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Actor Melle Stewart says she is "grieving" her previous life after being struck by a near 'one-in-a-million' vaccination side effect which has left her with a brain injury.
The 43-year-old suffered a stroke after suffering blood clotting following an AstraZeneca COVID-19 jab.
Stewart, who is preparing to sue the vaccine maker in the UK, needed life saving surgery to remove part of her skull, spent weeks in a coma and had to learn to walk and talk again.
While Stewart remains pro-vaccination and continues to plan to have booster jabs, she wants compensation for her horror ordeal.
READ MORE: Two new COVID-19 vaccines approved for use in Australia
Her successful acting career, which saw her star in hit shows including Mamma Mia, is shattered.
She has ongoing speech and mobility problems and is unable to work, let alone return to the stage.
"I'm grieving for the theatre and won't dance again," she told 9news.com.au.
"I'm not acting anymore and I'm grieving all of that and I have to accept that."
Stewart admits she sometimes ponders the question, "why me?" amid the extremely rare chance of the side effect.
But she tries to stay positive with the help of actor husband Ben Lewis, 44.
"I'm an optimist. Going forward is the only way," she said.
Lewis admits they struggle to come to terms with what has happened.
"The way we try to rationalise is good, beautiful people get stick every single day with all kinds of horrible diseases though no fault of their own," Lewis said.
"While this is not that it helps to rationalise it a bit."
As reported by 9News.com.au, the couple had been living in London for ten years where they'd both starred in many shows, with Lewis best known for playing the Phantom in Phantom of the Opera.
Stewart had just appeared in musical Kiss Me Kate in Belfast.
Because of the impact of lockdowns on theatre, she was working as a drama teacher when she had the stroke in June 2021.
Amid the UK vaccine rollout, Stewart had the AstraZeneca vaccine.
At age 40 she was six months into the nation's threshold age for that jab.
A month earlier the Joint Committee on Vaccination and Immunisation in the UK advised adults under 40 be offered an alternative "following reports of extremely rare blood clots in a very small number of people".
She proudly took a photo afterwards showing a sticker which said she'd been vaccinated.
But two weeks later Stewart said she woke up and felt "peculiar."
She had what felt like a 'dead' arm and wasn't able to put any weight on her right leg.
The couple rushed to hospital where Stewart deteriorated and lost her ability to speak and move her right side.
Doctors later confirmed she had the rare but serious Vaccine-Induced Thrombocytopenic Thrombosis (VITT) - blood clotting - which had caused a stroke.
Surgeons operated to save her life by removing part of her skull, which was later replaced with a metal plate.
Stewart survived but was in an induced coma for weeks.
READ MORE: 'First thing I'd do when I woke up': Hard-hitting campaign targets vaping in young people
She recalls learning what had happened once she woke up.
"I was in shock," she said.
"I was fit, heathy, I had low blood pressure, I was not a smoker, I occasionally drank alcohol."
Stewart spent nearly nine months in hospital.
Celebs backed a fundraiser for her which gathered $250,000.
The couple has now returned to Brisbane to be closer to family, including Mel's parents and her six siblings.
Stewart is dedicated to her rehabilitation, with husband Lewis remaining by her side through it all.
She has brain injury-related speech disorders called aphasia and apraxia.
It's something she finds "frustrating beyond belief".
"My intelligence is fine, my memory is fine, but getting the words out is a struggle," she said.
READ MORE: Call for trial funding for cancer dubbed a 'death sentence'
It's a big change for an actress who used to be so good at reading she professionally recorded audiobooks.
"The amount of time it used to take Mel to read a chapter takes Mel to read a page," Lewis said.
Remarkably while she might find speaking tough, singing is easier because that part of her brain wasn't damaged by the stroke.
Stewart also needs to wear a special boot on her right foot to help her walk.
She has also had to learn to write with her left hand.
READ MORE: Fresh hope over discontinued painkiller
Stewart said one of her goals is to volunteer to help young stroke victims like her.
She hopes to return to working in some way and also wants to be able to drive again - although isn't sure if her brain injury will allow it.
The couple hopes she can get involved in theatre again too, though admit that currently, even a trip to see a show at Brisbane's QPAC is difficult for her to deal with because of what she's lost.
"It's been Mel's life since she was tiny and it'll play a part moving forward, we're just not sure what it will be," Lewis said.
The couple has also become involved with the Australian Aphasia Association, with Stewart giving a speech at a recent fundraiser which took months of preparation.
Stewart is part of a class action against the vaccine maker AstraZeneca in the UK.
The couple say they remain pro-vaccination - even booking booster jabs next week.
But with her future health uncertain, they are battling for compensation from the drugs company.
