“I hope that when the FDA and CDC evaluate knowledge round Moderna and Johnson & Johnson that they may enable a mix-and-match strategy,” CNN Medical Analyst Dr. Leana Wen stated Friday.
Vaccine advisers for the US Meals and Drug Administration will meet October 14 and 15 to debate purposes for booster doses from Moderna and J&J’s vaccine arm Janssen. And on October 20 and 21, vaccine consultants with the US Facilities for Illness Management and Prevention are slated to debate the identical plan of action.
Wen, additionally the previous well being commissioner for the Metropolis of Baltimore, stated permitting the mix-and-match choice is extra handy to those that initially acquired the Pfizer or Moderna vaccines within the occasion both booster shot is not accessible the place they go for his or her shot.
“The mRNA vaccines actually must be interchangeable,” she stated.
However Wen cautioned that individuals who acquired the J&J vaccine might have to contemplate the dangers related to taking its booster dose.
“We all know that there’s an affiliation between the Johnson & Johnson vaccine and a really uncommon –but extraordinarily critical blood clotting disorder– in ladies below the age of fifty,” Wen advised CNN. She added whereas she was totally vaccinated with the Johnson & Johnson vaccine, she’d fairly get a special vaccine booster.
Dr. Anthony Fauci, director of the Nationwide Institute of Allergy and Infectious Ailments, stated late final month, “combine and match” research are underway.
“The combination-and-match examine through which you take a look at Moderna because the enhance towards the opposite three, these knowledge are actually accessible,” Fauci had stated at a White Home Covid-19 briefing.
The info has not but been printed or submitted to the FDA.
Plus, sure people who find themselves immune-compromised can get a 3rd dose, though it is not technically thought of a booster as a result of it is possible they didn’t totally reply to the primary two doses.
General infections are down, however consultants warn towards complacency
Nonetheless, consultants warning that the first public well being focus should stay on getting preliminary vaccine photographs into the arms of the hundreds of thousands of People who aren’t vaccinated in any respect.
“As a rustic, we’re undoubtedly trending in the fitting course — lastly,” Wen stated. “The issue, although, is that folks actually need to have a look at the place they’re. As a result of whereas there are some locations which can be actually doing very properly with excessive vaccination charges and low an infection charges, there are additionally different locations which can be nonetheless trending within the fallacious course.”
Covid-19 infections are down by practically 35% from final month, and the variety of folks combating the virus in hospitals dropped by greater than 31% from a month earlier, in accordance with knowledge from Johns Hopkins College and US Division of Well being and Human Companies, respectively.
However consultants, together with Wen and US Surgeon Common Dr. Vivek Murthy, are warning towards complacency as there are nonetheless areas displaying upward tendencies in deaths and hospitalizations.
“We’re fortunately seeing circumstances and hospitalizations come down, nevertheless it’s not a purpose for us to take our foot off the accelerator or to loosen up our guards,” Murthy stated earlier this week.
In Alabama, infections have decreased in current weeks, however persons are nonetheless dying from the illness at excessive charges, a prime state well being official stated Friday.
“Very fortunately, we have had declines in our variety of hospitalizations. … We’re down to simply over 1,000 in-patients within the state,” State Well being Officer Dr. Scott Harris stated. He acknowledged that the quantity was nonetheless excessive, “nevertheless it’s about two-thirds lower than we have been seeing a month or so in the past.”
He added: “We’ve not likely seen a change within the variety of deaths, sadly.”
And Pennsylvania reported the best variety of Covid-19 hospitalizations since February, a spokesperson for the state’s well being division stated. Of the three,001 folks hospitalized with the virus, 680 have been in intensive care models Thursday, officers stated.
Covid-19 racial and ethnic disparity hole narrows however stays vast
A brand new evaluation printed Friday by the Kaiser Household Basis (KFF) reveals the distinction in Covid-19 circumstances and deaths between Black, Hispanic and White folks is narrowing.
KFF researchers discovered that whereas disparities are nonetheless current throughout totally different racial teams, the hole is enhancing for Black and Hispanic folks, primarily based on an evaluation of case and loss of life knowledge from CDC final month. However Covid-19 infections stay excessive in American Indian and Alaska Native folks.
The latest knowledge included within the report, from September 25, reveals a case price of 96.1 Covid-19 infections for each 100,000 White folks. In Hispanic folks, this quantity was 90.8; in Black folks, it was 92.7.
The American Indian and Alaska Native communities noticed the best case price per 100,000 folks, at 181. Asian folks had the bottom case price: 42.9 per 100,000 folks.
Nationwide Middle for Well being Statistics knowledge by way of June confirmed that kids of racial and ethnic minorities accounted for 65% of those that misplaced a main caregiver, whereas White kids accounted for 35%. That is although minorities account for simply 39% of the US inhabitants.
CNN’s Lauren Mascarenhas, Virginia Langmaid, Maggie Fox, Melissa Alonso and Laura Studley contributed to this report.
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