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AVAC's weekly COVID News Brief provides a curated perspective on what COVID news is worth your time.
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"In the 1980s, the gay community had to build its own systems of care for itself. We shouldn't have to do that 40 years later. We should figure out a way to ensure that everybody who has a case of monkeypox does not fall between the cracks."
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Share of People Who Completed the Initial COVID-19 Vaccination Protocol
August 10, 2022
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We’ve seen it with HIV – AIDS deniers, some of the high placed politicians – have spread misinformation about the link between HIV and AIDS and other lies about that virus. We really see with COVID – the infodemic that parallels the COVID pandemic with a deluge of information – much of it misinformation and disinformation spreading on social media. And now we see it with monkeypox.
As twitter and other social media platforms have become hotbeds of monkeypox misinformation, fact checking sites are beginning to focus on monkeypox misinformation alongside the continued heavy lift of countering COVID misinformation.
Rolling Stone (US) reports, “Since the COVID-19 pandemic began, social media has come under intense scrutiny for the role that it plays in disseminating potential misinformation. Platforms like Facebook and Twitter became hotbeds for inaccurate news about the virus, vaccines, safety guidelines, and potential treatments. Experts are now wary of making mistakes in the rollout of monkeypox guidelines that could open the floodgates once again, all while navigating a minefield of anxiety-fueled public commentary over another public health crisis.”
As with HIV, discussions of monkeypox on social media and elsewhere often comes with stigma for the population that is most affected. Science writer Kai Kupferschmidt writes in a New York Times (US) opinion piece, “As an infectious disease reporter, I have seen how deadly stigma can be. And as someone living with HIV, I have experienced the suffering that stigma can cause. But the solution is not to fall silent or to act as if the risk from monkeypox is the same across different groups. The solution is to choose words carefully, to engage the communities that are most at risk and to listen to those affected by this disease. That work will make the difference between public health and homophobia by neglect…. Keeping the focus on gay men and our sexual networks carries a risk, especially in those countries and communities where gay men are discriminated against and persecuted. Part of the public health response needs to be watching out for attempts to use this health crisis as a pretext for stigmatization and discrimination.”
If You Are in a Hurry
- Read ProPublica on how a lack of data and guidelines led many pregnant people to avoid vaccination and how that contributed to a rise in stillbirths in the US.
- Read The Atlantic on the virus’s attempts to dodge interferons and what that means for us.
- Listen to Gregg Gonsalves on NPR talking about how not to stigmatize gay men in the response to Monkeypox.
- Read KHN on efforts to detect Monkeypox in communities through wastewater surveillance.
- Read an AP factcheck that sets the record straight on Tedros vaccination status.
- Read a Lancet profile of Tulio de Oliveira and his call for science for the community.
COVID and Stillbirths
ProPublica (US) reports, “Unvaccinated women who contracted COVID-19 during pregnancy were at a higher risk of stillbirths. They also were more likely to be admitted to the intensive care unit, give birth prematurely or die. Yet their greatest protection — the COVID-19 vaccine — sat largely untouched, buried under doubt, polluted by disinformation. Pharmaceutical companies and government officials failed to ensure that pregnant people were included in the early development of the COVID-19 vaccine, a calamitous decision made amid the urgency of a rapidly spreading pandemic. That decision left pregnant people with little research to rely on when making a critical decision on how best to keep the babies growing inside of them safe.”
Yes, Tedros is Vaccinated
AP (US) and other sources have fact checked a claim that WHO director Tedros is not vaccinated against COVID. “A video clip is circulating on social media with a false claim that it shows the WHO leader expressing that he had not been vaccinated against COVID-19. ‘Tedros not jabbed?’ reads one tweet, which garnered more than 8,000 likes. ‘Well who’d have thought?’ Another tweet shared by thousands claimed: ‘So Tedros hasn’t had any Vx because he’s “protesting”.’ The 35-second clip shows a portion of a 2021 interview of Tedros by Jon Cohen, a writer for the publication Science. The interview was included in a documentary, ‘How to Survive a Pandemic,’ which runs more than 100 minutes…in the full June 12, 2021, interview — which was edited for the documentary — Ghebreyesus in fact did reply that he was vaccinated on May 12, according to the Science article by Cohen that followed. Ghebreyesus also publicly posted a photo on Twitter showing him receiving his vaccine that day, which he followed with a post about vaccine equity.”
