The Biden administration is preparing to implement new travel guidelines that would require proof of a negative COVID-19 test within one day of flying into the U.S., including for vaccinated people, a spokesperson from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention confirmed.
The expected change comes as the country beefs up surveillance for the omicron variant, the first case of which in the U.S. has been identified in California, the California and San Francisco Departments of Public Health said Wednesday. The CDC said the person traveled from South Africa on Nov. 22.
Omicron has been deemed a "variant of concern" by the World Health Organization and had been detected in over 20 countries as of Tuesday.
"CDC is working to modify the current global testing order for travel as we learn more about the omicron variant; a revised order would shorten the timeline for required testing for all international air travelers to one day before departure to the United States," CDC spokesperson Kristen Nordlund said Tuesday night. "This strengthens already robust protocols in place for international travel, including requirements for foreign travelers to be fully vaccinated."
Under the current guidelines, people from other countries who are not fully vaccinated cannot travel to the U.S., while people who are fully vaccinated can as long as they provide proof of a negative COVID-19 test within three days of traveling. For unvaccinated Americans, the guidelines already required proof of a negative test within one day of traveling. The potential new rule would expand that one-day requirement to all vaccinated travelers coming into the U.S. from other countries.
For post-travel recommendations, the CDC also suggests vaccinated travelers get tested three to five days after arriving in the U.S. and that unvaccinated travelers stay home to self-quarantine for a full seven days, even if they test negative during that timeframe.
Earlier on Tuesday, the White House confirmed it was considering updates around testing requirements and said policy discussions were ongoing across the government as more is learned about the omicron variant.
Rochelle Walensky appears during a hearing in the Dirksen Senate Office Building in Washington, D.C., Nov. 4, 2021.
More updates on the country's response to the variant are expected Thursday.
CDC Director Rochelle Walensky outlined some of the expected changes at the White House COVID-19 briefing on Tuesday morning. She said the CDC is analyzing 80,000 COVID-positive tests per week -- or about one in seven tests -- looking for the omicron variant. The delta variant continues to account for 99.9% of all tests analyzed, Walensky said.
Asked if she was confident in the CDC's surveillance system given how many other countries had detected the variant before the U.S., Walensky said the system is "robust."
The director also said the CDC is working on expanding a surveillance program in the nation's four busiest international airports, John F. Kennedy International Airport, San Francisco International Airport, Newark Liberty International Airport and Hartsfield-Jackson Atlanta International Airport, which would allow for more COVID-19 tests on international arrivals -- though there was no indication that testing would be mandatory for arriving travelers or which arriving planes would be offered the tests.
In the meantime, experts are calling on all Americans to get vaccinated if they haven't yet and to get boosted if they're over 18 and were fully vaccinated over six months ago. Of those eligible for a booster, 100 million Americans haven't gotten one yet, the White House said on Tuesday, while just about 20% of fully vaccinated Americans have, the CDC's vaccine data shows.
Though the data on how transmissible and severe the omicron variant is will not be available for a few more weeks, as scientists around the globe work to gather it, experts believe it's unlikely it will completely chip away at the protection from vaccines and boosters, particularly when it comes to hospitalization and death.
"Remember, as with other variants, although partial immune escape may occur, vaccines and particularly boosters give a level of antibody that even with variants like delta, give you a degree of protection, particularly against severe disease," Dr. Anthony Fauci, chief medical adviser to the White House, said on Tuesday.
On Tuesday, Pfizer BioNTech asked the Food and Drug Administration to consider expanding the booster recommendation to include 16- and 17-year-olds. The agency is expected to review the request in the coming weeks.
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The West Virginia Department of Health and Human Resources (DHHR) reports as of December 1, 2021, there are currently 6,267 active COVID-19 cases statewide. There have been 27 deaths reported since the last report, with a total of 4,895 deaths attributed to COVID-19.
DHHR has confirmed the deaths of a 70-year old female from Braxton County, a 92-year old female from Hardy County, a 77-year old male from Marion County, a 70-year old female from Mercer County, an 86-year old female from Lincoln County, a 92-year old female from Pleasants County, a 68-year old male from Preston County, an 83-year old female from Tyler County, a 56-year old female from Calhoun County, a 63-year old male from Clay County, a 46-year old male from Putnam County, an 87-year old female from Marion County, a 75-year old male from Nicholas County, a 96-year old female from Mineral County, an 82-year old male from Grant County, a 72-year old female from Kanawha County, an 89-year old female from Webster County, an 85-year old male from Mingo County, a 71-year old male from Ohio County, a 78-year old male from Nicholas County, a 64-year old male from Ohio County, a 79-year old female from Mingo County, a 27-year old female from Putnam County, a 64-year old male from Greenbrier County, a 67-year old male from Berkeley County, a 69-year old male from Jackson County, and an 86-year old female from Marion County.
