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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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Dr. Scott Gottlieb on uncommon coronary heart irritation in younger Covid vaccine recipients

Dr. Scott Gottlieb on rare heart inflammation in young Covid vaccine recipients

Rare instances of heart inflammation in young people after receiving their second Covid vaccine dose require further inquiry, Dr. Scott Gottlieb told CNBC on Friday.

However, the former Food and Drug Administration commissioner said the cases have mostly been mild and should not dissuade people from signing up for the two-shot regimens from Pfizer and Moderna.

“At this point, the risk/benefit still favors vaccination certainly in this age group,” Gottlieb, a Pfizer board member, said in an interview on “Squawk Box.” “That’s what CDC and FDA have also affirmed.”

A day earlier, the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention indicated it has seen a higher-than-projected number of cases of heart inflammation in 16-to-24-year-olds following their second Covid shot—  275 recorded occurrences compared with expectations of 10 to 102.

In people age 30 and below, there’s been 475 total reports of myocarditis or pericarditis, which according to the CDC involves inflammation of the heart muscle or the lining around it. Men make up the vast majority of reported instances of post-vaccine myocarditis or pericarditis.

Of the 270 people who developed the conditions and have been discharged from the hospital, 81% have fully recovered, according to CDC data. The remaining 19% either still have symptoms or their status is not known. Fifteen people are still hospitalized, the CDC said.

Symptoms, which include chest pain and shortness of breath, typically develop when a few days of receiving the vaccine, according to the CDC.

Gottlieb said many questions remain about the connection between the heart inflammation and the Covid vaccines from Pfizer and Moderna.

“I think at this point you need to assume there’s a causal relationship between the vaccine and these observations until you can prove otherwise,” said Gottlieb, who led the FDA from 2017 to 2019 in the Trump administration.

Gottlieb said what’s not known yet is whether there’s something specific about the vaccines that are causing heart inflammation. “We know the vaccine induces inflammatory response. That’s why you get a fever. That’s why you get injection-site pain because your immune system is stimulated.”

“Is this a more generalized inflammatory response from the vaccine that’s localizing in the heart in some patients?” Gottlieb asked. “Or is this something that’s more direct, where the vaccine itself is triggering some kind of very targeted immune reaction and it’s manifesting in this way? We don’t have the answers to these questions.”

It’s possible additional cases haven’t been recorded, Gottlieb said, but “we are probably capturing most of the severe cases.” He added, “When you look at the number of people who are having severe cases of pericarditis, it’s very small numbers right now.”

Roughly 141.5 million people in the U.S. have been fully vaccinated against Covid, according to CDC data. The vaccines have been critical in driving down the number of coronavirus cases in the U.S. to their lowest levels since early in the pandemic.

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CDC is Investigating Coronary heart Issues in a Few Younger Covid-19 Vaccine Recipients

CDC is Investigating Heart Problems in a Few Young Covid-19 Vaccine Recipients

The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention is investigating reports that a very small number of teenagers and young adults vaccinated against the coronavirus may have had heart problems, according to the agency’s vaccine safety group.

The group’s statement was sparse in detail, saying only that there were “relatively few” cases and that they may be completely independent of vaccination. The condition known as myocarditis is inflammation of the heart muscle and can occur after certain infections.

The CDC’s review of the reports is in the early stages, and the agency has yet to determine if there is evidence that the vaccines caused the heart disease. The agency has published guidelines on its website urging doctors and clinicians to look out for unusual heart symptoms in young people who have just received their scans.

“It may just be a coincidence that some people develop myocarditis after vaccination,” said Dr. Celine Gounder, an infectious disease specialist at Bellevue Hospital Center in New York. “It’s more likely that something like this happened by accident because so many people are being vaccinated.”

The cases appear to have occurred predominantly in adolescents and young adults about four days after the second dose of one of the mRNA vaccines manufactured by Moderna and Pfizer-BioNTech. And the cases were more common in men than women.

“Most of the cases appear to be mild and the case follow-up is ongoing,” the vaccine safety group said. The CDC strongly recommends Covid vaccines for Americans 12 and older.

