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1,090 Fully Vaccinated Indiana Residents Died of COVID; 112,000 Breakthrough Cases Recorded
International Business Times reported:
More than 1,000 fully vaccinated residents in Indiana have died of COVID-19 as the number of breakthrough infections rises amid the spread of the highly contagious Omicron variant.
As of Dec. 30, at least 1,090 Indiana residents died of breakthrough COVID-19, representing 0.031% of the state’s fully vaccinated population. At least 88% of the breakthrough coronavirus deaths occurred in people aged 65 or older, according to the state’s latest COVID-19 Vaccination Breakthrough report.
The number of breakthrough COVID-19 cases also increased to 112,773, representing 3.173% of all vaccinated people in Indiana, the report showed.
CDC Urges ‘Up-to-Date’ Shots; No ‘Fully Vaccinated’ Change
U.S. health officials said Wednesday they are not changing the qualifications for being “fully vaccinated” against COVID-19, but they are urging Americans to stay “up to date” on their protection against the virus by getting booster shots when eligible.
The decision to keep the initial definition, established more than a year ago when the vaccines first rolled out, means that federal vaccination mandates for travel or employment won’t require a booster dose.
“Individuals are considered fully vaccinated against COVID-19 if they’ve received their primary series,” said Centers for Disease Control and Prevention Director Dr. Rochelle Walensky. “That definition is not changing.”
Massachusetts Coronavirus Breakthrough Cases Surge 45,029 Amid Omicron Holiday Wave
More than 45,000 fully vaccinated people in the state tested positive for coronavirus last week between Christmas and New Year’s, a daily average of more than 6,000 breakthrough cases during the surging Omicron variant holiday wave.
The count of 45,029 breakthrough cases last week is more than double the 20,247 breakthrough infections during the previous week — a 122% spike week-over-week.
Overall, 179,594 fully vaxxed people have tested positive for the virus, according to new data from the state Department of Public Health on Tuesday.
The state has reported 942 breakthrough deaths, or 0.02% of those who are fully vaxxed. That’s a one-week increase of 88 deaths — up from the previous weekly increase of 70 deaths. The week before that was 85 deaths.
Birth During the Pandemic May Affect Neurodevelopment — in Utero COVID Exposure Does Not Appear to Be a Factor
Birth during the COVID-19 pandemic was linked to lower neurodevelopment scores at 6 months, a cohort study showed.
Compared with a historical cohort of infants, children born during the 2020 pandemic had significantly lower gross motor, fine motor, and personal-social scores on the Ages & Stages Questionnaire, 3rd Edition (ASQ-3), reported Dani Dumitriu, MD, PhD, of Columbia University Irving Medical Center in New York City, and co-authors in JAMA Pediatrics.
In utero exposure to maternal SARS-CoV-2 infection was not associated with significant differences on any neurodevelopment domain, however, regardless of infection timing or severity.
“Our study, however, points to potential impact on the neurodevelopment of infants born during the pandemic irrespective of maternal infection, which — if replicated — would translate to potential impact on hundreds of millions of children born since the onset of the pandemic, with potential for significant public health consequences,” Dumitriu said.
Biden Urges Concern but Not Alarm in U.S. as Omicron Rises
President Joe Biden urged concern but not alarm Tuesday as the United States set records for daily reported COVID-19 cases and his administration struggled to ease concerns about testing shortages, school closures and other disruptions caused by the Omicron variant.
“There’s no excuse, there’s no excuse for anyone being unvaccinated,” he added. “This continues to be a pandemic of the unvaccinated.” He also encouraged Americans, including newly eligible teenagers 12 to 15, to get a booster dose of the vaccines for maximum protection.
Omicron Spares U.S. ICUs so Far, Mirroring South Africa
U.S. hospitals are so far seeing significantly fewer severe outcomes from the Omicron wave than they saw in past COVID-19 spikes, mirroring the experience of South Africa and the U.K. Even New York, the uber-dense site of one of the nation’s worst outbreaks, is seeing similar results.
In the U.K., the general pattern of lower hospitalization has held up so far even as cases surged, as the Financial Times’ John Burn-Murdoch showed Tuesday.
Biden Says More Pfizer Pills Are Shipping This Week as U.S. Doubles Order to Fight Omicron
President Joe Biden on Tuesday said another batch of Pfizer’s COVID-19 treatment pills is shipping this week as the U.S. government doubles its order of the medication amid an unprecedented wave of infections driven by the highly contagious Omicron variant.
Biden on Tuesday directed the government to buy an additional 10 million courses of Pfizer’s oral antiviral treatment, Paxlovid. With the new order, the U.S. has committed to purchase at least 20 million courses from Pfizer.
Scientists Try to Predict Whether COVID Will Morph Into Something Mild or Remain Menacing
Evolutionary biologists and research epidemiologists are studying older coronaviruses for clues about whether COVID-19 will transform into something mild (like a common cold), something more threatening (like a flu) or something much more contagious and deadly.
Scientists are mostly paying attention to two types of viral mutations in COVID, according to Nature.com.
As more and more humans get vaccinated and develop antibodies through past infections, viruses start to develop the second type of mutation: one that enables a virus to overcome a person’s immune response.
This mutation concerns researchers the most because it allows the virus to bypass the immunity offered by vaccinations as well as the antibodies created during past infections.
France Allows Some COVID-Infected Medics to Keep Working
France is allowing health workers who are infected with the coronavirus but have few or no symptoms to keep treating patients rather than self-isolate, an extraordinary stop-gap measure aimed at alleviating staff shortages at hospitals and other medical facilities caused by an unprecedented explosion in infections.
The special exemption to France’s quarantine rules being rolled out to hospitals, elderly care homes, doctors’ offices and other essential health services testifies to the growing strain being placed on the French medical system by the fast-spreading Omicron variant.
2nd COVID Booster Deemed ‘Safe’ by Israeli PM, but Some Experts Aren’t so Sure
Israeli Prime Minister Naftali Bennett has deemed a fourth dose of Pfizer/BioNTech‘s COVID-19 vaccine “safe” and effective, while some experts are urging the public to wait for a final verdict.
Israeli health authorities recommended the fourth vaccine dose for people over 60 and healthcare workers last month amid a global surge of infections fueled by the highly contagious Omicron variant.
Singapore Says Booster Shots Needed in Order to Maintain Fully Vaccinated Status
People in Singapore will lose their fully vaccinated status after 270 days if they do not take booster shots, the government announced on Wednesday.
Protection from the primary series vaccination wanes and is “substantially reduced six months after the last dose,” Singapore’s health ministry said in a press release. The policy will be in force from Feb. 14, 2022.
The Southeast Asian country is not the first to take such a step. Similar policies have been in place in Israel and Bahrain since October.
