观察Omicron发展趋势，Omicron引起的死亡人数在渥太华，安省，加拿大和美国都已经超过Delta。

[lindamy]

辉瑞说3月，Moderna说很快进入临床试验，最好的估计是今年秋天可以推出针对Omicron变种的疫苗。

不知那时又需要为哪个变种准备临床试验了？

2 hr 3 min ago

Omicron-specific Covid-19 vaccine booster should be in clinical trials "very soon," Moderna CEO says​

From CNN's Naomi Thomas

A pharmacist prepares a booster shot of the Moderna COVID-19 vaccine, last month in Lawrence, Massachusetts. (Charles Krupa/AP)

An Omicron-specific Covid-19 Moderna vaccine booster should be in clinical trials soon, company CEO Stéphane Bancel said on CNBC Monday.

“As you know, we’re working very actively on an Omicron-specific vaccine as a booster,” Bancel said. “That should be in the clinic very soon and we are discussing with public health leaders around the world to decide what we think is the best strategy for a potential booster for the fall of 2022.”

“We believe it will contain Omicron mRNA but do we need to add any other components. That has to be discussed because we need to be careful to try to stay ahead of a virus and not behind the virus,” he said.

 

[RareEarth]

辉瑞说3月，Moderna说很快进入临床试验，最好的估计是今年秋天可以推出针对Omicron变种的疫苗。

不知那时又需要为哪个变种准备临床试验了？

2 hr 3 min ago

Omicron-specific Covid-19 vaccine booster should be in clinical trials "very soon," Moderna CEO says​

From CNN's Naomi Thomas

A pharmacist prepares a booster shot of the Moderna COVID-19 vaccine, last month in Lawrence, Massachusetts. (Charles Krupa/AP)

An Omicron-specific Covid-19 Moderna vaccine booster should be in clinical trials soon, company CEO Stéphane Bancel said on CNBC Monday.



“We believe it will contain Omicron mRNA but do we need to add any other components. That has to be discussed because we need to be careful to try to stay ahead of a virus and not behind the virus,” he said.

Omicron疫情最迟1，2个月后就会结束。 今年秋天黄花菜都凉了

 

[lindamy]

23 min ago

Omicron-specific Pfizer vaccine will be ready by March, CEO says​

From CNN's Naomi Thomas

Pfizer CEO Albert Bourla said on CNBC Monday that an Omicron-specific vaccine from the company will be ready by March.

“We are working on a new version of our vaccine, a version that will be effective against Omicron as well, it’s not that it will not be effective against the other variants, but against Omicron as well,” Bourla said. “The hope is that we will achieve something that will have way, way better protection, particularly against infections, because the protection against the hospitalizations and severe disease, it is reasonable right now with the current vaccine, as long as you are having, let’s say, the third dose.”

“This vaccine will be ready in March. I don’t know if we will need it, I don’t know if and how it will be used, but will be ready,” Bourla said. “In fact, we already starting manufacturing some of these quantities at risk, so if there is a need for that vaccine that we will have some immediately because there are a lot of governors that would like to see it immediately.”

More context: Leaders of the US Food and Drug Administration said last Monday that while vaccine manufacturers are all working toward the possibility of a Omicron-specific vaccine, but it might not be necessary.

“We don’t know yet whether Omicron will take hold as the dominant variant over time. It could be that we have a very quick wave of Omicron and something else will be left behind it. Until we understand that, we can’t say with certainty what we will do with a variant vaccine,” said Dr. Peter Marks, director of the FDA’s Center for Biologics Evaluation and Research. “In other words, we don’t know yet whether it will have to be deployed, but we’ll be ready in case it does need to be deployed.”

If a booster shot of the current vaccine appears to offer sufficient protection, there is less need for a variant-specific vaccine, said acting FDA Commissioner Dr. Janet Woodcock.

CNN's Deidre McPhillips contributed reporting to this post.