"It is with sadness that we report another day of significant loss in our state," said Bill J. Crouch, DHHR Cabinet Secretary. "Please help stop by the spread of COVID-19 by receiving your vaccine or booster shot."
CURRENT ACTIVE CASES PER COUNTY: Barbour (57), Berkeley (540), Boone (79), Braxton (35), Brooke (88), Cabell (289), Calhoun (34), Clay (23), Doddridge (31), Fayette (157), Gilmer (11), Grant (53), Greenbrier (72), Hampshire (98), Hancock (95), Hardy (61), Harrison (303), Jackson (66), Jefferson (262), Kanawha (401), Lewis (112), Lincoln (73), Logan (124), Marion (191), Marshall (109), Mason (59), McDowell (65), Mercer (283), Mineral (98), Mingo (123), Monongalia (203), Monroe (41), Morgan (79), Nicholas (170), Ohio (171), Pendleton (32), Pleasants (19), Pocahontas (23), Preston (131), Putnam (183), Raleigh (287), Randolph (60), Ritchie (21), Roane (46), Summers (30), Taylor (74), Tucker (8), Tyler (24), Upshur (84), Wayne (100), Webster (52), Wetzel (66), Wirt (26), Wood (301), Wyoming (44). To find the cumulative cases per county, please visit www.coronavirus.wv.gov and look on the Cumulative Summary tab which is sortable by county.
Delays may be experienced with the reporting of information from the local health department to DHHR. As case surveillance continues at the local health department level, it may reveal that those tested in a certain county may not be a resident of that county, or even the state as an individual in question may have crossed the state border to be tested. Please visit www.coronavirus.wv.gov for more detailed information.
West Virginians ages 5 years and older are eligible for a COVID-19 vaccine. Boosters are also available. To learn more about the vaccine, or to find a vaccine site near you, visit vaccinate.wv.gov or call 1-833-734-0965.
Online registration is open for the third round of the Do it for Babydog: Save a life, Change your life vaccination sweepstakes. Registration is open to all West Virginians ages 5-18 who have received at least one dose of the COVID-19 vaccine. Please visit https://doitforbabydog.wv.gov/ to register and for more information.
Free pop-up COVID-19 testing is available today in Barbour, Berkeley, Boone, Braxton, Cabell, Doddridge, Greenbrier, Hampshire, Jefferson, Lincoln, Marion, Marshall, Mineral, Mingo, Monroe, Morgan, Nicholas, Ohio, Putnam, Raleigh, Randolph, Ritchie, Taylor, Tyler/Wetzel, Upshur, Wayne, and Wood counties.
Barbour County
8:30 AM - 3:30 PM, Community Market, 107 South Main Street (across the street from Walgreens), Philippi, WV (optional pre-registration: https://labpass.com/en/registration?access_code=WVBBC)
1:00 PM - 5:00 PM, Junior Volunteer Fire Department, 331 Row Avenue, Junior WV (optional pre-registration: https://unityphr.com/campaigns/wvlabs/covid)
Berkeley County
10:00 AM - 5:00 PM, 891 Auto Parts Place, Martinsburg, WV (optional pre-registration: https://unityphr.com/campaigns/wvlabs/covid)
Boone County
10:00 AM - 3:00 PM, Boone County Health Department, 213 Kenmore Drive, Danville, WV (optional pre-registration: https://unityphr.com/campaigns/wvlabs/covid)
Braxton County
7:30 AM - 1:30 PM, Braxton County Memorial Hospital (parking lot), 100 Hoylman Drive, Gassaway, WV (optional pre-registration: https://labpass.com/en/registration?access_code=Braxton)
Cabell County
8:00 AM- 4:00 PM, Marshall University Campus (parking lot), 1801 6th Avenue, Huntington, WV (optional pre-registration: https://wv.getmycovidresult.com/)
9:00 AM - 6:00 PM, Cabell-Huntington Health Department (parking lot), 703 Seventh Avenue, Huntington, WV (optional pre-registration: https://labpass.com/en/registration?access_code=MavCabell)
Doddridge County
9:00 AM - 12:00 PM, Doddridge County Farmers Market Pavilion, Rt. 18 (beside old high school football field), West Union, WV
Greenbrier County
