APIC Supports Growing Number of Mandatory COVID-19 Vaccine Policies in Healthcare Facilities

Angie SzumlinskiAnnouncements

The Association for Professionals in Infection Control and Epidemiology (APIC) announced its support for hospitals and health systems that are requiring all employees and clinical team members to be vaccinated against COVID-19 as a condition of employment. “APIC applauds healthcare organizations for taking this bold patient safety step,” said APIC 2021 President Ann Marie Pettis, BSN, RN, CIC, FAPIC. “Low …

Pfizer and BioNTech Provide Update on Booster Program in Light of the Delta-Variant

Angie SzumlinskiAnnouncements

Pfizer and BioNTech have seen encouraging data in the ongoing booster trial of a third dose of the current BNT162b2 vaccine. Initial data from the study demonstrate that a booster dose given 6 months after the second dose has a consistent tolerability profile while eliciting high neutralization titers against the wild type and the Beta variant, which are 5 to …

Care home residents are at risk of COVID-19 even after being fully vaccinated

Angie SzumlinskiHealth, Studies

Care homes need to be vigilant for outbreaks of COVID-19, even after residents have received two doses of the vaccine, according to new research being presented. Martin Martinot, of the Hopitaux Civils de Colmar, Colmar, France, and colleagues studied an outbreak of COVID-19 that began in a care home in eastern France a month after a campaign to double vaccinate …

Johnson & Johnson Statement on COVID-19 Vaccine (7/12)

Angie SzumlinskiNews

The company says the safety and well-being of the people who use our products is our number one priority. Rare cases of the neurological disorder, Guillain-Barré syndrome have been reported following vaccination with the Janssen COVID-19 vaccine. Most occurred within 42 days after vaccination. While the chance of having this occur is very low, Johnson & Johnson has updated its …

Not out of the Woods Yet!

Angie SzumlinskiAnnouncements, Studies

According to a research letter published in The Lancet, the National Institute for Health Research (NIHR) UCLH Biomedical Research Centre states that levels of antibodies in the blood of vaccinated people, able to recognize and fight the new SARS-CoV-2 Delta variant are lower than those against previously circulating variants. Additionally, the level of antibodies is lower with increasing age and …

Antibodies for a Lifetime

Angie SzumlinskiHealth, Studies

People who recover from mild COVID-19 have bone-marrow cells that can churn out antibodies for decades, although viral variants could dampen some of the protection they offer. Many people who have been infected with SARS-CoV-2 will probably make antibodies against the virus for most of their lives. Had COVID? You’ll probably make antibodies for a lifetime (May 26, 2021) In …

World Health Assembly – May 24, 2021

Angie SzumlinskiAnnouncements, Featured

Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus, PhD, the Director-General of The World Health Organization (WHO), addressed the World Health Assembly on May 24th and stated “the pandemic is not over, and will not be over, until virus transmission is controlled in every country. That’s because the longer the virus spreads uncontrolled, the more opportunity there is for new variants to emerge”. “So far, …

Inactivated SARS-CoV-2 Vaccines

Angie SzumlinskiStudies

Effective vaccines against COVID-19 are urgently needed to control the global pandemic. More than 280 candidate vaccines are in development worldwide, 23 of which are already in phase 3 trials using different platforms. In this phase 3 randomized trial in adults, 2 whole-virus inactivated vaccines showed efficacy of 72.8% and 78.1% against symptomatic COVID-19 cases. The 2 vaccines had rare …

Patterns in COVID-19 Vaccination Coverage – Social Vulnerability and Urbanicity

Angie SzumlinskiHealth

What do we already know about this topic? “Counties with higher levels of social vulnerability have been disproportionately affected by COVID-19. Disparities in county-level vaccination coverage by social vulnerability have increased as vaccine eligibility has expanded, especially in large fringe metropolitan (areas surrounding large cities, i.e., suburban) and nonmetropolitan counties. By May 1, 2021, vaccination coverage among adults was lower …

Longer Refrigerator Storage – Pfizer-BioNTech Vaccine – FDA

Angie SzumlinskiFeatured

The following brief was issued by the FDA on May, 19, 2021: Making COVID-19 vaccines widely available is key to getting people vaccinated and bringing the pandemic to an end. Pfizer Inc. submitted data to the FDA to support storage of undiluted, thawed vials of its COVID-19 vaccine for up to one month at refrigerator temperatures. This change should make …