CORONAVIRUS INFO PROVIDED BY DR. JIM HARRIS – 06/04/2021

I am trying to decrease the frequency and length of my mailouts, but, even with my efforts to keep charts local and articles pertinent — with material not widely available on TV and area newspapers — I still find myself reading about Covid and finding article here and there that are too good to pass up. You will not hurt my feelings if you are tired of reading the mailouts, and you won’t go to hell if you skip right to the jokes. Have a nice weekend. J. Harris

From the NYT 3 June:

Canada will soon allow vaccine mixing for second doses.

“…Facing vaccine shortages, Canada’s immunization advisory body is recommending that some Canadians follow up their AstraZeneca shots with a different vaccine on the second dose.

The National Advisory Committee on Immunization said on Tuesday that people who had received a first dose of the AstraZeneca vaccine could be given either the Pfizer-BioNTech or Moderna vaccines as their second dose. It also said that the Pfizer and Moderna vaccines could be used interchangeably, although it recommended sticking with a single brand when possible.

“…The advisory panel said that its recommendation followed similar advice from Denmark, Finland, France, Germany, Norway, Spain and Sweden. Several studies have shown that mixing vaccines is safe and effective, the committee said.

(J. Harris: It will be interesting to see studies comparing efficiency as well as postvaccine antibody levels using this “mix and match” strategy.

From Hopkins Citations:

1. U.S. Agency Says Employers Can Mandate COVID-19 Vaccination (Reuters) U.S. companies can mandate that employees in a workplace must be vaccinated against COVID-19, the Equal Employment Opportunity Commission (EEOC) said on Friday. The EEOC, in a statement posted on its website explaining its updated guidance, said employees can be required to be vaccinated as long as employers comply with the reasonable accommodation provisions of the Americans with Disabilities Act and other laws.

2. Over 100 Staff Sue Houston Methodist Over COVID-19 Vaccine Requirement (The Hill) More than 100 employees at Houston Methodist Hospital sued the hospital over its requirement for staff to get vaccinated for COVID-19. The complaint filed by 117 employees alleges that they are illegally being required to get vaccinated, according to The Washington Post. The plaintiffs allege that the hospital is “forcing its employees to be human ‘guinea pigs’ as a condition for continued employment,” according to the newspaper. The suit comes as a June 7 deadline approaches for the staffers to get vaccinated under Houston Methodist’s new policy.

3. Singapore Warns Children Susceptible to Virus Variants, Shuts Schools (Reuters) Singapore warned on Sunday that the new coronavirus variants, such as the one first detected in India, were affecting more children, as the city-state prepares to shut most schools from this week and draws up plans to vaccinate youngsters. All primary, secondary and junior colleges will shift to full home-based learning from Wednesday until the end of the school term on May 28. On Sunday, Singapore confirmed 38 locally transmitted COVID-19 cases, the highest daily number since mid-September, with 17 currently unlinked. The cases included four children linked to a cluster at a tuition centre.

– Rice University will require all students to be fully vaccinated against COVID

MASSIVE TONGUE IS SOME COVID PATIENTS POST VENTILATOR (J. Harris: For reasons still unknown, most of these patients are Black.)

Nasal Delivery of an IgM Offers Broad Protection from SARS-CoV-2 Variants (Nature) Resistance represents a major challenge for antibody-based therapy for coronavirus disease 2019. Here we engineered an immunoglobulin M (IgM) neutralizing antibody (IgM-14) to overcome the resistance encountered by IgG-based therapeutics. IgM-14 potently neutralizes the resistant virus raised by its corresponding IgG-14, the newly emerged United Kingdom B.1.1.7, Brazilian P.1, and South African B.1.351 variants of concern (VOCs), and 21 other receptor-binding domain (RBD) mutants, many of which are resistant to the IgGs that have been authorized for emergency use. (J. Harris: From UT Med School at Houston)

CDC director urges parents to vaccinate teens, noting increased hospitalization rates Citing increased hospitalization rates of teenagers with covid-19 in March and April, Centers for Disease Control and Prevention Director Rochelle Walensky urged parents to vaccinate their teens to protect them from an illness that can be severe even among young people…I am deeply concerned by the numbers of hospitalized adolescents and saddened to see the numbers of adolescents who required treatment in intensive care units or mechanical ventilation,” Walensky said in a statement that was released Friday alongside a new study looking at trends in hospitalization among adolescents with the disease…“Much of this suffering can be prevented,” Walensky added, urging “parents, relatives and close friends to join me and talk with teens” about the importance of prevention strategies and to encourage vaccination.

AND LAST BUT NOT LEAST: