Category: Corona Virus

When the COVID-19 booster targeting the XBB 1.5 variant was made available late last summer, the variant was the most dominant in the United States. Within weeks of the booster's introduction, variant JN.1 began to rise and replaced XBB as the dominant virus strain by the end of 2023.

A new study in Clinical Infectious Diseases looks at outcomes among more than 3 million adult Singaporeans who received the XBB booster amid JN.1 virus circulation and finds protection against both infection and serious outcomes.

The study was conducted from November 26, 2023 to January 13, 2024, and assessed COVID-19associated emergency department (ED) visits and hospitalizations, stratified by vaccination status or prior infection. Outcomes among those vaccinated 8 to 120 days prior to infection were compared to people last boosted at least 1 year prior to their XBB dose.

In total, during Singapore's JN.1 outbreak, 28,160 SARS-CoV-2 infections were recorded, including 2,926 hospitalizations and 3,747 ED visits, and the cases were driven by increasing circulation of the JN.1 variant (more than 90% of sequenced viruses).

By the end of the study period, 20.8% (696,344 of 3,340,800) received a bivalent (two-strain) booster; while 3.2% (107,966 of 3,340,800) received an XBB 1.5 booster.

An XBB booster was associated with a 41% reduced risk of JN.1 infection (adjusted hazard ratio [aHR], 0.59). COVID-19associated ED visits were reduced 50% among those with XBB boosters (aHR, 0.50), while hospitalizations were 42% lower (aHR, 0.58).

There was no statistically significant reduction of risk for JN.1 infections, ED visits, or hospitalizations in people vaccinated with a bivalent booster within 8 to 365 days after the shot.

For Singaporeans with prior COVID-19 infections, compared to adults with no history of COVID-19 infection, those infected less than 1 year prior during XBB-predominant transmission had a 35% lower risk of COVID-19associated ED visits (aHR, 0.65) and a numerically lower risk of hospitalization that was not statistically significant.

Those with COVID-19 infections recorded more than 1 year prior had an increased risk of JN.1 infection and COVID-19associated ED visits and hospitalizations.

Our results highlight the benefit of updated booster doses in maintaining relative protection, even during a wave of transmission driven by the emerging SARS-CoV-2 JN.1 variant

"Our results highlight the benefit of updated booster doses in maintaining relative protection, even during a wave of transmission driven by the emerging SARS-CoV-2 JN.1 variant," the authors wrote. "Regular annual boosting remains important in preserving healthcare systems' resilience during COVID-19 endemicity."

Originally posted here:

XBB booster offers protection against JN.1 infections, hospital cases, new data show - University of Minnesota Twin Cities

FLORENCE, Italy (AP) Tadej Pogacar was infected with COVID-19 during his Tour de France preparations, the two-time champion revealed Thursday two days before the race starts in Italy.

The Slovenian is aiming for the rare Tour and Giro dItalia double after dominating the Italian race last month.

Pogacar, who won the Tour in 2020 and 2021, said that the virus only prevented him from training for one day.

Its not as serious anymore. Especially if your body already had the virus before and I had it once or twice, Pogaar said, adding that he caught the virus about 10 days ago. It wasnt too bad, just like a cold. It passed really fast.

I stopped for one day and then (did) some rollers inside, he added. Then when I wasnt sick anymore, I was riding outside.

Pogacar has been dominant this season, winning four of the five races hes entered and collecting 14 victories in 31 days of racing including Strade Bianche and Liege-Bastogne-Liege.

The last rider to win the Giro and the Tour in the same year was Marco Pantani in 1998.

After back-to-back Tour titles, Pogacar then finished runner-up to Jonas Vingegaard the last two years.

Vingegaard was hospitalized for nearly two weeks in April following a high-speed crash in the Tour of the Basque Country. He sustained a broken collarbone and ribs and a collapsed lung and has not raced since.

Im just happy to be here at the start line of the Tour de France I think thats a victory in itself, Vingegaard said. I did a lot of work, a lot of good work, and Im not in a bad shape. But it was such a bad crash that everything from here is a bonus.

AP cycling: https://apnews.com/hub/cycling

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Tadej Pogacar was infected with COVID-19 during his Tour de France preparations - The Associated Press

All Americans ages 6 months and older should receive one of the new Covid-19 vaccines when they become available this fall, the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention said on Thursday.

