Coronavirus Breaking News

TASS reported today Russian President Vladimir Putin confirmed he received a third dose of a COVID-19 vaccine.

"Today, I received another dose of vaccine - Sputnik Light, at your recommendation, at the recommendation of your colleagues. It is called revaccination," he commented.

Mr. Putin said he feels well after being revaccinated with Sputnik Light earlier in the day. "I feel nothing. I am in normal condition. Everything is all right," he said.

"To date, more than 50 million people in Russia have received this vaccine and still more people in the world, nearly 120 million have got vaccinated with this vaccine in those countries which recognized it."

Sputnik Light is the first component (recombinant human adenovirus 26 serotype (rAd26) of the Sputnik V vaccine. It was registered in May 2021.

The Sputnik Light vaccine is based on a proven and well-studied platform of human adenoviral vectors. Adenoviruses, which are found in the respiratory tract and cause acute respiratory infections, have become a commonly used virus to engineer vectors.

The effectiveness of Sputnik Light was found at 79.4% based on the analysis of data from the 28th day after receiving immunization.

The cost of the Sputnik Light vaccine could be less than $10, while it has simple storage requirements, at +2 +8, which provide for easy logistics.

As of November 21, 2021, the Sputnik Light vaccine was available in over (20) countries.

Two additional EU members, The Czech Republic and Slovakia, announced tightened travel restrictions on people who have not had COVID-19 vaccinations in an attempt to prompt more people to get vaccinated amid surging infections.

The Czech government approved plans to allow only people who are vaccinated or have recovered from COVID-19 in the past six months to use various other services.

And Slovakia Prime Minister Eduard Heger called for a "lockdown for the unvaccinated."

Al Jazeera reported on November 18, 2021, these measures are similar to those in Austria and parts of Germany as Europe faces a rise in SARS-CoV-2 virus infections which lead to COVID-19.

The European Medicines Agency posted on Twitter today 'There are excessive cases of COVID-19 particularly in unvaccinated people. Many EU countries have large unvaccinated populations.'

'They are the most likely to go to hospitals and suffer from severe disease. We should close the gap between vaccinated & unvaccinated.'

And as of November 17, 2021, the European Centre for Disease Prevention and Control (ECDC) reported 65.4% of Europe had been fully vaccinated.

The ECDC published maps and details today in support of the Council Recommendation on a coordinated approach to travel measures in the EU.

The Israeli Ministry of Health's Director-General, Prof. Nachman Ash, confirmed today he accepted the recommendation by the Pandemic Response Team and the COVID-19 Vaccination Advisory Board to begin vaccinating children aged 5-11 against COVID-19 with the Comirnaty vaccine.

In his reasoning, the Director-General explained in a press statement updated on November 15, 2021, 'that the vast majority of the members of the committee are in the opinion that the vaccine is of a good safety profile.'

'And, most experts are in the opinion that the benefits of vaccination of this age group outweigh the risks.'

The Israeli data dashboard reflects an increase in SARS-CoV-2 virus infections over the past month in this age group, but few COVID-19 fatalities.

Efficacy data presented by Pfizer Inc. indicate the Comirnaty vaccine efficacy is about 91% in preventing severe illness in children aged 5-11 years.

After the U.S. FDA's vaccine committee has recommended the vaccination of children aged 5 to 11 last month, the Pandemic Response Team resolved on November 4, 2021, to hold a public discussion and to present information on this matter and the ensemble of considerations ahead of the resolution on its recommendation to the Ministry of Health's Director-General.

Known globally as Comirnaty, the Pfizer vaccine is a nucleoside-modified RNA formulated in lipid nanoparticles and encodes an optimized SARS-CoV-2 full-length spike protein antigen.

Comirnaty contains a molecule with instructions for producing a protein from the SARS-CoV-2 virus. However, Comirnaty does not include the beta coronavirus itself and cannot cause COVID-19, says the European Medicines Agency.

The United Kingdom (UK) Health Security Agency Technical Briefing #28, published on November 12, 2021, continues to disclose the detailed COVID-19 surveillance analyses which contribute to the variant risk assessments and designation of new variants of concern (VOC) and variants under investigation (VUI).