 

[billwanhua]

辉瑞说3月，Moderna说很快进入临床试验，最好的估计是今年秋天可以推出针对Omicron变种的疫苗。

不知那时又需要为哪个变种准备临床试验了？

2 hr 3 min ago

Omicron-specific Covid-19 vaccine booster should be in clinical trials "very soon," Moderna CEO says​

From CNN's Naomi Thomas

A pharmacist prepares a booster shot of the Moderna COVID-19 vaccine, last month in Lawrence, Massachusetts. (Charles Krupa/AP)

An Omicron-specific Covid-19 Moderna vaccine booster should be in clinical trials soon, company CEO Stéphane Bancel said on CNBC Monday.



“We believe it will contain Omicron mRNA but do we need to add any other components. That has to be discussed because we need to be careful to try to stay ahead of a virus and not behind the virus,” he said.

Omicron疫情最迟1，2个月后就会结束。 今年秋天黄花菜都凉了

Exclusive: Pfizer plans to start human studies of its Omicron-specific COVID-19 vaccine before the end of January

The pharma giant is on track to have a new version of its vaccine ready by late March, its chief scientist, Mikael Dolsten, told Insider.

www.businessinsider.com

辉瑞刚说1月底做实验，即使到时候omicron过去了，这个针对有很多变异的疫苗应该比原来疫苗更有可能防一些未来的变异。

 

[春夏秋鼕]

貌似第三针白扎了

 

[billwanhua]

貌似第三针白扎了

扎了三针可以选择浪一下弄个自然免疫。我胆小在家躲着看是不是三月真有，如果没有也只能打第三针了

First case reported in Israel of heart inflammation linked to Omicron infection

Previously healthy 43-year-old man who received a booster shot in August hospitalized at Tel Hashomer in intensive care unit; doctors call it a 'worrying development'

www.timesofisrael.com

不仅仅打疫苗有心肌炎，感染了也会得心肌炎

 

[阿土仔]

23 min ago

Omicron-specific Pfizer vaccine will be ready by March, CEO says​

From CNN's Naomi Thomas

Pfizer CEO Albert Bourla said on CNBC Monday that an Omicron-specific vaccine from the company will be ready by March.

“We are working on a new version of our vaccine, a version that will be effective against Omicron as well, it’s not that it will not be effective against the other variants, but against Omicron as well,” Bourla said. “The hope is that we will achieve something that will have way, way better protection, particularly against infections, because the protection against the hospitalizations and severe disease, it is reasonable right now with the current vaccine, as long as you are having, let’s say, the third dose.”



More context: Leaders of the US Food and Drug Administration said last Monday that while vaccine manufacturers are all working toward the possibility of a Omicron-specific vaccine, but it might not be necessary.

“We don’t know yet whether Omicron will take hold as the dominant variant over time. It could be that we have a very quick wave of Omicron and something else will be left behind it. Until we understand that, we can’t say with certainty what we will do with a variant vaccine,” said Dr. Peter Marks, director of the FDA’s Center for Biologics Evaluation and Research. “In other words, we don’t know yet whether it will have to be deployed, but we’ll be ready in case it does need to be deployed.”

If a booster shot of the current vaccine appears to offer sufficient protection, there is less need for a variant-specific vaccine, said acting FDA Commissioner Dr. Janet Woodcock.

CNN's Deidre McPhillips contributed reporting to this post.

这个可能值得一扎。

 

[billwanhua]

Omicron-specific vaccine is coming but 'may not matter—everybody's going to be infected,' says expert

Both Pfizer and Moderna have omicron-specific vaccines coming. But the targeted shot was needed in December to help stem the current wave, say experts.

www.cnbc.com

 

[lindamy]

1 hr 45 min ago

Omicron to infect more than 50% of Europe region’s population in 6-8 weeks, says WHO chief​

From CNN’s Allegra Goodwin in London

World Health Organization (WHO) Regional Director for Europe Dr. Hans Kluge at a meeting in Ankara, Turkey, in July 2020. (Aytug Can Sencar/Anadolu Agency/Getty Images)

The Omicron coronavirus variant is forecast to infect more than half of the European region’s population in the next six to eight weeks, according to Dr. Hans Kluge, the World Health Organization’s Regional Director for Europe.