9:30 AM - 3:00 PM, State Fair of WV, 891 Maplewood Avenue, Lewisburg, WV (optional pre-registration: https://labpass.com/en/registration?access_code=WVGBC)
Hampshire County
10:00 AM - 5:00 PM, Hampshire Memorial Hospital, 363 Sunrise Boulevard, Romney, WV (optional pre-registration: https://unityphr.com/campaigns/wvlabs/covid)
Jefferson County
10:00 AM - 6:00 PM, Hollywood Casino, 750 Hollywood Drive, Charles Town, WV (optional pre-registration: https://unityphr.com/campaigns/wvlabs/covid)
Lincoln County
9:00 AM - 3:00 PM, Lincoln County Health Department, 8008 Court Avenue, Hamlin, WV (optional pre-registration: https://wv.getmycovidresult.com/)
Marion County
10:00 AM - 6:00 PM, Dunbar School Foundation, 101 High Street, Fairmont, WV
Marshall County
11:00 AM - 5:00 PM, Cameron City Building, 46 Main Street, Cameron, WV
Mineral County
10:00 AM - 4:00 PM, Mineral County Health Department, 541 Harley O. Staggers Drive, Keyser, WV
Mingo County
9:00 AM - 3:00 PM, Chattaroy Volunteer Fire Department, 8 Firefighter Avenue, Chattaroy, WV (optional pre-registration: https://labpass.com/en/registration?access_code=WVMGC)
Monroe County
9:00 AM - 2:00 PM, Appalachian Christian Center, 2812 Seneca Trail South, Peterstown, WV (optional pre-registration: https://labpass.com/en/registration?access_code=WVMRC)
Morgan County
11:00 AM - 5:00 PM, War Memorial Hospital, 1 Health Way, Berkeley Springs, WV (optional pre-registration: https://unityphr.com/campaigns/wvlabs/covid)
Nicholas County
9:00 AM - 3:30 PM, Summersville Regional Medical Center, 400 Fairview Heights Road, Summersville, WV (optional pre-registration: https://labpass.com/en/registration?access_code=WVNL)
Ohio County
9:00 AM - 3:30 PM, Ohio Valley Medical Center (parking lot of former VPC South Building at the top of 22nd Street), 2000 Eoff Street, Wheeling, WV (optional pre-registration: https://roxbylabs.dendisoftware.com/patient_registration/)
Putnam County
9:00 AM - 4:00 PM, Liberty Square Shopping Center, parking lot, 613 Putnam Village, Hurricane, WV (optional pre-registration: https://wv.getmycovidresult.com/)
Raleigh County
9:00 AM - 4:00 PM, Beckley-Raleigh County Health Department, 1602 Harper Road, Beckley, WV (optional pre-registration: https://labpass.com/en/registration?access_code=MavBeckleyRaleigh)
Randolph County
8:00 AM - 3:30 PM, Randolph-Elkins Health Department (parking lot), 32 Randolph Avenue, Elkins, WV (optional pre-registration: https://labpass.com/en/registration?access_code=WVRDC)
Ritchie County
1:00 PM - 4:00 PM, Ritchie Regional, 135 South Penn Avenue, Harrisville, WV
Taylor County
2:00 PM - 4:00 PM, Grafton-Taylor County Health Department, 718 West Main Street (parking lot at Operations Trailer), Grafton, WV (optional pre-registration: https://wv.getmycovidresult.com/)
Tyler/Wetzel Counties
11:00 PM - 3:00 PM, Wetzel-Tyler County Health Department, 425 South Fourth Avenue, Paden City, WV (optional pre-registration: https://roxbylabs.dendisoftware.com/patient_registration/)
Upshur County
8:00 AM - 3:30 PM, Buckhannon Fire Department (parking lot), 22 South Florida Street, Buckhannon, WV (optional pre-registration: https://labpass.com/en/registration?access_code=WVUSC)
Wayne County
10:00 AM - 2:00 PM, Wayne County Health Department, 217 Kenova, Avenue, Wayne, WV (optional pre-registration: https://unityphr.com/campaigns/wvlabs/covid)
Wood County
7:30 AM - 3:00 PM, Vienna Baptist Church, 3401 Grand Central Avenue, Vienna, WV (optional pre-registration: https://labpass.com/en/registration?access_code=WVMavWood1)
For additional free COVID-19 testing opportunities across the state, please visit https://dhhr.wv.gov/COVID-19/pages/testing.aspx.
(LEX 18) 3,312 new cases of COVID-19 were reported in Kentucky on Wednesday, this is the highest number of news cases in the state since October 1 with 4,118 reported.
