Tag: Covid

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Third Covid vaccine shot excessive precedence

Third Covid vaccine shot high priority

Anthony Fauci, director of the National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases, listens during a Senate Fund Subcommittee hearing in Washington, DC, on Jan.

Stefani Reynolds | Swimming pool | Reuters

Federal health officials are working “ASAP” to get a third Covid-19 vaccine approved for Americans with weakened immune systems, said Dr. White House chief physician Anthony Fauci on Thursday.

It is now clear that immunocompromised populations – which include patients with cancer, HIV, or organ transplants – generally fail to generate an adequate immune response after two doses of a Covid vaccine, Fauci said.

“Immunocompromised people are vulnerable,” said Fauci during a Covid briefing at the White House. “It is extremely important for us to give these people their boosters and we are working on it now and we will do this as soon as possible. … It is a very high priority.”

Immunocompromised populations make up only about 2.7% of the adult US population. Still, they account for about 44% of hospitalized breakthrough Covid cases – an infection in a fully vaccinated person, according to data released late last month by an advisory group from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.

Studies suggest that a third shot might help people whose immune systems don’t respond as well to a first or second dose.

Four small studies cited by the CDC last month showed that 16% to 80% of people with compromised immune systems had no detectable antibodies to Covid after two shots. Among immunocompromised patients who had no detectable antibody response, 33 to 50% developed an antibody response after receiving an additional dose, according to the CDC.

“From the observational data we have made, it now appears that they are generally not giving an adequate response that we believe would be adequately protected,” Fauci said Thursday.

Other countries such as France are already giving third vaccinations to people with cancer or other immune deficiencies. Israel announced last month that it would offer booster syringes to people over the age of 60 as the syringe seems to be becoming less effective in these people.

Some doctors have pushed for the US to allow an extra dose to immunocompromised populations, and many immunocompromised Americans are already finding extra doses of the vaccines, medical experts say.

Dr. Scott Gottlieb, who headed the Food and Drug Administration during Donald Trump’s presidency from 2017 to 2019, told CNBC on Monday that he believes the elderly and immunocompromised people will receive booster shots by September or October.

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Pfizer would require Covid shot or testing for U.S. staff

Pfizer will require Covid shot or testing for U.S. employees

November 2020, people walk past Pfizer’s New York headquarters.

Hit by Betancur | AFP | Getty Images

Pfizer said on Wednesday all of its U.S. employees and contractors must be vaccinated against Covid-19 or have regular weekly tests.

The new initiative will “best protect the health and safety of our colleagues and the communities we serve,” Pfizer spokeswoman Pamela Eisele said in a statement to CNBC.

“Outside the US, the company strongly encourages all colleagues who can do this in their countries to get vaccinated,” added Eisele. “Colleagues with illnesses or religious objections can look for accommodation. Colleagues must continue to follow all federal, local, and Pfizer security procedures related to COVID-19 while at Pfizer. “

Pfizer, whose Covid vaccine was first approved in the US with German drug maker BioNTech, is just the youngest company to require its employees to be vaccinated. The mandates come again as coronavirus cases in the USA, fueled by the highly contagious Delta variant.

On Tuesday, New York City became the first major city in the United States to require proof of vaccination in restaurants, gyms, and other businesses.

A new CNBC All-America Economic Survey released on Wednesday found Americans are sharply divided over vaccine mandates.

The survey of 802 Americans, conducted July 24-28, found that 49% were in favor of vaccine mandates and 46% were against – a difference that is well within the survey’s margin of error of 3.5 percentage points. Five percent said they were not sure.

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Illinois Gov. Pritzker introduces masks mandate for colleges as Covid circumstances surge

Illinois Gov. Pritzker introduces mask mandate for schools as Covid cases surge

Illinois Gov. J.B. Pritzker

Brian Cassella | Chicago Tribune | Tribune News Service via Getty Images)

Illinois Gov. JB Pritzker announced a mask mandate for all state students regardless of their vaccination status at a news conference Wednesday, requiring facial coverings in all indoor settings from preschool through high school.

