CDC endorses boosters for select adults
FDA and others to provide guidance within days; delta outbreak continues surge. New cases in Florida total more than in 30 states with lowest case rates combined.
A few news items from the federal government, followed by other headlines and thoughts about traveling, testing and staying safe in this latest delta wave.
CDC Director Dr. Rochelle Walensky announced Thursday that the FDA will authorize additional vaccine doses for about 3% of the adult U.S. population. CDC advisors will meet Friday to confirm guidelines that will be published within the next few days.
Walensky distinguished these additional doses from “boosters,” saying that these shots are for people who do not get a sufficient immune response from the initial doses - not because immunity wanes over time.
She said further data is needed before the CDC makes any recommendations for the broader population. (For more on this, check out this post that went to paying subscribers last week.)
Many Americans are seeking out or getting additional shots, even without guidelines calling for them.
If and when additional shots are recommended for more people, the U.S. government has enough doses available to roll them out quickly, the White House said.
White House COVID-19 Response Coordinator Jeffrey Zients said vaccination rates are going up, especially in some of the states most impacted by rising delta variant infections.
Hospitalizations in the U.S. are now 31% higher than a week ago, at nearly 10,000 new hospitalizations per day.
According to Zients, Florida has had more cases in the past week than the 30 states with the lowest new case rates combined.
Florida and Texas account for nearly half (40%) of all new hospitalizations.
More than 600,000 people have been treated with monoclonal antibody treatments for COVID-19 since the pandemic began. “That’s 600,000 hospitalizations prevented and lives saved,” says Dr. Marcella Nunez-Smith, Senior Advisor to the COVID-19 Response Team. Florida has received a surge of eight times more monoclonal antibody treatments for high-risk people infected with or exposed to COVID-19 than in prior months, says Nunez-Smith. Federal teams have also deployed to Arizona and other states to get these treatments to more people.
Also at the latest White House COVID-19 briefing, chief medical adviser Dr. Anthony Fauci said newly published data from a study of more than 477,000 subjects shows that the single-shot Johnson & Johnson vaccine prevents 91-96% of deaths and 71% of hospitalizations from delta variant COVID-19.
Other COVID-19 news from around the webbed world
The CDC has not provided a breakdown of how many of the hospitalized COVID patients were fully vaccinated. However, reports are emerging from multiple locations suggesting that more fully vaccinated people are getting severely ill — enough to be admitted to hospitals, such as in Colorado.
Reports are coming from hospitals throughout the nation of staff shortages, including nurses or others walking off their jobs mid-shift. The nation’s healthcare provider shortage that existed before COVID-19 is going to be much worse.
Have you seen any Facebook posts that include negative information or reasons to not get vaccinated against COVID-19? Odds are that the post either originated or was amplified by Russian or Chinese instigators. Facebook caught a Russian agency behind much of the vaccine misinformation.
A Mayo Clinic study finds that the Pfizer vaccine did not perform as well as Modern as the delta variant surged. Both vaccines protected against the most severe consequences, but people with Moderna vaccinations had about 60% lower infection risk, according to the study which was posted to a pre-print server and not peer reviewed.
Before delta started surging, all three vaccines prevented most hospitalizations among the elderly, according to a new CDC study. “Among adults aged 65–74 years, effectiveness of full vaccination for preventing hospitalization was 96% for Pfizer-BioNTech, 96% for Moderna, and 84% for Janssen COVID-19 vaccines,” says the report.
In California, new cases are tapering off after widespread re-adoption of masks and 64% fully vaccinated. However, Orange County, where some of the most vocal public health opponents are active, remains an example where the test positivity rate remains high (8%) and new cases and hospitalizations are expected to worsen. Neighboring Los Angeles County has a positivity rate under 5%.
Wondering why the CDC’s mask guidance was revised after data from Provincetown, Massachusetts? The behind-the-scenes story of the study that changed our knowledge of the latest COVID-19 strain is a great example of citizen-science.
Scientists from two government agencies (including one that my work is involved with) and a consortium of academic institutions have identified a “correlate of protection” that predicts vaccine efficacy based on a blood sample tested 29 days after first vaccine dose. Read more:
From @BARDA on yesterday's preprint re: correlate of protection from @moderna_tx's COVID-19 vaccine data "finding could speed additional indications of vaccines ... as well as accelerate assessment of vaccine efficacy against new variants of SARS-CoV-2" medicalcountermeasures.gov/stories/correl…
COVID-19 NEWS: A new analysis of data (not yet peer-reviewed) from the Moderna #COVID19 vaccine Ph 3 trial adds evidence toward establishing a "correlate of protection"—a measurable marker of efficacy used to predict whether a vaccine will be protective https://t.co/PXwwzfjCzE
NIAID News @NIAIDNews
Delta variant forces us to hit the brakes on “returning to normal”
By now, many of us knows at least one person who either got sick or tested positive even after being fully vaccinated. The delta variant, which replicates at extraordinary speed so that the viral load in an infected person may be 1,000 times higher than with prior covid strains, has found ways to hitchhike on vaccinated people and find the vulnerable, including many younger people and children. Not only are masks back, many experts are recommending that more people use medical-grade N95 masks. Being fully vaccinated is reassurance that you are protected against severe illness or death, but it is no longer a marker for being free of infection.
If you aren’t concerned yet, read this article about a party of 14 fully vaccinated people. Eleven got infected. Unfortunately, in most of the USA, a reasonable presumption is that someone around you has the delta variant, even if they are unaware or have no symptoms. Avoid indoors with other people, wear a mask anytime anyone else is nearby, and get vaccinated if you haven’t already.
Confused about N95 masks? There’s much to be confused about. This article may help. Recently I got a box of these from a local hardware store and find them more comfortable than earlier designs. If you do get N95s, make sure you get ones that do not have vents. Those aren’t for protection against pathogens like COVID.
That’s it for now. Thanks for reading, commenting and sharing.
Disclosure: This newsletter is funded by my paying subscribers and my own resources, and I am solely responsible for its content. Separately, I am a science communications advisor to a contractor supporting the U.S. government COVID-19 response.