Coronavirus Updates June 2023

[missy]

Happy June! Hopefully this thread will not be very active fingers crossed but for those who are following I will post June updates here

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Menopause and Long COVID: What Women Should Know​

Lisa Mulcahy
June 06, 2023



As doctors and researchers learn more about long COVID, an interesting fact has emerged: Women experiencing menopause and perimenopause appear to be more likely to experience serious complications from the virus.
British researchers have newly noted that women at midlife who have long COVID seem to get specific, and severe, symptoms, including brain fog, fatigue, new-onset dizziness, and difficulty sleeping through the night.
Doctors also think it's possible that long COVID worsens the symptoms of perimenopause and menopause. Lower levels of estrogen and testosterone appear to be the reason.

"A long COVID theory is that there is a temporary disruption to physiological ovarian steroid hormone production, which could [worsen] symptoms of perimenopause and menopause," said JoAnn V. Pinkerton, MD, professor of obstetrics at the University of Virginia in Charlottesville and executive director of the North American Menopause Society.


Long COVID symptoms and menopause symptoms can also be very hard to tell apart.

Another U.K. study cautions that because of this kind of symptom overlap, women at midlife may be misdiagnosed. Research from the North American Menopause Society shows that many women may have trouble recovering from long COVID unless their hormone deficiency is treated.

Read on for a closer look at the connection between long COVID and menopause, so you can give your doctor the right info for the right diagnosis and get the treatment you need.

What Are the Symptoms of Long COVID?​

There are over 200 symptoms that have been associated with long COVID, according to the American Medical Association. Some common symptoms are currently defined as:

• Feeling extremely tired
• Feeling depleted after exertion
• Cognitive issues such as brain fog
• Your heart beating over 100 times a minute
• Losing your sense of smell and taste

Long COVID symptoms begin a few weeks to a few months after a COVID infection. They can last an indefinite amount of time, but "the hope is that long COVID will not be lifelong," said Clare Flannery, MD, an endocrinologist and associate professor in the departments of obstetrics, gynecology and reproductive sciences and internal medicine at Yale School of Medicine in New Haven, CT.

What Are the Symptoms of Menopause?​

Some symptoms of menopause include:

• Vaginal infections
• Irregular bleeding
• Urinary problems
• Sexual problems

Women in their middle years have other symptoms that can be the same as perimenopause/menopause symptoms.

"Common symptoms of perimenopause and menopause which may also be symptoms ascribed to long COVID include hot flashes, night sweats, disrupted sleep, low mood, depression or anxiety, decreased concentration, memory problems, joint and muscle pains, and headaches," Pinkerton said.

Can Long COVID Actually Bring on Menopause?​

In short: Possibly.

A new study from the Massachusetts Institute of Technology/Patient-Led Research Collaborative/University of California, San Francisco finds that long COVID can cause disruptions to a woman's menstrual cycle, ovaries, fertility, and menopause itself.

This could be due to chronic inflammation caused by long COVID on hormones as well. This kind of inflammatory response could explain irregularities in a woman's menstrual cycle, according to the Newson Health Research and Education study.

For instance, "When the body has inflammation, ovulation can happen," Flannery said.

The mechanism for how long COVID could spur menopause can also involve a woman's ovaries.

"Since the theory is that COVID affects the ovary with declines in ovarian reserve and ovarian function, it makes sense that long COVID could bring on symptoms of perimenopause or menopause more acutely or more severely and lengthen the symptoms of the perimenopause and menopausal transition," Pinkerton said.

How Can Hormone Replacement Therapy Benefit Women Dealing With Long COVID During Menopause?​

Estradiol, the strongest estrogen hormone in a woman's body, has already been shown to have a positive effect against COVID.

"Estradiol therapy treats symptoms more aggressively in the setting of long COVID," said Flannery.

Estradiol is also a form of hormone replacement therapy, or HRT, for menopause symptoms.

