drug Administration's outside vaccine advisers is scheduled to meet later this month to weigh data from new booster candidates produced by Pfizer and BioNTech as well as Moderna.
BioNTech executives told investors last month that regulators had asked to see data for both shots specifically adapted for the Omicron variant in addition to "bivalent vaccines," which target a blend of mutations.
Those new vaccines would take about three months to manufacture, the White House's top COVID-19 official Dr. Ashish Jha told reporters.
"It's a little bit of a challenge here because we don't know how much further the virus will evolve over the next few months, but we have no choice because if we want to produce the hundreds of millions of doses that need to be available for a booster campaign, we have to start at risk in the early July timeframe or even somewhat sooner," Dr. Peter Marks, the FDA's top vaccines official, said at a recent webinar hosted by the American Medical Association.
Marks said that bivalent shots seemed likely to be favored, given the "wiggle room" it could offer for unforeseen variants beyond Omicron.
Vaccines that might offer even better "mucosal immunity" actually fighting off the virus where it first infects the respiratory system are still a ways off, Marks cautioned.
"I think that we are in a transition time and I, again, will speak openly to the fact that 2022 to 2023 is a year where we have to plan for trying to minimize the effect of COVID-19 with the tools that we have in hand," Marks said at a recent event with the National Foundation for Infectious Diseases.
"I do believe that, potentially by the 2023-2024 season, we'll start to see second generation SARS-CoV-2 vaccines," he added later.
CBS News reporter covering public health and the pandemic.
ALABAMA (WHNT) While the COVID-19 pandemic disrupted life over the past two years, other viruses and infectious diseases were in retreat.Now those viruses have returned particularly in children.
After two years into the pandemic, and thanks to vaccines and medicines, people and life are starting to return to normal. However, other viruses are starting to make their way back. Folks are asking why these viruses are picking up cases so rapidly and unexpectedly.
In recent months, Adenovirus 41 has attacked children under 10 in the form of a rare, but deadly hepatitis strain. The two viruses have never been linked before. health experts are baffled.
Could it be some post-COVID thing or could it be some dysregulated immune response? Is it something that is always there that we are just picking up? We are studying, Dr. Wes Stubblefield of the Alabama Department of Public Health (ADPH) told News 19.
The virus has invaded cities across the globe.
The same could be said for the outbreak of monkeypox,normally found in Africa but is now an unprecedented outbreak with still no valid explanation as to why.
Monkeypox is endemic in certain parts of the world, Stubblefield added. Although its rarely seen outside of there and this has been something that has seem to have been seen in several countries including now the U.S.
Experts believe that the delayed immune response in children is related to viruses being restricted from wearing a mask.
That is one of the possibilities although that has not been confirmed, Stubblefield stated. There is a thought out there that some of these effects that we are seeing, hepatitis being one of them, could potentially be some sort of an abnormal immune response because there is not this sort of reservoir of infections that the children are going through.
To date, there have been 169 cases of the mysterious hepatitis reported thus far. The first case of monkeypox has been recorded in the South in the state of Georgia. Experts say the viruss evolution will be determined in the coming weeks.
News Release
Thursday, June 2, 2022
A large randomized, placebo-controlled clinical trial led by the National Institutes of Health shows that treating adults hospitalized with COVID-19 with infliximab or abatacept drugs widely used to treat certain autoimmune diseases did not significantly shorten time to recovery but did substantially improve clinical status and reduce deaths.
Some COVID-19 patients experience an immune response in which the immune system unleashes excessive amounts of proteins that trigger inflammation that can lead to acute respiratory distress syndrome, multiple organ failure and other life-threatening complications. As part of theAccelerating COVID-19 Therapeutic Interventions and Vaccines (ACTIV)public-private initiative, NIH launched the ACTIV-1 Immune Modulators clinical trial to determine if certain drugs that help minimize the effects of an overactive immune response could speed recovery and reduce deaths in adults hospitalized with moderate to severe COVID-19. The ACTIV-1 master protocol included three sub-studies; each one tested an immune modulator drug as compared to a placebo. This approach allowed for coordinated and efficient evaluation of multiple investigational agents simultaneously.
NIHs National Center for Advancing Translational Sciences (NCATS) coordinated and oversaw the trial with funding from the Biomedical Advanced Research and Development Authority (BARDA) of the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services Office of the Assistant Secretary for Preparedness and Response.
