Tag: protect

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Politics

White Home requested to guard journalists at Kabul airport

White House asked to protect journalists at Kabul airport

Men attempt to break into Hamid Karzai International Airport in Kabul, Afghanistan on August 16, 2021.

Stringer | Reuters

The editors of three major US newspapers asked President Joe Biden on Monday to help fellow Afghan journalists evacuate Afghanistan.

Inquiries from the New York Times, Washington Post and Wall Street Journal came after asking the White House to keep more than 200 journalists and newspaper associates “in danger” “in danger” at Kabul airport bring.

Post editor Fred Ryan sent an “urgent request” email to National Security Advisor Jake Sullivan to move them from the civilian side of Hamid Karzai International Airport “to the military side, where they can be safe while they are on Waiting for evacuation flights ”.

“They are currently in danger and need the US government to keep them safe,” wrote Ryan in the email he wrote on behalf of the three newspapers.

Afghan people are waiting to leave Kabul Airport in Kabul on August 16, 2021 after a surprisingly quick end to the 20-year war in Afghanistan as thousands of people besieged the city’s airport to face the dreaded hard-line Islamist rule to flee the group.

Deputy Kohsar | AFP | Getty Images

Ryan wrote that 204 journalists, auxiliaries and family members from the three newspapers are stuck on the civilian side of the airport.

Later on Monday, Ryan, Times Publisher AG Sulzberger, and Journal Publisher Almar Latour Biden sent a joint letter asking him to get Afghan newspaper-related colleagues out of the country.

“For the past twenty years, brave Afghan colleagues have worked tirelessly to help the New York Times, the Washington Post and the Wall Street Journal share news and information from the region with the world,” the letter said.

“Now these colleagues and their families are trapped in Kabul, their lives are in danger.”

“As an employer, we are looking for support for our colleagues and, as journalists, we are looking for a clear signal that the government stands behind the free press,” the editors wrote. “In this light, we ask the American government to act urgently and take three specific steps that are necessary to protect its security.”

In the letter, Biden was expressly requested to grant his Afghan colleagues “easier and protected access to the airport controlled by the US”; “Safe passage through a protected access gate to the airport”; and “facilitated air movement out of the country.”

After the Taliban captured the capital Kabul, thousands of Afghans streamed across the airport’s runway on Monday.

Kamal Alam, a non-resident senior fellow with the Atlantic Council and senior advisor to the Massoud Foundation, told CNBC, “Nobody can really walk.”

“If you don’t have a visa or a passport, you won’t go,” said Alam, who is stuck in Afghanistan.

CNBC policy

Read more about CNBC’s political coverage:

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Health

Johnson & Johnson Covid vaccine might shield individuals in opposition to the delta variant

Biden surgeon general pick says U.S. racing to adapt against new Covid strains

U.S. Surgeon General Dr. Vivek Murthy told CNBC on Wednesday there is reason to be hopeful that people who received the single-shot Johnson & Johnson Covid-19 vaccine may be protected against the virus’ delta variant.

Murthy pointed to data that showed the Oxford-AstraZeneca shot is highly effective against hospitalization from the more contagious variant. He also said people should think of the AstraZeneca vaccine “as a cousin” to J&J’s shot since it was “built on a similar platform.”

“While we are still awaiting direct studies of Johnson & Johnson and the delta variant, we have reasons to be hopeful, because the J&J vaccine has proven to be quite effective against preventing hospitalizations and deaths, with all the variants that we’ve seen to date,” Murthy told “The News with Shepard Smith.”

World Health Organization officials urged fully vaccinated people to continue to wear masks, social distance and practice other pandemic-related safety measures as the delta variant spreads across the globe.

The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, however, affirmed Wednesday that it’s leaving it up to states and local health officials to set guidelines around mask-wearing.

Murthy said the CDC guidance was based on giving people flexibility.

“The CDC, in its guidance, essentially, was giving people flexibility and choice but wanted people to know that, if you are fully vaccinated, your risk of getting this virus or passing it on is low, which is why it said masks are not required indoors or outdoors, if you are fully vaccinated,” Murthy said. 

Authorized vaccines from Moderna, Pfizer-BioNTech and Johnson & Johnson have demonstrated to be highly effective in preventing Covid, especially against severe disease and death.