"Estradiol has been shown to help hot flashes, night sweats, and sleep and improve mood during perimenopause," said Pinkerton. "So it's likely that perimenopausal or menopausal women with long COVID would see improvements both due to the action of estradiol on the ovary seen during COVID and the improvements in symptoms."

Estrogen-based HRT has been linked to an increased risk for endometrial, breast, and ovarian cancer, according to the American Cancer Society. This means you should carefully consider how comfortable you are with those additional risks before starting this kind of therapy.

"Which of your symptoms are the most difficult to manage? You may see if you can navigate one to three of them. What are you willing to do for your symptoms? If a woman is willing to favor her sleep for the next 6 months to a year, she may be willing to change how she perceives her risk for cancer," Flannery said. "What risk is a woman willing to take? I think if someone has a very low concern about a risk of cancer, and she's suffering a disrupted life, then taking estradiol in a 1- to 2-year trial period could be critical to help."

Discussing your specific risk factors and concerns with your doctor can help you to make the right choice.

What Else Can Help If I Have Long COVID During Menopause?​

Getting the COVID vaccine if you haven't already, as well as getting a booster, could help. Not only will this help prevent you from being reinfected with COVID, which can worsen your symptoms, but a new Swedish study says there is no evidence that it will cause postmenopausal problems like irregular bleeding.

"Weak and inconsistent associations were observed between SARS-CoV-2 vaccination and healthcare contacts for bleeding in women who are postmenopausal, and even less evidence was recorded of an association for menstrual disturbance or bleeding in women who were premenopausal," said study co-author Rickard Ljung, MD, PhD, MPH, professor and acting head of the pharmacoepidemiology and analysis department in the Division of Use and Information of the Swedish Medical Products Agency in Uppsala, Sweden.

In terms of self-care, try to relieve any hormonal symptoms you might have had prior to long COVID.

Treating perimenopause symptoms can be helpful, Flannery said. Doing so may reduce your discomfort from long COVID as well, if your two health problems are indeed intertwined.


"Good nutrition — avoiding carbs and sweets particularly before periods — plus getting at least 7 hours of sleep and regular exercise, reducing your stress, and avoiding excess alcohol can help women ovarian function during ovarian fluctuations," Pinkerton said.


Taking these sensible steps can help you feel better.

Sources​

JoAnn V. Pinkerton, MD, professor of obstetrics, University of Virginia in Charlottesville; executive director, North American Menopause Society.


Clare Flannery, MD, associate professor, departments of obstetrics, gynecology and reproductive sciences and internal medicine, Yale School of Medicine, New Haven, CT.


Rickard Ljung, MD, PhD, MPH, professor and acting head, pharmacoepidemiology and analysis department, Division of Use and Information, Swedish Medical Products Agency, Uppsala, Sweden.

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[missy]

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Wild Mammals Roamed When Covid Kept Humans Home
By Emily Anthes
June 8, 2023



The News

When pandemic-related shutdowns kept people at home in early 2020, wild mammals roamed more freely across the landscape, according to a large global study that was published in Science on Thursday. The study is based on data collected by location-tracking tags affixed to 2,300 animals from 43 species, including brown bears in Alaska, giant anteaters in Brazil, reindeer in Norway, lions in Kenya and Asian elephants in Myanmar.

In places with the strictest lockdowns, the animals’ long-distance movements over a 10-day period increased by 73 percent, the researchers found, suggesting that the animals were ranging more widely and expanding their habitats. “Animals were able to go about their business without having to worry about where the humans were,” said Marlee Tucker, an ecologist at Radboud University in the Netherlands and an author of the new study. “Because for a lot of species, humans are seen as risky.”

On shorter time scales, however, the mammals seemed more inclined to stay put; their top travel distances in any given hour were shorter than in 2019. That could be a sign that the animals were less likely to encounter people or cars that caused them to flee, the researchers said. In the most human-dominated habitats, the animals were also 36 percent closer to roads during the shutdowns, they found.
ImageSix mountain goats walk in an empty street lined with closed-up storefronts on a bright day.
Mountain goats roaming the empty streets of Llandudno, Wales, in March 2020.Credit...Christopher Furlong/Getty Images

Why It Matters: Traffic can take a toll on wildlife.

