Category: Covid-19 Vaccine

We have never been in a better position to end the pandemic, Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus told journalists during his regular weekly press conference.

The UN health agencys Director-General explained however, that the world is not there yet.

A marathon runner does not stop when the finish line comes into view. She runs harder, with all the energy she has left. So must we. We can see the finish line. Were in a winning position. But now is the worst time to stop running, he underscored.

He also warned that if the world does not take the opportunity now, there is still a risk of more variants, deaths, disruption, and uncertainty.

So, lets seize this opportunity, he urged, announcing that WHO is releasing six short policy briefs that outline the key actions that all governments must take now to finish the race.

ADB/Richard Atrero de Guzman

People wear protective masks in Tokyo, Japan.

The policy briefs are a summary, based on the evidence and experience of the last 32 months, outlining what works best to save lives, protect health systems, and avoid social and economic disruption.

[They] are an urgent call for governments to take a hard look at their policies and strengthen them for COVID-19 and future pathogens with pandemic potential, Tedros explained.

The documents, which are available online, include recommendations regarding vaccination of most at-risk groups, continued testing and sequencing of the SARS-CoV-2 virus, and integrating effective treatment for COVID-19 into primary healthcare systems.

They also urge authorities to have plans for future surges, including the securing of supplies, equipment, and extra health workers.

The briefs also contain communications advice, including training health workers to identify and address misinformation, as well as creating high-quality informative materials.

Novavax/Patrick Seibert

A laboratory scientist works on the Novavax COVID-19 vaccine.

Tedros underscored that WHO has been working since New Years Eve 2019 to fight against the spread of COVID and will continue to do so until the pandemic is truly over.

We can end this pandemic together, but only if all countries, manufacturers, communities and individuals step up and seize this opportunity, he said.

Dr. Maria Van Kerkhove, WHOs technical lead on COVID-19, highlighted that the virus is still intensely circulating around the world and that the agency believes that case numbers being reported are an underestimate.

We expect that there are going to be future waves of infection, potentially at different time points throughout the world caused by different subvariants of Omicron or even different variants of concern, she said, reiterating her previous warning that the more the virus circulates, the more opportunities it has to mutate.

However, she said, these future waves do not need to translate into waves or death because there are now effective tools such as vaccines and antivirals specifically for COVID-19.

Originally posted here:

The end of the COVID-19 pandemic is in sight: WHO - UN News

It has been more than two and half years since the onset of the COVID-19 pandemic, and despite a return to a new form of normality for many people across the country, there are still hundreds of Americans dying from the virus every day, a grim reality of the pandemic's continued destruction.

The U.S. is currently averaging just under 400 daily COVID-19 related deaths. Although the daily number of fatalities is far lower than it was at the nation's peak, in January 2021, 3,400 Americans died of COVID-19 each day.

"The seven-day average daily deaths are still too high, about 375 per day well above the around 200 deaths a day we saw earlier this spring and, in my mind, far too high for a vaccine-preventable disease," Centers for Disease Control and Prevention Director Dr. Rochelle Walensky said during a White House press briefing with the COVID-19 response team last week.

Over the last seven days, the U.S. has reported 2,500 deaths, and since the beginning of 2022, more than 221,000 Americans have died because of COVID-19.

The vast majority of Americans who are currently dying of COVID-19 are over the age of 75. Although more than 92% of Americans of the age of 65 have been fully vaccinated, many are not up to date on COVID-19 vaccinations, and are at a higher risk for severe disease due to the virus.

The persistently high death rate, alongside concerns over the potential threat of a COVID-19 resurgence, has reignited the call for all Americans to get vaccinated. It is particularly important for those older or more vulnerable to get vaccinated and boosted with the new bivalent shots, which target not only the original strain of the virus, but also the omicron variant, experts said.

"Were calling on all Americans: Roll up your sleeve to get your COVID-19 vaccine shot," White House COVID-19 Coordinator Dr. Ashish Jha said during a press briefing last week. "If youre 12 and above and previously vaccinated, its time to go get an updated COVID-19 shot."

As the vaccine rollout expands, Jha added the administration plans to put "special efforts" into reaching older Americans, people living in congregate care settings such as nursing homes, and others who may be particularly vulnerable to COVID-19.

Throughout the summer, COVID-19 case and hospitalization numbers have oscillated widely across the country. Numbers appeared to be on the decline, but in recent weeks, the number of U.S. wastewater sites reporting increases in the presence of COVID-19 in their samples appears to be back on the rise, after declines seen throughout the latter part of the summer.

