Long-term Data Reveals SARS-CoV-2 Infection and Vaccine-induced Antibody Responses are Long-lasting February 26, 2024
Introduction:
(Eurekalert) A long-term analysis conducted by leading microbiologists at the Icahn School of Medicine at Mount Sinai reveals that antibody responses induced by COVID-19 vaccines are long-lasting. The study results, published online in the journal Immunity on February 22, challenge the idea that mRNA-based vaccine immunity wanes quickly.
The emergence of SARS-CoV-2, the virus that causes COVID-19, in late 2019 sparked the global pandemic that is now in its fifth year. Vaccines that were developed at record speed have saved millions of lives. However, the emergence of SARS-CoV-2 variants and waning immunity have decreased the effectiveness of the vaccines against symptomatic disease. The common perception now is that mRNA-based vaccine-induced immunity wanes quickly. However, this assumption is largely based on data from short-term studies that include a very limited number of data points following peak responses.
The Mount Sinai research team’s analysis of more than 8,000 samples collected over a three-year period in New York City examined how antibody responses to the virus’s spike protein changed after infections, during the primary immunization series, during monovalent and bivalent booster vaccination, and during breakthrough infections.
They found that upon primary immunization, participants with pre-existing immunity (those who had previously been infected with the virus) mounted higher antibody responses faster and achieved higher steady-state antibody titers than individuals who had not been previously infected. The waning of antibody response was characterized by two phases: an initial rapid decay from the strong peak after vaccination, followed by a stabilization phase with very slow decay, suggesting that antibody levels were very long-lasting. Booster vaccination equalized the differences in antibody concentration between participants with and without pre-existing immunity. Breakthrough infections increased antibodies to similar levels as an additional vaccine dose in individuals who had not previously been infected.
Improving Public Understanding of the Vaccine Adverse Event Reporting System February 26, 2024
Introduction:
(Eurekalert) PHILADELPHIA – The Vaccine Adverse Event Reporting System (VAERS) is an open, national surveillance system used by medical professionals as well as the public at large to self-report potential adverse medical events following vaccination. These events are entered as unconfirmed reports to VAERS, which is managed by the Food and Drug Administration (FDA) and the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC). As the CDC notes, “Reports sent to VAERS may include incomplete, inaccurate, coincidental, and unverified information.”
Pre-pandemic, there was little public attention paid to VAERS. Since the pandemic and the development of vaccines against Covid-19, however, vaccination-related information has flooded social media around the globe. The result has been an “infodemic” fueled by mis- and disinformation about vaccination, some of which is based on a misreading, misunderstanding, or misrepresentation of what VAERS is and what its reports show.
In a new Viewpoint piece in the Journal of the American Medical Association (JAMA), “Misinformation and the Vaccine Adverse Event Reporting System,” three University of Pennsylvania scholars examine how VAERS reports have been misrepresented during the pandemic. Drawing on data first published in an Annenberg Public Policy Center white paper, the researchers argue that the VAERS system has been misused by vaccine skeptics to fuel vaccine hesitancy. They urge public health agencies to improve public understanding of the vaccine surveillance reports and their significance – or lack thereof.
National Study Reveals Recovery Hurdles for Children Following COVID-19 Hospitalization February 26, 2024
Introduction:
(Eurekalert) BALTIMORE, February 26, 2024— New research is showing just how difficult recovery is for children who are hospitalized due to COVID-19. Trailblazing data from a national multicenter survey shows that up to one-third of children did not fully recover and experienced persistent symptoms from 1 to 2 years after release from the hospital.
The research, published in Frontiers in Pediatrics, found that 30% of parents (23 out of 79) reported that their child had not recovered from COVID-19 and/or multisystem inflammatory syndrome in children (MIS-C), a rare but serious complication that can occur after COVID-19. Children who had not recovered were more likely to have symptoms that were new or persisted after hospital discharge. The majority (87%) of these children had neurological symptoms, in particular headache (60.9%) and weakness (47.8%).
Dr. Beth Slomine, co-director of the Brain Injury Clinical Research Center at Kennedy Krieger, assistant vice president of psychology, and one of the authors in this study, emphasizes that these numbers are evidence of the lasting impacts COVID-19 has on some children.
