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In a Matter of Days, Pfizer CEO Says They’ll Be Ready to Ask for Approval of a COVID Vaccine for Kids
Pfizer/BioNTech plans to ask for authorization of a COVID-19 vaccine for some children under 12 soon, bringing the US one step closer to offering protection to a population that has grown particularly vulnerable as the fall season gets underway.
“It is a question of days, not weeks,” Pfizer Chairman and CEO Albert Bourla told ABC News Sunday about when the company will submit data on children ages 5 to 11 to the FDA for consideration.
Hawaii Residents Share Firsthand Stories of Breakthrough COVID Cases
They all tested positive for COVID-19 despite being fully vaccinated with two doses of either the Pfizer or Moderna COVID-19 vaccines, and would be considered breakthrough cases — defined by the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention as the detection of the coronavirus in a person more than 14 days after completing vaccinations.
State Department of Health officials have repeatedly said breakthrough cases are rare and that vaccines still protect people from severe illness, hospitalization and death due to COVID-19.
But breakthrough cases can, and do, happen. Both in Hawaii and nationally, cases seem to have increased since the highly contagious Delta variant surged over the summer.
Gottlieb: COVID Delta Wave Could Be ‘Last Major Surge’
Former Food and Drug Administration (FDA) commissioner Scott Gottlieb said on Monday the COVID-19 Delta wave, which is finally slowing in many regions after weeks of rising cases, could be the “last major surge” in the U.S.
“On the back end of this Delta wave, I do think this is the last major surge of infection, barring something unexpected like a new variant coming along that pierces the immunity offered by vaccination or prior infection,” Gottlieb told CNN.
Still, the former FDA commissioner cautioned that he expects the Delta variant will still strike northern areas of the U.S. harder in the coming weeks, following widespread outbreaks in the South and Midwest. “I think by Thanksgiving, it’s probably going to have run its course across the whole country,” he said.
Here’s Why Vaccine-Hesitant Utahns Say They’re Avoiding the COVID Shot
The Salt Lake Tribune reported:
Roughly half of all Utahns who are hesitating to get their COVID-19 vaccine are worried about side effects from the shot, according to new survey estimates from the U.S. Census Bureau.
The concern ranks as the most commonplace reason for vaccine hesitancy in the Beehive State, but the survey suggests that wait-and-see attitudes and disbelief that the shot is necessary are also holding many people back.
The survey shows that the answers people give shift as their resistance hardens — and begin to center on distrust of the vaccine and of the officials promoting it as a lifesaving public health measure. The data comes from the bureau’s biweekly Household Pulse Survey and covers the first two weeks of September.
Do Monoclonal Antibodies Help COVID Patients?
Monoclonal antibody (mAb) therapies are among the most effective. In this treatment, patients are infused with high concentrations of antibodies specifically engineered to fight SARS-CoV-2, the virus that causes COVID.
Governor Ron DeSantis, who has been dismissive of COVID vaccines as a personal choice without broader impact on society has nevertheless touted mAbs, calling them “the best thing we can do to reduce the number of people who require hospitalization.”
Florida has rolled out more than 20 nonclinical infusion centers — including libraries, theaters and churches — to administer mAbs to people who either have COVID or have been recently exposed to someone who does. DeSantis said that more than 90,000 people have received the treatment as of September 16.
The Young NJ Kids Who Eagerly Joined Pfizer COVID Vaccine Trials
Almost immediately after New Jersey’s COVID vaccination rollout began at the end of last year, 10-year-old Maya Gandhi started thinking about getting the shot.
The Bergen County girl watched as her parents, both doctors, got vaccinated. In May, when her brothers, ages 13 and 14, got their Pfizer vaccines, she asked her mother Nisha when it would be her turn.
Pfizer Begins Study of Oral Drug for Prevention of COVID
Pfizer Inc (PFE.N) said on Monday it has started a large study testing its investigational oral antiviral drug for the prevention of COVID-19 infection among those who have been exposed to the virus.
The drugmaker and its rivals, including U.S.-based Merck & Co Inc (MRK.N) and Swiss pharmaceutical Roche Holding AG (ROG.S), have been racing to develop an easy-to-administer antiviral pill for COVID-19.
The mid-to-late-stage study will test Pfizer’s drug, PF-07321332, in up to 2,660 healthy adult participants aged 18 and older who live in the same household as an individual with a confirmed symptomatic COVID-19 infection.
Understanding How Bats Resist COVID Could Inform Human Treatments
Scientists from Australia and China recently released a comprehensive review of SARS-CoV-2’s immunological interaction with its host — bats. The review appears in the journal Science Immunology.
Although bats can contract SARS-CoV-2, they do not get sick. Understanding why that is might guide scientists as they develop new therapies for COVID-19.
Human immunologists and microbiologists collaborated with an expert in bat immunology Dr. Aaron Irving. First author, Dr. Michael Christie, and his colleagues joined forces with Dr. Irving to elucidate the similarities and differences in how bats and humans combat viruses.
Could DNA Vaccines Be the Next Tool in the World’s Battle Against COVID?
India last month began boasting that it has created — and its regulatory body approved — the world’s first DNA vaccine, ZyCoV-D.
The vaccine, developed by a company called Zydus Cadila, expects to have it available for use as early as next month, giving hope to a country that has suffered more than 447,000 deaths at the hand of the virus.
What is a DNA vaccine and could this new class of vaccination become the next tool in the world’s fight against COVID-19? A DNA vaccine is a form of a software vaccine, explained Tel Aviv University’s Prof. Jonathan Gershoni.
Japan Ready to Lift COVID State of Emergency: Report
Officials in Japan reportedly expect to end the state of emergency covering all 19 of the nation’s prefectures by the end of the month as COVID-19 cases decline.
Japan’s capital, Tokyo, reported 299 new cases on Sunday, marking the 11th consecutive day the city’s case count has fallen below 1,000.
