Featured Headlines
States with higher vaccination rates now have markedly fewer coronavirus cases, as infections are dropping in places where most residents have been immunized and are rising in many places people have not, a Washington Post analysis has found.
Is SARS-CoV-2 infection in pets more common than we thought? – MedPageToday
Researchers in Brazil have discovered a higher than expected incidence of SARS-CoV-2 infection among the cats and dogs of people with COVID-19.
A Top Virologist in China, at Center of a Pandemic Storm, Speaks Out – NYT
The virologist, Shi Zhengli, said in a rare interview that speculation about her lab in Wuhan was baseless. But China’s habitual secrecy makes her claims hard to validate.
Johnson Set to Delay Lifting Covid Rules as U.K. Cases Rise – Bloomberg
British Prime Minister Boris Johnson is preparing to delay his plan to lift England’s pandemic restrictions amid concerns that a rapid rise in Covid-19 cases could put hospitals under strain.
In China’s latest outbreak, doctors say the infected get sicker, faster – NYT
As the Delta variant of the coronavirus spreads in southeastern China, doctors say they are finding that the symptoms are different and more dangerous than those they saw when the initial version of the virus started spreading in late 2019 in the central city of Wuhan.
A mass inoculation campaign in Thailand stumbles amid a severe outbreak – NYT
For months, the government of Thailand assured citizens that a plan to dole out free, locally made coronavirus shots would start in early June. About 70 percent of the national population would be inoculated by the end of the year, health officials said.
Vaccine Headlines
How does the Sputnik V COVID-19 vaccine work? – MedNewsToday
The Sputnik V COVID-19 vaccine uses two harmless viruses that deliver the genetic code for our cells to make a protein from the new coronavirus. This trains our immune system to fight against future infections with the new coronavirus.
Vaccine booster study begins in Cambridge – BBC
Researchers at the Addenbrooke’s Hospital site are recruiting about 180 participants for a national trial, which will test seven vaccines.
Novavax Says Its COVID Vaccine Is Extremely Effective – NPR
The first results from a large efficacy study of a new kind of COVID-19 vaccine are now out, and they are good. Very good. According to Novavax, the vaccine’s manufacturer, it had a 100% efficacy against the original strain of the coronavirus and 93% efficacy against more worrisome variants that have subsequently appeared.
Vermont is the first state to partially vaccinate at least 80 percent of its eligible population – NYT
Vermont has at least partially vaccinated 80 percent of residents 12 or older, allowing it to lift all remaining state pandemic restrictions, Gov. Phil Scott announced on Monday.
Experts Confident About COVID Vaccines’ Long-Term Safety – MedPageToday
While experience so far with COVID vaccines shows that some are associated with very rare, early side effects, experts say they have confidence about the long-term safety of these vaccines.
Here’s the latest on COVID-19 vaccines – National Geographic
These are the COVID-19 vaccine prospects that have made it to phase three trials and beyond.
Mixing COVID-19 vaccines appears to boost immune responses – Science
Faced with short supplies of COVID-19 vaccines and unforeseen side effects, some countries have adopted an unproven strategy: switching shots midstream. Most authorized vaccines require two doses administered weeks or months apart, but Canada and several European countries are now recommending a different vaccine for the second dose in some patients. Early data suggest the approach, born of necessity, may actually be beneficial.
AMA Report on Physicians Vaccinated for COVID – AMA
96% of physicians have been fully vaccinated for COVID-19. • The most common vaccine received was Pfizer-BioNTech (64%), followed by Moderna (34%) and Johnson & Johnson/Janssen (2%).
AstraZeneca Clot Research Continues Amid German Theory – Bloomberg
AstraZeneca Plc continues to discuss the cause of rare blood clots with regulators and scientists after German researchers said they discovered the link to its Covid-19 vaccines.
Covid Boosters: Will We or Won’t We? – MedPageToday
NIAID director Anthony Fauci, MD, told a Senate subcommittee that he would expect the need for a booster, but declined to put a timeline on his prediction. “I don’t anticipate that the durability of the vaccine protection is going to be infinite,” Fauci said. Researchers within his institute at the NIH recently began looking into, not just if boosters are necessary but also how to possibly mix vaccines and the impacts on protection.
Clinical Considerations
Let’s Recognize Childhood COVID as the Crisis It Is – MedPageToday
The calculus of risk is different for kids. COVID-19 demonstrates that infectious diseases needn’t be extraordinarily lethal to be devastating to public health. With some exception, in any given child, the most probable outcome of COVID-19 is, thankfully, a complete and uncomplicated recovery. But the calculus of risk changes drastically when considered from a public health lens, especially with considerations unique to children. For example, ethical considerations are more complex since children typically lack decision-making capacity, thus paternalism in their care is unavoidable (informed permission). This situation generally favors conservative approaches to their risk so they can grow to the stage of life where they do have capacity.
Headache and runny nose linked to Delta variant – BBC
Prof Tim Spector, who runs the Zoe Covid Symptom study, says catching the Delta variant can feel “more like a bad cold” for younger people.
But although they may not feel very ill, they could be contagious and put others at risk.
Official Reporting for June 11, 2021
World Health Organization
Weekly Epi Update June 14, 2021
Confirmed Cases: 175,686,814
Deaths: 3,803,592
Johns Hopkins
Confirmed Cases: 176,207,960
Deaths: 3,809,317
Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC)
Total cases: 33,292,045 (+6,062 New Cases)
Total deaths: 597,343(+143 New Deaths)
Science and Tech
Umbilical cord cells may boost survival of COVID-19 patients – MedPageToday
In the early months of the pandemic in 2020, the mortality rate of patients with pneumonia due to COVID-19 in the intensive care unit (ICU) of Persahabatan Central Hospital in Jakarta, Indonesia, reached 87%.
Why Do We Continue to See COVID-19 Outbreaks in Fully Vaccinated Care Homes? – Sci Tech Daily
SARS-CoV-2 outbreaks involving care homes with fully vaccinated residents have been reported across Germany. In order to gain a better understanding of this phenomenon, a team of researchers from Charité – Universitätsmedizin Berlin used an outbreak at a Berlin-based facility to analyze virus-related data and study the immune responses of elderly residents following vaccination. The researchers’ data, which have been published in Emerging Infectious Diseases, confirm vaccine effectiveness in the elderly. However, they also indicate a delayed and slightly reduced immune response. In light of their findings, the researchers emphasize the need to vaccinate both caregivers and close contacts in order to better protect this high-risk group.
Published Research
Investigation of SARS-CoV-2 infection in dogs and cats of humans diagnosed with COVID-19 in Rio de Janeiro, Brazil – PLoS
Severe acute respiratory syndrome (SARS) coronavirus-2 infection (COVID-19) in pregnancy – an overview – European Journal of Obstetrics and Gyn
Translational shutdown and evasion of the innate immune response by SARS-CoV-2 NSP14 protein
– PNAS
Misinformation, Disinformation, and Conspiracy Theories
Anti-Vaccine Activists Use A Federal Database To Spread Fear About COVID Vaccines – NPR
The largest U.S. database for detecting events that might be vaccine side effects is being used by activists to spread disinformation about COVID-19 vaccines. Known as the Vaccine Adverse Event Reporting System, or VAERS, the database includes hundreds of thousands of reports of health events that occurred minutes, hours or days after vaccination. Many of the reported events are coincidental — things that happen by chance, not caused by the shot. But when millions of people are vaccinated within a short period, the total number of these reported events can look big.
Coping in 2020 (and probably most of 2021)
