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Fauci urges Individuals to not skip second shot

Fauci urges Americans to not skip second shot

Chauphuong Ly Dinh, 50, will receive a vaccination for coronavirus disease (COVID-19) on April 12, 2021 in Los Angeles, California.

Lucy Nicholson | Reuters

The White House chief physician, Dr. Anthony Fauci on Friday urged Americans to make sure they get their second dose of the Covid-19 vaccines, saying the second shot offers “dramatic” benefits.

Pfizer and Moderna’s Covid vaccines require two doses three to four weeks apart. Both vaccines are about 95% effective against the virus, but that strong protection doesn’t kick in until two weeks after the second dose, officials say.

Fauci said Friday that about 8% of Americans who received a dose of the Pfizer or Moderna Covid vaccines have not returned for their second shot. However, skipping the second dose could cause problems for these Americans, as a single shot of the vaccine triggers a weaker immune response than two.

Fauci cited numerous scientific studies, including a report published Wednesday by the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, which found Pfizer-BioNTech and Moderna Covid-19 vaccines to be 64% effective at reducing hospitalizations in the elderly after one Prevent shot, but 94% after two doses. The study examined 417 adults in 14 states in hospital from January through March.

“If you are on two-dose therapy make sure you get that second dose,” he said during a White House briefing about the coronavirus pandemic.

Early on, public health officials and experts said they feared it would be difficult for some Americans, especially workers who cannot easily take time off, to come back for a second dose. Even so, officials have said the second shot pickup is better than expected.

On Friday, Fauci also urged health care providers to ensure that canceled visits for second admissions are rescheduled.

Fauci’s remarks come because the US is seeing its first real slowdown in daily vaccination rates after months of steady growth. According to CDC data, the country had an average of 2.6 million reported vaccinations per day over the past week, up from a high of 3.4 million reported shots per day on April 13.

His comments also come as the US pursues highly contagious new varieties of the virus. Fauci previously said that two doses of Pfizer or Moderna’s Covid vaccines are better than one to protect against variants.

Earlier this month, Fauci gave advice to those diagnosed with Covid after the first vaccination and before the second vaccination.

He said that people who contract the coronavirus between Covid-19 vaccinations can get their second dose after recovering from the disease and are no longer considered contagious.

– CNBC’s Nate Rattner contributed to this report.

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BioNTech CEO assured shot works in opposition to India pressure

BioNTech CEO confident shot works against India strain

Ugur Sahin, CEO of BioNTech, told CNBC on Thursday that he was “confident” that the company’s Covid-19 vaccine with US partner Pfizer will be effective against a variant of the coronavirus first identified in India.

The strain known as B.1.617 contains two key mutations that have been found separately in other coronavirus variants. The variant, also known as the “double mutant,” was first discovered in India, where some believe it is behind a recent spike in new Covid-19 cases.

The variant has since been identified in other countries, including the United States.

Sahin said the German drug maker had tested its two-dose vaccine, currently not available in India, against similar “double mutants”. Based on that data, Sahin said he feels confident the shot will still be protective.

“We evaluate [the strain] … and the data will be available in the coming weeks, “he told CNBC.

“However, we had similar double mutants in our previous tests and are confident from the data we had in the past that we could see a similar way of neutralizing this virus. But we will only know when we have the data in our hands, “he added.

In recent months, US health officials have said they fear that new, highly contagious variants of the virus may one day be able to evade the protection of currently approved vaccines. They urge Americans to get vaccinated as soon as possible before new and potentially more dangerous variants emerge.

Studies have shown that the Pfizer BioNTech vaccine still protects against other strains, including B.1.526, the variant first identified in New York, and B.1.1.7, the variant found in the UK

An Israeli study found that B.1.351, the variant discovered in South Africa, was able to bypass some of the protection provided by the Pfizer BioNTech vaccine, even though the shot continued to be highly effective.

Although the shot continues to be effective, Sahin said people will likely need a third shot of his two-dose Covid-19 vaccine to reduce immunity to the Tureci virus.

In February, Pfizer and BioNTech announced that they were testing a third dose of their Covid-19 vaccine to better understand the immune response against new variants of the virus.

Sahin said Thursday that researchers are seeing a decrease in antibody responses to the virus after eight months.