“We look forward to more data on these cases so that we can better understand whether they are vaccine-related or if they are accidental,” said Dr. Yvonne Maldonado, Chair of the Infectious Diseases Committee of the American Academy of Pediatrics. “In the meantime, it is important for pediatricians and other clinicians to report any health concerns that arise after vaccination.”

Experts pointed out that the potentially rare side effect of myocarditis pale in comparison to the potential risks of Covid, including the persistent syndrome called “Long Covid”. Acute Covid itself can cause myocarditis.

As of May 13, the coronavirus had infected more than 3.9 million children and sent more than 16,000 to hospitals, more than were hospitalized for flu in an average year. This is evident from data collected by the AAP. Approximately 300 children have died from Covid-19 in the United States, making it one of the top 10 causes of child death since the pandemic began.

“And that is related to all mitigation measures that have been taken,” said Dr. Jeremy Faust, emergency doctor at Brigham and Women’s Hospital in Boston.

Updated

May 23, 2021 at 12:06 p.m. ET

In the general population, about 10 to 20 in 100,000 people develop myocarditis each year, with symptoms ranging from fatigue and chest pain to arrhythmias and cardiac arrest. Many others are likely to have mild symptoms and, according to researchers, never get diagnosed.

Currently, the number of post-vaccination reported cases of myocarditis does not appear to be any higher than is common among young people, according to the CDC. However, the agency’s vaccine safety group members felt that information on reports of myocarditis should be provided to providers, ”the report said.

The agency did not disclose the age of the affected patients. The Pfizer BioNTech vaccine has been approved for ages 16 and over since December. Earlier this month, the Food and Drug Administration extended this approval to children ages 12-15.

On May 14, the CDC alerted doctors to the possible link between myocarditis and vaccines. On May 17, the task force reviewed the Department of Defense’s data on myocarditis, reports submitted to the Vaccine Adverse Event Reporting System, and others.

State health departments in Washington, Oregon, and California have alerted emergency providers and cardiologists to the potential problem, and a report of seven cases has been submitted to Pediatrics magazine for review.

Dr. Liam Yore, former president of the Washington State Chapter of the American College of Emergency Physicians, said in an interview that he recently saw a teenager with myocarditis after the vaccination.

The patient was treated for a slight inflammation of the lining of the heart and then sent home. But the teenager later returned to care, with a decrease in cardiac output. Still, Dr. Yore, he’s seen worse results in teens with Covid, including a 9-year-old who arrived at the hospital after suffering cardiac arrest last winter.

“The relative risk is very favorable to receiving the vaccine, especially considering how many doses of the vaccine have been given,” he said.

More than 161 million people in the United States have received at least one dose of a coronavirus vaccine. About 4.5 million of them were between 12 and 18 years old.

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New Jersey to present free beer to Covid vaccine recipients

New Jersey to give free beer to Covid vaccine recipients

New Jersey Governor Phil Murphy speaks at a press conference after touring the vaccination site at the New Jersey Convention and Exposition Center Covid-19 in Edison, New Jersey on January 15, 2021.

Mark Kauzlarich | Bloomberg | Getty Images

New Jersey Governor Phil Murphy announced a new offer on Monday to promote coronavirus vaccinations: get your first dose in May and get a free beer.

“We’re not going to be afraid to try new things,” said Murphy as he presented the new program, called “Shot and a Beer”, at a press conference.

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Thirteen New Jersey-based breweries are participating in the program, which Murphy says is only available to citizens 21 and older.

These New Jerseyers must show their vaccination cards as evidence before receiving their reward, the Democratic governor said.

The breweries themselves pay for the cost of the free drinks, said Murphy, who suggested that more beer makers could be added to the list soon.

The breweries currently participating are: Battle River Brewing, Bradley Beer Project, Bolero Snort Brewing Company, Brix City Brewing Company, Carton Brewing Company, Flounder Brewing Company, Flying Fish Brewing Company, Gaslight Brewery and Restaurant, Hackensack Brewing Company, Kane Brewing Company, Little Dog Brewing Company, Magnify Brewing Company, and River Horse Brewing Company.

The program came from the New Jersey Department of Health in association with the Brewer’s Guild of New Jersey.

The Garden State is hardly the first to suggest an incentive for people to get vaccinated.