The recommendation comes as the nation faces a summer wave of Covid, with the number of infections rising in at least 39 states and territories.

Most Americans have acquired immunity against the coronavirus from repeat infections or vaccine doses, or both. The vaccines now offer an incremental boost, remaining effective for only a few months as immunity wanes and the virus continues to evolve.

Still, across every age group, a vast majority of Americans who were hospitalized for Covid did not receive one of the shots offered last fall, according to data presented at a meeting on Thursday of the C.D.C.s Advisory Committee on Immunization Practices.

Dr. Mandy Cohen, the agencys director, accepted the unanimous advice of the panel on Thursday to recommend another round of immunizations.

Professionals and the public in general do not understand how much this virus has mutated, said Carol Hayes, the committees liaison to the American College of Nurse-Midwives. You need this years vaccine to be protected against this years strain of the virus.

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New Covid Shots Recommended for Americans 6 Months and Older This Fall - The New York Times

For many people who have already had COVID, a reinfection is often milder than an earlier case. But those 65 and older, pregnant or immunocompromised remain at higher risk of serious complications from COVID.

Health officials have told Americans to expect a yearly update to COVID vaccines, just like annual flu shots are updated to protect against the latest flu strains.

Our top recommendation for protecting yourself and your loved ones from respiratory illness is to get vaccinated, said Dr. Mandy Cohen, director of the CDC, said in a press release. Make a plan now for you and your family to get both updated flu and COVID vaccines this fall, ahead of the respiratory virus season.

But many Americans are not following the CDCs advice. Only about 22% of U.S. adults and 14% of children were up to date in their COVID shots, according to the CDC.

Its even lower in Georgia with only about 8% of adults and less than 2% of children up to date, according to CDC.

While the general recommendation is for everyone six months and older to get an updated COVID shot, doctors and public health experts say it is especially important for older adults and others people at high risk for severe illness.

Age remains the strongest risk factor for severe COVID outcomes, with risk of severe outcomes increasing markedly with increasing age, according to CDC researchers. Compared to adults between 18 and 29, the risk of death from COVID is 25 times higher in those between the ages of 50 and 64 years, 60 times higher in those ages 65 and 74 years. It is 340 times higher in those ages 85 and older.

The latest recommendations come at a time when cases are growing or likely growing in 39 states including Georgia, according to the CDC, signaling that a summer bump is underway. The CDC no longer tracks COVID case numbers but estimates the trend of the virus spread based on emergency room visits.

Levels of virus found in wastewater samples, often an early signal of rising COVID cases, have also been rising in Georgia according to CDC surveillance. But its not clear if that means cases will continue to surge.

And while the rise is not too surprising now that people are traveling and gathering indoors where its cooler, health experts and doctors expect this seasons illnesses to be milder than some past versions of the virus. But the latest iterations of the ever-evolving coronavirus seem to be more contagious.

Symptoms from the latest variants circulating are familiar and include sore throat, runny nose, coughing, head and body aches, fever, fatigue, and in more severe cases, shortness of breath.

Earlier this month, the Food and Drug Administration following the guidance of its own panel of expert advisers told vaccine manufacturers to target the JN.1 (omicron) version of the virus. But a week later, the FDA told manufacturers that if they could still switch, a better target might be an even newer variant called KP.2.

Data reporter Stephanie Lamm and The Associated Press contributed to this story

Continued here:

A summer wave of COVID-19 infections have arrived in Georgia and the CDC recommends everyone get one of the ... - The Atlanta Journal Constitution

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Wisconsin sees a summer uptick in COVID-19 cases ahead of 2024 RNC - Milwaukee Journal Sentinel

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Posted: June 27, 2024 Last Updated: June 28, 2024

Early on in the pandemic, in 2021, Hugh Potter ate dinner and watched TV next to his wife while she coughed violently from COVID-19, yet he never even sniffled.

It's been thought that some people may not have gotten COVID because they were careful to avoid exposure. Alternatively, some people may have been infected but showed no symptoms. Another possibility is that some people have a genetic advantage that makes them a super-dodger.

