COVID News Brief: The news you need to know

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AVAC's weekly COVID News Brief provides a curated perspective on what COVID news is worth your time.
"We argue that to better apply lessons learned as the COVID-19 pandemic matures and other infectious disease outbreaks emerge, it will be imperative to create dialogue among polarised perspectives, identify shared priorities, and draw on multidisciplinary evidence."
-- Judith Auerbach in Lancet HIV ([link removed])


** Share of People Who Completed the Initial COVID-19 Vaccination Protocol
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November 16, 2022
Source: Our World in Data ([link removed])


** Table of Contents
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* If You Are in a Hurry (#If You Are in a Hurry)
* Politics and the Vaccine Waiver (#Politics and the Vaccine Waiver)
* Bivalent Vaccine Effectiveness (#Bivalent Vaccine Effectiveness)
* Global COVID-19 Death Rate Down (#Global COVID-19 Death Rate Down)
* Asymptomatic Spread of Monkeypox (#Asymptomatic Spread of Monkeypox)
* Lessons from HIV for COVID-19 and Beyond (#Lessons from HIV for COVID-19 and Beyond)
* Making African Vaccine Manufacturing Sustainable (#Making African Vaccine Manufacturing Sustainable)
* The Public-Health Power of Humor on Black Twitter (#The Public-Health Power of Humor on Black Twitter)
* Pandemic Preparedness Fund Moves Forward (#Pandemic Preparedness Fund Moves Forward)


* China’s Pandemic Rule Changes (#China’s Pandemic Rule Changes)
* SARS-CoV-2 Ancestor Unlikely to Be Found (#SARS-CoV-2 Ancestor Unlikely to Be Found)
* Cholera Outbreaks and Vaccine Shortages (#Cholera Outbreaks and Vaccine Shortages)
* Masks Were Protective in Schools (#Masks Were Protective in Schools)
* Misinformation and Ebola (#Misinformation and Ebola)
* Hope of an mRNA Vaccine for Ebola (#Hope of an mRNA Vaccine for Ebola)
* Multiple COVID-19 Infections Dangerous (#Multiple COVID Infections Dangerous)
* Questions about Indian Vaccine Approval (#Questions about Indian Vaccine Approval)

Research and regulatory timelines for COVID-19 interventions, especially vaccines, were significantly accelerated to meet the demands of a global pandemic. We’re now seeing that those accelerated timelines can be kept for other things. SAHPRA’s (the South African regulatory agency) Portia Nkambule writes in a Bhekisisa ([link removed]) (South Africa) op-ed: “During the pandemic…. We were able to cut the review process of COVID-19 vaccines down to between four and 11 months — on average, five times faster than before — without compromising our assessment standards…. How? By streamlining how we work…. The lessons we learnt will benefit everyone in South Africa in the long term, because more efficient processes mean that people won’t have to wait unnecessarily long for new medicines that come on to the market because of administrative wheels turning slowly.”



** If You Are in a Hurry
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* Read STAT ([link removed]) and The Washington Post ([link removed]) on new data from Pfizer and Moderna that shows the impact of bivalent vaccines on Omicron subvariants.
* Read NBC News ([link removed]) on a study that found asymptomatic spread of monkeypox is likely common.
* Read Devex ([link removed]) on what’s next for the Pandemic Preparedness Fund.
* Read Times Live ([link removed]) for all the pandemic-related words at the top of global English words in 2022.
* Read The New York Times ([link removed]) on increasing cholera outbreaks and vaccine shortages.
* Read The Bureau of Investigative Journalism ([link removed]) on successful efforts by big pharma to weaken the COVID-19 TRIPS waiver.




**
Politics and the Vaccine Waiver
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The Bureau of Investigative Journalism ([link removed]) (US) reports, “Big Pharma said a [TRIPS] waiver [for COVID-19 vaccine intellectual property] would threaten investment and innovation – and rich nations, particularly EU members and the UK, resisted it, arguing it would not bridge the huge gaps in vaccine availability between wealthy and poorer nations. The Bureau of Investigative Journalism and POLITICO can reveal how this proposal was stymied and watered down by negotiators until it was finally signed off by governments desperate to save a flagging project.” The report outlines the lobbying efforts and more behind the watered-down agreement that was eventually reached.



** Bivalent Vaccine Effectiveness
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STAT ([link removed]) (US) reports, “New data from Pfizer and BioNTech on their bivalent COVID-19 vaccine suggests the updated product may be more protective against more recent Omicron subvariants than the original version of the vaccine, the companies said in a statement released Friday. The companies said the levels of neutralizing antibodies that target the BA.4 and BA.5 subvariants of the SARS-CoV-2 virus were four-fold higher in people aged 55 and older who received the bivalent booster than in similarly aged people who received a monovalent booster.” The data has not been peer reviewed.

The Washington Post ([link removed]) (US) reports, “Vaccine maker Moderna announced Monday that its new omicron-targeted booster shot reinforces a key line of immune defense by increasing levels of coronavirus-fighting antibodies that block BA.5. This omicron subvariant dominated in the United States until recently and still accounts for nearly a third of reported cases…. The data is encouraging because it shows that the bivalent booster shots, which were updated to match the BA.4 and BA.5 versions of the omicron variant and began to roll out in September, are providing protection against newer coronavirus variants ahead of a possible winter surge of cases.”



** Global COVID-19 Death Rate Down
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Medscape ([link removed]) (US) reports, “Global deaths due to COVID-19 have dropped almost 90 percent since February, the head of the World Health Organization said Wednesday. Last week, 9,400 deaths were reported linked to the coronavirus, Director-General Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus said. That's down from 75,000 a week in February…. Surveillance and testing have fallen with case counts, said Maria Van Kerkhove, the WHO's technical lead on COVID-19. She said the coronavirus outbreak is ‘still a pandemic, and it's still circulating quite rampantly around the world.’"



** Asymptomatic Spread of Monkeypox
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NBC News ([link removed]) (US) reports, “a study ([link removed]) from Britain's Health Security Agency published Wednesday in The BMJ suggests that pre-symptomatic transmission is possible, and may even be relatively common — a finding that could make it difficult to eliminate new cases entirely or prevent future outbreaks…. Using models, researchers estimated that 53 percent of monkeypox infections could spread pre-symptomatically. The virus could be transmitted up to four days before symptoms start, the researchers found.”

CIDRAP ([link removed]) (US) reports on updated ([link removed]) Monkeypox epidemiologic information from the US CDC…. Black and Hispanic people continue to be disproportionately affected, with Black men seeing increasing rates of disease spread…. Of cases with known HIV status, 57 percent had HIV infection. Almost all cases in the United States (25,001; 98 percent) have occurred in adults. Six US deaths have been associated with the illness, and 1,870 patients with the virus have required hospitalization.”



** Lessons from HIV for COVID-19 and Beyond
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In a Lancet HIV ([link removed]) (UK) Viewpoint Judith Auerbach and colleagues revisit the three lessons from HIV they recommended for responding to COVID-19. “We revisit these lessons in light of more than 2 years’ experience with the COVID-19 pandemic. With specific examples, we detail how inequalities have played out within and between countries, highlight factors that support or impede the creation of enabling environments, and note ongoing issues with the scarcity of integrated science and health system approaches. We argue that to better apply lessons learned as the COVID-19 pandemic matures and other infectious disease outbreaks emerge, it will be imperative to create dialogue among polarised perspectives, identify shared priorities, and draw on multidisciplinary evidence.”



** Making African Vaccine Manufacturing Sustainable
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Ahmed Ogwell Ouma and Seth Berkley write in a Devex ([link removed]) opinion piece about the importance of the New Public Health Order ([link removed]) , recently launched by the African Union Commission and Africa CDC: Part of this vision will hinge on the African Union’s goal of developing, producing, and supplying at least 60 percent of its vaccines by 2040. By increasing Africa’s long-term supply resilience, this would help save lives and improve global health security on the continent and beyond.” The authors call “for donors and other partners from the public and private sector to support a new Advance Market Commitment to accelerate African manufacturing expansion and help it achieve sustainability for Africa’s health security.”



** The Public-Health Power of Humor on Black Twitter
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As the future of Twitter is somewhat in question following Elon Musk’s purchase of the platform, computational scientist C. Brandon Ogbunu writes in The Atlantic ([link removed]) (US) about the use of humor on “Black Twitter” (a community of mostly African Americans on Twitter who focus on issues in the Black community): “I’m interested in how epidemics interact with society and culture, and COVID-19 gave me a new and powerful appreciation for Black Twitter—its reach, resonance, and ability to offer therapeutic humor during our darkest hours. And while I would stop short of arguing that Black Twitter was a force for promoting public health, its salutary effects on the communities most affected by the pandemic are undeniable…. A trio of names popular on Black Twitter, for example, dubbed a vaccinated individual a Pfizer Princess, a Moderna Mami, or a Johnson & Johnson Jawn. Jokes about vaccines were a more
tolerable way to take the ordeal seriously and build community around it.”



** Pandemic Preparedness Fund Moves Forward
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Devex ([link removed]) (US) reports, “Rwanda and Indonesia will co-chair the newly renamed fund’s board, marking a significant change in the typical governing style of such initiatives, with both heads hailing from low- and middle-income countries…. Chatib Basri, the former finance minister of Indonesia, and Daniel Ngamije, Rwanda’s health minister, will be the board's co-chairs…. Also, Mike Ryan, the head of the World Health Organization’s Health Emergencies Program, is being nominated for the role of chair of the technical advisory panel…. Some of the key areas of focus will be surveillance, including monitoring zoonotic diseases, and building up health workforces so that people are prepared to handle outbreaks early on. This also means improving lab capacities.”



** China’s Pandemic Rule Changes
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Bloomberg (US) reports, “China’s top health officials said a sweeping overhaul to its COVID Zero playbook was a refinement of rules and not a relaxation of controls, dismissing interpretations that the changes were a step towards living with the virus. Officials brandished data that showed cutting centralised quarantine for travelers and close contacts to five days would still catch the vast majority of COVID-19 infections, but said a strict attitude towards stamping out infections remains China’s guiding principle.



