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AVAC's weekly COVID News Brief provides a curated perspective on what COVID news is worth your time.
"Had governments heeded the warnings provided by the spread of emerging diseases like HIV, Ebola, SARS, and MERS, the world might have avoided some of the catastrophic social, economic, and global health consequences caused by SARS-CoV-2.…With the lessons of the pandemic still being learned and the necessary tools for decoding the human immune system at the ready, now is the time for world leaders to focus on reimagining and reshaping the future of human health. Increasing investments in understanding the principles of creating effective immunity for vulnerable populations is a promising place to start."
— Alice Hill and Wayne Koff in a commentary in STAT ([link removed])


** Latest Global Stats
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April 23, 2021
Global Documented Cases
144,861,502 Global Reported Deaths
3,074,926 People Fully Vaccinated
223,329,095
Source: Coronavirus Research Center – Johns Hopkins University & Medicine ([link removed])


** Table of Contents
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* If You Are in a Hurry (#hurry)
* India’s COVID Surge (#india)
* COVID Impact on Other Diseases (#impact)
* COVID Vaccines Double in Africa, but Still Very Low (#vaccines)
* More Real-world Data from Vaccines (#more)
* COVID-19 and Young People (#young)


* Heartthrob Antibodies and Their Friends (#heart)
* Privacy Concerns in Kenya and Uganda (#privacy)
* EMA Recommends Warning on J&J Vaccine (#ema)
* Climate Change and COVID (#climate)
* Languishing (#lang)

We reached a grim milestone this week—in a pandemic that has been defined by a series of grim milestones—more than three million official deaths from COVID have been registered worldwide. The real toll is likely much higher and will never be completely known. Each of those lives lost means the loss of years of more days of work and fun, of family time, of contributions to communities and nations. The New York Times ([link removed]) (US) reports, “health statisticians are increasingly using a calculation called years of life lost, which counts how much time the victims could have lived if they hadn’t died. They say it can help us determine which communities have lost the most and prioritize how to recover…. Looking at lost years shifts the focus from death to life and reveals the depth of this pandemic’s impact crater: In 2020, the United States lost around four million years of potential life, a sweeping international study
([link removed]) published in February found…. Between March and June of 2020, Black Americans under the age of 65 lost 4.6 times as many years of life as white Americans. For Hispanic Americans the number was 3.2 times as high. Preliminary analysis of the same data through March 2021 shows the trend continuing.”



** If You Are in a Hurry
------------------------------------------------------------
* Read about impact of the COVID pandemic on the fight against other diseases in Nature ([link removed]) .
* Read about Africa’s challenges with distributing COVID vaccines in Reuters ([link removed]) .
* Read The Atlantic ([link removed]) on how rising vaccination rates among adults is pushing COVID toward a “young person’s disease.”
* Read The Atlantic ([link removed]) ’s terrific immune system primer and give your innate immune system some love.
* Read a call in STAT ([link removed]) for world leaders to heed the warning signs of climate change and emerging pandemics.




** India’s COVID Surge
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Nature ([link removed]) (UK) reports on the surge of cases in India: “Researchers in India are now trying to pinpoint what is behind the unprecedented surge, which could be due to an unfortunate confluence of factors, including the emergence of particularly infectious variants, a rise in unrestricted social interactions, and low vaccine coverage. Untangling the causes could be helpful to governments trying to suppress or prevent similar surges around the world.”



** COVID Impact on Other Diseases
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Nature ([link removed]) (UK) reports on the impact of the COVID pandemic on the fight against other diseases. “For now, many countries remain laser-focused on COVID-19, with old problems such as measles, polio and TB taking the back seat. Other nations, such as Ethiopia and India, are already laying the groundwork for the long road back. Scientists and advocates talk optimistically about ‘building back better’, because deaths and illness from these old foes were too high before COVID-19. But with the course of the pandemic uncertain and the COVID-19 vaccine roll-out only just beginning, no one is talking about when that might happen.”

The Daily Post ([link removed]) (Nigeria) reports, “The World Health Organization (WHO) says Africa is at risk of major measles outbreaks. The global body noted that fifteen African countries delayed measles immunization drives in 2020 as they dealt with the COVID-19 pandemic. Seven have now completed the campaigns, eight remain outstanding. Between January 2020 and April 2021, an estimated 16.6 million children in Africa missed planned supplemental measles vaccine doses. Eight African countries reported major measles outbreaks that affected tens of thousands.”



