Category: Corona Virus Vaccine

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COVID-19 is on the rise in Pueblo this winter. Here is what to know - Pueblo Chieftain

In the wake of the COVID-19 pandemic, the Northern Kentucky Community Action Commission created a program to help small businesses recover from the economic downturn.

Last September, the City of Covington gave $185,890 worth of American Rescue Plan Act funds to the Northern Kentucky Community Action Commission to identify and assist small and home-based businesses impacted by the COVID-19 pandemic. The newly created program was titled the Small Business Technical Assistance.

On Tuesday, the programs director Covington-based attorney Jamir Davis updated the commission on its progress. So far, the program has served 32 Covington small businesses, held over 75 one-on-one consultations, and assisted with the founding and registration of 13 businesses, including Golden Gelato, The Empanadas Box, DeeFelice Market and Upper Kutz barber shop.

All in all, wed definitely say the program was a success, Davis told the commission.

Business owners were required to answer a variety of questions to determine what kind of service was best suited to their specific situation.

As a part of our one-on-one consultations, we would really sit down with businesses and ask the hard questions, Davis said. What do you sell? What will people buy from you? What will you charge? How can customers pay you?

The program provides business owners with services such as assistance on properly registering their business with Covington and the state of Kentucky, budget creation, updating business financials, developing business plans and completing a financial literacy program.

The program is open to Covington residents who were negatively impacted by COVID-19, current small business owners, and those who aspire to start an unestablished business.

It was an easy sell to help businesses that were in need during COVID and we appreciate you hitting the ground and going out and finding those businesses and talking with them, Vice Mayor Ron Washington told Davis.

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Local program helps Covington businesses recover from COVID-19 - LINK nky

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Tourism in Europe is back after the COVID-19 lull and locals have ... - Connecticut Public

As the season of gatherings and get-togethers begins, a warning from those tracking COVID-19 throughout the state comes along with it caution will be key to help turn an increasing trend around.

Right now, we are seeing an uptick, Dr. Susan Kline, of the University of Minnesotas Medical School, said, adding, It is increased compared to where weve been the last several weeks.

Dr. Kline said its not a dramatic increase, but one theyll be watching closely as the university and Minnesota Department of Health (MDH) are now in charge of tracking COVID-19 in the states wastewater.

The latest data available shows a 13-percent increase over the last two weeks, part of a slow rise that began in June. But, the state is nowhere near the levels tracked at the beginning of the year. Still, Dr. Kline says with the timing of the trend, people should lean on our experience about what we know about this virus.

If youve been exposed to somebody whos ill, especially if its someone with COVID, again, probably best to test yourself before you go to a holiday gathering, Dr. Kline said. If youre feeling well, and the test is negative, I think itd be okay to go [to a holiday gathering]. But, depending on how close your exposure was, you maybe should be wearing a mask.

She also suggests taking advantage of the tools at hand including Paxlovid, a medication meant to treat COVID-19 that needs a prescription. And, just this week, the federal government is sending free at-home COVID-19 tests again households can order up to eight tests, depending if they ordered the four offered earlier this year.

I think those [at-home COVID-19 tests] are probably the easiest and quickest tests that people can get their hands on at short notice, and theyre quite good, Dr. Kline said.

Order your free tests HERE.

Dr. Kline said its also not too late to get the COVID-19 vaccine for it to make an impact this season.

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Experts closely monitoring uptick in COVID-19 during holiday season - KSTP

Gabe Newell has been ordered to attend an in-person deposition relating to Overgrowth developer Wolfire Games' antitrust lawsuit against Valve despite his request to do it remotely.

As reported by GI.biz, the Valve CEO had requested the remote deposition due to concerns regarding COVID-19, but the court said he presented "insubstantial evidence to suggest that he is at particularised risk of serious illness".

The order, which was filed on November 16 in the U.S. District Court for the Western District of Washington, included a statement from Wolfire Games which said Newell "is uniquely positioned to testify on all aspects of [Valve's] business strategy" and an in-person deposition "would allow [it] to adequately assess Newell's credibility".

