Category: Corona Virus Vaccine

(March 28, 2024 / JNS)

The reasons that haredi Jewswhether of Lithuanian or Sephardic origins, or Chassidimtended to vaccinate at lower rates for COVID-19 than the rest of the Israeli population are not religious-framed but more related to lack of knowledge, fears, trust and logistics, according to new research from Hebrew University scholars.

Writing on March 26 in the Journal of Religion and Health, Miriam Schiff and Nitzan Sharon-Laviboth of the Hebrew University of Jerusalems social work and social welfare schoolnoted that haredi Israelis had the countrys highest rate of COVID infection and the nations lowest vaccination rates.

The most prominent reasons for vaccine avoidance were perceived immunity based on prior infection by the virus and lack of trust in the vaccines safety, the researchers wrote. The study results call for better outreach to this community and specific psycho-education interventions tailored for its women.

One reason that vaccination rates were lower for haredi women than they were for their male counterparts, according to the researchers, was high rates of fear of harm the vaccine may cause to fertility, especially among women, which was indicated as a barrier to vaccination.

The significant barrier to the fear of harming fertility may be related to the high values the ultra-Orthodox society holds for large families, child-rearing and transmitting their religious values to the next generation, the researchers added.

By the end of June 2021, 89% of non-haredi Jewish Israelis had received at least one dose of COVID vaccine, compared to 59% of haredim, according to the scholars.

The researchers describe Chassidim as gathering around the court of the Rebbethe movements spiritual leader who holds the community togetherand centering on mysticism and devotion of the heart but divided by fidelity to their specific rabbinic leader.

Meanwhile, Misnagdimthose of Lithuanian descentfocused more rationally on cognitive powers and Torah study and are considered a leading Torah group in the ultra-Orthodox community and therefore have the authority to set the behavior norms in all, per the paper. Their devotion to Jewish law and tradition comes from their cognition rather than their heart.

Sephardim, to the scholars, are Jewish descendants from Spain and the Islamic countries and other areas of Sephardic settlement.

This subgroup gave rise to the Shas political movement established in 1984, and as a result, its power intensified in Israeli politics, they added. At the same time, the Sephardic subgroup remained rejected by other subgroups of the ultra-Orthodox society and therefore engaged in building their own cultural and educational institutions.

The researchers claim that haredims greater vulnerability was explained by crowded households, communal lifestyle and limited exposure to external information on protective measures. They add that the majority believed that the holy activity of Torah learning would protect them against the virus and that the protective measures imposed by the government contradicted their faith in almighty protection.

Even though the cumulative rate of infection among ultra-Orthodox communities was 2.5 times higher than in non-ultra-Orthodox ones, they write, the odds of vaccine uptake among the ultra-Orthodox community were lower by 19% than the odds among the general Jewish population.

The research sample consisted of 623 people (338 men and 285 women) with an 85.3% response rate among the 730 self-identified haredim over the age of 18 who were approached. The scholars noted that one of the studys limitations was its exclusion of a third of the haredi community that refuses to use the Internet or smartphones for religious reasons.

They found that 65.8% of participants were vaccinated, with 63.2% of those unvaccinated explaining that I recovered from COVID-19, and I am immune. Some 36% said I still do not know enough about the harm that the vaccine may cause in the long run, and 20.2% said that COVID-19 is not dangerous for people of my age. Nearly one-fifth (18.9%) said I am afraid that the vaccine will harm my fertility. Some 13.6% said Im pregnant/trying to get pregnant/nursing.

The risk of harming fertility may be perceived by ultra-Orthodox women as a potential violation of a major religious role and the core role of women in this community, the researchers wrote. Future studies should further examine this potential explanation.

They also found different rates of vaccination among different kinds of haredim.

The Lithuanian/Misnagdim subgroup had a higher rate of vaccination uptake and lower mistrust of its efficacy among those who were not vaccinated compared with the Chassidic and Sephardic ultra-Orthodox subgroups, they wrote. We can interpret this finding by the characteristics of the Misnagdim. They are oriented toward analytical thinking, and many are open to more secular information, such as scientific data and publications.

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Study: Largely secular reasons for low Israeli haredi COVID vaccinations - JNS.org

[ABSTRACT]. Objective. To provide an overview of the status of the childhood vaccination schedule in the Americas, outline program structures, and identify updated implementation strategies to improve vaccination coverage following the COVID-19 pandemic. Methods. A group of experts in pediatrics, epidemiology, vaccines, and global and public health discussed the current status of the childhood vaccination schedule in the Americas, describing the program structure and identifying new implementation strategies that have the potential to improve vaccination coverage in the post-pandemic context, after the challenges COVID-19 presented for more than two years. Results. The Americas currently face a high risk of resurgence of diseases that were previously controlled or eliminated. Therefore, it is important to find new strategies to educate citizens on the risks associated with lower vaccination rates, especially in children. Conclusions. New strategies along with strong mobilization of the population and advocacy by citizens are necessary to prevent antivaccination groups from gaining a stronger presence in the region and jeopardizing the credibility of the Expanded Program on Immunization.

Vaccination is considered one of the main public health milestones with a major global impact. Vaccination, together with safe drinking water and improved access to the health system, has contributed to the reduction of infant mortality and increased life expectancy across many countries. According to World Health Organization (WHO) data, vaccination campaigns prevent 23 million deaths annually (1). Practically anywhere in the world, a newborn now has a higher five-year survival rate compared to those born in 1990. The mortality rate in children younger than 5 years old has decreased by 59%, from 93 deaths for every 1 000 live births in 1990 to 38 deaths for every 1 000 live births in 2019. On average, the daily under-five mortality was 14 000 in 2019, a significant drop from 34 000 in 1990 (2).

The mortality and morbidity rates for vaccine-preventable diseases (VPDs) in the early 1970s were high worldwide. The lack of consolidated immunization programs led WHO, in 1974, to recommend the creation of the Expanded Program on Immunization (EPI) to support worldwide vaccination efforts. The EPI has been a successful program in the Americas for over 40 years, being the world leader in controlling and eliminating VPDs, including smallpox, polio, rubella, measles, and neonatal tetanus. Since the creation of the EPI, countries have updated their national vaccine schedules from including six to an average of 16 vaccines, thus expanding protection of the population (3). Infant vaccination not only directly reduces the incidence of disease cases but also has a broader impact on public health by curbing transmission of infectious agents within communities. This ripple effect due to indirect protection (collective immunity) extends to the well-being of adults, the elderly, and individuals at high risk of developing complications. This article aims to provide an overview of the status of the childhood vaccination schedule in the Americas, outline program structures, and identify updated implementation strategies that can improve vaccination coverage following the COVID-19 pandemic.

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Strategies for expanding childhood vaccination in the Americas following the COVID-19 pandemic - Argentina - ReliefWeb

A lab in West Virginia University Hospitals Health Sciences Building has temporarily closed following the discovery of asbestos in dust.

WVU Hospitals risk management and safety director Roger Osbourn tells The Dominion Postthat the asbestos is an isolated incident. He says it most likely resulted when a pipe was bumped during renovations on the floor above the lab.

University environmental health and safety director John Principe says tests showed trace amounts of asbestos fibers. Air sample tests were negative.

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Health Care Leaders Look Back On Four Years Of COVID-19 - West Virginia Public Broadcasting

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In Florida in 2022, concurrent outbreaks of mpox, hepatitis A, and invasive meningococcal disease (IMD) were noted among men who have sex with men (MSM). A report on the outbreaks, published yesterday in Emerging Infectious Diseases, emphasizes the need to offer vaccination against these diseases among at-risk groups.

The authors explain that the global mpox outbreak arrived in Florida in the summer of 2022, amid ongoing outbreaks of IMD and hepatitis A, which began the previous year. Florida had the fourth-highest rates of mpox in the United States.

