A new variant of COVID-19, known as JN.1, reportedly first emerged in the United States in September of last year.
Unlike its predecessors, this variant is more complex and has gradually become the dominant strain worldwide.
Disturbingly, it seems to possess resistance against the body's natural defense mechanisms and potentially the components of existing vaccines.
The Israeli Health Ministry confirms that this variant has reached Israel, with hundreds of cases identified thus far.
The JN.1 variant is a distant descendant of the Omicron family, which has been the primary cause of COVID-19 infections in recent years.
It has undergone numerous genetic changes, enabling it to infiltrate the body's cells differently. Consequently, the body finds it increasingly challenging to detect and neutralize this variant, allowing it to spread and infect others more rapidly.
While preliminary data suggests that existing vaccines offer some level of protection against JN1, this protection is not comprehensive. However, one advantage of mRNA vaccines is their ability to be swiftly updated to address new strains. Manufacturers are already working on adapting the vaccines to combat this specific variant.
A recent survey conducted in the UK identified several common symptoms among individuals infected with the JN.1 variant. These include a runny nose, cough, headache, weakness, fatigue, muscle pain, and sore throat. However, the loss of taste and smell, which was prevalent in previous variants, appears to be less common with JN.1. Interestingly, sleep problems and anxiety have been reported as new symptoms by roughly 10% of those infected with this variant.
Mutations are a natural result of genetic errors during the replication of the virus, leading to the emergence of new strains, some of which may possess advantageous characteristics. While most mutations ultimately lead to the extinction of new strains, certain variants demonstrate higher infectivity, immune system evasion, and rapid replication, which is why they gain attention. Given the high mutation rate of coronaviruses, it is likely that new strains will continue to emerge in the future. The most effective way to combat them will be through high vaccination rates within the population.
In response, the Health Ministry said, Like other countries worldwide, Israel has recently experienced a mild to moderate increase in COVID-19 cases. The ministry is continuing to closely monitor the situation, utilizing genetic sequencing and maintaining communication with other health authorities.
For now, the ministry has urged the public, particularly those at high risk, to receive the available COVID-19 vaccine, specifically tailored to address the current variants, as well as to get the flu vaccine.
Saturday, January 20th 2024 - 10:32 UTC Bolsonaro has always claimed never to have taken a Covid-19 vaccine
Brazilian authorities have determined that former President Jair Bolsonaro produced false certificates attesting to his vaccination against Covid-19 to enter the United States, it was reported this week.
The Office of the Comptroller General of the Union (CGU) found inconsistencies regarding the document's date and place of issuance, it was explained. However, the authors of the forgery have not been identified. The CGU, a Federal Government body in charge of protecting public assets, transparency, and combating corruption, said in a statement that the conclusion was that it was a fraud against the state anti-COVID-19 vaccination registration system.
The CGU also recommended closing the case for lack of minimum elements about the authorship of the facts, after finding that many officials and health personnel had access to the vaccination computer system and could modify data.
According to local media, Bolsonaro was allegedly given his shot in Sao Paulo at a time when his itinerary would show that he could have not been there because he had left the city the day before. Bolsonaro's vaccination registration, dated July 2021 in So Paulo, was not done through the official system of the federal health agency. Nor was there any evidence of the involvement of any federal public servant in the fraud. It was also established that the vaccine Bolsonaro allegedly received was not available in the area at the time of the entry while the nurse listed on his vaccination card claimed she did not work at the facility mentioned in the certificate. In addition, no worker at that healthcare center recalled seeing Bolsonaro there.
The CGU's investigation also determined that the records of two other doses of vaccine allegedly given to Bolsonaro were removed, which would prove that they were also fake.
Bolsonaro has always claimed he had never taken a Covid-19 vaccine and questioned the convenience of these drugs as well as that of social distancing measures. He even linked the shots's possible side effects with the development of AIDS.
The former rightwing ruler is also under investigation in the United States alongside other family members and advisors who would have entered the country on false papers.
Among those arrested by the Federal Police in May 2023 for this case is Bolsonaro's former aide Lieutenant Colonel Mauro Cid Barbosa, whose connection to the scheme was confirmed by the CGU. Months later he was released after a plea bargain.