The positivity rate is now 8.56%, and 44 deaths were reported.
Currently, 948 people are hospitalized, 249 in ICUs, and 123 people are on ventilators.
For the cull daily COVID-19 numbers click here.
Since the earliest days of the pandemic, weve been hearing about Californians abandoning their usual way of life for greener, cheaper pastures.
There are the San Franciscans who weathered lockdown orders in Lake Tahoe, and the Angelenos with new desert cabins in Joshua Tree. Tales abound of Silicon Valley types moving home to Miami and Seattle, or renting acres of land in Idaho.
The story goes like this: The coronavirus and the ability to work remotely have fundamentally reshaped where we want to live and large California cities, particularly Los Angeles and San Francisco, are not on the list.
But is any of that actually true?
Ill start with the short answer. There hasnt been an exodus from California, but pandemic forces have shifted where people reside within the state. Those patterns of relocation mirror what we were already seeing before Covid-19, but on overdrive.
Heres how this shakes out.
Californias population declined slightly in 2020, but it wasnt because of a mass migration to other states. To blame are coronavirus deaths, a lower birthrate and fewer international arrivals.
In fact, 82 percent of Californians who moved last year stayed in the state, according to a report from the California Policy Lab. That figure has been basically stable over the past five years.
A lot more people are moving around within the state than they are out of the state, Eric McGhee, a senior fellow with the Public Policy Institute of California, told me. That movement tends to be within a certain metropolitan area, and a lot of that is people moving to suburbs and exurbs.
Californians are likely to move from Los Angeles to the Inland Empire or from San Francisco to the fringes of the Bay Area or the Sacramento region, McGhee said. Thats because they want cheaper housing but dont want to end up so far away that they need to change jobs.
Its been that way for a long time. These were the largest county-to-county net migrations in California between 2015 and 2019, according to census data:
Los Angeles to San Bernardino (20,809 people)
Los Angeles to Riverside (13,949)
Los Angeles to Orange (11,879)
Alameda to Contra Costa (9,246)
Orange to Riverside (8,282)
Los Angeles to Kern (6,032)
San Diego to Riverside (5,892)
San Francisco to Alameda (5,469)
San Francisco to San Mateo (4,239)
Alameda to San Joaquin (4,134)
With the emergence of the pandemic in 2020, some of these trends kicked into high gear.
The Inland Empire tied Phoenix in 2020 for the biggest gain in households from migration nationwide, The Wall Street Journal recently reported. The flow of humanity into Riverside and San Bernardino Counties increased by 50 percent compared with the previous year.
This reflects Californians desire to escape the exorbitant home prices of more coastal regions. In Riverside County, the median single-family home price in August was $570,000, compared with $830,070 in Los Angeles County and $1.85 million in San Francisco.
As my colleagues noted in a recent analysis, pricey San Francisco experienced one of the most significant exoduses of the pandemic. While migration patterns during the pandemic have looked a lot like migration patterns before it, that wasnt the case for San Francisco, they wrote.
In the city, net exits the number of people leaving minus the number of people arriving increased to 38,800 in the last three quarters of 2020, compared with 5,200 during the same time the previous year, according to the California Policy Lab report. The city lost one-eighth of its total households last year by some estimates.
But perhaps this is good news for those us of fighting the myth of a California exodus: Two-thirds of San Franciscans who fled landed in other parts of the Bay Area and 80 percent stayed in the state.
For more:
Todays travel tip comes from Curtis Ridling:
For natural beauty I never get enough of Yosemite during the fall, when colorful leaves add to the experience. The winter with snow puts a different twist on the park with a sense of quiet not available at other times. Summer with its crowds is difficult but the views are still there as you look up and see climbers on El Capitan.
Tell us about your favorite places to visit in California. Email your suggestions to CAtoday@nytimes.com. Well be sharing more in upcoming editions of the newsletter.
Has your child been vaccinated against Covid-19?
Share stories of your children receiving their coronavirus shots and how it has affected your holiday plans. Please include your childs name, age and city of residence and even a photograph, if youd like.
Email me at CAtoday@nytimes.com and your submission may be included in a future newsletter.
One lucky Californian is about to become a multimillionaire.
All six numbers drawn in Saturdays Super Lotto Plus matched a ticket sold at a gas station in Santa Clarita, KCAL9 reports. The winner will claim $38 million.
Happy holidays, indeed.
COLUMBUS, Ohio (WCMH) Losing a loved one is never easy, but for Allison Brady, COVID-19 took the loss to an almost inconceivable level.