These promising ACTIV-1 results demonstrate the collaborative power of public-private partnerships to accelerate therapeutic answers during this unprecedented global health crisis, said Acting NIH Director Lawrence A. Tabak, D.D.S., Ph.D. Working together, NIH and our ACTIV partners have brought to bear the best tools and clinical trial designs in our research arsenals. The innovative ACTIV model is bringing greater clarity to the search for effective, evidence-based COVID-19 treatments.
ACTIV-1 participants were randomly assigned to one of the immune modulator drugs or placebo in addition to the standard of care, which may include remdesivir (Veklury) supplied by Gilead Sciences, Inc. About 90% received remdesivir, and about 85% received dexamethasone.
Investigators monitored participants and recorded their clinical status daily while hospitalized according to an eight-point scale ranging from not hospitalized with no limitations on activities to death. The full report on these data in a peer-reviewed scientific journal is expected in fall of 2022, and a preprint will be available sooner.
The topline results showed:
The results will be made available to treatment guideline groups and regulatory bodies.
When given in addition to standard of care treatments, like remdesivir and dexamethasone, infliximab and abatacept each offered a substantial reduction in mortality, said the trials protocol chair, William G. Powderly, M.D., director of the Institute for Clinical and Translational Sciences and co-director of the Division of Infectious Diseases at Washington University School of Medicine in St. Louis. These drugs could potentially add to the therapeutic options available for the treatment of patients hospitalized with COVID-19.
From October 2020 through December 2021, the ACTIV-1 Immune Modulators clinical trial enrolled 1,971 participants at 46 medical facilities in the United States and 23 medical facilities in Latin America. The study was reviewed periodically by an independent DSMB, and no safety concerns were noted during the conduct of the trial.
NCATS Clinical and Translational Science Awards (CTSA) Program and the Trial Innovation Network played a key role in enrolling participants in the United States.
More than half of the CTSA Program sites contributed their infrastructure and expertise to speed completion of this trial, said Joni L. Rutter, Ph.D., acting director of NCATS. This collaborative and efficient multinational platform trial design streamlined our ability to urgently and robustly test promising therapies for treating people hospitalized with COVID-19.
For more information about the trial, please visit clinicaltrials.gov and search identifier NCT04593940.
About HHS, ASPR, and BARDA:HHS works to enhance and protect the health and well-being of all Americans, providing for effective health and human services and fostering advances in medicine, public health, and social services. The mission of ASPR is to save lives and protect Americans from 21st century health security threats. Within ASPR, BARDA invests in the innovation, advanced research and development, acquisition, and manufacturing of medical countermeasures vaccines, drugs, therapeutics, diagnostic tools, and non-pharmaceutical products needed to combat health security threats. To date, BARDA-supported products have achieved 62 FDA approvals, licensures or clearances. For more on BARDAs development portfolios and on partnering with BARDA, visitmedicalcountermeasures.gov.
About the National Center for Advancing Translational Sciences (NCATS):NCATS conducts and supports research on the science and operation of translation the process by which interventions to improve health are developed and implemented to allow more treatments to get to more patients more quickly. For more information about how NCATS helps shorten the journey from scientific observation to clinical intervention, visit https://ncats.nih.gov.
About the National Institutes of Health (NIH):NIH, the nation's medical research agency, includes 27 Institutes and Centers and is a component of the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services. NIH is the primary federal agency conducting and supporting basic, clinical, and translational medical research, and is investigating the causes, treatments, and cures for both common and rare diseases. For more information about NIH and its programs, visit www.nih.gov.
NIHTurning Discovery Into Health
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JINGZHOU, CHINA - FEBRUARY 01: Workers wearing personal protective equipment (PPE) spray ... [+] disinfectant at Jingzhou Railway Station during the 40-day Spring Festival travel rush on Febraury 1, 2021 in Jingzhou, Hubei Province of China. (Photo by Yang Qiu/VCG via Getty Images)
I am a travel business writer. In early May 2022 I attended a conference at a Las Vegas Strip hotel. It was the first conference Id flown to since January 2020. Every attendee had to be fully vaccinated, proving it via the Clear app on their phone. Masks were recommended, though few wore them.