Many previous studies have shown that roads can alter the behavior of wild animals. But it has been difficult to disentangle the effects of permanent changes to the landscape, such as clearing forests to build a freeway, from the effects of daily human activity, such as rush-hour traffic.

During the early weeks and months of the pandemic, the cars disappeared while the roads, of course, remained, allowing scientists to tease out the effects of traffic. The new findings reinforce those from smaller, more localized pandemic-era studies, providing further evidence that many wild animals change their behavior — and quickly — when cars disappear.

In some ways that is good news, suggesting that even temporary limits on traffic — in critical habitats during certain breeding or migration seasons, for example — could have benefits for animals, Dr. Tucker said. “It shows that animals still have this flexibility or ability to adapt their behavior in response to us,” she said.

Background: Scientists have been investigating the “anthropause.”

The sudden global decline in human movement that followed the arrival of Covid-19 is sometimes called the “anthropause.” Scientists around the world used it as an opportunity to learn more about how humans affect the natural world and what happens when they disappear.

The new study is a product of the Covid-19 Bio-Logging Initiative, which began in 2020. After the shutdowns began, scientists who were already tracking wild animal movements for their own research projects began working together, compiling their data to learn more about animal movements during the pandemic. In total, more than 600 researchers have contributed more than a billion location records for roughly 13,000 animals across 200 species, said Christian Rutz, a behavioral ecologist at the University of St. Andrews in Scotland and the chair of the initiative, which is pursuing multiple lines of investigation.

In the new Science study, researchers compared the movements of terrestrial mammals during the initial lockdowns, which began between Feb. 1 and April 28, 2020, with their movements during the same period in 2019. Although the researchers uncovered some general trends, they also documented considerable variability, finding stronger effects in some species and regions than in others.

What’s Next: More data is coming soon.

The researchers are interested in investigating what happened after the lockdowns eased and whether wild mammals reverted to their previous movement patterns as humans returned to their normal activities.

The bio-logging initiative is continuing and should be ready to publish more results about both bird and mammal movements soon, Dr. Rutz said in an email. “It’s so exciting to be able to share these findings after a three-year journey,” he said. “And we are already thinking about next steps for investigating human-wildlife interactions.”
Emily Anthes is a reporter for The Times, where she focuses on science and health and covers topics like the coronavirus pandemic, vaccinations, virus testing and Covid in children.

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[missy]

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https://www.nejm.org/doi/full/10.1056/NEJMp2305081?query=WB&cid=NEJM%20Weekend%20Briefing,%20June%2010,%202023%20DM2232167_NEJM_Non_Subscriber&bid=1611912229

Perspective

The Origins of Covid-19 — Why It Matters (and Why It Doesn’t)​

List of authors.

• Lawrence O. Gostin, J.D.,
• and Gigi K. Gronvall, Ph.D.

When health emergencies arise, scientists seek to discover the cause — such as how a pathogen emerged and spread — because this knowledge can enhance our understanding of risks and strategies for prevention, preparedness, and mitigation. Yet well into the fourth year of the Covid-19 pandemic, intense political and scientific debates about its origins continue. The two major hypotheses are a natural zoonotic spillover, most likely occurring at the Huanan Seafood Wholesale Market, and a laboratory leak from the Wuhan Institute of Virology (WIV). It is worth examining the efforts to discover the origins of SARS-CoV-2, the political obstacles, and what the evidence tells us. This evidence can help clarify the virus’s evolutionary path. But regardless of the origins of the virus, there are steps the global community can take to reduce future pandemic threats.

