Category: Corona Virus Vaccine

Concern about the health threat posed by COVID-19 has reached a record low across the political spectrum, according to a recent survey by the Pew Research Center.

Twenty percent of all Americans in the survey said they think the virus is a “major threat” to “[t]he health of the U.S. population as a whole.” Twelve percent of Republicans and Republican-leaning independents and 28 percent of Democrats and Democratic-leaning independents said the threat posed by the virus to their country was “major.”

The drop in concern about the health threat posed by the coronavirus, as measured by the survey, is drastically different from concern levels two years ago.

In May 2022, 41 percent of Americans said they thought that the COVID-19 pandemic was a “major threat” to “[t]he health of the U.S. population as a whole.” In the same year, 57 percent of surveyed Democrats and Democratic-leaning independents and 20 percent of Republicans and Republican-leaning independents said the virus posed a “major threat” to the health of their country, according to Pew.

The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) recently stopped recommending that Americans not go to work or school for five days following testing positive for COVID-19. It set forth new guidance recommending people stay home when sick — despite possibly not knowing what is causing their illness — and go back to their regular routine if they feel better and don’t have a fever for at least 24 hours with no medication.

“However, we still must use the commonsense solutions we know work to protect ourselves and others from serious illness from respiratory viruses — this includes vaccination, treatment, and staying home when we get sick,” CDC Director Mandy Cohen said in a statement.

The Pew survey was conducted between Feb. 7-11 and had an overall sample size of 10,133 U.S. adults, with a margin of error of plus or minus 1.5 percentage points. 

The sample size for the question on the threat posed by the coronavirus to the U.S. “as a whole” was 5,050 people, with a margin of error of plus or minus 2.1 percentage points. The sample size of Republicans and Republican-leaning independents was 4,954 people, with a margin of error of plus or minus 2.1 percentage points. The sample size of Democrats and Democratic-leaning independents was 5,227 people, with a margin of error of plus or minus 2.1 percentage points. 

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Concern about COVID reaches record low across political spectrum: Survey - The Hill

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Vaccines are a critical public health strategy. They prime the immune system against potentially harmful pathogens and save millions of lives every year.

But can you have too much of a good thing?

Scientists at the University of Erlangen-Nuremberg (FAU) had the rare opportunity to explore this question in the context of immunization after a 62-year-old male from Magdeburg claimed to have received 217 vaccines against SARS-CoV-2 over 29 months.

There is official evidence for 134 of the vaccinations, which include eight different types of vaccines authorized for human use. The remaining are self-reported.

We learned about his case via newspaper articles, said lead study author Privatdozent Dr. Kilian Schober, a group leader in the Institute for Clinical Microbiology, Immunology and Hygiene at FAU.

The public prosecutor of Magdeburg had opened up a case against the gentleman with allegations of fraud, but charges were never filed.

We then contacted him and invited him to undergo various tests in Erlangen. He was very interested in doing so, Schober said.

The research team wanted to explore the consequences of hypervaccination, which they suspected would have caused the mans immune cells to fatigue. Their analysis is published in Lancet Infectious Diseases.

The individual has undergone various blood tests over recent years, Schober described. He gave us his permission to assess the results of these analyses.

Some of the samples had been frozen, while others were obtained by the researchers during the current study after the gentleman insisted that he had received an additional vaccine.

We were able to use these samples to determine exactly how the immune system reacts to the vaccination, said Schober. The researchers used a reference cohort, including 29 vaccinees (55% female, 45% male) that had received a 3-dose mRNA regimen, as a control group.

To the researchers surprise, the mans immune system is fully functional.

He has a large number of T effector cells against SARS-CoV-2 even more than observed in the control group. These cells did not show any signs of fatigue and were just as effective as cells obtained from the control group.

When Schober and team analyzed the number of memory T cells a type of immune cell that quickly increases in number upon re-exposure to an antigen the man had, they found this number was just as high as the control group. His immune cells were also effective against other pathogens.

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Collectively, it seems that hypervaccination has not damaged this mans immune system. Overall, we did not find any indication for a weaker immune response, rather the contrary, said Katharina Kocher, a doctoral researcher and one of the studys lead authors.

