Coronavirus News Explained

Pfizer Vaccine Efficacy Against the B.1.1.7 and B.1.351 Variants     According to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention , or CDC, as of May 17, 2021, 274 million COVID-19 vaccine doses have been administered in the United States. Of these 274 million doses, 147 million doses are the Pfizer-BioNTech COVID-19 vaccine. The Pfizer vaccine has been the most popular vaccine choice among U.S. citizens and is the only COVID-19 vaccine available for those aged under 18. With the fast-spreading B.1.1.7 and B.1351 variants now dominating COVID-19 cases in the U.S., many vaccine recipients are wondering how effective, if at all, the Pfizer vaccine is against these variants. A correspondence article published in the New England Journal of Medicine  on May 5, 2021, addresses the effectiveness of the vaccine against the aforementioned virus strains using data from a study conducted in Qatar. About the Variants     The B.1.1.7 variant originated in the United Kingdom a...

How the COVID-19 Vaccine Affects Organ Transplant Recipients      According to the  Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, 143.7 million individuals, or 43.3% of the total U.S. population, received at least one dose of the COVID-19 vaccine as of April 29, 2021. About 99.7 million people, or 30% of the total U.S. population, have been fully vaccinated. As a result of the tremendous vaccination efforts, the 7-day average of daily COVID-19 cases have decreased by 79.0% compared to January 2021. With cases going down and an increasing number of people receiving protection from the vaccine, things are starting to look up. However, not everyone who receives the vaccine is guaranteed a form of protection against the coronavirus. One community in particular is especially susceptible to severe COVID-19 infection and has been excluded from the majority of COVID-19 vaccine studies: the immunocompromised.  About the Immunocompromised     Millions of Amer...

 The Cause of the Pause: Johnson and Johnson Vaccine           As of April 12, 2021, 6.85 million doses of the Johnson and Johnson vaccine have been administered in the United States. On April 13, the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) and the U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA) recommended a pause in the distribution of the Johnson and Johnson vaccine. This pause was due to a small number of reports of a rare type of blood clot in individuals after they received the Johnson and Johnson COVID-19 vaccine. Similar blood clotting events have also been reported in recipients of the AstraZeneca vaccine in European countries. Some may be wondering, what exactly are these rare blood clots and what effect does the Johnson and Johnson vaccine have on them? Do the Pfizer and Moderna vaccines have a similar effect? Should I be concerned if I received the Johnson and Johnson vaccine? Using reports and data from the CDC, FDA, and papers publis...

 Neutralizing Efficacies of Antibodies Produced by new COVID-19 Variants     This past year, multiple coronavirus variants have emerged and have been deemed  more transmissible than preexisting variants. The most prominent include the B.1.1.7 variant, which originated in the UK, and the 501Y.V2 or B.1.351 variant, which originated in South Africa. Much concern has grown surrounding these variants: recently approved vaccines demonstrate decreased efficiencies against these new strains, particularly the B.1.351 variant. Nevertheless, different treatment methods including  convalescent plasma , have shown promise in reducing COVID-19 severity and speeding up recovery time. Convalescent plasma, or blood (donated by recovered COVID-19 patients) that contains antibodies which fight off the coronavirus, can prevent individuals from reinfection or be injected in other COVID-19 patients to speed up recovery. With the emergence of new variants, some may wonder how t...

Efficacy of 3 vs. 6 Feet of Social Distancing     Mask up. Stay 6 feet apart. According to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC), these measures must be followed to prevent the spread of the coronavirus. However on March 19, 2021, after nearly a year of social distancing, the CDC updated their guidelines: "with universal masking, students should maintain a distance of at least 3 feet in classroom settings." In other words, the minimum social distancing requirement in schools has been reduced to 3 feet with a masking mandate. Some people are skeptical of this updated guideline; is 3 feet really a safe distance? A study published on March 10, 2021 in the Clinical Infectious Disease s journal by Oxford University Press investigates the effectiveness of 3 feet versus 6 feet of social distancing in public schools. About the Study      Data for the study was obtained from September 24, 2020 through January 27, 2021. A total of 251 K-12 school di...

 Elders at Higher Risk of COVID-19 Reinfection     If someone has received a COVID-19 vaccine or been infected with the virus, does this prevent them from reinfection? According to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention , "cases of reinfection with COVID-19 have been reported, but remain rare." As of March 21, 2021, a Dutch news site that has been tracking repeat infection confirms 66 worldwide cases of  coronavirus reinfection , or instances where individuals are infected with COVID-19 for a second (or more) time(s). Understanding the degree of protection against COVID-19 reinfection is important to develop effective strategies in mitigating coronavirus infection rates. A study conducted in Denmark and published in The Lancet  on March 17, 2021 used COVID-19 data to estimate the protection towards COVID-19 reinfection. About the Study     Individual-level data was collected from the Danish Microbiology Database for individuals who had a ...

