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.
"As the fight against COVID-19 wears on and the virus continues to mutate, vaccines and several monoclonal antibody drugs are losing some of their punch. That’s added urgency to a strategy for preventing and treating the disease that, in theory, could stop all variants of SARS-CoV-2."
-- Robert F. Service in Science ([link removed])


** Share of People Who Completed the Initial COVID-19 Vaccination Protocol
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February 2, 2023
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)
* COVID-19’s Impact on Education (#COVID-19’s Impact on Education)
* Guidelines for Future Lab-Made Virus Research (#Guidelines for Future Lab-Made Virus Research)
* Genomic Research in Africa (#Genomic Research in Africa)
* Pandemic Potential Diseases (#Pandemic Potential Diseases)
* COVID-19 Tests in Africa (#COVID-19 Tests in Africa)
* The Next Generation of COVID-19 Vaccines (#The Next Generation of COVID-19 Vaccines)


* Wastewater Testing (#Wastewater Testing)
* COVID-19 and Children (#COVID-19 and Children)
* COVID-19 and the Immune System (#COVID-19 and the Immune System)
* Draft Pandemic Agreement Pushes for Equity (#Draft Pandemic Agreement Pushes for Equity)
* Forecasting COVID-19 Outbreaks (#Forecasting COVID-19 Outbreaks)
* This Week in Misinformation (#This Week in Misinformation)
* Protein Decoys (#Protein Decoys)

It was January 30, 2020, when the WHO declared a new public health emergency for COVID-19. This year on the third anniversary WHO extended the public health emergency and as STAT ([link removed]) (US) reports, “signaled strongly that it believes it may be able to lift that designation in coming months….The so-called COVID-19 emergency committee concluded, though, that the pandemic may be at an inflection point. And it recommended that the WHO take actions that would set the stage for a safe dissolution of the PHEIC. The committee must meet again in three months.” Most countries around the globe have already moved on from COVID-19 in many ways, with several ending their own public health emergencies or lifting restrictions.

The Biden administration announced this week that the US public health and national emergencies will be lifted in May. Jen Kates from the Kaiser Family Foundation talked to NPR ([link removed]) (US) about what that will mean for the response in the US: “[O]n the one hand, a lot of people in America feel like COVID's over, even though…500 people a day are dying. On the other, this kind of declaration ending does carry symbolic weight. And so there are going to be people that say, great, I don't have to worry anymore. And I think that's going to be a little difficult to manage, and it'll be up to public health officials and those of us working in this to still convey that this isn't completely over.” In a twitter thread ([link removed]) White House COVID-19 Response Coordinator Ashish Jha says, “when the PHE
ends, access to free vaccines and treatments doesn’t go away. And over time, as we transition this to the regular healthcare system, we are going to make sure that COVID-19 vaccines and treatments remain accessible and affordable for Americans.”

While the declared emergencies may be ending COVID-19 continues to exact a heavy toll. CIDRAP (US) reports that earlier this week in a media briefing Tedros, “aired concerns about the death trend. He said over the past 8 weeks, more than 170,000 people have died from COVID-19, adding that the actual number is much higher due to unreported deaths.”


** If You Are in a Hurry
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* Read Nature ([link removed]) on the impact of the pandemic and lockdowns on education.
* Read Slate ([link removed]) to put studies about COVID-19’s long-term impact on the immune system in context.
* Read STAT ([link removed]) on proposed guidelines for lab-made virus research in the US.
* Read LA Times ([link removed]) for a potential system to forecast outbreaks like the weather.
* Read a comment in Nature ([link removed]) on the future of genomic research in Africa.
* Read NPR’s Goats and Soda ([link removed]) blog on nine pandemic potential diseases to watch.




** COVID-19’s Impact on Education
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Nature ([link removed]) (UK) reports, “Children lost out on more than one-third of a school years’ worth of learning during the COVID-19 pandemic, an analysis has found. Their mathematics skills were more affected than their reading abilities. The study, published in Nature Human Behaviour on 30 January, shows that efforts to prevent further learning losses after the pandemic have been successful, but school-aged children have not caught up on the loss of knowledge and skills that they experienced at the start of the pandemic, during which school closures were widespread….There was a lack of data from lower-income countries, but the study found that children from more disadvantaged socio-economic backgrounds in high- and middle-income countries have experienced larger learning losses. The authors predict that the pandemic’s effects on learning will be more severe for children in poorer regions.” Read the study
([link removed]) .