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Politics

Garland Pledges Renewed Efforts to Shield Voting Rights

Garland Pledges Renewed Efforts to Protect Voting Rights

Republican-led legislatures in several states including Georgia, Florida and Iowa have passed laws imposing new voting restrictions, and Texas, New Hampshire, Arizona and Michigan, among other states, are considering changes to their electoral systems.

At the same time, hopes have dimmed on the left that Congress will pass two major election bills after Senator Joe Manchin III, Democrat of West Virginia, said he would not support abolishing the filibuster to advance such measures.

Mr. Garland has said that protecting the right to vote is one of his top priorities as attorney general, and his top lieutenants include high-profile voting rights advocates such as Vanita Gupta, the department’s No. 3 official, and Kristen Clarke, the head of the Civil Rights Division. The division currently has about a dozen employees on its enforcement staff, which is focused on protecting the right to vote, according to a department official familiar with the staff.

Despite his pledge, Mr. Garland is still limited in what he can do unless Democrats in Congress somehow manage to pass new voter protection laws. He can sue states that are found to have violated any of the nation’s four major federal voting rights laws. He can notify state and local governments when he believes that their procedures violate federal law. And federal prosecutors can charge people who are found to have intimidated voters, a federal crime.

The Justice Department’s most powerful tool, the Voting Rights Act, was significantly weakened by a 2013 Supreme Court decision that struck down pieces of the act forcing states with legacies of racial discrimination to receive Justice Department approval before they could change their voting laws.

Now the department can only sue after a law has been passed and found to violate the act, meaning that a restrictive law could stand through multiple election cycles as litigation winds its way through the courts.

Any new steps to protect voting rights are unlikely to move quickly, said Joanna Lydgate, a former deputy attorney general of Massachusetts who co-founded the States United Democracy Center. “People will need to be patient,” she said.

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Politics

Garland Particulars Justice Dept. Plan to Shield Voting Rights

Garland Details Justice Dept. Plan to Protect Voting Rights

Attorney General Merrick B. Garland on Friday tabled a detailed plan to protect voting rights, announcing that the Department of Justice would redouble its enforcement staff on the matter, review and act on new laws aimed at restricting voter access and take action take action if it detects a violation of federal law.

Mr. Garland announced his plan as Republican-led state lawmakers push for new restrictive electoral laws and amid dwindling opportunities for comprehensive state voter protection laws introduced by the Democrats.

“To meet the challenge of the current moment, we must devote the Justice Department’s resources to a critical part of its original mission: enforcing federal laws protecting the right to vote for all eligible voters,” Garland said in an address to the department.

The Justice Department will also review current laws and practices to see if they discriminate against non-white voters, he said. It was not clear how many people were working to enforce voting rights and what the total would be after the department added staff.

At least 22 new laws making voting harder have been passed in more than a dozen states, according to the Brennan Center for Justice, a progressive public policy institute that is part of the New York University School of Law.

Mr Garland also said the department oversees the use of unorthodox by-election checks that could undermine confidence in the country’s ability to hold free and fair elections, adding that some jurisdictions have used disinformation to justify such checks.

“Much of the reasoning given in support of these by-election reviews and electoral restrictions was based on allegations of material fraud in the 2020 elections that have been refuted by law enforcement and intelligence agencies, both this and the previous government, as well as any court – federal and state – which it took into account, ”Garland said.

The ministry’s civil rights division has sent a letter expressing concerns that any of these reviews may have violated the civil rights law, Garland said, in part because it could violate a provision of the law that prohibits voter intimidation . He didn’t state which state, but in Arizona, a week-long exam is widely viewed as a partisan exercise to cultivate complaints about Donald J. Trump’s electoral defeat.

The Department of Justice will publish guidelines explaining the civil and criminal law provisions that apply to by-election reviews, guidelines on early voting and voting by post, and will work with other agencies to combat disinformation.

Democrats have sued over some new electoral laws, but this lawsuit could take years to resolve and may have little power to prevent those laws from affecting the upcoming elections.

Two major federal election laws – the For the People Act and the John Lewis Voting Rights Act – are also the subject of heated debates in Congress.

Earlier this week, West Virginia Democrat Senator Joe Manchin III said he would speak out against the For the People Act, which dashed hopes among progressives that the sweeping anti-voter suppression bill would become law.

