Pfizer, Moderna report strong data on vaccine efficacy against variants

Global vaccine supply remains challenged, especially as India’s Covid surge continues

My home county, Marin, just north of San Francisco, has been among the best for Covid control... until now. The health department explains that a recent increase in new cases comes from people who aren’t helping prevent the spread - travelers, mask-adverse socializers and unvaccinated people. Making things worse: the B.1.1.7 (UK) variant, which spreads easier than the previous strains.

The good news is that there’s a lot of science being done to figure out how to deal with the variants, especially now that the USA has ramped up testing to detect variants among Covid cases.

Pfizer’s Covid-19 vaccine is 100% effective at preventing severe disease caused by the B.1.1.7 and B.1.351 (S. Africa) variants, according to a study in the New England Journal of Medicine.

Moderna reports that its Covid-19 vaccine booster shot appears to be effective at generating antibodies against the B.1.351 variant, which has been associated with COVID-19 cases among people already vaccinated or who had previously been sick with Covid.

Some scientists think two different Covid 19 shots might be better than two doses of the same one, NPR’s Joe Palca reports.

The Biden Administration wants to open up some patent protection so that vaccines can be manufactured in more places and exported to more countries during the pandemic.

Making billions of doses of vaccines isn’t easy. With the largest factories located in India, where the Covid-19 crisis has reached an alarming level, there are concerns that doses destined for other countries will be delayed. For an explanation of why the vaccines are hard to manufacture, check out this March article from Chemistry World.

A federal judge says the CDC does not have legal authority to impose an eviction moratorium.

Broadway shows will resume September 14 with normal capacity limits, New York Gov. Andrew Cuomo announced.