The information about the South African variant of the coronavirus is ‘sobering’ and current vaccines are less effective against it than the original strain or the British variant, said dr. Anthony Fauci said Sunday.
Speaking on NBC’s “Meet the Press”, Fauci said there was less known about the South African variant than the British version, which is apparently more transmissible than the original version of the virus.
“But we do know that it (the South African variant) evades the protection of some of the monoclonal antibodies, and it reduces the ability and efficacy of the vaccine to block it,” Fauci said. ‘It does not eliminate it, but reduces it multiple times.
Fauci said there is “another pillow left” so that current vaccines do provide protection against it. He added that there were people in South Africa who became infected with the original virus, recovered and then became infected with the South African variant again. This indicates that prior infection does not protect anyone against the South African variant, he said.
“Some good news is that the vaccine seems to be better than a natural infection to prevent you from getting infected again,” Fauci said.
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In the headings:
► A woman in Los Angeles County has died after receiving the Pfizer vaccine, local health officials said. Dr Michael E. Morris, director of the vaccination program at Kaiser Permanente Southern California, said in a statement that the woman (78) died “unexpectedly” on Friday after being vaccinated. He also said that according to her family, the woman had a history of heart disease. The Department of Public Health said her death did not appear to be related to the vaccine.
► New Zealand’s largest city closed for at least three days on Sunday and police set up eight checkpoints at Auckland’s border checkpoints. The repression comes after three family members tested positive. The entire country of about 5 million people currently has fewer than 50 cases.
►The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention currently does not recommend that the required COVID-19 testing be performed before domestic flights, the CDC said in a statement to CNN on Saturday. Federal officials said this week that they are considering the domestic testing requirements.
►One of the team’s investigators, Dominic Dwyer, told Reuters and The Wall Street Journal that China had refused to provide raw data on early COVID-19 cases to a World Health Organization team investigating the origins of the pandemic. . The head of the WHO said on Friday that all hypotheses about the origin of the coronavirus were still being investigated and analyzed after a team of investigators said earlier this week that the theory that the virus had leaked from a virology laboratory in Wuhan would no longer follow. does not become.
► State health officials in Florida have reported that more than 10,000 residents and staff of long-term care facilities have died from COVID-19.
📈 Today’s numbers: According to Johns Hopkins University data, the US has more than 27.6 million confirmed cases of coronavirus and 485,000 deaths. The world totals: more than 108.7 million cases and 2.39 million deaths. According to the CDC, more than 70 million doses of vaccines have been distributed and approximately 52.8 million have been administered.
📘 What we read: People of color suffered the most from COVID-19. But now that there is a vaccine, they are much less likely to have received a first dose – for many of the same reasons. Read more.
COVID-19 cases continue to decline, but variants increase
New cases of COVID-19 in the United States have been declining slowly since a peak a few weeks ago, with the average per day falling below 100,000 for the first time since November 4 on Friday and also remaining below the figure on Saturday. It’s still more than one new case every second, but it’s less than half the rate the country reported in January.
However, the number of known infections with the coronavirus variants has increased in recent weeks. The 1,193 cases of variants reported on Sunday represent nearly 200 cases more than Thursday night, nearly doubling the total on February 4th.
The B.1.1.7 variant first seen in the UK, which is at least 50% more contagious than the original strain, accounts for the vast majority of known cases with 1 173. It spreads rapidly and can by March March becomes the predominant tension in the US.
Florida has nearly 1/3 of the country’s known total cases with 379.
– Mike Stucka
New Orleans gets tough with Mardi Gras celebrations
New Orleans is holding its annual Mardi Gras celebrations this week and health officials in other cities are warning prospective outcasts to do the same amid an increase in coronavirus cases across the country. New Orleans Mayor LaToya Cantrell has ordered bars to be closed during Mardi Gras weekend, which begins Friday and lasts until Tuesday. Parades are canceled and there are restrictions on events.
Mardi Gras, or Fat Tuesday, is the annual pre-Spring bash celebrated along much of the Gulf Coast. It is suspected that the festivities last year contributed to an early boom that made Louisiana a coronavirus hotspot.
FDA policy to allow antibody testing without authorization is ‘wrong’, officials say
The U.S. Food and Drug Administration’s policy of allowing companies to market their COVID-19 antibody tests without authorization was “flawed” and allowed ineffective products to flood the market, two FDA officials wrote in the New England Journal of Medicine on Saturday.
In March, the agency began allowing companies to market their antibody tests without permission from the FDA, as long as the companies notified the agency and were able to show that the test was working.
“As a result, the market was flooded with serological tests, some of which performed poorly and many of which were marketed in a manner that was contrary to FDA policy,” according to Jeffrey Shuren and Timothy Stenzel of the FDA.
Inexperienced or dubious companies have taken advantage of the lack of FDA oversight, including one that sells vape pens and one led by a self-proclaimed technology evangelist, an investigation in the United States found last year.
– Grace Hauck
Massachusetts program to quickly vaccinate ‘abusive’ people accompanying seniors
Some people in Massachusetts offer rides and even money for the chance to take advantage of a state rule that allows those who accompany people 75 years and older to take a coronavirus vaccine at the same time.
The result of online advertisements from people who want to cut the vaccination line has provoked a serious reprimand from Governor Charlie Baker, who warned against offers for help from complete strangers. “If you are asked by someone to take you to a website, please report it to the authorities,” Baker said. Elderly people should only accept help from someone they trust, he said.
“Although well-intentioned, it took less than 24 hours before this new state policy was abused,” Boston City Councilman Andrea Campbell said in a statement.
Democratic State Representative Steve Owens said a group of lawmakers urged Baker to interrupt the program and noted that he saw an advertisement of someone offering $ 250 to send an eligible resident to a vaccination site.
University of Oxford tests vaccine in children
Oxford University plans to test the COVID-19 vaccine (manufactured and distributed by AstraZeneca) for the first time in children, and becomes the latest vaccine developer to determine if the coronavirus shot is effective in young people.
The trial, announced Saturday, seeks to recruit 300 volunteers aged 6 to 17, with up to 240 receiving the COVID-19 vaccine and the rest a control meningitis vaccine.
Andrew Pollard, lead researcher on the Oxford vaccine trial, says that although most children do not become seriously ill due to COVID-19, it is important to determine the safety and immune response to the vaccine in children and adolescents, as some children may do. benefit from vaccination. ‘
Contributing Contributions: The Associated Press
This article originally appeared in the US TODAY: COVID news: Anthony Fauci; South African variant; Mardi Gras; China