The arrival of COVID-19 mRNA vaccines in late 2020, while widely celebrated, brought a new wave of vaccine misinformation.
Dr. Alice Lu-Culligan, of the Department of Immunobiology at Yale, said this was especially true among young adults of child-bearing age and pregnant women, the latter of whom are regularly excluded from clinical trials and safety data.
One theme that we kept coming across was the rampant misinformation surrounding infertility and the vaccines and also the dangers of vaccinating during pregnancy, Lu-Culligan said.
After studying human blood samples and conducting experiments in pregnant mice, researchers at the Yale School of Medicine found no evidence that the vaccines are associated with difficulties in becoming pregnant or cause any birth defects and growth problems.
The results add to a growing body of research from scientists around the world who have come to similar conclusions. Experts hope to use the findings to boost trust in the vaccines safety and dispel some popular vaccine fears.
To have been able to rigorously test it scientifically and address the rumor with science is also really valuable, said Alexandra Sasha Tabachnikova, a second-year Ph.D. student at Yales Department of Immunobiology. Having the science to say, No, we didnt see evidence of that is valuable.
Lu-Culligan and Tabachnikova were members of the Yale research team led by Akiko Iwasaki, an immunobiologist and national expert during the pandemic. Results of the teams studywere published May 24in PLOS Biology.
Researchers injected high doses of COVID-19 mRNA vaccines into mice at the earliest stages of pregnancy, to look at possible effects of the vaccines on fetal development.
Experiments like this in early-stage human pregnancies are rare, Lu-Culligan clarified, as there are ethical barriers. Many women also remain unaware of their pregnancies until later points of gestation.
Researchers studied the mice through pregnancy and birth and found that the offspring were born healthy at normal weight and size, with no abnormalities.
Different studies that follow human pregnancy and fetal development among vaccinated people are ongoing. Results from completed studies so farshow no evidence that the vaccines cause poor pregnancy and birth outcomes.
The Yale team also sought to address unproven theories that mRNA COVID-19 vaccines created heightened levels of antibodies that would attack a human protein called syncytin-1, a protein crucial to the development of the placenta.
Researchers studied blood samples from 96 vaccinated and unvaccinated people. Tabachnikova said the team did not find higher levels of antibodies in women who were vaccinated compared to those who did not receive a vaccine.
The scientists were therefore able to debunk unfounded claims that mRNA vaccines could result in infertility.
This is also supported by what we know in the real world, Lu-Culligan said, which is that there have been no reports to date in humans that there has been infertility associated with mRNA vaccination.
Lu-Culligan said while the study was robust, theres always more research to do when it comes to understanding human response to infections and vaccinations.
And, she added, given the pervasive culture of vaccine misinformation, the need for scientific research is far greater now.
A lot of times, the scientific and medical communities, we often hear this misinformation and kind of feel helpless, Lu-Culligan said. This is a demonstration that we can answer some of these questions, and they deserve to be answered if a lot of people are asking them and are concerned.
The U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention recommends COVID-19 vaccines for nearly everyone 5 years and older, including pregnant people.
A strange, spring spike in flu cases has hit Colorado this year as many people also are dealing with COVID-19 infections and spring allergies. Photo: Getty Images.
Colorado has experienced a strange, spring spike in flu cases this year, and like many other trends in the post-pandemic world, this years odd flu season likely is related to COVID-19.
Its wild. Its throwing everyone for a loop, infectious disease expert, Dr. Michelle Barron, said of the 2022 flu season. A lot of people have caught the flu in the last few weeks. Its here. A lot of us got our flu shots in August. The vaccine might not have been a perfect match for this years flu. And any protection we had probably has worn off by now.
Flu cases jumped in April and May at the same time that Colorado has experienced a new wave of COVID-19 cases. You could call the convergence of flu and COVID-19 infections a twindemic of sorts.
Its the weirdest flu season Ive ever seen, said Barron, who is senior medical director of infection prevention and control at UCHealth University of Colorado Hospital on the Anschutz Medical Campus.
Along with the spread of flu and COVID-19, many people are experiencing seasonal allergies as spring plants bloom. Those who are feeling sniffly or achy cant be sure whats making them sick unless they get tested for COVID-19 and the flu.
Typically, flu cases in North America peak during the winter months from December through February. This year, in Colorados most populous counties, flu cases began to climb in December, then dipped to uncharacteristically low levels in January and February. They then began to inch up again in March, and during April and May reached very high levels.