Mr. Garland has said protecting the right to vote is one of his top priorities as the attorney general, and his top lieutenants include high profile proxy attorneys like Vanita Gupta, the No. 3 ministry, and Kristen Clarke, the civil rights director.

Ms. Clarke’s long career as a vocal protection attorney – including with the NAACP Legal Defense and Educational Fund, the New York Attorney General, and the Lawyers’ Committee for Civil Rights Under Law – will make her a key player in the Justice Department’s work to improve access to To receive voting.

That work is made more difficult, however, by a 2013 Supreme Court ruling that struck down portions of the electoral law that forced states with a legacy of racial discrimination to obtain the approval of the Department of Justice before they could change their electoral laws.

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Health

Vaccinated Adults Helps Defend Unvaccinated Kids, Research Finds

Vaccinated Adults Helps Protect Unvaccinated Children, Study Finds

New data from Israel, which had the fastest Covid-19 vaccine rollout in the world, provides real evidence that widespread vaccination against the coronavirus can protect unvaccinated people as well.

The Israeli study, published Thursday in the journal Nature Medicine, capitalized on the fact that until recently Israel only vaccinated people 16 and older. For every 20 percentage points increase in the proportion of 16 to 50 year olds vaccinated in a community, the proportion of unvaccinated under 16 year olds who tested positive for the virus fell by half.

“Vaccination not only offers benefits to the individual vaccine, but also to the people around them,” said Roy Kishony, a biologist, physicist and data scientist who studies microbial evolution and disease at the Technion-Israel Institute of Technology. Dr. Kishony led the research with Dr. Tal Patalon, who heads KSM, the Maccabi Research and Innovation Center, in Israel. The first authors of the paper are Oren Milman and Idan Yelin, researchers in Dr. Kishony’s laboratory.

Israel began vaccinating adults in December last year. Within nine weeks, it had vaccinated nearly half of its population.

The researchers examined the anonymized electronic health records of members of Maccabi Healthcare Services, an Israeli HMO. They analyzed vaccination reports and virus test results between December 6, 2020 and March 9, 2021. The records were from 177 different geographic areas with different vaccination rates and vaccination rates.

For each community, they calculated the proportion of adults between the ages of 16 and 50 who were vaccinated at different times. They also calculated the percentage of children under the age of 16 who tested positive for PCR.

They found a clear connection: As more and more adults were vaccinated in a community, the proportion of children who tested positive for the virus fell as a result.

People who are vaccinated are significantly less likely to contract the virus. Research also suggests that even if people who have been vaccinated become infected with the virus, they may have lower viral loads, which reduces their ability to be contagious. As more and more people are vaccinated, the likelihood that unvaccinated people will encounter infected, contagious people is decreasing.

“The results are consistent with the fact that vaccinated people not only do not get sick themselves, but also do not transmit the virus to others,” said Dr. Kishony. “Such effects can be intensified over several infection cycles.”

In another recent article that has not yet been published in a scientific journal, Finnish researchers reported that after vaccinating health workers, even unvaccinated family members were less likely to be infected with the virus.

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Health

On-the-Job Train Could Assist Shield In opposition to Coronary heart Illness and Most cancers

On-the-Job Exercise May Help Protect Against Heart Disease and Cancer

For the new study, published in The Lancet Public Health in April, researchers from the Norwegian School of Sports Science in Oslo and other institutions decided to dig as deep as possible into lifestyle, work in the workplace, and lifespan.

They started with data already collected by Norwegian health authorities, which have been conducting studies to measure the health of hundreds of thousands of Norwegians for decades. These data included detailed information about their work and movement history, education, income, and other aspects of their life.

The researchers now compiled data sets for 437,378 of the participants in these studies and categorized them by occupation type. Some, like clerks or inspectors, would walk and lift at work; others did heavy manual labor; and the others sat more or less at their desks all day. The researchers then compared people’s records to decades-long databases tracking diseases and deaths in Norway.

On an initial run, their results reinforced the idea that active jobs shorten life. Over the course of approximately 30 years, sedentary men outlived those who frequently walked or otherwise exerted themselves at work. (There was still no significant correlation between women’s occupations and their longevity.)

But when scientists scrupulously checked everyone’s education, income, smoking, exercise habits, and weight, the associations turned around. In this more in-depth analysis, men who were professionally active were less likely to develop heart disease and cancer than men who were confined to desks. Regardless of whether they walked a fair bit to get to work or did other, more strenuous work, active men lived on average about a year longer.

