NJ research lab tests for COVID variants
Dr. Barry Kreiswirth, research scientist for Hackensack Meridian Health system, explains on May 10, 2021 about lab work on COVID-19 variants in Nutley.
Danielle Parhizkaran, NorthJersey.com
Major researchinstitutions led by scientists at Hackensack Meridian Health's laboratory in Nutley are teaming up to develop new COVID-19treatments with federal grants up to $108 million as the virus continues to mutate into new forms, executives announced Tuesday.
The partnership among virologists and drugmakers aims to rapidly develop drugs that can be taken by mouth without a patient having to beadmitted to a hospital. Their goal is to be nimble enough to produce treatments that can respond to a rapidly changing virus, which can mutate into new variants that take only weeks to spread across the globe.
"The goal is to develop and bring to the market in real time the next generation of anti-viral agents that can control the current virus, future variants, future coronaviruses and future viruses of pandemic concern," saidDr. David Perlin, director of Hackensack Meridian'sCenter for Discovery and Innovation laboratories.
Dubbed the"Metropolitan AntiViral Drug Accelerator," the program is being launched at a time whenCOVID is still spreading rapidly in the U.S. and New Jersey, but physicians are seeing less severe illness, especially among the vaccinated.
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The initial grants from the National Institutes of Healthand the National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Disease total a combined $65 million over three years, which could increase to $108 million if the program is re-upped for two additional years.
The teams, which include scientists from Rutgers, Columbia, Rockefeller University in New York, and pharmaceutical maker Merck & Co., will create and test "small-molecule antiviral drugs" to target all kinds ofcoronaviruses but emphasizing COVID-19. The research produced here could also help with future viral threats, scientists said Tuesday.
Current monoclonal antibody treatments have shown to be effective in keeping severe outcomes at bay. Physicians at Hackensack Meridian and Bergen New Bridge hospitals saythey have rarely had to admit COVID patients in recent months and simply send them home with the drugs.
The spring surge is being propelled by subvariants of omicron that have shown to be highly transmissible but less virulent so far.
Most New Jersey hospitals are reporting few serious cases of illness, with fewer than 50 patients on ventilators statewide over the Memorial Day weekend. The daily COVID death toll in New Jersey has been in the single digits for almost three months, after the initial omicron wave in December and January, whichsaw upwards of 80 to 100 deaths each day.
TheMetropolitan AntiViral Drug Acceleratorscientists will focus on a set of eight molecular features in the virus that play critical roles in replication, maturationand immune-system evasion.
The teams have already begun working onfive projects focusing on the viral targets andmatching drugs that would be effectiveagainst them.
The partnerships allow experts in different arenas to knock down roadblocks that ordinarily hamper drug development, said Dr. Charles Riceof Rockefeller University, who will co-lead the project.
Other institutions that will be working on the project includeMemorial Sloan Kettering Cancer Center,the nonprofit Tri-Institutional Therapeutics Discovery Instituteand Aligos Therapeutics, a California company.
Much of the work will be done at Hackensack Meridian'sCenter for Discovery and Innovation, which houses 21 laboratories and more than 150 researchers at itsNutley campus.
This story will be updated.
Scott Fallon has covered the COVID-19 pandemic since its onset in March 2020. To get unlimited access to the latest news about the pandemic's impact on New Jersey, please subscribe or activate your digital account today.
Email:fallon@northjersey.com
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New Jersey on Tuesday reported 1,872 COVID-19 confirmed positive tests and one confirmed death as the United States has reached over 84 million cases.
The states seven-day average for confirmed cases was 3,341 on Tuesday, down 16% from a week ago, but still up 54% from a month ago.
The statewide rate of transmission for Saturday was 1.09. The transmission rate reported daily by the Department of Health were not available Sunday, Monday, or Tuesday. When the transmission rate is over 1, that means each new case is leading to at least one additional case and the outbreak is expanding.
There were 844 patients with confirmed or suspected coronavirus cases reported across 67 of the states 71 hospitals as of Monday night. Four hospitals did not report data. Hospitalizations still remain significantly lower than when they peaked at 6,089 on Jan. 10 during the omicron wave.