"Bloody lucky," Potter, 68, said. "Where I work, I think almost everyone has had it." A few didn't believe thePickering, Ont., resident has escaped it since the early years of the pandemic.

Now, experts peering into the genes of such rare people have gained some surprising insights.

WATCH | Scientists have leads on why some people never get COVID:

Last week, scientists writing in the journal Nature described high activity of a specific gene in people who didn't get infected. And in a complementary research project, Potter provided DNA from saliva samples to researchers at McGill University Health Centre looking for those with a golden armour against the virus.

Researchers hope by better understanding early immune responses, it could help with developing nasal spray forms of vaccines for the coronavirus, similar to the existing FluMist to prevent influenza.

As much as people may wish to forget the pandemic emergency, the virus is still with us and kills about 20 people a week in Canada. The World Health Organization reported more than 2,600 new fatalities in April, bringing total confirmed cases to over 775 million including more than seven million deaths globally.

To gain some leads into what makes people super-dodgers, in March 2021, investigators with the UK COVID-19 Human Challenge study administered a low dose of the original form of SARS-CoV-2 through the nose to 36 healthy adult volunteers and then closely tracked how long it took their immune cells to kick into gear. None were previously exposed to the virus or vaccinated.

The 16 participants with detailed monitoring of their blood and nose fell into three groups:

Christopher Chiu, a professor of infectious diseases at Imperial College London, and his co-authors saw high levels of activity in a gene called HLA-DQA2. They think the gene helps flag invaders to the immune system so it can quickly destroy the virus.

For medical researchers, the study offers a step-by-step look at what happens in the immune responses to the virus in both the nose and blood and their interaction.

Immunologists who weren't involved in the U.K. study say they're not sure why or how that specific gene offers protection.

"If you had asked me to bet money on the genes involved in the protection, they're not the ones I would have chosen," said professor Dawn Bowdish, who holds the Canada Research Chair in Aging and Immunity at McMaster University in Hamilton.

The realtor's motto of location, location, location applies, Bowdish said, because our nose, blood and lungs all differ in the type and timing of immune responses.

For instance, the vaccines we get in the arm are designed to trigger our immune system to mount a response as part of adaptive immunity.

HLA genes take up the trigger and present it to fighter cells of the immune system.

While the particular HLA in the study was better at blocking infection in COVID, it isn't necessarily better overall since it is also associated with some diseases like lupus and rheumatoid arthritis, said Dr. Lynora Saxinger, an infectious diseases specialist at the University of Alberta.

In people who got a sustained infection in the study, it took their immune systems a while to concentrate efforts in the nasal mucosa lining areas like the nose, Saxinger said. In contrast, findings from those who mounted the fastest immune response could invigorate the field of nasal vaccines.

Teams of researchers at McMaster and the University of Ottawa are among those aiming to design nasal spray or puffer forms of inhaled vaccines to not only prevent the risk of severe illness requiring hospitalization and death from COVID as current vaccines do but to block infection altogether.

Bowdish said scientists used to think turning on immune cells in the nose would be enough to kill the virus. But in the new study from England, cells involved in recruiting immune reactions in the mouth, nose and lungs were all important.

"We are hoping to move to a world where we use inhaled vaccines or nasal vaccines, and this gives us some hints about what specific immune genes we want those vaccines to turn on to help protect us," Bowdish said.

WATCH | Vulnerability from age still holds:

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Saxinger called the opportunity to block infection "really big," adding understanding how to clear the virus early is also important to prevent asymptomatic spread.

The pandemic landscape of variants and immunity from vaccinations is now very different than when the volunteers were exposed in the study. Some people come down with COVID repeatedly as variants evolve to dodge immune defences. And COVID illness continues to push some older, vulnerable individuals over the edge when hospitalized, doctors say.

Next, the British researchers plan to test the potential of several nasal spray vaccines against the family of coronaviruses that includes SARS-CoV-2, MERS and four seasonal common cold viruses in other human challenge trials.

"There might be some kind of common features that that would allow you to consider preventative or very early treatment," Saxinger said.

Amina Zafar covers medical sciences and health topics, including infectious diseases, for CBC News. She holds an undergraduate degree in environmental science and a master's in journalism.