From November 1, 2021, to November 30, 2022, Florida health officials recorded 322 hepatitis A cases, of which 153 (48%) met the genotype outbreak case definition. Among the outbreak patients, 95% were male, 5% female, 74% MSM, and 21% had HIV. One death was noted.

The Florida Department of Health tracked 71 IMD cases during the period, of those, 44 (62%) were classified as outbreak-associated. Among the outbreak patients, 72% were MSM, 34% had HIV, and 20% died.

By the end of November 2022, Florida had recorded 2,845 confirmed or probable mpox cases. Eighty-eight percent were among MSM, and all but 14% were acquired locally. Fifty-two percent of patients were HIV-positive.

The three outbreaks overlapped substantially: Hepatitis A peaked in late March of 2022, IMD in May and June, and mpox in August.

Vaccination against hepatitis A, meningococcal disease, and mpox should be encouraged among MSM.

"We did not identify any instances of the same person being part of both the hepatitis A and IMD outbreaks. However, among mpox cases, 4 patients were also part of the hepatitis A outbreak, and 3 others were part of the IMD outbreak," the authors conclude. "Vaccination against hepatitis A, meningococcal disease, and mpox should be encouraged among MSM, consistent with national guidelines and, where feasible, offered with other program services to the same at-risk population."

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Stressing personal ownership may be key to COVID booster uptake - University of Minnesota Twin Cities

There has been much research released over the past few years on the COVID-19 pandemic and investigators have assessed the public health crisis impact on the population in several different areas of health care.

In 4 posters presented at the 2024 American Pharmacists Association Annual Meeting and Exposition, researchers examined fraudulent FDA-issued warning letters for COVID-19, vaccine hesitancy in college-aged adults, patient-health care provider communication regarding COVID-19, and comparisons of COVID-19 with peak influenza seasons.

Read more of our coverage from the 2024 APhA Annual Meeting & Exposition here.

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Slideshow: Assessing the COVID-19 Pandemic After its 2020 Peak - Drug Topics

Image source, Clifford Rodrigues/V's Punjabi Grill

The restaurant says some people have since returned to the restaurant to eat since they received their vaccination

23 March 2024, 07:08 GMT

A restaurant that was transformed into a vaccination centre during the pandemic has said it is still getting back on its feet.

One of the owners of V's Punjabi Grill, Clifford Rodrigues, said business had seen a decline in the four years since the first lockdown.

V's Punajbi Grill in Gravesend used an outdoor marquee to help deliver vaccines.

Mr Rodrigues said some people had returned to the restaurant to eat after receiving their vaccination there.

Raj Chopra, the other co-owner, turned the restaurant into a vaccine centre after his father, Jagtar Chopra, became unwell with Covid in December 2020.

The centre opened in January 2022 and they delivered vaccines to 10,000 people.

Mr Rodrigues said it had been difficult to recover since the lockdowns.

He said: "It has taken a long while to recover from the last few years.

"Things had been beginning to look good at the end of last year but then it has declined at the start of this year.

"It has been difficult to attract new customers, but if you have a product of real quality then people will bring new people to you."

Image source, Clifford Rodrigues/V's Punjabi Grill

The centre opened in January 2022 and they jabbed 10,000 people

He added that some people had less money to spend now than they did before the pandemic.

Some businesses can rely on e-sales and web sales, but food is where the money is. If people are not buying food, then it is difficult to survive in this game, he said.

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Gravesend restaurant and ex-vaccine centre reflects on Covid - BBC

From the very early days of the pandemic, brain fog emerged as a significant health condition that many experience after COVID-19.

Brain fog is a colloquial term that describes a state of mental sluggishness or lack of clarity and haziness that makes it difficult to concentrate, remember things and think clearly.

Fast-forward four years and there is now abundant evidence that being infected with SARS-CoV-2 the virus that causes COVID-19 can affect brain health in many ways.

In addition to brain fog, COVID-19 can lead to an array of problems, including headaches, seizure disorders, strokes, sleep problems, and tingling and paralysis of the nerves, as well as several mental health disorders.