In the U.S., about 50% of wastewater sites, which are currently providing data to the CDC, have reported an increase in the presence of the COVID-19 virus in their wastewater, over the last 15 days, up from the 40% of sites reporting increases, last month, according to federal data.

Several sites across the Northeast, in particular, appear to be seeing notable increases. In Boston, wastewater levels had plateaued, after a spring and summer surge, but in recent weeks, data indicates that COVID-19 sampling levels have increased again to their highest level in two months.

However, it is important to note that data is unavailable for many areas of the country, particularly across much of the South and the West.

The U.S. is currently reporting about 70,000 new cases a day. This comes as testing levels have plummeted in recent months, with now under 350,000 tests reported each day the lowest total since the onset of the pandemic.

However, hospital admission levels continue to fall nationally. About 4,500 virus-positive Americans are entering the hospital each day, down by about 8.4% in the last week.

There are currently about 33,000 virus-positive Americans receiving care in the U.S., down from about 37,000 total patients receiving care, one week ago. Overall, the totals remain significantly lower than at the nation's peak in January, when there were more than 160,000 patients hospitalized with the virus.

Read this article:

Hundreds of Americans still dying of COVID-19 each day ahead of the fall - ABC News

A new paper published in Radiology offers updated insight into the presentations of COVID vaccine-related lymphadenopathythis time as visualized on chest MRI exams.

To date, research pertaining to reactive lymphadenopathy has focused mostly on patients with cancer who are routinely staged and monitored via PET/CT or in women undergoing breast cancer screening and/or imaging with mammography and ultrasound. While these studies have helped mold current recommendations regarding the the timing of imaging after COVID vaccination in these patients, there remains a lack of data regarding a more general population, authors of the study suggested.

Recommendations in the early days of 2021 are provisional, and more appropriate management strategies for vaccination-related lymphadenopathy are needed in both the general population and high-risk oncology patients, corresponding author of the paper Takeharu Yoshikawa, of the Department of Computational Diagnostic Radiology and Preventive Medicine at the University of Tokyo Hospital, and colleagues wrote [1].

This study sought to add to the conversation with data that include both men and women300 males and 133 females, to be exactof varying ages. Pre- and post-vaccination chest MRIs were obtained for each patient from June to October 2021. Various metrics were compared between the two scans, including imaging features and other patient health data (time of vaccination, age, etc.).

Continued here:

MRI analysis offers new insight into vaccine-related lymphadenopathy in the general population - Health Imaging

COVID-19 vaccine-induced antibody and T-cell responses in immunosuppressed patients with inflammatory bowel disease after the third vaccine dose (VIP): a multicentre, prospective, case-control study  The Lancet

Go here to read the rest:

COVID-19 vaccine-induced antibody and T-cell responses in immunosuppressed patients with inflammatory bowel disease after the third vaccine dose...

SHREVEPORT, La. - ThePride in the Park Family Festivalreturned toBetty Virginia Park onSaturday, Sept. 10.

Hosted by PACE, the festival celebratedthe lives of Northwest Louisianas LGBTQ community.

The Center of Excellence for Emerging Threats (CEVT) at LSU Health Shreveport was on-hand to offer community COVID-19 vaccinations to those ages 5 and up. The CEVT also offered monkeypox vaccines onsite for individuals who meet vaccine criteria.

Also in attendance at the event were Shreveport mayoral candidates, Tracy Mendels and LeVette Fuller.

The park was teeming with food trucks, entertainers, vendors, and other festivities throughout the day.

Visit link:

'Pride in the Park' event offers monkeypox and Covid-19 vaccines - KTBS

As the 2022-2023 school year begins, the Wisconsin Department of Health Services (DHS) urges parents and guardians to get their children vaccinated against COVID-19. DHS also encourages anyone planning to attend in-person classes at a college or university to stay up to date on their COVID-19 vaccines.

Our mission as we approach the school year is to ensure that every student and our dedicated educators and staff can stay safe, healthy, and in school, said DHS Deputy Secretary Deb Standridge. A critical part of making this possible is ensuring that everyone is vaccinated against COVID-19. Even as new variants emerge, the COVID-19 vaccines continue to do their job of preventing serious illness that can lead to hospitalization and even death. We urge all parents and guardians to help protect our school communities and protect their children against the virus.

