Guillain-Barré and Vaccines: What You Need to Know

Jul 16 2021

Johnson & Johnson’s beleaguered Covid-19 vaccine may be associated with a small increased risk of Guillain–Barré syndrome, a rare but potentially serious neurological condition, federal officials said on Monday. The Food and Drug Administration has added a warning about the potential side effect to its fact sheets about the vaccine. The risk appears to be very small. So far, there have been 100 reports of the syndrome in people who had received the Johnson & Johnson vaccine. Nearly 13 million doses of the vaccine have been administered in the United States.

Source: NYT

Tennessee abandons vaccine outreach to minors — not just for COVID-19

Jul 16 2021

The Tennessee Department of Health will halt all adolescent vaccine outreach – not just for coronavirus, but all diseases – amid pressure from Republican state lawmakers, according to an internal report and agency emails obtained by the Tennessean. If the health department must issue any information about vaccines, staff are instructed to strip the agency logo off the documents. The health department will also stop all COVID-19 vaccine events on school property, despite holding at least one such event this month. The decisions to end vaccine outreach and school events come directly from Health Commissioner Dr. Lisa Piercey, the internal report states.

Source: Tennessean

Fact check: COVID-19 vaccines provide safer, more consistent immunity than infection

Jul 02 2021

The claim: Immunity from infection is always stronger than immunity from vaccines Millions of Americans are fully vaccinated against the coronavirus, but some anti-vaccine advocates online say they may have been better off getting sick. The three coronavirus vaccines approved for emergency use in the United States are safe and effective at preventing serious COVID-19 cases, according to public health officials and peer-reviewed studies. As more Americans have received the vaccines, new COVID-19 cases have declined. But Melissa Floyd says that immunity may not last very long.

Source: USA Today

COVID vaccines and breastfeeding: what the data say

Jul 02 2021

Molly Siegel had long awaited a COVID-19 vaccine. As an obstetrician at Massachusetts General Hospital in Boston, she regularly saw pregnant people with COVID-19, and knew that the vaccine was the best way to protect herself, her family and others in her workplace. But with a seven-month-old baby at home who was still breastfeeding, she felt hesitant. Understandably so. Following established norms for clinical trials, pregnant and breastfeeding people were not included in any of the trials for COVID-19 vaccines. So, as health systems around the world began to vaccinate eligible adults, scores of lactating people were left to make their decision in the dark.

Source: Nature

Covid vaccine map: how are countries around the world doing?

Jul 02 2021

Since the first Pfizer vaccine against Covid-19 was injected into the arm of a British woman in December 2020, hundreds of millions of vaccine doses have been administered worldwide. Dozens of countries now have advanced vaccination campaigns as they rush to protect their people and get their economies back up and running. Many are in a position where the most vulnerable people are fully vaccinated, raising hopes that the pandemic’s worst effects may be over.

Source: The Guardian

The mRNA Vaccines Are Extraordinary, but Novavax Is Even Better

Jul 02 2021

At the end of January, reports that yet another COVID-19 vaccine had succeeded in its clinical trials—this one offering about 70 percent protection—were front-page news in the United States, and occasioned push alerts on millions of phones. But when the Maryland-based biotech firm Novavax announced its latest stunning trial results last week, and an efficacy rate of more than 90 percent even against coronavirus variants, the response from the same media outlets was muted in comparison. The difference, of course, was the timing: With three vaccines already authorized for emergency use by the U.S. Food and Drug Administration, the nation is “awash in other shots” already, as the The New York Times put it.

Source: The Atlantic

CDC launches Covid-19 WhatsApp chat in Spanish to spur more Latino vaccinations

Jul 02 2021

As Latinos continue to get hit with disinformation in Spanish about the Covid-19 vaccine on social media and messaging platforms, the federal government is making an attempt to fight back by partnering with WhatsApp to deliver information in Spanish to users. The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention is announcing on Monday a Covid-19 vaccine WhatsApp chat in Spanish to help get more Latinos inoculated.

Source: NBC

Some fully vaccinated people may still get sick if exposed to variants, CDC warns

Jul 02 2021

(CNN)The US Centers for Disease Control and Prevention told CNN Friday that the agency is tracking the Delta coronavirus variant, among others -- and warned that there is a small chance a fully vaccinated person could still get infected if they're exposed. "Current data suggest that COVID-19 vaccines authorized for use in the United States offer protection against most variants currently spreading in the United States. However, some variants might cause illness in some people even after they are fully vaccinated," CDC spokesperson Jade Fulce told CNN in an email on Friday.

Source: CNN

COVID-19 vaccination coverage for younger Americans lagging behind older adults: CDC study

Jul 02 2021

COVID-19 vaccination coverage for younger Americans has lagged behind rates for older adults, even since the vaccine became available to all adults nationally in mid-April, according to a study released on Monday. The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) study determined that 80 percent of those aged 65 and older had received at least one vaccine dose by May 22, compared to 38.3 percent of those aged 18 to 29. Overall, 57 percent of American adults received at least one dose by then.

Source: The Hill

How vaccines stack up against CDC's 5 variants of concern

Jul 01 2021

The CDC designated the delta variant of the coronavirus — first identified in India — as a "variant of concern" June 15, reigniting attention on the race between vaccines and coronavirus variants. The new classification comes amid mounting evidence that the variant spreads more easily than existing strains and causes more severe infections, the CDC said in a June 15 statement to Becker's. People infected by the delta variant may have twice the risk of hospitalization of people infected with the alpha variant first identified in the U.K., according to research released this week from Scotland. In May, the U.K.'s Scientific Advisory Group for Emergencies also said the delta variant could be up to 50 percent more transmissible than alpha, which is currently the dominant strain in the U.S., though research is still preliminary. The delta variant now accounts for about 10 percent of COVID-19 cases in the U.S. and could become the nation's dominant strain by this fall, according to Scott Gottlieb, MD, a former FDA commissioner who now serves on Pfizer's board of directors.

Source: Beckershop