Pritzker noted that the new order would impact 1.8 million unvaccinated children under the age of 12. In addition to requiring masks in schools, Pritzker mandated facial coverings in all long-term care facilities in state, as well as in state-run corrections facilities, veterans homes, psychiatric hospitals and developmental centers.

“Preventing outbreaks from the start also prevents kids from having to stay home because they’re sick or in quarantine,” Pritzker said.

The move comes as the coronavirus delta variant spreads rapidly across the state and the nation.

Illinois experienced a 46% increase in cases last week, a seven-day average of almost 1,669 new coronavirus cases, according to data from Johns Hopkins University.

Pritzker’s announcement also comes as state and local governments continue to introduce health measures to mitigate the spread of the infectious disease. On Monday, seven counties in Northern California issued a mask mandate for all indoor settings, elevating a facial covering advisory issued in July to a requirement.

That same day, Louisiana issued a new statewide mask mandate for residents in public indoor settings until at least Sept. 1, a measure that includes students from kindergarten to college. Nevada revived its mask mandate for indoor public spaces on July 27, though it applies only to counties with elevated Covid transmission rates.

And on Tuesday, New York City mandated vaccinations for employees and patrons of the city’s restaurants, gyms, and entertainment centers, an order that will take effect in September. Mayor Bill de Blasio also said in June that city schools would keep their mask mandates in place.

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CVS stops giving J&J Covid vaccines in pharmacies, nonetheless provides pictures at some MinuteClinics

CVS stops giving J&J Covid vaccines in pharmacies, still offers shots at some MinuteClinics

A nurse will give a syringe to the FEMA-sponsored COVID-19 vaccination site at Valencia State College on the first day the site resumes offering the Johnson & Johnson vaccine.

Paul Hennessy | LightRakete | Getty Images

CVS Health has discontinued Johnson & Johnson’s single-dose Covid-19 vaccine in its pharmacies and only makes vaccinations available in about 10% of its retail locations, the company told CNBC on Wednesday.

The drugstore chain said it made the change in the past few weeks. Customers can still get the syringes at nearly 1,000 MinuteClinic locations in 25 states, and Washington DC MinuteClinics are located in some of the company’s drug stores and provide medical care and other services such as diagnostic tests and vaccines.

CVS pharmacies will continue to offer the two-dose vaccines Pfizer-BioNTech and Moderna Covid nationwide, according to CVS spokesman Mike DeAngelis. He declined to say how many pharmacies were affected by the change, however said it would help with vaccine supply to the drugstore chain.

CVS has more than 9,900 retail locations according to its 2020 annual report.

J&J did not immediately respond to CNBC’s request to comment on the change.

J & J’s vaccine was touted as a blessing by federal health officials when it was approved by the FDA in late February because it only requires one dose and can be stored at refrigerator temperatures for months. Since then, it has suffered from poor public perception of its overall effectiveness, concerns about rare side effects, and production delays.

For some Americans, concerns about the one-shot vaccine have increased with the advent of the Delta variant, which can spread more easily and cause more serious illness than the original coronavirus. Some people have even gone so far as to look for an extra dose not yet recommended by the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. This week, San Francisco health officials announced they would allow patients who received a J&J vaccine to have a second vaccination from Pfizer-BioNTech or Moderna.

The change by CVS will affect the availability of the recordings for many Americans. J & J’s vaccine is already not getting as much uptake in the US as mRNA vaccines.

According to the CDC, approximately 13.5 million doses of the J&J vaccine had been administered in the US by Tuesday. This compares to a combined total of 333.6 million doses for the vaccine from Pfizer and Moderna.

Dr. Paul Offit, who served on advisory boards for both the CDC and the Food and Drug Administration, said J & J’s vaccine really “suffered” after federal health officials urged states in April to suspend vaccination “as a precaution.” “While examining six women who developed a rare but severe bleeding disorder, said

The recommended break was lifted 10 days later after U.S. officials determined that the benefits of the vaccinations outweigh their risks.