“We have entered 2022 with the countries of Europe and Central Asia still under intense pressure from Covid-19,” Kluge told a virtual news conference on Tuesday.

“Today, the Omicron variant represents a new west to east tidal wave sweeping across the region on top of the Delta surge that all countries were managing until late 2021,” he added.

“At this rate the Institute for Health Metrics and Evaluation forecasts that more than 50% of the population in the region will be infected with Omicron in the next 6 to 8 weeks,” Kluge said.

 

[lindamy]

西安，安阳，禹州，天津

3 hr 37 min ago

About 20 million people in China are now under lockdown​

From CNN's Beijing Bureau and Eric Cheung

Healthworkers give residents a second round of nucleic acid testing on January 10, Hua County, Anyang City, Henan Province. (Wang Zirui/Costfoto/Future Publishing/Getty Images)

A third Chinese city has been placed under strict lockdown as the country tries to contain localized outbreaks of Covid-19, local authorities said Tuesday.

That raises the total number of people now confined to their homes in China to approximately 20 million, with the Beijing Winter Olympics just over three weeks away.

All 5.5 million residents of Anyang city in central Henan province are not allowed to leave their homes, while shops, restaurants and factories remain shut, the Anyang municipal government said.

More than 4,000 students and staff from an Anyang school have been placed in government-run quarantine centers after nine people tested positive for the virus, local authorities added.

The city has reported a total of 84 Covid-19 cases since it detected two local Omicron infections on January 8.

On Tuesday, China reported 110 new local symptomatic Covid-19 cases, the National Health Commission (NHC) said in a statement. China counts asymptomatic cases separately.
Strict lockdowns: Anyang is the third Chinese city after Xi'an in the northwest Shaanxi province and Yuzhou, also in Henan, to implement a full Covid lockdown.
Restrictions were placed on Xi'an's 13 million residents on December 23. In the days and weeks since, complaints about food shortages and reports of patients being denied medical care have shocked the nation.

On January 2, Yuzhou, home to 1.2 million people, was placed under lockdown after it reported three asymptomatic cases.

Yuzhou recorded 74 symptomatic local cases on Monday, the largest current outbreak in the country, according to the NHC.

Meanwhile, 29 residential communities in Tianjin city are under lockdown after Omicron was detected in at least two residents Saturday — China's first reported community spread of the highly transmittable variant.

Tianjin reported 21 infections on Monday — 11 symptomatic and 10 asymptomatic — bringing the total of its current outbreak to 53.

The city of 14 million is located just 130 kilometers (80 miles) southeast of Beijing, where the Winter Olympics are due to begin February 4.

Zero-Covid strategy: China is one of the only places in the world still aiming to eliminate Covid-19 within its borders.

But the frustrations of locked down residents underscore the growing challenge facing its zero-Covid policy, which relies on a playbook of mass testing, extensive quarantines and snap lockdowns to stamp out any resurgence of the virus.

 

[lindamy]

美国医院住院人数已经破纪录。

1. Omicron 不是大感冒

2. 可能会有后遗症

3. 可能传染给儿童

4. 增加医疗系统的负担

5. 不要试图惹怒大自然母亲，自从人类从海洋爬上陆地之后，她一直想要杀死我们

曾经有人认为孩子得水痘症状比成年人轻，有人带孩子参加水痘 party. 不幸的是，孩子感染后死了。

5 reasons you should not deliberately catch Omicron to 'get it over with'

1. It's not a 'bad cold'

2. You could get long Covid

3. You're spreading the disease to children

4. You'll stress the health care system

5. Don't mess with Mother Nature

Was it ever a good idea to catch a disease on purpose? Those of a certain age will recall when parents used to host "chicken-pox parties" to expose their young children to an infected child. Because cases of adult chicken pox are more severe, the idea was to have your child catch it early to "get it over with."