READ MORE: Mask-wearing encouraged once again as COVID-19 cases rise
"No money will compensate for what Mel has lost," Lewis said.
"Someone just has to be held accountable."
He has also been unable to work since his wife's stroke.
The UK government has paid them $220,000 as part of a compensation scheme.
AstraZeneca was initially used in Australia for older people, with the medical guidelines on the age range changing throughout the pandemic.
The blood clotting risk was found to be higher in younger people.
The TGA said from just under 14 million vaccine doses of Vaxzevria, as the jab was renamed, administered in Australia, there were 173 TTS cases.
"The risk of dying from TTS after vaccination (first dose) was about one in a million," a spokesman told 9news.com.au.
"TTS occurred in about two out of every 100,000 people after a first dose and about 0.3 out of every 100,000 people after a second dose."
Of the 173 cases of confirmed or probable TTS, eight people died in Australia.
AstraZeneca did not respond for requests to comment.
The couple is part of a group fundraiser for the court case on the Crowd Justice UK website.
You can find the latest information about COVID-19 vaccines and recommendations for Australians here.
With holiday season underway, you may be realizing that you forgot to get your COVID-19 and flu vaccines, and now you'll be sitting across the table from your elderly relatives.The good news is that it's not too late to get your shots, but what about knocking them both out at the same time? The U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention says this is an option, but should you?A recent study of Medicare claims data found a slightly increased but still very rare risk of stroke for seniors who get a high-dose influenza vaccine and COVID-19 shot at the same time. The risk was about 3 strokes for every 100,000 doses of Pfizer's bivalent COVID vaccine and about 3 transient ischemic attacks for every 100,000 doses of Moderna's bivalent COVID vaccine. Other studies have not found the same risk, leading the CDC and U.S. Food and Drug Administration to say there's no change to their vaccine recommendations at this time. COVID-19 vaccines were updated this year to target one strain of the coronavirus rather than two.Beyond that, getting both shots at the same time does seem to make it a bit more likely that you'll experience a temporary reaction to the shots; the most common symptoms reported in a government study were fatigue, headache and muscle pain.CDC Director Dr. Mandy Cohen told CNN that the most important thing is for people to get their vaccines at all and that early in respiratory virus season is a good time to do it."It definitely is OK for you to get multiple vaccines on the same day," Cohen said. "I would talk to your doctor or nurse practitioner about what's right for you."Does co-administration affect protection?But what about effectiveness? Does getting both shots together affect how well they work?Here's where there might be an upside.A small study presented at the recent Vaccines 2023 conference in Boston found that health care workers who got flu and bivalent COVID-19 shots on the same day had higher antibody responses right after they got them, as well as six months later, compared with people who got their shots on different days.Susanna Barouch, a high school student in Cambridge, Massachusetts, who led the research, said she thinks that giving the shots at the same time may prod the immune system to react more strongly to shots. "The flu vaccine might have been an adjuvant for the COVID vaccine," she said.But this hasn't been the only study to look at the question, and perplexingly, other studies have come to the opposite conclusion or found essentially no difference between giving the vaccines together or one at a time.This is one of the first studies to find that co-administration increases antibody levels, and Barouch says its findings need to be replicated before they're accepted as fact."Definitely, I would say this is far from settled," said Stephen Moss, a researcher at the University of Michigan.Moss led a recent study that compared neutralizing antibody responses of 53 Israeli health care workers who received their bivalent COVID-19 vaccines separately or with a flu shot.Blood samples from these health care workers were equally able to prevent COVID-19 and flu viruses from infecting cells, whether they got their vaccines together or separately.A study from the Netherlands, published in June, found that antibodies after co-administration showed significantly lower neutralization capacity compared with a reference group that got their vaccines separately.Moss said most studies of co-administration have found either "a slight increase, a slight decrease or no change whatsoever," in antibody levels, he said.What that means, he says, is that from a broader public health perspective, it's probably a good idea to recommend that people get both at the same time."It cuts down on doctor's visits. It cuts down on the number of encounters with the health care system you have to have. It also cuts down on the number of days you feel like crap after the vaccine. So you only have to go through that once rather than twice," Moss said.Real-world outcomesReassuringly, a large recent study by researchers at Pfizer, which looked at the health outcomes in people who got their flu and COVID-19 vaccines together or separately, found little difference between these groups.The study found that rates of hospitalizations, emergency room visits and doctor's visits were similar between both groups. Overall, the group that got both shots at the same time was slightly more likely to visit the doctor or emergency room for COVID-19 but less likely to need medical care for the flu, suggesting that getting both shots together improved immune protection against influenza infections.So how you get your vaccines comes down largely to personal preference, but Dr. William Schaffner, an infectious disease expert at Vanderbilt University, says that getting them together makes a lot of sense, especially this far into the season."I would just remind everyone that a vaccine deferred is often a vaccine never received, because you have to make another effort to go in," he said.