See the article here:

Scientists closing in on why some people never get COVID. That could help with future vaccines - CBC News

WASHINGTON:

At the height of the COVID-19 pandemic, the U.S. military launched a secret campaign to counter what it perceived as Chinas growing influence in the Philippines, a nation hit especially hard by the deadly virus.

The clandestine operation has not been previously reported. It aimed to sow doubt about the safety and efficacy of vaccines and other life-saving aid that was being supplied by China, a Reuters investigation found. Through phony internet accounts meant to impersonate Filipinos, the militarys propaganda efforts morphed into an anti-vax campaign. Social media posts decried the quality of face masks, test kits and the first vaccine that would become available in the Philippines Chinas Sinovac inoculation.

Reuters identified at least 300 accounts on X, formerly Twitter, that matched descriptions shared by former U.S. military officials familiar with the Philippines operation. Almost all were created in the summer of 2020 and centered on the slogan #Chinaangvirus Tagalog for China is the virus.

COVID came from China and the VACCINE also came from China, dont trust China! one typical tweet from July 2020 read in Tagalog. The words were next to a photo of a syringe beside a Chinese flag and a soaring chart of infections. Another post read: From China PPE, Face Mask, Vaccine: FAKE. But the Coronavirus is real.

After Reuters asked X about the accounts, the social media company removed the profiles, determining they were part of a coordinated bot campaign based on activity patterns and internal data.

The U.S. militarys anti-vax effort began in the spring of 2020 and expanded beyond Southeast Asia before it was terminated in mid-2021, Reuters determined. Tailoring the propaganda campaign to local audiences across Central Asia and the Middle East, the Pentagon used a combination of fake social media accounts on multiple platforms to spread fear of Chinas vaccines among Muslims at a time when the virus was killing tens of thousands of people each day. A key part of the strategy: amplify the disputed contention that, because vaccines sometimes contain pork gelatin, Chinas shots could be considered forbidden under Islamic law.

The military program started under former President Donald Trump and continued months into Joe Bidens presidency, Reuters found even after alarmed social media executives warned the new administration that the Pentagon had been trafficking in COVID misinformation. The Biden White House issued an edict in spring 2021 banning the anti-vax effort, which also disparaged vaccines produced by other rivals, and the Pentagon initiated an internal review, Reuters found.

The U.S. military is prohibited from targeting Americans with propaganda, and Reuters found no evidence the Pentagons influence operation did so.

See the rest here:

Pentagon ran secret anti-vax drive to undermine China during pandemic - The Express Tribune

The following is a transcript of the podcast episode:

Rachael Robertson: Hey everybody! Welcome to MedPod Today, the podcast series where MedPage Today reporters share deeper insight into the week's biggest healthcare stories. I'm your host, Rachael Robertson.

Today, Kristina Fiore will share the results of a survey that MedPage Today conducted among ob/gyns in abortion-restrictive states. Then, I'm going to talk about my reporting on a controversial BMJ paper that got an expression of concern after public outcry. After that, Jennifer Henderson will tell us about a Texas doctor accused of illegally accessing child health records.

First up, though, let's talk about the exclusive MedPage Today survey.

Two years ago, the Dobbs decision overturned Roe v. Wade, upending federal protections for abortion. To understand how that decision has impacted care since then, MedPage Today conducted a survey of ob/gyns in states with abortion bans. Kristina Fiore and I worked on this project together, and today we're going to chat a bit about the results.

First, a little background. We received responses from 50 ob/gyns in 18 states that have either a total abortion ban or gestational limits between 6 and 12 weeks. One of the most interesting findings is that the majority of clinicians have found workarounds to get patients the care they need. Kristina, do you want to go into that a bit?

Kristina Fiore: Yeah, so about 60% said that they've come up with other ways to help patients get access to the full spectrum of reproductive care. This was a multiple choice survey, so we don't have a whole lot of specific details on those workarounds, but Dan Grossman at UCSF, who is also studying the effects of Dobbs, said that even in states with abortion bans, some facilities have taken the lead in terms of caring for patients who have conditions that will put them at risk of serious complications. That includes things like preterm premature rupture of membranes, or PPROM, bleeding in the second trimester, and preterm labor.