In essence, the study shows that “every movement counts, regardless of whether you are active at work or in your free time,” says Ulf Ekelund, professor at the Norwegian School of Sports Science, who oversaw the new study. Conversely, the results also remind us that sitting, even at comfortable desks or on comfortable sofas, is unhealthy.

What this study does not tell us is what aspects of our lives apart from work could most affect our health and longevity, or why women’s lifespans in general seem unaffected by the exertion of work hours. Dr. Ekelund and colleagues hope to examine some of these questions in future research. But for the time being, he says, assume “that any physical activity is beneficial, whether it’s in your free time, at work, at home or during transport.”

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World News

How Can the Olympics Defend 78,000 Volunteers From the Coronavirus?

How Can the Olympics Protect 78,000 Volunteers From the Coronavirus?

TOKYO – For Olympic host cities, one of the keys to successful games is having an army of volunteers gleefully performing a range of tasks, such as: B. fetching water, driving Olympic vehicles, interpreting for athletes or taking medals to ceremonies.

If the planned games in Tokyo take place as planned this summer, around 78,000 volunteers will have another responsibility: They will prevent the spread of the coronavirus both among the participants and among themselves.

For protection, the volunteers are only offered a couple of cloth masks, a bottle of disinfectant, and mantras about social distancing. Unless they qualify for vaccination through Japan’s slow age-dependent rollout, they will not be vaccinated against the coronavirus.

“I don’t know how we can do this,” said Akiko Kariya, 40, a paralegal in Tokyo who volunteered to be an interpreter. The Olympic Committee “didn’t tell us exactly what they were going to do to protect us.”

While organizers have gone out of their way to reassure the globe that Tokyo can end the Games amid a pandemic, volunteers are largely on their own figuring out how to avoid infection.

Much of the planning for the postponed Olympics has seating quality. Less than three months before the opening ceremony, the organizers still have to decide whether to allow local spectators.

An update to the “Game Books” released last week says that those who come in regular contact with athletes are tested, in principle, daily, while those who do not interact with athletes are tested every seven days during their Olympic participation .

Tens of thousands of participants will come to Tokyo from more than 200 countries after almost a year of largely closing Japan’s borders to outsiders. The volunteer duties will put them in contact with many Olympic visitors as they step in and out of a “bubble” that encompasses the Olympic Village and other venues.

“There are many people who have to go in and out of the bladder and they are not protected at all and are not even tested,” said Barbara G. Holthus, volunteer and deputy director of the German Institute for Japanese Studies in Tokyo. “I see the risk of a superspreader event.”

A leaflet distributed to volunteers recommends asking visitors to stand at least three feet away from each other. You should disinfect your hands frequently during the shift. When offering help to someone, avoid facing the other person directly and never speak without a mask.

“Wearing masks and washing hands are very easy, but doing the maximum is the most important thing we can do,” said Natsuki Den, senior director of volunteering on the Tokyo Organizing Committee.

“People often say, ‘It’s that simple, is that all you can do? “Said Ms. Den. But when every volunteer implements these basic measures, she said,” That can really limit the risk. Furthermore, it’s hard to imagine magical countermeasures because they don’t really exist. “

While the majority of the Japanese public continues to oppose hosting the Olympics this year, many volunteers say they are at least in principle committed to promoting the international community after more than a year of isolation. (The number of volunteers has had a noticeable success with approximately 1,000 volunteers quitting after the first president of the Tokyo Organizing Committee, Yoshiro Mori, made sexist comments.)

However, volunteers worry about their own health, as well as the safety of athletes and other Olympic participants, especially as Tokyo has new spikes in virus cases. The capital is currently in a state of emergency.

“I’m afraid I’ll get the virus and show no symptoms and accidentally give it to the athletes,” said Yuto Hirano, 30, who works for a tech company in Tokyo and is supposed to help athletes behind the scenes at Paralympic events, bocce, a Ball sports. “I want to protect myself so that I can protect them.”

In addition to the Olympic volunteers, the organizers will need to recruit medical personnel for the staff of the Games. Doctors and nurses usually volunteer at the Olympics too, but this year healthcare workers have started to reluctance as the medical system was overwhelmed after a year of fighting the coronavirus.