The Guardian ([link removed]) (UK) reports, “Young people have been ‘disastrously’ affected by the consequences of the coronavirus pandemic, according to two pieces of research that show happiness and confidence has plunged to an all-time low. Both studies detail the wide-ranging ways in which young people continue to suffer. The hardships include poorer mental and physical health, as well as extensive learning loss that experts say will undoubtedly affect their futures.” Read the research here ([link removed]) and here ([link removed]) .



** Guidelines for Future Lab-Made Virus Research
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STAT ([link removed]) (US) reports, “A [US] panel of federal advisers voted unanimously Friday to advance a set of proposals to bolster government oversight of pathogen research that could make viruses more transmissible. The advisers, a collection of biosecurity, ethics and infectious disease experts, united to vote the set of proposals through with minor changes. But some of the scientists who attended the public meeting balked at language that they said could accidentally hinder relatively low-risk gain-of-function research, which manipulates pathogens in order to study a virus’s origins with the aim of developing speedy treatments.”



** Genomic Research in Africa
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Zané Lombard and Guida Landouré write in a Nature ([link removed]) (UK) comment that the Human Heredity and Health in Africa (H3Africa) initiative has made critical contributions to genomics and health on the continent and worldwide, including around COVID-19, but faces a funding crisis. They argue, “This is an opportune moment for a ‘moonshot’ enterprise to advance the potential of genomics in Africa. A group of H3Africa investigators and NIH colleagues have come together to propose a programme of Genomics Centres of Excellence. These could absorb multiple genomics projects, scale up training, adopt common standards and, through institutional strengthening, offer greater sustainability than sponsorship of individual projects alone…. An incredible amount has been achieved in little more than ten years. But with the right investment from the right stakeholders, Africa could achieve so much more in genomics in the decade ahead — with benefits that reach
far beyond the continent.”



** Pandemic Potential Diseases
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NPR’s Goats and Soda Blog ([link removed]) (US) looks at the nine diseases on the WHO’s pandemic potential list. “The list helps guide scientists, governments and organizations in investing energy and funds to study the pathogens most likely to cause the greatest devastation to humans. The WHO develops "blueprints ([link removed]) " with strategic goals and research priorities for each disease on the list.” In addition to eight identified diseases, WHO also lists “Disease X” and “acknowledges the possibility that an as-yet-unknown disease could cause a serious pandemic.”



** COVID-19 Tests in Africa
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Health Policy Watch ([link removed]) (Switzerland) reports on a new study ([link removed]) on diagnostics for COVID-19 and mpox in Africa from the People’s Vaccine Alliance. “Most Africans could not get a COVID-19 test unless they were hospitalised or could afford to pay a private laboratory for a pricey test – yet rapid tests were being dished out free in the US and Europe. High prices, slow regulatory approval, and outdated ideas about self-testing were some of the barriers that prevented low- and middle-income countries, particularly in Africa, from getting COVID-19 tests…. And these problems will repeat themselves in the next pandemic unless there are systematic global and regional efforts to ensure better access to diagnostics, according to Dr Fifa Rahman, lead author of the report.”



** The Next Generation of COVID-19 Vaccines
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Nature ([link removed]) (UK) reports on what’s needed for the next generation of COVID-19 vaccines. “vaccine developers around the world are working on dozens of ‘next-generation’ COVID-19 vaccines: not just updates of the first versions, but ones that use new technologies and platforms. These vaccines are a diverse group, but the overarching aim is to deliver long-lasting protection that is resilient to viral change. Some could protect against broader classes of coronavirus, including ones that have yet to emerge. Others might provide more potent immunity, might do so at lower doses, or might be better at preventing infection or transmission of the virus.”



** Wastewater Testing
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Researchers in the UK write about their work testing wastewater from airplanes in The Conversation ([link removed]) (Australia). In March 2022 they tested samples from a number of opkanes arriving in the UK. “Most samples from both the planes and the terminals contained high concentrations of SARS-CoV-2, suggesting there were many people unwittingly bringing COVID-19 back to the UK…. These cases may not have been caught because the infection was in its early stages when they were first tested, because the testing failed or because they contracted COVID-19 while in transit. But this clearly shows the difficulties associated with trying to prevent infectious diseases crossing international borders.”



** COVID-19 and Children
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CNN ([link removed]) (US) reports, “COVID-19 has become the eighth most common cause of death among children in the United States, according to a study published Monday. Children are significantly less likely to die from COVID-19 than any other age group – less than 1 percent of all deaths since the start of the pandemic have been among those younger than 18, according to federal data. COVID-19 has been the third leading cause of death in the broader population. But it’s rare for children to die for any reason, the researchers wrote, so the burden of COVID-19 is best understood in the context of other pediatric deaths.” Read the JAMA study ([link removed]) .