There were at least 80 people discharged in the 24-hour period ending Monday, according to state data. Of those hospitalized, 97 were in intensive care and 39 were on ventilators.
The positivity rate for tests conducted on Thursday, the most recent day with available data, was 11.40%.
The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention now lists 11 New Jersey counties with high transmission rates Atlantic, Burlington, Camden, Cape May, Gloucester, Mercer, Monmouth, Morris, Ocean, Salem and Sussex.
Those in high-risk areas are recommended to wear a mask indoors in public and on public transportation and stay up-to-date on vaccinations, according to the CDC.
Ten counties are in the medium risk category: Bergen, Cumberland, Essex, Hudson, Hunterdon, Middlesex, Passaic, Somerset, Union and Warren. Masks are not recommended in the medium and low regions.
New Jersey has reported 2,055,353 total confirmed COVID-19 cases out of more than 17.8 million PCR tests conducted in the more than two years since the state reported its first known case March 4, 2020.
The Garden State has also recorded about 339,242 positive antigen or rapid tests, which are considered probable cases. And there are numerous cases that have likely never been counted, including at-home positive tests that are not included in the states numbers.
The state of 9.2 million residents has reported 33,702 COVID-19 deaths 30,633 confirmed fatalities and 3,069 probable ones.
New Jersey has the seventh-most coronavirus deaths per capita in the U.S. behind Mississippi, Arizona, Oklahoma, Alabama, Tennessee and West Virginia as of the latest data reported May 17. Last summer, the state had the most deaths per capita in the country.
The latest numbers follow a major study that revealed even a mild case of COVID-19 can significantly affect the brain. Long COVID the term commonly used to describe symptoms stemming from the virus long after a person no longer tests positive has been found to affect between 10% and 30% of those who contract the infection, regardless of whether they have a mild or serious case. In New Jersey, that would mean that roughly 600,000 of the more than 2 million who have tested positive for COVID since the onset of the pandemic either have or have had long COVID.
More than 6.93 million of the 8.46 million eligible people who live, work or study in New Jersey have received the initial course of vaccinations and more than 7.8 million have received a first dose since vaccinations began here on Dec. 15, 2020.
More than 3.79 million people in the state eligible for boosters have received one. That number may rise after the FDA on Tuesday approved booster shots for healthy children between the ages of 5 and 11. U.S. regulators authorized the booster for kids hoping an extra vaccine dose will enhance their protection as infections once again creep upward.
For the week ending May 22, with 57.8% of schools reporting data, another 10,948 COVID-19 cases were reported among staff (3,066) and students (7,882) across New Jerseys schools.
Since the start of the academic year, there have been 135,409 students and 40,649 school staff members who have contracted COVID-19 in New Jersey, though the state has never had more than two-thirds of the school districts reporting data in any week.
The state provides total student and staff cases separately from those deemed to be in-school transmission, which is narrowly defined as three or more cases linked through contact tracing.
New Jersey has reported 876 total in-school outbreaks, including 6,234 cases among students and staff. That includes 69 new outbreaks in the latest weekly report ending May 23. The state reported 82 in-school outbreaks the previous week.
At least 9,117 of the states COVID-19 deaths have been among residents and staff members at nursing homes and other long-term care facilities, according to state data.
There were active outbreaks at 351 facilities, resulting in 3,883 current cases among residents and 3,589 cases among staff, as of the latest data.
As of Tuesday, there have been more than 529 million COVID-19 cases reported across the globe, according to Johns Hopkins University, and more than 6.28 million people died due to the virus.
The U.S. has reported the most cases (more than 84 million) and deaths (at least 1,004,783) of any nation.
There have been more than 11.38 billion vaccine doses administered globally.
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Deion Johnson may be reached at djohnson@njadvancemedia.com. Follow him on Twitter @DeionRJohhnson
Total vaccine doses distributed: 746,456,955
Patients whove received the first dose: 258,463,968
Patients whove received the second dose: 221,190,484
% of population fully vaccinated (both doses, not including boosters) : 66.6%
% tied to Omicron variant: 99.9%
% tied to Other: 0.1%
COVID is infamous for wreaking havoc in almost every body organ. COVID signs can be seen in the heart, lungs, skin, and also in the digestive system.