In summary:

• There are four current VOCs and 9 VUI. There have been no new VOCs or VUIs in the UK classification since the last briefing.
• Delta remains the predominant variant accounting for approximately 99.8% of sequenced cases in England from October 10 to November 8, 2021.
• The Delta sublineage AY.4.2 (VUI-21OCT-01) accounts for 13% of Delta cases from October 24, 2021, to October 30, 2021, and 14.7% in the week of October 31, 2021, to November 6, 2021.
• Vaccine effectiveness analysis does not suggest a significant reduction in vaccine effectiveness for AY.4.2 compared to other Delta viruses. In addition, analysis using the standard test-negative case-control study does not indicate a decrease in vaccine effectiveness for AY.4.2 compared to non-AY. 4.2.
• Preliminary viral neutralization studies with post-vaccination sera against AY.4.2 virus shows a 2.8 fold drop compared to the wild-type virus, similar to Delta, which showed a 3.2 fold drop in neutralization (Genotype to Phenotype consortium).
• A new risk assessment for AY.4.2 has been published and is available here.

A separate report is published covering surveillance data on all other VOCs and VUIs. And, The Agency has curated a repository from March 5, 2021, containing the up-to-date genomic definitions for all VOCs and VUIs. The repository is accessible on GitHub.

The World Health Organization (WHO) confirmed in its weekly epidemiological COVID-19 update that 'Europe again was leading the world in percentages of new cases and deaths from the disease.'

The WHO reported the number of new cases in Europe rose by 7% last week, and the number of deaths increased by 10%.

The European Commission (EC), the executive branch of the European Union, acknowledged the rising number of COVID-19 cases in Europe during a news briefing in Brussels.

EC spokeswoman Dana Spinant described the situation as "complex" and "rapidly changing," adding that member states discussed the following steps to be taken, reported VOA.

For example, German Chancellor Angela Merkel has called for an urgent meeting with state governors after the nation's Robert Koch Institute for Infectious diseases reported a record number of COVID-19 cases for a single day.

It was also announced that Bulgaria activated the European bloc's civil protection mechanism, an emergency designation in which member states request assistance with disasters or other emergencies.

Following the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention's (CDC) recommendation to make 5-11-year-old children eligible for COVID-19 vaccines, Health Secretary Xavier Becerra issued this statement on November 2, 2021.

"This is another major milestone in our efforts to protect more children, their families, and our communities as we work to end the pandemic."

"We are following the data and science."

"As we deliver millions of doses nationwide, we are working with states, localities, pediatricians' offices, children's hospitals, pharmacies, and other trusted health care providers for families to ensure equitable access to the vaccine for our nation's kids."

"Looking toward winter and the holiday season, we have another significant opportunity to get ahead of this pandemic and protect kids ages 5-11 from what has become a cause of death in this age group."

As of November 3, 2021, there have been 576 deaths attributed to severe COVID-19 (vaccination and comorbidity status undisclosed) in people under 18 since January 2020.

Additionally, the CDC reported 148 deaths involving COVID-19 and pneumonia and 1,069 deaths from pneumonia alone.

"We know many families are trying to decide what is right for them, and we encourage anyone seeking additional information to talk to a doctor or health care provider to get the facts."

"COVID-19 vaccines are the best way to protect yourself and those you love from COVID-19, and the Administration will continue working every day to get as many people vaccinated and protected from COVID-19 as possible," concluded Sec. Becerra.

New York-based Pfizer Inc. today announced PAXLOVID™ (PF-07321332) was found to reduce the risk of hospitalization or death by 89% compared to placebo in non-hospitalized high-risk adults with COVID-19.

In the overall clinical study population through Day 28, no deaths were reported in patients who received PAXLOVID compared to 10 deaths in patients who received placebo.

The primary analysis of the interim data set evaluated data from 1,219 adults who were enrolled by September 29, 2021.

Pfizer confirmed plans to submit the data as part of its ongoing rolling submission to the U.S. FDA seeking Emergency Use Authorization for its investigational novel COVID-19 oral antiviral candidate.

Mikael Dolsten, MD, PhD., Chief Scientific Officer and President, Worldwide Research, Development and Medical of Pfizer, commented in a press release, “We’re thankful to all of the patients, investigators, and sites around the world who participated in this clinical trial, all with the common goal of bringing forth a breakthrough oral therapy to help combat COVID-19.”

The Phase 2/3 EPIC-SR (Evaluation of Protease Inhibition for COVID-19 in Standard-Risk Patients) and EPIC-PEP (Evaluation of Protease Inhibition for COVID-19 in Post-Exposure Prophylaxis) studies, which began in August and September 2021, respectively, were not included in this interim analysis and are ongoing.