One of the scariest things about COVID-19 for Allison was the unknown, especially about how sick her parents might get due to being high risk.
Allison thought her worst fears were realized when she and her parents all got sick. Then the nightmare struck not once, but twice.
My mom was the first one to get sick, Allison said while thinking back, struggling to place the times and dates. Allison recalls it was eight days before her 17th birthday when her entire world was turned upside down.
It was just very scary. It didnt seem real, Allison said.
Her mom, Kimberly, worked as a hairstylist and had been in and out of hospitals battling diabetes as it progressed. When she moved to an assisted living facility, Kimberly was among the first wave of high-risk vaccine recipients last fall.
After being diagnosed with COVID-19 on Sept. 19, her condition quickly deteriorated.
Her funeral was Monday morning [the 27], said Allison, piecing together when her father got sick. Sunday night, he was rushed in an ambulance to the hospital, and Monday morning my father passed away from COVID.
Allison watched doctors take her mother off life support on Tuesday, Sept. 21. Six days after that, her father Jim was diagnosed. He died two months before the holidays.
Theyre going to be very difficult. Theyre going to be very, very difficult, said a tearful Allison a few days before Thanksgiving.
Jim had recently started the vaccination process so that he could visit his wife at the nursing facility. His sister Mimi said he died 12 hours after receiving his positive COVID-19 test.
He couldnt live without Kimberly, Mimi cried. Six days. He barely lasted six days. He just couldnt do it without her. Mimi is convinced her brother died of a broken heart.
Allison couldnt attend her mothers funeral because she was still sick.
I couldnt even get up and go down the stairs, Allison described. I was running really low on breath, not wanting to eat anything, not wanting to drink anything. Not wanting to do anything, just feeling really weak.
She feared for her own outcome.
Yeah, I thought that every day, said Allison as to whether she considered the risk to her own life.
Allison and Mimi sit side by side on the couch of Mimis Washington Courthouse home. The pair, even though they are family, now share a special bond.
I didnt have anywhere to live at the time, and then she Im going to start crying, Allison said with a cracking voice.
I didnt question it. Before she even got to the hospital, I said shes coming with me, Mimi said.
Kimberly and Jims wedding rings grace the coffee table as Allison and Mimi shared their favorite memories and some of the hardest.
Nov. 8 [1988] is when our mom passed away, and he texted me every year, Mimi said of her brother. I didnt get a text this year. It was quiet.
Even among a few laughs, the rings are a painful reminder of two lives ending far too soon.
It really has been hard, Allison described the last two months. I guess you get through it day-by-day.
They also want others to know there is never enough time to tell your loved ones how much they mean to you.
It is real. Be safe. Look what happened to me. Its not something fun to go through, so really try to be safe, Allison warns.
Patients queue to get vaccinated against COVID-19, in Aristotelous Square, in the center of the Greek city of Thessaloniki on November 26, 2021. Sakis Mitroldis /AFP via Getty Images hide caption
Patients queue to get vaccinated against COVID-19, in Aristotelous Square, in the center of the Greek city of Thessaloniki on November 26, 2021.
Facing a surge in coronavirus infections and stalled vaccination drives, two nations in the European Union are giving their citizens an ultimatum: take the COVID-19 vaccine or face the financial consequences.
Greece announced Tuesday that everyone 60 and older must be vaccinated by mid-January or face monthly fines of 100 euros (roughly $114).
Earlier this month, Austria said it would require its entire adult population to be vaccinated by Feb. 1. Those who refuse are set to pay up to 3,600 euros, or just over $4,000, in fines.
"It's not a punishment," Greek Prime Minister Kyriakos Mitsotakis told his cabinet in a televised meeting. "I would say it is the price for health. It is also an act of justice for the vaccinated. It's not right that they are deprived of health care services because others stubbornly refuse to do the obvious."
Greece is the first EU country to target an age group with a vaccination mandate. Citing government data, Mitsotakis said about 83% of older Greeks are vaccinated. Those who are not more than 500,000 people are more likely to get seriously ill and die. Greece recorded more than 7,500 infections, hundreds of hospitalizations and 88 deaths on Tuesday alone, according to Greece's National Organization for Public Health.
The monthly fine for refusing the vaccine is substantial for retirees. The average pension is 730 euros a month.
Both Greece and Austria turned to compulsory vaccinations after a series of measures including banning the unvaccinated from indoor venues failed. Both countries have anti-vaccination movements, fueled by conspiracy theories, religion and anti-authoritarianism. In Austria, an unvaccinated far-right politician has promoted the use of the horse deworming drug ivermectin to treat COVID-19. His party joined thousands who took to the streets to protest lockdown measures and the vaccine mandate.
