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COVID-19
Clinical Practice
Past SARS-CoV-2 infection protection against re-infection: a systematic review and meta-analysis (The Lancet) Understanding the level and characteristics of protection from past SARS-CoV-2 infection against subsequent re-infection, symptomatic COVID-19 disease, and severe disease is essential for predicting future potential disease burden, for designing policies that restrict travel or access to venues where there is a high risk of transmission, and for informing choices about when to receive vaccine doses. We aimed to systematically synthesise studies to estimate protection from past infection by variant, and where data allow, by time since infection.
Public & Global Health
NIH RECOVER research identifies potential long COVID disparities (NIH) Black and Hispanic Americans appear to experience more symptoms and health problems related to long COVID(link is external), a lay term that captures an array of symptoms and health problems, than white people, but are not as likely to be diagnosed with the condition, according to new research funded by the National Institutes of Health. The findings – from two different studies by NIH’s Researching COVID to Enhance Recovery(link is external) (RECOVER) Initiative – add to a growing body of research aimed to better understand the complex symptoms and other issues associated with long COVID that millions have experienced.
Science & Technology
Vaccination Intention Following Receipt of Vaccine Information Through Interactive Simulation vs Text Among COVID-19 Vaccine–Hesitant Adults During the Omicron Wave in Germany (JAMA Public Health) Interactive risk communication formats can be more effective than conventional text-based formats in overcoming vaccine hesitancy and building public trust. These are the findings of a study conducted by researchers at Charité-Universitätsmedizin Berlin and the Max Planck Institute for Human Development in the context of COVID-19 vaccination. The study's findings have been published in JAMA Network Open.
Public & Global Health
Bird flu alarm drives world towards once-shunned vaccines (Reuters) Most of the world's biggest poultry producers have resisted vaccinations due to concerns they could mask the spread of bird flu and hit exports to countries that have banned vaccinated poultry on fears infected birds could slip through the net. But since early last year, bird flu, or avian influenza, has ravaged farms around the world, leading to the deaths of more than 200 million birds because of the disease or mass culls, the World Organisation for Animal Health (WOAH) told Reuters. The mass culls last year also sent the price of eggs sky-rocketing, contributing to the global food crisis.
The Crisis of Trust in Public Health (Think Global Health) Modern medicine produces "miracles" every day, yet at the same time, many people do not trust it. This lack of trust has profound implications for health, and for the institutions and professionals that manage global health. Adequate funding, recruitment and retention of talent, and adherence to best practices in public health all depend on trust.
Government Affairs & National Security
House GOP's overlapping COVID investigations (Axios) Two House committees, and potentially several more, are getting involved in investigating the origins of COVID — setting them up for a lot of overlap, and even friction. Why it matters: What comes out of these COVID origin investigations could have implications for federal funding of scientific research, vaccination campaigns and future pandemic responses — as long as the committees don't blunt the impact by stepping on each other. There's also the potential for COVID misinformation to be spread, depending on how the hearings are focused and whether far-right members decide to push into those waters.
FDA to require diversity plan for clinical trials (Nature) The US Food and Drug Administration (FDA) will soon require researchers and companies seeking approval for late-stage clinical trials to submit a plan for ensuring diversity among trial participants. Many scientists have applauded the move, which was laid out in a spending bill signed into law by US President Joe Biden in December 2022. They say that broadening participant pools is important to make medicines more effective across the whole population. But they are not yet convinced that the FDA will adequately enforce the new requirement.
Medicine and Public Health
Moderna flu vaccine delivers mixed results in trial, shares fall (Reuters) Moderna Inc (MRNA.O) on Thursday said its closely watched experimental messenger RNA-based influenza vaccine generated a strong immune response against A strains of the flu but failed to show it was at least as effective as an approved vaccine versus less prevalent influenza B. The results dashed investor hopes that the company might plug its COVID franchise decline, sending Moderna's shares down more than 6% in after-hours trading.
Science & Technology
The race to an RSV vaccine could soon be over, decades after the first attempt (NBC News) Roughly six decades after the first attempt to develop a vaccine for respiratory syncytial virus, the Food and Drug Administration is poised to approve several shots by next winter. No RSV vaccine has ever been approved in the U.S. The FDA is reviewing two applications — a vaccine from Pfizer and another from GlaxoSmithKline, both of which are for people ages 60 and up. Close behind is a monoclonal antibody injection designed to protect babies from the virus. Although it is not technically a vaccine, it would serve the same purpose. The shot, from Sanofi and AstraZeneca, has already been approved in Europe, and the FDA began reviewing the companies' application in January.
Detecting zoonotic Influenza A using QIAstat-Dx Respiratory SARS-CoV-2 panel for pandemic preparedness (Nature) Recent reports from the World Health Organization regarding Influenza A cases of zoonotic origin in humans (H1v and H9N2) and publications describing emergence swine Influenza A cases in humans together with “G4” Eurasian avian-like H1N1 Influenza A virus have drawn global attention to Influenza A pandemic threat. Additionally, the current COVID-19 epidemic has stressed the importance of surveillance and preparedness to prevent potential outbreaks. One feature of the QIAstat-Dx Respiratory SARS-CoV-2 panel is the double target approach for Influenza A detection of seasonal strains affecting humans using a generic Influenza A assay plus the three specific human subtype assays. This work explores the potential use of this double target approach in the QIAstat-Dx Respiratory SARS-Co-V-2 Panel as a tool to detect zoonotic Influenza A strains.
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