** COVID Vaccines Double in Africa, but Still Very Low
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Times Live ([link removed]) (South Africa) reports, “The number of COVID-19 vaccines given in Africa ([link removed]) has doubled over the past month to 15 million—with the Seychelles, Morocco and Rwanda leading the way in protecting the highest proportion of their citizens—Africa CDC director Dr John Nkengasong….” Africa CDC’s COVID dashboard is here. ([link removed])

The Economist ([link removed]) (UK) reports “Many African countries are struggling to use their doses because of operational failings and low demand. Africa CDC, a public-health body, wants 60 percent of the continent vaccinated by the end of next year. The target looks increasingly ambitious. If it is not met there could be dire consequences for Africa—and, potentially, the rest of the world…. A lack of money is making matters worse. care, a charity, reckons that for every $1 spent on vaccines, another $5 is needed to make sure they reach arms. COVAX says it needs about another $3bn to carry out its plans for buying and delivering vaccines this year. In October the World Bank pledged $12bn for vaccines and their roll-outs globally, but as of April 20th it had approved projects worth only $2bn. Just seven of them are in Africa.”

The New York Times ([link removed]) (US) reports, “South Africa will resume the use of the Johnson & Johnson vaccine to inoculate health care workers next week, offering some relief to the country that has suffered a series of blows to its vaccination efforts in recent months, according to South African authorities…. South African health officials are gearing up to extend vaccinations to the general public starting in May. In a first step to launching a national rollout, the country last week opened its vaccine registration to people over 60 years old, who will be among the first to be inoculated.”

Reuters ([link removed]) (UK) reports, “Many African countries, already facing a shortage of affordable vaccines, are being stunned by the unprecedented scale of the distribution challenge when doses do arrive. Authorities do not have enough equipment like masks and cotton wool because of funding shortfalls that could total billions of dollars, according to more than a dozen health experts and some internal government documents seen by Reuters. They also lack sufficient personnel and training to distribute vaccines at short notice.”



** More Real-world Data from Vaccines
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The Guardian ([link removed]) (UK) reports, “One shot of the Oxford/AstraZeneca or Pfizer/BioNTech vaccine reduces coronavirus infections by nearly two-thirds and protects older and more vulnerable people as much as younger, healthy individuals, a study has found.” The Daily Mail ([link removed]) (UK) reports, “In the biggest examination of ‘real-world’ UK vaccination data so far, scientists found both the Pfizer and Oxford jabs slashed infections—and reduced transmission of the virus. Analysis of more than 1.6 million swabs from UK households found that among those who had been given at least one dose of either vaccine there was a 74 percent drop in symptomatic infections. Crucially, the jabs also cut asymptomatic cases—where the person infected has no signs of
illness—by more than 50 per cent. This is critical to stopping people unwittingly spreading COVID.”



** COVID-19 and Young People
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The Atlantic ([link removed]) reports, “In America, adults are racing headlong into a post-vaccination summer while kids are being left in vaccine limbo. Pfizer’s shot is likely to be authorized for ages 12 to 15 in several weeks’ time ([link removed]) , but younger kids may have to wait until the fall or even early 2022 as clinical trials run their course. This 'age de-escalation' strategy ([link removed]) is typical for clinical trials, but it means this confusing period of vaccinated adults and unvaccinated kids will not be over soon. And the pandemic will start to look quite different…. Vaccination is already changing the landscape of COVID-19 risk by age. In the US, hospital admissions have fallen dramatically for adults over 70 who were prioritized
for vaccines, but they have remained steady—or have even risen slightly—in younger groups that became eligible more recently. This trend is likely to continue as vaccines reach younger and younger adults. Over the summer, the absolute number of cases may drop as mass vaccination dampens transmission while the relative share of cases among the unvaccinated rises, simply because they are the ones still susceptible. The unvaccinated group will, of course, be disproportionately children. By dint of our vaccine order, COVID-19 will start looking like a disease of the young.”

The American Academy of Pediatrics ([link removed]) (US) reports, “Children are making up a growing share of new COVID-19 cases in the US, accounting for nearly 21 percent last week. About 88,500 new pediatric COVID-19 cases were reported between April 8-15, according to the latest weekly report ([link removed]) from the AAP and Children’s Hospital Association. Since the start of the pandemic, more than 3.63 million children have tested positive, making up about 13.6 percent of all cases.”



** Heartthrob Antibodies and Their Friends
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The Atlantic ([link removed]) looks at the role of the immune system beyond just antibodies. "But antibodies are simplynot the only immune-system singles worthy of our love ([link removed]) . A multitude of cells and molecules are crucial to building a protective immune response ([link removed]) against this virus and many others. It’s time we took a break from antibodies, and embarked on a brief Rumspringa with the rest of the body’s great defenders.” The writer "asked a few immunologists to chat with me about some of their favorite immune cells and molecules, and imagine what these disease fighters might be like if they truly were single and ready to mingle."



