Category: COVID

FDA May Authorize Additional Covid-19 Booster Shots

WSJ Agency officials could make the decision on clearing another round for people at high risk within a few weeks. Federal health regulators are nearing a decision on whether to authorize a second round of the Omicron-targeted booster shots for the elderly and other people at high-risk of severe Covid-19, people familiar with the agency’s deliberations said. […]

Mar 21, 2023

Finally, a Potential Therapy to Prevent Long COVID

MedPageToday Diabetes drug found to reduce chance of long COVID in clinical trial preprint. Hi, it’s Jeremy Faust with MedPage Today. Thanks for joining me. Today, we’re going to discuss an interesting new paper called “Outpatient Treatment of COVID-19 and the Development of Long COVID Over 10 Months.” Link to related paper in The Lancet (Preprint) […]

Mar 21, 2023

Long-covid symptoms are less common now than earlier in the pandemic

Washington Post Americans infected with the coronavirus’s omicron variant are less likely to develop symptoms typical of long covid than those who had covid-19 earlier in the pandemic, according to the largest-ever study of who is most vulnerable to being sickened — or debilitated — by the virus’s lingering effects. The analysis of nearly 5 million […]

Mar 21, 2023

The Next Stage of COVID Is Starting Now

The Atlantic What happens when everyone first gets immunity to the coronavirus as a very young kid? To be a newborn in the year 2023—and, almost certainly, every year that follows—means emerging into a world where the coronavirus is ubiquitous. Babies might not meet the virus in the first week or month of life, but […]

Mar 21, 2023

Nirmatrelvir-Ritonavir Effective Against Omicron BA.4, BA.5 SARS-CoV-2 Variant

Pulmonology Advisor Real-world evidence from the Omicron period of the COVID-19 pandemic shows the benefit of nirmatrelvir-ritonavir for vaccinated outpatients and those younger than 65 years of age with non-severe COVID-19 at high risk of hospitalization or death, according to study findings published in The Lancet Infectious Diseases. Investigators sought to examine the real-world effect of […]

Mar 21, 2023

SARS-CoV-2 infection weakens immune-cell response to vaccination

NIH NIH-funded study suggests need to boost CD8+ T cell response after infection. The magnitude and quality of a key immune cell’s response to vaccination with two doses of the Pfizer-BioNTech COVID-19 vaccine were considerably lower in people with prior SARS-CoV-2 infection compared to people without prior infection, a study has found. In addition, the […]

Mar 21, 2023

The Strongest Evidence Yet That an Animal Started the Pandemic

The Atlantic A new analysis of genetic samples from China appears to link the pandemic’s origin to raccoon dogs. For three years now, the debate over the origins of the coronavirus pandemic has ping-ponged between two big ideas: that SARS-CoV-2 spilled into human populations directly from a wild-animal source, and that the pathogen leaked from […]

Mar 16, 2023

Persistent prosopagnosia following COVID-19

(Science Direct) Abstract COVID-19 can cause psychological problems including loss of smell and taste, long-lasting memory, speech, and language impairments, and psychosis. Here, we provide the first report of prosopagnosia following symptoms consistent with COVID-19. Annie is a 28-year-old woman who had normal face recognition prior to contracting COVID-19 in March 2020. Two months later, […]

Mar 14, 2023

More Young Kids Can Get Bivalent COVID Booster

MedPageToday Pfizer’s booster authorized in children under 5 who received three doses of monovalent vaccine More children under age 5 are now eligible for a COVID-19 booster, the FDA announced on Tuesday. Kids ages 6 months to 4 years who completed their primary vaccination with three doses of the monovalent Pfizer-BioNTech shot can now get a booster […]

Mar 14, 2023

The COVID booster state of play

Axios It’s been six months since many of us got the bivalent COVID booster, which means you may be wondering: Is it time for a new one? Catch up quick: Federal officials are considering a plan to do yearly one-dose boosters, similar to annual flu shots in the fall, with higher-risk groups eligible for at least […]

Mar 14, 2023