“The numbers are striking and speak volumes,” Dr. Slomine said. “Our findings highlight the urgent need for better monitoring systems and care strategies to address the long-term effects that the pandemic made on pediatric health.”
CDC Shortens COVID-19 Isolation Period. What to Know About New Guidelines by Eduardo Cuevas, Adrianna Rodriguez and Ken Alltucker
March 1, 2024
Introduction:
(USA Today) The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention is updating its COVID-19 guidance so people who test positive for the virus will no longer be directed to isolate at home for five days.
On Friday, top health officials announced a new policy focusing on actions people can take to reduce spreading a variety of common respiratory viruses, such as influenza, respiratory syncytial virus (RSV) and COVID-19. Those actions include staying at home when sick, staying up to date with vaccines, practicing good hygiene and improving indoor air quality.
The change marks the first time the agency has revised its coronavirus guidelines since 2021. It is intended for people and employers, not for hospitals or nursing homes that have separate guidance, the CDC said.
CDC officials called the change a streamlined approach that’s easier for people to understand and more in line with circulating respiratory viruses that spread the same way and have similar symptoms.
The announcement reflects progress made in reducing hospitalizations and deaths from COVID-19 over the last two years, CDC Director Mandy Cohen said in a Friday news conference. Still, she emphasized continued use of vaccines and treatments.
Latest Booster Reduces Adults’ Risk of Moderate or Severe COVID by More than Half March 1, 2024
Introduction:
(Eurekalert) The most recent COVID-19 booster shot reduces adults’ risk of moderate or severe COVID by more than half, according to a new nationwide data study from September 2023 through January 2024, a period of JN.1 variant dominance.
The new study is one of the first to evaluate protection provided by the updated shot against COVID-19-associated emergency department and urgent care visits (markers for moderate disease) and against hospitalizations (a marker for severe disease), in individuals 18 and older, due to JN.1, the most recently predominant strain of COVID.
“Halving your risk of needing to visit an E.D. or urgent care center or to be treated in the hospital for COVID is significant,” said study co-author Shaun Grannis, M.D., M.S., Regenstrief Institute vice president for data and analytics and a professor at Indiana University School of Medicine. “As an informatician I want to highlight that the data we analyzed came from different populations and geographic locations, adults of all ages and the most recent COVID strain. This analysis strongly supports the benefit of getting a booster shot and as a clinician, I encourage my patients to do so.”
“These are encouraging findings,” said study co-author Brian Dixon, PhD, MPA, interim director of Regenstrief Institute’s Clem McDonald Center for Biomedical Informatics and professor at Indiana University Richard M. Fairbanks School of Public Health. “These estimates of vaccine effectiveness are what we would expect for an annual booster designed for an endemic virus that continues to evolve. We looked at a longer time period than similar studies in Europe, and we found good performance. Yet we do need to be alert to the presumed waning of the updated booster’s effectiveness, which we have seen in earlier COVID-19 vaccines. Americans should expect the CDC to recommend future boosters, likely on an annual schedule.”
These findings of protection against moderate and severe disease provided by the booster in this large study are consistent with those of an earlier, small scale study of individuals seen for testing at a pharmacy. That study did not include hospitalized patients.
Study Finds COVID Vaccines are Safe for Pregnant Women and Babies March 7, 2024
Introduction:
(Eurekalert) Landmark study contradicts misinformation about brain development and conditions like autism in children.
The COVID vaccine is safe to administer during pregnancy, reports UC San Francisco in an important finding on the safety of the vaccine in infants – despite widespread fear and misinformation.
The study, published in JAMA Pediatrics, is the first scientific inquiry into whether infants are at increased risk of neurodevelopmental impairments as a result of maternal vaccination.
The landmark study of more than 2,200 infants from across the country found that in utero exposure to the vaccine caused no abnormal delays when the infants were tested at 12 months and again at 18 months.
“This is a very reassuring finding – pregnant women have been facing unanswered questions around COVID vaccinations for several years,” said first author Eleni Jaswa, MD, MSc, a reproductive endocrinologist and fertility specialist at UCSF Health, noting the investigation started in April 2020. She is also an assistant professor in the UCSF Department of Obstetrics, Gynecology & Reproductive Sciences.