Key Events in the Effort to Determine the Origins of the Covid-19 Pandemic.
The origins story dates back to December 31, 2019, when the World Health Organization (WHO) learned of a cluster of cases of pneumonia of unknown cause in Wuhan (see timeline). Wuhan authorities closed the Huanan market the next day, rendering live animals unavailable for testing. China publicly shared the SARS-CoV-2 genetic sequence on January 10, 2020. It was not until weeks after the WHO declared Covid-19 a Public Health Emergency of International Concern on January 30 that the WHO–China Joint Mission visited Beijing and Wuhan (February 16 to February 24).
The joint WHO–China technical report published in March 2021 rated a zoonotic spillover as a “likely to very likely” source of the virus, cold food–chain products as “possible,” and a laboratory incident as “extremely unlikely.”1 The WHO director-general immediately repudiated the report’s findings, believing it was premature to rule out a possible laboratory incident. An open letter published in Science on May 14, 2021, credited the laboratory theory, calling for open access to laboratory records and science-based studies.2 On October 13, 2021, the WHO director-general established the Scientific Advisory Group for the Origins of Novel Pathogens (SAGO). China officially rejected the WHO’s plan for a second phase of investigation of origins. The SAGO’s preliminary report warned that China was withholding key data.
Recently, a team of international experts announced that they had identified data on SARS-CoV-2–positive environmental samples collected from the Huanan market in January 2020, which China had withheld from the public domain for 3 years. Chinese scientists had uploaded the data to GISAID (the Global Initiative on Sharing All Influenza Data) but then removed them. In response to pressure from the WHO, China restored those data to GISAID.
Determining the origins of SARS-CoV-2 should be strictly a scientific matter, but it has become embroiled in politics. In March 2020, the Chinese Ministry of Foreign Affairs alleged, without evidence, that U.S. Army personnel had introduced SARS-CoV-2 during a visit to Wuhan, prompting President Donald Trump to claim that the virus originated at the WIV. Accusing the director-general of siding with China, Trump notified the United Nations that the United States intended to withdraw from the WHO. Although President Joe Biden later reversed that decision, the origins controversy has continued. On May 26, 2021, Biden ordered U.S. intelligence agencies to review the competing origins hypotheses. The Office of the Director of National Intelligence released the “Declassified Assessment on COVID-19 Origins,” finding that the evidence to support either of the two plausible theories was inconclusive and acknowledging that China’s cooperation was necessary for reaching any conclusive assessment.3
Origins politics heated up early this year. On January 25, 2023, the Office of the Inspector General of the Department of Health and Human Services concluded that the National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases had failed to adequately oversee a grant to the EcoHealth Alliance for research into bat viruses at the WIV.4 A month later, the Department of Energy, which oversees a network of 17 U.S. laboratories, concluded with “low confidence” that SARS-CoV-2 most likely arose from a laboratory incident. The Federal Bureau of Investigation said it favored the laboratory theory with “moderate” confidence. Four other agencies, along with a national intelligence panel, still judge that SARS-CoV-2 emerged from natural zoonotic spillover, while two remain undecided. All U.S. intelligence agencies rejected the allegation that participants in a clandestine Chinese biologic weapons program intentionally developed SARS-CoV-2. Yet a report issued in mid-December 2022 by Republican members of the House of Representatives still credited that theory. On March 20, 2023, Biden signed a bill declassifying documents about Covid-19’s origins, and Congress commenced hearings.
Of the three possibilities — natural, accidental, or deliberate — the most scientific evidence yet identified supports natural emergence. More than half of the earliest Covid-19 cases were connected to the Huanan market, and epidemiologic mapping revealed that the concentration of cases was centered there. In January 2020, Chinese officials cleared the market without testing live animals, but positive environmental samples, including those from an animal cage and a hair-and-feather–removal machine, indicated the presence of both SARS-CoV-2 and Covid-susceptible animals.5 Recently released findings included raccoon dog DNA, pointing to a possible SARS-CoV-2 progenitor. Samples from early cases in humans also contained two different SARS-CoV-2 lineages. Although only one lineage spread globally, the existence of multiple lineages suggests that a SARS-CoV-2 epidemic in animals may have led to multiple spillover events.