** COVID-19 and the Immune System
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Slate ([link removed]) (US) looks at theories from some researchers that COVID-19 has the potential to damage our immune systems: “So much so, in fact, that John Wherry, director of the Penn Medicine Immune Health Institute, summed it up this way to Kaiser Health News ([link removed]) : ‘COVID-19 is deranging the immune system.’” The article notes that several studies have “unearthed immunological oddities” that “fuel scary headlines”…. Their top-line results are often circulated as validation of widespread and ongoing immune dysregulation. But that’s not really true.” The article outlines many of the limitations of these studies and attempts to put the research in context. The author concludes, “To claim that COVID-19 could potentially discombobulate immune systems isn’t to peddle pseudoscience. People respond to infections ve
ry differently, and it’s worth continuing research into what COVID-19 might be doing to some people’s ability to fight future infections, or how it might trigger chronic autoimmune disease…. But researchers emphasize that even if COVID-19 routinely tinkers with the immune system, our body’s defenses are stubbornly resilient.”



** Draft Pandemic Agreement Pushes for Equity
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Reuters ([link removed]) (UK) reports on an early draft of a global pandemic agreement in which, “Governments may have to reserve drugs and vaccines for the World Health Organization to distribute in poorer countries to avoid a repeat of the "catastrophic failure" during the COVID-19 pandemic….One of the most concrete proposals in the draft accord reviewed by Reuters on Wednesday includes a measure to reserve 20 percent of any tests, vaccines or treatments developed for use in poorer countries….The draft begins by saying it is being drawn up ‘in recognition of the catastrophic failure of the international community in showing solidarity and equity in response to the coronavirus disease (COVID-19) pandemic’.”

This comes as the New York Times ([link removed]) (US) reports that GAVI the group that bought vaccines on behalf of COVAX for distribution in poor countries is negotiating to get back prepayments for vaccines it no longer needs. “Drug companies have so far declined to refund $1.4 billion in advance payments for now-canceled doses, according to confidential documents obtained by The New York Times.”



** Forecasting COVID-19 Outbreaks
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LA Times ([link removed]) (US) reports on a “proposal for building a viral weather report” published this week in Science Advances. ([link removed]) “They include time-stamped internet searches for symptoms such as chest tightness, loss of smell or exhaustion; geolocated tweets that include terms like “corona,” “pandemic,” or “panic buying”; aggregated location data from smartphones that reveal how much people are traveling; and a decline in online requests for directions, indicating that fewer folks are going out. The resulting volume of information is far too much for humans to manage, let alone interpret. But with the help of powerful computers and software
trained to winnow, interpret and learn from the data, a map begins to emerge.”



** This Week in Misinformation
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MedPage Today ([link removed]) (US) reports, “Project Veritas, a conservative activist group known for spreading misinformation, recently published a concealed-camera allegedly showing a Pfizer employee describing the company's COVID-19 vaccine research efforts….In the heavily edited clip, the so-called employee can be heard telling the Project Veritas reporter out of the camera frame ‘don't tell anyone this, by the way’ before outlining seemingly theoretical conversations being had at Pfizer….Pfizer released a statement on Friday summarily debunking the claims made in the video, noting that the company "has not conducted gain of function or directed evolution research" related to its "ongoing development of the Pfizer-BioNTech COVID-19 vaccine." Vaccine expert Paul Offit is quoted: “Pfizer has been working with an mRNA platform that is coded for coronavirus spike proteins, not a whole virus. Furthermore, Pfizer is only working on one of four
possible spike proteins on this particular virus, he added, noting that even if the company was working with all four proteins, it would still not be enough to accomplish gain-of-function results.”



** Protein Decoys
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Science ([link removed]) (US) reports on very early stage research into a strategy that could both prevent COVID-19 and help people who are infected clear an infection. “As the fight against COVID-19 wears on and the virus continues to mutate, vaccines and several monoclonal antibody drugs are losing some of their punch. That’s added urgency to a strategy for preventing and treating the disease that, in theory, could stop all variants of SARS-CoV-2. The idea is to flood the body with proteins that mimic the angiotensin-converting enzyme 2 (ACE2) receptor, the cell-surface protein that SARS-CoV-2 uses to gain entry into cells. These decoys would bind to the virus’ spike protein, disarming it. The molecules might both protect people from getting infected and help COVID-19 patients clear the virus from the body.”
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