Category Archives: Covid-19

As much as wed like to think that COVID-19 is behind us, the virus isnt going anywhere. Health officials continue to recommend that people get vaccinated for both COVID-19 and influenza every year for the foreseeable future, and high hospitalization rates for COVID-19 in the past winter were a reminder that SARS-CoV-2 can still cause serious disease.

Soon, that may be possible with one shot instead of two. On June 10, Moderna reported that its combination COVID-19/influenza shot generated even better immune responses against SARS-CoV-2 and influenza than those elicited by existing, separate vaccines.

Both of the shots used in the study are experimental. The COVID-19 portion relies on a slightly different form of SARS-CoV-2s spike protein than the existing vaccine. Instead of encoding for the entire spike protein, the combination vaccine includes two key parts of it in a way that streamlines the shot to require a lower dosewhich is useful for a combination vaccine, and also potentially extends its shelf life. The influenza component of the vaccine uses the same mRNA technology behind the existing COVID-19 vaccine but targets influenza proteins in the three strains that circulated during the past season: H1N1 and H3N2 from the influenza A group, and an influenza B strain.

Read More: An mRNA Melanoma Vaccine Shows Promise

In a study of more than 8,000 adults ages 50 and older, about half received the combination vaccine. The other halfthe control groupreceived two separate shots: Moderna's latest COVID-19 vaccine, which targets the XBB.1.5 variant, and a flu shot (either Fluarix, if people were 50 to 64 years old, or Fluzone HD for those 65 and older).

In the younger group, the combo vaccine generated about 20% to 40% higher levels of antibodies to the influenza strains, and 30% higher levels to XBB.1.5, compared to the control group. Among older people, antibodies were 6% to 15% higher against the flu strains and 64% higher against XBB.1.5 compared to older people in the control group.

The real advantage of a single shot is that people only need to get one needle," says Dr. Jacqueline Miller, senior vice president and head of development in infectious diseases at Moderna. There's a public-health advantage, too, she says, since U.S. vaccination rates for both diseases are relatively low. "When we are able to give the two vaccines as one, it could increase vaccine compliance rates, especially for those at highest risk."

Read More: How to Navigate the New World of At-Home Testing

Moderna is continuing to study the COVID-19 vaccine and the flu shot used in the combo as separate shots as well. That data will also help the U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA) when it reviews the companys request for approval of the combination shot, which could come by the end of the year. The specific strains targeted in the shot will depend on which forms of the viruses are circulating at the time. (The company also filed a request to the FDA on June 7 to update its COVID-19 vaccine to target the JN.1 variant.)

The combination vaccine will likely not arrive in time for the flu and COVID-19 season this fall. But in coming years, a two-in-one vaccine could help to increase vaccination rates, which in turn could contribute to lower hospitalization rates for both diseases.

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A Combined Flu and COVID-19 Shot May Be Coming - TIME

HONOLULU The Department of Health sent out an alert asking the public to be vigilant as COVID-19 cases are on the rise in Hawaii.

Last month, the DOH released a new dashboard that compiles data on the activity in Hawaii of three respiratory illnesses: COVID-19, including influenza (flu), and respiratory syncytial virus (RSV).

At the time, COVID-19 appeared on the dashboard as yellow, or medium activity, but now it appears as red, or high activity. This means the virus is circulating at high levels compared with historic trends and recommended precautions are more important for reducing risk, according to the DOHs alert.

The DOHs precautionary recommendations include:

Get the 2023-24 COVID-19 vaccine. Adults 65 and older and people who are immunocompromised are eligible for an additional dose.

If you feel sick, stay home and away from others. You may return to usual activities when you are fever-free for at least 24 hours without the aid of fever-reducing medicines and your symptoms are improving.

Wear a well-fitting mask indoors.

Stay outdoors or in well-ventilated areas.

Practice good hygiene, such as covering coughs, cleaning frequently touched surfaces and washing hands often.

Take a COVID-19 test if you have symptoms and may need treatment, which works best when taken as soon as possible.