Apart from COVID another big challenge is dealing with long COVID, in which COVID symptoms are seen weeks and months after the infection. These symptoms linger in an individual for several months. Researchers are still studying the various causes behind the possibility of long COVID conditions.
Both COVID and long COVID conditions do not limit to the respiratory tract only. This proves COVID is not just a respiratory disease and its impact on other organs can range from mild to severe.
According to one review study done in September 2020, 53% of people hospitalized with COVID experienced at least one digestive symptom.
The best way to deal with COVID and long COVID is to spot the symptoms. Here are the common symptoms of COVID associated with the digestive system:
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Manufacturing in China started to improve in May after the country lifted coronavirus lockdowns that shut down China's richest and most populous city of Shanghai, as well as other industrial areas, according to an official survey released Tuesday.
The Purchasing Managers' Index of the National Bureau of Statistics of China's manufacturing industry jumped from 47.4% in April to 49.6% this month on a 100-point scale. Numbers below 50 reveal activity contracting.
FILE - A worker operates a machine for knitting socks in a factory in Funan county in central China's Anhui province, on March 1, 2022. Chinese manufacturing activity started to rebound in May after the government eased anti-virus restrictions that s (AP Newsroom)
New orders, exports and employment all improved during the month of May.
More businesses in Shanghai are allowed to reopen this week after COVID-19 outbreaks were considered by the government as under control.
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China immigration inspection officers in protective overalls march near a container ship at a port in Qingdao in eastern China's Shandong province Sunday, Nov. 7, 2021. China's exports remained strong in October, a positive sign for an economy trying (Chinatopix via AP / AP Images)
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Other industrial centers like Shenzhen and Changchun were also forced to shut down this spring due to the coronavirus, which disrupted the cities' manufacturing and trade.
Tuesday's data shows that "activity has started to rebound as containment measures were rolled back," Capital Economics' Sheana Yue said in a report, adding that the recovery "is likely to remain tepid amid weak external demand and labor market strains."
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Chinese President Xi Jinping is zeroing in on the ties that Chinas state banks and other financial stalwarts have developed with big private-sector players, expanding his push to curb capitalist forces in the economy. ((AP Photo/Mark Schiefelbein) / AP Newsroom)
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The Associated Press contributed to this report.
In almost two and a half years after the beginning of the Covid-19 pandemic, scientists have not yet managed to fully explain how features of the coronavirus turn some gatherings into superspreading events, while others do not lead to such a widespread transmission of the virus.
In a new study published in the journal Physics of Fluids, scientists from Canada and the United States have created a model connecting current biological knowledge about Covid-19 superspreading events with how such events have occurred in the real world to shed more light on this strange phenomenon. The analysis revealed that 80 percent of infections occurring at superspreading events arose from only four percent of those who carried the virus in those locations, called index cases.
By using real-world occupancy data from over 100,000 restaurants across 10 major US cities, the researchers examined several features ranging from viral loads to the occupancy and ventilation of social contact settings. They found that the main feature driving the high variability in superspreading events was the number of viral particles found in index cases, followed by the overall occupancy of the settings.
While there are uncertainties and unknowns, it appears it is rather hard to prevent a superspreading event if the person carrying high viral load happens to be in a crowded place, said study lead author Swetaprovo Chaudhuri, an expert in turbulent reacting flows and propulsion at the University of Toronto.
Professor Chaudhuri and his colleagues also discovered that the variability between infection events was significantly higher than expected a situation called overdispersion, which, in this case, indicates a strong heterogeneity in individual infectivity.
It is now well known that Covid-19 is airborne, and that is probably the dominant pathway of transmission. This paper connects indoor airborne transmission to the evolution of the infection distribution on a population scale and shows the physics of airborne transmission is consistent with the mathematics of overdispersion, explained Professor Chaudhuri.