“We are surprised by the conversation calling for 500 nurses to be sent to the Tokyo Olympics,” the Japanese Federation of Medical Workers’ Unions said in a statement posted on its website, adding, “Now is not that Time for the Olympics. ” It’s time to take countermeasures against coronavirus. “

As the pandemic rages on, some non-medical volunteers will go to great lengths to ensure safety. Yoko Aoshima, 49, who teaches English at a business school in Shizuoka, about 90 miles outside of Tokyo, has booked a hotel for the days she is supposed to work, which costs 110,000 yen, or about $ 1,000. That means she doesn’t have to commute.

To avoid public transportation in Tokyo, she plans to buy a bike when she arrives in Tokyo to commute to the field hockey stadium where she’s assigned shifts.

But Ms. Aoshima, who volunteered in part to honor the legacy of her father, a former physical education teacher, wonders how she will protect her family when she returns home after the Games.

“If I go back to Shizuoka, will it be safe enough for my family to stay with me?” Ms. Aoshima asked. “Can I go back to work?” She said she had already bought some home coronavirus tests for use after the Olympics.

For volunteers who have spent the last year avoiding the crowds, the concept of suddenly coming into contact with athletes, coaches, officials, or media representatives from outside Japan creates a sense of cognitive dissonance.

“I only saw one friend last year when she had a baby,” said Ms. Kariya, the Tokyo paralegal. “I go to the supermarket or the bank where I really have to go. The last time I took the train was last March. “

In the absence of further security measures, Ms. Kariya said she was considering quitting as a volunteer.

Many volunteers are disappointed that they are not offered vaccines before the games. So far, organizers have stated that they are not considering giving priority to Japan’s Olympic athletes for vaccination, let alone volunteers.

“You can’t say it’s priority because then people would start yelling at you,” said Chiharu Nishikawa, 61, who passed Charles. He volunteered for the Olympic Games in Rio de Janeiro in 2016 and London in 2012 and advises the Olympic Committee on volunteering.

Some volunteers said they were concerned that the organizers did not have the resources to monitor everyone for compliance with the rules. These include wearing masks, avoiding eating in restaurants, and avoiding public transportation.

Ms. Holthus said volunteers could be taken to a difficult place as their main job is to project an image of harmonious hospitality.

A handbook for volunteers published ahead of the Olympics last year encouraged them to “speak to people with a smile”. In online sessions and other messages since then, Ms. Holthus has said, “You still say, ‘Oh, and your smile will be so important. ‘“

“We’re supposed to wear masks,” she said. “So I find that very insensitive.”

Not every volunteer has serious safety concerns. Some said they expected broad compliance with the rules, given what is at stake.

“I think the athletes will do whatever it takes to compete in the Olympics,” said Philbert Ono, travel writer, photographer and translator.

“If we tell them to wear a mask, they will wear a mask,” he said. “When they eat, they sit far apart and apart and only look in one direction. I think they are very disciplined and know what it’s about. “

Hikari Hida contributed to the coverage.

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Politics

U.S. begins Afghanistan withdrawal, deploys army property to guard troops

U.S. begins Afghanistan withdrawal, deploys military assets to protect troops

U.S. Marines board a U.S. Marine Corps MV-22B Osprey in Helmand province, Afghanistan.

Cpl. Alejandro Pena | U.S. Marine Corps Photo

WASHINGTON – The White House confirmed Thursday that the U.S. military has begun its withdrawal from Afghanistan and has proactively deployed additional troops and military equipment to protect the armed forces in the area.

“Potential opponents should know that if they attack us as we retreat, we will defend ourselves. [and] our partners, with all the tools at our disposal, “White House deputy press secretary Karine Jean-Pierre told reporters traveling on Air Force One.

“While these measures will initially lead to an increase in the armed forces, we continue to advocate evicting all US military personnel from Afghanistan by September 11, 2021,” she said, adding that the Biden administration is unifying Intended “safe and responsible” exit from the war-torn country.

The Pentagon has temporarily delivered B-52H Stratofortress aircraft to US Central Command, the combatant command that oversees American operations in the Middle East. A US Navy strike group is also in the area to provide assistance.

Pentagon spokesman John Kirby has previously said that the Department of Defense leadership will continue to consider the need for additional military capabilities as U.S. and coalition forces continue to migrate.

