Now that Omicron is becoming less common, its sister variant, BA.2, seems to be surging worldwide and in the U.S. For that and more, continue reading.
For a brief time - again - the COVID-19 pandemic appeared to be fading. Now that Omicron is becoming less common, its sister variant, BA.2, seems to be surging worldwide and in the U.S. For that and more, continue reading.
Next Variant Likely to Be More Contagious
The World Health Organization indicates that the next COVID-19 variant is more contagious than Omicron. However, the most important question is whether it will be more deadly, and nobody seems to know if that will be the case.
“The next variant of concern will be more fit, and what we mean by that is it will be more transmissible because it will have to overtake what is currently circulating,” said Maria Van Kerkhove, WHO’s COVID-19 technical lead. “The big question is whether or not future variants will be more or less severe.”
She also warned against theories that the virus will become milder as it mutates. “There is no guarantee of that,” she said. “We hope that that is the case, but there is no guarantee of that, and we can’t bank on it.” She is also concerned that newer variants may evade vaccine protection more.
CDC: Omicron BA.2 SubVariant Makes Up About 25% of New U.S. COVID-19 Cases
The so-called “stealth” variant, BA.2, a sister variant to Omicron BA.1, is surging worldwide. The U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention estimated that BA.2 now makes up almost a quarter of new COVID-19 cases in the U.S., an increase from around 10 or 11% last week. The prevalence of BA.2 is highest in the Northeast, mainly from New York and New Jersey, where it appears to make up about 39.0% of circulating viruses, and in New England, about 38.6%. BA.2 is spiking in China and Europe. Generally, although BA.2 is surging, it currently seems as if hospitalizations and deaths are not surging in parallel, although those often trail infections by two weeks. However, hospitalizations and deaths may be lower because a large percentage of the population has immunity caused by vaccination and previous infections.
Major Countries Close to Deal on Waiving COVID-19 Vaccine Patents
The World Trade Organization (WTO) has reportedly brokered a deal with the U.S., EU, India and South Africa over intellectual property (IP) waiver over patents on COVID-19 vaccines. The agreement would allow for inexpensive generic versions of some vaccines to be manufactured and distributed to poorer countries more quickly.
The WTO has been trying to find common ground on the deal for about 18 months. The new agreement differs significantly from the initial proposal first introduced by India and South Africa in October 2020. That proposal wanted to suspend patents for successful vaccines, treatments and diagnostics, such as those by Pfizer-BioNTech and Moderna for the entire pandemic.
The new agreement will still need everybody in the WTO and the four global powers to sign off, but if that happens, the patents for COVID-19 vaccines will be suspended for three or five years, but IP patents will still protect the treatment and testing formulas. It would only apply to developing WTO countries that export less than 10% of world exports of COVID-19 vaccine doses in 2021. The deal also does not apply to technology transfer and trade secrets.
As COVID-19 Surges, China Locks Down, with Potential Supply Chain Disruptions
As COVID-19 surges in China, the country locked down major swaths, including ports, vehicle and electronics factories. One of the major areas shut down was Shenzhen, a technology and finance hub adjacent to Hong Kong, and Changchun, an automobile center.
“We can think of no risk to the global economy, excluding nuclear warfare, that is greater than the risk of a COVID outbreak in China that shutters industrial production,” said Carl B. Weinberg of High-Frequency Economics in a report. “Uncountable manufacturing supply chains pass through China.”
Pfizer-BioNTech Request EUA for 4th COVID-19 Vaccine Shot
Pfizer-BioNTech filed for an emergency use authorization (EUA) with the U.S. Food and Drug Administration for the fourth shot of their COVID-19 vaccine for people 65 years and older. The argument is the shot is necessary to boost waning immunity. It is based on real-world data collected in Israel.
The FDA also plans to hold an advisory committee meeting in early April to review whether there should be a program in October or November to encourage some or all adults to get another booster, perhaps along with the annual influenza vaccine campaign. It’s not clear if an advisory committee meeting will be necessary to discuss the EUA. But the adcom will discuss whether additional shots should be the same version currently available or modified to target new variants.
Senate Shoots Down Budget to Pay for COVID-19 Programs
Senior White House officials indicated the federal government doesn’t have money in the budget to pay for a fourth shot after last week’s $16.5 billion proposal to fund vaccines and other coronavirus programs was shot down. The original request was for $22.5 billion for supplemental COVIDI-19 aid. But the aid was culled from the fiscal 2022 omnibus spending measure over a disagreement over the source of the money. The cuts will also make it more difficult for the uninsured to access COVID-19 resources.
“Testing capacity … will decline this month,” said White House press secretary Jen Psaki during a briefing last week. “In April, free testing and treatments for tens of millions of Americans without health insurance will end. In May, America’s supply of monoclonal antibodies will run out.”
J&J Vaccine as Effective as Other Vaccines
Although earlier data suggested the Johnson & Johnson one-shot COVID-19 vaccine was not as effective as the Pfizer-BioNTech and Moderna vaccines, new data suggests it is roughly equivalent to preventing infections, hospitalizations and deaths. The New York Times reports that the reasons for this aren’t clear, and there is no agreement among experts, but accumulated data suggests the J&J vaccine is similarly effective to its competitors.
One advantage, aside from the single-shot regimen, is that the vaccine can be refrigerated for months, making it easier to distribute in countries where the cold-chain storage needed for the Pfizer-BioNTech and Moderna vaccines can be hard to come by. The vaccine also had some problems with rare blood clotting in women, which damaged the vaccine’s reputation.
