COVID News Brief: The news you need to know

View this email in your browser ([link removed])
AVAC's weekly COVID News Brief provides a curated perspective on what COVID news is worth your time.
“Driven by climate change, migration and other global trends, infectious disease is a growing threat to our lives and economies. Vaccines are our strongest defence by far. However, as we have seen with COVID-19, even if science can develop and rapidly produce them, geopolitical and economic factors can still determine whether people actually receive them. Indeed, one of the largest barriers to global, equitable access to vaccines — and arguably one of the biggest chinks in our pandemic-preparedness armour — is market failure.”
-- GAVI’s Seth Berkley in Financial Times ([link removed])


** Share of People Who Completed the Initial COVID-19 Vaccination Protocol
------------------------------------------------------------
October 27, 2022
Source: Our World in Data ([link removed])


** Table of Contents
------------------------------------------------------------
* If You Are in a Hurry (#If You Are in a Hurry)
* COVID-19 Vaccination Stagnates in Africa (#COVID-19 Vaccination Stagnates in Africa)
* Vaccines, Market Failure and the Next Pandemic (#Vaccines, Market Failure and the Next Pandemic)
* COVID-19 Pressures on Health Systems in Kenya (#COVID-19 Pressures on Health Systems in Kenya)
* COVID-19 Cases to Rise in Coming Months (#COVID-19 Cases to Rise in Coming Months )
* Speeding Up Science (#Speeding Up Science )
* Concerns about COVID-19 Research (#Concerns about COVID-19 Research )
* China Rolling Out Inhaled Vaccine (#China Rolling Out Inhaled Vaccine )


* Lingering Pandemic Effects (#politics)
* US CDC May Bring Back Oral Polio Vaccine (#US CDC May Bring Back Oral Polio Vaccine)
* Hospitalized COVID-19 Patients and Heart Disease (#Hospitalized COVID-19 Patients and Heart Disease)
* China’s “Hellish” Lockdowns (#China’s “Hellish” Lockdowns)
* COVID-19 and a Rise in Fungal Infections (#COVID-19 and a Rise in Fungal Infections)
* Common COVID-19 Symptoms Have Changed (#Common COVID-19 Symptoms Have Changed)
* Uganda Ebola Outbreak (#Uganda Ebola Outbreak)
* COVID-19 and Politics (#COVID-19 and Politics )

We’ve known since the beginning that the COVID-19 pandemic caused unprecedented changes to life around the globe and many of the disruptions have had long-term effects. Now Reuters ([link removed]) (UK) reports, “The COVID-19 pandemic interrupted measles vaccine campaigns globally in 2020 and 2021, leaving millions of children unprotected against one of the world's most contagious diseases, whose complications include blindness, pneumonia and death…. After what health experts call the biggest backslide in a generation, 26 large or disruptive measles outbreaks have sprung up worldwide…. Now African health systems remain especially vulnerable due to a lack of funds and manpower, particularly in countries where conflict and malnutrition make children more vulnerable to deadly infection….”



** If You Are in a Hurry
------------------------------------------------------------
* Read Wired ([link removed]) on the way speedy COVID-19 research can help improve and safely speed up the way research is done.
* Read Nature ([link removed]) on the possible end of no paywalls for COVID-19 research articles.
* Read The Conversation ([link removed]) on the impact of the COVID-19 pandemic on the health system in Kenya and researchers’ recommendations for the next pandemic.
* Read STAT ([link removed]) on the US republican party’s continued politicization of COVID-19, Science and Dr. Fauci ahead of the midterm elections.
* Read Science ([link removed]) on hopes that a vaccine already produced by Merck could be tested in Uganda against the Sudan strain of Ebola that is circulating there.
* Read Seth Berkley in FT ([link removed]) on market failure and vaccines for the next pandemic.
* Read Ars Technica ([link removed]) on the way common COVID symptoms have changed through the pandemic.




** COVID-19 Vaccination Stagnates in Africa
------------------------------------------------------------
The Guardian (Nigeria) reports COVID-19 “vaccination coverage has stagnated in half of the African countries, while the number of doses administered monthly declined by over 50 per cent between July and September…. The Regional Director for Africa, Dr. Matshidiso Moeti, said: ‘The end of the COVID-19 pandemic is within sight, but as long as Africa lags far behind the rest of the world in reaching widespread protection, there is a dangerous gap, which the virus can exploit to come roaring back. ‘The biggest priority is to shield our most vulnerable populations from the worst effect of COVID-19. On this front, we are seeing some progress, as countries step up efforts to boost coverage among health workers, the elderly and those with compromised immune systems.’”