Barron sees a direct link between the end of COVID-19 mask mandates and the spring spike in flu infections.
It has everything to do with COVID-19, said Barron
In February and March, when people stopped wearing masks, we started seeing flu cases rise. By April and May, there were more than 1,100 cases a week (in Colorados most populous counties), Barron said.
On top of people not wearing masks in the spring, protection from fall flu shots also was decreasing.
Take a look at the chart below and youll see a visual representation of the strange flu trends. Tri-County Health monitors flu cases and created a chart that shows some strange patterns. Flu cases in Colorado for 2022 appear in green. The spring spike this year reached levels nearly as high as the infections during the 2019-2020 flu season (noted with a red line), just before the start of the COVID-19 pandemic. The following year, during the winter of 2020 and 2021, there were almost no flu cases due to all of the efforts to drive down COVID-19 infections (denoted by a flat line at the bottom).
The 2021-2022 flu season appeared to start off normally in December. Then the delta COVID-19 variant hit, followed by omicron and its variants.
During the winter months, Barron thinks people were wearing masks and being cautious while in crowded, indoor spaces.
That probably suppressed the flu in the early months, Barron said.
Then, politicians started lifting mask mandates. Many people were tired of worrying about COVID-19 and ditched their masks. And guess what? The influenza virus, which like all other viruses is opportunistic and finds hosts where it can, started spreading more easily in the spring.
What will happen this summer and fall related to flu and COVID-19? That remains unclear. Barron keeps a Magic 8 Ball on her desk at work and often jokes about her inability to predict the future. All humor aside, Barron is concerned that flu could remain pervasive as COVID-19 infections continue to spread.
During typical years, influenza A strain spreads first, then influenza B takes over and causes infections later. This year, the flu cases that have caused the spring spike all have been tied to the A strain.
Its possible that influenza B could start circulating during the summer while COVID-19 variants continue to spread.
So, what should you do if youre feeling sick?
Get tested, Barron advises.
Since COVID-19 is widespread, you can get tested first for the coronavirus.
If you test negative for COVID-19, and you havent had exposure to people with the flu, you could be getting a false negative for COVID-19 or you could have the flu. The symptoms are similar: fever, body aches, cough, Barron said.
Furthermore, a small number of people have gotten sick with both COVID-19 and the flu at the same time.
That kind of double whammy is not common, Barron said.
Nonetheless, its good to get tested. COVID-19 tests are available both at home and at health facilities. Please keep in mind that home tests are not as reliable as a nasal swab, PCR tests. With an at-home test, you can get false-negative results. So, if youre feeling sick, be careful about exposing other people.
To get a flu test, contact your doctors office.
If you test positive for either the flu or COVID-19, there are treatments you can get to shorten the duration of your illness or reduce the severity. Barron advises people to act fast.
The antiviral medication that helps fight the flu is called Tamiflu and people need to start taking it quickly, within about 48 hours of the onset of symptoms.
If you test positive for COVID-19, you might also qualify to get additional treatments. Its best to start these treatments within about five days of symptom onset.
As people cope with a crazy constellation of illnesses this spring, researchers are working on vaccines for the fall. Stay tuned for vaccine news throughout the summer. Its possible that a combined vaccine for both flu and the newest COVID-19 strains will be available in the fall. If not, we could be in for another tough wave of multiple viruses.
Im seriously worried about the fall. COVID-19 likely will surge again. Our immunity will be suppressed and there could be new variants, Barron said.
Thankfully, both vaccines and new treatments make flu and COVID-19 a little less dangerous.
Published: 5/27/2022 9:45:02 PM
Modified: 5/27/2022 9:45:04 PM
HANOVER PCR testing and in-person antigen testing will no longer be available at Dartmouth College, according to a Thursday message from the schools COVID response team.
Instead, it will rely on take-home rapid antigen testing to identify and isolate cases of COVID-19, Thursdays message said.
We recognize that this change may cause anxiety for many in our community, the message said. At this time, rapid antigen tests are the most effective method for controlling the spread of COVID-19 in our community and minimizing the risk of serious symptoms.
Take-home and in-person PCR testing will no longer be available through Dartmouths testing program after June 11, and in-person antigen testing will no longer be available after June 13.
The college recommends testing, mask wearing and physical distancing for people who are identified as close contacts or who think they might have COVID-19 symptoms.
WHITE RIVER JUNCTION The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention has downgraded the level of COVID-19 in the two Vermont counties of the Upper Valley, Orange and Windsor, from high to medium this week.