“I think the public is hearing that the vaccine is going off the market for a while and it’s just hard to get past that scarlet letter,” said Offit, also director of the Vaccine Education Center at Children’s Hospital of Philadelphia.

The company and U.S. health officials have claimed the single-use vaccine is safe and highly effective, particularly against serious illness, hospitalizations, and death. J&J reported last month that new research found that its vaccine was effective against the highly contagious Delta even eight months after being vaccinated.

– CNBC’s Nate Rattner contributed to this report.

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Nursing Properties Confront New Covid Outbreaks Amid Requires Employees Vaccination Mandates

Nursing Homes Confront New Covid Outbreaks Amid Calls for Staff Vaccination Mandates

In saying last Friday that it was monitoring outbreaks at nursing homes related to the Delta variant, the C.D.C. said some measures under review would include “testing, quarantine, visitation, use of PPE and source control.”

Underscoring the concern of regulators about unvaccinated workers, Colorado just implemented a new rule that unvaccinated staff members at nursing homes must be tested for the virus, using a rapid test, every time they come to work. California is now requiring health care workers in the state to be vaccinated or undergo frequent testing.

Feelings are raw among nursing home staff and operators.

“I don’t want to lose anyone else,” said Marita Smith, administrator at Saint Anne Nursing and Rehab Center in Seattle. Eight of 32 residents died of Covid early on in the pandemic, including four who were already on hospice. Ms. Smith says the losses help explain why all 52 staff members have been vaccinated.

“I question their reason for being in the business if they don’t get it,” Ms. Smith said. “You just don’t want to turn your back.”

Some nursing home staff members resisting vaccination argue that they can protect residents without being inoculated. “I go home, stay home as much as possible, do grocery pickup instead of shopping, do a lot of hand washing. I’m not exposing myself to other people,” said Jessica M., a director of nursing at a home in Grand Junction, Colo., who is unvaccinated.

She declined to give her last name because she wasn’t authorized to speak to the media. She added that she wanted to make sure “the side effects aren’t worse than protecting someone from Covid.”

But consumer advocates and others point to the difficulties nursing homes have long had in protecting residents from infection. A government report issued in May found that nursing homes averaged three Covid outbreaks from May 2020 through January 2021, with two-thirds reporting the outbreaks began with an infected staff member testing positive.

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Youngsters With Covid Get better Quick, however a Few Have Lengthy-Time period Signs

Kids With Covid Recover Fast, but a Few Have Long-Term Symptoms

Although most children with Covid-19 recover within a week, a small percentage of more than 1,700 UK children will experience long-term symptoms, according to a new study of more than 1,700 UK children. The researchers found that 4.4 percent of children have symptoms that last four weeks or more, while 1.8 percent have symptoms that last eight weeks or more.

The results suggest that what has sometimes been referred to as “long covid” is less common in children than adults. In a previous study, some of the same researchers found that 13.3 percent of adults with Covid-19 had symptoms that lasted for at least four weeks and 4.5 percent had symptoms that lasted for at least eight weeks.

“It is comforting that the number of children with long-term symptoms of Covid-19 is low,” said Dr. Emma Duncan, King’s College London endocrinologist and lead author on the study, in a statement. “Even so, some children suffer from long-term illness with Covid-19, and our study confirms the experiences of these children and their families.”

The study, published Tuesday in The Lancet Child & Adolescent Health, is based on an analysis of data collected by the smartphone app Covid Symptom Study. The paper focuses on 1,734 children between the ages of 5 and 17 who tested positive for the virus and developed symptoms between September 1 and January 24. Parents or carers reported the children’s symptoms in the app.

In most cases the illness was mild and brief. The children were sick for an average of six days and had an average of three symptoms. The most common symptoms were headache and fatigue.