Earlier this month, Biden announced a full withdrawal of US troops from Afghanistan by September 11, ending America’s longest war.

The removal of approximately 3,000 US soldiers coincides with the 20th anniversary of the September 11th terrorist attacks that spurred America’s entry into protracted wars in the Middle East and Central Asia.

Biden’s withdrawal schedule breaks with a proposed deadline agreed with the Taliban by the Trump administration last year. According to this agreement, all foreign armed forces should have left Afghanistan by May 1st.

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Health

Vaccines Received’t Defend Thousands and thousands of Sufferers With Weakened Immune Programs

Vaccines Won’t Protect Millions of Patients With Crippled Immune Systems

Dr. Andrew Wollowitz has been at the monastery for the most part at his Mamaroneck, NY home for more than a year

As medical director for emergency medicine at Montefiore Medical Center in the Bronx, 63-year-old Dr. Wollowitz eager to treat patients when the coronavirus raged in town last spring. However, cancer treatment in 2019 had wiped out his immune cells, leaving him defenseless against the virus. Instead, he arranged for his employees to be managed through Zoom.

A year later, people return to Dr. Wollowitz’s life returned to a semblance of normalcy. His wife, dancer and choreographer, is preparing to work for the Austrian National Ballet Company. His vaccinated friends meet, but he only sees them when the weather is nice enough to sit in his back yard. “I spend very little time in public areas,” he said.

Like his friends, Dr. Wollowitz vaccinated in January. But he wasn’t producing antibodies in response – and he hadn’t expected it either. He is one of millions of Americans with weakened immune systems whose bodies cannot learn to use immune fighters against the virus.

Some immunocompromised people were born with missing or faulty immune systems, while others, like Dr. Wollowitz, have illnesses or have received therapies that wipe out their immune defenses. Many of them make little to no antibodies in response to a vaccine or infection, which makes them susceptible to the virus. If infected, they can suffer from prolonged illness, with a death rate of up to 55 percent.

Most people who have lived with immunodeficiency for a long time are probably aware of their vulnerability. However, others have no idea that drugs could put them at risk.

“They’ll be walking around outside thinking they’re protected – but maybe not,” said Dr. Lee Greenberger, scientific director of the Leukemia Lymphoma Society, which funds research into blood cancer.

The only recourse for these patients – other than housing until the virus is withdrawn – may be to regularly infuse monoclonal antibodies, which are mass-produced copies of antibodies obtained from people who have contracted Covid-19 have recovered. The Food and Drug Administration has approved several monoclonal antibody treatments for Covid-19, but some are now also being tested to prevent infection.

Convalescent plasma or gamma globulin – antibodies distilled from the blood of healthy donors – can also help immunocompromised people, although a version of the latter that contains antibodies to the coronavirus is still months away from being available.

“It is a clear area where the need cannot be met,” said Hala Mirza, a spokeswoman for Regeneron, who made their monoclonal antibody cocktail available to a handful of immunocompromised patients through a compassionate application program. (Regeneron released experimental results this week showing the cocktail reduced symptomatic infections by 81 percent in people with normal immune systems.)

It is unclear how many immunocompromised people do not respond to coronavirus vaccines. But the list seems to include at least blood cancer survivors, organ transplant recipients, and anyone taking the widely available drug Rituxan or the cancer drugs Gazyva or Imbruvica – all of which kill or block B cells, the immune cells that develop antibodies – or Remicade, a popular one Drug used to treat inflammatory bowel disease. It can also include some people over the age of 80 whose immune responses have stalled with age.

“We are extremely concerned and interested in finding out how we can help these particular patients,” said Dr. Elad Sharon, an immunotherapy expert at the National Cancer Institute.

As the pandemic spread, doctors who specialized in treating blood cancer or caring for immunocompromised people expected at least some of their patients to encounter difficulties. Dr. Charlotte Cunningham-Rundles, an immunologist at the Icahn School of Medicine on Mount Sinai in New York, has about 600 patients who rely almost exclusively on regular doses of gamma globulin to protect against pathogens.

Nevertheless, 44 of their patients became infected with the coronavirus; four died and another four or five had long-term illnesses. (Chronic infections can give the virus the opportunity to develop into dangerous variants.)

Steven Lotito, 56, one of Dr. Cunningham-Rundles, was diagnosed with a condition known as common variable immunodeficiency when he was 13 years old. Before the pandemic, he had an active lifestyle, exercised, and ate well. “I’ve always known that I take special care of my body,” he said. This included infusions of gamma globulin every three weeks.