** Vaccines, Market Failure and the Next Pandemic
------------------------------------------------------------
In an opinion piece in FT ([link removed]) (UK) GAVI’s Seth Berkley writes, “Driven by climate change, migration and other global trends, infectious disease is a growing threat to our lives and economies. Vaccines are our strongest defence by far. However, as we have seen with COVID-19, even if science can develop and rapidly produce them, geopolitical and economic factors can still determine whether people actually receive them. Indeed, one of the largest barriers to global, equitable access to vaccines — and arguably one of the biggest chinks in our pandemic-preparedness armour — is market failure.”



** COVID-19 Pressures on Health Systems in Kenya
------------------------------------------------------------
A group of researchers write in The Conversation ([link removed]) (Australia), “We analysed how the pandemic influenced the use of multiple healthcare services in [Kenya]. Our study specifically aimed to assess which healthcare services were resilient to disruptions in the system and which ones were more vulnerable…. We found that the pandemic and the associated healthcare workers’ strike disrupted essential health services. Outpatient visits, screening and diagnostic services, and child immunisation were particularly negatively affected.” The authors conclude: “There is little use in trying to improve essential health services when a pandemic has already begun. Preparedness is key. Kenya must – with data sets like ours, among other tools – identify which services are vulnerable in times of crisis. These should then be improved so that human life is protected before, during and after a
health emergency.”



** COVID-19 Cases to Rise in Coming Months
------------------------------------------------------------
Reuters ([link removed]) (UK) reports, “Daily global COVID-19 infections are projected to rise slowly to about 18.7 million by February from the current 16.7 million average daily cases, driven by the northern hemisphere's winter months, the University of Washington said in an analysis.
Far fewer infections are expected than last winter's estimated peak daily average of about 80 million cases in January of 2022 that was driven by the rapid spread of the Omicron variant…. The increase in cases is not expected to cause a surge in deaths…. Watch IHME director Dr. Christopher Murray on the new forecasts here ([link removed]) .

In a separate article Reuters ([link removed]) (UK) reports, “US doctors are warning that a surge in cases of respiratory syncytial virus (RSV) is coinciding with an increase in COVID-19 transmission and an earlier-than-normal flu season, raising the specter of a "tripledemic" of respiratory illness this winter. In particular, RSV infections among young children are reportedly filling some US hospitals to capacity…. Part of the increase in RSV cases is due to the relaxation of COVID-precautions, such as masking and social distancing, which reduced rates of both RSV and flu during the pandemic….”

Last week the WHO ([link removed](2005)-emergency-committee-regarding-the-coronavirus-disease-(covid-19)-pandemic) reported the International Health Regulations (2005) Emergency Committee regarding the coronavirus disease (COVID-19) determined that COVID-19 “continues to constitute a Public Health Emergency of International Concern.”



** Speeding Up Science
------------------------------------------------------------
Wired ([link removed]) (US) reports, “[T]he urgency of COVID-19 led many people to adapt, produce, and improve research at a quality and speed that few expected. Not only could we avoid those trade-offs, but we could improve science in ways that make it faster—and the pandemic has shown us how…. In just the past two years, scientific research has saved millions of lives. Many of these extraordinary efforts have been unusual, with people adapting in ways that they wouldn't in normal times. But what the pandemic has shown us is that great science can be done fast. Making science better should be one of the world's biggest priorities, and it doesn't need to come at the cost of speed. We can do both.

Nature ([link removed]) (UK) reports, “At the beginning of the COVID-19 pandemic, scientific journals rushed to make related research free to read — temporarily, at least. Work on the disease or the virus SARS-CoV-2 would be free “at least for the duration of the outbreak”, publishers of subscription journals declared in a statement issued on 31 January 2020, the day after the World Health Organization declared the new coronavirus outbreak a ‘public-health emergency of international concern’, or PHEIC. Now the pandemic is in its third year, and reports are circulating that the end of free-to-access COVID-19 research is nigh. If so, that would suggest publishers have decided that the COVID-19 emergency is over before world health authorities have. But is that the case?... The speculation about when or if journals will close
access to COVID-19 research is part of the larger debate about what scientific research should be free. As the open-access movement spreads, much primary research, particularly in medical fields, is being made free to read and reuse, although arguments still swirl about how best to fund this.”