A large and growing body of evidence amassed throughout the pandemic details the many ways that COVID-19 leaves an indelible mark on the brain. But the specific pathways by which the virus does so are still being elucidated, and curative treatments are nonexistent.

Now, two new studies published in the New England Journal of Medicine shed further light on the profound toll of COVID-19 on cognitive health.

I am a physician scientist, and I have been devoted to studying long COVID since early patient reports about this condition even before the term long COVID was coined. I have testified before the U.S. Senate as an expert witness on long COVID and have published extensively on this topic.

Here are some of the most important studies to date documenting how COVID-19 affects brain health:

Large epidemiological analyses showed that people who had COVID-19 were at an increased risk of cognitive deficits, such as memory problems. Imaging studies done in people before and after their COVID-19 infections show shrinkage of brain volume and altered brain structure after infection. A study of people with mild to moderate COVID-19 showed significant prolonged inflammation of the brain and changes that are commensurate with seven years of brain aging. Severe COVID-19 that requires hospitalization or intensive care may result in cognitive deficits and other brain damage that are equivalent to 20 years of aging.

Laboratory experiments in human and mouse brain organoids designed to emulate changes in the human brain showed that SARS-CoV-2 infection triggers the fusion of brain cells. This effectively short-circuits brain electrical activity and compromises function.

Autopsy studies of people who had severe COVID-19 but died months later from other causes showed that the virus was still present in brain tissue. This provides evidence that contrary to its name, SARS-CoV-2 is not only a respiratory virus, but it can also enter the brain in some individuals. But whether the persistence of the virus in brain tissue is driving some of the brain problems seen in people who have had COVID-19 is not yet clear.

Studies show that even when the virus is mild and exclusively confined to the lungs, it can still provoke inflammation in the brain and impair brain cells ability to regenerate.

COVID-19 can also disrupt the blood brain barrier, the shield that protects the nervous system which is the control and command center of our bodies making it leaky. Studies using imaging to assess the brains of people hospitalized with COVID-19 showed disrupted or leaky blood brain barriers in those who experienced brain fog.

A large preliminary analysis pooling together data from 11 studies encompassing almost 1 million people with COVID-19 and more than 6 million uninfected individuals showed that COVID-19 increased the risk of development of new-onset dementia in people older than 60 years of age.

Most recently, a new study published in the New England Journal of Medicine assessed cognitive abilities such as memory, planning and spatial reasoning in nearly 113,000 people who had previously had COVID-19. The researchers found that those who had been infected had significant deficits in memory and executive task performance.

This decline was evident among those infected in the early phase of the pandemic and those infected when the delta and omicron variants were dominant. These findings show that the risk of cognitive decline did not abate as the pandemic virus evolved from the ancestral strain to omicron.

In the same study, those who had mild and resolved COVID-19 showed cognitive decline equivalent to a three-point loss of IQ. In comparison, those with unresolved persistent symptoms, such as people with persistent shortness of breath or fatigue, had a six-point loss in IQ. Those who had been admitted to the intensive care unit for COVID-19 had a nine-point loss in IQ. Reinfection with the virus contributed an additional two-point loss in IQ, as compared with no reinfection.

Generally the average IQ is about 100. An IQ above 130 indicates a highly gifted individual, while an IQ below 70 generally indicates a level of intellectual disability that may require significant societal support.

To put the finding of the New England Journal of Medicine study into perspective, I estimate that a three-point downward shift in IQ would increase the number of U.S. adults with an IQ less than 70 from 4.7 million to 7.5 million an increase of 2.8 million adults with a level of cognitive impairment that requires significant societal support.

Another study in the same issue of the New England Journal of Medicine involved more than 100,000 Norwegians between March 2020 and April 2023. It documented worse memory function at several time points up to 36 months following a positive SARS-CoV-2 test.

Taken together, these studies show that COVID-19 poses a serious risk to brain health, even in mild cases, and the effects are now being revealed at the population level.

