Feature Channels: Vaccines

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Nonpharmaceutical interventions, such as isolation, quarantines, and lockdowns, have been implemented in an effort to contain the pandemic, but these are often disruptive and costly. In Chaos, researchers identify new and sustainable interventions to contain outbreaks while minimizing the economic and social costs. They built a data-driven mobility model to simulate COVID-19 spreading in Hong Kong, by combining synthetic population, human behavior patterns, and a viral transmission model, and found that by controlling a small percentage of grids, the virus could be largely contained.

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While most of the COVID-19 vaccines are designed as a two-dose regimen, some countries have prioritized vaccinating as many people as possible with a single dose before giving out an additional dose. In the journal Chaos, researchers illustrate the conditions under which a "prime first" vaccine campaign is most effective at stopping the spread of the COVID-19 virus. The team found the vaccine waning rate to be a critically important factor in the decision.

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The members of the Critical Care Societies Collaborative, which includes the American Association of Critical-Care Nurses, American College of Chest Physicians, American Thoracic Society, and Society of Critical Care Medicine, strongly urge individuals to get vaccinated against the COVID-19 virus and to receive their influenza (flu) immunizations for the upcoming flu season.

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“Twindemic” is a term that has not yet been in the headlines but is likely to become part of our lexicon as the summer progresses.

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An analytical study examined levels of vaccine efficacy and mitigation strategies. If 100 percent were vaccinated with 90 percent vaccine efficacy, testing and quarantine did not substantially reduce infections. At 75 percent efficacy, weekly testing substantially reduced the number of infections; at 50 percent, testing and quarantine markedly reduced infections. At 50 to 75 percent efficacy, testing reduced infections up to 93.6 percent. Quarantining for 10 days only modestly reduced infections until vaccine efficacy dropped to 50 percent. Findings suggest that testing and isolating positive cases may remain important mitigation strategies for universities even with 100 percent of students vaccinated.

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Patients who have cardiovascular disease are at increased risk of serious complications from the flu, according to a new study by Houston Methodist physician researchers published in the Journal of the American Heart Association. The study found that not only are traditional flu-related outcomes worse among some patients with CVD, but infection in those patients also is associated with an increased risk of cardiovascular events and both CV-related mortality and mortality from all causes.

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State leaders in West Virginia called upon WVU’s School of Public Health to assist with vaccination communications targeting minority communities and other key demographics.

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The Bloomberg School and the Pulitzer Center are co-hosting a free online event today, Thursday, October 14, at 1 p.m., EDT, with leading public health and communications experts to discuss ways to better reach vaccine-hesitant young adults during the pandemic.

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Dr. Erika Werner of Tufts University School of Medicine and Tufts Medical Center on why pregnant women are more vulnerable to the virus, why she recommends the vaccine, and what she hears from her patients.

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Ian Cheeseman, Ph.D., and his collaborators can now sequence the genomes of individual parasites found in the blood of infected patients -- even when the infection burden is very low, which can occur during asymptomatic infections. Gaining this incredibly detailed view is expected to help develop more effective treatments, vaccines or therapies.

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An engineering researcher at the University of Oklahoma is part of a National Science Foundation project addressing the logistical challenges of maintaining cryogenic temperatures for Messenger RNA (mRNA) molecules, a molecule that allows human cells to recognize and protect against infectious diseases. Dimitrios Papavassiliou, Ph.D., in the Gallogly College of Engineering, is investigating Distributed Ribonucleic Acid Manufacturing – DReAM – that would create a manufacturing technique to produce mRNA sequences on demand and on-site. The research is funded by the NSF through a four-year, $2 million grant from its Emerging Frontiers in Research and Innovation program.

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Scientists at Washington University School of Medicine in St. Louis have developed a chemical compound that interferes with a key feature of many viruses that allows the viruses to invade human cells. The compound, called MM3122, was studied in cells and mice and holds promise as a new way to prevent infection or reduce the severity of COVID-19 if given early in the course of an infection, according to the researchers.

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The Bloomberg School and the Pulitzer Center are co-hosting a free online event on October 14, at 1 p.m., EDT, with leading public health and communications experts to discuss ways to better reach vaccine-hesitant young adults during the pandemic.

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Study may have implications for other vaccinations, including COVID-19 vaccine.

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Cedars-Sinai took a firm stance on vaccination this week, releasing a multimedia campaign in support of COVID-19 vaccines and the scientists who developed them.

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Researchers in Japan have developed a vaccination strategy in mice that promotes the production of antibodies that can neutralize not only SARS-CoV-2 but a broad range of other coronaviruses as well. If successfully translated to humans, the approach, to be published October 8 in the Journal of Experimental Medicine, could lead to the development of a next-generation vaccine capable of preventing future coronavirus pandemics.

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Stringent lockdown measures imposed in the spring of 2020 led to a dramatic drop in vaccinations among both children and adults, according to a new study led by Children’s Hospital of Philadelphia (CHOP).