To mitigate such superspreading events, vaccination, ventilation, filtration, mask wearing, reduced occupancy all are required. However, putting them in place is not enough; knowing what size, type, and parameters can mitigate risk to certain acceptable levels is important, he concluded.
By Andrei Ionescu, Earth.com Staff Writer
Things to Know: Stay Up to Date with Your COVID-19 Vaccines: Getting a booster dose as soon as you are eligible will increase your immune response and help extend the protective benefits of your vaccination against COVID-19, including variants.See if you're eligible Mobile Vaccination for Medically Homebound: If you or a loved one are unable to be transported to a vaccination site due to ...
With the U.S. passing the once unthinkable figure of 1 million COVID 19 deaths, people who are unvaccinated remain at the greatest risk for acquiring SARS-CoV-2 and are dramatically more likely to suffer from severe illness and death.
While about two thirds of eligible Americans are fully vaccinated and nearly 80% have received at least one dose, only about 30% of those eligible to receive a booster dose have done so. On top of that, there continues to be a need for a safe and effective COVID-19 vaccine for children under 5 years old.
All that means we have some work to do here to educate the public on the importance of staying up to date on COVID-19 vaccinations, said Susan R. Bailey, MD, immediate past president of the AMA, said during an AMA COVID-19: What Physicians Need to Knowwebinar on second booster doses and a pediatric vaccine update.
To make sure that patients have their questions answered, we need to first make sure that we as physicians have a deep understanding of the vaccine and the booster-development process, the scientific rigor involved and how their effectiveness helps combat COVID-19, said Dr. Bailey, moderator of this webinar.
During the webinar, Peter Marks, MD, PhD, director of the Center for Biologics Evaluation and Research at the Food and Drug Administration (FDA), discussed pediatric COVID-19 vaccines, the latest on COVID-19 vaccine boosters and a change in Johnson & Johnson vaccine use.
Learn why Dr. Marks was among seven honored by the AMA for their work during the COVID-19 pandemic.
Pediatric vaccines may be near
There are completed trials from two sponsors in the process of submission and review, and we are moving as fast as we can to review these. I fully expect that well have the data by June ready for review, he added. But were not going to hold anything back here because we hear very much from parents how desperate they are to have these vaccines.
We have to do it right, because we need parents to feel confident to get their kids vaccinated, said Dr. Marks.
Learn more from this AMA COVID-19 Update on a COVID-19 vaccine for young children.
Boosters may prevent long COVID
An additional vaccine dose can provide better immunity, preventing hospitalization and death, emergency department and urgent care visits, and potentially serious complications such as long COVID-19, said Dr. Marks. As additional data come out on the neurologic complications of COVID-19 and the potential impact on the brain, preventing long COVID-19 may be one of the important things that vaccination helps do.
We do know that people who are vaccinated, even if they do get COVID-19, tend to have a lower subsequent rate of long COVID, he added.
Find out what doctors wish patients knew about long COVID.
J&J vaccine use narrowed
The FDA recently revised the Johnson & Johnson COVID-19 vaccine emergency use authorization based on the continued occurrence of thrombosis with thrombocytopenia syndrome, said Dr. Marks. We found it occurring about three and a quarter per million doses of vaccine given, which is pretty rare.
Unfortunately, its associated with about one death per 2 million doses and those are pretty clearly attributable to the vaccination, he added. This is in the setting of the United States where we have the mRNA vaccines, of which now hundreds of millions of doses have been given where we cannot identify any similar risk.
Thats why we felt it was appropriate to narrow this to a vaccine for individuals who could not take one of the mRNA vaccines because it was clinically not appropriatebecause of either allergic reactions or myocarditisor because they were unwilling to take an mRNA vaccine, Dr. Marks said.
Stayinformed by visiting theAMA COVID-19 resource center for physicians, which features frequently updated information on clinical questions,advocacy,medical ethics and more.
According to a new study, switching the administration of mRNA-based COVID-19 vaccines from intramuscular to subcutaneous injection could ease adverse post-vaccination effects, such as fatigue.
Mouse experiments suggest a switch from intramuscular to subcutaneous injection may ease fatigue.