Despite careful precautionary measures, Mr Lotito caught the virus from his daughter in mid-October. He had a fever for almost a month and spent a week in the hospital. Convalescent plasma and remdesivir, an antiviral drug, provided relief for a few weeks, but his fever returned. After another infusion of gamma globulin that sweated through four shirts, he finally felt better.

Updated

April 18, 2021, 11:00 p.m. ET

Nevertheless, after almost seven weeks of illness, Mr. Lotito no longer had any antibodies to show. “I still have to take the same precautions that I took a year ago,” he said. “It’s a little daunting.”

People like Lotito-san rely on those around them to get vaccinated to keep the virus at bay, said Dr. Cunningham-Rundles.

“They hope that all of your family members and all of your close co-workers will go out and get a shot, and they will protect you with herd immunity,” she said. “You have to start with that.”

Dr. Cunningham-Rundles has tested their patients for antibodies and has registered some for Regeneron’s monoclonal antibody cocktail. However, many other people with these conditions are unaware of their risks or treatment options.

The Leukemia Lymphoma Society has set up a registry to provide information and antibody tests to people with blood cancer. Several studies are looking at the response to coronavirus vaccines in people with cancer, autoimmune diseases like lupus or rheumatoid arthritis, or in patients taking drugs that suppress the immune response.

What You Need To Know About The Johnson & Johnson Vaccine Break In The United States

    • On April 13, 2021, U.S. health officials called for an immediate halt to use of Johnson & Johnson’s single-dose Covid-19 vaccine after six recipients in the U.S. developed a rare blood clot disorder within one to three weeks of being vaccinated.
    • All 50 states, Washington, DC, and Puerto Rico have temporarily stopped using the vaccine or recommended providers are suspending use of the vaccine. The U.S. military, government-run vaccination centers, and a variety of private companies, including CVS, Walgreens, Rite Aid, Walmart, and Publix, also paused the injections.
    • Fewer than one in a million Johnson & Johnson vaccinations are currently being studied. If there is indeed a risk of blood clots from the vaccine – which has yet to be determined – the risk is extremely small. The risk of contracting Covid-19 in the United States is much higher.
    • The hiatus could complicate the country’s vaccination efforts at a time when many states are facing spikes in new cases and are trying to address vaccine hesitation.
    • Johnson & Johnson has also decided to delay the launch of its vaccine in Europe amid concerns about rare blood clots, which is taking another blow to the vaccine surge in Europe. South Africa, devastated by a contagious variant of the virus found there, also stopped using the vaccine. Australia announced that it would not buy cans.

In one such study, British researchers tracked nearly 7,000 people with Crohn’s disease or ulcerative colitis from 90 hospitals across the country. They found that less than half of the patients who took Remicade had an immune response after contracting coronavirus infection.

In a follow-up, the scientists found that 34 percent of people who took the drug were protected after a single dose of the Pfizer vaccine and only 27 percent after a single dose of the AstraZeneca vaccine. (In the UK, the current practice is to delay second doses to increase vaccine availability.)

Likewise, another study published last month showed that fewer than 15 percent of patients with blood or immune cancer and fewer than 40 percent of patients with solid tumors produced antibodies after receiving a single dose of the Pfizer BioNTech vaccine.

And a study published last month in the journal JAMA reported that only 17 percent of the 436 transplant recipients who received a dose of the Pfizer BioNTech or Moderna vaccine had detectable antibodies three weeks later.

Despite the small likelihood, immunocompromised people should receive the vaccines because they may produce some immune cells that protect, even antibodies in a subset of patients.

“These patients should likely be prioritized for optimally balanced two doses,” said Dr. Tariq Ahmad, gastroenterologist with the Royal Devon and Exeter NHS Foundation Trust who was involved in the infliximab studies.

He suggested that doctors routinely measure antibody responses in immunocompromised people even after two doses of vaccine to identify those who may also need monoclonal antibodies to prevent infection or a third dose of the vaccines.

Wendy Halperin, 54, was diagnosed with a condition known as common variable immunodeficiency when she was 28 years old. She was hospitalized with Covid-19 in January and stayed there for 15 days. However, the coronavirus caused unusual symptoms.