** Privacy Concerns in Kenya and Uganda
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The Standard ([link removed]) reports, “State and private companies illegally harvested and shared Kenyans’ private data during the COVID-19 pandemic in direct breach of the Data Protection Act, 2020. This is according to a new report that details how the pandemic fuelled infringements to citizens’ privacy, freedom of expression and access to information in Kenya and Uganda over the past year. The report says authorities including the National Intelligence Service and the Ministry of Health used illegal surveillance methods to track, trace and in some cases forcefully quarantine in State facilities those suspected of contracting COVID-19…. In both countries, however, data protection and privacy rights provided for in the respective legislations appear to have been thrown out the window during the pandemic, with majority of affected citizens unaware that they were being
monitored and their personal data harvested.”

A commentary on NPR’s Goats and Sodas blog ([link removed]) (US) address the “hypocrisy” of the “global health experience…. This absence from our work in impoverished countries during [the COVID pandemic] is a humbling reminder of important realities for American and European global health practitioners. The work that we do in global health is often done at our convenience—if for any reason we opt not to go, impoverished countries and communities must continue the work either way. The work that to some of us is more academic is a matter of survival for residents of those communities. As my cousin in India once said, ‘Your global health experience is just another day in my life.’"



** EMA Recommends Warning on J&J Vaccine
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AP ([link removed]) (US) reports the EMA The European Union’s drug regulatory agency said Tuesday that it found a “possible link” between Johnson & Johnson’s COVID-19 vaccine and extremely rare blood clots and recommended a warning be added to the label. But experts at the agency reiterated that the vaccine’s benefits outweigh the risks. The European Medicines Agency made its determination after examining a small number of clot cases in people vaccinated in the US. It said these problems should be considered ‘very rare side effects of the vaccine.’” The US is expected to make a decision about resuming the J&J vaccine soon.”



** Climate Change and COVID
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Climate expert Alice Hill and vaccine expert Wayne Koff write in a commentary in STAT ([link removed]) (US) “World leaders need to pay heed to the climate change warning signs that have been flashing for decades. Scientists and policymakers have long predicted that as human migration due to weather extremes brings people into closer contact with animals harboring novel pathogens, humanity will face increasingly grave health risks, including future epidemics and pandemics. There has never been a question of if this will happen, but rather a question of when ([link removed]) . Had governments heeded the warnings provided by the spread of emerging diseases like HIV, Ebola, SARS, and MERS, the world might have avoided some of the catastrophic social, economic, and global health consequences
caused by SARS-CoV-2. Yet when given the option for investing sooner in pandemic preparedness or paying substantially more later, society chose the latter…. With the lessons of the pandemic still being learned and the necessary tools for decoding the human immune system at the ready, now is the time for world leaders to focus on reimagining and reshaping the future of human health. Increasing investments in understanding the principles of creating effective immunity for vulnerable populations is a promising place to start.”

A comment in The Lancet Planetary Health ([link removed](21)00111-X/fulltext) (UK) argues, “Both climate change and COVID-19 are global public health crises threatening lives and livelihoods, increasing poverty, exacerbating inequalities, and damaging economic growth prospects. However, with the pandemic temporarily overshadowing the climate emergency, COVID-19 could have dramatic consequences for the progress on climate change and human health…. There are several key political windows for countries to step forward with enhanced commitments that address the COVID-19 and climate crisis in tandem (e.g., the Leaders' Climate Summit, G7, and G20 summits). The recommendations highlighted in this article can help governments create pandemic-primed NDCs, potentially offering a triple win for safeguarding wellbeing, sustainable economic development, and climate goals.”

Johns Hopkins School of Public Health Expert Insights ([link removed]) (US) reports, “We’ve all seen them: discarded gloves and masks littering parking lots and sidewalks. Some of them make their way to rivers and oceans and wash up in remote, wild places. Invisibly, powerful disinfectants also end up in the water—and persist. The transformation from protection to pollution happens quickly, but the damage can last for centuries.”



** Languishing
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The New York Times ([link removed]) reports, “Languishing…may be the dominant emotion of 2021…. At first, I didn’t recognize the symptoms that we all had in common…. It wasn’t burnout—we still had energy. It wasn’t depression—we didn’t feel hopeless. We just felt somewhat joyless and aimless. It turns out there’s a name for that: languishing ([link removed]) . Languishing is a sense of stagnation and emptiness. It feels as if you’re muddling through your days, looking at your life through a foggy windshield. And it might be the dominant emotion of 2021.”

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