A recent analysis of the U.S. Current Population Survey showed that after the start of the COVID-19 pandemic, an additional 1 million working-age Americans reported having serious difficulty remembering, concentrating or making decisions than at any time in the preceding 15 years. Most disconcertingly, this was mostly driven by younger adults between the ages of 18 to 44.

Data from the European Union shows a similar trend in 2022, 15% of people in the EU reported memory and concentration issues.

Looking ahead, it will be critical to identify who is most at risk. A better understanding is also needed of how these trends might affect the educational attainment of children and young adults and the economic productivity of working-age adults. And the extent to which these shifts will influence the epidemiology of dementia and Alzheimers disease is also not clear.

The growing body of research now confirms that COVID-19 should be considered a virus with a significant impact on the brain. The implications are far-reaching, from individuals experiencing cognitive struggles to the potential impact on populations and the economy.

Lifting the fog on the true causes behind these cognitive impairments, including brain fog, will require years if not decades of concerted efforts by researchers across the globe. And unfortunately, nearly everyone is a test case in this unprecedented global undertaking.

This article is republished from The Conversation under a Creative Commons license. Read the original article.

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Mounting research shows COVID-19 leaves its mark on the brain, including significant drops in IQ Alaska Beacon - Alaska Beacon

From spring break parties to Mardi Gras, many people remember the last major normal thing they did before the novel coronavirus pandemic dawned, forcing governments worldwide to issue stay-at-home advisories and shutdowns.

Even before the first case of COVID-19 was detected in the U.S., fears and uncertainties helped spur misinformations rapid spread. In March 2020, schools closed, employers sent staff to work from home and grocery stores called for social distancing to keep people safe. But little halted the flow of misleading claims that sent fact-checkers and public health officials into overdrive.

Some peoplefalselyasserted COVID-19s symptoms were associated with 5G wireless technology. Faux cures anduntested treatmentspopulated social media and political discourse. Amid uncertainty about the viruss origins, some evenproclaimedCOVID-19 didnt exist at all. PolitiFact named downplay and denial about the virus its2020 Lie of the Year.

Four years later, peoples lives are largely free of the extreme public health measures that restricted them early in the pandemic. But COVID-19 misinformation persists, although its now centered mostly on vaccines and vaccine-related conspiracy theories.

PolitiFact has publishedmore than 2,000 fact-checksrelated to COVID-19 vaccines alone.

From a misinformation researcher perspective, [there has been] shifting levels of trust, said Tara Kirk Sell, senior scholar at the Johns Hopkins Center for Health Security. Early on in the pandemic, there was a lot of: this isnt real, fake cures, and then later on, we see more vaccine-focused mis- and disinformation and a more partisan type of disinformation and misinformation.

Here are some of the most persistent COVID-19 misinformation narratives we see today:

COVID-19 vaccines were quickly developed, with U.S. patients receiving the first shots in December 2020, 11 months after the first domestic case was detected.

Experts credit the speedy development with helping tosave millions of livesand preventing hospitalizations. Researchers at the University of Southern California and Brown University calculated thatvaccines saved 2.4 million livesin 141 countries from January 2021 to August 2021 alone. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention data shows there were 574 U.S. deathsattributed to COVID-19the week of March 2, down from nearly 26,000 at the pandemics height in January 2021, as vaccines were just rolling out.

But on social media and in some public officials remarks, misinformation about COVID-19 vaccine efficacy and safety is common.U.S. presidential candidate Robert F. Kennedy Jr. built his 2024 campaign on a movement that seeks to legitimize conspiracy theories about the vaccines. We made that our2023 Lie of the Year.

PolitiFact has seen claims that spike proteins from vaccines arereplacing spermin vaccinated males. (ThatsFalse.) Weve researched the assertion that vaccines can change your DNA. (Thatsmisleading and ignores evidence). Social media posts poked fun at Kansas City Chiefs tight end Travis Kelce for encouraging people to get vaccinated, asserting that the vaccine actually shuts off recipients hearts. (No, it doesnt.) And some people pointed to an American Red Cross blood donation questionnaire as evidence that shots are unsafe.(We rated that False.)

