With the Omicron surge waning – at least in the United States – there is speculation that the COVID-19 pandemic may be in its end stages, although some experts warn that this could be premature.

More than one year after the first COVID-19 vaccination was administered in the United States and more than 545 million doses later, new data from a survey conducted online by The Harris Poll among over 2,000 U.S. adults on behalf of Ocugen Inc. show a majority of Americans want more COVID-19 vaccines options to choose from.

The immune response to COVID-19 helps protect against reinfection, but that protection is weaker against Omicron than it was against earlier variants of the coronavirus, according to new data. In other news, protection provided by booster shots of the mRNA vaccines from Moderna Inc. or Pfizer Inc. and partner BioNTech SE starts waning quickly, according to data published in Feb. 11th’s Morbidity and Mortality Weekly Report from the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC).

The World Health Organization indicated WHO is tracking four Omicron subvariants: BA.1, BA.1.1, BA.2 and BA.3. BA.2 has a growth advantage over BA.1, the variant responsible for the recent Omicron surge.

The latest wave of COVID-19 infections has “overwhelmed” Hong Kong, the city’s leader said on Feb. 14, as daily cases have surged by some 20 times over the past two weeks, leaving hospitals short of beds and struggling to cope. South Korea will begin giving out fourth doses of COVID-19 vaccines during February and supply millions of additional home test kits to ease shortages amid a surge in Omicron infections, authorities confirmed on Feb. 14.

Comirnaty

The world’s leading COVID-19 vaccine and therapeutic manufacturers continue to develop treatments for the waves of variants as well as life-changing therapies for disease areas outside the world of coronaviruses. The world’s efforts to combat the global pandemic continue to evolve, as does Coronavirus Disease 2019 as variants and subvariants constantly toss volleys of grenades at the battlefront lines.

On the day the public and members of the U.S. Food and Drug Administration’s Vaccines and Related Biological Products Advisory Committee were going to get a look at Pfizer and BioNTech’s COVID-19 vaccine data for children under 5 years old, the companies pulled the Emergency Use Authorization (EUA) submission.

Novavax

Novavax Inc. said on February 10 the company’s two-dose vaccine was 80% effective against COVID-19 in a late-stage trial testing the shot in teens aged 12 to 17 years.

CVS Health Corp. expects to administer 70% to 80% fewer COVID-19 vaccines in 2022 compared with 2021, adding that in-store diagnostic testing could fall 40% to 50%.

Johnson & Johnson during late 2021 quietly shut down the only plant making usable batches of the company’s COVID-19 vaccine, the New York Times reported, citing people familiar with the decision.