Currently, mRNA-based COVID-19 vaccines are injected deep into the muscles, which is called intramuscular injection. An alternative type of shot is called subcutaneous injection, where a short needle can inject medication (in this case a COVID vaccine) in the tissue between the skin and the muscle. In experiments done on mice, researchers found that subcutaneous injection of the COVID-19 mRNA vaccines may reduce the adverse post-vaccination effects, such as fatigue, while still providing similar immune-system responses.
Despite their high efficacy against SARS-CoV-2, mRNA-based COVID-19 vaccines are associated with adverse post-vaccination effects, such as fatigue. How can this be avoided?
In a new study publishing today (May 31st, 2022) in the open-access journal PLOS Biology,Ayesa Syenina of the DukeNUS Medical School in Singapore and colleagues report that a new analysis of blood samples from people vaccinated for COVID-19 has identified distinct molecular characteristics linked to an increased likelihood of post-vaccination fatigue. Additionally, experiments in mice suggest that switching the vaccine injection strategy could potentially ease such adverse effects.
Adverse post-vaccination effects may influence peoples willingness to get vaccinated or receive a booster dose, hampering efforts to reduce the spread and severity of COVID-19. However, the molecular underpinnings of adverse post-vaccination effects have been unclear.
To improve understanding, Syenina and colleagues analyzed blood samples from 175 healthcare workers who received BNT162b2, the Pfizer-BioNTech COVID-19 vaccine. Specifically, they used the blood samples to analyze a snapshot of each participants gene expression, or which genes are turned on or off.
This analysis revealed that people who experienced moderately severe fatigue after vaccination were more likely to have higher baseline expression of genes related to the activity of T cells and natural killer cellstwo key cell types in the human immune system.
Researchers point to potential strategy to reduce fatigue after COVID-19 vaccination. Credit: Christine Tham (CC BY 4.0)
The researchers also tested two different vaccination injection strategies in mice. Some mice received BNT162b2 through intramuscular injection, the current method used for human patients, in which the vaccine is injected into the muscles. Other mice received a subcutaneous injection, in which the vaccine is injected into tissue just under the skin.
After vaccination, compared to mice that received intramuscular vaccination, mice that received subcutaneous vaccination showed immune-system responses that are in line with a lower likelihood of adverse effects such as fatigue. However, subcutaneous injection did not appear to compromise the protective effects of vaccination.
Further research will be needed to build on these findings and explore their clinical significance. Still, they boost understanding of post-vaccination fatigue and offer a potential strategy to reduce its likelihood.
Coauthor Eng Eong Ooi adds, This study provides a first insight into the molecular basis of a side effect that many have experienced following mRNA vaccination. We hope that this finding would spur more studies to fully understand the underpinning mechanisms behind vaccine-associated side effects and collectively contribute to developing even more tolerable vaccines.
Reference: Adverse effects following antiCOVID-19 vaccination with mRNA-based BNT162b2 are alleviated by altering the route of administration and correlate with baseline enrichment of T and NK cell genes 31 May 2022, PLOS Biology.DOI: 10.1371/journal.pbio.3001643
Funding: This study was supported by the National Medical Research Council (NMRC) Open Fund-Large Collaborative Grant (OFLCG19May-0034) and Senior Clinician-Scientist Award (MOH-000135-00) to E.E.O, and the Open Fund-Young Investigator Research Grant (MOH-OFIRG18nov-0004) to R.D.A. The funders had no role in study design, data collection and analysis, decision to publish, or preparation of the manuscript.
In a recent study posted to the medRxiv* preprint server, researchers reported the vaccine effectiveness (VE) and duration of immunity against severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 (SARS-CoV-2) Omicron.
Since its emergence in late November 2021, the Omicron variant has rapidly spread worldwide, replacing previously dominant variants. Elevated rates of symptomatic or asymptomatic infection in fully vaccinated individuals and convalescents raise concerns about the effectiveness of current vaccines against SARS-CoV-2 Omicron.