 COVID-19 and Air Pollution Risks Highlight Inequities in US              Arguably, the two most pressing health-related problems faced by the world today are the COVID-19 pandemic and the environmental crisis. Paired together, these two issues can wreak greater havoc on certain communities than when experienced separately. For example, past research has confirmed that air pollution is linked with an increased COVID-19 death rate (See Air Pollution and COVID-19 ). Although many people today face air pollution either as a result of fires, car exhaust, factories, or something else, exposure to pollutants in the air can vary dramatically depending on where one resides. Up until recently, previous studies have not examined which communities tend to live in areas that are at an increased risk for both COVID-19 and air pollution. A study published in ScienceDirect  in February 2021, investigates which communities are at higher risk for bo...

 How Have School Closures and Behavioral Changes Affected the Pandemic?      This month marks one year since the start of the pandemic and the shut down of schools in the United States. Almost all schools were  remote from the March-June 2020 school year and depending on their district and location, some schools have reopened in Fall 2020 while others remain remote and/or plan to transition to hybrid learning in the next few months. Nonetheless, there has been much controversy over the reopening of schools and its effects on the health and safety of students and teachers. Some argue that children need to return to in-person learning to receive optimal education while others believe it is too dangerous for schools to reopen in the midst of a pandemic. A recent study published on February 22, 2021 in The Journal of the American Medical Association (JAMA) Pediatrics ,  uses real-life data to analyze the impact of school closures and voluntary behavio...

 Pfizer Vaccine Succeeds in Real World Setting             Multiple vaccines are now being distributed in many countries across the world including the Pfizer vaccine in Israel.  Every country has its own unique approach to vaccination, with some approaches being more efficient than others. Israel is one such country that has succeeded with its rapid vaccine distribution. According to the Centers for Diseases Control and Prevention , Israel began it's vaccine distribution in December 2020 and by February 2021, already 84% of Israelis aged 70 years or older and 10% of Israelis aged under 50 years received a complete 2 doses of the Pfizer vaccine. In comparison, only 7.7% of Americans have been fully vaccinated as of March 1, 2021. Data from mass vaccine rollouts (like Israel) are a great indicator of a vaccine's efficacy in the real world, where the setting is not limited by factors such as sample size or restrictive inclusion as i...

Why is B.1.1.7 More Transmisible?           Earlier this year, a new coronavirus strain named B.1.1.7 emerged in the United Kingdom and has now made its way across the globe. With B.1.1.7 came concerns about the potentially faster spread of the virus. If the new variant does spread faster, this would mean an increased number of COVID-19 cases and a greater need for an effective vaccine. Multiple studies have found that this new strain is indeed more transmissible than previous strains of SARS-CoV-2. (See A New Coronavirus Strain for more information about B.1.1.7) A recently published article in preprint at the Harvard T.H. Chan School of Public Health , investigates the reason behind the high transmissibility of the B.1.1.7 variant. In this study, researchers specifically looked into the viral load of infected patients as well as how long the virus lasted in each individual. The details of the study are summarized below. About the Study   ...

 Effective Drug for Hospitalized COVID-19 Patients           Although COVID-19 vaccines have recently been all the rage with the distribution of the approved Pfizer and Moderna vaccines, other non-vaccine, coronavirus treatments have also proved successful including a drug named tocilizumab. How does tocilizumab work? Many people with severe COVID-19 suffer from systemic or widespread inflammation due to the immune system overworking against the virus. Tocilizumab is a drug that reduces this inflammation. Although tocilizumab is commonly used to treat rheumatoid arthritis, researchers believe it can also be used to combat the coronavirus as the drug reduces inflammation, which is a common symptom in patients with severe COVID-19.     Multiple studies have been conducted that tested the efficacy of tocilizumab but each study produced varying results and reached different conclusions. One of these studies, published in December 2020 i...

 What Makes Someone a COVID Superspreader     It is known that the coronavirus is primarily spread from person to person through respiratory droplets which can be released in sneezes and coughs. As a result, many people might suspect that coughing or sneezing by an infected person makes them a 'super spreader' or more likely to transmit the virus to others. However, new research published in The Lancet Infectious Diseases  on February 2, 2021 finds that what makes someone a COVID-19 superspreader is not how often one coughs or sneezes but instead dependent upon another factor. This post covers the methods and results of the conducted study and summarizes the overall findings.  About the Study     The study, conducted in Catalonia, Spain, was a randomized trial conducted between March 17 and April 28, 2020.  Researchers conducted this study with the goal of answering the question 'what makes someone with COVID-19 more contagious.' To answer th...

 Comparing Vaccines: Pfizer vs. Moderna vs. Johnson and Johnson            As of February 3, 2021, two vaccines, developed by the companies Pfizer and Moderna, have already been approved in the United States by the Food and Drug Administration (FDA). Currently, other vaccines that have just completed phase 3 clinical trials are seeking Emergency Use Authorization by the FDA; one of the most notable candidates is a vaccine developed by the company Johnson and Johnson . As more vaccines become available to the public, some may be wondering which vaccine they should get and why? Is one type of vaccine more effective than the others? What are the side effects of each of the vaccines? This post does a side-by-side comparison of the current leading vaccines developed by the companies Pfizer, Moderna and Johnson & Johnson. Information is taken from peer-reviewed clinical trial results cited in previous posts about these vaccines as well as newer res...