I flew into Las Vegas on May 2 and returned to LA Friday, May 6. On May 7 I completed and posted a Forbes.com story Party Like Its 2019 In Las Vegas, Where Crowds Are Back. On Sunday, May 8, after avoiding it for more than two years, I tested positive for COVID.
COVID is not over. I caught it somewhere on my trip, in an Uber, at the airport, on the plane, at the hotel, at the conference, on the streets, in a restaurant or bar.
I started coughing and feeling sick around 1AM Sunday. When I got up, I took a home COVID test. Both blue and pink lines were visible; I had tested positive. I spent the day in bed, taking Anacin. I used a thermometer to check my fever and a finger pulse oximeter to test oxygen level. On Monday I took another COVID test at a local drugstore (with results reported to LA County), then went to an urgent care center. I tested positive at both.
I tweeted, So late as ever, I finally got #COVID19, after two and half years. Yes, vaccinated three times. Did I let my guard down or was my number up? So far unpleasant, occasionally painful and isolating but seems survivable. Lying in bed watching #MichaelCaine movies. Later I wrote, Im fatigued and its difficult to work. Im falling asleep as I write this. Ive closed my eyes.
I was sick for a week. My symptoms included persistent coughing, choking, a fever that inched up to about 102.7, diarrhea and general exhaustion. I isolated from my wife and took the steroids, antibiotic Z-pack and inhaler I was prescribed.
01 March 2022, Berlin: The drug Paxlovid against Covid-19 from the manufacturer Pfizer is lying on a ... [+] table. Photo: Fabian Sommer/dpa (Photo by Fabian Sommer/picture alliance via Getty Images)
My friend, an epidemiologist, recommended I get the new Pfizer anti-viral drug, Paxlovid. Although I am in a high-risk age group and have chronic bronchitis, I had to talk the doctor into giving it to me. He was trying to spare me possible side effects but relented when I said I needed to fly to my sons college graduation.
I found one of the few pharmacies with Paxlovid and took it for a full five days. My symptoms dropped off in about three. I recovered at home with no need to go to the hospital. In 8 days, I stopped testing positive and was well enough to fly to the East Coast.
I was fortunate that my COVID case was mostly annoying, not life-threatening. More than one million Americans have died of COVID, including some I knew.
Instead, I am one of 85 million whove tested positive. Yet the CDC says that 60% of Americans have had COVIDabout two hundred million people. A CDC spokesperson said, We know that the reported cases are just the tip of the iceberg.
Millions do not develop symptoms. Others simply dont get tested or stay on the down-low, as their at-home test results go unreported to health officials.
So, whether they know it or not, it is quite possible that the person in the seat next to you, or dancing an arms length away, has COVID-19. Yes, even if they are tripled-vaxed, as I was.
LAS VEGAS, NEVADA - MAY 15: Attendees react to singer/songwriter Ashanti and rapper Ja Rule ... [+] performance during the 2022 Lovers & Friends music festival at the Las Vegas Festival Grounds on May 15, 2022 in Las Vegas, Nevada. (Photo by Gabe Ginsberg/Getty Images)
I know people who traveled within days of a positive test. For other travelers, the easiest way not to test positive for COVID is not to take the test at all. How many are at this ignorance is bliss stage? Or have told themselves they have a bad cold, or seasonal allergies acting up?
Is indifference plus the latest COVID outbreak cause for paranoia? Time to stop traveling again? My answer is No. I will not be confined to my house and the surrounding six blocks for another two years.
Our health security system, such as it is, is fragile. Compliance is not mandatory. The U.S. is not China. US flights do not require COVID tests or proof of vaccination. Neither do most hotels. Or restaurants. Or stores. So, when you leave your home, theres a decent chance that the person next to you has COVID-19.
I chose to travel to a well-attended conference. I flew after the mask mandate was revoked. Like 90% of those on board (including Southwest crew) I didnt wear a mask. At the conference I didnt wear one either. I wandered maskless at the casino, when I sat at a gambling table or went to eat. Most people around me were unmasked as well.
You could call it rolling the dice. You could say I was foolish or tired of lockdowns and shutdowns. I wanted to live my professional life as a writer on the road, not locked in the house staring at screens.
Like most things in life, travel has its risks. I risked catching COVID, and I did.
I would do it again. I will do it again.