Everyone 6 months and older is eligible to receive vaccination against COVID-19. Nearly 389,000 Wisconsin school-age youth ages 5 to 17 have already received their primary series of a COVID-19 vaccine. However, approximately 75% of Wisconsin 5-to-11-year-olds and about 40% of 12-to-17-year-olds are not fully vaccinated against COVID-19. COVID-19 vaccines remain available to all Wisconsinites at no cost.

Over the course of the pandemic, many children fell behind on their routine childhood vaccinations. Back-to-school time is an ideal opportunity to get caught up on those vaccines and get the COVID-19 vaccine, too, said Bureau of Communicable Disease Director Traci DeSalvo. Cooler fall weather, schools being in session, and the coming winter mean people will spend more time inside and in closer proximity to each other. Vaccination remains the best way to prevent a surge in COVID-19 cases and a disruption in our schools, universities and lives.

In addition to vaccination, DHS and schools statewide continue to prepare to keep kids safe and healthy during the upcoming school year. The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) has released updated COVID-19 Operational Guidance for K-12 Schools and Early Care and Education Programs(link is external). DHS supports the updated CDC guidance and encourages each school or school district to closely monitor the COVID-19 Community Levels in their county, along with vaccination rates, illness among students, teachers, and staff, outbreaks, and the age of students served by the school, and adjust their policies as necessary.

Parents, guardians, and students are encouraged to take actions to help prevent the spread of COVID-19 this school year by:

Staying up to date with COVID-19 vaccinations by ensuring all family members have received their recommended vaccine and booster doses.

Staying prepared by knowing the COVID-19 community levels in your area and how to access testing services. Many schools statewide will once again offer COVID-19 testing services and every U.S. household remains eligible to receive free at-home tests that can be ordered online at covid.gov. Many health insurers will also cover as many as eight free at-home tests per person each month. Check with your health insurer about how to get reimbursed.

Taking action if exposed to COVID-19 by monitoring for symptoms, wearing a mask around others indoors, and getting tested on day five following exposure.

Staying home when sick with COVID-19 or any other illness to prevent spreading it to others.

DHS will continue to offer support programs for schools and early childhood education facilities as the school year begins, including access to mobile vaccination clinics, a K-12 COVID-19 testing program, and stockpile of personal protective equipment (PPE) that includes child-size masks. During the 2021-2022 school year, the states K-12 COVID-19 Testing Program supported participating schools and districts in administering more than 800,000 tests to students and staff. In addition, DHS provided schools with approximately 1.4 million pieces of PPE, such as gloves and masks.

View post:

DHS urges COVID-19 vaccination for a healthy school year - The Baldwin Bulletin

LEONARDTOWN, MD (September 9, 2022) By amendedauthorization from the U.S. Food and Drug Administration, the St. Marys County Health Department (SMCHD) will now offer the new bivalent formulations of the Moderna and Pfizer-BioNTech COVID-19 vaccines for use as a single booster dose at least two months following primary or prior booster vaccination. The bivalent vaccines are administered after the original series has already been completed.

The updated booster is a formula that both boosts immunity against the original coronavirus strain and protects against the newer Omicron variants that account for most of the current cases. The Moderna bivalent COVID-19 vaccine is authorized for use as a single booster dose in individuals 18 years of age and older. The Pfizer-BioNTech bivalent COVID-19 vaccine is authorized for use as a single booster dose in individuals 12 years of age and older.

These updated vaccines will enhance protection against COVID-19 and its variants, including the newer Omicron strains that are circulating and causing both new and repeat infections, said Dr. Meena Brewster, St. Marys County Health Officer. As new variants of the virus emerge, we expect vaccines will be updated similarly to how we update the flu vaccine. This should help community members better protect themselves from severe illness and infection.

For more information or to make a vaccine appointment, please visit:smchd.org/covid-19-vaccineand select the patient age group for available clinic dates.

Call SMCHD at (301) 475-4330 for questions or assistance making an appointment over the phone. Please review theallergy guidanceand theFAQs for SMCHD COVID-19 Vaccinationbefore registering for a vaccine appointment. COVID-19 vaccines are also available through primary care offices and local pharmacies.

Like Loading...

Related

Link:

New Bivalent Formulations of COVID-19 Vaccine Now Offered at SMCHD - The Southern Maryland Chronicle

A team of nine experts from Harvard, Johns Hopkins, and other top universities has published paradigm-shifting research about the efficacy and safety of the COVID-19 vaccines and why mandating vaccines for college students is unethical.