In the present study, researchers reported results from an interim analysis of a living systematic review (LSR) summarizing evidence on VE and duration of protection against SARS-CoV-2 Omicron. For the LSR, the researchers included studies investigating VE against SARS-CoV-2 infection among people aged 12 years or older for European Medicine Agency (EMA) approved vaccines.
For the current analysis, only the studies which investigated the mentioned outcomes due to SARS-CoV-2 Omicron or during the Omicron period were considered. The coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) literature database created by the Robert Koch Institute (RKI) library was searched for studies published from October 23, 2021, to January 14, 2022, regardless of publication status or language.
Additional studies were identified by hand-search or meta-search of websites till February 11, 2022. Studies with potential relevance were screened at the title or abstract and full-text level. The VE data across the following three comparisons were considered 1) primary series vs. no vaccination, 2) primary vs. booster vaccination, and 3) booster vs. no vaccination.
The primary outcomes were examining VE against SARS-CoV-2 infection confirmed by polymerase chain reaction (PCR) or antigen tests, symptomatic or severe COVID-19. VE data were stratified based on the time since vaccination: 14 days, 14 days to three months, three to six months, and more than six months. The researchers assessed the percent difference of VE over time for studies reporting estimates for at least two-time points.
The team identified more than 8,400 entries from the database and 38 by hand-search or meta-search of websites. After screening, 26 studies were selected for data extraction. Most (21) were non-peer-reviewed; five investigated VE against infection and associated outcomes with the Omicron variant alone. The remaining studies included VE estimates against infection with SARS-CoV-2 Delta for comparison.
The variant associated with infection was identified by S-gene target failure (SGTF) in PCR tests, whole-genome sequencing (WGS), or from known time points of the predominant circulation of SARS-CoV-2 Omicron. Twenty-two studies reported VE estimates for primary vaccination, whereas 23 reported VE for booster dose. One study compared VE after the second booster dose (fourth dose) to after the third dose.
Most studies assessed the VE of messenger ribonucleic acid (mRNA) vaccines (13 Pfizers BNT162b2, and nine investigated Modernas mRNA-1273). Twelve studies examined VE against any SARS-CoV-2 infection, i.e., without differentiating between symptomatic or asymptomatic cases. Across all studies, VE after 14 days of primary vaccination ranged from 0% to 62%.
The studies reporting data for at least two-time points revealed a decline in VE by 16% to 34% up to six months with mRNA vaccination. After booster administration, VE across all studies was 34% to 76% relative to non-vaccinated subjects and 14% to 53% relative to those after primary vaccination. Twelve or more days after the fourth dose (second booster), VE against Omicron infection was 47%.
Seven studies estimated VE against symptomatic Omicron infection. VE at 14 days ranged from 6% to 76% across these studies. For studies with estimates on at least two-time points, VE dropped by 45% 63% for mRNA vaccines and 50% for vector-based vaccines up to six months post-vaccination. VE at 14 days after booster dose was 19% to 73.9% relative to non-vaccinated subjects and 50% to 68% compared with primary vaccination.
Seventeen studies estimated VE against severe COVID-19. VE at 14 days was 3% to 84% compared to non-vaccinated individuals that dropped to 40% and 15% 67% by six months post mRNA and vector-based vaccination, respectively. VE ranged from 12% to 100% at 14 days after booster vaccination and 78% to 93.7% up to three months post boost. After the fourth dose (second booster), VE was 75% against severe disease assessed at 12 days or later.
From the studies that included comparison groups, the risk ratios indicated a higher risk for any or symptomatic Omicron infection than Delta infection. Nevertheless, the risk of severe COVID-19 was lower post-Omicron infection than Delta infection in vaccinated people.
In summary, these observations revealed that VE after primary vaccination was low for COVID-19 vaccines approved in the European Union but improved post-boost in preventing Omicron infections. Moreover, VE was high against severe disease, particularly after administering a booster. Vaccine-induced immunity waned rapidly after primary vaccination but was less pronounced for severe COVID-19.
medRxiv publishes preliminary scientific reports that are not peer-reviewed and, therefore, should not be regarded as conclusive, guide clinical practice/health-related behavior, or treated as established information.