With holiday season underway, you may be realizing that you forgot to get your COVID-19 and flu vaccines, and now you'll be sitting across the table from your elderly relatives.
The good news is that it's not too late to get your shots, but what about knocking them both out at the same time? The U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention says this is an option, but should you?
A recent study of Medicare claims data found a slightly increased but still very rare risk of stroke for seniors who get a high-dose influenza vaccine and COVID-19 shot at the same time. The risk was about 3 strokes for every 100,000 doses of Pfizer's bivalent COVID vaccine and about 3 transient ischemic attacks for every 100,000 doses of Moderna's bivalent COVID vaccine. Other studies have not found the same risk, leading the CDC and U.S. Food and Drug Administration to say there's no change to their vaccine recommendations at this time. COVID-19 vaccines were updated this year to target one strain of the coronavirus rather than two.
Beyond that, getting both shots at the same time does seem to make it a bit more likely that you'll experience a temporary reaction to the shots; the most common symptoms reported in a government study were fatigue, headache and muscle pain.
CDC Director Dr. Mandy Cohen told CNN that the most important thing is for people to get their vaccines at all and that early in respiratory virus season is a good time to do it.
"It definitely is OK for you to get multiple vaccines on the same day," Cohen said. "I would talk to your doctor or nurse practitioner about what's right for you."
But what about effectiveness? Does getting both shots together affect how well they work?
Here's where there might be an upside.
A small study presented at the recent Vaccines 2023 conference in Boston found that health care workers who got flu and bivalent COVID-19 shots on the same day had higher antibody responses right after they got them, as well as six months later, compared with people who got their shots on different days.
Susanna Barouch, a high school student in Cambridge, Massachusetts, who led the research, said she thinks that giving the shots at the same time may prod the immune system to react more strongly to shots. "The flu vaccine might have been an adjuvant for the COVID vaccine," she said.
But this hasn't been the only study to look at the question, and perplexingly, other studies have come to the opposite conclusion or found essentially no difference between giving the vaccines together or one at a time.
This is one of the first studies to find that co-administration increases antibody levels, and Barouch says its findings need to be replicated before they're accepted as fact.
"Definitely, I would say this is far from settled," said Stephen Moss, a researcher at the University of Michigan.
Moss led a recent study that compared neutralizing antibody responses of 53 Israeli health care workers who received their bivalent COVID-19 vaccines separately or with a flu shot.
Blood samples from these health care workers were equally able to prevent COVID-19 and flu viruses from infecting cells, whether they got their vaccines together or separately.
A study from the Netherlands, published in June, found that antibodies after co-administration showed significantly lower neutralization capacity compared with a reference group that got their vaccines separately.
Moss said most studies of co-administration have found either "a slight increase, a slight decrease or no change whatsoever," in antibody levels, he said.
What that means, he says, is that from a broader public health perspective, it's probably a good idea to recommend that people get both at the same time.
"It cuts down on doctor's visits. It cuts down on the number of encounters with the health care system you have to have. It also cuts down on the number of days you feel like crap after the vaccine. So you only have to go through that once rather than twice," Moss said.
Reassuringly, a large recent study by researchers at Pfizer, which looked at the health outcomes in people who got their flu and COVID-19 vaccines together or separately, found little difference between these groups.
The study found that rates of hospitalizations, emergency room visits and doctor's visits were similar between both groups. Overall, the group that got both shots at the same time was slightly more likely to visit the doctor or emergency room for COVID-19 but less likely to need medical care for the flu, suggesting that getting both shots together improved immune protection against influenza infections.
So how you get your vaccines comes down largely to personal preference, but Dr. William Schaffner, an infectious disease expert at Vanderbilt University, says that getting them together makes a lot of sense, especially this far into the season.
"I would just remind everyone that a vaccine deferred is often a vaccine never received, because you have to make another effort to go in," he said.
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November 21, 2023
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SAN DIEGO A fourth COVID-19 mRNA vaccine dose reduces the risk for severe infection by 65% in patients with systemic autoimmune rheumatic disease using immunomodulators, according to data presented at ACR Convergence 2023.
It is well known that patients with systemic autoimmune rheumatic diseases using [disease-modifying antirheumatic drugs (DMARDs)] do not respond as robustly to vaccination, including COVID-19 vaccination, as patients who are not using immunomodulators, Jennifer Hanberg, MD, of Massachusetts General Hospital, told Healio. Despite this, there is evidence that the primary COVID-19 vaccine series defined as three doses does reduce adverse outcomes and infection rates in patients using DMARDs.