Grossman said that about 2 years in, "people have figured out where those places are, and they can funnel patients to those places." But he also warned that even with the workarounds, it's "still challenging and it's different from how it used to be. You still either have to jump through hoops at your own institution, or more commonly, send people to another institution."

Robertson: Right. We saw some of those hoops in the survey, too. About 30% of respondents said that they had to face an abortion panel at their facility. How often were their requests approved?

Fiore: When clinicians faced an abortion panel to get permission to deliver care in certain instances, only 8% said that they always got to deliver the care that they needed. 10% got it three-quarters of the time, and 2% got it only a quarter of the time. But a pretty substantial 12% said they were always denied.

Also, about a third reported that they actually had to turn away a patient seeking an abortion at some point. Now, there's concern that this is all starting to show up in patient outcomes. 42% of our clinicians said that delays in care have put a pregnant patient's life or health at risk, and 50% said that care has gotten worse since bans went into effect.

Robertson: That's sad, but not necessarily surprising. Last year, when we wrote about the first anniversary of Dobbs, doctors told us that they were feeling the impact "every single day." We thought this might push more clinicians to leave ban states, but that's not what we found.

Fiore: Right. So only one in five ob/gyns said that they had seriously considered leaving their state because of an abortion ban. David Hackney, a maternal-fetal medicine specialist in Ohio, said that most ob/gyns can actually remain pretty distant from abortion, and that a surprising number just don't care about what's going on from a legal perspective. He said that most general ob/gyns can refer out if they have a major complication, so they don't have to follow the issues so closely. And indeed, we found only about half were ever given legal guidance on abortion from their hospital or their employer.

Robertson: So in some ways, perhaps state laws are a little less intrusive on everyday ob/gyn practice, even in those ban states. But still, patients are the ones bearing the brunt of this impact. I guess now we start planning our story for the third anniversary, huh?

Fiore: That's it, yeah.

Robertson: Thanks. Kristina.

Fiore: Thanks, Rachael. Let's swap seats for this next segment.

Earlier this month, BMJ Public Health published a paper that concluded that COVID vaccines were linked to excess deaths. Several news outlets reported on that paper, but after an outcry from the research community, the BMJ has placed an expression of concern on it. Rachael will tell us what happened.

So Rachael, what did the expression of concern say?

Robertson: The BMJ said that the paper's messaging gave rise to widespread misreporting and misunderstanding of the work amid claims that it implies a direct causal link between COVID-19 vaccination and mortality, when the researchers "looked only at trends in excess mortality over time, not its causes."

So this notice was posted 2 weeks after the paper was published, which is a really fast turnaround for that kind of thing. I spoke with epidemiologist Gideon Meyerowitz-Katz, who analyzed the whole situation in his newsletter, and he told me this:

Gideon Meyerowitz-Katz: I think that they [the BMJ] are misrepresenting the paper, which does explicitly say vaccines caused excess deaths. I don't think it's fair to only blame the reporters in this case.

Fiore: So what's wrong with the paper? Why is it causing so much controversy?

Robertson: One huge issue is that it's based entirely on other research. This BMJ paper copied the methods from an influential paper by Ariel Karlinsky and Dmitry Kobak that was published in eLife back in 2021. That original paper has been cited by the CDC and the UN. And again, here's Meyerowitz-Katz on that:

Meyerowitz-Katz: They just took some of the data from that paper, they reanalyzed it badly, and then they published it as novel work, which is extremely problematic.

Robertson: The researchers of the original paper are calling for a retraction of the BMJ one. They also want a public apology and an investigation into how it was published.

Fiore: How did it get published?

Robertson: I was asking that same question. Meyerowitz-Katz said that bad research occasionally makes it through peer review. Becky Smullin Dawson, another epidemiologist I spoke to, told me that this whole situation was a failure of peer review. She also said that it's a good reminder on why it's so important to read the whole paper. In this case, the intro details the dangers of COVID vaccines, but the methods and the results don't have data to back those claims up. She said "the data did not connect those dots. Heck -- the data do not even exist." This kind of process is slow, so we'll see if further action is taken against the paper in the coming months.

Fiore: Okay, well, keep us posted. Thanks for the story.

Robertson: Thanks. Kristina.