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COVID-19 cases are on the rise in Hawaii - Spectrum News

THURSDAY, June 13, 2024 (HealthDay News) -- For individuals with severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 (SARS-CoV-2) infection, the risks for death and postacute sequelae of COVID-19 (PASC) reduce over three years but persist, especially among hospitalized individuals, according to a study published online May 30 in Nature Medicine.

Miao Cai, Ph.D., from the Veterans Affairs St. Louis Health Care System, and colleagues followed a cohort of 135,161 people with SARS-CoV-2 infection and 5,206,835 controls from the U.S. Department of Veterans Affairs who were followed for three years to estimate the risks for death and PASC.

The researchers found that the increased risk for death was no longer seen after the first year of infection among nonhospitalized individuals. The risk for incident PASC declined over three years, but in the third year, it still accounted for 9.6 disability-adjusted life years (DALYs) per 1,000 persons in year 3. The risk for death decreased among hospitalized individuals, but in the third year after infection, it remained significantly elevated (incidence rate ratio, 1.29). Over the three years, the risk for incident PASC decreased, but substantial residual risk persisted in the third year, resulting in 90.0 DALYs per 1,000 persons.

"That a mild SARS-CoV-2 infection can lead to new health problems three years down the road is a sobering finding," Ziyad Al-Aly, M.D., also from the Veterans Affairs St. Louis Health Care System, said in a statement. "The problem is even worse for people with severe SARS-CoV-2 infection. It is very concerning that the burden of disease among hospitalized individuals is astronomically higher."

Several authors disclosed ties to the pharmaceutical industry; one author reported ties to Guidepoint.

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Long-Term COVID-19 Risks: Death, Postacute Sequelae in Third Year - HealthDay

BEIJING: China will draw on its experience in COVID-19 prevention and control, as well as make proactive preparations for future pandemics, such as Disease X, said the countrys chief of the National Disease Control and Prevention Administration, Wang Hesheng.

Addressing a press conference on the sidelines of the second session of the 14th National Peoples Congress (NPC) in Beijing today, Wang said the Chinese government would implement a holistic approach to national security and work with relevant authorities to boost its preparedness.

Although Disease X is hard to avoid, the pandemic it could cause can be prevented. We need to be better prepared, he added.

In May 2023, World Health Organisation (WHO) director-general Dr Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus said the world should be ready for the next pandemic, which might be even deadlier than COVID-19.

He noted that the threat of another variant emerging that could cause new surges of infection and death remains, and so is the threat of another pathogen emerging with even deadlier consequences.

Wang elaborated that China would take preventive measures such as improving its systems and regulations, carry out disease prevention control according to law, improve resource allocation and the mechanism to shift between normal operations and emergency risks.

We will (also) build and improve a multichannel monitoring and early warning system and strengthen risk assessment in infectious diseases to identify them early, he added.

Wang said China would also play an active role in its global public health governance, advance cooperation with the WHO and other international organisations and countries, as well as actively participate in concluding a pandemic treaty and global health regulations.

At the same press conference, China vows to keep employment steady, supported by five focus areas, including encouraging entrepreneurship, improving workers skills, keeping the job market vibrant and supporting key groups.

Human Resources and Social Security Minister Wang Xiaoping said there was a strong demand for talent in fields such as artificial intelligence and big data, while demand is also on the rise in sectors like healthcare, accommodation, catering and cultural tourism.

These changes are fuelled by Chinas economic recovery and the unleashing of the potential in service consumption.

In 2023, over 12.44 million new urban jobs were created while surveyed urban unemployment stood at an average of 5.2 per cent. - Bernama

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China to draw on Covid-19 experience to tackle future pandemics - theSun

Today, March 8, marks the last day that the government is offering free COVID-19 test kits through the United States Postal Service (USPS). Citing slowing rates as the reason for suspending the program, the Administration for Strategic Preparedness and Response (ASPR) says that tests will still be delivered to long-term care facilities, food banks, health centers, and schools. Over 1.8 billion free COVID-19 tests have been distributed through this program and the agency states that the program could start again sometime in the future.