The former Brazilian president testified before the Federal Police in Braslia last May in this case. His house was raided as part of the investigation. In that statement, Bolsonaro, 68, denied the accusations and said the current authorities were trying to fabricate a case against him.
Days before the end of his term, Bolsonaro traveled to Florida with his family to avoid participating in the handover ceremony with arch-rival Luiz Incio Lula da Silva, to whom he had lost the runoff in October 2022. He stayed there for three months before returning to his country.
This winter the U.S. is seeing a new spike in COVID-19 cases, and so doctors are urging people to get new vaccine booster shots for the dangerous respiratory virus which has killed almost 1.2 million Americans since the pandemic started four years ago.
Given Americans' COVID fatigue, though, raising booster participation has so far been a struggle. And it's an especially tough sell in the Latino community: health experts fear Latinos have suffered an inordinate share of those COVID cases and deaths in no small part because they've long had the countrys worst COVID vaccine and vaccine booster rate as low as 4%.
That's something Adelia Hernandez of Florida City knows all too well.
Its based on the stigma that's developed in the Latino community," says Hernandez, 22, who is the U.S.-born daughter of Mexican migrant workers.
"You hear people in the community saying all the time: Oh no, like, why are you getting that shot? You dont need that. Oh, thats very unsafe. Theres a lot of misinformation out there.
Hernandez says shes seen the frightening consequences of that misinformation about COVID vaccines up close since the pandemic began.
Ive had immediate family members hospitalized for months, and potentially leading to death," she says as her voice trails off and she fights back tears.
"I'm sorry, even to this day it affects us.
Fortunately none of Hernandezs relatives who were hospitalized for COVID died in the end. But the ordeal compelled her to advocate in the Latino community for COVID booster vaccines and she now coordinates a campaign called Vacnate, or Vaccinate Yourself, at the nonprofit Mexican-American Council in Homestead.
Vacnate is one of several partners of a recently launched national COVID booster effort called Y La Vacuna?, directed by the Latino nonprofit UnidosUS in Washington D.C. One of its core strategies is sending younger, more educated Latinos, like Hernandez, out to convince older, more vulnerable members of the community who often speak only Spanish to at least learn the facts about the vaccine if not take it.
We're not trying to shame them or use fear tactics," says Hernandez. "We just want to educate them. And if its coming from us, someone that they trust, this has a huge impact an important connection because especially for older Latinos, they're lacking sufficient, reliable Spanish-language sources of [COVID vaccine] information.
READ MORE: Los Posadas tradition returns to Homestead as a community rises from the pandemic
That information can range from the simple, such as where and how they can get the booster shots, to deeper questions like how the vaccine works and how to access insurance for them. In Miami-Dade County, Vacnate presents workshops and information tables at sites like the Redland Market in Homestead, one of the South Florida Latino community's most popular flea markets.
But a big part of the trust Hernandez describes stems from the fact that Latino households often have three or more generations living under the same roof. That means abuelos, or grandparents, often have that stronger connection to nietos, or grandchildren, and younger Latinos in general.
Many times, families here in South Florida that are Latino, the young person is the one making the translation, the ones explaining the ways of this country," says Eddie Garza, the Mexican American Council's executive director.
"They have incredible weight and influence.
Dr. Dadilia Garcs
Health experts say Latinos could have used more of that influence during the worst of the pandemic a few years ago. COVID hit the community disproportionately hard: Latinos represent 20% of the U.S. population but have accounted for more than 25% of the nation's COVID cases; worse, they've been four times more likely than white people to be hospitalized for the virus and twice as likely to die.
Doctors like Dadilia Garcs, an epidemiologist at Miami-Dade College's medical campus who works with the Vacnate project, point out one reason is that Latinos too often carry COVID risk factors.
We have issues like diabetes and hypertension, says Garcs, who was born in Colombia and raised in Venezuela.
"That makes it all the more urgent that Latinos get the COVID vaccine and boosters. I'm very concerned, because without a higher booster rate in our community, we are opening our own Pandora's Box health-wise."
Anti-vax myths
Garcs concedes the social obstacles are heavy. One is the fear that getting the shots could expose Latinos to scrutiny by immigration officials. There's also a self-sufficiency attitude at play that's common among immigrant communities and especially strong among Latinos, says Hernandez "a mindset that says, 'We've done everything else on our own, we can get through this ourselves, too."
Another, says Garcs, is mistrust of a health system where Latinos often dont see a lot of Latinos.
Especially the very south here in Miami," she says, "the people working in the hospitals are usually more Caucasians, and so then there is also a language barrier.
But Garcs feels the most onerous problem is disinformation about vaccines in Spanish-language media and social media.
Just last month, for example, conservative talk show host Marin de la Fuente, on the Actualididad Radio station in Miami, invited criticism when she said falsely that there are credible medical studies suggesting "a link between vaccines cause autism in children."
Just about every credible U.S. health expert calls that a total myth. But its the sort of rumor that pushes many Latinos into the anti-vax camp, raising their COVID risks.
It also doesn't help, say health experts, that as Florida's Latino become more politically conservative, they listen more to Republican leaders like Gov. Ron DeSantis and his controversial Surgeon General, Joe Ladapo, who've been strenuously and, critics insist, untruthfully discrediting COVID booster vaccines as unnecessary and unsafe in order to curry favor with MAGA voters.
Joanna Kuttorthara, who heads the COVID vaccine booster project Y la Vacuna? for UnidosUS, agrees the rampant disinformation has been one of the biggest challenges as the project conducts its mobile tours throughout the country.
"I mean, everything from, 'the vaccine puts a chip inside you so the government can monitor you' to 'it damages children's hearts' it's just a campaign of fear and mistrust that gets amplified especially loudly on Spanish-language social media platforms," says Kuttorthara, who grew up in Mexico City.
Kuttorthara says perhaps the most problematic misinformation coursing through those Spanish-language channels is that because the vaccine doesnt prevent people from getting the COVID virus, it therefore doesnt work which is also patently untrue.
What the vaccine does, of course, is prevent serious complications, or you getting so sick that you need to be hospitalized, or die," says Kutttorthara.
"So we partner with a lot of influencers to go on these social media platforms and correct a lot of the misinformation out there.
Federal health data suggest programs like Y la Vacuna? and Vacnate are raising the Latino COVID booster rate. Kuttorthara says the goal is to eventually get that number above 50%.
Back in Homestead, vaccine advocates say they hope the trend toward that goal continues so they can focus less on COVID and more on what the Latino community in South Dade is perhaps best known for: its renowned youth mariachi music conservatory, whose students will perform next on Jan. 28 at Pinecrest Gardens.
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Implementation of ventilation standards of at least five clean-air changes per hour, COVID-19 testing, the use of personal protective equipment (PPE), and universal wearing of respirators prevented most SARS-CoV-2 transmissions in a California healthcare system from 2020 to 2022, suggests a study published yesterday in Clinical Infectious Diseases.
For the study, University of California (UC) researchers used electronic health records and movement data of patients and staff to conduct viral genomic and social network analyses to estimate COVID-19 spread in the UCSan Diego Health system. The team analyzed 12,933 viral genomes from 35,666 infected patients and healthcare workers (HCWs) (out of 1,303,622 tests [2.7%]) from November 2020 to January 2022.
HCWs were required to wear N95 respirators, eye protection, gowns, and gloves while directly caring for COVID-19 patients and were asked to don KN95 or N95 respirators in all hospital areas, including nonpatient-care areas.
All unvaccinated HCWs underwent COVID-19 testing twice weekly, and vaccinated HCWs were tested weekly during periods of increased community transmission. Each HCW completed a daily COVID-19 symptom survey and were referred for testing if they reported a positive symptom or exposure.
Patients were tested at admission and on day 3 of hospitalization and were asked to mask while within 6 feet of another person, but the authors noted inconsistent compliance. Owing to a limited number of negative-pressure rooms, COVID-19 patients were not always placed in these rooms, and patients room doors were often kept open to enable direct observation.
Of the 5,112 SARS-CoV-2 viral samples sequenced from the second and third pandemic waves (pre-Omicron variant era), 291 patient or HCW interactions may have involved a healthcare exposure. Thirty-four of the 291 pairs (12%) were genetically linked, with 19 attributable to household transmission and 14 to healthcare spread.
In December 2021 and January 2022 (Omicron period), 1,376 HCWs tested positive for COVID-19, up over 800% from the previous 2 months. At the peak of this wave, as many as 257 HCWs tested positive each day. During this time, 2,106 contact pairs from 7,821 genetic sequences identified 120 (6%) related pairs among 32 clusters, of which 10 were likely healthcare-related.
Spread was more likely to occur in shared spaces in the older Hillcrest campus during the second and third waves amid Omicron than in the newer La Jolla campus, which has mainly single-occupancy patient rooms.
Of the remaining 20 pairs, 19 were linked to shared households, and the infections in two patients involved no meaningful contact within the healthcare system from their self-report of dates worked. The two interacted only with each other 24 hours before testing positive, suggesting previous community acquisition.
Spread was more likely to occur in shared spaces in the older Hillcrest campus (11 contact pairs [79%]) during the second and third waves and 18 pairs (75%) amid Omicron than in the newer La Jolla campus, which has mainly single-occupancy patient rooms (3 pairs [21%] and 5 pairs [21%], respectively; 2.5 vs 0.6 transmission events per 1,000 admissions).
Thirty-nine HCWs and patients were part of likely transmission events at Hillcrest, compared with 13 at La Jolla. The rate of transmissions per 1,000 admissions was 2.54 at Hillcrest, compared with 0.63 at La Jolla. Also, most patients who either acquired or spread the virus in the hospital were in a shared room during part of their stay (6 of 6 patients during the second and third waves of SARS-CoV-2; 4 of 6 amid Omicron).
The authors said that hospital infection-control measures were effective in stemming and helping identify cases of COVID-19 transmission.
"Even when hundreds of health care workers were becoming infected every week during the peak of the Omicron wave, we found that they were no more likely to acquire the virus in the hospital system," co-senior author Joel Wertheim, PhD, said in a UCSan Diego news release.
In fact, most transmission occurred outside of the healthcare setting, in the community, between households, or when universal masking was not followed. Viral transmission was more likely to occur in shared spaces, such as breakrooms or lobbies, according to the release.
"However, given that there are inevitable lapses in adherence to infection prevention protocols, healthcare facilities could further benefit by expanding mitigation measures, including enhancing ventilation and air exchanges in all spaces during a future respiratory virus pandemic and supporting single occupancy rooms," the authors concluded.
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Covid-19 vaccines have reduced deaths due to the pandemic by at least 57% and have saved more than 1.4 million lives in Europe, most of which were older patients, according to the World Health Organization (WHO).
The WHO/Europe study showed that mortality was reduced by 57% in those aged 7079 and by 54% in those aged 6069. Mortality was 52% lower in the 5059 age group. The over-80 age group benefited the most from vaccination, with a 62% reduction in mortality.
Among those aged 25 to 49, receiving a second vaccine dose resulted in a 48% reduction in mortality, though the uptake of vaccines for the second and third boosters was just 5% in this group.
WHO said that the Covid-19 death toll in the region, currently at 2.5 million, might be as high as 4 million without the vaccines and the first vaccine booster alone saved 700 000 lives.
Dr Hans Henri P. Kluge, WHO Regional Director for Europe, said: We have constantly stressed the importance of the Covid-19 vaccines, particularly for older people and the most vulnerable. This study documents the result of countries implementing that advice. The evidence is irrefutable.
Covid-19 vaccination saved most lives during the period when the Omicron variant was dominant, from December 2021 to April 2023. In terms of impact on mortality in the Region as a whole, Israel saw the biggest benefits for all age groups with a 75% reduction, followed by Malta and Iceland with a 72% and 71% reduction, respectively.
Broken down by age group, those aged 80 and older once again saw the most significant benefits from Covid-19 vaccination, with a reduction in mortality of 70% in Malta and 71% in the UK.
Countries that implemented early vaccination programmes covering large parts of the population such as Belgium, Denmark, Iceland, Ireland, Israel, Malta, the Netherlands and the United Kingdom saw the greatest benefit in terms of the number of lives saved overall through vaccination.
Dr Kluge added: Covid-19 hasnt gone away. We have merely learned to live with it. Much of society has acquired some level of immunity, either through vaccination, infection or both. Most of us are capable of assessing our own level of risk and our risk to others. And if we get sick with signs of Covid-19 or flu, most of us know its best to stay at home and away from others.
A Lancet study this week also found that rates of undervaccination against Covid-19 ranged from 328% to 498% across the four UK nations in summer, 2022 and this was associated with an elevated risk of severe Covid-19 outcomes.
The study found that between June and September 2022, the percentage of people not fully vaccinated against Covid was:
With about 40,000 severe hospital admissions related to Covid during that summer, the research estimates that more than 7,000 17% would have been avoided if everyone had taken up the offer of the vaccine and booster doses for which they were eligible.
A University of Alberta professor is co-leading a new international vaccine safety network to examine why some people who received a COVID-19 vaccine experienced very rare adverse events associated with the vaccine.
The International Network of Special Immunization Services (INSIS), based at the U of A, is a consortium of academic medical centres around the world coming together to study very rare adverse events after vaccination. An adverse reaction is considered very rare when it affects less than .001 per cent of the population.
The bar for safety with vaccines is very high because were giving them to healthy people to prevent them from getting sick, says U of A pediatric infectious disease professor Karina Top, who alongside Robert T. Chen, scientific director of the Brighton Collaboration a leading non-profit vaccine safety organization is co-leading INSIS. We dont want these events to occur, and we want to understand why, so we can prevent them in the future.
INSIS is receiving up to US$15.3 million over four years from the Coalition for Epidemic Preparedness Innovations (CEPI) to study why these very rare adverse events happen and who is most at risk. The network aims to help manufacturers develop new vaccines that will be even safer.
Vaccines have helped to eradicate deadly diseases such as smallpox, they save two to three million children a year and they even help to combat certain types of cancer such as cervical and throat cancers, which are caused by HPV. The impact of COVID-19 vaccines has been even more striking. In the first year of their rollout during the pandemic, vaccines saved 20 million lives.
Very rare adverse events associated with immunizations tend to be detected after vaccines are rolled out at a population level. Clinical trials typically include a relatively small number of participants, which may not fully represent the diverse population that will receive a vaccine after its approval. When the vaccine is rolled out to millions of people, a broader range of individuals with varying health conditions and genetic backgrounds may receive a vaccine. This increased sample size allows for detection of very rare adverse events that might occur.
The INSIS team will use cutting-edge techniques to measure the types of cells and molecules in human blood samples to identify how a vaccine may trigger an adverse event. The INSIS team will compile unprecedented amounts of data from around the world to compare information about people who experienced very rare adverse events and those who did not.
The ultimate goal of this project will be to enhance the safety assessment of vaccine candidates developed to combat emerging infectious threats before emergency authorization. This will be critical for achieving the 100 Days Mission, which aims to compress vaccine development against such pathogenic threats with pandemic potential to within just 100 days of their identification.
Compressing vaccine development against emerging pathogens down to 100 days will be critical to combatting future pandemic threats, explains Jakob Cramer, director of clinical development at CEPI. Data from INSIS will help to inform health authorities on the most appropriate type of vaccine that should be used in specific outbreak settings and populations. If we can identify risk factors and identify causal mechanisms for potential serious adverse events ahead of time, immunization campaigns can be adapted to mitigate such risks in those who are potentially vulnerable to harm, contributing to increased levels of public confidence in vaccines and enabling the development of even safer vaccines.
This global study brings together researchers from the University of Alberta, B.C. Childrens Hospital Research Institute and institutions in at least seven countries, including the Precision Vaccines Program at Boston Childrens Hospital, Mayo Clinics Vaccine Research Group, the Vanderbilt Vaccine Research Program at Vanderbilt University Medical Centre, Murdoch Childrens Research Institute in Australia, the Global Vaccine Data Network co-ordinated from New Zealand, Ospedale Pediatrico Bambino Ges in Italy, Global Healthcare Consulting co-ordinated from India, and the African Leadership in Vaccinology Expertise (Wits-ALIVE).
with files from Gillian Rutherford
More than half of Illinois counties are at an elevated level of COVID-19 hospitalizations, but overall respiratory illness appears to be in decline over the past week according to the Illinois Department of Public Health.