However, less is known about uptake, and the utility, of a fourth COVID-19 vaccine dose, she added.
COVID-19 vaccination recommendations have evolved quickly over the last few years, and the CDC recommended a fourth dose for immunocompromised patients in the fall of 2021, Hanberg said. Prior to our study, there had been relatively little formal investigation into the effectiveness of this fourth dose among patients with systemic autoimmune and rheumatic diseases using DMARDs.
To examine the effectiveness of a fourth COVID-19 vaccine dose in patients with systemic autoimmune rheumatic diseases who are using immunomodulators, Hanberg and colleagues conducted an emulated target trial in a large U.S. health care system. All 4,010 participants had been diagnosed with a systemic autoimmune rheumatic disease and were using immunomodulating drugs. Among these patients, 2,994 received a fourth COVID-19 vaccine dose either BNT162b2 or mRNA-1273 between Jan. 16, 2022, and June 11, 2022. Meanwhile, 1,014 patients who were eligible for a fourth dose, but did not receive it, were assessed as comparators.
The primary outcome was COVID-19 infection. Follow-up was conducted through COVID-19 infection; bivalent vaccine availability, on Sept. 9, 2022; deviation from the assigned arm, such as receiving a fifth dose for those in the study arm, or a fourth dose for comparators; or non-COVID death. The researchers used logistic regression to calculate the propensity score (PS) for receiving the fourth dose on a weekly basis. In addition, they performed time-stratified, overlap PS-weighted Cox regressions to assess the association between a fourth dose and the risk each outcome.
According to the researchers, the incidence of COVID-19 infection in the fourth-dose group was 14.8 cases per 1,000 person-months, compared with 23.7 per 1,000 person-months among comparators. This resulted in a rate difference between the two cohorts of 8.85 (95% CI, -13.37 to -4.33), and an HR of 0.59 (95% CI, 0.47-0.74) per 1000 person-months favoring the vaccination group. Individuals in the fourth dose group also were less likely to experience hospitalization or death due to COVID-19 within 14 days of infection 0.36 vs. 0.93 events per 1,000 person-months (HR = 0.35; 95% CI, 0.14-0.85).
We found a significant protective effect from the fourth vaccine dose among patients with systemic autoimmune and rheumatic diseases using DMARDs, Hanberg said. The fourth vaccine dose was also associated with a decreased risk of severe COVID-19, defined as hospitalization or death within 2 weeks of a SARS-CoV-2 infection.
It will be necessary to understand the effect of additional doses, including the bivalent vaccine and the XBB.1.5 vaccines that were deployed this fall, she added. There are also subgroups of patients using particular DMARDs, including B-cell depleting therapies such as rituximab [Rituxan, Genentech], in whom the effectiveness of these doses needs to be further investigated.
According to Hanberg, the reality of vaccine hesitancy and related conversations between patient and provider should be considered by every rheumatologist.
Our data may be informative in these conversations, she said. Our findings support the recommendation that patients with systemic rheumatic disease should stay current with their COVID-19 vaccination series.
Ongoing COVID-19 vigilance from rheumatologists is critical in the next stages of the pandemic, Hanberg said.
Even in the current wave of the pandemic, where severe COVID-19 is relatively rare, our patients remain vulnerable to adverse outcomes from this virus, she said. Our study provides evidence that, beyond the primary thee-dose series, a fourth dose of mRNA vaccine reduces the risk for SARS-CoV-2 infection and severe COVID-19 disease in patients using DMARDs. Although the public health emergency has been declared over, as providers we are still responsible for making sound recommendations for preventive care relating to the immunosuppression we prescribe, and we should continue to recommend an up-to-date vaccination series for immunosuppressed patients.
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Hanberg J. Abstract 2564. Presented at: ACR Convergence 2023; Nov. 10-15, 2023; San Diego.
Disclosures: Hanberg reports no relevant financial disclosures.
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SciCheck Digest
A recent federal report shows a 3% increase in the U.S. infant mortality rate between 2021 and 2022, which is the first statistically significant rise in 20 years. The cause of the uptick is unknown, but theres no evidence that its due to COVID-19 vaccination, as some social media posts baselessly suggest.
Arecentreportfrom the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention showed that in 2022, 5.6 infants out of every 1,000 live births died before they turned 1 in the U.S., a 3% increase over 2021. This returns the infant mortality rate, which has steadily fallen over the decades, to the 2019 level.
The data in the report, which compared birth and death records collected through the National Vital Statistics System, are provisional. The last time the infant mortality rate had a statistically significant year-to-year increase was from 2001 to 2002, when it also rose by 3%.
Therise in 2022 was drivenby significant increases in mortality for several categories measured in the report in infants born to women ages 25 to 29; in infants born in four states (Georgia, Iowa, Missouri and Texas); in infants of American Indian and Alaska Native and white women; in infants born preterm; and in male babies. Mortality rates also increased in cases of maternal complications and bacterial sepsis, two of the 10 leading causes of infant death.
But Danielle Ely, a co-author of the study and a health statistician at the CDCs National Center for Health Statistics, told us that other than the increase in infant mortality itself, the data didnt show any specific trends or narratives to note at this point.
This could potentially be a single year increase and in 2023 the rate could remain at this level or decline, however the rate could also increase again in 2023. We will not know for sure until we have complete provisional data for 2023, she said in an email.
But some social media users took advantage of the uncertainty to push their own narratives.
So the CDC is reporting the largest increase in infant mortality in the past 20 years. And apparently experts are baffled. Youre baffled? Really? Gosh its so weird that experts are baffled but those of us who have been non-compliant for the past three years know exactly why this has happened, a woman suggestively said in a popular Nov. 8 Instagram post.
Anotherviral postpublished on Facebook the same day shows a collage of CNN headlines with boxes and lines linking encouraging news about COVID-19 vaccination in pregnant women to a last headline about the rise in infant mortality. I wonder when well see the actual data in its totality, the caption reads.
There is no evidence that the infant mortality increase is caused by COVID-19 vaccination, as the social media posts imply.
As werecently explained, multiple studies show COVID-19 vaccines are safe and beneficial for pregnant people and their newborns. According to the CDC, people who are pregnant are more susceptible to severe COVID-19, which can harm the mother and the baby. Infection with the coronavirus during pregnancy can also increase the risk of stillbirth. Vaccination during pregnancy can also protect babies from COVID-19 after birth, thanks to protective antibodies that are passed through the placenta.
There is no indication that breast milk after vaccination is unsafe either, asweve reported.
We have extensive evidence that COVID-19 vaccination in pregnancy does not increase the risk that babies will die and may even decrease it,Victoria Male, a lecturer in reproductive immunology at Imperial College London, told us in an email.
According to anonline explainercreated and updated by Male,39 studies, across 10 countries, have tracked the safety of COVID-19 vaccination during pregnancy.Twosystematicreviews and meta-analyses that include many of those studies found COVID vaccination reduces the risk of stillbirth and babies needing intensive care, presumably because these can occur as a result of COVID infection, she wrote.
Eight of the 39 studies, which followed infants from birth to up to 1 year, found babies in the vaccinated groups didnt show an increased risk for serious illness or death,Male addedin the explainer.
Of these, seven found no effect of COVID-19 vaccination in pregnancy on infant deaths, she told us, andonefound COVID-19 vaccination in pregnancy associated with a reduced risk of babies dying in their first 28 days of life.
According to theCDC, COVID-19vaccination is safefor people who are pregnant and does not increase the risk for pregnancy complications including miscarriage, preterm delivery, birth defects and stillbirth, aswevereported. For older babies who get them, COVID-19 vaccines may cause some temporary side effects, such as irritability and crying, injection site pain, sleepiness, fever, and loss of appetite, but serious adverse events are rare. Vaccination is recommended for babies beginning at 6 months old.
Extensive data on the safety of COVID-19 vaccination to pregnant women and their infants has shown no evidence of increased infant death after COVID-19 vaccination, a spokesperson for the CDC told us in an email.
In 2021, when vaccines started being widely administered, the infant mortality ratewas practically the sameas 2020. A separateCDC reportpublished in November shows that the fetal mortality, or stillborn, rate declined 5% from 2021 to 2022 in the U.S.
The data do not point to a clear cause or causes for the one-year rise in infant mortality. But, experts told us, COVID-19 might partly explain the increase.
Over time, weve learned thatgetting COVID-19 during pregnancyraises the chances of problems for both the pregnant person and the baby. This includes a higher risk of having a baby too early or having a stillborn baby, a CDC spokesperson told us.
Male told us data in the U.K. showed an increase in deaths of babies under 28 days old in 2021.
4.8% of these deaths were in babies whose mothers were infected with COVID at the time they gave birth, although its important to be clear that the data does not tell us whether COVID was a cause of death in these babies, she told us.
Experts speculate the pandemic may also have impacted infant mortality in other ways. Dr.Patricia Gabbe, a clinical professor of pediatrics at the Ohio State University Wexner Medical Center,told NBCthat pregnancy outcomes could have been affected by reduced access to proper prenatal care during the pandemic.
The increase in pediatric RSV and flu infections seen after pandemic precautions eased could potentially account for some of it, too,Dr. Eric C. Eichenwald, chief of the neonatology division at the Childrens Hospital of Philadelphia, toldthe Associated Press.
The highest infant mortality rates continue to exist among infants of Black, American Indian and Alaska Native, and Native Hawaiian or other Pacific Islander people, according to the latest report.
We do know that families in poverty face many challenges including access to nutritious food and affordable healthcare,Dr. Sandy L. Chung, president of the American Academy of Pediatrics, said in astatementabout the CDCs report. Racial and ethnic disparities related to accessible healthcare including prenatal health services are just one of the many possible reasons for lower birth weights of babies and sometimes, infant deaths.
Editors note: SciChecks articles providing accurate health information and correcting health misinformation are made possible by a grant from the Robert Wood Johnson Foundation. The foundation has no control over FactCheck.orgs editorial decisions, and the views expressed in our articles do not necessarily reflect the views of the foundation.
Hagen, Christy. Infant Mortality Rate Sees First Rise in 20 Years. NCHS blog. 1 Nov 2023.
Ely, Danielle M., and Anne K. Driscoll. Infant Mortality in the United States: Provisional Data From the 2022 Period Linked Birth/Infant Death File. Vital Statistics Rapid Release. 1 Nov 2023.
Ely, Danielle M. Health statistician at the National Center for Health Statistics. Email to FactCheck.org. 13 Nov 2023.
Yandell, Kate. COVID-19 Vaccination During Pregnancy Is Safe, Has Multiple Benefits. FactCheck.org. 16 Nov 2023.
McDonald, Jessica, and Catalina Jaramillo. No Indication Breast Milk After Vaccination Unsafe, Despite Posts About New Study. FactCheck.org. Updated 25 Sep 2023.
McDonald, Jessica. A Guide to COVID-19 Vaccines for the Youngest Kids. FactCheck.org. Updated 22 Sep 2023.
Goddard, Kristin, et al. Safety of COVID-19 mRNA Vaccination Among Young Children in the Vaccine Safety Datalink. Pediatrics. 6 Jun 2023.
Hause, Anne M., et al. Safety Monitoring of mRNA COVID-19 Vaccine Third Doses Among Children Aged 6 Months5 Years United States, June 17, 2022May 7, 2023. MMWR. 9 Jun 2023.
Hause, Anne M., et al.COVID-19 mRNA Vaccine Safety Among Children Aged 6 Months5 Years United States, June 18, 2022August 21, 2022. MMWR. 2 Sep 2022.
COVID-19 Vaccines While Pregnant or Breastfeeding. CDC. Updated 3 Nov 2023.
Male, Victoria. Lecturer in reproductive immunology at Imperial College London. Email to FactCheck.org. 13 Nov 2023.
Male, Victoria. Explainer on COVID vaccination, fertility, pregnancy and breastfeeding. Updated 15 Nov 2023.
Fleming-Dutra, Katherine E., et al. Safety and Effectiveness of Maternal COVID-19 Vaccines Among Pregnant People and Infants. Obstetrics and Gynecology Clinics of North America. Jun 2023.
McDonald, Jessica. COVID-19 Vaccines Reduce, Not Increase, Risk of Stillbirth. FactCheck.org. 9 Nov 2022.
McDonald, Jessica. COVID-19 Vaccination Doesnt Increase Miscarriage Risk, Contrary to Naomi Wolfs Spurious Stat. FactCheck.org. 24 Aug 2022.
Ely, Danielle M., and Anne K. Driscoll. Infant Mortality in the United States: Provisional DataInfant Mortality in the United States, 2021: Data From the Period Linked Birth/Infant Death File. Vital Statistics Rapid Release. 12 Sep 2023.
Gregory, Elizabeth C.W., et al. Fetal Mortality in the United States: Final 20202021 and2021Provisional 2022. Vital Statistics Rapid Release. Nov 2023.
Male, Victoria. SARS-CoV-2 infection and COVID-19 vaccination in pregnancy. Nature Reviews Immunology. 18 Mar 2022.
Jorgensen, Sarah C.J, et al. Newborn and Early Infant Outcomes Following Maternal COVID-19 Vaccination During Pregnancy. JAMA Pediatrics. 23 Oct 2023.
George, Lisa. Press officer for the CDC. Email sent to FactCheck.org. 15 Nov 2023.
Bendix, Aria. Infant mortality rose in 2022 for the first time in two decades. NBC News. 1 Nov 2023.
Stobbe, Mike. The US infant mortality rate rose last year. The CDC says its the largest increase in two decades. Associated Press. 1 Nov 2023.
Schering, Steve. CDC: Infant mortality rate rises 3% from 2021-22, first year-to-year increase in 20 years. AAP News.accessed 20 Nov 2023.
Public Health Scotland (PHS) continues to urge those eligible to take up the offer of their flu and COVID-19 vaccines as soon as possible to ensure theyre protected ahead of the festive season.
This years winter vaccination programme is focused on protecting those most vulnerable to flu and COVID-19.
Last festive season, hospital admissions for flu peaked on Christmas Day and for COVID-19 on New Years Day.
During the colder winter months when people stay indoors for longer, and in larger groups, there is an increase in the number of people experiencing coughs, colds and flu or COVID-19-like illnesses.
Latest vaccination uptake figures show that many of those eligible are yet to take up the offer of their vaccines, and are encouraged to check local arrangements and find the nearest drop-in vaccination centre or book online.
With increased appointment availability across Scotland and most local Health Boards now running drop-in clinics, those eligible are encouraged to take up the offer of their COVID-19 and flu vaccines before the festive celebrations begin.
You can check if youre eligible for the flu and COVID-19 vaccines, book an appointment or check out drop-in clinics at www.nhsinform/scot/wintervaccines
Vaccination remains the best way to protect yourself against flu and COVID-19 and we strongly encourage eligible people to take up the vaccination offer now, to help avoid missing out on socialising with friends and family over the peak winter season.
Dr Nick Phin, Director of Public Health Science, PHS said:
"Evidence shows that COVID-19 vaccine protection fades and the flu virus changes over time. The vaccinations offered this season top up your protection against severe illness from COVID-19 and flu.
"Those that have not yet received their vaccinations are encouraged to come forward and make an appointment or check local arrangements. There are a range of vaccination sites available in each Health Board, with many now offering drop-ins too."
Chief Medical Officer, Professor Gregor Smith, said:
The festive period is a time that many look forward to spending with family and friends, rather than being ill or in hospital. Getting vaccinated is the best way to protect yourselfagainst winter viruses such as flu and COVID-19.
Both flu and COVID-19 can be serious. The flu virus is always changing and protection from the COVID-19 vaccine fades over time, so its important that those eligible keep their protection levels topped up by getting their vaccines now. You can check whether a drop-in clinic is running nearby or book an appointment online by visiting NHS Inform. If you're not online you can also call the national vaccination helpline on 0800 030 8013.
Taking up all vaccinations offered throughout life is the most important thing we can do to protect ourselves and our children.
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In March this year, Eswatini launched the integration of COVID-19 vaccines into routine immunisation, making them readily available at the more than 200 public clinics in the tiny kingdom.
The goal was simple: make access to the jab a cakewalk for all citizens.
Seven months later, Swati people both urban and rural tell VaccinesWork that getting the jab has never been easier.
Mankayane, located in the north-eastern part of Eswatini, 42 kilometres from the country's capital city, Mbabane, is a small, rural town in the midst of an agricultural region. It's the kind of out-of-the-way place where one might expect public services to be thinner on the ground but COVID-19 vaccination is so easy to access, according to 32-year-old Bongiwe Dlamini, that you can literally stumble onto it.
Dlamini, who lives a few kilometres away from the Mankayane Government Hospital, says it took her less than 20 minutes to get vaccinated at the Public Health Unit housed inside the facility.
She had not planned to get vaccinated for COVID-19, she explains. Her sister was delivering a baby, and she had simply accompanied her to the hospital.
"While the doctors were busy with her, I got bored and I took a walk to the gate," she says. "As I walked past the gate to buy fruits, I noticed the many screening rooms by the gate and the PHU [public health unit] on the right side of the facility. I was noticed by a staff member reading the COVID-19 vaccine posters that were all over the screening rooms. She asked me if I was interested in any of the COVID-19 services.
"She then told me that I can further protect myself from effects of the virus by getting vaccinated. I laughed my lungs out when she said I will be done in less than 10 minutes. She simply walked me into the PHU where I was taken to one of the rooms, where I found a nurse who vaccinated me and I was done," she says.
Dlamini said she was inoculated with the Pfizer vaccine. "The cherry on top was that just after I was vaccinated, I received an SMS [text] that notified me that I was vaccinated, and gave me a return date," she says. Eswatini administers the Pfizer and AstraZeneca COVID-19 vaccines.
Nurse Tetty Dlamini of the Mankayane PHU said her team also does outreach to nearby communities, to make sure that disadvantaged people for instance, those who suffer mobility challenges aren't left out.