West Virginia Republican Governor Jim Justice announced an initiative last week to give $ 100 savings bonds to younger citizens who get vaccinated.

Connecticut has its own alcoholic incentive with its “Drinks On Us” campaign: residents who get fully vaccinated and show their vaccination cards at certain restaurants will receive a free drink between May 19 and 31.

Incentive or no, vaccination rates are increasing. More than 29% of the US population is fully vaccinated, and cases and deaths from Covid are declining, according to Johns Hopkins University.

But a significant number of Americans say they are not ready to get vaccinated. A survey by Monmouth University published in mid-April found that roughly one in five Americans said they didn’t get the shot.

This is causing health officials and leaders at all levels of government to urge more people to seek and get their vaccinations.

The “Shot and a Beer” campaign is just part of New Jersey’s broader programs aimed at bringing the state back to a more normal summer as the fight against the pandemic continues.

Murphy announced the free beer plan after detailing the “Grateful for the Shot” initiative, which allows parishioners to walk straight to vaccination sites from church services.

It’s “maybe on the other end of the spectrum” of incentives, Murphy said.

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A C.D.C. panel discusses new uncommon clot circumstances in J. & J. shot recipients and the way total threat appears to be very low.

A C.D.C. panel discusses new rare clot cases in J. & J. shot recipients and how overall risk seems to be very low.

Twelve of the 15 women in the confirmed cases developed blood clots in the brain. Many had blood clots elsewhere as well. Initial symptoms, which include a headache, usually begin six or more days after vaccination, said Dr. Shimabukuro. As the disorder develops, it can cause increased headaches, nausea and vomiting, abdominal pain, weakness in one side of the body, difficulty speaking, loss of consciousness, and seizures.

Dr. Shimabukuro found that seven of the women were obese, two had hypothyroidism, two had high blood pressure, and two were using oral contraceptives. It is not yet clear whether any of these factors could increase the risk of developing a coagulation disorder after vaccination.

Patients’ symptoms closely resemble a rare syndrome that can be caused by heparin, a widely used blood thinner, said Dr. Michael Streiff, a hematologist at Johns Hopkins University, joined the panel. Heparin, which could typically be used to treat blood clots, shouldn’t be used to treat these patients, he said.

Doctors should consider the rare coagulation disorder in patients who have blood clots and low platelet counts within three weeks of receiving the Johnson & Johnson vaccine, said Dr. Streiff.

“Knowing that this syndrome exists will help improve outcomes,” he said.

The committee could recommend Johnson & Johnson put up a formal warning label about the side effects, as the company has done in the European Union. About 10 million doses or more of the vaccine, which is manufactured at the company’s facility in the Netherlands, are on shelves in the United States and could be used immediately.

The meeting comes as the federal government is also investigating issues at a Baltimore factory that is slated to meet the country’s demand. Emergent BioSolutions, the operator of the facility, has manufactured tens of millions of doses of Johnson & Johnson’s vaccine, but they cannot be distributed until regulatory agencies certify the facility.

After Emergent had to discard up to 15 million potentially contaminated doses of the vaccine last month, federal regulators conducted an inspection that found a number of problems, including the risk of other lots being contaminated.

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WHO probing studies of blood clots in recipients

Pfizer CEO joins World Health Organization at press conference on the coronavirus outbreak

Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus, Director General of the World Health Organization (WHO), speaks after Dr. Anthony Fauci, Director of the National Institute for Allergies and Infectious Diseases, during the 148th session of the Executive Board on the Coronavirus Disease (COVID-19) outbreak in Geneva, Switzerland, January 21, 2021.

Christopher Black | WHO | via Reuters

The World Health Organization announced on Friday that it is reviewing recent reports of blood clots in some people who have received the AstraZeneca Covid-19 vaccine, which has led some countries to stop introducing the shooting.

At least nine countries, including Denmark, Norway, Iceland and Thailand, have stopped using the vaccine for safety reasons. By Wednesday, around 5 million people in Europe had received the Oxford-AstraZeneca vaccine. Of this number, 30 so-called thromboembolic events were reported in recipients. These are blood clots that form in blood vessels and block blood flow.

AstraZeneca said in a statement Friday that there is “no evidence” that the vaccine causes an increased risk of developing blood clots.