Our test case was vaccinated with a total of eight different vaccines, including different available mRNA vaccines, said Schober. The observation that no noticeable side effects were triggered in spite of this extraordinary hypervaccination indicates that the drugs have a good degree of tolerability.

As this is a case study, the generalizability of the findings is not clear. Regardless, the scientists explicitly stated that they do not endorse hypervaccination as a strategy to enhance adaptive immunity.

Reference: Kocher K, Moosmann C, Drost F, et al. Adaptive immune responses are larger and functionally preserved in a hypervaccinated individual. Lancet Infect Dis. 2024. doi:10.1016/S1473-3099(24)00134-8

This article is a rework of a press release issued bythe University of Erlangen-Nuremberg. Material has been edited for length and content.

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German Man Who Received 217 COVID Vaccines Has Functioning Immune System - Technology Networks

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R.I. COVID-19 cases increased by 261 last week, with 2 deaths - Providence Business News

Many people whove gotten sick with COVID-19 have reported lingering symptoms of brain fog, including trouble with memory, concentration, and attention.

[1]

In this observational study, we found objectively measurable cognitive deficits that may persist for a year or more after COVID-19, wroteAdam Hampshire, PhD, a cognitive neuroscientist and a professor with the faculty of medicine in the department of brain sciences at Imperial College London, and his collaborators.

For those with long COVID defined by study investigators as symptoms that last more than 12 weeks after a positive test the IQ drop on average was equal to 6 points. People who ended up in an intensive care unit because of COVID-19 infection showed a 9-point drop in IQ.

Reinfection contributed an additional loss of nearly 2 IQ points, as compared with no reinfection, according to the findings.

A small cognitive advantage was noted among those who had received two or more vaccinations. Also, the scientists observed smaller cognitive deficits among individuals who had been infected during recent variant periods as opposed to those who had been infected with the original virus.

The analysis was based on responses from nearly 113,000 adults age 18 and older who completed an online cognitive assessment. Results from the cognitive testing were translated to an IQ scale. About 60 percent were female and 95 percent were white.

Just over 46,000 reported never having COVID, and about the same number said they had been infected but symptoms had lasted less than four weeks. About 3,200 had symptoms continuing between 4 and 12 weeks, and around 3,600 experienced effects longer than 12 weeks.

[2]

For example, what are the functional implications of a 3-point loss in IQ? wrote Ziyad Al-Aly, MD, a clinical epidemiologist at Washington University in St. Louis, andClifford Rosen, MD, a professor of medicine at Tufts University in Boston. Whether one group of persons is affected more severely than others is not clear. Whether these cognitive deficits persist or resolve along with predictors and trajectory of recovery should be investigated.

[3]

This research confirms a very large number of studies showing that long COVID is associated with cognitive problems, says Igor Koralnik, MD,the chief of neuro-infectious disease in the department of neurology at Northwestern University Feinberg School of Medicine in Chicago, and a fellow of the American Academy of Neurology.

[4]

[5]

Dr. Koralnik, who was not involved in the research, noted that the results in this analysis were limited because they were based on responses to an internet survey. Also, the study was observational in design, so it could only show an association and not establish that COVID was the cause of lower IQ scores.

The implications of longer-term persistence of cognitive deficits and their clinical relevance remain unclear and warrant ongoing surveillance, concluded the study authors.

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COVID-19 Brain Fog Is Lowering IQ Scores - Everyday Health

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Researchers at Friedrich-Alexander-Universitt Erlangen-Nrnberg (FAU) and Universittsklinikum Erlangen have examined a man who has received more than 200 vaccinations against COVID-19. They learned of his case via newspaper reports.

Until now, it has been unclear what effects hypervaccination such as this would have on the immune system. Some scientists were of the opinion that immune cells would become less effective after becoming used to the antigens. This proved not to be the case in the individual in question: his immune system is fully functional.

Certain immune cells and antibodies against SARS-CoV-2 are even present in considerably higher concentrations than is the case with people who have only received three vaccinations. The results have been published in the journal The Lancet Infectious Diseases.

More than 60 million people in Germany have been vaccinated against SARS-Coronavirus 2, the majority of them several times. The man who has now been examined by researchers at FAU claims to have received 217 vaccinations for private reasons. There is official confirmation for 134 of these vaccinations.