But a small subset of children had persistent symptoms such as fatigue, headaches, and loss of smell. Children between the ages of 12 and 17 were sicker longer than younger children and were more likely to have symptoms that lasted for at least four weeks.

“We hope that our results will be useful and up-to-date for doctors, parents and schools who are caring for these children – and of course the children themselves,” said Dr. Duncan.

The researchers also compared children who tested positive for the coronavirus with those who reported symptoms in the app but tested negative for the virus. Children who tested negative – and possibly had other illnesses like colds or flu – recovered faster and were less likely to have persistent symptoms than those with Covid. They were sick for an average of three days, and only 0.9 percent of the children had symptoms that lasted for at least four weeks.

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China orders Wuhan mass testing, Beijing restrictions as Covid delta spreads

China orders Wuhan mass testing, Beijing restrictions as Covid delta spreads

Residents of Wuhan city in China’s Hubei province queue to take nucleic acid tests for Covid-19 on August 3, 2021.

STR | AFP | Getty Images

China is facing pockets of resurgence in major cities from Beijing to Wuhan, and authorities have imposed mass testing and widespread travel restrictions in some areas.

Daily Covid-19 cases are rising again as the delta variant spreads across the country.

China’s National Health Commission said it confirmed 96 Covid cases on Wednesday — the third straight day it reported 90 cases and above. Of the newly confirmed cases, 71 were locally transmitted, said the health commission.

Economists are concerned that a strict government clampdown on movements could hurt the economy — the only major economy to grow last year.

“China has shown before that it is willing to take tough action to control Covid, and we don’t doubt that it will do so again this time,” Robert Carnell, regional head of Asia-Pacific research at Dutch bank ING, said in a note on Wednesday.

“Tough restrictions on movement and travel already in place will likely bring the desired results. But the delta variant is a particularly slippery little critter, and the concern for us, and we imagine, many others, is how quickly this will occur, and at what economic cost in the meantime,” he added.

Read more about China from CNBC Pro

When Covid-19 first emerged in the country in late 2019, authorities used strict lockdowns and mass testing to control the nationwide outbreak.

Since then, Chinese authorities have clamped down hard on any flare-ups in Covid infections. The latest spread of the more transmissible Covid delta variant has again led authorities to tighten containment measures across the country.

State media Xinhua News Agency reported that authorities have urged people to limit travel and avoid gatherings, as well as suspended some flights, trains and long-distance bus services.

The capital of Beijing imposed strict entry and exit controls on Sunday and is said to be at a “critical stage” of epidemic control after cases rose late July for the first time in months, Xinhua reported.

Wuhan city, where the coronavirus first emerged, will test all its residents for Covid new cases emerged, the news agency said.

As of July 20, more than 17 million doses of Covid vaccines have been administered in Wuhan, and the vaccination rate of those 18 years and above hit 77.63%, according to the Wuhan municipal health commission.

‘Slow patch’ in China’s economy

China’s economic recovery has been uneven, with exports-oriented sectors driving most of the growth while domestic consumption has been slower to return.  

The resurgence in Covid-19 infections and the latest containment measures would delay a recovery in Chinese household spending, said Sian Fenner, lead Asia economist at consultancy Oxford Economics.

“The geographical spread of the delta variant is going to be concerning the Chinese authorities. We’ve already seen that they have a very low tolerance towards, you know, even a relatively small flare up,” she told CNBC’s “Squawk Box Asia” on Wednesday.

“We had hoped that with the increase in vaccination rates, that would actually improve that service consumption, but it looks like we’re in for another sort of slow patch going forward and … the delayed recovery in household spending,” she added.

Fenner said she’s maintaining her full-year growth forecast of 8.4% for China for now. That’s slightly higher than the International Monetary Fund’s projected growth of 8.1% in China.

— CNBC’s Weizhen Tan contributed to this report.