New Hampshires Grafton and Sullivan counties remain high, as measured by case counts and hospitalizations, according to the CDC.
When levels of COVID-19 in the community are high, the CDC recommends that people wear masks indoors in public spaces, regardless of their level of personal risk or vaccination status.
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LONDON (AP) The number of new coronavirus cases and deaths are still falling globally after peaking in January, the World Health Organization said.
In its latest weekly assessment of the pandemic, the U.N. health agency said there were more than 3.7 million new infections and 9,000 deaths in the last week, drops of 3 percent and 11 percent respectively. COVID-19 cases rose in only two regions of the world: the Americas and the Western Pacific. Deaths increased by 30 percent in the Middle East, but were stable or decreased everywhere else.
WHO said it is tracking all omicron subvariants as variants of concern. It noted that countries which had a significant wave of disease caused by the omicron subvariant BA.2 appeared to be less affected by other subvariants like BA.4 and BA.5, which were responsible for the latest surge of disease in South Africa.
WATCH: What you should know about rapid antigen tests
Salim Abdool Karim, an infectious diseases expert at the University of KwaZulu-Natal, said it appeared that South Africa had passed its most recent wave of COVID-19 caused by the BA.4 and BA.5 subvariants; the country has been on the forefront of the pandemic since first detecting the omicron variant last November.
Karim predicted that another mutated version of omicron might emerge in June, explaining that the large number of mutations in the variant meant there were more opportunities for it to evolve.
Meanwhile in Beijing, authorities in the Chinese capital ordered more workers and students to stay home and implemented additional mass testing Monday as cases of COVID-19 continue to rise. Numerous residential compounds in the city have restricted movement in and out, although lockdown conditions remain far less severe than in Shanghai, where millions of citizens have been under varying degrees of lockdown for two months.
China is vowing to stick to a zero-COVID policy despite the fact that the WHO describes the policy as unsustainable, given the infectious nature of omicron and its subvariants.
Find out if case counts are still rising, which parts of the state are the most vaccinated, how hospital capacity compares across the state and more with these charts and maps, updated weekly.
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Campus & Community
Dear Students, Families, Faculty and Staff:
Recently the Onondaga County Health Department has reported a notable decline in new COVID infections and hospitalizations across the Central New York region. This positive trend, combined with significantly reduced population density on our campus given summer break, supports an adjustment to our campus COVID Level and associated masking guidance.
Specifically, effective Wednesday, June 1, Syracuse University will return to COVID Level Yellow. As a reminder, under the Yellow Level, the following on-campus masking guidelines apply:
The University continues to closely monitor and assess public health conditions and all public health actions will be contingent on the most up-to-date data, science and public health guidance.
Thank you for your continued attention to the Universitys public health protocols.
Sincerely,
J. Michael HaynieVice Chancellor for Strategic Initiatives and Innovation
Two more counties in Utah, Salt Lake and Weber, were moved up this week to a medium level of risk for COVID-19 by the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention as cases continue to rise in the state.
Summit County had already been elevated earlier this month to medium, or yellow, status on the CDCs nationwide map measuring what the agency calls the community levels of COVID-19 by county. The rest of Utahs counties remain at a low, or green level of risk for the virus.
I think this is evidence of the summer increase that weve been warning against, Salt Lake County Health Department spokesman Nicholas Rupp said, urging residents to get their COVID-19 shots. Now is the time for people to ensure theyre up to date, and get vaccinated or boosted if theyre due.
The CDC advises everyone in a medium risk county to try to maintain improved ventilation throughout both private and public indoor spaces and keep up with their COVID-19 shots. Initial shots and a first booster dose are available for anyone 5 and older. Those 50 and older or with certain medical conditions can get a second booster shot.
Individuals who are at high risk for severe disease should consult with their health care providers about whether they should be masking up and taking other precautions, including testing for the virus, the CDC says. Those who live or spend time with people at high risk should consider wearing a mask around them and testing.
At the community level, public health agencies should step up protections, the CDC suggests, such as implementing testing for people exposed to COVID-19 at work, school or another community setting. In Utah, most testing and treatment shifted to private providers under Gov. Spencer Coxs steady state pandemic response.
Rupp said theres still free testing in the county, at Salt Lake Public Health Center and the Cannon Building in Salt Lake City; West Valley City Hall and Redwood Recreation Center in West Valley City; Thomas Jefferson Junior High in Kearns; Providence Hall High School in Herriman; and the old Workforce Services building in Midvale.