For now, though, only orders made through today will be honored. The program ends a week after the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) unveiled new COVID-19 guidelines that reduce the amount of time needed to isolate when infected with COVID or other respiratory illnesses.

Though the program ending is a blow, you can still stay on top of COVID-19, whether you're looking out for your own safety or that of those around you by buying COVID-19 tests online. Here's where you can find them online.

If you need COVID test kits for yourself or others, you're probably dealing with COVID symptoms yourself or seeing them in another person. Here are the most common symptoms of COVID-19 across different variants. If your symptoms are severe or worsening over time, talk to your doctor about the best path to recovery for you.

Though the free tests through the government are coming to an end, you may still be able to find them for free through local programs. For additional tests, here are various stores that offer COVID tests online that will ship right to your door.

Buy at Amazon

Buy at Walmart

Buy at Target

Buy at CVS

Buy at Walgreens

Buy at Instacart

Prices were accurate at the time this article was published but may change over time.

The product experts at Reviewed have all your shopping needs covered. Follow Reviewed on Facebook, Twitter, Instagram, TikTok, or Flipboard for the latest deals, product reviews, and more.

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Free COVID tests through USPS are ending todayhere's where to get tests online - Reviewed

Concern about the health threat posed by COVID-19 has reached a record low across the political spectrum, according to a recent survey by the Pew Research Center.

Twenty percent of all Americans in the survey said they think the virus is a “major threat” to “[t]he health of the U.S. population as a whole.” Twelve percent of Republicans and Republican-leaning independents and 28 percent of Democrats and Democratic-leaning independents said the threat posed by the virus to their country was “major.”

The drop in concern about the health threat posed by the coronavirus, as measured by the survey, is drastically different from concern levels two years ago.

In May 2022, 41 percent of Americans said they thought that the COVID-19 pandemic was a “major threat” to “[t]he health of the U.S. population as a whole.” In the same year, 57 percent of surveyed Democrats and Democratic-leaning independents and 20 percent of Republicans and Republican-leaning independents said the virus posed a “major threat” to the health of their country, according to Pew.

The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) recently stopped recommending that Americans not go to work or school for five days following testing positive for COVID-19. It set forth new guidance recommending people stay home when sick — despite possibly not knowing what is causing their illness — and go back to their regular routine if they feel better and don’t have a fever for at least 24 hours with no medication.

“However, we still must use the commonsense solutions we know work to protect ourselves and others from serious illness from respiratory viruses — this includes vaccination, treatment, and staying home when we get sick,” CDC Director Mandy Cohen said in a statement.

The Pew survey was conducted between Feb. 7-11 and had an overall sample size of 10,133 U.S. adults, with a margin of error of plus or minus 1.5 percentage points. 

The sample size for the question on the threat posed by the coronavirus to the U.S. “as a whole” was 5,050 people, with a margin of error of plus or minus 2.1 percentage points. The sample size of Republicans and Republican-leaning independents was 4,954 people, with a margin of error of plus or minus 2.1 percentage points. The sample size of Democrats and Democratic-leaning independents was 5,227 people, with a margin of error of plus or minus 2.1 percentage points. 

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Concern about COVID reaches record low across political spectrum: Survey - The Hill

Two years ago, German doctors stumbled across news reports of a man being investigated for receiving scores of coronavirus vaccines with no medical explanation.

Then followed a flurry of speculation about what he had been up to. As it turned out, prosecutors were looking into whether he had been receiving so many extra doses as part of a scheme to collect stamped immunization cards that he could later sell to people who wanted to skirt vaccine mandates.

But to the doctors, the man was a medical anomaly, someone who had defied official recommendations and turned himself into a guinea pig for measuring the outer limits of an immune response. Last year, they asked prosecutors investigating his vaccine splurge to pass along a request: Would he like to join a research project?

Once prosecutors closed their fraud investigation without criminal charges, the man agreed.