"We learned about his case via newspaper articles," explains Privatdozent Dr. Kilian Schober from the Institute of MicrobiologyClinical Microbiology, Immunology and Hygiene (director Prof. Dr. Christian Bogdan). "We then contacted him and invited him to undergo various tests in Erlangen. He was very interested in doing so." Schober and his colleagues wanted to know what consequences hypervaccination such as this would have. How does it alter the immune response?

As a rule, vaccinations contain parts of the pathogen or a type of construction plan that the vaccinated person's cells can use to produce these pathogenic components themselves. Thanks to these antigens, the immune system learns to recognize the real pathogen in the event of a later infection. It can then react more rapidly and forcibly. But what happens if the body's immune system is exposed extremely often to a specific antigen?

"That may be the case in a chronic infection such as HIV or hepatitis B, that has regular flare-ups," explains Schober. "There is an indication that certain types of immune cells, known as T-cells, then become fatigued, leading to them releasing fewer pro-inflammatory messenger substances." This and other effects triggered by the cells becoming used to the antigens can weaken the immune system. The immune system is then no longer able to combat the pathogen so effectively.

The current study, which also involved researchers from Munich and Vienna, does not deliver any indication that this is the case, however. "The individual has undergone various blood tests over recent years," explains Schober.

"He gave us his permission to assess the results of these analyses. In some cases, samples had been frozen, and we were able to investigate these ourselves. We were also able to take blood samples ourselves when the man received a further vaccination during the study at his own insistence. We were able to use these samples to determine exactly how the immune system reacts to the vaccination."

The results showed that the individual has large numbers of T-effector cells against SARS-CoV-2. These act as the body's own soldiers that fight against the virus. The test person even had more of these compared to the control group of people who had received three vaccinations. The researchers did not perceive any fatigue in these effector cells, they were similarly effective as those in the control group who had received the normal number of vaccinations.

Memory T cells are another aspect the researchers explored. These are cells at a preliminary stage, before effector cells. Similar to stem cells, these cells can replenish numbers of suitable effector cells. "The number of memory cells was just as high in our test case as in the control group," explains Katharina Kocher, one of the leading authors of the study.

"Overall, we did not find any indication for a weaker immune response, rather the contrary." In addition, even the 217th vaccination that the man received during the study still had an effect: the number of antibodies against SARS-CoV-2 increased significantly as a result.

Further tests indicated that there was no change to the immune system's effectiveness against other pathogens. It therefore appears to be the case that the hypervaccination has not damaged the immune system as such.

"Our test case was vaccinated with a total of eight different vaccines, including different available mRNA vaccines," states Dr. Kilian Schober. "The observation that no noticeable side effects were triggered in spite of this extraordinary hypervaccination indicates that the drugs have a good degree of tolerability."

However, this is one individual case. The results are not sufficient for making far-reaching conclusions let alone recommendations for the general public. "Current research indicates that a three-dose vaccination, coupled with regular top-up vaccines for vulnerable groups, remains the favored approach. There is no indication that more vaccines are required."

More information: Katharina Kocher et al, Adaptive immune responses are larger and functionally preserved in a hypervaccinated individual, The Lancet Infectious Diseases (2024). DOI: 10.1016/S1473-3099(24)00134-8

Journal information: Lancet Infectious Diseases

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Researchers investigate immune response of a man who received 217 COVID vaccinations - Medical Xpress

The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) has relaxed its recommendations for preventing the spread of COVID-19, citing a decline in hospitalizations and deaths caused by the virus.

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People who test positive for COVID-19 no longer need to isolate at home for five days, the CDC said in its updated recommendations. Instead, people who have symptoms of respiratory viruses like COVID-19, respiratory syncytial virus (RSV), or the flu should stay home until their symptoms start improving and theyre fever-free for 24 hours without taking medications to lower their temperature.

In addition, the CDC now recommends masking for five days after leaving isolation down from 10 days and suggests that masks may provide similar benefits for those with COVID-19 and those with other respiratory illnesses.

COVID-19 remains an important public health threat, but it is no longer the emergency that it once was, and its health impacts increasingly resemble those of other respiratory viral illnesses, including influenza and RSV, the CDC said in its updated recommendations.