“If we give a boost, we could actually increase the antibody response beyond what we started with, and that could give us real comfort in protection for at least 12 months, maybe 18 months,” he 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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Scientist who helped develop Pfizer-BioNTech Covid vaccine agrees third shot is required as immunity wanes

Scientist who helped develop Pfizer-BioNTech Covid vaccine agrees third shot is needed as immunity wanes

BioNTech’s chief medical officer told CNBC on Wednesday that people will likely need a third shot of its two-dose Covid-19 vaccine to lower immunity to the virus. This is in line with previous comments from Pfizer CEO Albert Bourla.

Dr. Ozlem Tureci, co-founder and CMO of BioNTech, who developed a Covid vaccine together with Pfizer, also assumes that people need to be vaccinated against the coronavirus every year, for example against seasonal flu. That’s because scientists expect vaccine-induced immunity to the virus to decline over time.

“We see evidence of this in the induced, but also natural, immune response against SARS-COV-2,” she said during an interview with Kelly Evans of CNBC in “The Exchange”. “We see this decrease in immune responses also in people who have just been infected and therefore [it’s] also expected with the vaccines. “

Tureci’s comments come after Pfizer CEO Albert Bourla said in an interview broadcast on April 15 that people will likely need a booster shot or third dose of the Covid-19 vaccine within 12 months of being fully vaccinated. He also said that there is a possibility that people will have to take extra shots every year.

Pfizer said earlier this month that its Covid-19 vaccine was more than 91% effective against the virus and more than 95% effective against serious illness up to six months after the second dose. Moderna’s vaccine, which uses technology similar to Pfizer, has also been shown to remain highly effective after six months.

The researchers say they still don’t know how long protection against the virus will last after six months of full vaccination, although public health officials and health experts believe that protection will wear off after some time.

Should Americans need booster vaccinations, the US government would likely need to reach agreements with drug manufacturers to provide additional doses and make plans to distribute vaccines.

On Friday Andy Slavitt, senior advisor to President Joe Biden’s Covid Response Team, said the Biden administration was preparing for the potential need for Covid-19 vaccine booster shots. He said the government was considering the need to secure additional doses.

“I can assure you that as we plan, if the President orders the purchase of additional vaccines, as he has, and if we focus on all of the production expansion opportunities that we are talking about, we have a great many such scenarios in mind have. “he said.

Last week, David Kessler, chief science officer for the Biden government at Covid, said Americans should expect to receive booster vaccinations to protect against coronavirus variants. He told US lawmakers that currently approved vaccines offer high levels of protection, but that new variants may “question” the effectiveness of the shots.

“We don’t know everything right now,” he told the House Select subcommittee on the coronavirus crisis.

“We are investigating the durability of the antibody response,” he said. “It seems strong, but that’s wearing off a bit, and no doubt the variants are challenging … they make these vaccines work harder. So I think for planning purposes, planning purposes only, we should expect us to may have to. ” Boost. “

Stephane Bancel, CEO of Moderna, told CNBC last week that the company hopes to have a booster shot for its two-dose vaccine in the fall.

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EMA says J&J shot may be rolled out throughout EU

Pausing use of J&J Covid vaccine will not affect timeline of getting U.S. vaccinated, says doctor

A box of Janssen COVID-19 vaccine doses from Johnson & Johnson is pictured in Grubbs Pharmacy on Capitol Hill on Monday April 12, 2021.

Tom Williams | CQ Appeal, Inc. | Getty Images

LONDON – The European Medicines Agency said Tuesday the Johnson & Johnson Covid-19 vaccine had possible links to rare blood clots but reiterated that its benefits still outweighed the risks.

“The EMA’s Safety Committee (PRAC) concluded that a warning of unusual blood clots with low platelets should be added to the product information for the Janssen COVID-19 vaccine,” the agency said in a press release.

“Health professionals and those receiving the vaccine should be aware of the possibility of very rare cases of blood clots combined with low platelet levels within three weeks of vaccination.”

The EMA examined all available evidence, including eight reports from the United States of serious cases of unusual blood clots, one of which had a fatal outcome. As of April 7, more than 7 million people in the United States had received the vaccine.