Experts say this misinformation has real-world effects.

A Nov. 2023 survey byKFF found that only 57% of Americanssay they are very or somewhat confident in COVID-19 vaccines. And those who distrust them are more likely to identify as politically conservative: Thirty-six percent of Republicans compared with 84% of Democrats say they are very or somewhat confident in the vaccine.

Immunization rates for routine vaccines for other conditions have also taken a hit. Measles had been eradicated for more than 20 years in the U.S. but there have been recent outbreaks instates including Florida,Maryland and Ohio. Floridas surgeon general has expressedskepticismabout vaccines andrejectedguidancefrom the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention about how to contain potentially deadly disease spread.

The vaccination rate among kindergarteners has declined from 95% in the 2019-20 school year to 93% in 2022-23, according to theCDC. Public health officials have set a 95% vaccination rate target to prevent and reduce the risk of disease outbreaks. The CDC also foundexemptions had risen to 3%, the highest rate ever recordedin the U.S.

PolitiFact has seen repeated and unsubstantiatedclaims that COVID-19 vaccines have caused mass numbers of deaths.

A recent widely shared post claimed17 million people had diedbecause of the vaccine, despite contrary evidence from multiple studies and institutions such as the World Health Organization and CDC that the vaccines are safe and help to prevent severe illness and death.

Another online post claimed the booster vaccine hadeight strains of HIVand would kill 23% of the population. Vaccine manufacturers publish theingredient lists; they do not include HIV. People living with HIV were among the peoplegiven priority accessduring early vaccine rollout to protect them from severe illness.

We have also seen COVID-19 vaccines blamed forcausing Alzheimersandcancer. Experts have found no evidence the vaccines cause either conditions.

You had this remarkable scientific or medical accomplishment contrasted with this remarkable rejection of that technology by a significant portion of the American public, said Paul Offit, director of the Vaccine Education Center at the Childrens Hospital of Philadelphia.

About 70% of Americans have completed a primary series of COVID-19 vaccination, more than three years after they became available,according to CDC figures. About 17% have gotten the most recentbivalent booster.

False claimsoften pullfrom and misuse datafrom theVaccine Adverse Event Reporting System. The database, run by the CDC and Food and Drug Administration, allows anybody to report reactions after any vaccine. The reports themselves are unverified, but the database is designed to help researchers find patterns for further investigation.

ANovember 2023 surveypublished by Annenberg Public Policy Center at the University of Pennsylvania found 63% of Americans think it is safer to get the COVID-19 vaccine than the COVID-19 disease that was down from 75% in April 2021.

Betty White, Bob Saget,Matthew Perry, andDMXare just a few of the many celebrities whose deaths were falsely linked to the vaccine. The anti-vaccine filmDied Suddenly tried to give credence to false claims that the vaccine causes people to die shortly after receiving it.

Dr. Cline Gounder, editor at large for public health at KFF Health News and an infectious disease specialist, said these claims proliferate because of two things cognitive bias and more insidious motivated reasoning.

Its like saying I had an ice cream cone and then I died the next day, the ice cream must have killed me, she said. And those with pre-existing beliefs about the vaccine seek to attach sudden deaths to the vaccine.

Gounder experienced this personally when her husband, the celebrated sports journalist Grant Wahl, died while covering the 2022 World Cup in Qatar. Wahl died of a ruptured aortic aneurysm but anti-vax accounts falsely linked his death to the COVID-19 vaccine, forcing Gounder topubliclyset the record straight.

It is very clear that this is about harming other people, said Gounder, who was aguestat United Facts of America in 2023. And in this case, trying to harm me and my family at a point where we were grieving my husbands loss. What was important in that moment was to really stand up for my husband, his legacy, and to do what I know he would have wanted me to do, which is to speak the truth and to do so very publicly.

We continue to see false claims that thepandemic was plannedby government leaders and those in power.