Proponents of the accidental laboratory leak theory stress the geographic location of the WIV in the city where the pandemic began. They point to the presence of the bat coronavirus RaTG13 strain at the laboratory, arguing that genetic manipulations such as gain-of-function (GOF) research may have produced SARS-CoV-2. Most scientists refute this theory because there is considerable evolutionary distance between the two viruses. However, the possibility that the laboratory held a different progenitor strain to SARS-CoV-2 that led to a laboratory leak cannot be unequivocally ruled out.
China’s obfuscation may mean that we will never have certainty about the origins of the greatest pandemic in more than a century. After all the world has suffered in loss of life, economic hardship, and exacerbated health disparities, there is intrinsic value in knowing the cause. An objectively determined body of scientific facts cannot fully defuse the political rhetoric surrounding the origins investigation, but the search must continue. The newly released genetic data may reveal whether specific animals were infected and offer information about where they came from, opening new possibilities to investigate, which may also improve attribution techniques for investigating future outbreaks. Irrespective of Covid’s origins, future outbreaks could result from deliberate, accidental, or natural causes, and improving our ability to understand and prove theories will be critical. We propose three important steps for fortifying pandemic preparedness.
First, preventing spillovers by using a One Health strategy linking animal, human, and environmental health is vital. Some 60% of outbreaks of diseases previously unseen in humans arise from natural zoonoses. Human and animal populations could be separated more effectively with stricter regulation of wet markets and enforcement of laws prohibiting wildlife trade. Land-management efforts such as halting deforestation would benefit the environment while creating a buffer between wildlife and humans. Widespread use of sustainable and humane farming practices would eliminate overcrowding of domesticated animals and curtail prophylactic antimicrobial use — with added benefits in preventing antimicrobial resistance.
Second, it is important to fortify laboratory safety to reduce the risks of unintentional release of a dangerous pathogen. Regulatory requirements should include site-specific and activity-specific risk assessments to identify and mitigate risks; core protocols for infection prevention and control; and training for proper use of, and access to, personal protective equipment. International standards exist for biorisk management, which should be broadly adopted.
Third, GOF research designed to elucidate the transmissibility or pathogenicity traits of pathogens should be appropriately overseen to reduce risks while allowing important research and vaccine development to continue. Such research may result in the creation of microbes with enhanced pandemic potential, which could be released unintentionally or intentionally. However, there is no international agreement about which research activities are problematic or how to reduce risks. On January 27, 2023, the U.S. National Science Advisory Board for Biosecurity issued a more rigorous framework for oversight of research, which prominent virologists criticized as overbroad and inhibitory to U.S. vaccine development. Since GOF research is conducted in laboratories globally, an international framework is needed.
Since the pandemic’s earliest days, controversy has swirled about how it began. Origins investigations are scientific endeavors, but we need to plan ahead so that scientists get rapid access to key geographic sites, open scientific exchange, and full transparency. Though such investigations proceed more slowly than the news cycle, these steps are the keys to unlocking the mystery surrounding Covid-19 and preparing the world for the future outbreaks that are certain to occur.
Disclosure forms provided by the authors are available at NEJM.org.
This article was published on June 7, 2023, at NEJM.org.