To register for free testing, or see other sites that may charge or ask for insurance, go to coronavirus.utah.gov.
People should stay home from work, school and social activities if they have symptoms, and they should test, Rupp said, either via an at-home antigen (test) or at one of the seven free test sites available.
The Weber-Morgan Health Department also had advice for residents.
As we are seeing a rise in cases, we ask the public to help us by using the tools that we relied on these past two years, the Weber-Morgan departments executive director, Brian Cowan, said in a statement. The department continues to contact trace and work with people who test positive to slow the spread of the virus, he said.
Vaccination is still the safest, most effective way to prevent serious illness and hospitalization. Boosters are now available to everyone over age 5, Cowan said. Take steps to monitor yourself for symptoms, get tested and stay home if you are ill. Be mindful of those who are at-risk for complications and use masks, frequent hand-washing and continue to mask and social distancing when in crowded public places.
The CDC determines risk levels by county based on the number of weekly cases per 100,000 residents reported as well as the number of hospital admissions for the virus and how many hospital beds are filled with COVID-19 patients.
The way COVID-19 risk levels are calculatedwas changed by the federal agency earlier this year after the highly transmissible omicron variant drove cases to record levels around the county, adding the hospital metrics and doubling how many weekly cases per 100,000 residents it takes to hit a high level of transmission, to 200.
Theres been some criticism of using hospitalization and capacity in setting the levels since those are lagging indicators of virus spread. Utah has replaced its own metrics for determining risk with the CDCs community levels, included as a map on the states coronavirus.utah.gov website.
Almost all of Utah and much of the rest of the country is in the bright red, high-risk category in a version of the CDC map using the previous standard of more than 100 new cases per 100,000 population in the past seven days combined with a 10% percent test positivity rate.
The CDC updates its assessments daily, but new COVID-19 data now comes from Utah only once a week. The Utah Department of Health reported Thursday that the state has seen another 5,611 cases of the virus over the past seven days, more than 25% increase in the average daily case count.
There have also been another dozen COVID-19 deaths since May 19, including a Utah County girl, between 1 and 14 years old, the state health department said. According to the states tabulations, there have been fewer than five deaths from the virus in that age group in Utah.
Fridays CDC map shows nearly 21% of the counties nationwide are now at a medium risk level, almost a 6% increase. Most counties, more than 71%, are still at a low risk level, although that number has dropped by more than 4%.
While just under 8% of counties across the country at a high risk level, where universal masking is recommended, many of those are in highly populated areas of the Northeast, which has been hard hit by the latest omicron subvariants, which are even more transmissible than the original mutation.
Most of the Intermountain West remains at low or medium risk except for some counties in Montana and Colorado that are high. During last falls delta variant surge, the Intermountain West became the nations hot spot as that version of the virus spread from east to west.
The Amazon logo is displayed on a sign outside the company's LDJ5 sortation center in the Staten Island borough of New York City, U.S. April 25, 2022. REUTERS/Brendan McDermid.
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(Reuters) - Amazon.com Inc on Tuesday will urge a U.S. appeals court to revive its lawsuit that sought to prevent the New York Attorney General from investigating the online retailer over its efforts to protect warehouse workers from COVID-19.
A panel of three 2nd U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals judges in Manhattan will take up Amazon's claim that the state's probe should be blocked because it is preempted by federal labor law.
A New York state appeals court dismissed the AG's case earlier this month.
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The AG began investigating Amazon after it fired one employee and disciplined another who had protested the company's alleged lack of pandemic safety policies. Amazon sued to block the probe in February 2021, and the state filed its own lawsuit a few days later.
The AG claimed Amazons drive for faster growth and higher profits led to its flagrant disregard of steps needed to protect workers at the warehouse and another facility in Queens, and that the company illegally retaliated against workers who protested.
U.S. District Judge Brian Cogan in Brooklyn in August said he was required to dismiss Amazon's case because it would interfere with the state's lawsuit.
Cogan cited the legal doctrine of Younger abstention, named for a 1971 U.S. Supreme Court ruling that said federal courts must abstain from hearing civil claims brought by parties who are facing related actions by state officials in state court.
Amazon in its appeal says Younger abstention does not apply when claims brought under state law are preempted by federal law.
Amazon did not immediately respond to a request for comment. Nor did the attorney general's office.