“I had trouble walking,” she recalled. “I just lost control of my limbs like I couldn’t walk down the street.”

Since she was being treated for convalescence plasma for Covid-19, Ms. Halperin had to wait three months for the immunization and has made an appointment for April 26th. However, despite her condition, her body managed to produce some antibodies against the initial infection.

“The takeaway message is that everyone should try to get the vaccine,” said Dr. Amit Verma, oncologist at Montefiore Medical Center.

Gambling has settled in Dr. Wollowitz’s case not paid off. With no antibodies in his system to protect him, he still works from home – a privilege he is grateful for. He was an avid mountain biker and advanced skier both at risk of injury, but he is playing it safe with the coronavirus.

In anticipation of a return to his normal lifestyle, Dr. Wollowitz his bicycles. But he said he had foreseen he would live like this until enough other people are vaccinated and the number of infections in the city drops.

“I’m not exactly sure what that date is,” he said. “I’m really waiting to get out again.”

Categories
Health

Can the Covid Vaccine Shield Me Towards Virus Variants?

Can the Covid Vaccine Protect Me Against Virus Variants?

The main concern of B.1.1.7 is that it is highly contagious and that it is spreading rapidly among the unvaccinated, potentially overwhelming hospitals in areas where cases are soaring.

All of the main vaccines used – Pfizer-BioNTech, Moderna, Johnson & Johnson, AstraZeneca, Sputnik, and Novavax – have been shown to be effective against B.1.1.7. We know this from a large number of studies and indicators. First, scientists used the blood of vaccinated patients to study how well vaccine antibodies bind to a variant in a test tube. The vaccines have all proven themselves relatively well against B.1.1.7. There is also data from clinical trials, notably from Johnson & Johnson and AstraZeneca (the most widely used vaccine in the world), showing that it is effective against both infections and severe ones in areas where B.1.1.7 is circulating Diseases are highly effective. And in Israel, for example, where 80 percent of the eligible population are vaccinated (all with the Pfizer shot), even as schools, restaurants, and workplaces open, case numbers drop, suggesting vaccines may introduce new infections, including those , curb caused by variants.

No vaccine is child’s play, and although the Covid vaccines offer a high level of protection, people who have been vaccinated sometimes still get infected. But breakthrough cases from vaccinated people are very rare, even when variants trigger an increase in the number of cases. And the vaccines clearly prevent serious illness and hospitalization in the few vaccinated patients who become infected.

What is the risk of infection after vaccination? Nobody really knows, but we have some pointers. For example, during the Moderna study, only 11 out of 15,210 vaccinated patients were infected. Both Pfizer and Moderna are currently conducting more detailed studies of breakthrough cases in vaccinated subjects and should publish these data soon.

Updated

April 15, 2021, 9:08 p.m. ET

Two real-world studies of vaccinated health care workers at much higher risk of virus exposure than the rest of us offer hopeful signs. One study found that only four out of 8,121 fully vaccinated employees at the University of Texas’ Southwestern Medical Center in Dallas were infected. The other found that only seven of 14,990 employees at UC San Diego Health and the David Geffen School of Medicine at the University of California at Los Angeles tested positive two or more weeks after receiving a second dose of Pfizer-BioNTech or Moderna vaccinations . Both reports were published in the New England Journal of Medicine and are a sign that breakthrough cases were uncommon even in those who were frequently exposed to sick patients, although cases in the United States rose sharply. Most importantly, patients infected after vaccination had mild symptoms. Some people had no symptoms at all and were only discovered through tests in studies or as part of their independent medical care.

Researchers are still investigating whether the variants may increase the number of breakthrough cases or whether vaccine antibodies decline over time. So far, data from Moderna shows that the vaccine is still 90 percent effective after at least six months. Pfizer has reported similar results.

A recent study of 149 people in Israel who became infected with the Pfizer vaccine after vaccination found that a variant first identified in South Africa was more likely to cause breakthrough infections. However, these eight infections occurred between the seventh and the 13th day after the second dose. “We didn’t see a South African variant 14 days after the second dose,” said Adi Stern, the study’s lead author, professor at the Shmunis School of Biomedicine and Cancer Research at Tel Aviv University. “It was a small sample size, but it is very likely that two weeks after the second dose the level of protection may increase and the South African variant will be blocked completely. That gives us more room for optimism. “