** SARS-CoV-2 Ancestor Unlikely to Be Found
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Nature (UK) reports, “The virus that causes COVID-19 probably shared an ancestor with bat coronaviruses more recently than scientists had thought. But finding the direct ancestor of SARS-CoV-2 is very unlikely, say researchers…. [A new] analysis suggests that some sections of bat coronaviruses and SARS-CoV-2 shared a common ancestor as recently as 2016 — just three years before the virus emerged in people in late 2019. The work has not been peer reviewed.”

Times Live ([link removed]) (South Africa) reports, “For the third consecutive year, words relating to the pandemic dominated English conversation, according to the US-based Global Language Monitor.” The body’s chief word analyst is quoted: ““In 2022 we observed three major trends in the development of the English language: the persistence of pandemic-related words for the third year in a row, the acceleration of the spread of the language ever wider in all corners of the planet and global English insinuating itself ever more deeply into the language of academia, science, technology, politics, commerce, transportation and entertainment….” The top global English words for 2022 include: “1. Denier — Concept encompasses 'Hater', 'Cancel Culture' and 'Deniers' of an ever-expanding list of facts, fallacies and beliefs. 2. COVID — one of the top words in global English, again…. 7. Vaccine
— No 2 word of the pandemic. 8. Variant — Variant after variant after variant.”



** Cholera Outbreaks and Vaccine Shortages
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The New York Times ([link removed]) (US) reports, “A record number of cholera outbreaks around the globe, driven by droughts, floods and armed conflicts, has sickened hundreds of thousands of people and so severely strained the supply of cholera vaccines that global health agencies are rationing doses. Outbreaks have been reported in the Caribbean, Africa, the Middle East and South Asia, putting the health of millions at risk and overwhelming fragile health systems.



** Masks Were Protective in Schools
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Healio ([link removed]) (US) reports, “Boston-area school districts that lifted mask mandates earlier this year experienced nearly 45 more cases of COVID-19 per 1,000 students and staff than school districts that kept their mandates in place, a study found. The authors wrote: “Our results support universal masking as an important strategy for reducing COVID-19 incidence in schools and loss of in-person school days. As such, we believe that universal masking may be especially useful for mitigating effects of structural racism in schools, including potential deepening of educational inequities.”



** Misinformation and Ebola
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The Guardian ([link removed]) (UK) examines efforts to respond to misinformation in the Ebola outbreak in Uganda. “Organisations working with the ministry, including Mildmay Uganda, a health NGO, and Unicef, are now offering support programmes for people discharged from hospital, as well as educating people on prevention and holding gatherings to help reintegrate survivors back into their communities. ‘It starts with community engagement; telling people what to do in case they are exposed, showing them how it spreads and empowering them to make better decisions,’ says Alexander Chimbaru, public health emergency adviser to the WHO. ‘This starts from leadership, into communities and to individuals.’”



** Hope of an mRNA Vaccine for Ebola
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Nature ([link removed]) (UK) reports on the possibility that an mRNA vaccine could help fight Ebola. “t would be ideal to have a vaccine that confers protection against multiple filoviruses — the family that includes Ebola virus and other pathogens that cause haemorrhagic diseases, such as Marburg virus — rather than having many separate vaccines, says Alex Bukreyev, a virologist at the University of Texas Medical Branch at Galveston. This would make vaccine distribution easier in poor and rural areas, because costly new vaccination campaigns wouldn’t be needed with every outbreak of a different Ebola species….. But COVID-19 and Ebola are very different diseases, Feldmann notes. The COVID-19 vaccines have been most effective in warding off severe infection and death, rather than preventing infection. This limitation is caused in part by how quickly immunity-evading variants have cropped up. It’s crucial that any Ebola vaccines help to prevent infection —
as well as stopping severe disease — to avoid onward transmission and contain the lethal pathogen quickly, he says.”



** Multiple COVID-19 Infections Dangerous
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Time ([link removed]) (US) reports, “In a study ([link removed]) published in Nature Medicine, researchers report that COVID-19 reinfections could be taking a toll on some important organ systems. That risk applies to both short-term and long-term health effects…. People who had more than one COVID-19 infection were three times more likely to be hospitalized and twice as likely to die than those who only had one infection. Those with multiple infections were also more vulnerable to other dangerous conditions; they were 3.5 times more likely to develop lung problems, 3 times more likely to have heart conditions, and 1.6 times more likely to have brain changes requiring care than people who had only had COVID-19 once.”



** Questions about Indian Vaccine Approval
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STAT ([link removed]) (US) reports, “a STAT review of documents detailing the steps taken toward government approval found that regulators endorsed the vaccine, called Covaxin, despite discrepancies in the number of clinical trial participants. Moreover, questionable changes were made to the trial protocols — which are established procedures for testing a vaccine or medicine — to expedite the approval process…. [E]xperts in public health and clinical trial design expressed concern that the Bharat Biotech vaccine may have been hastily approved. In the process, they suggested the episode may rekindle questions about the commitment by Indian government agencies to ensuring high-quality medical products are reaching patients.”
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