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A majority of Chicago parents feel that schools and employers should be able to require students and employees to be vaccinated for COVID-19, respectively, according to results of the latest survey by Ann & Robert H. Lurie Children’s Hospital of Chicago.

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Health care personnel who received a two-dose regimen of Pfizer–BioNTech vaccine had an 89% lower risk for symptomatic illness than those who were unvaccinated. For those who received the two-dose regimen of the Moderna vaccine, the risk was reduced by 96%.

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A meme widely shared on Facebook shows a picture of Bill Gates holding a needle with his face painted like the supervillain “The Joker” and says, “Do you honestly believe that in 70 years of research and development we have a 40% effective flu shot but in 10 months a 95% effective Rona shot?” Comparing the efficacy of the vaccines suggest they both inoculate patients from the same virus. The viruses are different, and comparing the efficacy of the vaccines is misleading.

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A second dose of the COVID-19 vaccine should be offered to individuals infected with the virus shortly after receiving the first dose, according to findings recently published by the Azrieli Faculty of Medicine of Bar-Ilan University and Ziv Medical Center.

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New research focused on Texas nurses has found predictors of a lack of intention to be vaccinated against COVID-19 includes previous COVID-19 infection, unfavorable vaccine attitudes, and concerns about vaccine safety. Researchers from Cizik School of Nursing at The University of Texas Health Science Center at Houston (UTHealth Houston) published the results in the October 2021 issue of the Texas Journal of Public Health.

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Chemical engineer Catherine Fromen has been awarded a $2 million federal grant to study how medicines overcome mucosal barriers in the body, such as in the lungs or the gut. “Think about vaccines … if we can better understand how to deliver medicines to treat cells directly at the site, it will be even better than getting a shot in the arm,” Fromen said.

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UNLV scientists are partnering with 20 other states to keep watch for flu strains that are cropping up in wastewater in communities across the country to better target future influenza vaccines and make them more effective.

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A University of California, Irvine-led study, based on interviews of 50 Latina and Vietnamese women, revealed that this population turns to many sources for information about the HPV vaccine – from online and social media to school health classes, mothers, and doctors.

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Unvaccinated pregnant women are increasingly being hospitalized with COVID-19 during a nationwide surge of the Delta variant, according to research from UT Southwestern Medical Center.

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In a study published today in the American Journal of Transplantation, Johns Hopkins Medicine researchers say that children between the ages of 12 and 18 who have received solid organ transplants appear to mount a more robust immune response than their adult counterparts after a standard two-dose vaccination regimen against SARS-CoV-2, the virus that causes COVID-19.

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An article published by LifeSiteNews claiming that an Idaho doctor observed a 20-fold increase in cancer occurring in people who had received the COVID-19 vaccine supports no evidence.

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Researchers who studied the patterns of high-risk individuals’ influenza vaccinations find that this at-risk group is more likely to obtain vaccinations from a trusted doctor’s office or primary care clinic, rather than state- or community-affiliated centers.

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University at Buffalo researchers have developed a new treatment that uses reverse vaccination to pre-expose the body to medications and build immune tolerance. The treatment could be applied to a broad range of drug therapies, autoimmune disorders and allergies.

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Two new studies presented today at the 2021 AACC Annual Scientific Meeting & Clinical Lab Expo reveal how antibodies against the SARS-CoV-2 virus can vary among recipients of different COVID-19 vaccines and naturally infected individuals. The findings provide critical data about the immune response to COVID-19 vaccines that could inform future diagnostic research and vaccination efforts.

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科学家正在监测一种新的COVID-19（2019冠状病毒病）变异株，其被世界卫生组织称为B.1621或Mu。虽然该变异株最近频频出现在新闻中，但它并非美国或世界其他地方的主流毒株，妙佑医疗国际(Mayo Clinic)传染病科医生John O'Horo博士说。

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Uma nova variante de Covid-19 denominada pela Organização Mundial da Saúde de B.1621 ou mu está sendo monitorada pelos cientistas. Embora essa variante esteja sendo bastante noticiada, ela não é a cepa dominante nos Estados Unidos ou em qualquer outro lugar, afirma o Dr. John O'Horo.

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In the early hours of Monday, September 27, 2021, an anonymous letter purporting to be from a health expert began trending on social media. The so-called “Spartacus” letter, posted here among other websites of questionable credibility, contains numerous baseless claims buried within over 40 pages of analysis which appears to have been carefully crafted to mask the dubious nature of the letter’s origin and the unfounded nature of many of the author’s allegations.

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A version of SARS-CoV-2, the virus that causes COVID-19 disease, has been successfully modified to glow brightly in cells and animal tissues, providing a real-time way to track the spread and intensity of viral infection as it happens in animal models.

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An analysis reports Non-Hispanic Black Americans and people who live in certain southeastern states reported being less likely to get vaccinated or intend to get vaccinated against COVID-19. Younger adults and people with lower income or education were also more reluctant to get vaccinated.