Dr. Anthony Fauci, director of the National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases and White House chief medical advisor, said they expect the U.S. Food and Drug Administration will authorize the Pfizer-BioNTech vaccine for children under the age of 5 years in the next month.
A small preliminary laboratory study has shown that levels of Omicron-neutralizing antibodies of people vaccinated with Russia’s Sputnik V vaccine did not decline as much as those who had Pfizer shots.
Nearly 30 generic drugmakers in Asia, Africa and the Middle East will make cheap versions of Merck & Co’s COVID-19 pill, under a landmark U.N.-backed deal to give poorer nations wider access to a drug seen as a weapon in fighting the pandemic.
The Biden administration is preparing for future variants of COVID-19, White House chief of Staff Ron Klain told MSNBC in an interview that aired on January 20 as the Omicron-related wave of cases appeared to be easing in parts of the United States.
When used in children, rapid antigen tests for detecting the coronavirus do not meet accuracy criteria set by the World Health Organization and U.S. and UK device regulators, according to researchers who reviewed 17 studies of the tests. Other research appears to confirm smaller, earlier studies that suggested nursing mothers are unlikely to transmit the coronavirus in breastmilk.
Valneva said on January 19 that preliminary studies showed three doses of the French biotech firm’s inactivated COVID-19 vaccine candidate neutralized the Omicron variant of the disease.
COVID-19 infections are reaching new peaks in the Americas with 7.2 million new cases and more than 15,000 COVID-related deaths in the last week, the Pan American Health Organization (PAHO) said on January 19.
Pfizer released data from several studies showing that nirmatrelvir, the active main protease inhibitor of the company’s antiviral combination therapy Paxlovid (nirmatrelvir/ritonavir), is effective against the Omicron variant of SARS-CoV-2. Additionally, a study conducted by 23andMe and published in Nature Genetics identified a genetic risk factor tied to the loss of smell from COVID-19.
The chairman of the Gavi vaccine alliance, Jose Manuel Barroso, said on January 19 that an additional $5.2 billion is needed to continue to deliver vaccines at scale.
While wealthier countries have come a long way to boosting their populations with an extra shot of COVID-19 vaccines to protect against Omicron, studies in Israel are evaluating whether a fourth dose of an mRNA vaccine offers additional protection. Although the data is still early, research suggests that it might not.