"Our vaccination for COVID-19 does not start and end in the facility; we also visit nearby communities. We reach our communities through conducting health road shows (mobile units designed to deliver health services) where we sensitise the community members about health issues including coronavirus, HIV and TB, among others. During health road shows and sporting activities we also conduct COVID-19 vaccination. These health road shows have made it easy for us to vaccinate the youth as well as people with disabilities," she said.
Tetty said they also liaise with bagcugcuteli (primary health motivators) to give them a list of people with mobility challenges around those particular areas where they will be conducting the road shows and sporting days.
"As part of the team is busy with the health education and providing health services, other teams, through the help of bagcugcuteli, visit the homesteads of these individuals and vaccinate them against the virus," she said.
"We also visit schools around the communities to vaccinate scholars that are eligible to get vaccinated," she added.
Each week in Mankayane, about 20 people are vaccinated in the hospital, while more than 50 people are vaccinated via outreach programmes, Nurse Dlamini explains. A further 70 booster shots are administered each week.
Even facilities not run by the government offer the jab as a public service. The Salvation Army Clinic in Mbabane, Msunduza is among them. The clinic's nursing sister, Nompumelelo Tfwala, also stated that they still offer COVID-19, together with TB screening, for all people who visit the facility.
"We are known for our outstanding health services and in order to keep our reputation it was imperative for us to heed the government call and incorporate COVID-19 vaccines in our immunisation programme," she said.
Tfwala mentioned that all vaccines including COVID-19 jabs are free here. She explained that vaccines were provided by the government, alongside COVID-19 testing kits.
"Government provides the vaccines, and we provide the resources such as human resources and storage," she says.
"We are not a huge health facility, but on a daily basis we attend to almost 100 clients, being children and adults. This means we conduct around COVID-19 screenings, since they are a requirement, of which 10% or less of those people, depending on the day, might be interested in the vaccine or have booster shots. Of late we have seen more people taking booster shots," she adds.
Tfwala also said the clinic staff also take their services out into the community: once a month they join the Municipal Council of Mbabane and provide health care services at public gatherings like flea markets.
Nomile Nxumalo from Msunduza, a township located within the capital city, Mbabane, recalled that when she took her jab in the clinic, she didn't feel any different from people who had come for other vaccinations.
"I thought I was supposed to tell the nurses at the reception that I wanted to vaccinate for COVID-19. Surprisingly, when I entered the clinic, I had all my screenings as usual, and I was asked which section I intended to visit. I told the nurse I wanted to get vaccinated, and she told me to join the immunisation queue, which wasn't long. I tried to tell her that I wanted to get the COVID jab, but she told me everything was under one roof," she said.
"It felt decent to have the vaccines within health facilities compared to them being at taxi ranks and bus stops like before. The reason I took longer to take the jab was because I didn't want to be seen by people in the vaccination spots, and there were a lot of theories about vaccines. I needed to be convinced that the vaccines were indeed effective and there were no deaths caused by them," she added.
Nxumalo lauded government for making COVID-19 part of the vaccines administered within health facilities, because it would provide the privacy people need when accessing health services.
Eswatini's COVID-19 roll-out began in April 2021. As of October 20, 2023, 36.9% (428,261) of the population and nearly 52% of the eligible population, people from 12 years old was vaccinated against COVID-19, according to data presented at a briefing by WHO Eswatini.
The statistics further show that 8.5% (98 612) were partially vaccinated while 179,458 (15.5%) had received their booster dose.
Director of Health Services within the Ministry of Health, Fortunate Bhembe, stated that the aim was to vaccinate 70% of the eligible population.
The briefing, conducted in collaboration with the Ministry of Health and other partners, concerned the comprehensive post-introduction evaluation (cPIE) of Eswatini's COVID-19 vaccine roll-out.
WHO country representative Dr Susan Tembo called the cPIE a "milestone" in the national response to the pandemic.
"We are encouraged that the kingdom has built in a strong evidence-based monitoring element of the roll-out, starting with real-time data collection that provides daily updates, conducting two intra-action reviews at strategic points and right now the cPIE. Embracing the COVID-19 vaccine by Eswatini as key response measure in reducing the impact of the virus was a plausible step in the right direction," she said.
"We note with pride that this is the first ever cPIE in the region and would like to congratulate the ministry for such leadership," she concluded.
COVID continues to be a concern for many Americans.
According to Dr. Bob Walker, senior vice president and chief medical officer at Novavax, If you plan to visit family this holiday season, especially the elderly or people with compromised immune systems, getting an updated COVID vaccine could help protect yourself and those around you.