At any given moment, Microsoft Corp. co-founder and philanthropist Bill Gates, World Economic Forum Chair Klaus Schwab and former director of the National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases Dr. Anthony Fauci are blamed for orchestrating pandemic-related threats.

In February, Rep. Matt Rosendale, R-Mont., falsely claimed Fauci, brought the virus to his state a year before the pandemic. There isno evidenceof that. Gates, according to the narratives, is using dangerous vaccines to push a depopulation agenda. ThatsFalse. And Schwab has not said he has an agenda to establish a totalitarian global regime using the coronavirus to depopulate the earth and reorganize society. Thats part of aconspiracy theorythats come to be calledThe Great Resetthat has beendebunkedmanytimes.

The United Nations World Health Organization is frequently painted as a global force for evil, too, with detractors saying it is using vaccination to control or harm people. But the WHO has not declared thata new pandemicis happening, as some have claimed. Its current pandemic preparedness treaty is in no way positioned to remove human rights protections or restrict freedoms, asone post said. And the organization has not announced plans to deploy troops to corral people andforcibly vaccinate them. The WHO is, however, working on a new treaty to help countries improve coordination in response to future pandemics.

This fact check was originally published by PolitiFact, which is part of the Poynter Institute. See the sources for this fact check here.

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Four years after shelter-in-place, COVID-19 misinformation persists - Poynter

In a recent study published in BMJ Public Health, researchers investigated whether generalized joint hypermobility (GJH), which indicates varying connective tissue, was associated with self-reported severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 (SARS-CoV-2) infection recovery failure.

Long coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) presents a severe therapeutic issue and public health burden, with symptoms ranging from fatigue and trouble focusing to muscular pains and shortness of breath. To date, over 200 symptoms have been associated with delayed recovery after acute SARS-CoV-2 infection. The potentially deleterious effects associated with long COVID-19, combined with the prevalence of SARS-CoV-2 infection history among the general population, emphasize the importance of identifying factors predisposing an individual to long COVID.

Demographic variables such as age and female sex, as well as pre-existing activity-limiting health disorders or impairments like fibromyalgia, irritable bowel syndrome, migraines, allergies, anxiety, depression, and back pain, increase the likelihood of prolonged COVID-19.

Recent research has identified that joint hypermobility contributes to incomplete recovery after SARS-CoV-2 infection. However, further research is needed to elucidate the etiology of long COVID and identify cost-effective and timely therapeutics for patients.

In the present prospective-type observational study, researchers investigate whether widespread joint hypermobility is related to an increased risk of not fully recovering from SARS-CoV-2 infection.

To this end, the researchers examined the United Kingdom COVID-19 Symptom Study Biobank (CSSB) data, linked with demographic information, COVID-19 reports, and symptom ratings from ZOE Global's COVID-19 Symptom Study digital application. Researchers from Massachusetts Hospital, Uppsala and Lund Universities, and King's College London created the mobile application.

During August 2022, 81% of respondents experienced a minimum of one COVID-19-related illness and self-reported their recovery status. All study participants completed a five-component Hakim and Grahame questionnaire (5PQ) to determine widespread joint hypermobility.

The primary research outcome was a lack of self-documented recovery from SARS-CoV-2 infection. Secondary outcomes included 5PQ scores and self-documented fatigue levels.

Binary logistic regression analysis was performed to determine whether widespread joint hypermobility predicted non-recovery after SARS-CoV-2 infection. Age, gender, ethnicity, socioeconomic situation, educational attainment, and received COVID-19 vaccinations were considered as potential variables in the sequential models.

Linear regression was used to investigate the relationship between generalized joint hypermobility and fatigue. Furthermore, mediation studies using Hayes' technique allowed the researchers to explore potential mediation of the association between widespread joint hypermobility and COVID-19 non-recovery by fatigue levels.

Among 3,064 individuals who reported a minimum of one SARS-CoV-2-related infection, data on self-documented COVID-19 recovery were accessible for 2,854 participants, 82% of whom were female and 97% identified as white, with an average age of 58 years.