** Concerns about COVID-19 Research
------------------------------------------------------------
Nature ([link removed]) (UK) looks at controversy around an experiment performed at Boston University in which researchers inserted a gene from the Omicron variant into a strain of the virus from the beginning of the pandemic in an attempt to understand why Omicron causes milder disease. “At issue is whether — and when — researchers modifying SARS-CoV-2 or other deadly pathogens need to keep regulators and funding agencies such as the US National Institutes of Health (NIH) informed about their work, even if the agencies didn’t fund the experiments in question. Studies that make pathogens more transmissible or virulent are sometimes called ‘gain of function’ research…. In some cases, discussions seem to be driven by publicity surrounding experiments such as the BU study, instead of by considerations of the potential risks and benefits of such work, says Bloom. The latest controversy highlights the disconnect between how scientists and the public perceive
the risk of research into certain pathogens, he adds. ‘It’s important for scientists to recognize it’s the general public that’s funding all this research. And there are good reasons that people want more transparency and understanding.’”



** China Rolling Out Inhaled Vaccine
------------------------------------------------------------
AP ([link removed]) (US) reports, “The Chinese city of Shanghai started administering an inhalable COVID-19 vaccine on Wednesday in what appears to be a world first. The vaccine, a mist that is sucked in through the mouth, is being offered for free as a booster dose for previously vaccinated people, according to an announcement on an official city social media account…. The effectiveness of non-needle vaccines has not been fully explored. Chinese regulators approved the inhalable one in September, but only as a booster shot after studies showed it triggered an immune system response in people who had previously received two shots of a different Chinese vaccine.”



** Lingering Pandemic Effects
------------------------------------------------------------
BBC ([link removed]) (UK) reports, “Up to half of people died when the Black Death swept through Europe in the mid-1300s. A pioneering study analysing the DNA of centuries-old skeletons found mutations that helped people survive the plague. But those same mutations are linked to auto-immune diseases afflicting people today. The Black Death is one of the most significant, deadliest and bleakest moments in human history. It is estimated that up to 200 million people died…. If you had the right mutations you were 40 percent more likely to survive the plague…. Even today those plague-resisting mutations are more common than they were before the Black Death. The problem is they have been linked to auto-immune diseases such as the inflammatory bowel disease Crohn's - what helped keep your ancestors alive 700 years ago could be damaging your health today.”



** US CDC May Bring Back Oral Polio Vaccine
------------------------------------------------------------
CNBC ([link removed]) (US) reports the US CDC “is considering using an oral polio vaccine for the first time in more than 20 years to stop an outbreak in the greater New York City metropolitan area that left an adult paralyzed over the summer…. The problem is that although the [currently used] inactivated vaccine is highly effective at preventing paralysis, it does not stop transmission of the virus. The oral polio vaccine is much more effective at stopping transmission of the virus and is normally used to quash outbreaks.”



** Hospitalized COVID-19 Patients and Heart Disease
------------------------------------------------------------
CIDRAP ([link removed]) (US) reports, “Compared with both uninfected people and COVID-19 outpatients, hospitalized COVID-19 patients were at dramatically higher risk for death, a blood clot in a vein, heart failure, and stroke within 30 days, suggests an observational study…. COVID-19 outpatients were more than 10 times as likely as uninfected controls to die of any cause and nearly 3 times as likely to develop VTE. But the most severe cardiac outcomes occurred among patients hospitalized for COVID-19, who were at 118 times the risk of death as outpatients; in comparison, the risk was 64 times as high among COVID-19 patients hospitalized for other reasons. Read the study ([link removed]) .



** China’s “Hellish” Lockdowns
------------------------------------------------------------
BBC ([link removed]) (UK) reports, “China's lockdowns have been incessant, unpredictable and hellish by most accounts. They have sparked food shortages, crippled healthcare access, hit the economy hard and even spurred rare signs of protest…. Locking down millions of people may be helping keep national case counts low, but the decision to do so even as the rest of the world opens up also shows how poorly prepared China is for a post-COVID world…. Public health experts argue that if zero-COVID was indeed about saving lives, Beijing would have implemented a more vigorous vaccine policy like other countries. But China has refused to import vaccines despite evidence that its homemade jabs haven't proved as effective. And unvaccinated elderly people, who Beijing says it's trying to protect with zero-COVID, have died from the virus.”