Long COVID
A JAMA (US) viewpoint argues for the need to follow the direction of an April Presidential memo that “directs the federal government to provide care for 3 large groups of affected persons: those with Long COVID and associated conditions; those experiencing behavioral health challenges related to COVID-19; and those grieving the loss of loved ones, friends, and neighbors…. Long COVID and associated conditions as well as the longer-term sequelae of the pandemic will continue to affect patients and families…. It is important to focus a new lens on the pandemic and direct much-needed attention to Long COVID. Taking care of affected patients presents challenges given the incompleteness of research, the lack of sufficient diagnostics support, and pervasive problems with access to services. The provisions in the presidential memo are important elements for mounting an effective approach for addressing the long-term effects of COVID.”
Interferon Dodging
Katherine J. Wu writes in The Atlantic (US) reports on “intercellular messages, ferried about by molecules called interferons, serve as a warning signal to nearby cells—'You are about to be infected; it’s time for you to set up an antiviral state,’…Strong, punchy interferon responses are essential to early viral control, acting as a ‘first line of defense.’ She reports, “as new coronavirus variants arise, they may be steadily improving their ability to resist interferons’ punch—making it easier, perhaps, for the microbes to spread within and between bodies, or spark more serious disease…. SARS-CoV-2 has immense wiggle room in its genome; giving it less practice at infecting us is one of the most straightforward ways to halt its self-improvement kick. ‘Every replication cycle is an opportunity,’ [Vineet Menachery, a coronavirologist] told me, for the virus to further fine-tune its MO.”
Tulio de Oliveira and Science for the Community
A Lancet (UK) profile of South African-based researcher Tulio de Oliveira says his “philosophy has been to do ‘science not for journal publications or the academic career but science that can go back to the community and to the managing physicians and nurses of patients’…. A leader of African science in the COVID-19 pandemic, he established the Network for Genomic Surveillance in South Africa in 2020, and his team was the first to identify the beta (B.1.351) and omicron (B.1.1.529) variants of SARS-CoV-2. But he points out he is ‘much more interested in the response than the science per se’.”
Return of Vaccine Preventable Diseases
Spotlight (South Africa) reports, “Some local experts fear that small measles outbreaks recently reported in Gauteng may be precursors to much larger outbreaks. This comes against the backdrop of recently released survey findings that confirm that South Africa’s vaccination rates were falling short, even prior to the COVID-19 pandemic. The pandemic-related hard lockdown disrupted routine health services and saw, among other disruptions, a decline in children receiving their scheduled life-saving vaccines.”
STAT (US) reports, “New York state health authorities revealed Thursday that they had detected additional polioviruses in wastewater sampled in two counties north of New York City, findings that signal continued spread of the viruses in the region. The positive wastewater samples were found in Rockland County, where health authorities revealed two weeks ago that a man in his 20s had been paralyzed by so-called vaccine-derived polioviruses, and in neighboring Orange County as well. Positive samples were collected in June and July in Orange County and in July in Rockland County, suggesting that viruses have been spreading for some time.” The US cases follow cases seen earlier this year in Southern Africa.
South African Regulators Confirm Death Related to Vaccine
Health-e News (South Africa) reports, “A recipient of the COVID-19 Johnson & Johnson vaccine booster has died, as confirmed by the South African Health Products and Regulatory Authority (SAHPRA) earlier today. Since the start of the pandemic, this is South Africa’s first casualty out of 160 deaths investigated. ‘It is with very sad hearts today that we report to you that SAHPRA has been informed of a fatal case of a syndrome called Guillain-Barre Syndrome, shortly referred to as GBS. This is a case that was noted following vaccination with the COVID-19 J&J Janssen vaccine,’ said Tumi Semete, CEO of SAHPRA.” Health-e also quotes “Professor Helen Rees, Chair of the SAHPRA board [who] reminded members of the public of all the vaccine benefits. ‘In South Africa, we lost over 100,000 people because of COVID-19. The virus particularly affects those who are older or have comorbidities. The one thing all the vaccines do very well is preventing severe disease and death. In this case, I think most people in this country by now will know somebody who has died of COVID. So, the benefit of vaccines and preventing severe disease and death is very significant. But as the regulator, our responsibility is to explain what happened in this case and reassure the public that we are looking at all the incidents.’”
