New Cases: 481,114 (⬆︎ .26%)
New Deaths: 8,849 (⬆︎ .22%)
USA
New Cases: 19,347 (⬆︎ .06%)
New Deaths: 261 (⬆︎ .04%)
Yesterday, July 8th, 2021
8,849 people were killed by COVID-19
and 99.2 % of them were not vaccinated
183.2 million vaccinated
Including more than 158.3 million people who have been fully vaccinated in the United States.
In the last week, an average of 599.1k doses per day were administered,
a 45% decrease over the week before.
And away we go - company CYA vs official public health policy, plus Press Poodling - the perfect storm that makes for some very exciting political drama. I'm sure ad sales will be robust.
WaPo:
Pfizer suggests booster shots will be needed this year, but government officials say science will dictate the timing
An unusually public spat has broken out between the makers of one of the coronavirus vaccines and federal health officials over whether booster shots will soon be needed.
Pfizer and the German firm BioNTech announced Thursday they plan to seek approval for a booster shot within weeks, predicting that people would require a vaccine boost six to 12 months after being fully immunized. Hours later, the Department of Health and Human Services issued an emphatic rebuke, saying “Americans who have been fully vaccinated do not need a booster shot at this time.”
The statement did not mention Pfizer by name, but said “a science-based, rigorous process” headed by the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, the Food and Drug Administration and the National Institutes of Health would determine when or whether boosters were necessary. The decision, the statement said, will be only partly informed by data from drug companies.
Pfizer’s chief executive has for months predicted that boosters could be likely within six to 12 months, seeming to offer certainty on a question that has captured public interest even as public health officials and academic scientists said it wasn’t clear yet when a booster would be needed. All the pharmaceutical companies involved in making coronavirus vaccines are working on formulating and testing booster shots to prepare for the possibility.
But on Thursday, Pfizer released a statement indicating the time was near. Pfizer said its vaccine’s effectiveness had eroded, citing two lines of evidence that outside scientists have yet to see in detail. That includes an Israeli government analysis showing that as the delta variant of the virus became dominant, vaccine efficacy dropped. The study has not yet been published and its conclusions have been questioned by some outside scientists. Pfizer also cited its continuing follow-up of people who were vaccinated last summer.
“While protection against severe disease remained high across the full 6 months, the observed decline in efficacy against symptomatic disease over time and the continued emergence of variants are key factors driving our belief that a booster dose will likely be necessary to maintain highest levels of protection,” Pfizer said in a statement.
Pfizer said it would submit data to regulators within weeks showing that a booster at six months — a third shot of its original vaccine — caused antibody levels to shoot up five to 10 times higher than the original two-dose regimen. Moderna announced similar data in May.
Pfizer also announced it would begin testing a booster shot specifically programmed to combat the delta variant in August.
Scientists applauded the statement from HHS saying boosters were not imminent. While many researchers anticipate a booster may be needed and say it is essential to prepare the shots to be ready to be deployed, it is far from clear when they will be needed.
“My opinion right now, however, is that current vaccination seems to be largely ‘holding,’” said E. John Wherry, an immunologist at the University of Pennsylvania’s Perelman School of Medicine. “But the companies seem to suggest that their continued follow up of their trial patients shows concerning levels of waning of immunity. Not much of these data from the companies are publicly available yet. I agree that we need as much independent data and assessment as possible on this topic.”
Some experts think boosters could be needed as soon as this fall, but others think it could be years. Many predict that people will continue to be protected against serious cases of illness, even as immunity wanes. Some foresee scenarios in which people in particular high-risk groups may need to be boosted sooner.
“No one is saying we’ll never need a booster, but to say we need it now and give the public the impression the vaccines are failing and something needs to be done as a matter of urgency. … The time isn’t now,” said John P. Moore, a professor of microbiology and immunology at Weill Cornell Medicine. “The decisions that are going to be made will be made by federal agencies.”
Pfizer announced in May that it projected global sales of its coronavirus vaccine to reach $26 billion in 2021. The company has also been frank that its current pricing — in the United States, $19.50 a shot — is temporary. On an earnings call in February, Frank A. D’Amelio, Pfizer’s executive vice president of global supply, noted that a more typical price for a vaccination was $150 or $175 per dose.
“Now, let’s go beyond a pandemic-pricing environment, the environment we’re currently in. Obviously, we’re going to get more on price,” D’Amelio said. “So clearly, there’s a significant opportunity for those margins to improve once we get beyond the pandemic environment that we’re in.”
And also too - I think I ran this not long ago. Here it is again.
The J&J vaccine is robustly protective, and new data suggest it defends against the delta variant as well
Two weeks ago, virologist Angela Rasmussen received a dose of the Pfizer-BioNTech coronavirus vaccine to boost her immune system, which was already primed by a Johnson & Johnson shot.
No U.S. health agency has recommended this vaccine combo. And Rasmussen, a research scientist at the University of Saskatchewan’s Vaccine and Infectious Disease Organization in Canada, remains confident in data that show one J&J dose will prevent her from getting hospitalized with covid-19, the illness caused by the virus.
But she was concerned about a rare post-vaccination breakthrough infection — though not because she worried it would make her sick. Instead, if she were exposed and her immune system did not roundly defeat the infection, she feared any surviving pathogens may have the opportunity to evolve into more resistant strains. The emergence of the delta variant, a version of the coronavirus that more easily spreads from person to person, troubled Rasmussen. The Pfizer shot, she said, could reinforce her protection against that variant or help stop her from spreading it.
- snip -
The average J&J recipient has neither her expertise nor her access. Many U.S. vaccine and infectious-disease specialists who spoke with The Washington Post cautioned against attempts to find boosters unless supporting data or an official recommendation emerge. Members of the public vaccinated with J&J, they argued, should not independently seek out extra doses...
Keep your guard up, but if you're vaxxed, you can relax and be groovy - for now.
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