"Society should be sticking together, taking care of each other, in times like these but instead we are splitting into two worlds, the vaccinated and the unvaccinated," said Christine Bertl, a biochemist from Vienna who supports the mandatory vaccination effort. "And the unvaccinated think only about themselves."
Bertl added that they are refusing vaccines procured by the EU that could have gone to nations who cannot afford them.
More than 61% of Greeks and 67% of Austrians are vaccinated, according to data from Johns Hopkins University, though those numbers could soon increase. Some reports show that mandates are pushing the unvaccinated to get their shots.
The vaccine mandates come as the world scrambles to respond to the new omicron variant. Scientists say omicron appears to be highly transmissible, though researchers still have limited information about the variant. Infections have already appeared in several EU nations, including Austria. Mitsotakis say he expects the variant will likely reach Greece as well.
Protection from COVID-19 comes from either contracting the SARS-CoV-2 virus and recovering or getting vaccinated.
Research has shown that those who have contracted SARS-CoV-2 have 85% protection against symptomatic disease 6 months after infection.
Meanwhile, as the authors of the recent study explain, vaccination has been reported to be 5095% effective at various time points.
Over time, the immune systems response to SARS-CoV-2 diminishes, meaning those who have recovered from the virus or received vaccination may be less protected as time progresses.
In a recent study, researchers from Israel and the United States conducted a study to investigate whether protection against infection waned over time following a second dose of the Pfizer-BioNTech mRNA vaccine.
They found that 90 days following a second Pfizer dose, individuals were at an increased risk of contracting SARS-CoV-2. The findings appear in the BMJ.
Israel was one of the first countries to successfully roll out a vaccination campaign in the population, so we were also among the first to observe the waning effect of the vaccination as time elapsed since the initial two shots of the vaccine, Dr. Ariel Israel, Ph.D., one of the studys authors, told Medical News Today.
Our study is an observational study, designed to evaluate whether protection provided by the Pfizer vaccine wanes with time by comparing the rate of positive [reverse transcription-polymerase chain reaction (RT-PCR) for SARS-CoV-2] in people vaccinated at different time intervals before the test.
We observed that after the excellent protection offered by the vaccine in the initial 3 months, there was a gradual increase in the infection rate, Dr. Israel explained.
The researchers gathered medical records from Leumit Health Services, a large healthcare provider in Israel that serves 700,000 people throughout the country.
For their analysis, they used health records from those aged 18 years and above who underwent a SARS-CoV-2 RT-PCR test between May 15, 2021, and September 17, 2021, after receiving two doses of the Pfizer vaccine.
The team performed tests at least 3 weeks following their second vaccination. They divided participants into three age groups to reflect different stages of the vaccine rollout:
They also divided the time between the second vaccination and RT-PCR tests into 30-day intervals after the initial 90 days, with the last category denoted as 180 days or more since the second vaccination. Altogether, the researchers analyzed health records from 83,057 individuals.
Their analyses accounted for potential confounding risk factors for SARS-CoV-2 infection, such as age, sex, socioeconomic status, and existing health conditions.
Among those the researchers studied, 9.6%, or 7,973 individuals, had a positive test result. The average time between the second vaccine dose and an RT-PCR test was 164 days.
The team found that the more time elapsed since the second vaccine, the more likely people were to contract SARS-CoV-2.
While 1.3% of participants received a positive test result 2189 days after their second vaccine, the same was true for 2.4% of people after 90119 days, 4.6% after 120149 days, 10.3% after 150179 days, and 15.5% after 180 days.
These results translated into a 2.37-fold higher chance of contracting the virus after 90 days from the second vaccination and a 2.82-fold higher likelihood after 150 days or more.
They also found that two injections 21 days apart provided more protection than one and that immune system changes relating to age influenced the immune response to the vaccines.
Dr. Israel explained that the reasons for waning immune protection are beyond the scope of their study. However, he suggested some possible mechanisms:
The most likely explanation is that antibodies, as well as cells of the immune system that produce antibodies or kill cells [with the infection], have a limited lifetime, so their numbers decrease gradually after the initial response triggered by the vaccine.
[Fewer] antibodies in the blood, and [fewer] cells able to kill the virus mean that the virus is more likely to evade the immune system in the first stages of infection, and this is probably why we observe an increased rate of positive PCR in individuals vaccinated earlier, he added.
The researchers concluded that SARS-CoV-2 immunity following a second Pfizer vaccine wanes after the initial 90 days and that a third vaccine, or booster dose, may be warranted for immunocompromised individuals.