The US Food and Drug Administration advised states earlier this month to suspend the use of J & J’s shot “out of caution”. As a result, the pharmaceutical company decided to delay the launch of its vaccine in Europe while regulators assessed all risks. On Tuesday, the company confirmed that it would resume deliveries to the block after being reviewed by the EMA.

The EMA said last week that when they reviewed the latest details, it was still believing that the vaccine’s benefits outweighed the risks.

The J&J shot, which only requires one, was initially lit in green on March 11 in the European Union. It remains to be seen how different countries will interpret the latest guidelines from the EMA. France has already indicated that it will only use the vaccine in people over 55 years of age.

“COVID-19 is associated with a risk of hospitalization and death. The reported combination of blood clots and low platelets is very rare, and the general benefits of the Janssen COVID-19 vaccine in preventing COVID-19 outweigh the risk of side effects. “said the EMA on Tuesday under the name of the Belgian unit of J & J.

This isn’t the first problem with blood clots and a Covid-19 vaccine.

More than a dozen European countries stopped using the AstraZeneca shot in March after some people who received the shot reported unusual incidents of blood clots, 18 of which were fatal.

The EMA reviewed the cases and also said the vaccine was safe and should be used in the fight against the coronavirus.

However, a few days later, the EMA also said there was a “possible association with very rare cases of unusual blood clots with low platelets” and should therefore be listed as a “very rare side effect” for the AstraZeneca vaccine.

Some countries have adjusted the introduction of this vaccine and decided to only give it to people over the age of 60, and Denmark took it a step further by stopping its use entirely.

According to the European Center for Disease Prevention and Control, more than 103 million doses have been administered in the EU to date.

Correction: The U.S. Food and Drug Administration advised states earlier this month to suspend the use of J & J’s shot. An earlier version incorrectly characterized the move.

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Half of U.S. adults have obtained no less than one Covid vaccine shot

Daily U.S. data on April 16

Dr. Jerry Abraham, director of Kedren Vaccines, right, gives Jose Guzman-Wug, 16, a COVID-19 shot while his mother, Adriana Wug, watches at Kedren Health in Los Angeles, CA on Thursday, April 15, 2021.

Allen J. Cockroaches | Los Angeles Times | Getty Images

Half of all adults in the United States have now received at least one dose of Covid-19 vaccine, according to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. This is a major milestone in the largest vaccine campaign in the country.

More than 129 million people aged 18 and over received at least one shot, according to the CDC, representing 50.4% of the total adult population. More than 83 million adults, or 32.5% of the total adult population, are fully vaccinated with any of the three US-approved vaccines

The milestone is over 3 million people one day after the global death toll from the virus, according to data from Johns Hopkins University, with global deaths averaging 12,000 per day.

In the US, the rate of new Covid-19 cases every day remains high across the country. The country reports an average of around 68,000 new infections every day. CDC data shows that an average of 3.3 million daily doses of vaccine have been administered over the past week.

Jeff Zients, White House Covid-19 Response Coordinator, said the hiatus in Johnson & Johnson vaccinations, which came after reports of six cases of rare cerebral blood clots, would not slow the vaccination campaign as the country has enough Pfizer and Moderna vaccines disposes.

The Chief Medical Officer of the White House, Dr. Anthony Fauci said Sunday he thinks the U.S. will likely resume use of the Johnson & Johnson vaccine with a warning or restriction, and expects a decision to be made once the CDC’s vaccine advisory panel meets on Friday to discuss the resumption.

“I guess we will continue to use it in some form,” Fauci said during an interview on NBC’s Meet the Press. “I very seriously doubt they’ll just cancel it. I don’t think that’s going to happen.”

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J&J vaccine pause may make it tougher for some teams to get a shot

J&J vaccine pause could make it harder for some groups to get a shot

A homeless man wearing gloves and a protective mask sits with a sign that reads “Seeking Human Kindness” amid the coronavirus pandemic on April 19, 2020 in New York City, United States.

Alexi Rosenfeld | Getty Images Entertainment | Getty Images

The Johnson & Johnson Covid vaccination break It may not slow the overall pace of US vaccine adoption much, but it will make it harder for hard-to-reach populations to get a chance.

In response to the Food and Drug Administration’s request on Tuesday that states temporarily suspend use of the J&J vaccine “out of caution” after six women developed a bleeding disorder, White House Tsar Covid Jeff Zients said the Announcement would have no impact on the US vaccination program.

“We have more than enough supplies of Pfizer and Moderna vaccines to continue the current pace of around 3 million shots a day,” Zients told reporters at a news conference.

So far, this has been the case. The country reports an average of 3.3 million daily vaccine doses given in the past week, and 3 million if only Pfizer and Moderna are counted. Only about 7.8 million of the total of 202 million recordings in the US are from J&J, according to data from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.

However, Johnson & Johnson’s single-shot vaccine makes up about 10% of all fully vaccinated people in the United States, a percentage that has been on the rise for weeks, and it has proven valuable in certain situations and communities.

“Because of the nature of the J&J vaccine, it is often used for specific circumstances and populations who have been more difficult to obtain vaccines for,” said Josh Michaud, associate director of global health at Kaiser Family Foundation.

Bulky vaccination centers and mobile vans that deliver doses to be administered on the go are likely to have an easier time with Johnson & Johnson’s storage requirements, Michaud said. This vaccine only needs to be kept in a standard refrigerator, while the requirements for Pfizer and Moderna are stricter.

And for certain population groups, such as B. Administering a two-dose regimen can be challenging for prisoners moving to another facility or homeless people who are not permanent residents. Many states have used the J&J vaccine on these groups because Michaud says it is difficult to find people to give a second dose.

The one-shot option may also be more appealing to those who are more reluctant to get a vaccine. A survey by the Kaiser Family Foundation in March found that among those who say they’d like to wait and see how the vaccines work before being self-vaccinated, a greater proportion took the J&J single-dose vaccine compared to either dose option would receive.

One in six people in the “wait and see” group said they would “definitely get” the J&J vaccine, while roughly one in ten said the same thing about the Pfizer or Moderna vaccines.

“We know there is a significant section of the people on the fence who are concerned with vaccines in general,” said Michaud. “And I think the J&J vaccine is actually a plus for this group. It’s a big selling point for people on the fence.”

Add all of these factors together and the J&J hiatus could “have a major negative impact on US vaccination rates,” he said.

It is not yet clear how long it will take to end the Johnson & Johnson vaccine. The Chief Medical Officer of the White House, Dr. Anthony Fauci said the break could last anywhere from a few days to a few weeks.

Vaccinate homeless people

Shelly Nortz, assistant executive director of politics at New York City-based advocacy group Coalition for the Homeless, said Johnson & Johnson’s vaccination break will make it harder to get pictures of the populations she works with.

The coronavirus has hit the homeless in New York hard, especially in community housing. An analysis by the Coalition for the Homeless and New York University found that the age-adjusted mortality rate for homeless homeless New Yorkers was 49% higher than the citywide rate as of February.

And while the New York homeless vaccination campaign is off to a solid start – Nortz said the city’s latest announcement showed about 4,500 fully vaccinated single homeless adults out of a total of 21,000, a pace not far below the nationwide rate – the J & J-stop will be a hurdle.

“Everyone was very excited about the unique situation with J & J,” she said, “especially for people who are unprotected and therefore not predictably in the same place.”

The Coalition for the Homeless recently partnered with the Center for Urban Community Services, which provides mobile medical care across New York, to deliver the Johnson & Johnson vaccine to one of its emergency food locations. This program is now on hold, as are discussions about offering the J&J vaccine at the group’s headquarters, where many customers come to collect their mail.

Dr. Van Yu, chief medical officer at CUCS, agrees that a Pfizer or Moderna two-dose schedule makes things a lot more complicated.

“If you live outside, how will I find you in four weeks?” he said.

Yu said the protection system can make it easier to keep track of people, but there’s still a lot of churn as people come and go or are assigned to one of the hundreds of protected areas in New York City.

Nortz said the ease of keeping the J&J recordings is another benefit of vaccinating the homeless.

“The fact that the other two approved vaccines require freezer storage in one case makes it very difficult to do anything mobile or pop-up or with an unknown number of people,” she said.

Zients announced Tuesday that all vaccine delivery channels, including mobile delivery units, are equipped to deliver all three vaccines. Yu said the Moderna vaccine was easy to use in his group’s mobile locations, but due to the extremely cold refrigeration requirements of the Pfizer vaccine, it wasn’t an option.

He currently sits on 185 unused J&J doses and has no access to Moderna vaccines.

Some homeless people in the South Bronx, where Noel Concepcion works as the adult homeless service director for the nonprofit group BronxWorks, have preferred the J&J vaccine because only one dose is required. However, the hiatus and associated misinformation makes it harder to tell a group already skeptical of the government the importance of vaccination, Concepcion said, and this could lead to some reluctance to all three vaccine options.

According to Concepcion, BronxWorks had to cancel a vaccination event in order to take advantage of the existing range of J&J recordings due to the break.

J&J is more convenient for many working professionals

Other barriers to getting a Covid vaccine, such as an inflexible work schedule or responsibility for childcare, have made Johnson & Johnson’s single vaccine an essential option for some.

Liz Schwandt, who leads a volunteer group called Get Out the Shot designed to help people book vaccination appointments in Los Angeles, said many of the callers on her team’s hotline don’t have traditional work benefits or protections like work interruptions. Many of them are domestic servants such as house cleaners, private nannies or gardeners who are paid in cash from the books. Some are employees who don’t have a 9-to-5 job, like the group of night shift administrators that Get Out the Shot recently booked appointments for.

Elizabeth Raygoza receives her Pfizer vaccine from nurse-certified Alyssa Hernandez on March 17, 2021 when the City of Vernon Health Department staff used the city’s new mobile health unit clinic to help nearly 250 food processing workers at COVID-19 To give vaccinations Rose & Shore, a major local convenience food manufacturer serving supermarkets, schools, restaurants, airlines and others.

Al Seib | Los Angeles Times | Getty Images

“We hear stories all the time like hey, my employer lets me get the vaccine but doesn’t give me any free time,” she said, adding, “for a working family that misses a four-hour shift [for a vaccination appointment] can be a huge loss of wages. ”

According to Schwandt, the responsibility for childcare and the dependence on public transport make it difficult to attend multiple appointments.

While Get Out the Shot is booking appointments for all three vaccines, Schwandt said the FDA’s first approval of the J&J vaccine in February was welcome news.

“We were so excited,” she said. “We loved having the one and done option for people.”

A CDC panel on Wednesday postponed a decision on Johnson & Johnson’s Covid vaccine while investigations into the bleeding disorder continue. The panel is expected to meet again next week and decide what to recommend to the CDC.

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Moderna says its shot is 90% efficient 6 months after second dose

Moderna asks FDA to authorize 5 additional doses per Covid vaccine vial to speed distribution, source tells CNBC

A healthcare worker holds a vial of the Moderna COVID-19 vaccine at a pop-up vaccination facility operated by SOMOS Community Care during the coronavirus disease (COVID-19) pandemic in New York on January 29, 2021.

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Moderna’s Covid-19 vaccine was more than 90% effective against Covid and more than 95% effective against serious diseases up to six months after the second dose, the company said Tuesday, referring to updated data from its clinical Phase 3 study.

The update brings Moderna one step closer to filing its application for full US approval for its vaccine. Full approval requires a more rigorous review process to show that the shot is safe and effective for its intended use. With full approval, Moderna can begin marketing the recordings directly to consumers and selling them to individuals and private companies in the United States

The new data included Covid-19 cases through April 9 and assessed over 900 cases, including more than 100 serious cases. The vaccine is currently approved for emergency use by the Food and Drug Administration for those aged 18 and over. The authority can revoke the emergency permit (EUA) at any time. Moderna only submitted safety data to the EEA for two months. The FDA typically takes six months for full approval.

The company said its results are preliminary. Moderna announced that updated data on effectiveness against asymptomatic infections and antibody persistence will be released later this year.

The new data comes from a study published in the New England Journal of Medicine that showed that antibodies induced by the Moderna vaccine were still present six months after the second dose. It also comes after Pfizer said earlier this month that its vaccine, which uses technology similar to Moderna’s, was also shown to be highly effective six months after the second dose.

Dr. Isaac Bogoch, an infectious disease specialist who served on various drug data and safety monitoring boards, described Moderna’s update as “amazing news” and is pleased to hear that both mRNA vaccines are highly effective after six months.

“I think it’s fair to estimate that both will have decent effectiveness over many months,” he said.

Moderna is still evaluating its vaccine in people aged 17 and younger.

The company announced Tuesday that its study testing the vaccine in adolescents ages 12 to 17 is now fully enrolled and has approximately 3,000 participants in the United States

Participants are currently enrolling in his study, which is testing the vaccine in children aged 6 months to 11 years. It is expected that 6,750 healthy pediatric participants will be enrolled in the US and Canada. As in Pfizer’s study, children first receive a low dose of the vaccine before gradually moving on to higher doses.

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Covid vaccine maker CureVac hopes shot will get EU approval in June

Covid vaccine maker CureVac hopes shot will get EU approval in June

Coronavirus vaccine maker CureVac is hoping its Covid shot will get European approval in the second quarter.

Franz-Werner Haas, CEO of CureVac, told CNBC on Thursday that the vaccine maker was close to finalizing recruitment for the vaccine’s Phase 3 clinical trial. In view of the urgent need for additional effective coronavirus vaccines and the accelerated regulatory approval process, approval cannot take place long afterwards.

“According to our calculations, we expect to have the data by late April or early May,” Haas told CNBC’s Squawk Box Europe.

“We therefore assume that, depending on the dates, we will receive the approval in early June.”

As soon as the study is running, the German biotechnology company CureVac will wait for safety data and then carry out an interim analysis of the results of the late study. It is also crucial that a certain number of study participants have to wait for Covid-19 to develop to determine how effective the vaccine is in preventing the virus.

The data is then sent to regulatory authorities such as the European Medicines Agency for so-called “ongoing review”. This is where the data is analyzed by regulators to expedite the evaluation of new, potentially life-saving vaccines or drugs in public health emergencies.

The UK and EU have pre-ordered up to 455 million doses of CureVac’s mRNA vaccine, pending regulatory approval. The company is already making its vaccine, even though it hasn’t been approved, pending approval of the shot.

Haas, CEO of CureVac, said the company is trying to avoid manufacturing pitfalls that have been hit by other vaccine manufacturers. This issue was perhaps most noticeable at AstraZeneca, and has significantly relieved the vulnerability of global supply chains.

“Manufacturing is certainly a struggle right now,” he said.

“It’s not just that we manufacture ourselves, we have a whole network in Europe, with other companies that also support us in manufacturing, but it is sometimes very difficult to get the equipment to set up the plants, however also the material for the production of the mRNA. “

“But we are doing everything we can to produce as many cans as possible,” added Haas.

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Lengthy-haulers report signs easing after getting shot

Long-haulers report symptoms easing after getting shot

An employee in Schwaz, Austria, creates a syringe and container with the BioNTech / Pfizer vaccine.

JOHANN GRODER | AFP | Getty Images

Sheri Paulson struggled to get out of bed months after being diagnosed with Covid-19.

The 53-year-old North Dakota resident and family contracted the disease after attending a wedding in August. Paulson, an endurance athlete who runs a farm outside of Fargo, later suffered from fatigue, brain fog, and an increased heart rate, which led doctors to advise her to stop exercising and take cardiac rehabilitation.

It wasn’t until about five days after her first Pfizer shot in February that she began to feel better.

“Suddenly I stopped napping after cardiac rehabilitation,” said Paulson, who also has multiple sclerosis. “And then I started walking my dog. Then I thought, ‘Hmm, I think I’ll run a little too.'”

Some people who have had persistent and often debilitating symptoms months after their first battle with the virus say they find relief after vaccination, according to enigmatic health experts. Survivor Corps, a patient advocacy group for people with so-called long covid, recently surveyed nearly 900 members and found that 41% reported slight relief for full recovery shortly after the shot.

The World Health Organization estimates that around 1 in 10 Covid patients have persistent illness 12 weeks after the virus emerged. University of Washington researchers released data in February that showed a third of patients reported persistent symptoms such as fatigue, shortness of breath, and difficulty sleeping that lasted for up to nine months.

Symptoms of long-term Covid, which researchers now refer to as post-acute consequences of Covid-19 or PASC, can develop well after the initial infection, and the severity can range from mild to incompetent, according to health officials and health experts.

One of the largest global studies, published in early January, found that many people who suffer from persistent illness after being infected cannot return to work at full capacity six months later. The study interviewed more than 3,700 people aged 18 to 80 from 56 countries.