The Centers for Disease Control and Preventions latest update of its COVID Data Tracker indicates that as of the week ending January 13, Illinois is at the medium level for COVID-19 hospitalizations for a fourth straight week with a total of 1,393 hospitalizations reported during the week. A total of 54 counties were at an elevated level for COVID-19 hospitalizations with 50 of those at medium level (between 10 and 20 COVID-19 hospitalizations per 100,000 of population) compared with 57 counties the previous week. Four counties were at high level (more than 20 hospitalizations per 100,000) compared with seven the previous week.
Locally, Will, Grundy, DuPage, Cook, Lake, McHenry, Ogle and Lee counties are at medium risk. Only 24% of Illinois adults are up to date on their COVID-19 vaccination, according to the CDC.
IDPH has also confirmed this week that there was a third pediatric death from influenza, all with December onsets.
Although I am happy to report that Illinoiss overall respiratory illness activity is currently trending downward, respiratory viral season is still upon us with more than half of our counties still experiencing elevated levels of COVID-19 hospitalizations, IDPH Director Dr. Sameer Vohra said in a news release. If you develop respiratory symptoms, please contact your health care provider, and seek treatment as quickly as possible. We have effective treatments for COVID-19, the flu, and RSV. These treatments are especially important and can prevent severe disease for those with underlying medical conditions.
Every household in the U.S. is eligible to receive four free at-home tests through the COVID.gov website. IDPH has also made available a single-swab, triple-test for Flu/RSV and COVID-19, at no cost, to high-risk congregate care settings and local health departments.
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A Long Island midwife falsified vaccine records for some 1,500 school-aged children, according to New York States Department of Health, which on Wednesday announced that it had fined her $300,000.
The authorities said the scheme began at the start of the 2019-20 school year after a measles epidemic had led New York to end religious exemptions for immunizations. The new rules meant that about 26,000 children who had previously been exempted needed to get vaccinated to return to school that fall.
But instead of administering the required vaccines, the midwife, Jeanette Breen, of Baldwin, N.Y., gave thousands of homeopathic oral pellets to school-aged children and then falsified their immunization records, according to the authorities.
The oral pellets in question were marketed as an alternative to vaccination but were not authorized or approved by the federal government as a vaccine against any disease. Ms. Breen administered them as a substitute for vaccinations against hepatitis, diphtheria, polio, measles and other diseases, according to the authorities.
The children who received the pellets attend hundreds of different schools. The schools have been instructed to inform their parents that their children cannot return until they provide proof of vaccination, the authorities said.
While most of the children with falsified records were on Long Island, many were from New York City, and some were from other parts of the state, including Erie County.
Misrepresenting or falsifying vaccine records puts lives in jeopardy and undermines the system that exists to protect public health, the state health commissioner, Dr. James McDonald, said.
It was not immediately known if the scheme resulted in any illness or the spread of disease.
The authorities said that it appeared that many of the parents knew their children were not being vaccinated. The scheme suggests that the persons in parental relation to the affected children sought out and paid Breen related to their childrens immunizations, a spokeswoman for the Health Department, Erin Clary, wrote in an email.
The Health Department said that Ms. Breen had already paid $150,000 of the $300,000 penalty, and that the remainder of the fine would be suspended if she abided by certain terms, including a prohibition on administering vaccines or participating in any schemes to misrepresent vaccination records.
Ms. Breen did not respond to messages requesting comment.
In a 2019 deposition, she said she had been running a midwifery practice in Baldwin for about 30 years and had graduated from Columbia Universitys School of Nursing in 1984 with a masters degree.
The deposition involved a case regarding whether a pregnant employee at a hospital should receive an exemption from a mandatory flu shot policy. The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention recommends that pregnant women receive flu shots, but Ms. Breen expressed skepticism about their safety and benefits for pregnant women.
Well, a doctor doesnt always know best, she said.