It does offer some precautions to alleviate Newell's COVID-19 concerns, however, including that all courtroom participants must wear masks during the deposition. Newell must remove his mask when answering questions though.

Wolfire Games CEO David Rosen is leading a class-action lawsuit representing game developers against Valve, which asserts that the near dominance of Steam on the PC games market increases the prices of games due to Valve's service taking a 30% commission from the sale of each game.

Rosen said that his motivation for the lawsuit is that gamers and game developers are being harmed by Valve's conduct.

Image Credit: Olly Curtis/Future Publishing via Getty Images

Ryan Dinsdale is an IGN freelance reporter. He'll talk about The Witcher all day.

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Valve CEO Gabe Newell Ordered to Attend In-Person Antitrust ... - IGN

Four out of five people in Mexico who got influenza shots so far this year turned down the government's recommendation they get Russian or Cuban COVID-19 boosters at the same time

November 21, 2023, 4:27 PM ET

2 min read

MEXICO CITY -- Four out of five people in Mexico who got influenza shots so far this year turned down the governments recommendation that they get Russian or Cuban COVID-19 boosters at the same time, officials said Tuesday.

Assistant Health Secretary Ruy Lpez Ridaura attributed the high refusal rate to people being reluctant to get two vaccines at the same time.

People have a certain reluctance to get simultaneous vaccinations, Lpez Ridaura said.

But the population eligible for flu and COVID-19 shots people over 60 and people with underlying health problems are considered high-risk, and Mexicans in those groups had extremely high take-up rates for Covid vaccines in 2021 and 2022, according to the Health Department.

Some people appear to simply distrust the Russian Sputnik and Cuban Abdala vaccines, both designed in 2020 for variants prevalent at the time.

It is an old antigen, it's as if they were going to give me an influenza vaccine from 2020, said Andreu Comas, a professor of medicine at the Autonomous University of San Luis Potosi. There are no studies regarding the effectiveness of both of these vaccines against the (current) variants.

Mexico has bought millions of doses of the Russian and Cuban vaccines. The original plan was to administer around 20 million shots, but only about 1.9 million people, or 9.5% of those eligible, have agreed to take them since the vaccination campaign started in mid-October.

In contrast, 10 million people got the influenza shot in the same period.

President Andrs Manuel Lpez Obrador has been a big supporter of Cuba, hiring Cuban doctors, buying vaccines and construction materials from Cuba and supplying oil to the island.

Meanwhile, Mexico has held up approval for Pfizer and Moderna COVID-19 boosters, both of which were designed to work against the COVID variants currently circulating. While those shots have been approved for use in the United States since September, they may not be available for Mexicans until 2024.

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Follow APs coverage of Latin America and the Caribbean at https://apnews.com/hub/latin-america

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4 out of 5 Mexicans who got a flu shot this year turned down Cuban and Russian COVID-19 vaccines - ABC News

Swabs from patients participating in a Novavax COVID vaccine trial await testing at the UW Medicine Retrovirology Lab at Harborview Medical Center on February 12, 2021, in Seattle, Washington. Photo by Karen Ducey/Getty Images.

Erin Kissane, a co-founder of the COVID Tracking Project, rolled up her sleeve for the Novavax COVID-19 vaccine in mid-October soon after it was finally recommended in the United States. Like many people with autoimmune diseases, she wants to protect herself from a potentially devastating COVID infection.

Kissanes autoimmune arthritis seems to make her susceptible to unusual vaccine side effects. After getting an mRNA booster last year, her joints ached so painfully that her doctor prescribed steroids to dampen the inflammation. She still considers the mRNA vaccines miraculous, knowing COVID could be far worse than temporary aches.