This 50-page study, which was published on The Social Science Research Network at the end of August, analyzed CDC and industry-sponsored data on vaccine adverse events, and concluded that mandates for COVID-19 boosters for young people may cause 18 to 98 actual serious adverse events for each COVID-19 infection-related hospitalization theoretically prevented.

The paper is co-authored by Dr. Stefan Baral, an epidemiology professor at Johns Hopkins University; surgeon Martin Adel Makary, M.D., a professor at Johns Hopkins known for his books exposing medical malfeasance, including Unaccountable: What Hospitals Wont Tell You and How Transparency Can Revolutionize Heath Care; and Dr. Vinayak Prasad, a hematologist-oncologist, who is a professor in the UCSF Department of Epidemiology and Biostatistics, as well as the author of over 350 academic and peer-reviewed articles.

But among this team of high-profile international experts who authored this paper, perhaps the most notable is Salmaan Keshavjee, M.D., Ph.D., current Director of the Harvard Medical School Center for Global Health Delivery, and professor of Global Health and Social Medicine at Harvard Medical School. Keshavjee has also worked extensively with Partners In Health, a Boston-based non-profit co-founded by the late Dr. Paul Farmer, on treating drug-resistant tuberculosis, according to his online biography.

As the study pointed out, students at universities in America, Canada, and Mexico are being told they must have a third dose of the vaccines against COVID-19 or be disenrolled. Unvaccinated high school students who are just starting college are also being told the COVID-19 vaccines are mandatory for attendance.

These mandates are widespread. There are currently 15 states which continue to honor philosophical (personal belief) exemptions, and 44 states and Washington, D.C. allow religious exemptions to vaccines. But even in these states, private universities are telling parents they will not accept state-recognized vaccine exemptions.

Based on personal interviews with some half a dozen families, The Epoch Times has learned that administrators at some colleges and universities are informing students that they have their own university-employed medical teams to scrutinize the medical exemptions submitted by students and signed by private doctors. These doctors, families are being told, will decide whether the health reasons given are medically valid.

Though rarely reported on in the mainstream media, COVID-19 vaccine boosters have been generating a lot of controversy.

While some countries are quietly compensating people for devastating vaccine injuries, and other countries are limiting COVID-19 vaccine recommendations, the United States is now recommending children 12 and older get Pfizer-BioNTechs Omicron-specific booster, and young adults over the age of 18 get Modernas updated shot.

At the same time, public health authorities in Canada are suggesting Canadians will need COVID-19 vaccines every 90 days.

Against a backdrop of confusing and often changing public health recommendations and booster fatigue, the authors of this new paper argue that university booster mandates are unethical. They give five specific reasons for this bold claim:

1) Lack of policymaking transparency. The scientists pointed out that no formal and scientifically rigorous risk-benefit analysis of whether boosters are helpful in preventing severe infections and hospitalizations exists for young adults.

2) Expected harm. A look at the currently available data shows that mandates will result in what the authors call a net expected harm to young people. This expected harm will exceed the potential benefit from the boosters.

3) Lack of efficacy. The vaccines have not effectively prevented transmission of COVID-19. Given how poorly they workthe authors call this modest and transient effectivenessthe expected harms caused by the boosters likely outweigh any benefits to public health.

4) No recourse for vaccine-injured young adults. Forcing vaccination as a prerequisite to attend college is especially problematic because young people injured by these vaccines will likely not be able to receive compensation for these injuries.

5) Harm to society. Mandates, the authors insisted, ostracize unvaccinated young adults, excluding them from education and university employment opportunities. Coerced vaccination entails major infringements to free choice of occupation and freedom of association, the scientists wrote, especially when mandates are not supported by compelling public health justification.

The consequences of non-compliance include being unenrolled, losing internet privileges, losing access to the gym and other athletic facilities, and being kicked out of campus housing, among other things. These punitive approaches, according to the authors, have resulted in unnecessary psychosocial stress, reputation damage, loss of income, and fear of being deported, to name just a few.

The lack of effectiveness of the vaccines is a major concern to these researchers. Based on their analysis of the public data provided to the CDC, they estimated that between 22,000 and 30,000 previously uninfected young adults would need to be boosted with an mRNA vaccine to prevent just a single hospitalization.

However, this estimate does not take into account the protection conferred by a previous infection. So, the authors insisted, this should be considered a conservative and optimistic assessment of benefit.

In other words, the mRNA vaccines against COVID-19 are essentially useless.