The state court that tossed out the attorney general's case two weeks ago agreed with Amazon that the National Labor Relations Act preempted the state's claims that Amazon retaliated against the two employees.
In a filing earlier this month, Amazon's lawyers told the 2nd Circuit that the state court's ruling bolstered the company's position that the AG should never have launched an investigation or a lawsuit because only a federal labor board could pursue the allegations.
The office of Attorney General Letitia James responded in a filing that it disagreed with the ruling and was considering its options. But even if Amazon prevails on the preemption issue, the AG said, the decision "confirms that New York state courts are an adequate forum for Amazon to obtain judicial review."
Amazon has said that it took a comprehensive approach to COVID-19 safety and that two workers were disciplined or fired for violating those policies and not for protesting.
Workers at the Staten Island warehouse voted last month to form a union, the first in Amazon's history. The company is challenging the results of the election.
The case is Amazon.com Inc v. Attorney General Letitia James, 2nd U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals, No. 21-2007.
For Amazon: Jason Schwartz of Gibson Dunn & Crutcher
For the Attorney General: Assistant Solicitor General Ester Murdukhayeva
Read more:
Amazon loses bid to stop New York from probing COVID-19 standards
Amazon.com wins dismissal of NY attorney general lawsuit over worker safety
New York accuses Amazon of backsliding over worker safety, seeks monitor
Amazon to get hearing that could overturn New York union vote
Amazon's union: Two warehouses, two outcomes
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Our Standards: The Thomson Reuters Trust Principles.
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Dan Wiessner (@danwiessner) reports on labor and employment and immigration law, including litigation and policy making. He can be reached at daniel.wiessner@thomsonreuters.com.
A state appeals court ruled that a Wisconsin hospital was not required to treat a COVID-19 patient with ivermectin after a family member obtained a prescription for it from an outside doctor.
The antiparasitic drug is used to treat malaria and other diseases, and early in the pandemic some doctors saw it as a promising COVID treatment. It became a cause celebre among conservative politicians and commentators, including U.S. Sen. Ron Johnson, R-Oshkosh, who promoted its use while attacking COVID-19 vaccines.
But recent studies, including a large clinical trial with results published this month in the New England Journal of Medicine, have shown that the drug does not work to reduce COVID-19 patients' risk of hospitalization. The federal Food and Drug Administration advises against using it as a COVID-19 treatment, and when it was widely used last year as a home remedy for COVID-19 it resulted in aspike in reported poisonings in Wisconsin.
In the meantime, clinically effective treatments against the pandemic disease have emerged. The FDA has authorized two antiviral pills, Paxlovid and Remdesivir, that have been shown to help patients fight off the disease.
The case before the appeals court emerged before the approval of those effective drugs but after data had cast doubt on the effectiveness of ivermectin. The nephew of John Zingsheim, who in September was being treated for COVID-19 at Waukesha's Aurora Health Center, demanded Zingsheim be given the drug and found a doctor to write a prescription for it while Zingsheim was in the hospital on a ventilator.
The nephew, Allen Gahl, said he searched online for an alternative treatment for Zingsheim because he was "losing hope for (Zingsheim's) survival," according to court documents.
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But the hospital declined to administer the drug, citing medical evidence and the fact that the prescription came from a doctor who never saw or examined the patient and was "not credentialed ... to treat patients at Aurora." Aurora's position was that ivermectin "would be neither safe nor effective medical care" for Zingsheim.
The family sued the hospital, and in October won a judgment at the circuit court level. Aurora appealed, and this week won an appeals court ruling finding "there is no legal authority for the court's order compelling a private health care provider to administer a treatment that the provider, in its professional judgment, has determined to be below the standard of care."
A three-judge panel issued the ruling, with one judge dissenting. The family may choose to appeal the case to the state Supreme Court.
Zingsheim's current condition is not publicly available. In October, Aurora officials told a judge the patient's condition was improving under the hospital's treatment regimen.
The case is part of a broader movement of at least two dozen lawsuits in many states demanding patients' rights to use ivermectin over doctors' judgment. And the Wisconsin case, too, has a clear political valence. Johnson was among those who blasted a decision by the Supreme Court's decision to deny a request in October by the family to bypass the appeals court. And Karen Mueller, the attorney representing Zingsheim's nephew, is a Republican running for state attorney general. Two key issues she's running on are reversing the outcome of the 2020 presidential election and "investigating" Wisconsin hospitals that fail to treat COVID-19 patients with ivermectin.