Nonetheless, when the pain subsided, she pored through studies on Gaithersburg-based Novavaxs shot, a vaccine that is based on proteins rather than mRNA and has been used since early 2022 in other countries. Data from the United Kingdom found that people more frequently reported temporary reactions like low fevers, fatigue, and pain as their immune system ramped up in the days following booster vaccination with Modernas mRNA vaccine versus the one by Pfizer. And those boosted with Novavaxs had fewer complaints than either of those. That finding was corroborated in an analysis of international data published last year.

Such studies have driven people with long COVID and chronic fatigue syndrome (also known as myalgic encephalomyelitis, or ME/CFS) to seek out Novavax, too, since the FDA and the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention greenlighted Novavaxs vaccine updated to protect against recent omicron coronavirus variants about three weeks after recommending updated mRNA vaccines in September.

Waiting paid off for Kissane, whose arm was briefly sore. It was a dramatically different experience for me, she said. I hope that plays out for others.

Another group who waited on Novavax are biologists who geek out over its technology. When asked why he opted for Novavax, Florian Krammer, a virologist at the Icahn School of Medicine at Mount Sinai, replied on X, formerly known as Twitter: Because I am [a] vaccine nerd, I like insect cell produced vaccines.

Whereas mRNA vaccines direct the body to produce spike proteins from the coronavirus SARS-CoV-2, which then train a persons immune system to recognize and fight the virus, Novavax simply injects the proteins. These proteins are grown within moth cells in a laboratory, while other protein-based shots use cells from mammals. And Novavax has said that a special ingredient derived from the bark of Chilean soapbark trees enhances the vaccines power.

Research suggests that the Novavax vaccine is about as safe and effective as the mRNA shots. Its main disadvantage is arriving late to the scene. Vaccine uptake has plummeted since the first shots became widely available in 2021. Nearly 70% of people got the primary vaccines, compared with fewer than 20% opting for the mRNA COVID boosters released last year. Numbers have dwindled further: As of Oct. 17, only 5% of people in the United States had gotten the latest COVID vaccines, according to the Department of Health and Human Services.

Daniel Park, an epidemiologist at George Washington University, said low rates might improve if people who felt lousy after their last mRNA shots gave Novavax a try. It protects against severe illness, but researchers struggle to specify just how effective this and other vaccines are, at this point, because studies have gotten tricky to conduct: New coronavirus variants continuously emerge, and people have fluctuating levels of immunity from previous vaccines and infections.

Still, a recent study in Italy suggests that Novavax is comparable to mRNA vaccines. It remained more than 50% effective at preventing symptomatic COVID four months after vaccination. Some data suggests that mixing and matching different types of vaccines confers stronger protection although other studies have found no benefit.

Given all this, Park held out for the Novavax vaccine on account of its potentially milder side effects. Between a demanding full-time job and two young kids at home, I wanted to stay operational, he said. His arm was sore, but he didnt have the 24-hour malaise accompanying his last mRNA shot.

Most people dont strike a fever after mRNA shots. Even when they do, it is brief and therefore far less detrimental than many cases of COVID. In fact, most reactions are so minor that theyre hard to interpret. During clinical trials on mRNA vaccines, for example, up to a third of people in the placebo group reported fatigue and headaches after injection.

People with ME/CFS and long COVID a potentially debilitating condition that persists months after a COVID infection have responded to COVID vaccinations in a wide variety of ways. Most participants with long COVID in an 83-person Canadian study said their levels of fatigue, concentration, and shortness of breath improved following vaccination. Inflammatory proteins that have been linked to long COVID dropped as well.

However, larger studies have yet to corroborate the hopeful finding. Jennifer Curtin, a doctor who co-founded a telehealth clinic focused on long COVID and ME/CFS, called RTHM, said vaccines seem to temporarily aggravate some patients conditions. To learn how Novavax compares, she posted polls on X in late October asking if people with long COVIDor ME/CFS felt that their symptoms worsened, improved, or stayed the same after Novavax. Most replied: unchanged.

Its not scientific, but we need to figure it out since these folks dont want to get COVID, Curtin said. My patients are all wondering about what vaccine to get right now.

