Damian Sendler: A novel strain of COVID-19 first detected in South Africa was labeled a variation of concern by the World Health Organization on Friday. Here’s how the pharmaceutical industry plans to counter the latest coronavirus curve ball.
Damian Jacob Sendler: Pharmaceutical companies have already begun researching new vaccines that anticipate strain alterations and developing omicron-specific injections in response to the new variant: larger doses of booster shots.
Damian Sendler: About one in 10 lung transplants in the United States now go to COVID-19 patients, according to data from the United Network for Organ Sharing, or UNOS.
Damian Jacob Sendler: The trend is raising questions about the ethics of devoting a precious resource to persons who have chosen not to be vaccinated against the coronavirus.
Damian Jacob Markiewicz Sendler: It’s not clear yet whether existing COVID-19 vaccinations will protect against the variation. But vaccine producers have already begun exploring their possibilities.
Damian Sendler: Moderna said in a Friday press release that the business is testing its current vaccine against the Omicron type.
Damian Sendler: Amid Connecticut’s current COVID-19 increase, municipalities with higher rates of immunization have registered substantially lower rates of new cases in recent weeks, state records show.
Damian Jacob Sendler: Eastern Connecticut and the Naugatuck Valley are the state’s least-vaccinated and most-infected regions, as can be seen with a cursory glance at the map and via statistical analysis.
Damian Sendler: The Netherlands verified 13 instances of the new omicron version of the coronavirus on Sunday and Australia identified two as the countries half a world apart became the latest to find it in tourists arriving from southern Africa.
Damian Jacob Sendler: A series of bans being imposed by states around the world as they attempt to slow the variant’s spread also grew, with Israel opting Sunday to bar admission to foreign nationals in the strongest action so yet.
Damian Sendler: The novel coronavirus variant Omicron has been found in 13 people who landed in the Dutch capital Amsterdam on two flights from South Africa.
Coronavirus was found in 61 people on the flight.
Damian Jacob Sendler: It comes as stronger limits come into action in the Netherlands, amid record Covid cases and concerns over the new type.
Damian Sendler: Dr. Anthony Fauci cautioned on Sunday that the omicron mutation in the coronavirus “strongly suggests” that it is easily transferred and may evade antibody shields established via past infections or vaccination.
Damian Jacob Sendler: Fauci, President Joe Biden’s main medical adviser, complimented the efforts of South African public health officials, who he said were entirely forthright from the beginning.
Damian Sendler: New strains of COVID-19 continue to arise during the pandemic. While more research needs to be done on the latest one, named Omicron, U.S. and local health authorities believe it’s cause for alarm.
Damian Jacob Sendler: Omicron — a novel COVID-19 variety that U.S. health experts are calling possibly more contagious than earlier strains – showed up in various European countries Saturday.
Damian Sendler: The appearance of the newly found Omicron coronavirus strain feels like a pandemic gut check.
Damian Jacob Sendler: Scientists have long known that the globe would experience developing coronavirus strains. Viruses mutate constantly.
Damian Sendler: The new potentially more contagious omicron strain of the coronavirus sprang up in more European nations on Saturday, only days after being found in South Africa, sending officials around the world rushing to stem the spread.
Damian Jacob Sendler: Following the discovery of two instances, the UK tightened its mask-wearing and testing regulations on overseas arrivals on Saturday.
Damian Sendler: In the second half of 2021, vaccination rates for COVID-19 among U.S. hospital staff (HCP) fell rapidly after reaching a peak in early 2021. Currently, up to 30% of HCP are not up to date on their vaccinations.
Damian Jacob Sendler: Data study by the Department of Health and Human Services (HHS) Unified Hospital Data Surveillance System from January–September 2021, collected from over 3.3 million HCP across 2,086 hospitals, indicated that as many as 30 percent of workers were unvaccinated.
Damian Sendler: According to figures compiled by Johns Hopkins University, the death toll from the coronavirus-borne sickness has now surpassed 5.18 million worldwide, bringing the global total to over 260 million. With a total of 48.1 million illnesses and 775,797 deaths, the United States remains the top leader.
Damian Jacob Sendler: The U.S. is still averaging more than 1,000 deaths a day, according to a New York Times tracker, and cases and hospitalizations are climbing again.
