 | FRI, OCT 22, 2021 | | | | Think a friend or colleague should be getting this newsletter? Share this link with them to sign up.
The big news this week came late Thursday when the CDC cleared Covid booster shots for J&J and Moderna recipients. The agency also allowed for "mix-and-match" boosters, saying J&J recipients may be better off getting a different booster. Meg Tirrell has the details. Across the pond, U.K. officials are grappling with a new surge in cases, a new "delta plus" subvariant and a reluctance to reinstitute Covid precautions – against the advice of leading doctors there. Our U.K. colleagues Holly Ellyatt and Sam Meredith have the latest.
| | FDA, CDC expand boosters to J&J and Moderna recipients | 52 million more Americans just became eligible for booster doses, after the CDC director endorsed the agency's advisers' vote Thursday. It followed a permissive FDA authorization for both Moderna and J&J boosters - J&J's for all those 2 months from their first shot, Moderna's at 6 months for the same high risk groups as Pfizer - and mixing and matching. "Eligible individuals may choose which vaccine they receive as a booster dose," the CDC said, as many public health experts have advocated for J&J recipients to switch to another vaccine.
-Meg Tirrell | | | | White House readies vaccines for kids | The White House said it's ready to distribute shots for kids ages 5 to 11 as soon as the FDA and CDC sign off on the plan, which is expected early next month. Pfizer said Friday that its kids vaccine, which is a third of the dosage of an adult shot, is about 90% effective in protecting children against symptomatic infection. A key FDA panel meets Tuesday to discuss and vote on the shots, followed by a CDC advisory meeting the following week. The White House Covid task force said it has already procured enough doses to immunize all 28 million 5- to 11-year-olds in the U.S. with 15 million shots ready to roll out the week after it's approved.
-Dawn Kopecki | | | | 'The UK really is in trouble' | U.K. officials across the Atlantic, meanwhile, are facing a renewed health crisis as the country struggles with a surge in Covid cases. The British Medical Association slammed the government leaders for refusing to reinstitute Covid precautions, saying it was "incredibly concerning" that Health Secretary Sajid Javid was not, as the association viewed it, "willing to take immediate action to save lives and to protect the NHS."
-Holly Ellyatt | | | | Cases in UK may hit 100,000 a day this winter | Javid announced Wednesday that the country won't be implementing its "plan B" contingency measures even as he predicted the country was heading to a tough winter with record Covid cases. He said the National Health Service was "performing with distinction," acknowledging that it was seeing greater pressure but rejected the suggestion that it was unsustainable.
-Sam Meredith | | | | U.S. officials keep close watch on 'delta plus' mutation | CDC Director Dr. Rochelle Walensky said the agency is closely tracking the so-called AY.4.2 subvariant mutation of the delta mutation. Informally dubbed "delta plus," the delta plus subvariant includes two new mutations to the spike protein, A222V and Y145H, which allow the virus to enter the body. Delta plus has been detected in at least five cases in the U.S. since August: Washington, D.C., California, North Carolina, Washington state and Massachusetts, according to Outbreak.info. It's particularly worrisome in the U.K. where officials there say it currently accounts for 6% of all sequenced cases and is "increasing in frequency."
-Bob Towey | |
Tidak ada komentar:
Posting Komentar