By the time the doctors first saw him, the 62-year-old man had received 215 doses of coronavirus vaccine, they said. Flouting their pleas to stop, he received another two shots in the next months, expanding his immunological stockpile to a combined 217 doses of eight different Covid vaccine types over two and a half years.

After months of studying him, the doctors, led by Dr. Kilian Schober, an immunologist at the University of Erlangen-Nuremberg in the German state of Bavaria, reported their findings this week in The Lancet Infectious Diseases, a medical journal.

The man had seemingly never been infected with the coronavirus. He reported no vaccine side effects. And, most interestingly to the researchers, his repertoire of antibodies and immune cells was considerably larger than that of a typical vaccinated person, even if the precision of those immune responses remained effectively unchanged.

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He Had 217 Covid Shots Without Side Effects, Study Finds - The New York Times

COVID-19 vaccines have been key to controlling the pandemic, but researchers in Germany report on one man who took the vaccination message to the extreme.

The subject of the research published in Lancet Infectious Diseases is a 62-year-old man from Magdeburg, Germany who claims to have received 217 COVID-19 vaccinations within about 2.5 years. (German prosecutors confirmed he received 130 shots in nine months during an investigation into fraud; ultimately, they did not file criminal charges.)

It's not clear why the man wanted so many vaccinations or how he obtained them. But after reading news reports of the man's story, scientists at Friedrich-Alexander-Universitt Erlangen-Nrnberg (FAU) became intrigued and wanted to study how the vaccinations affected his immune system. The manwho told researchers he hadn't experienced side effects from his shotsvolunteered to provide blood and saliva samples to the scientists and allowed them to mine his health records so that they could better understand what effect aggressively stimulating the immune system with a COVID-19 vaccine might have. Even during this analysis, the man requested and received an additional two COVID-19 shots, against the advice of the study researchers.

The mans extreme vaccination history provided a unique opportunity for scientists to see whether hyper-vaccination would positively or negatively affect the immune system's ability to respond to pathogens like viruses. It was unclear in which direction the 200 vaccinations would go, says Dr. Kilian Schober, the study's lead author and group leader at the Institute for Clinical Microbiology, Immunology, and Hygiene in Erlangen at FAU. Would these shots enhance his immune response"like we want to see with multiple vaccinations and booster shots"or perhaps damage it?

Read More: Why Older Adults Need Another COVID-19 Shot

Schober and the team compared the mans immune responsesmeasured by his blood antibody levels, the first line of defense against a virus, and T cell levels, which are responsible for the body's longer-term responseto those of a control group of 29 people who had received three COVID-19 shots.

Based on how the immune system works, Schober and his team thought that the man's immune response might mirror that of people with chronic infections, such as HIV or hepatitis B. In those conditions, in which the immune system is constantly stimulated, immune cells can become overwhelmed and start to mount weaker responses.

But that's not what they found. The man's antibody levels and a type of T cell called effector T cells were six times higher than those in the control group on average. Those high levels proved that his immune response was strong.

However, his level of memory T cellswhich are responsible for remembering viruses that a person has been infected with and replenishing the immune system's overall T-cell populationwere about the same as those in the control group. It made sense, says Schober, since memory T cells are reactivated when the body sees the same virus again. "But it was intriguing for us to actually see it in the data.

According to repeated negative tests for COVID-19, which the researchers confirmed by the fact that that his immune system showed no sign that it had dealt with the virus yet, says Schober, the man was likely never infected with SARS-CoV-2. Schober cautions, however, against assuming that his hyper-vaccinated status was responsible for protecting him.

The researchers concluded that overall, while the man's excessive vaccination history increased his antibody levels and apparently protected him from infection, hyper-activating his immune system did not seem to have a negative effect on his ability to mount an adequate response. At the same time, his extreme measures did not seem to afford him a level of super-immunity that distinguished his response dramatically from others who followed the recommended vaccination schedule. His immune system was neither positively nor negatively affected," says Schober.

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A Man Got 217 COVID-19 Vaccines. Here's What Happened - TIME

German researchers have examined a hypervaccinated man they say received more than 200 coronavirus shots without any noticeable side effects or harm to his immune system.