Adding to the uncertainty, the rollout of Novavax and mRNA vaccines has been bumpy as pharmacies struggle to predict demand and insurance companies figure out how to reimburse providers for the shots. Unlike previous vaccine offerings, these options are no longer fully covered by the federal government. A testament to this seasons struggle to get vaccinated is that at least one do-gooder has created an online tool to find open appointments for Novavax.

Buoyed by anecdotes of relief from others with long COVID, Hayley Brown, a researcher at the Center for Economic and Policy Research who has the condition, opted for Novavax recently. Unfortunately, her symptoms have flared. She said a temporary discomfort will still be preferable to risking another infection. As someone with long COVID, the idea of getting COVID again is terrifying.

KFF Health News is a national newsroom that produces in-depth journalism about health issues and is one of the core operating programs at KFFan independent source of health policy research, polling, and journalism. Learn more about KFF.

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Is Novavax, the latecomer COVID vaccine, worth the wait? - Maryland Matters

Three years after being shelved, a human trial of a Queensland COVID-19 vaccine has shown it is safe and effective but it's unlikely to be used to tackle the coronavirus any time soon.

Rather, researchers from the University of Queensland (UQ) hope a re-engineered version will pave the way for the vaccine technology to be further developed for potential use against other life-threatening respiratory viruses, such as respiratory syncytial virus (RSV).

The preliminary results of UQ's second-generation COVID vaccine come three years after its original COVID shot was abandoned after patients falsely tested positive to HIV.

The trial for the updated vaccine, which involved 70 volunteers, compared UQ's re-engineered molecular clamp technology with the approved Novavax jab, which began rolling out in Australia in February last year.

UQ molecular virologist Keith Chappell, who co-invented the technology that underpins the vaccine, said the trial of the updated version dubbed Clamp2 showed it to be "functionally equivalent" with Novavax.

"There was no difference at all in safety," Dr Chappell said.

"And in terms of the neutralising immune response, it was comparable."

He said UQ's commercialisation company UniQuest had licensed the technology to start-up biopharmaceutical company ViceBio.

ViceBio, which was founded to develop UQ's patented molecular clamp, is expected to launch human trials next year of a combined vaccine against RSV and human metapneumovirus (HMPV).

"We're very excited," Dr Chappell said.

"They're taking the technology forward for pathogens that are of great concern. It's looking great."

The Coalition for Epidemic Preparedness Innovation (CEPI) last year committed up to $8.5 million to continue the development of Clamp2 for use in the global response to future pandemics.

CEPI strives towards vaccines being developed within 100 days of a new virus emerging a goal known as the 100 Days Mission.

"There's going to be more pandemics, that's a given," Dr Chappell said.

"Our goal over the next few years is to pressure test ourselves and hopefully get everything in place so that we can respond as quickly as possible."

UQ scientists are in discussions with CEPI about future research involving the molecular clamp.

"Our hope is that we'll be given a novel virus, one that's not a disease threat, and we'll run through the process in real time and see whether we can produce a vaccine at the end of that," Dr Chappell said.

"There are thousands and thousands of different viruses out there. There's a wealth of novel viruses we could use to put ourselves to the test."

This article contains content that is only available in the web version.

At this stage, ViceBio has no plans to turn Clamp2 into a COVID vaccine, despite the promising results of the proof-of-concept trial.

"Our view is that the COVID vaccines that are out there and available are effective and it's not the biggest priority to bring a new one to the market at this stage," Dr Chappell said.

In line with CEPI's equitable access policy, UQ has agreed that vaccine candidates produced in outbreak situations using the molecular clamp technology will be available to at-risk populations, including low and middle-income countries.

Participants in the proof-of-concept COVID vaccine trial will be monitored regularly for six months after receiving the jab.

The original UQ clamp technology contained two fragments of a protein found in HIV.

The fragments acted like a chemical bulldog clip, holding together an engineered version of the spike protein found on the surface of SARS-CoV-2, the virus that causes COVID-19.