WHO director-general Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus said Friday that the agency’s Global Advisory Committee on Vaccine Safety “is systematically reviewing safety signals and carefully evaluating recent reports on the AstraZeneca vaccine”.

“Once WHO has a full understanding of these events,” he added, “the results and changes to our current recommendations will be communicated to the public immediately.”

Dr. Mariangela Simao, WHO deputy director general for access to medicines and health products, added that the global health agency “is likely to have a statement this next week when investigations are complete”.

“The WHO is very much aligned with the position that we should continue immunization until we have cleared up the causal link,” she said.

Dr. Soumya Swaminathan, WHO’s chief scientist, said it was still unclear whether the vaccine was actually causing the clots. An AstraZeneca spokesperson noted that “the observed number of these types of events in vaccinated people is significantly lower than expected in the general population”.

“The adverse events reported after vaccination must be seen in the context of events that occur naturally in the population,” said Swaminathan. “Just because it’s reported after a vaccination doesn’t mean it’s the vaccination. It could be completely independent.”

The European Medicines Agency, the European Medicines Agency, has stressed that there is no evidence that the AstraZeneca shot caused blood clots and that the benefits of the vaccine “continue to outweigh the risks”.

“Reports of previously received blood clots are no greater than the numbers that would have occurred naturally in the vaccinated population,” said Dr. Phil Bryan, Vaccine Safety Director for the UK Medicines and Health Products Regulatory Agency.

“Public safety will always come first. We will continue to examine this issue carefully, but the evidence available does not confirm the vaccine is the cause. People should still get their COVID-19 vaccine when prompted become.” he added.

– CNBC’s Sam Meredith contributed to this report.

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A Few Covid Vaccine Recipients Developed a Uncommon Blood Dysfunction

A Few Covid Vaccine Recipients Developed a Rare Blood Disorder

On January 29th, Dr. Bussel Mrs. Legaspis doctor, Dr. Niriksha Chandrani, an email labeled “My Strong Recommendations,” stated that he was “very afraid” that Ms. Legaspi would have a cerebral haemorrhage and recommended a different course of treatment. Dr. Chandrani, chief oncology physician at Elmhurst, realized that Dr. Bussel was a leading authority on platelet disorder, and she took his advice.

She had spent several sleepless nights worrying about Ms. Legaspi.

“I didn’t want her to die,” said Dr. Chandrani.

Recognition…about Luz Legaspi

A day later, Ms. Legaspi’s platelet count had reached 6,000: “Slow but steady progress,” said Dr. Bussel. The next morning it was 40,000, which got them out of the most perilous zone. Two days later, on February 1, there were 71,000.

It’s impossible to tell if the new treatments worked, if the first started, or if she recovered on its own. But on February 2, she went home from the hospital to the Queens apartment she shares with her daughter and 7-year-old grandson. On February 4, her daughter said Ms. Legaspi’s platelet count was 293,000.

Another vaccine recipient, Sarah C., 48, a teacher in Arlington, Texas, received the Moderna vaccine on January 3rd. She asked not to use her full name to protect her privacy.

Two weeks later, she began to have profuse vaginal bleeding. After two days, she saw her obstetrician, who ordered blood tests and other tests. A few hours later he called and urged her to go straight to the emergency room. He was stunned, hoping it was a lab mistake, but her blood count showed no platelets. She had had an exam less than a week before the vaccination and blood test results were completely normal.

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Recipients cannot let guard down, says Dr Scott Gottlieb

U.S. needs to vaccinate 3 million people per day to hit goal

Dr. Scott Gottlieb on Thursday warned coronavirus vaccine recipients not to abandon their guards immediately and urged CNBC to adhere to public health measures such as wearing masks.

The former commissioner for the U.S. Food and Drug Administration said the advice is especially important to older Americans who are at higher risk of death or serious illness from Covid-19.

“I think for an elderly person who is susceptible to this virus, wait some time after the second shot until you probably have full protective immunity,” Gottlieb told Squawk Box. “I don’t think people should feel completely safe after the first shot.”

Both Covid vaccines, which have received emergency clearance from the FDA, require two doses. Pfizer and its German partner BioNTech developed one of the vaccines while Moderna makes the other. Gottlieb is on the Pfizer board of directors.