While the CDCs new advice has been met with alarm by some infectious disease experts, many believe the new approach makes sense.

Many people have at least some immunity to COVID-19 from being vaccinated or previously infected with the virus, explains George Rutherford, MD, an infectious disease specialist at the University of California in San Francisco. Widespread availability of COVID-19 tests, and the decrease in contagiousness among asymptomatic people by day six of their infection, also support the new CDC recommendations, Dr. Rutherford adds.

I think this is the right move at this time, he says.

Current coronavirus strains, like the JN.1 variant, are also associated with less severe disease, and are easier to manage with available vaccines and treatments that can help prevent severe illness, making it logical to handle this virus similarly to the way other respiratory infections are treated, says Matthew Binnicker, PhD, director of clinical virology at Mayo Clinic in Rochester, Minnesota.

Given the less severe disease caused by currently circulating strains and new tools we have to prevent and manage disease, the elimination of the five-day isolation brings the nation into alignment with how we handle other common respiratory infections, such as influenza and RSV, Dr. Binnicker says.

The CDCs move to shorten the isolation timeline for COVID-19 is probably a match with what most people with mild illness are already doing, points out Emily Hyle, MD, an infectious disease physician at Massachusetts General Hospital and associate professor of medicine at Harvard University in Boston.

This approach aligns with the idea of helping people with mild illness to return to normal activities, Dr. Hyle says. With limited access to sick leave in the United States and concerns about children missing many school days, I can see why this approach has been endorsed.

If individuals have respiratory symptoms such as cough, fever, body aches, or a runny nose, it is still recommended to stay home, or if you have to go out in public, to wear a mask, Binnicker adds.

Masking for even longer than the CDCs recommended five days after leaving isolation may help reduce transmission, Hyle notes.

Its not so much that we no longer need to worry about COVID, Hyle says. We still need to use the tools available to reduce serious illness and deaths from COVID.

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CDC Says People With COVID-19 No Longer Need to Isolate at Home for 5 Days - Everyday Health

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The COVID-19 virus can persist in the blood and tissue of patients for more than a year after the acute phase of the illness has ended, according to new research from UC San Francisco that offers potential clues to why some people develop long COVID.

The scientists found pieces of SARS-CoV-2, referred to as COVID antigens, lingering in the blood up to 14 months after infection and for more than two years in tissue samples from people who had COVID.

"These two studies provide some of the strongest evidence so far that COVID antigens can persist in some people, even though we think they have normal immune responses," said Michael Peluso, MD, an infectious disease researcher in the UCSF School of Medicine, who led both studies.

The findings were presented at the Conference on Retroviruses and Opportunistic Infections (CROI), which was held March 3 to 6, 2024, in Denver, Colorado.

Early in the pandemic, COVID-19 was thought to be a transient illness. But a growing number of patients, even those who had previously been healthy, continued having symptoms, such as, brain fog, digestive problems and vascular issues, for months or even years.

The researchers looked at blood samples from 171 people who had been infected with COVID. Using an ultra-sensitive test for the COVID "spike" protein, which helps the virus break into human cells, the scientists found the virus was still present up to 14 months later in some people.

Among those who were hospitalized for COVID, the likelihood of detecting the COVID antigens was about twice as high as it was for those who were not. It was also higher for those who reported being sicker, but were not hospitalized.

"As a clinician, these associations convince me that we are on to something, because it makes sense that someone who had been sicker with COVID would have more antigen that can stick around," Peluso said.

Since the virus is believed to persist in the tissue reservoirs, the scientists turned to UCSF's Long COVID Tissue Bank, which contains samples donated by patients with and without long COVID.

They detected portions of viral RNA for up to two years after infection, although there was no evidence that the person had become reinfected. They found it in the connective tissue where immune cells are located, suggesting that the viral fragments were causing the immune system to attack. In some of the samples, the researchers found that the virus could be active.

Peluso said more research is needed to determine whether the persistence of these fragments drives long COVID and such associated risks as heart attack and stroke.

But, based on these findings, Peluso's team at UCSF is involved in multiple clinical trials that are testing whether monoclonal antibodies or antiviral drugs can remove the virus and improve the health of people with long COVID.