Their findings, published Monday in the Lancet Infectious Diseases, a medical journal, indicate that coronavirus vaccines have a good degree of tolerability, the researchers said, although they noted this was an isolated case of extraordinary hypervaccination.

The 62-year-old man came to researchers attention when German prosecutors opened up a fraud investigation, gathering evidence that he had obtained 130 coronavirus shots in a nine-month period far more than recommended by health authorities.

We learned about his case via newspaper articles, Kilian Schober, one of the studys authors, said in a statement. We then contacted him and invited him to undergo various tests. He was very interested in doing so.

The man agreed to provide blood samples, including new samples, the results from past blood tests and blood samples that had been frozen in recent years.

The man said he had received 217 vaccinations for private reasons. German authorities did not file criminal charges.

Going into the study, the researchers had speculated that having so many shots could cause his immune system to become fatigued. Vaccines create immune memory cells that are on standby, ready to rapidly activate the bodys defenses in the event of an infection.

But in fact, the researchers found that the man had more of these immune cells known as T-cells than a control group that had received the standard three-dose vaccine regimen. They also did not detect any fatigue in these cells, which they said were just as effective as those of people who had received a typical number of coronavirus shots.

Overall, we did not find any indication for a weaker immune response, rather the contrary, said Katharina Kocher, one of the lead authors of the study.

Even by the 217th vaccination, researchers say the shot still had an effect: The mans antibodies against the coronavirus increased significantly as a result. (Researchers say the man insisted on receiving another shot during the study. They took blood samples, which helped them determine how his immune system was responding.)

The researchers made it clear that despite their findings, they do not endorse hypervaccination as a strategy to enhance adaptive immunity.

Although they could not find any signs that the man had ever contracted the coronavirus, they said they werent able to establish a causal relationship between his hypervaccination regimen and avoiding infection.

More than 60 million people in Germany have been vaccinated against the coronavirus, and most of them have received several doses.

In the United States, the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention recommended last month that people 65 and older get a second dose of a coronavirus vaccine made available in the fall because they are at higher risk for severe disease from the virus.

Uptake since the CDC recommended that people age 5 and older get an updated vaccine has been low only about 22 percent of those 18 and older have received a dose of an updated vaccine. And only about 42 percent of those 65 and older have received a dose, The Washington Post previously reported.

Lena H. Sun contributed to this report

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German man vaccinated 217 times against covid with no ill effects - The Washington Post

Former Gov. Andrew M. Cuomo of New York has been subpoenaed to appear before a House subcommittee to answer for his administrations handling of nursing homes during the coronavirus pandemic, reigniting a flashpoint that could further damage his chances at a political comeback.

The Republican-led Select Subcommittee on the Coronavirus Pandemic accused Mr. Cuomo of recklessly exposing nursing home residents to the virus with deadly consequence.

The subcommittee chairman, Representative Brad Wenstrup of Ohio, said in a letter sent Tuesday to Mr. Cuomo that there was troubling evidence suggesting the Cuomo administration at best downplayed the effects of its nursing home policies and at worst covered them up.

The subpoena is the latest in a multiyear saga surrounding the former governors decision to require nursing homes to accept residents who had tested positive for Covid-19 in the spring of 2020. The decision, which presaged a virus outbreak in those facilities leading to thousands of deaths, has drawn broad scrutiny from state and federal investigators.

In January 2021, the New York State attorney general, Letitia James, a Democrat, concluded that the state had severely undercounted deaths in nursing homes charges that were validated when the state later revised its figures upward some 40 percent. But while her offices report found that returning residents to their facilities may have put residents at increased risk, it stopped short of blaming the governors policy for nursing home outbreaks, acknowledging that the policy was consistent with federal guidance at the time.

The former governor, also a Democrat, has repeatedly denied that the policy led to additional deaths.

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Andrew Cuomo Faces House Subpoena Over Covid Deaths in Nursing Homes - The New York Times