Around 10.3 million Americans received their first Covid shot on Wednesday morning, according to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. About 29.4 million cans were distributed.

The shaky vaccine comes as the nation continues to see high levels of coronavirus infections and more deaths from Covid-19. According to a CNBC analysis of the data compiled by Johns Hopkins University, the 7-day average of new daily cases in the country is 245,306. An average of 3,360 Americans have died of Covid each day in the past week. This is the second highest number ever recorded.

Vaccine recipients still need to take public health precautions as the US outbreak remains so significant and “infections are everywhere,” Gottlieb said. “If you are a vulnerable person, it is still very advisable to continue wearing a mask and taking precautions even after you had the second shot and believe you have complete protective immunity to the vaccine.”

“That doesn’t mean you have to hibernate and avoid seeing family,” added Gottlieb, who headed the FDA in the Trump administration from 2017 to 2019. “Maybe you can lean forward in this regard but wear a mask. Be more careful with these interactions, because in a high-circulation environment you are still at risk.”

With more and more Americans being vaccinated, Gottlieb should lower overall infection rates in the United States and significantly reduce the intensity of the epidemic. At this point, he said it made more sense to “loosen” some precautions.

“Hopefully this will be summer, spring, when these new variants fail to gain a foothold here in the US and change our trajectory,” he said, referring to the coronavirus strains originally found in the UK and South Africa believed to be more transmissible.

Researchers in Ohio said Wednesday they had discovered two new variants that likely originated in the United States

Last week, Gottlieb warned Americans that a return to pre-pandemic life was unlikely in 2021. For example, he told CNBC that public places may still require that the temperature be taken before entry.

“I just think that if you drive through an airport now after 9/11, things will be different, just as they are,” he said last week. “I don’t think masks will be mandatory next fall and winter when we can increase the vaccination rate and when these new varieties go away or don’t prevail. But I think a lot of people will want to wear masks, and that’s fine. “

Disclosure: Scott Gottlieb is a CNBC employee and a member of the boards of directors of Pfizer, the genetic testing startup Tempus, and the biotech company Illumina. He is also co-chair of the Healthy Sail Panel of Norwegian Cruise Line Holdings and Royal Caribbean.

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LabCorp CEO says recipients don’t want antibody check afterward

West Virginia Gov. Jim Justice on nursing home rollout

Adam Schechter, CEO of LabCorp, on Tuesday urged Americans to get vaccinated against Covid-19 and told CNBC that recipients would not be advised to be tested for Covid antibodies afterwards.

“At the moment there is no recommendation for it. We still have to understand a lot more about the vaccines, know what is to be measured, how is to be measured,” Schechter told the Closing Bell.

The body’s immune system produces antibodies in response to a foreign pathogen and helps fight an infection. During the pandemic, antibody tests were used to determine if someone had previously been infected with the coronavirus.

Now that Covid vaccines are being given to millions of people, questions have been raised about what role antibody tests might play in determining whether a vaccine recipient is developing an immune response. In clinical studies, Moderna and Pfizer-BioNTech’s vaccines have been shown to be more than 94% effective in preventing symptomatic Covid-19.

In December, for example, Roche received emergency use approval from the U.S. Food and Drug Administration for a test to detect antibodies to the coronavirus spike protein. In a press release at the time, the Swiss diagnostics and pharmaceutical company claimed that the test could be valuable after someone had been vaccinated against Covid.

“Many current vaccine candidates aim to induce an antibody response against the SARS-CoV-2 spike protein,” the company said. “Tests that quantify antibodies to the spike protein could be used to measure the extent of this response and track that measurement over time.”

Schechter acknowledged that there might be a role for post-vaccination antibody testing but said, “We have a lot more to learn.”

“In the future, it might make sense to look at antibodies. It might make sense to look at T cells,” which are another element of the body’s immune response, he said. “Right now, as many people should be vaccinated as soon as possible, and there is no recommendation to have an additional blood test afterwards,” he added.

LabCorp’s shares closed the trading session Tuesday at around $ 220 apiece. The stock has soared more than 120% to $ 98 since its pandemic low on March 19.