Diana Berrent, who founded the Survivor Corps a little over a year ago, suffered from long-term Covid for months before most of her symptoms went away on their own last year. She said some members of the organization were initially reluctant to get vaccinated. Members feared the reported side effects of the gunshots would make their symptoms worse, she said.

“We really expected the worst,” she told CNBC. “You could have knocked me over with a feather when I found out that some people were starting to get better because it was just so outside of what we expected.”

You are not alone. Facebook and Twitter are full of stories from people who testify, to their own surprise, that their symptoms are alleviated or even gone after receiving a Covid vaccine.

Not well understood

The cause of the persistent symptoms is not yet well understood by health professionals.

Most studies have focused on people with a serious or fatal illness, not those who have recovered but still report persistent side effects, the so-called long-distance drivers. The virus is also relatively new – it was discovered a little over a year ago – so there are no long-term data on it.

The National Institutes of Health launched an initiative in February to study long Covid and identify the causes and possible treatments. NIH Director Dr. Francis Collins said at the time that the researchers hope to understand the underlying biological cause of the persistent symptoms.

Doctors also don’t know why some long-term Covid patients say they feel better after being immunized. Experts say this could provide new insight into what’s behind the persistent symptoms, as well as potential new treatments.

Sheri Paulson with her dog Jazzy in North Dakota.

Courtesy Sheri Paulson

The virus reservoir

One theory, according to Yale immunologist Akiko Iwasaki, is that the vaccines help clear what is known as the “reservoir of virus,” where the virus may still linger in the body and cause chronic symptoms. The robust immune response induced by the vaccines can help clear any leftover viruses and clear symptoms, she said.

“That’s probably the easiest way,” she said, “the vaccines could help people.” “If that is the case, long covid will cure people and this is wonderful news.”

Iwasaki also hypothesized that Covid could cause an autoimmune disease in which immune cells mistakenly damage the body. If so, the vaccines could provide “temporary relief” of symptoms and patients may have to come back for another dose, she said.

There are no long-term data on how people feel after the vaccine, she said. “But I suspect that if the second [hypothesis] is true then there will be no lasting relief. “

The symptoms returned

Darren Brown, a 37-year-old physical therapist from the UK, said his symptoms returned a few weeks after receiving his first dose of the Pfizer BioNTech vaccine.

Brown suffered from fatigue, restless sleep, and incoordination for several months. He said his long Covid symptoms had completely improved about three weeks after his first shot. But just days before his second dose, he felt his symptoms return.

“I noticed that I was getting tired again,” he said. “The level I thought I could have pushed myself from, the threshold, it felt like it had been reduced and I was left with nothing afterwards in me.” Return to work. I just had to go to bed after a day at work. “

He’s been feeling better since his second dose, but fears his symptoms may come back.

“I’m very careful that this won’t last long,” he said. “But I’m also really overwhelmed with the excitement that it’s being lifted for now.”

Paulson, the North Dakota farmer, said she still had some symptoms but the fatigue and brain fog had gone since she got her second shot on March 18. She added that she was grateful that she was fine, especially since many others died from the disease.

“There are always things that put life into perspective for you and get you a little on your heels,” said Paulson, who also works for a Massachusetts-based biotech company.

Clinical trials

While the reports of long-term Covid symptom relief might be good news, they’re still just anecdotal, said Dr. Paul Offit, a voting member of the FDA’s Advisory Committee on Vaccines and Related Biological Products.

There has yet to be a formal study to see if the vaccines actually help, he said.

Isaac Bogoch, an infectious disease specialist at the University of Toronto, said he was skeptical but “open-minded”.

“This is an answerable question and I hope we have decent data to confirm or disprove it,” said Bogoch. “Otherwise it’s just a few collective anecdotes”

Iwasaki told CNBC that she plans to work with Survivor Corps to conduct a study to analyze blood samples from long Covid patients before and after vaccination. She said he hoped they can explain the relief some patients experience after vaccination.

The study is still in the planning stages, she said, adding, “We’re working very hard to get this off the ground.”

“I’ve received numerous emails and DMs on Twitter about patient experiences … and I hear from people every day who are better off getting the vaccine,” she said. “From my point of view, it looks encouraging.”

–CNBC’s Noah Higgins-Dunn contributed to this report.