Reuters (UK) quotes Boitumelo Semete-Makokotlela, chief executive of SAHPRA: "In our context we have administered about 9 million (doses) of the Janssen vaccine, and this is the first causally linked case of GBS."
Monkeypox Updates
The US CDC released “Interim Guidance for Prevention and Treatment of Monkeypox in Persons with HIV Infection — United States, August 2022” in the MMWR, noting “Persons with advanced HIV might be at increased risk for severe monkeypox. Postexposure prophylaxis and antiviral treatments are available for persons with HIV infection. Prompt diagnosis and treatment and enhanced prevention efforts might reduce the risk for severe outcomes.”
In an interview with NPR (US) Gregg Gonsalves says, “we have to figure out how to hold two thoughts in our head at once. One is it's not a gay disease, but it's happening among men who have sex with men. And what the federal government has actually been pretty good at is that they've been very, very vocal about the need not to stigmatize LGBT communities, gay men - not to discriminate against them. That being said, you know, we've already heard from certain politicians - particularly in the other party - that have tried to make this a way to scapegoat people in a moment of crisis. And, you know, we need to be fact-based in our prevention messages. And we have to just be very, very clear about the fact that discrimination and stigma are bad in a moral sense, but they also drive people away from care and prevention.”
Rolling Stone (US) reports on the sex workers who are leading the fight against monkeypox in the US. “Sex workers and adult entertainment industry workers, particularly those who identify as LGBTQ+, have often been forced to act as a vanguard, demanding resources and creating safety protocols to combat diseases that can be transmitted through sexual contact. Safer sex practices among sex workers and the LGBTQ+ community were born out of ‘necessity,’ says Domina Yuki, a San Francisco-based dominatirix. ‘Historically, our government has failed the LGBTQ+ and sex work community and as a result, we end up having to bear the responsibility of taking care of ourselves and our community.’…Many sex workers and sex-work advocacy organizations are speaking out in the fight against monkeypox, organizing vaccine drives, releasing updated guidelines for film shoots and client interactions, and turning to social media…as a tool to share their experiences and information. In doing so, they must navigate a complex labyrinth of anti-sex work and anti-LGBTQ+ stigma related to the virus, which far-right pundits have been all too happy to promote.”
Science (US) reports, “Just hours before the United States declared monkeypox a national public health emergency…the White House Office of Science and Technology Policy (OSTP) and science leaders from around the world called on scientific publishers to immediately make any monkeypox-related research and data published by their journals freely available to help contain the spread of the virus. The United States now leads the world in the absolute number of confirmed monkeypox cases, and the national emergency declaration allows government health officials to flexibly access money to make grants, award contracts, and ease coordination with state and local public health officials. It also allows them to avoid some bureaucratic hurdles that could otherwise slow a response….’Given the urgency of the situation, it is particularly important that scientists and the public can access research results and data as soon as possible,’ OSTP officials wrote today in an appeal to publishers co-signed by science and technology leaders and advisers from 19 countries. Publishers should enable free access to relevant publications and place them in public repositories, the letter says.”
KHN (US) reports, “The same wastewater surveillance techniques that have emerged as a critical tool in early detection of COVID-19 outbreaks are being adapted for use in monitoring the startling spread of monkeypox across the San Francisco Bay Area and some other US communities…. Since expanding its surveillance in mid-June, the SCAN team has detected monkeypox in several of the 11 Northern California sewersheds it is monitoring…. As with COVID, data on monkeypox can be used to compare trends across regions, but there are limits to what this kind of monitoring can accomplish. Wastewater monitoring doesn’t pinpoint who is infected; it reveals only the presence of a virus in a given area. And it takes a specialist to analyze the samples. Researchers consider wastewater surveillance a complement to other public health tools, not a replacement.”
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