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J&J Covid vaccine recipients can get supplemental Pfizer or Moderna pictures in San Francisco

J&J Covid vaccine recipients can get supplemental Pfizer or Moderna shots in San Francisco

People queue at the bulk vaccination booth at the San Francisco Moscone Convention Center, which opened today on February 5, 2021 in San Francisco, California for healthcare workers and people over 65.

Amy Osborne | AFP | Getty Images

The San Francisco Department of Public Health and Zuckerberg San Francisco General Hospital announced Tuesday that they would allow patients who received the single-dose Covid-19 vaccine from Johnson & Johnson to have a second vaccination from Pfizer-BioNTech or Moderna.

J&J recipients can make special requests to get a “supplementary dose” of an mRNA vaccine, city health officials said in a statement to CNBC, declining to call the second shot a “booster.” J & J’s vaccine only requires one dose and recipients are considered fully vaccinated two weeks after receiving the vaccination.

In a call to reporters later Tuesday, San Francisco health officials said they would allow patients to take the extra syringes due to the high number of requests they received from local residents. They claimed that J & J’s vaccine was highly effective against the virus and its variants.

“We have received requests based on patients speaking to their doctors, so we are allowing the placement,” said Naveena Bobba, assistant director of health for the San Francisco Department of Public Health.

Health officials said they do not currently recommend a booster vaccination, which is in line with guidelines from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.

“This step does not represent a policy change for the EVS,” says a statement from the health department. “We are still following the guidelines of the Center for Disease Control and Prevention and currently do not recommend a booster vaccination. We will continue to review all new data and adjust our guidelines if necessary. “

The CDC is currently not recommending that Americans mix Covid vaccinations in most cases, and federal health officials say booster doses of the vaccines are not currently required.

The announcement by the San Francisco health authorities comes as some Americans say they are looking for ways to get extra doses of the Covid vaccines – some even go so far as to get extra vaccinations from various companies – due to concerns about the high contagious delta variant.

Dr. Angela Rasmussen, a virologist at Georgetown University, told CNBC last month that she received a booster of Covid-19 vaccine from Pfizer and BioNTech in late June, two months after receiving the single dose from J&J. She was concerned about her level of protection against Delta after studies showed that a single dose of a Covid vaccine was not enough.

Since Rasmussen received her booster, a new study has found that the J&J vaccine against the Delta and Lambda variants is much less effective than against the original virus. The researchers who led the study, which has not yet been peer-reviewed, are now hoping that J&J recipients will eventually receive a booster of the Pfizer or Moderna vaccines.

Of course, the new research contradicts a study by the company that found the vaccine to be effective against Delta even eight months after vaccination, especially against serious illness and hospitalization. It is likely that the mixing and matching debate in the US will rekindle as the highly contagious Delta variant continues to spread in the US

J&J did not immediately respond to a request for comment on the announcement by the San Francisco Department of Public Health.

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Covid Delta Variant Security: Your Questions Answered

Covid Delta Variant Safety: Your Questions Answered

Most experts say they use a good quality medical mask such as an N95 or KF94 when flying. If you don’t have one, double masking is recommended. For a vaccinated person, the risk of briefly removing a mask to eat or drink during a flight is small, but it is better to keep it on for as long as possible. The CDC says that for anyone who has not been vaccinated, including children, it is best to avoid flying.

Dr. Bromage said he had recently traveled by plane and briefly removed his mask to have a drink, but left it for most of the flight. He said he’d rather take off his mask to eat if he knew the people next to him had been vaccinated. He said he would be more concerned if the person next to him didn’t seem to be caring about Covid precautions or was wearing the mask under their nose. “If there is a random person next to you, especially a talkative person, I would keep the mask on,” he said.

Most buses, trains, and subways all still have to wear a mask, which lowers the risk. While vaccinated people are well protected, the risk of virus exposure increases the longer the journey takes and the more crowded the train or bus is. For many people, using public transport is essential to get to work or school, and wearing a well-fitting medical mask or double mask is recommended. If public transport is optional, deciding whether to ride should take into account local vaccination rates and whether the numbers of cases are increasing.

