The cumulative number of US infections with the new Corona virus has exceeded 104 million, since the outbreak of the Corona virus at the end of 2019. And the US Centers for Disease Control and Prevention announced the night before last that the XBB. which ended yesterday (January 28, 2023). The dominance rate of this mutant during the week ending on the 21st of this month was not more than 49.5%. Thus, XB.1.5 is the most contagious virus. It was originally descended from the XBB mutant. The latter, in turn, descended from BA.2, another mutated version of the Omicron strain. However, an analysis published by the aforementioned US centers, last Wednesday, showed that the Moderna and Pfizer-Biontech vaccines helped prevent symptomatic infections caused by all variants related to the XBB mutant. The panel of independent external experts, which convened last Thursday, at the invitation of the Food and Drug Authority, recommended that vaccine manufacturers get rid of the original copies of their anti-Covid-19 vaccines, so that they use their updated dose, which is currently given as a booster dose to boost immunity from the first two doses. The second, as two basic doses and a booster dose at the same time. The authority and its external experts aim to bring about a radical change in the vaccination system with vaccines against the global epidemic. so that an adult and a child who received the vaccine receive one dose every year; While the elderly and people with immune problems can be given more than one dose. The authority and its external experts believe that this will be the best way to “simplify” vaccination operations, especially since the impact of the global epidemic has greatly diminished during last fall. However, federal health data indicates that the new Corona virus still kills more than 650 Americans every day, while hundreds of thousands suffer the consequences of infection even after recovery from it. Studies indicate that the updated dose of the Moderna and Pfizer-BioNTech vaccines provided a great deal of protection compared to the previous doses of the update. And a study published by the New England Journal of Medicine stated that the updated bivalent dose, which targets the original version of the virus and the Omicron strain at the same time, provided 62% protection against exacerbation of Covid-19 infection, while the original pre-updated dose did not provide protection exceeding 10%. 25%. The US Centers for Disease Control said last Thursday that those who received the updated booster dose had a 13-fold reduction in the risk of dying from Covid-19, compared to people who refused vaccination. The risk of dying was nearly doubled for those who were vaccinated but did not receive the booster dose. The FDA's outside experts concluded that upcoming vaccines should be made to target new viral strains, rather than being built on the original version of the virus. In a related context; At their meeting (Thursday), the independent experts said they saw only weak indications of claims that older adults may have a stroke after receiving the updated dose of the Pfizer-BioNTech vaccine. They added that these indicators are weaker than what was announced in early January. The experts said they did not find similar indicators in data from two other major observatories of the performance of COVID-19 vaccines. However, the company that monitors these indicators said, according to its official, Dr. Nicole Klein, that the mentioned monitoring indicators are strong, despite the slowdown in reports of strokes. Other experts said that most of those reports received the flu shot when they received the updated Pfizer-BioNTech booster. And they did not rule out that the influenza shot was a reason for this.
Will the dream of a “vaccine without a needle” come true?
While the consequences of the global epidemic are still continuing around the globe; Scientists believe that the realization of the dream of a Covid-19 vaccine that is administered through the nose is very close. Especially after the Chinese pharmaceutical company, CanSino Bio, recently announced that the Chinese Medicines Authority had approved a vaccine that is sprayed into the nose, which showed high effectiveness in protecting against infection with the virus after just one spray. And the Indian Bharatiya Pharmaceutical Company announced months ago that it had developed a vaccine against Covid-19 that was sprayed on the nose. But she said she would only use it in emergencies. The nature of aerosol vaccines differs greatly from the performance of conventional vaccines that are injected with a needle into a muscle. A number of experts questioned the possibility of expanding the effectiveness of aerosol vaccines, but the modern types of these sprays showed great success in penetrating the respiratory tract, compared to the previous types. The advantage of aerosolized vaccines is that they can be stored at normal room temperature and are easily obtained in poor countries. The most important and attractive feature of aerosol vaccines is that they do not need a needle to deliver the vaccine to the cells of the body, and they do not need a trained nurse to administer it. Since the dose size in these vaccines is lower than in intramuscular vaccines, this is another advantage to ensure the safety of this class of vaccines against the new coronavirus. British health data company Irfinity says there are currently more than 100 aerosol-type vaccines being developed around the world, but only 20 of them have reached the stage of human clinical trials. It is generally believed that whatever the development of aerosol vaccines; Vaccines injected into muscles will not lose their importance, by virtue of being more effective, and because they provide greater protection. Therefore, several pharmaceutical companies focus on developing aerosol vaccines to be complementary to the intramuscular vaccine, or to stimulate the effect of the traditional vaccine.
Russia: 7 years in prison for a priest who denies the existence of Corona!
Russia put an end to the activity of a former policeman who became a priest in the Russian Orthodox Church, which later expelled him, by sentencing him to 7 years in prison for Nikolai Romanov (67 years), who called on his supporters to disobey the instructions of the Russian authorities to close, denying the existence of a global epidemic, claiming that it is nothing but a conspiracy. global to control the peoples of the earth. A Moscow court found him guilty of inciting hatred. and it was Romanov; Known as "Father Sergei", he was convicted of murder, looting and assault after retiring from the former Soviet Union police. He spent 13 years in prison. After completing his reign, he became a priest. After declaring a state of emergency in Russia to combat the COVID-19 virus, Romanov denied the existence of a global pandemic. Romanov called Russian President Vladimir Putin a "traitor to the motherland". He described the leaders of the Russian Eastern Orthodox Church as "heretics". Romanov called on Russian citizens to disobey the lockdown instructions aimed at combating the spread of the virus. Romanov was detained in December 2020. and in November 2021 he was sentenced to 3 and a half years in prison, after being convicted of asking his followers to commit suicide in order to protect Russia.
The US Food and Drug Administration (FDA) approved (Friday) a drug developed by scientists of the American pharmaceutical company Eli Lilly to treat a rare type of blood cancer, known as cellular lymphoma. The company said that its new drug will be on the market within weeks, at a cost of $21,000 for a 30-day treatment with 200-milligram tablets. Cellular lymphoma is a rare type of cancer that begins in white blood cells in the lymph nodes and spreads rapidly to the rest of the body. The new drug is called Jayberica. In another context; The American pharmaceutical company, Johnson & Johnson, announced (Friday) that preliminary data on the performance of a drug it developed to treat leukemia confirmed its ability to prevent this cancer from spreading and preventing it from re-infecting the individual. The new drug targets multiple lymphoma. It is a type of incurable cancer that affects white blood cells called plasma cells, which are found in the bone marrow. Johnson & Johnson says it expects more than 35,000 Americans to be diagnosed with this type of cancer in 2023.
Okaz (London, Washington) @OKAZ_online