What the US can expect next from the Covid surge, according to an expert

"Oh, that was a bad idea too," Offit said. He told a story about an educational film on vaccines he made years ago, and the cameraman revealed he had a sister who had taken her child to a chicken pox party. Tragically, the child died from the infection.

"Don't mess with Mother Nature," he said. "She's been trying to kill us ever since we crawled out of the ocean onto the land."

5 reasons you should not deliberately catch Omicron to 'get it over with' | CNN

People keep talking about getting infected with a "mild" case of Omicron on purpose. Experts weigh in on why that's not a good idea.

www.cnn.com

 

[lindamy]

mRNA-based COVID-19 vaccine boosters induce neutralizing immunity against SARS-CoV-2 Omicron variant​

Abstract​

Recent surveillance has revealed the emergence of the SARS-CoV-2 Omicron variant (BA.1/B.1.1.529) harboring up to 36 mutations in spike protein, the target of neutralizing antibodies. Given its potential to escape vaccine-induced humoral immunity, we measured the neutralization potency of sera from 88 mRNA-1273, 111 BNT162b, and 40 Ad26.COV2.S vaccine recipients against wild-type, Delta, and Omicron SARS-CoV-2 pseudoviruses. We included individuals that received their primary series recently (<3 months), distantly (6-12 months), or an additional "booster" dose, while accounting for prior SARS-CoV-2 infection. Remarkably, neutralization of Omicron was undetectable in most vaccinees. However, individuals boosted with mRNA vaccines exhibited potent neutralization of Omicron, only 4-6-fold lower than wild type, suggesting enhanced cross-reactivity of neutralizing antibody responses. In addition, we find that Omicron pseudovirus infects more efficiently than other variants tested. Overall, this study highlights the importance of additional mRNA doses to broaden neutralizing antibody responses against highly divergent SARS-CoV-2 variants.

Keywords: COVID-19; Delta; Omicron; SARS-CoV-2; breadth; infectivity; neutralizing antibodies; spike; vaccination; variants.

mRNA-based COVID-19 vaccine boosters induce neutralizing immunity against SARS-CoV-2 Omicron variant - PubMed

Recent surveillance has revealed the emergence of the SARS-CoV-2 Omicron variant (BA.1/B.1.1.529) harboring up to 36 mutations in spike protein, the target of neutralizing antibodies. Given its potential to escape vaccine-induced humoral immunity, we measured the neutralization potency of sera...

pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov

全球 第六波 驚現「印度曲線」，美住院破紀錄！Omicron 接下來究竟會怎樣？怎樣判斷感染的是Omicron、判斷錯誤會帶來生死差別？（2022.1.11）​

医学博士，中文讲解。董博士说，这篇MIT 哈佛学者发表在Cell上的文章论述了加强针对几个变种中和抗体的提高效果：

加强针
对野生病毒提高：1-3倍，
对Delta变种提高：3-9倍，
对Omicron变种提高：19-27倍。注意Omicron的起始值很低，提高19-27倍之后，仍然没有前两种中和抗体浓度高。

 

[lindamy]

2 hr 52 min ago

Mild-to-moderate Covid-19 associated with worsening mobility in middle-aged and older adults, Canadian study finds​

From CNN’s Naomi Thomas

A study looking at more than 24,000 middle-aged and older adults found that Covid-19 was associated with worsening ability to move around and difficulties in physical functioning.

Authors from McMaster University and other Canadian universities published the study on Wednesday in JAMA Network Open.

Of the 24,114 participants, 121 had either a positive test result or a Covid-19 diagnosis from a health care practitioner with no confirmatory test. Seven of them were hospitalized and 113 were considered to have had mild-to-moderate disease.

The authors found that those who had a probable or confirmed case had nearly twofold higher odds of reporting worsening ability to engage in household activity and to participate in physical activity. Those who were suspected to have had Covid-19 were also twofold as likely to report worsening ability to move around in the home, engage in housework activity and participate in physical activity.