That worked by allowing the immune system to recognise and attack the spike protein, producing protective antibodies.

Dr Chappell said Clamp2 used a different molecule in place of the HIV fragments, with none of the diagnostic interference of the abandoned COVID vaccine.

"The second-generation molecular clamp has taken us the last three years to develop but it's looking great," he said.

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Second-generation COVID-19 vaccine is safe and effective and could help pave the way to tackle RSV and HMPV - ABC News

WASHINGTONToday, the Financial Crimes Enforcement Network (FinCEN), in close coordination with the Internal Revenue Service Criminal Investigation (CI), issued an alert to financial institutions on fraud schemes related to the COVID-19 Employee Retention Credit (ERC). The alert provides an overview of typologies associated with ERC fraud and scams, highlights select red flags to assist financial institutions in identifying and reporting suspicious activity and reminds financial institutions of their reporting requirements under the Bank Secrecy Act (BSA).

It is unfortunate that while the COVID-19 pandemic is behind us, fraud related to COVID-19 relief programs, like the ERC, continues to occur at a concerning scale, said FinCEN Director Andrea Gacki. We are issuing this alert in partnership with CI to remind financial institutions that it is critical that they remain vigilant in identifying and reporting related suspicious activity and to protect businesses from being taken advantage of by fraudsters.

Tax credits like employee retention credits were meant to provide assistance to struggling business owners during the COVID-19 pandemic, but fraudsters, unfortunately, used the credits to line their own pockets, said CI Chief Jim Lee. We hope this alert will help financial institutions recognize financial patterns that indicate fraud and help us recover funds stolen from U.S. taxpayers.

The ERC was authorized by the Coronavirus Aid, Relief, and Economic Security (CARES) Act as a tax credit to encourage businesses to keep employees on payroll during the COVID-19 pandemic. CI has identified ongoing fraud and scams related to the ERC that, to date, have resulted in 323 investigations involving more than $2.8 billion of potentially fraudulent ERC claims throughout tax years 2020, 2021, 2022, and 2023. In response to the scope of the ERC fraud, in September 2023, the IRS announced an immediate moratorium through at least December 31, 2023, on processing new ERC claims in an effort to protect honest small business owners from scams.

The full notice is available online atFIN-2023-Alert007

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FinCEN Alert on COVID-19 Employee Retention Credit Fraud - FinCEN

Thanksgiving Holiday may further fuel the spread of the severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 (SARS-CoV-2) throughout the U.S. (Photo by Mario Tama/Getty Images) Getty Images

Once again the hashtag #CovidIsntOver is trending on social media like X (formerly known as Twitter) because, you know, Covid-19 is certainly not over. The severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 (SARS-CoV-2) continues to spread throughout much of the U.S. since thats what tends to happen when a country doesnt do a whole lot to prevent a virus from spreading. And over the week from November 4 through 11, Covid-19-related hospitalizations increased by 8.6%, according the latest data from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC).

During that week, there were 16,239 such reported hospitalizations. If you look at the following map of the U.S. from the CDC, a number of counties are in orange, which means that they experienced a 20% or greater increase in hospitalizations during that week:

In that same time period, the numbers of Covid-19-related emergency room visits increased by 7.1% and Covid-19 related deaths by 9.1%. In addition, the percentage of Covid-19 that were positive bumped up by 0.1%. All of these number went in the wrong direction during that week and do not bode well for the Holiday season thats now upon us, assuming that you arent shaped like a ball and have spikes all over you.

Unfortunately, without any real national system in place for tracking new Covid-19 cases, the U.S. is sort of flying blind when it comes to SARS-CoV-2 activity. Since emergency room visits and hospitalizations tend to come at least a week or two after people have been infected, rises in such numbers mean that rises in SARS-CoV-2 activity probably occurred two or maybe even three or four weeks prior. And its a whole lot harder to prevent an upswing that has already been occurring after the fact, assuming that you dont have a DeLorean car that serves as a time machine. Basing Covid-19 prevention policies on hospitalizations and deaths alone would be sort of like showing people a burnt down house and saying, Do you think that we need to install some fire extinguishers in this house?