** COVID-19 and a Rise in Fungal Infections
------------------------------------------------------------
The Telegraph ([link removed]) (UK) reports, “Since 2020, experts have noticed an increase in deadly fungal disease, with up to 39 per cent of COVID-19 patients on ventilators in intensive care picking up a secondary infection…. ‘From COVID-19 to climate change, global crises are turning fungi against humans,’ said Dr Haileyesus Getahun, WHO director, Antimicrobial Resistance Global Coordination. CIDRAP ([link removed]) (US) reports, “WHO officials say emerging evidence suggests the incidence and geographic range of fungal diseases are expanding due to climate change and increased global travel. The COVID-19 pandemic has also put the spotlight on the issue, with the reported incidence of invasive fungal infections growing in hospitalized COVID-19 patients. In addition, the population most at
risk from invasive infections caused by these pathogens—including cancer patients, people with HIV/AIDS, organ transplant recipients, and other immunocompromised patients—is growing.”



** Common COVID-19 Symptoms Have Changed
------------------------------------------------------------
Ars Technica ([link removed]) (US) reports, “As people build up immunity to SARS-CoV-2 through vaccines, boosters, and infections, the most commonly reported symptoms of COVID-19 have shifted, making the deadly pandemic infection more difficult for many people to distinguish from standard cold-weather viruses.” The information comes from an app-based survey of people who have recovered from COVID-19. “Since COVID-19 emerged, the common symptoms that have topped standard lists include fever, chills, a persistent cough, and shortness of breath. As the virus spread around the planet, loss of taste and smell were also reported as telltale signs. But these days, those symptoms are almost completely absent from the top five. According to the new survey data taken over several recent weeks amid the spread of omicron subvariants, for those who are fully vaccinated, the top five symptoms of a breakthrough
infection are (in order): sore throat, runny nose, blocked nose, persistent cough, and headache. Only persistent cough hangs on from the original list of top symptoms, but it is down to the fourth most common symptom. A loss of smell came in as the sixth most common symptom, and fever trailed at number eight. Shortness of breath ranked 29th.”



** Uganda Ebola Outbreak
------------------------------------------------------------
Reuters (UK) reports, “Uganda has reported nine more Ebola cases in the capital Kampala, bringing the total number of known infections to 14 in the last two days, the health minister said on Monday…. Health ministry spokesperson Emmanuel Ainebyoona said all of the patients in Kampala were in isolation when they became symptomatic, reducing any chance of them passing on the virus.”

Science ([link removed]) (US) reports, “In a revelation that may help Uganda combat its outbreak of Ebola, the pharmaceutical giant Merck has acknowledged to Science—after repeated inquiries—that it has up to 100,000 doses of an experimental vaccine for the deadly viral disease in its freezers in Pennsylvania and will donate them. The World Health Organization (WHO) and the Ugandan government are discussing whether and how these doses can be incorporated into one or more clinical trials of other candidate Ebola vaccines that could launch as soon as next month. In a press release IAVI ([link removed]) announced, “Merck plans to produce and provide to IAVI vials of candidate vaccine from existing investigational drug substance to
supplement IAVI’s ongoing SUDV vaccine development program….IAVI and Merck have been in discussions with the World Health Organization (WHO), the Coalition for Epidemic Preparedness Innovations (CEPI), and other stakeholders regarding the potential production and supply of doses of investigational SUDV vaccine to help support the WHO’s efforts to conduct a clinical trial of vaccine candidates in Uganda, in partnership with the Government of Uganda.



** COVID-19 and Politics
------------------------------------------------------------
STAT ([link removed]) (US) reports, “Even as the pandemic fades from our daily lives, it is at the forefront in Republican campaigns across the country, with candidates arguing that scientific institutions have amassed too much power. Among deeply conservative and often Trump-backed congressional and gubernatorial candidates, calls to investigate or even jail Anthony Fauci have become regular campaign rallying cries. Ads lambasting Democrats for school shutdowns, business closures and mask mandates are running in heated races including in Georgia and Florida, where Democratic candidates trail their opponents in the polls.
Got this from a friend? Subscribe here. ([link removed])

============================================================
Our mailing address is:
** [email protected] (mailto:[email protected])

** unsubscribe from this list ([link removed])
** update subscription preferences ([link removed])