 | FRI, FEB 25, 2022 | | | | Think a friend or colleague should be getting this newsletter? Share this link with them to sign up.
Cases continued to fall this week, dropping to well below 100,000 from a pandemic high of 802,000 six weeks ago. That helped drive the CDC's decision to ease its mask guidance today. Moderna, meanwhile, expects to sell a minimum of $19 billion of its Covid shots this year with most of the sales coming in the second half as people reup their immunity with another round of boosters.
The U.K. is rolling out a fourth Covid shot for the elderly and other vulnerable people. And billionaire Bill Gates pointed to Australia, which only just reopened its borders after closing them in March 2020, as a model for preventing future pandemics. We have the latest from Spencer Kimball, Meg Tirrell and Megan Sauer in the U.S. and Chloe Taylor in the U.K.
Spencer Kimball, who's broken numerous stories on Biden's vax mandates and the new BA.2 omicron variant filling in on this beat over the last few months, is formally stepping in to take over our pandemic, biotech and pharma coverage. You can send tips his way at spencer.kimball@nbcuni.com.
| | CDC relaxes mask guidance | | The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention relaxed its mask guidance on Friday, allowing most people to ditch their face coverings so long as Covid hospitalizations in their communities remain low. Under the new CDC guidance, people are advised to wear masks in public areas indoors, including schools, when there's a lot of virus circulation in their communities that could overwhelm local hospitals. More than 70% of Americans live in communities without a high level of severe disease right now, according to CDC data. Spencer has that story here. | | | | Young men should wait between Covid shots | | Earlier in the week, the agency said males ages 12- to 39-years-old should consider waiting eight weeks between the first and second doses of their primary Covid vaccination series. The reason: to reduce the risk of developing myocarditis, a rare inflammatory condition that affects the heart. Public health authorities in Canada found the risk of myocarditis in men ages 18- to 24-years-old was lower when they waited eight weeks for the second dose of Moderna or Pfizer. Spencer has that story here. | | | | Fourth shots rolled out in Europe | | Adults over the age of 75, nursing home residents and immunosuppressed people over-12 will be given a fourth dose of a Covid vaccine in the spring as a "precautionary strategy for 2022." Britain's Joint Committee on Vaccination and Immunisation said this week the elderly and vulnerable adults will be offered the Pfizer-BioNTech or the Moderna Covid vaccine for their spring dose, while 12 to 18-year-olds will be given the Pfizer-BioNTech vaccine only. Chloe has the latest here. | | | | Moderna sees annual boosters for some | As his company reported fourth-quarter results that topped expectations and raised its forecast for Covid-19 vaccine sales this year, Moderna CEO Stephane Bancel told us he expects annual booster shots may be limited to those most vulnerable to the disease because of their health or age, or those who "just don't like to get sick." The company also said it had started development of a booster combining its original vaccine with one targeting omicron, as the formula of this fall's potential booster is not yet determined.
Meanwhile, Operation Warp Speed laggards Sanofi and GSK said they planned to seek regulatory clearance for their Covid-19 vaccine, which showed 58% vaccine efficacy in a trial that likely saw both delta and omicron in circulation. There are doubts, though, about whether the vaccine can win Emergency Use Authorization in the U.S. as a primary series when two other vaccines (Pfizer's and Moderna's) have full approval; Cowen analyst Yaron Werber suggested the path for a Sanofi/GSK booster – which, like Novavax's, would add protein-based vaccine option, a more traditional technology – may be smoother. CNBC TV's Meg Tirrell has both of those stories here. | | | | Bill Gates says Australia is a model | | Billionaire Bill Gates cited Australia's Covid response as the gold standard for other countries to follow for the next pandemic. The country reopened its international borders this week for the first time since March 2020. Over the course of the pandemic, returning citizens and approved international travelers have been required to quarantine in hotels guarded by police and military members. Australia's states even periodically locked down their respective borders. Thousands of Australians protested those lockdowns, but the measures seem to have worked: Since the beginning of the pandemic, only 20 per 100,000 Australians have died from Covid. Megan has the details here. | | | | Everything we know about BA.2 | | A more contagious subvariant of omicron, known as BA.2, is spreading across the globe and could soon become the dominant version of Covid. It's now the top variant in at least 18 countries and rapidly spreading, representing 35% of all new cases that have been genetically sequenced worldwide, up from 10 countries and 21% of cases the week before, according to new data from the World Health Organization. In the U.S, BA.2 currently makes up 3.8% of genetically sequenced Covid cases. Spencer spoke with scientists from Japan to Denmark to give you everything we know so far about this highly contagious variant. You can find the story here. | |
Tidak ada komentar:
Posting Komentar