All of these numbers shouldnt be super-surprising since the past three Novembers since 2020 had all seen rises in Covid-19 cases. The arrival of colder and drier weather in the late Fall and Winter could further facilitate SARS-CoV-2 transmission. Moreover, with more and more activities moving indoors, more and more people could be interacting in closer and closer quarters, sharing their small talk, respiratory droplets and viruses. Plus, all the travel occurring from the Thanksgiving Holidays through New Years Day could be giving viruses free tickets to travel all over the country.

Now, its not as if the U.S. cant do anything to reduce the spread and impact of the SARS-CoV-2. Scientific studies have shown that wearing face masks while in crowded indoor settings can reduce the transmission of SARS-CoV-2, as Ive covered for Forbes. Yet, posts on social media with the #CovidIsntOver hashtag have been pointing out how those wearing face masks have been feeling more and more like lone maskers:

The CDC has pointed out how improving air purification and ventilation can reduce the risk of COVID-19 as well:

Yet, its not clear how many businesses and other organizations are currently taking such steps to clear the air.

Then theres been the problems with the roll-out of the updated Covid-19 vaccine this Fall, the one that is targeted towards the more recent XBB Omicron subvariant. Only about 14.8% of all adults in the U.S. have gotten this updated Covid-19 vaccine so far, as I covered for Forbes last week. Therefore, many people may be running around with fairly low or even absent protections against Covid-19.

Therefore, if you want to reduce your risk of getting Covid-19 and long Covid or passing the virus along to others, you may be kind of on your own. Thats because the answer to the question, What is the U.S. collectively doing to prevent yet another Covid-19 surge this November and December is probably not a whole lot.

I am a writer, journalist, professor, systems modeler, computational, AI, and digital health expert, medical doctor, avocado-eater, and entrepreneur, not always in that order. Currently, I am a Professor of Health Policy and Management at the City University of New York (CUNY) School of Public Health, Executive Director of PHICOR (@PHICORteam) and Center for Advanced Technology and Communication in Health (CATCH), and founder and CEO of Symsilico. My previous positions include serving as Professor By Courtesy at the Johns Hopkins Carey Business School, Executive Director of the Global Obesity Prevention Center (GOPC) at Johns Hopkins University, Associate Professor of International Health at the Johns Hopkins Bloomberg School of Public Health, Associate Professor of Medicine and Biomedical Informatics at the University of Pittsburgh, and Senior Manager at Quintiles Transnational, working in biotechnology equity research at Montgomery Securities, and co-founding a biotechnology/bioinformatics company. My work has included developing computer approaches, models, and tools to help health and healthcare decision makers in all continents (except for Antarctica). This has included serving as the Principal Investigator of over $60 million in research grants from a wide variety of sponsors such as the National Institutes of Health (NIH), Agency for Healthcare Research and Quality (AHRQ), National Science Foundation (NSF), the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC), UNICEF, USAID, the Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation, and the Global Fund. I have authored over 250 scientific publications and three books. In addition to covering health, healthcare, and science for Forbes, I maintain a blog "A Funny Bone to Pick" for Psychology Today, a Substack entitled "Minded by Science"and have written articles forThe New York Times, Time, The Guardian, The HuffPost, STAT, the MIT Technology Review and others. My work and expertise have appeared in leading media outlets such as The New York Times, ABC, USA Today, Good Morning America, Tamron Hall Show, BBC, The Los Angeles Times, Newsweek, CBS News, Businessweek, U.S. News and World Report, Bloomberg News, Reuters, National Public Radio (NPR), National Geographic, MSN, and PBS. Follow me on Twitter (@bruce_y_lee) but dont ask me if I know martial arts.

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#CovidIsntOver Trends As Covid-19 Hospitalizations Rise By 8.6% - Forbes