Looking to specific activities, those with confirmed or probable Covid-19 were more likely to experience worsening difficulty standing up after sitting in a chair than those without Covid-19. Those with suspected Covid-19 also were more likely to experience worsening difficulty walking up and downstairs and walking two to three blocks.

The results of the study show that sociodemographic risk factors and having three or more chronic conditions were associated with a decline in mobility and/or function as well, the authors wrote.

There is “a need to further understand the longer-term impacts of the illness and to consider the development and implementation of effective intervention and management approaches to address any persistent deficits in mobility and functioning among those living in the community," the authors wrote.

The study does have some limitations, including that not all Covid-19 cases were confirmed with testing, only a small number of the participants had Covid-19 and that functional ability was not assessed using performance-based tests. The study also did not assess the exact timing of Covid-19 diagnosis related to the decline in mobility, or how long mobility deficits could last.

 

[lindamy]

1 hr 3 min ago

T cells induced by Covid vaccine still "provide extensive immune coverage" against Omicron, new study suggests​

From CNN's Jacqueline Howard and Ben Tinker

A new study adds to growing evidence that immune cells in the body called T cells can still recognize coronavirus variants, including Omicron, even if the variant appears to partly evade antibodies.

The T cells induced upon getting vaccinated or having a prior coronavirus infection appear to "provide extensive immune coverage" against the Omicron variant, according to the study, which was published last week in the journal Nature Medicine.

The researchers – from the Karolinska Institutet in Sweden, La Jolla Institute for Immunology in the US and University Hospital of Wales in the UK – collected blood samples from 40 people six months after they received a second dose of the Pfizer/BioNTech Covid-19 vaccine. They also collected samples from 48 people nine months after having mild or severe Covid-19 in March through April of 2020, and another 48 people who had previously been neither vaccinated nor infected in late 2020.

The experiments showed that T cells elicited by vaccination or prior infection both "remain largely intact" against Omicron — but the overall magnitude of response among those who had a previous infection was lower than among those who had been vaccinated.

"These results suggest that booster immunization may provide benefits that extend beyond the induction of neutralizing antibodies to enhance protection against recurrent episodes of severe Covid-19,” the study's principal investigator, Marcus Buggert of the Karolinska Institutet’s Center for Infectious Medicine in Stockholm said in a news release Wednesday.

“We now want to understand why the response differs from one individual to the next and if a third vaccine dose can augment the T cell response to Omicron even more."

Why all this matters: Throughout the pandemic, immunity has often been measured by the presence of antibodies in the blood. Antibodies are proteins made by the immune system to help fight infections. But immune systems are much more than just antibodies. They involve many different players, including T cells, that are involved in the body's effort to fight off coronavirus infection or any pathogen.

You can read the full study here.

 

[lindamy]

2 hr 49 min ago

CDC forecast predicts more than 61,000 new US Covid-19 deaths will occur over next 4 weeks​

From CNN's Naomi Thomas

An ensemble forecast from the US Centers for Disease Control and Prevention published Wednesday predicts that over 61,000 more people could die from Covid-19 over the next four weeks.

According to data from Johns Hopkins University (JHU), coronavirus has killed 854,076 people in the United States.

The forecast could mean an average of 2,575 Covid-19 deaths a day, up from a current average of 1,576 per day, according to JHU data.

The CDC included projections that indicate the number of deaths will steadily, but slowly rise for the first three weeks, followed by a decrease in the last week.

Hospitalizations are predicted to remain stable or have an uncertain trend after eight weeks of predicted increases, with 9,600 to 36,900 new confirmed Covid-19 hospital admissions likely reported on Feb. 11.

There are currently 154,335 people hospitalized with Covid-19, according to data from the US Department of Health and Human Services.

The forecast for cases did not predict an increase or decrease, or give a predicted number of cases.

“Recent case forecasts have shown low reliability, with more reported cases than expected falling outside the forecast prediction intervals for 1-, 2-, 3-, and 4-week ahead case forecasts. Therefore, case forecasts will continue to be collected and analyzed but will not be summarized until sustained improvements in performance are observed,” the CDC said.