Young women who received at least one dose AstraZeneca's Covid vaccine may have been more likely to die of a heart problem in the 12 weeks after their vaccination, according to an analysis of British immunization and death records.
nytimes.com/2023/03/29/hea… BIG caveat: Britain withdrew AZ vaccine's use for people under 30 in April 2021, so the only young women who got it would have been health care workers or those who were medically vulnerable. So the results may not apply to the general population.

Britain and Canada have authorized another round of booster shots for older and immunocompromised citizens. So far, US officials haven’t followed suit.

nytimes.com/2023/03/24/hea… The experts I spoke to all pointed to the lack of data on which to base such decision on boosters and agreed that most people do *not* need a booster

SCOOP -- and a bit of relief for your weekend: Cambodia says the 11 other contacts of the girl who died of #H5N1 human bird flu are all negative for the virus. So far, only her father is positive.
w/ @EmilyAnthes

nytimes.com/2023/02/24/hea… @EmilyAnthes What exactly is bird flu and what do we know about #H5N1 human? Here's your primer:

nytimes.com/2023/02/24/hea…

SCOOP: The feds have been relying on emails to order and deliver #monkeypox vaccine, Jynneos, instead of the well-oiled machine run by the CDC for routine immunizations:

nytimes.com/2022/08/15/hea… The stockpile where Jynneos is stored was never meant to handle orders from states. That has meant doses missing in transit for days, delivered in the dead of night, arriving refrigerated rather than frozen, and shipped to just five sites in each state, regardless of size.

Sunset
No filter. Seriously.

My son tested positive for Covid in a school test, and so I am now listening to a NYC DOH person explain to me, in excruciating detail, that Covid is caused by a virus, and a long list of symptoms to say yes/no to.

It's been going on for many, many minutes already This is really super, super excruciatingly detailed. Now we are on the isolation guidance

NEW: The coronavirus vaccine made by Pfizer-BioNTech is much less effective in preventing infection in children ages 5 to 11 years than in older adolescents or adults, according to a large new set of data collected by health officials in New York State

nytimes.com/2022/02/28/hea… For eg: During the week ending Jan. 30, the vaccine’s effectiveness against infection was 67 percent in 12-year-olds but just 11 percent in 11-year-old children.

NEW: Two full years into the pandemic, the CDC has withheld critical Covid data on boosters, hospitalizations and, until recently, wastewater analyses.

nytimes.com/2022/02/20/hea… For more than a year, CDC has collected data on Covid related hospitalizations broken down by age, race and vaccination status. But it has not made most of the information public.

Redoing this tweet to be super clear. Texas has breakdown of deaths by age and vaxx status. Only 8% are in vaxxed people, and only 0.03% of them in vaxxed people under 50. Corresponding number is 12% for unvaxxed, showing clearly, even in that age group, the power of vaccines But 0.03% of deaths in vaccinated people under 50 also illustrates what the CDC data posted last week show -- that boosters offer only incremental benefit in terms of severe illness/death to young people, and the benefit is most likely to those with other conditions.

NEW: Nasal vaccines may be the best way to prevent infections long term, because they provide protection exactly where it is needed to fend off the virus: the mucosal linings of the airways, where the coronavirus first lands.

nytimes.com/2022/02/02/hea… The Omicron variant made it all too clear that even three doses of an injected vaccine, while they provide powerful protection against severe illness, may not prevent infection.

NEW: Lots of people are hoping that the pandemic is nearly over, and that Omicron is our last big battle with the virus.

But is it?

I spoke to a dozen experts across disciplines and the short answer is: Maybe, but probably not.

nytimes.com/2022/01/27/hea… The path to normalcy may be short and direct, the goal just weeks away, and horrific surges may become a thing of the past. Or it may be long and bumpy, pockmarked with outbreaks over the coming months to years as the virus continues to find footing.

NEW: Two doses of Pfizer's vaccine do not produce an adequate immune response in kids 2 through 5.
(they do in kids 6 mo to 2 yrs)

The company now plans to test and seek authorization for 3 doses of the vaccine in kids of all ages

nytimes.com/live/2021/12/1… News that Pfizer is testing three doses and calling this a "three-dose series" has gotten around. But the key here is that in kids 2 to 5, the antibody level was not as high as in people 16-25

NEW: The FDA and CDC have authorized booster shots for many Americans. But the recommendations — even those approved unanimously — mask significant dissent and disquiet among advisers to those agencies.

nytimes.com/2021/10/25/hea… Last week, I interviewed several experts who are on the CDC and FDA advisory committees. They said with the exception of adults over age 65, the data do not support booster shots for the vast majority of Americans.

BREAKING: Advisers to the FDA unanimously voted in favor of booster shots of the coronavirus vaccine for adults over 65.

(deleted previous vote because I said approved and didn't want to confuse it with FDA approval.) They left some room for interpretation by including individuals at high risk of severe Covid-19 -- from occupations or people with certain conditions.

The FDA's advisory committee mtg will kick off in minutes, and the advisers must confront a range of bewildering scientific questions before deciding whether to authorize coronavirus vaccine booster shots — and if so, for whom.

nytimes.com/2021/09/17/hea… I'll try to tweet highlights as I can throughout the day. It's going to be a long one

Three new CDC studies out today on vaccine effectiveness pre- and post-Delta. CDC is emphasizing the benefit of vaccination overall, but we already knew that. What interests me is that the vaccines are holding totally steady against hospitalizations for younger people. First study in >18 from Apr 4 to July 17. Conclusion: "Findings were consistent with a potential decline in vaccine protection against confirmed SARS-CoV-2 infection and continued strong protection against COVID-19–associated hospitalization and death."
cdc.gov/mmwr/volumes/7…

IF a vaccinated person gets infected in that rare event, they can have as much virus in their nose and throat as an unvaccinated person. That doesn't prove they can spread as easily, but it does suggest it, and several experts told me this week that it's a reasonable assumption. The CDC slide deck I reported on yesterday has a slide that explicitly says "Delta variant vaccine breakthrough cases may be as transmissible as unvaccinated cases."

Also...

I'm seeing a lot of outlets spotlight the stat that 74% of the Provincetown cases were vaccinated. I think that's misleading.

There are a lot of unknowns. A short 🧵 1) what % of the revelers were vaxxed? We know the % of vaccinated people in town was pretty high. The higher the percent of vaccinated people, the higher their proportion among the total cases. Anecdotal evidence suggests a lot of the men who were in town were vaxxed.

NEW: The vaccines are effective, but they are not a golden shield against the coronavirus, particularly not the Delta variant.
Should vaccinated people be wearing masks?

nytimes.com/2021/07/22/hea… There is no question that the vaccines are spectacularly good at preventing illness, and no vaccine is perfect. Breakthrough infections are expected with any vaccine.

NEW: Even as many Americans celebrate the apparent waning of the pandemic, the thrum of concern over the so-called Delta variant grows steadily louder. Data from the UK and Israel suggest we will not revisit the horrors of last winter 🧵

nytimes.com/2021/07/14/hea… Infections, hospitalizations and deaths are rising swiftly in some states with low vaccination rates like Arkansas, Missouri, Texas and Nevada, and are beginning to show small upticks in all of the others. Nationwide, too, the numbers are curving upward.

NEW: The vaccines made by Pfizer-BioNTech and Moderna set off a persistent immune reaction in the body that may protect against the coronavirus for years.

nytimes.com/2021/06/28/hea… The findings suggest that most people immunized with the mRNA vaccines may not need boosters, so long as the virus and its variants do not evolve much beyond their current forms (which they probably will)