COVID Vaccine Injuries Quietly Being Compensated Around the World, Are You Eligible? + More
The Defender’s COVID NewsWatch provides a roundup of the latest headlines related to the SARS CoV-2 virus, including its origins and COVID vaccines.
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COVID Vaccine Injuries Quietly Being Compensated Around the World, Are You Eligible?
Programs in countries around the world have begun quietly compensating people who have been injured by or died as a result of the COVID-19 vaccines.
Humans are biologically diverse, with respect to both genetic makeup and past environmental exposures. Because of this, explained neurologist Dr. Robert Lowry, people can react very differently to the same medication or vaccination. Whenever a new drug or biologic hits the market, some people will have bad reactions and others may even suffer serious adverse events as a result.
Even under the best testing conditions, rare reactions will be missed. This is especially true for any product which is fast-tracked or authorized for emergency use before all the phases of necessary testing are complete.
COVID-19 vaccines are no exception. Despite the fact that we are constantly and consistently assured that COVID-19 vaccines are safe, and that severe adverse reactions are “very rare,” the FDA and the CDC with its Advisory Committee on Immunization Practices, as well as the scientists and executives at each of the participating drug companies, know that some people will become permanently disabled or even die as a result of vaccination.
Moderna Considering Creating an mRNA Monkeypox Vaccine Amid Growing Demand for Shots
Amid growing concerns over the potential threat of monkeypox, executives from Moderna said Wednesday they have initiated a research program to consider whether the company could create a monkeypox vaccine with mRNA technology.
“We’re obviously very aware of the monkeypox concern and obviously very sensitive to recent announcements,” Moderna President Stephen Hoge said during an investor call.
He went on, “We did initiate a research program. We are tracking that very closely and obviously, given the recent public health announcements and increasing concern about availability of vaccine supply, we are beginning to look at what it would take for us to use our platform and to provide a monkeypox vaccine — both [to] intervene in the current and the current epidemic but also to try and address long-term issues of supply in this public health threat.”
Domestically and globally, officials have been vocal in their concern that there are not enough monkeypox vaccines to address the emerging crisis. With demand increasing, officials from the U.S. Health and Human Services (HHS) have reported that a total of 1.1 million doses of the JYNNEOS vaccine for monkeypox, a two-dose regimen, will be allocated to states and jurisdictions across the country. Approximately 1.5 million Americans are currently considered eligible for vaccination, the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) told ABC News last month.
COVID-19 Vaccine Sales Push Moderna Past Expectations in Q2
Better-than-expected COVID-19 vaccine sales pushed Moderna past Wall Street’s second-quarter forecasts. The company said that its Spikevax vaccine brought in $4.53 billion during the quarter. Analysts were looking for around $3.6 billion, according to FactSet.
Moderna shares surged Wednesday after the company also announced another $3 billion share buyback plan.
Moderna’s vaccine sales in the second quarter represent a drop from the nearly $6 billion that the vaccine brought in during the year’s first quarter, when a virus surge through the United States pushed more people to seek protection. But those sales could pick up again later this year.
Moderna has developed an updated version of its vaccine for a fall booster campaign that combines the original shot with protection against the omicron variant.
The company announced last week that it reached a deal with the U.S. government for an initial purchase of 66 million doses of the booster shot for up to $1.74 billion. The government also has an option to purchase more doses.
Rapid COVID Test Still Positive After 5 Days? You May Not Be Contagious, Study Suggests
Some 50% of people who test positive for COVID-19 on a rapid test after five days of infection are likely no longer contagious, a Journal of the American Medical Association study released on Wednesday suggests, after the Centers for Disease Control has received criticism from some experts for recommending a quarantine period of five days without using testing to determine when to end isolation.
All of those who tested negative for COVID with a rapid antigen test on day 6 of their infection — 25% of study participants — had a negative viral culture, indicating they were likely no longer infectious and suggesting a negative rapid test could be a good way to confirm an end to isolation, researchers concluded.
But half of the three quarters of participants who tested positive for the coronavirus on a rapid test on day six of their infection also had a negative viral culture detected through a nasal and oral swab, according to the study, which researchers noted was limited by a small, mostly young and vaccinated sample group of 40 people.
The study comes several months after the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) shortened the required quarantine period from ten days to five — with five days of mask-wearing — for those who are asymptomatic or have improving symptoms and suggested rapid tests on day 6 as an optional measure.
EU Says Novavax COVID Shot Must Carry Heart Side-Effect Warning
The European Medicines Agency (EMA) is recommending Novavax’s COVID-19 vaccine carry a warning of the possibility of two types of heart inflammation, an added burden for a shot that has so far failed to win wide uptake.
The heart conditions — myocarditis and pericarditis — should be listed as new side effects in the product information for the vaccine, Nuvaxovid, based on a small number of reported cases, the EMA said on Wednesday.
Novavax said no concerns about heart inflammations were raised during the clinical trials of Nuvaxovid and that more data would be gathered, adding that the most common cause of myocarditis is viral infections.
“We will work with the relevant regulators to assure our product information is consistent with our common interpretation of the incoming data,” U.S. vaccine developer Novavax added.
COVID Rebound Not Limited to Those Who Took Paxlovid
COVID rebound, which struck both President Joe Biden and White House Chief Medical Advisor Dr. Anthony Fauci recently, doesn’t just happen in those who take Paxlovid, a new study finds.
Rebound symptoms were spotted in 27% of COVID-19 patients who hadn’t taken the antiviral pill, with about 12% testing positive again, researchers report.
“It happens all the time. People who are untreated with COVID who then feel better can get symptoms afterward,” study co-author Dr. Davey Smith, chief of infectious diseases and global public health at the University of California, San Diego School of Medicine, told NBC News.
The study has not yet been published in a peer-reviewed journal.
San Diego County Declares Monkeypox Public Health Emergency
San Diego County has declared a public health emergency for monkeypox, two days after California Gov. Gavin Newsom (D) declared one for the entire state.
Wilma Wooten, a public health officer for the county, made the declaration based on a limited vaccine supply being available, the large population and geographic area of the county, the global spread of the virus and the confirmed and probable local cases.
Officials have confirmed 27 cases of monkeypox and consider an additional 19 cases as likely to be monkeypox as of last Friday, according to the declaration.
Federal Reports on Long COVID Fall Short of Offering Solid Plans to Help Patients
Two highly anticipated federal reports on long COVID released Wednesday fail to address the immediate needs of patients, according to doctors and advocacy groups. They also say the reports neglected to include many of their recommendations for how to address the long COVID crisis.
The reports, produced in response to an executive order from President Joe Biden, go into great detail about all that remains unknown about long COVID that affects up to 23 million Americans, including the cause, effective treatments or even a specific definition of the illness.
And while the reports do commit to establishing a long COVID office within the Department of Health and Human Services to answer those questions, the reports offer no details on how such an office would be funded and staffed, nor do they offer any timeline for such a setup.
Advocacy groups say that while the reports are a good start, they are woefully inadequate in addressing the very questions patients and their physicians have had for more than two years, when long COVID was first identified.
5th Child Tests Positive for Monkeypox in US: What Parents Should Know
As monkeypox continues to spread across the U.S., the number of children infected with the virus is growing as well.
At least five children have tested positive for monkeypox since July, including two each in Indiana and California.
The other case was reported in an infant, a non-U.S. resident, who was tested while traveling through Washington, D.C., federal officials confirmed last month.
Children under the age of 8 are among those whom the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) considers at “increased risk” for developing more severe illness if infected with monkeypox, along with pregnant people, people who are immunocompromised and those who have a history of atopic dermatitis or eczema.