A Texas physician has been accused of illegally obtaining children's health records. Now that case has been unsealed, according to federal prosecutors. Jennifer Henderson is here with more information.

Jennifer, what can you tell us about the details of this case?

Jennifer Henderson: We now know that Eithan Haim, the doctor in question, recently had a four-count indictment filed against him. He's been charged with allegedly violating HIPAA when he reportedly leaked information about Texas Children's Hospital continuing its gender-affirming care program after it said it had been halted.

Robertson: Okay, so what does the indictment against Haim allege?

Henderson: Basically, the indictment alleges that Haim obtained personal information, such as patient names, treatment codes, and the attending physician from the hospital's electronic health record system without authorization. It also alleges that he obtained the data under false pretenses, with intent to cause malicious harm to the hospital.

Haim was previously a resident at Baylor College of Medicine and had rotations at Texas Children's that had ended in 2021, according to the indictment. But 2 years later, in April 2023, Haim allegedly requested to reactivate his login at the hospital to access data for pediatric patients who were not under his care.

Robertson: Oof, so have other people weighed in on this unsealed indictment?

Henderson: Haim's legal counsel, Ryan Patrick of Haynes Boone, said in a statement that, "Dr. Haim maintains that he has done nothing wrong. The government's facts are wrong, and their timeline is wrong. Eithan looks forward to having his day in court."

A Baylor College of Medicine spokesperson confirmed via email that Haim had completed his residency there and referred any questions to Texas Children's Hospital, which did not immediately respond to a request for comment. If convicted, Haim faces up to 10 years in federal prison and a $250,000 maximum possible fine, according to federal prosecutors.

Robertson: Thanks for this update, Jennifer.

Henderson: Sure thing, Rachael.

Robertson: And that's it for today. If you like what you heard, please leave us a review wherever you listen to podcasts, and hit subscribe if you haven't already, we'll see you again soon.

This episode was hosted and produced by me, Rachael Robertson. Sound engineering by Greg Laub. Our guests were MedPage Today reporters Kristina Fiore, Rachael Robertson, and Jennifer Henderson. Links to their stories are in the show notes.

MedPod Today is a production of MedPage Today. For more information about the show, check out medpagetoday.com/podcasts.

Rachael Robertson is a writer on the MedPage Today enterprise and investigative team, also covering OB/GYN news. Her print, data, and audio stories have appeared in Everyday Health, Gizmodo, the Bronx Times, and multiple podcasts. Follow

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MedPod Today: Abortion Ban Workarounds; Bungled COVID Vax Paper; Texas Doc Indicted - Medpage Today

Photo: 123rf.com / Composite Image - RNZ

There have been 8943 new cases of Covid-19 reported in New Zealand over the week to Sunday, and 25 further deaths attributed to the virus.

Of the new cases, 5389 were reinfections.

There were 241 cases in hospital and none in intensive care, as of midnight on Sunday.

The seven-day rolling average of reported new cases was 510, slightly up from last week.

Last week, the ministry reported 4788 new cases of Covid-19 and 34 further deaths.

Originally posted here:

Covid-19: 8943 new cases, 25 further deaths - RNZ

It is the summer of 2024 but COVID-19 is still lingering around. There are new variants, new vaccines and a summer uptick in infections that has been reported across the US. The Centre for Disease Control and Prevention has noted that cases are on the rise across 39 states. The good news is that the hospitalization rate due to the new variant is low. The US too is focusing on a treating particularly vulnerable groups rather than the entire population. It is important to remain vigilant and take basic precautions. Here are all the details of this emerging threat.

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There is another variant known to be LB.1 which is responsible for 18% of all the cases in the US. It is rapidly growing and could soon become the dominant variant causing a major uptick in COVID cases in the US. All these variants are related and are descendants of Omicron which was first detected in 2021. The FLiRT variant is not known to cause any serious illness.

Also Read: US Presidential Debate: Trump claims that Biden would be pumped up on drugs to hide his cognitive decline

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What is vaccine hesitancy?This was particularly notice during the COVID-19 pandemic. Many people refused to take the vaccines due to rumors that were spread and their own belief systems. This is known to be vaccine hesitancy.

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Is the US facing a surge in COVID-19 cases? Symptoms, variants, vaccines and other details - The Economic Times