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[missy]

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Panic and neglect; panic and neglect​

KATELYN JETELINA JUN 14

​

A few weeks ago, Congress agreed upon a new budget for the United States. Folded into negotiations was the budget for public health, specifically COVID-19 funding. It was all slashed.
This probably makes sense to the average person. We are, of course, in a different phase of the pandemic. One that seems more manageable. Why would COVID possibly need funding?
What the average person doesn’t see is the chaos rippling throughout public health under the surface this week. This chaos is due, in part, to canceling contracts and entire programs within days—but also to an incredibly defeatist reality: the clearest sign yet that the U.S. is resorting to its roots—cycles of panic and neglect.

This cycle isn’t new.​

The cycle of panic and neglect isn’t new; in fact, it even has a name. The Sisyphean Cycle was coined after Greek mythology in which Sisyphus— a “trickster who receives eternal punishment for trying to cheat death”—was condemned by the gods to roll a boulder up a steep hill for eternity. Every time he reached the top of the hill, the rock rolled back down to the bottom, forcing him to start all over again.

​

Sound familiar, public health world? COVID-19 wasn’t the first boulder we’ve pushed up a hill.
During the 2003 SARS epidemic, for example, a SARS vaccine was approaching phase III clinical trials. We were pushing that boulder up as quickly as possible, and the top of the hill was in sight. When SARS was (thankfully) contained, research money quickly dried up, no vaccine was made, and the boulder fell down the hill. If we had gotten that boulder to the top, a COVID-19 vaccine would have been developed a whole lot quicker 17 years later.
We in public health were truly hoping that a pandemic could change this model. Losing 1.5 million lives in the U.S. would surely change something? Perhaps public health could finally be considered in the same tier as medicine or even national security?
Doesn’t look like it.
After giving our all, we are actively watching the boulder roll back down the hill. It’s no wonder public health is made up of exhausted, demoralized souls and empty desks.

It doesn’t have to be like this.​

Not every country has experienced the same level of COVID deaths during the pandemic, in part because other countries fixed this perpetual cycle. One example I love is Vietnam.

​

Vietnam continues to have the lowest cumulative COVID deaths in the world. This isn’t because they had a magic 8 ball. One major reason is that they learned from their previous mistakes. After an imperfect response to SARS, they changed their entire system through adequate funding and implementation of a national public health response system, core communications, and emergency capabilities. It paid off.

Why didn’t the pandemic change anything in the U.S.?​

One phrase: Catch-22.
Some leaders and the public don’t see the value of investing in public health because public health didn’t do well during the pandemic. But, of course, public health couldn’t do well given a perpetually fragmented, underfunded, public health system that was then politicized. We were fighting a 21st-century health threat with a 19th-century system. Beyond a pandemic, public health works in the background, in an invisible way whose value is incredibly challenging to communicate.
Because of that, decision-makers who support public health are tasked with impossible decisions: Do we keep Medicaid expansions for millions or do we keep wastewater surveillance? I agree with keeping health insurance during this last budget negotiation, as that puts out fires today. But what about the fires in the future?
Beyond the national budget, an equally huge problem is the inability for flexible funding. The CDC, for example, has ~180 budget lines with no flexibility. They can’t move money to where it’s needed during an emergency or the aftermath of an emergency. Losing COVID money today means losing a ton of fixes we implemented in the past 3.5 years.
Congress and Congress alone can fix this.

Bottom line​

Public health has brought a massive boulder up the hill for the past 3.5 years. We certainly did not do this in a perfect fashion, but I would argue we did it exactly how we were set up to in the U.S. And because of that, many people lost their lives.
It’s heartbreaking to watch the boulder go down the hill again.


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[missy]

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FDA's fall 2023 vaccine plan​

KATELYN JETELINA JUN 15

Today a much anticipated meeting took place at the FDA. Their external scientific committee—called VRBPAC—voted unanimously to update the COVID-19 vaccine in anticipation of the fall 2023-2024 respiratory illness season.

Here are your Cliff notes.

Why update the COVID-19 vaccines?​

We could keep the same vaccine formula this fall, but several reasons we should update were presented:

SARS-CoV-2 continues to mutate quickly—about 2 times faster than the flu. It’s normal to update vaccines when the virus mutates quickly. For example, we update vaccines for flu (which changes ~annually) and we don’t update vaccines for measles (which hasn’t mutated in a meaningful way for decades).

The current Omicron variant (XBB) circulating is meaningfully differentthan other Omicron variants. The map below shows the differences, with XBB pretty distant. This suggests an updated vaccine with XBB would help our immune systems recognize the change.

​

(CDC Slide here)
COVID-19 vaccines are waning in protection against hospitalization (62% effectiveness → 24%) and ICU admission, albeit with a smaller decline (69% → 52%). This is happening faster when exposed to XBB virus compared to other Omicron variants.

​

But it’s really important to recognize that these numbers are relative. Even though vaccine effectiveness is waning, the hospitals aren’t filling up. This is because vaccine effectiveness now represents the incremental benefit above and beyond the baseline protection in the general population. This is different than when we first introduced vaccines and the general population had a very low immunity wall.