Business couple walking together to the airport entrance carrying suitcases and bags
Protection against symptomatic COVID-19 begins to decrease about one month from initial vaccination, while immunity against severe COVID-19 remains high for about six months, according to a recent study by scientists at Penn State College of Medicine.In the largest study to date, researchers analyzed data from 7 million unvaccinated and vaccinated individuals aged 12 and older.The researchers determined the vaccines provided significant protection against COVID-19, but their effectiveness decreased over time.The findings showed that after full vaccination, immunity against COVID-19 infection decreased from 84% after the first month to 22% after five or more months.Those who received the Moderna vaccine had the highest levels of protection, according to the findings.Researchers said vaccines remained 90% effective against severe COVID-19 for up to six months. But protection against severe COVID-19 was lower for individuals who received the Johnson & Johnson vaccine.The study also found immunity against COVID-19 decreased more rapidly for people 65 or older, no matter which vaccine they received.The researchers didnt have data beyond six months, and the study didnt include data on boosters.Read the full study here.
Protection against symptomatic COVID-19 begins to decrease about one month from initial vaccination, while immunity against severe COVID-19 remains high for about six months, according to a recent study by scientists at Penn State College of Medicine.
In the largest study to date, researchers analyzed data from 7 million unvaccinated and vaccinated individuals aged 12 and older.
The researchers determined the vaccines provided significant protection against COVID-19, but their effectiveness decreased over time.
The findings showed that after full vaccination, immunity against COVID-19 infection decreased from 84% after the first month to 22% after five or more months.
Those who received the Moderna vaccine had the highest levels of protection, according to the findings.
Researchers said vaccines remained 90% effective against severe COVID-19 for up to six months. But protection against severe COVID-19 was lower for individuals who received the Johnson & Johnson vaccine.
The study also found immunity against COVID-19 decreased more rapidly for people 65 or older, no matter which vaccine they received.
The researchers didnt have data beyond six months, and the study didnt include data on boosters.
Read the full study here.
PORTLAND, Ore. (KOIN) In their biweekly data report released Thursday, Oregon Health Authority (OHA) reported an increase in COVID-19 cases, hospitalizations and deaths.
From May 16 to May 29, OHA reported 22,845 new COVID cases, a 24% increase from their previous biweekly total of 18,447. During that same time frame, there were 549 COVID-related hospitalizations, more than double the 208 that were reported during the previous two-week period. COVID deaths also rose from 50 to 58 during the period.
The increases we are seeing with COVID-19 cases statewide confirm that the virus is still widespread through Oregon, even though many of us are ready to move on, said Dr. Paul Cieslak, medical director for communicable diseases and immunizations at OHA. With our healthcare partners, we continue to monitor hospitalization numbers that are rising gradually. We anticipate, based on the latest modeling, that hospitalizations will peak around the second week of June and then start to come down.
Out of the 196,549 tests that were reported to OHA, 12.1% were positive, up from the 10.5% positivity rate from the previous biweekly report.
OHA also reported that there were 153 active outbreaks at care facilities, senior living communities and congregate care living facilities, meaning there were three or more COVID cases or one or more COVID-related deaths.
Cieslak said that staying up to date on vaccinations is the best way to prevent serious diseases.
Persons who are at higher risk should make a plan for getting tested and treated quickly should they develop COVID-19 symptoms despite vaccination. Paxlovid and other treatments are now widely available in Oregon with a doctors prescription or through test-to-treat sites, Cieslak said.
COVID-19 therapeutics update: Rebound after Paxlovid, Test to Treat expansion, Paxlovid distribution in WA Washington State Hospital Association
SAN FRANCISCO (KRON) If the Western Conference Finals are any indication, mass gatherings will continue now that the Warriors are in the NBA Finals. Medical experts say these gatherings come with extreme risk as COVID-19 cases surge again.
We are seeing an awful lot of people get sick and miss work and time with family and travel and this is the time to be careful so as not to get infected, said UC Berkeley Infectious Disease Dr. John Swartzberg.
Swartzberg says the best way to protect yourself from serious illness is to be up to date on the vaccine.
Not just one of two of them but a third one. If you are a candidate for the fourth one, make sure you get that. Thats the most critical thing, Swartzberg said.
Your next step is to reducing your risk is choosing where youll watch the game.
