Coronavirus Breaking News

Two MIT professors proposed in the journal PNAS on April 15, 2021, a new approach to estimating a person's risks of exposure to the SARS-CoV-2 virus that causes COVID-19 under different indoor settings.

The new MIT guideline suggests a limit for exposure time, based on the number of people, the size of the space, the kinds of activity, whether masks are worn, and the ventilation and filtration rates.

This MIT model offers a detailed, physics-based guideline for policymakers, businesses, schools, and individuals to gauge their own risks.

'One clear thing, they say, is that simple rules, based on distance or capacity limits on certain types of businesses, don’t reflect the full picture of the risk in a given setting. In some cases, that risk may be higher than those simple rules convey; in others, it may be lower, stated these researchers in an April 15th MIT press statement.

The mission of Cambridge, MA-based MIT is to advance knowledge and educate students in science, technology, and other areas of scholarship that will best serve the nation and the world in the 21st century.

A non-peer-reviewed study published on April 13, 2021, assessed the humoral immune response after the first dose of two vaccines, Covishield and the BBV-152 (Covaxin), in 552 healthcare workers in India.

Both vaccines showed seropositivity to anti-spike antibodies 21 days or more after the first vaccine dose.

These researchers concluded this study by saying, 'While both vaccines elicited immune response, seropositivity rates to anti-spike antibody were significantly higher in Covishield recipient than Covaxin after the first dose.'

'The ongoing COVAT study will further enlighten the immune response between two vaccines after the second dose.'

Both of these COVID-19 vaccines are produced in India.

Health Canada announced on April 14, 2021, Canadians and healthcare professionals about its ongoing safety review of very rare events of blood clots associated with low levels of blood platelets following immunization with the AstraZeneca and COVISHIELD COVID-19 vaccines.

After a thorough, independent assessment of the currently available scientific data, Health Canada has concluded that these very rare events may be linked to the vaccine. This is in line with the findings of other regulators. As a result, the Department has updated warnings in the product information to inform Canadians of the possible side effects and provide information about the signs and symptoms and when to seek prompt medical attention following vaccination.

Based on the review of available data from Europe and the United Kingdom, and AstraZeneca, no specific risk factors have been identified. Therefore, Health Canada is not restricting the use of the vaccine in any specific populations at this time.

Health Canada’s position that the safety of the AstraZeneca vaccine meets its strict safety standards remains valid, and the Department is adjusting the product's labeling to reflect the available scientific evidence. The results of the ongoing safety assessments have been consistent. The potential risk of these events is very rare, and the benefits of the vaccine in protecting against COVID-19 outweigh its potential risks. Health Canada’s findings are based on a sound and thorough review of all evidence available.

In the very rare event that someone experiences unusual blood clots with low platelets, there are treatments available.

The National Advisory Committee on Immunization is also reviewing the available information to determine whether to maintain or modify its current recommendation not to use the vaccine in people under 55.

Health Canada reassures Canadians that the AstraZeneca COVID-19 vaccine continues to be safe and effective at protecting them against COVID-19 and encourages people to get immunized with any of the COVID-19 vaccines authorized in Canada.

New Jersey-based Johnson & Johnson (J&J) issued a statement on April 13, 2021, saying, 'The health authorities advise people who have received our experimental (Janssen) COVID-19 vaccine and develop a severe headache, abdominal pain, leg pain, or shortness of breath within three weeks after vaccination should contact their health care provider.'

Additional excerpts from the J&J statement are below:

'The safety and well-being of the people who use our products is our number one priority. We are aware of an extremely rare disorder involving people with blood clots combined with low platelets in a small number of individuals who have received our COVID-19 vaccine.

The United States Centers for Disease Control (CDC) and Food and Drug Administration (FDA) are reviewing data involving six reported U.S. cases out of more than 6.8 million doses administered. Out of an abundance of caution, the CDC and FDA have recommended a pause in the use of our vaccine.

In addition, we have been reviewing these cases with European health authorities. We have decided to proactively delay the rollout of our vaccine in Europe and pause vaccinations in all Janssen COVID-19 vaccine clinical trials. At the same time, we update guidance for investigators and participants.

We have been working closely with medical experts and health authorities, and we strongly support the open communication of this information to healthcare professionals and the public. The CDC and FDA have made information about proper recognition and management due to the unique treatment required with this type of blood clot.

The Janssen COVID-19 was Authorized for emergency use and has not been Approved by the U.S. FDA. For more information on the Janssen COVID-19 vaccine, click here.

Philippines-based My Med Rx Plus Corporation announced on April 12, 2021, it had placed orders for 1 million tablets of Favipiravir (Avigan) and 3 million tablets of Umifenovir (Arbidol) to secure supplies for hospitals and patients.

Avigan (Favipiravir) Tablet was approved for manufacture and sale in Japan in 2014 as an influenza antiviral medication.

Both influenza medications are approved by the Philippine Food and Drug Authority for use under a compassionate permit. These medicines are already being prescribed by doctors in hospitals in Metro Manila and provincial hospitals.

“This volume of medications can help at least 100,000 to 200,000 patients,” stated Jomerito Soliman, CEO of My Med RX, in a local media article.

My Med RX is a pharmaceutical company under the PureGroup of Companies.

A large, multicenter study published in The Lancet on April 9, 2021, found people in the United Kingdom who had previously had COVID-19 were found to have an 84% lower risk of becoming reinfected and a 93% lower risk of symptomatic infection during 7 months of follow-up.

From June 18, 2020, to Dec 31, 2020, over 30,000 participants were enrolled in the study. The median participant age in the baseline-positive cohort was about 45 years, 84.2% were women, and 87.3% were White.

The median follow-up was 275 days in the positive group and 195 days in the negative group. This time period is the minimum probable effect because seroconversions were not included, stated the researchers.

This study shows that previous infection with SARS-CoV-2 induces effective immunity to future infections in most individuals, concluded the study.

A related editorial published by The Lancet on April 9th stated, 'The authors' findings suggest that infection and the development of an antibody response provide protection similar to or even better than currently used SARS-CoV-2 vaccines.'

'Although antibodies induced by SARS-CoV-2 infection are more variable and often lower in titer than antibody responses induced after vaccination, this observation does make sense considering current SARS-CoV-2 vaccines induce systemic immune responses to spike proteins while natural infection also induces mucosal immune responses and immune responses against the many other open reading frames encoded by the approximately 29,900 nucleotides of SARS-CoV-2.

The SIREN study adds to a growing number of studies, which demonstrate that infection does protect against reinfection, and probably in an antibody-dependent manner.

The study was funded by the Department of Health and Social Care of the UK Government, Public Health England, The National Institute for Health Research, with contributions from the Scottish, Welsh and Northern Irish governments.

Local media reported an expert committee of the Indian government had approved on April 12, 2021, the Sputnik V vaccine for an emergency, restricted use authorization in India.

However, the New Delhi-based Drugs Controller General of India (DCGI) will take a final decision on this COVID-19 vaccine recommendation. If approved, Sputnik V will be the third COVID-19 vaccine available in India.

As of April 1, 2021, fifty-nine countries had authorized the Sputnik V Vaccine.

The Sputnik V vaccine is an adenoviral-based vaccine against the SARS-CoV-2 coronavirus. It uses a weakened virus to deliver small parts of a pathogen and stimulate an immune response. The active components are a modified replication-defective adenovirus of a different serotype (Serotype 26 for the first component; serotype 5 for the second), which has been modified to include the protein S-expressing gene of SARS-CoV-2.