They also note several limitations to their study. Due to its observational study design, they say that they possibly did not account for all contributing factors, which may have skewed their results.
For example, they note they only included individuals who chose to request an RT-PCR test for SARS-CoV-2 and that some may have had different thresholds for requesting a test.
They also noted that individuals vaccinated earlier might have had different physical distancing habits than those vaccinated later, which could have significantly influenced their level of risk.
Moreover, the researchers note that RT-PCR tests were not followed up with blood tests, meaning they cannot be sure that immunity had indeed waned.
In light of these results, public health authorities in Israel have recommended a booster shot for all age groups, and we have observed a subsequent dramatic reduction in COVID-19 incidence immediately following the rollout of the booster shot, said Dr. Israel.
It is too early to say for certain how long the protection would last following the booster shot. We are continuing to monitor the infection rate and will report our data in case we observe a reduction in the protection provided by the booster, he concluded.
For live updates on the latest developments regarding the novel coronavirus and COVID-19, click here.
Gov. Gavin Newsom takes questions during a press conference on COVID-19 vaccination and housing for homeless veterans at the West Los Angeles VA Medical Center in Los Angeles on Wednesday, November 10, 2021.
Sarah Reingewirtz | MediaNews Group | Los Angeles Daily News via Getty Images
The person in California who tested positive for the omicron variant of the virus that causes Covid-19 was fully vaccinated, has mild symptoms and is improving, officials said Wednesday.
The patient was otherwise healthy when they returned to the San Francisco Bay Area from traveling in South Africa on Nov. 22, developed symptoms three days later and tested positive for Covid on Nov. 29, according to public health officials in California.
Scientists at the University of California, San Francisco received the patient's sample around 3 p.m. Pacific time Tuesday and completed the sequencing in about five hours, lab director Dr. Charles Chiu told reporters at a press conference Wednesday with San Francisco Mayor London Breed.
Gov. Gavin Newsom, in a separate briefing Wednesday, said the patient is between 18 and 49 and had not received a booster shot because they were not six months out from their original vaccination course.
"This individual has not been hospitalized," Newsom said. "The individuals that this individual has come into contact with have not tested positive yet to our knowledge, and we are hopeful of full recovery and expect nothing less based on what we've learned."
The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention has recommended that all U.S. adults get a booster six months after their original Pfizer or Moderna two-dose course, and two months after their single J&J shot.
Dr. Mark Ghaly, California's Health and Human Services secretary, said the fact that the patient is improving underscores the importance of vaccination.
"We have been talking for months about the fact that vaccinations do one really, really important thing protect against severe disease, against hospitalization and death," Ghaly told reporters at the briefing with Newsom. "The evidence that an individual with omicron identified by sequencing actually has mild symptoms, is improving, I think is a testimony to the importance of the vaccinations."
Ghaly said there's still a lot to learn about the variant but encouraged Californians to get vaccinated and get a booster shot if eligible.
White House chief medical advisor Dr. Anthony Fauci told reporters Wednesday that the profile of the omicron variant suggests its mutations could reduce the effectiveness of the vaccines currently on the market, but more data is needed.
"The molecular profile of the kinds of mutations that you see [in omicron] would suggest that it might be more transmissible and that it might elude some of the protection of vaccines," Fauci said Wednesday. "But we don't know that now."
The CEOs of Moderna and Pfizer have said it will take about two weeks to determine omicron's impact on the effectiveness of the current vaccines.
"I don't think that the result will be the vaccines don't protect," Pfizer CEO Albert Bourla told CNBC on Monday. "I think the result could be, which we don't know yet, the vaccines protect less."
Bourla said Pfizer can develop a new vaccine within 100 days. The company was able to quickly create vaccines for the beta and delta Covid variants but ended up not using them because the original vaccine remained effective against the mutations, he said.
Moderna CEO Stephane Bancel said the vaccine maker can roll out a higher-dosage booster shot quickly but that it could take until early 2022 to develop and ship a vaccine that specifically targets omicron.
"The higher dose could be done right away but it will be months before the omicron-specific variant is ready to ship in massive quantities," Bancel told CNBC's "Squawk Box" on Monday.
Maria Van Kerkhove, the World Health Organization's Covid technical lead, said Wednesday that reports from South Africa indicate some patients infected with omicron show mild symptoms but in other cases the disease has become more severe. Van Kerkhove said studies are looking at those hospitalized to see whether they have the omicron variant.