Among 32% of the study cohort who reported incomplete recovery from acute COVID-19, 269 individuals exhibited widespread joint hypermobility, 29% of whom were female. Among recovered individuals, 439 of 1,940 patients experienced widespread joint hypermobility.

Generalized joint hypermobility was not significantly associated with the reported SARS-CoV-2 infection risk. Nevertheless, joint hypermobility was strongly associated with incomplete recovery from acute COVID-19, with an odds ratio (OR) of 1.4. This association persisted in sequential modeling studies controlling for age, gender, ethnicity, educational attainment, multiple deprivation index, and COVID-19 vaccination doses received with an OR of 1.3.

Hypermobility also strongly predicted greater fatigue levels in models that controlled for all factors. Fatigue levels influenced the relationship between widespread joint hypermobility and COVID-19 non-recovery.

The study findings indicate that individuals with widespread joint hypermobility are 30% more likely to not recover from acute COVID-19. These observations provide critical information needed to identify long COVID phenotypes for screening, appropriate patient classification, and personalized treatment implementation.

Taken together, the current study emphasizes the importance of stratified individualized healthcare for individuals, which influences policy and interdisciplinary services for individuals with long-term COVID and related illnesses. These findings also have implications for clinical practice, future research, and population healthcare, including precision techniques.

There remains an urgent need to investigate predisposing variables and comorbidities associated with joint hypermobility. Future research is also needed to explore the role of pre-existing illnesses as possible risk factors, particularly those linked with numerous physical symptoms, including larger sample sizes, more diverse populations, and a stringent long COVID definition to improve the generalizability and validity of the study findings.

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Joint hypermobility linked to longer COVID-19 recovery time - News-Medical.Net

The Federal Police of Brazil accused former President Jair Bolsonaro of falsifying his COVID-19 vaccination record following investigations that began in January 2023. The Brazilian president was accused alongside 16 other people of forging his vaccination record and his daughters by inserting false information in the public health database in order to get false vaccination certificates that allowed them to travel to the US when the COVID-19 virus widely spread.

The charges brought by the police against Jair Bolsonaro are criminal association and insertion of false data into the public system. If convicted, the former president could spend up to 12 years in prison.

According to Bolsonaros lawyer Fabio Wajngarten, the whole case is a political persecution with the Brazilian police indictment being as absurd as the whale case, referring to an investigation against his client for harassing a humpback whale while taking a spin on his jetski during holidays. He pointed out that although the former Brazilian president was internationally known for his anti-vax opinion, he managed to provide over 600 million doses of vaccine during the pandemic. He also added that as president , Bolsonaro was exempted from presenting any kind of certificate proving that he had been vaccinated against COVID-19 during his travels. According to the lawyers words, it is all an attempt to empty Bolsonaro s enormous political capital that is only growing.

Jair Bolsonaro was one of the world leaders who was opposed to COVID-19 vaccination campaigns. He ignored health restrictions recommended by the World Health Organization (WHO), openly encouraging the public to do the same and ignore confinement measures. He was criticised both nationally and internationally for underestimating the pandemics severity. A group of Brazilian healthcare unionists filed a lawsuit against the former president to the International Criminal Court (ICC) in which they argued Bolsonaros response to the COVID-19 pandemic amounted to genocide. Furthermore, a report conducted in 2021 by Brazilian senators held Jair Bolsonaro responsible for COVID-19-related deaths of over 300,000 people.

Bolsonaro faces several other accusations aside from this indictment. He was subject to an investigation opened by the Minister of Justice and Public Security in January last year for allegedly committing genocide against the Indigenous Yanomami people in the Amazon and was recently accused by Brazils federal police of illegally spying on political opponents. Another investigation against the former Brazilian president relates to his involvement in a coup dtat to stay in power after he lost the December 2022 presidential elections against the current president Luiz Incio Lula da Silva, with claims that Bolsonaro was the person behind the events of what is known as the January 8 riots.

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Brazil police accuse former President Jair Bolsonaro of falsifying COVID-19 vaccination data - JURIST