Helps with other layers of protection. Antibodies aren’t the whole story; getting data on our other layers of defense, like B-cells (antibody factories) and T-cells (slower to respond but important for severe disease), has been difficult.

I was happy to see data on these presented today:

• B-cell data showed that our antibody factories are able to adapt and pump out updated antibodies. In other words, there is imprinting from initial exposure (as expected) but our system is still adaptable. This is good news because it means that updated vaccine formulas expand our protection. It’s not all for nothing.
• T-cell data also showed clear 2-fold increases after an updated booster. This was the case regardless of prior infection.

Bivalent to monovalent… again?​

The original vaccine was monovalent (vaccine formula targeted one variant—Wuhan). Then, in 2022, the vaccine formula was updated to bivalent (targeted two variants—Wuhan and Omicron BA.4/5). Now, the FDA wants to go back to monovalent (targeting only Omicron XBB).

Why go back to just one strain? A few reasons:

• WHO is not seeing any evidence that the earliest variant is still circulating. So we can drop that from the formula. In fact, including it could hurt as we keep teaching our immune system to recognize the old version of the virus rather than the new one.
• There really isn’t anything else popping up except XBB variants. It’s smart to focus on this.
• Novavax found that a monovalent vaccine may be more advantageous to mice’s immune systems than a bivalent vaccine. Moderna found the same thing.

​

There is the possibility of a variant popping out of nowhere, which would favor putting another variant into the vaccine formula. But what variant? Predicting this is close to impossible.

Other interesting snippets​

• Novavax will be an option this fall. I know people will be happy about this.
• Nextgen vaccines are at least 2 years away, if we are lucky.
• Everyone’s curious to see how this year plays out. The rest of the year will be very telling as to whether COVID-19 has settled into a seasonal, predictable pattern.
• Comparing COVID-19 to the flu is helpful, but the viruses, and thus processes, are different. This needs to be communicated better. Perhaps worth a YLE post.
• Don’t let anyone tell you there are no human data on these vaccines. All vaccine manufacturers presented preliminary data on humans and animals. What we do not have yet is the safety of these vaccines when combined with RSV and flu vaccines.
• There seems to finally be global alignment. This was not the case last year when the WHO recommended BA.1 and the U.S. chose BA.4/5 vaccine formulas. This year, the U.S., E.U., and WHO seem to agree on XBB, which is a welcome development.
• Communication. Someone needs to help the FDA communicate all this. As one member said, we need to ensure we are “sending the right messages and setting the right expectations” for the public, including risk communications. (Yes, yes, yes.)

Vote​

All VRBPAC members (21) voted in favor of updating the vaccine formula to XBB for fall.

So, what’s next?​

Pfizer, Moderna, and Novavax will start manufacturing millions of vaccines. Once they’re ready, the FDA will approve the updated vaccine. Then ACIP will determine who should get the vaccines. Expect this to happen in late summer or early fall.

Bottom line​

Expect an updated COVID-19 vaccine formula this fall that targets the XBB Omicron variant. One massive question remains, though: Who will be eligible? We will know in a few months. Stay tuned.

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[Daisys and Diamonds]

i dont belong to any facebook internet groups so im oblivouse to these rumors going around
but
the actual facts over the death rate
and only 4
i repeat 4
deaths from the vaccine

Fact checking claims about New Zealand's 2022 death rate

Prominent anti-vaccine figures continue to make claims about NZ's death rate and the vaccine. Those claims don't stack up.

www.stuff.co.nz

 

[dk168]

Free first and second Covid vaccines is due to stop being offered in UK.

DK

 

[Brigid]

COVID vaccinations are still free here in Australia which is good.

 

[Daisys and Diamonds]

are we doing an August update thread @missy ?

 

[missy]

are we doing an August update thread @missy ?

Lol I’m so sorry. Yes I forgot. It’s been a busy summer here. I’ll get that going Nikki. Thanks for the reminder