"It is certainly possible that one of the scenarios is that the virus, as it continues to evolve, may still have a fitness advantage, meaning that it can become more transmissible than delta. We'll have to see," she said. "But we don't know quite yet about the severity."
A video shared widely on social media flashes through dozens of news clips of athletes who reportedly collapsed and, in some cases, died of heart problems.
Set to ominous music, it implies that the incidents were linked to COVID-19 vaccines. "24-year-old hockey player dies after collapsing on ice in cardiac arrest 80% of league is vaccinated," read one headline, which we found had been pulled from a website called Team Tucker Carlson.
The video was flagged as part of Facebooks efforts to combat false news and misinformation on its News Feed. (Read more about our partnership with Facebook.)
It was posted on a website called The HighWire, which is associated with the anti-vaccination group Informed Consent Action Network. The videos caption further ties the incidents to the vaccines with a question and a series of leading hashtags: "They are at the peak of health, and the top of their profession. So, why are dozens of amatuer and professional athletes around the world inexplicably collapsing on the field, with heart-related issues, in just the past few months? #CollapsingAthletes #Covidvaccine #Myocarditis #TheHighWire."
But there is no evidence COVID-19 vaccines led the athletes in the video to collapse. We reviewed the news reports mentioned in the video and spoke with a number of sports cardiologists, and we found the claim connecting the two is unfounded.
"To date, I am not aware of a single COVID vaccine-related cardiac complication in the professional sports," said Matthew Martinez, a sports cardiologist who works with the National Football League, National Basketball Association, National Hockey League and Major League Soccer and who is the director of sports cardiology at Morristown Medical Center in New Jersey.
The same goes for Jonathan Kim, an associate professor of medicine and chief of sports cardiology at Emory University in Atlanta. "I am not aware of any reports that vaccines in athletes are causing cardiac issues," he said. He called the HighWire video "a classic example of disinformation."
The video mentions Danish soccer player Christian Eriksen, 29, who, according to his team director, wasnt vaccinated for COVID-19 when he collapsed June 12. So the vaccine couldnt have been the reason he collapsed.
It also includes a clip about Keyontae Johnson, 22, a college basketball player who collapsed on Dec. 12, 2020, days before the COVID-19 vaccine was given to people in the U.S. His collapse also wasnt related to the COVID-19 illness, according to a Feb. 3, 2021, statement from his family.
Dutch speed skater Kjeld Nuis, 32, who is also included, did have a heart problem in July 2021 a week after he received the COVID-19 vaccine, according to news coverage at the time. Nuis posted on Instagram later that month saying that he was fine and that he was at training camp. He did not say whether his COVID-19 vaccination contributed to his heart problem or whether it was linked to his athletic activity. Nuis had tested positive for COVID-19 in October 2020.
A young athlete experiencing cardiac arrest is not common, but its also not unprecedented. And there are different reasons an athlete might collapse.
Michael Emery, co-director of the Cleveland Clinic Sports Cardiology Center, said that dehydration, heat stroke and genetic heart conditions, among other factors, can lead to collapse.
The COVID-19 disease and vaccine have, very rarely, led to heart problems. The virus or the vaccine can inflame the heart muscle, called the myocardium, or the heart muscle sac, called the pericardium, Martinez explained. That can lead to chest pressure, breathlessness and, in some cases, long-term damage to the myocardium or pericardium. Myocarditis and pericarditis in general are rare, but when they do occur, theyre often caused by viral infections, according to the Myocarditis Foundation and the Cleveland Clinic.
Among athletes, heart problems are rare even after having COVID-19 itself. In a study that Martinez co-published in March in the American Medical Associations journal JAMA, fewer than 1% of athletes who had COVID-19 were found to have inflammatory heart disease. Martinez said he hasnt identified any athletes who had the COVID-19 disease and a heart-related complication and then died.
Having a heart problem from the COVID-19 disease or vaccine is "super rare," according to Emery. And it is "way more rare from a vaccine than it is from a native infection from COVID-19."
The videos caption asks why dozens of athletes are collapsing "in just the past few months." But sports cardiologists arent seeing a sudden rise in athletes collapsing. "We have no data to suggest that the frequency of sudden cardiac arrest or sudden cardiac death in athletes is higher now than it was in the past," said Emery.
Our ruling
A video shows news clips of athletes collapsing to suggest that COVID-19 vaccines cause heart problems in otherwise healthy athletes. The video makes an assumption and offers no proof. Athletes in the video did not all collapse from COVID-19 vaccines, and leading sports cardiologists we reached out to said they havent seen athletes collapse after getting vaccinated for COVID-19.
We rate this claim False.
