Coronavirus Breaking News

The Canadian National Advisory Committee on Immunization (NACI) issued new advice on May 18, 2021, to the federal, provincial, and territorial governments on the recommended use of the Pfizer-BioNTech COVID-19 vaccine in adolescents 12 to 15 years of age.

The NACI recommends that a complete series with the Pfizer-BioNTech COVID-19 vaccine should be offered to individuals in this population.

Previously, Health Canada authorized the use of the Pfizer-BioNTech COVID-19 mRNA vaccine in adolescents 12 to 15 years of age on May 5, 2021, following a Phase 3 clinical trial this population.

"Although the risk of hospitalization, admission to ICU, and death associated with COVID-19 is infrequent in this age group, we have seen that adolescents can still experience severe illness," stated Dr. Caroline Quach-Thanh, NACI Chair, in a related press statement.

"The availability of this vaccine for teenagers in Canada will allow them to resume the activities that are so central to their health and well-being, including in-person schooling, events with friends and family, and extracurricular activities, in accordance with local public health measures."

The safety and effectiveness of the vaccine in adolescents will continue to be monitored in clinical trial participants and those receiving the vaccine through public health programs. NACI will closely monitor evolving evidence and update its recommendations if needed.

To see the full update, please see Recommendation on the use of the Pfizer-BioNTech COVID-19 vaccine in adolescents 12 to 18 years of age.

The US Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) issued a new Operational Strategy for K-12 Schools late on May 15, 2021.

The CDC recommends schools continue to use the current COVID-19 prevention strategies for the 2020-2021 school year, including universal and correct use of masks and physical distancing should be maximized to the greatest extent possible.

Masks should be worn at all times, by all people in school facilities, with certain exceptions for certain people, or for certain settings or activities, such as while eating or drinking. Masks should be required in all classroom and non-classroom settings, including hallways, school offices, restrooms, gyms, auditoriums, etc.

And, testing to identify individuals with SARS-CoV-2 infection provides additional layers of COVID-19 protection in schools, stated the CDC.

'All prevention strategies provide some level of protection, and layered strategies implemented at the same time provide the greatest level of protection.'

The Food and Drug Authority (FDA) of the Republic of Angola confirmed on May 12, 2021, the registration of the single-component Sputnik Light vaccine. The FDA granted Sputnik V an emergency use authorization.

The Russian Direct Investment Fund (RDIF) stated in a press release 'the Sputnik Light vaccine is the first component (recombinant human adenovirus 26 serotype (rAd26)) of the Sputnik V vaccine, which was authorized in Angola in March 2021. The RDIF says the effectiveness of the single-component vaccine "Sputnik Light" is 79.4% from the 28th day after vaccination.

On May 6, 2021, the Ministry of Health of the Russian Federation, the National Research Center for Epidemiology and Microbiology, and the RDIF announced the registration of the Sputnik Light vaccine.

Angola is a Southern African nation of about 31 million residents that primarily speaks Portuguese. With tropical Atlantic beaches to the west, located near the Sub-Saharan desert, Angola is administratively divided into 18 provinces and 163 municipalities.

In Angola, the US Embassy says most COVID-19 cases are in the capital city of Luanda, but COVID-19 has been confirmed throughout the provinces.  Please visit the Angolan COVID-19 Commission’s website for the most up-to-date case numbers.

The U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA) announced the expansion of the Emergency Use Authorization (EUA) for the mRNA Phizer-BioNTech COVID-19 Vaccine (Comrinaty) to include adolescents 12 through 15 years of age. This EUA was originally issued on December 11, 2020, for administration in individuals 16 years of age and older.

Acting FDA Commissioner Janet Woodcock, M.D., said in a press statement issued on May 10, 2021, “Today’s action allows for a younger population to be protected from COVID-19, bringing us closer to returning to a sense of normalcy and to ending the pandemic. Parents and guardians can rest assured that the agency undertook a rigorous and thorough review of all available data, as we have with all of our COVID-19 vaccine emergency use authorizations.”

From March 1, 2020, through April 30, 2021, approximately 1.5 million COVID-19 cases in individuals 11 to 17 years of age have been reported to the US Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.

However, children and adolescents generally have very mild COVID-19 disease course as compared to adults.

The available safety data to support the EUA in adolescents down to 12 years of age, including 2,260 participants ages 12 through 15, enrolled in an ongoing randomized, placebo-controlled clinical trial in the United States. Of these, 1,131 adolescent participants received the vaccine, and 1,129 received a saline placebo.

More than half of the participants were followed for safety for at least two months following the second dose.

The most commonly reported side effects in the adolescent clinical trial participants, which typically lasted 1-3 days, were pain at the injection site, tiredness, headache, chills, muscle pain, fever, and joint pain.

Except for pain at the injection site, more adolescents reported these side effects after the second dose than after the first dose, so vaccination providers and recipients need to expect that there may be some side effects after either dose, but even more so after the second dose. The side effects in adolescents were consistent with those reported in clinical trial participants 16 years of age and older.

It is important to note that as a general matter, while some individuals experience side effects following any vaccination, not every individual’s experience will be the same, and some people may not experience side effects.

The EUA amendment was issued to Pfizer Inc. The issuance of an EUA is not an FDA Approval (licensure) of a vaccine.

The Annals of Internal Medicine published a new study on May 11, 2021, In-Hospital Mortality in a Cohort of Hospitalized Pregnant and Nonpregnant Patients With COVID-19.

These researchers stated, 'Overall and within multiple subgroups, we found a substantially lower rate of in-hospital mortality in pregnant patients than nonpregnant patients hospitalized with COVID-19 and viral pneumonia.'

This retrospective cohort study of patients in the Premier Healthcare Database, an all-payer data repository that captures 20% of U.S. hospitalizations, included female inpatients aged 15 to 45 years hospitalized from April to November 2020 with COVID-19.

In-hospital death occurred in 0.8% (n = 9) of pregnant patients and 3.5% (n = 340) of nonpregnant patients hospitalized with COVID-19 and viral pneumonia.

The median time from admission to death was 18 days for pregnant patients and 12 days for nonpregnant patients.

Among the subgroup of patients admitted to an intensive care unit, in-hospital mortality was 3.5% (9 of 255) in pregnant patients and 14.9% (283 of 1898) in nonpregnant patients. Among those who received mechanical ventilation, in-hospital death occurred in 8.6% (9 of 105) of pregnant patients and 31.4% (294 of 937) of nonpregnant patients.

A strength of this study is the use of a large database, including patient discharge data from 853 hospitals. It is hospital-based, providing a clearly defined population without the biases of registry-based studies.

The U.S. CDC confirmed on May 7, 2021, the principal mode by which people are infected with the SARS-CoV-2 beta coronavirus that causes COVID-19 is through exposure to respiratory fluids carrying infectious virus.

Exposure occurs in three principal ways: (1) inhalation of very fine respiratory droplets and aerosol particles, (2) deposition of respiratory droplets and particles on exposed mucous membranes in the mouth, nose, or eye by direct splashes and sprays, and (3) touching mucous membranes with hands that have been soiled either directly by virus-containing respiratory fluids or indirectly by touching surfaces with the coronavirus on them.

People release respiratory fluids during exhalation, such as quiet breathing, speaking, singing, exercise, coughing, sneezing in the form of droplets across a spectrum of sizes. These droplets carry viruses and transmit infection.

Once infectious droplets and particles are exhaled, they move outward from the source. The risk for infection decreases with increasing distance from the source and increasing time after exhalation, says the CDC.