"There is a lot more work to be done, but I feel like we are making progress in really understanding the long-term consequences of this infection," Peluso said.

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COVID-19 virus can stay in the body more than a year after infection, research finds - Medical Xpress

Representational Image

North India is suddenly witnessing a surge in COVID-19 cases. Delhi just reported its highest daily number of cases since May 2023, with 63 infections recorded in the last 24 hours. This rise in cases coincides with an uptick in infections being observed in other northern states like Rajasthan, Uttar Pradesh, and Bihar. While the absolute numbers aren't high, the actual case count could be significantly higher.

However, with COVID-19 likely becoming endemic, experts warn that occasional surges are to be expected. And while it currently remains unknown which specific strain of SARS-CoV-2 is driving the rise in cases, we have some new information about the potential consequences of persistent COVID-19 infections in the general population.

A new study published in Nature suggests that a surprisingly high number of infections potentially between one in a thousand to one in two hundred can last for a month or longer, raising concerns about their role in long COVID and variant development.

Previously, prolonged COVID-19 cases were primarily observed in immunocompromised individuals and thought to be a potential source of new variants. This Oxford study, utilising data from the UK's extensive COVID-19 Infection Survey, provides the first large-scale look at persistent infections in the general population.

Researchers analysed data from over 90,000 participants and identified a significant link between persistent infections and long COVID. Individuals with persistent infections were 55% more likely to report long COVID symptoms compared to those with typical infections. While the exact cause of Long COVID remains unclear, this finding suggests a potential connection.

Further, they found 381 individuals among the participants who tested positive for the same variant for over a month. Worryingly, some of these persistent infections involved viral strains that had already disappeared from circulation.

The study revealed that persistent infections can harbour a high number of mutations, potentially leading to new variants. However, this doesn't occur in all cases.

These new findings highlight the importance of ongoing community-based surveillance for COVID-19. This not only helps track the emergence of new variants but also provides valuable insights into the long-term effects of the virus on human health.

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Persistent COVID-19 Infections That Last For Over a Month Are More Common Than We Thought! - The Weather Channel

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CDC updates COVID isolation guidelines: Vaccines, masks and symptoms - The Arizona Republic

A German man intentionally received more than 200 COVID-19 vaccinations, but researchers found that he was fine, and showed no side effects.

The Lancet, a scientific journal, published a report earlier this week that looked into the 62-year-old man from Magdeburg — a town roughly 2 hours from Berlin — who deliberately received 217 of the SARS-CoV-2 vaccine over a period of 29 months.

Researchers noted that he received the vaccines outside of a clinical study and against national vaccine recommendations.

They also concluded that although the man’s “hypervaccination” did not result in any side effects, it also did not significantly improve his immune response.

A public prosecutor in Magdeburg opened an investigation into the case alleging fraud, but no criminal charges were filed. Researchers filed a request with the man, who was not named in the study, to analyze the immunological response to abnormal vaccine dosage.

He provided medical information and donated blood and saliva. The man did not report any vaccine-related side effects and has not tested positive for COVID since the experts began examining his case in May 2022.

The study found that the man had more T cells than others who had received three COVID vaccine doses, but they were just as effective as those who received the normal dose. Thus, the researchers were unable to determine whether the initial recommended doses prevented him from testing positive, or if the additional vaccines were a direct cause.

The man reported receiving 217 shots between June 2021 and Nov. 2023. Of the reported vaccinations, 134 were confirmed by the prosecutor through vaccination center documentation, and 83 were self-reported by the man.

The vaccines, according to the report, were a mixture of mRNA vaccines from Pfizer-BioNTech and Moderna. He also received shots from Johnson & Johnson and self-reported a booster from Sanofi.

The researchers noted that while the man did not experience any vaccine-related side effects, they “do not endorse hypervaccination as a strategy to enhance adaptive immunity.”

According to CNN, who first reported the case, the man was arrested by police in early March 2022 after authorities became suspicious that he was receiving vaccination cards and selling them to third parties.

He was arrested during a time when proof of vaccination was required to access public venues and travel throughout Europe, the outlet noted.

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German man got 217 COVID-19 vaccinations. Researchers say hes fine - The Hill