But the documented lack of efficacy is only part of the problem. The researchers further found that per every one COVID-19 hospitalization prevented in young adults who had not previously been infected with COVID-19, the data show that 18 to 98 serious adverse events will be caused by the vaccinations themselves.

These events include up to three times as many booster-associated myocarditis in young men than hospitalizations prevented, and as many as 3,234 cases of other side effects so serious that they interfere with normal daily activities.

At a regional hospital in South Carolina, the desk clerk sported a button that read: Im Vaccinated Against COVID-19 with a big black check mark on it.

What about the boosters? a hospital visitor asked. Its starting to seem like we need too many shots.

It does seem like a lot, the clerk agreed. Its hard to know what to do. But she did have some advice for the visitor: Just keep reading and educating yourself, so you can make an informed decision.

This new paper is essential reading for anyone trying to decide if they need more vaccines. The authors concluded their study with a call to action. Policymakers must stop mandates for young adults immediately, be sure that those who have already been injured by these vaccines are compensated for the suffering caused by mandates, and openly conduct and share the results of risk-benefit analyses of the vaccines for various age groups.

These measures are necessary, the authors argued, to begin what will be a long process of rebuilding trust in public health.

The two co-first authors, Dr. Kevin Bardosh and Dr. Allison Krug, both thanked their families for supporting them to publicly debate Covid-19 vaccine mandates in the acknowledgments section of the paper.

As we wrote in May, an increasing number of scientists and medical doctors are speaking out about the dubious efficacy and disturbing safety issues surrounding theses fast-tracked COVID-19 vaccines. They do so fully aware of the personal and professional risks involved. They deserve our encouragement and support.

Views expressed in this article are the opinions of the author and do not necessarily reflect the views of The Epoch Times. Epoch Health welcomes professional discussion and friendly debate. To submit an opinion piece, please follow these guidelines and submit through our form here.

Excerpt from:

'Unethical' and up to 98 Times Worse Than the Disease: Top Scientists Publish Paradigm-Shifting Study About COVID-19 Vaccines - The Epoch Times

Over the years, PolitiFact has debunked several death hoaxes about Queen Elizabeth II, but on Sept. 8, Buckingham Palace announced that she had died at age 96.

The royal family has not specified a cause of death, but on Twitter, unfounded claims that her passing is connected to the COVID-19 vaccine proliferated.

"The Covid vaccines target old people, look at the queen," one tweet said.

"The queen was poisoned with vaccine," another said.

Heres what we know.

The palace said "the queen died peacefully at Balmoral this afternoon." Elizabeth spent several weeks each summer at Balmoral Castle in Scotland and the palace announced hours before her death that she was under medical supervision there.

Her son, now King Charles III, said in a statement posted on Twitter that he and his family "mourn profoundly the passing of a cherished Sovereign and a much-loved Mother." He didnt mention the COVID-19 vaccine.

RELATED VIDEO

Elizabeth and her late husband, Prince Philip, were first vaccinated against COVID-19 in January 2021. She tested positive for COVID-19 about a year later. News reports then noted that she had been fully vaccinated and received a booster shot by the time of her diagnosis.

In the months since, media reported on health issues affecting the queen especially COVID-19 but there was nothing about a vaccine endangering her life.

Older adults are more likely to get severely sick from COVID-19, according to the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, and people 65 and older who received both doses of either the Pfizer or Moderna COVID-19 vaccines showed a 94% reduced risk of being hospitalized because of the disease. Studies have shown that the vaccines are safe and that severe side effects, including death, are rare.

Claims that the queen died because of the COVID-19 vaccine lack evidence. We rate them False.

Go here to see the original:

Claims Queen Elizabeth died because of the COVID-19 vaccine spread without evidence - PolitiFact

Politics | News

(PAP) mf/mrb September 09, 2022

Health Minister Adam Niedzielski announced on Twitter that the first batch of over 450,000 targeted vaccines against Covid-19 had arrived in Poland on Friday.

"The first shipment of #OmikronBA.1 targeted vaccines has just arrived at @RARS_GOV_PL warehouses - over 450,000 doses. Another, larger shipment in a week. Next week we will inform about the rules for taking the 4th dose in the 12 plus group," the health minister tweeted.

The European Commission on September 2 approved two vaccines adapted to provide wider protection against Covid-19 - Comirnaty Original/Omicron BA.1 and Spikevax Bivalent Original/Omicron BA.1, intended for use for people aged 12 years and older who have already received at least primary vaccination against Covid-19.

Original post:

First shipment of latest targeted Covid-19 vaccines reach Poland - health min - The First News