The Chase Center has pretty good ventilation but there will be 19,000-plus people, Swartzberg said. Some will be masked but most will not and the worst thing is that people will be yelling and screaming meaning lots of virus coming out of their mouths.
Swartzberg recommends those inside the Chase Center wear a mask for the duration. Better yet, he says is to watch the game outdoors either on the big screen outside the Chase Center or an outdoor sports bar.
Ultimately, he says the best bet is to have small gathering at your home.
I personally would have a party at my house, invite people I know would not come sick, who I know would test before they come over, then I think we can have a great time and be really safe, Swartzberg said.
Medical experts say everybodys risk tolerance is different. If there was every a time to give it extra special consideration, its now during a surge.
Story
Gov. Jay Inslee today announced the rescission of two COVID-19 emergency orders that are no longer needed to respond to the pandemic.
Proclamation 20-56waived/suspended a statute and certain provisions in agreements between the governor and tribes that restrict the use of fuel tax refund monies to transportation-related purposes.
To foster a smooth transition, the rescission of this order will take effect in 30 days, on July 1, 2022.
Proclamation 20-23addressed public utilities and it waived/suspended certain statutes that regulate the operation of those utilities. Key provisions of this emergency order were previously rescinded, including the utility shutoff moratorium which was rescinded in September 2021.
This rescission is technical in nature and effective immediately.
Public and constituent inquiries | 360.902.4111Press inquiries | 360.902.4136
Research led by the University of Arkansas for Medical Sciences (UAMS) indicates that Hispanic and Black Arkansans had higher COVID-19 infection rates than whites, but the research doesnt provide clear reasons for the higher rates.
The project used seroprevalence of antibodies to COVID as an indicator. Antibodies are created by a persons immune system once they contract a virus or receive a vaccine to help fight a specific illness, according to a UAMS press release.
Dr. Joshua Kennedy, associate professor for the UAMS College of Medicine who treats patients at Arkansas Childrens Hospital, was the lead author of the report. Arkansas minorities getting the virus at such a large rate is problematic, he said.
The higher exposure levels in minorities is not surprising, he said. However, the magnitude of the difference in exposure rates is what was surprising, especially early in the pandemic.
The number of Arkansans, regardless of ethnicity, exposed to COVID increased from 2.6% to 7.4% from August 2020 to December 2020. Researchers studied nearly 6,000 serum samples from Arkansas adult outpatients who had medical appointments for reasons not related to COVID-19. The study focused on three specific time periods during the aforementioned August to December span. Throughout the study, Hispanics and Blacks were more likely than whites to have antibodies to COVID.
According to the U.S. Census Bureau, Arkansas has a population of just over 3 million people. The 2021 Census shows that whites are 79% of the states population. Blacks are 15.7% and Hispanics 7.8% of Arkansas population. There was no difference in the COVID infection rates for minorities who reside in the two population hubs of central and Northwest Arkansas, compared to the rural areas.
Studies are ongoing as for the reasons why Blacks and Hispanics in Arkansas have higher COVID infection rates than whites. Following are possible reasons given by researchers that contribute to the higher COVID infection rates. Structural racism Inadequate food options Being from low-income households Holding jobs that didnt provide the option of working from home Having limited access to a primary care physician Limited access to adequate health care coverage
Additionally, Arkansans 18-29 and 30-39 had the highest infection rates in terms of age. The information also showed that minorities comprised the highest percentage of the cases.
We suspect that the higher level of seroprevalence of antibodies in these populations is secondary to exposure risk, Kennedy said. While we cant say for sure, we think that these groups were the ones that had to continue working during the pandemic, therefore, their risk for exposure was higher.
The studys researchers noted how their info highlights the need to learn why Arkansas minority populations are exposed to COVID far more often than whites. Finding out the concrete reasons why this has occurred would help health officials address the issue.
While we are moving into a period where were seeing a decrease of infections, it is important to remember that COVID-19 is not gone, Kennedy said. We must remain vigilant and follow CDC instructions for masking and limiting our contacts. We should always remember to properly wash our hands.
As of May 31, the latest update from the Arkansas Department of Health, there have been 843,362 known COVID cases in Arkansas since the pandemic began in March 2020, up 2,243 from the previous week. There were 3,760 known active cases, up 50 from the previous week. Also as of May 31, there were 76 Arkansans hospitalized with COVID, up 4 from the previous week.
