 | Fri, Mar 25, 2022 | | | |
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Think a friend or colleague should be getting this newsletter? Share this link with them to sign up. Moderna released its much anticipated data on its Covid vaccine for children under 6-years-old this week, the only age group in the U.S. that is not eligible for vaccination. The results were not a home run, though they did induce an immune response similar to adults. The smaller dose shots were less than 50% effective against omicron infection in younger children. None of the kids developed severe illness from Covid, though the company was unable to draw conclusions about effectiveness against hospitalization. Moderna plans to ask the Food and Drug Administration for emergency authorization as soon as possible. Pfizer is planning to file data on a third dose of its vaccine for kids under 5-years-old in April. The more contagious omicron subvariant BA.2 is now the most prevalent version of the virus worldwide, with the World Health Organization describing it as the most transmissible version of Covid so far. BA.2 is already causing outbreaks in Europe and China, raising concerns that it will cause a new wave in the U.S. as well. The variant is expected to become dominant here in the coming weeks, but White House chief medical advisor Dr. Anthony Fauci doesn't see a new surge on the horizon. The hope is that the level of immunity in the U.S. from vaccination and the winter surge will prevent a wave from BA.2. Feel free to send any tips, suggestions, story ideas and data in the meantime to me at spencer.kimball@nbcuni.com. |
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Moderna's two-dose Covid vaccine was about 44% effective at preventing infection from omicron in children 6 months to under 2-years-old and about 38% effective for children 2- to 5-years-old, according to data released by the company Wednesday. The absence of severe disease, hospitalization or death in the study precluded assessment of efficacy against these outcomes, according to the company. |
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One of the enduring mysteries of the Covid-19 pandemic, a global health crisis that has led to over 6 million fatalities, is that children have been spared by the virus — for the most part — and have not experienced anywhere near the severity of illness that adults have. Scientists are still somewhat baffled as to why children are not badly affected by Covid, although studies are slowly shedding light on how, and why, children's responses to Covid differ from those among adults. |
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Omicron's more contagious subvariant, BA.2, has more than doubled in prevalence over the past two weeks in the U.S. and now represents more than 34% of Covid-19 infections that have undergone genetic sequencing, according to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. White House chief medical advisor Dr. Anthony Fauci said the U.S. will likely see an uptick in cases, but he doesn't expect another surge. Ali Mokdad, a leading epidemiologist, told CNBC that infections will continue to decline through spring and summer, though another surge is possible in the winter as vaccine-induced immunity wanes off. |
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As mainland China battles its worst Covid-19 outbreak since early 2020, local governments increasingly say the new omicron BA.2 variant is to blame. Multinational corporations have been able to maintain production by keeping workers in the same area as factories, but smaller businesses lost a week of output, said Klaus Zenkel, chair of the south China chapter of the EU Chamber of Commerce in China. He said district governments are asking businesses to share what their losses were, for potential compensation plans. |
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The rise in new Covid infections across Europe, from the U.K. and France to Italy and Austria, is being driven by several factors: The lifting of most — if not all — Covid restrictions, waning immunity from vaccines and booster shots, and the spread of the more transmissible omicron subvariant, BA.2. Ralf Reintjes, an epidemiologist in Hamburg, said that the combination "of everyone thinking and expecting somehow that the pandemic is over now" and the relaxation of what he saw as protective Covid measures gives the BA.2 subvariant "a really good chance to spread extremely wild in many parts of Europe." |
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