While it is generally considered safe for vaccinated people to hug each other and hang out unmasked, parents of unvaccinated children need to consider more risks, especially when visiting older relatives. In communities with low case numbers and high vaccination rates, unvaccinated children from a single household are generally considered safe to spend time with vaccinated grandparents. But with the spread of the Delta variant and the return of children to school, the risk of close contact also increases for elderly or immunocompromised people, who are more prone to complications from Covid-19, even if they are vaccinated.

If families are planning to visit a high-risk relative, it is a good idea to minimize other exposures, avoid restaurants, or work out at the gym the week before the visit. While the risk of Covid-19 spreading from a vaccinated person is small, vaccinated grandparents should also reduce their personal exposure when spending time with unvaccinated children.

“At the time, I did not mask myself indoors with my eighty-year-old parents because I am still very careful about wearing masks in public places,” said Dr. Huffman, the aerosol scientist. “But if I had more interactions that would increase my overall risk of exposure, I would strongly consider masking myself indoors with people at risk.”

Rapid home tests are an extra precaution when visiting grandparents or an immunocompromised family member. Take a test a few days before the visit, as well as on the day of the visit. Find out more about the home test here.

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Tough to mandate Covid vaccines to fly in U.S.

Difficult to mandate Covid vaccines to fly in U.S.

Ed Bastian, Delta Air Lines CEO, told CNBC on Tuesday the airline did not plan to require Covid vaccines for domestic travel.

“It’s very difficult for us to get a vaccine that isn’t even federally approved. The approval is not yet final, so stay tuned, “said Bastian on” Squawk Box “.

“We continue to encourage our own people and our customers to get vaccinated as much as possible. The number of vaccinations is increasing, ”he said.

More and more employees and customers have recently received their Covid vaccinations as the Delta variant, first discovered in India, became the dominant variety in the US, Bastian said.

He added that 73% of the airline’s staff are fully vaccinated.

Many companies are discussing whether they should implement vaccination regulations or just motivate more employees and customers to vaccinate. The discussion has intensified as the more contagious Delta variant continues to infect largely unvaccinated areas of the United States, causing the seven-day average daily case number to recently surpass the peak of last summer.

However, Bastian said that Delta’s flights were more than 90% booked over the weekend as people “learn to deal and live with the coronavirus pandemic”. He said the airline carries millions of people every week, the vast majority of whom are vaccinated and fully masked.

The Transportation Security Administration extended a state mask mandate for air, rail and bus travel to mid-September in the spring, a measure that is expected to be extended unless infection rates drop sharply.

The travel industry was particularly hard hit by the pandemic, with travel restrictions to curb the spread of the virus having a strong impact on demand and bookings. Domestic airlines lost more than $ 35 billion last year.

Since January, the US government has required travelers, including citizens, to provide evidence of a recent negative Covid test before entering the US. Some nations require proof of vaccination to enter the country or avoid quarantine.

“I assume that with the further opening of these borders you will see more and more of these requirements. Here in the USA I do not consider that to be necessary,” said Bastian.

Delta and United Airlines also require proof of vaccination for new hires. Delta, United, and American Airlines have offered vaccinated employees additional time off or pay, and are joining large employers like Walmart who have taken similar steps.

Ted Christie, CEO of Spirit Airlines, told CNBC that the airline is urging all passengers and employees to get Covid vaccinations and use face covers, even though the budget airline has no plans to implement vaccine requirements.

Back in January, United CEO Scott Kirby said the airline was considering a Covid vaccine mandate for the company’s entire workforce. The airline has not yet made the vaccine mandatory for all employees.

Two of the three Covid vaccines currently on sale in the US, two shots from Pfizer and Moderna, were cleared for emergency use by the US Food and Drug Administration in late December. These two companies have applied for full approval. Johnson & Johnson’s one-off Covid vaccine received emergency approval in February, but J&J has not yet applied for full approval.

– CNBC’s Leslie Josephs contributed to this report.