Latest news with #booster
CBS News
3 days ago
- General
- CBS News
As Colorado measles cases grow, doctors share who does, and doesn't, need boosters
As measles cases in Colorado continue to rise, doctors are sharing how to know if you need a booster or not. Another measles case was reported in Colorado on Thursday, it is the 7th confirmed case of measles in the state. Officials said this case is related to two others we reported this week. The three people were on the same flight into Denver International Airport earlier this month. The Colorado State Health Department confirmed the most recent case was a vaccinated adult who was a passenger on a Turkish Airlines flight that flew to Denver on May 13. A new Turkish Airlines Airbus A350-900 aircraft Nicolas Economou/NurPhoto via Getty Images An out-of-state traveler and a 5-year-old child from Arapahoe County are the other two people on that flight who have been confirmed with the disease. That child was unvaccinated and is currently being treated at Children's Hospital Colorado. This third person, also an Arapahoe County resident, was in several public spaces in Denver, Aurora, Greenwood Village, and Evergreen while infectious between May 22 and 26. Seven cases may not seem like a big surge, but in 2024, there were zero cases in the state. After the measles vaccine was introduced, the disease was considered almost eradicated. With a recent surge in cases, it's leading to many questions about who may need a booster. Doctors said, unless you are unvaccinated, don't stress out too much. Boxes and vials of the Measles, Mumps, Rubella Virus vaccine Jan Sonnenmair / Getty Images People born before 1957 are considered immune because the disease was so prevalent that they are presumed to have been exposed. In 1963, the vaccine was introduced, and anyone who got it should have some level of immunity. If you have had two doses of the live vaccine, doctors said you should be ok. And if it's been a while since you've had a vaccine? Well, doctors said that's ok too. "Those people who have had 2 doses of that vaccine virus, that is almost completely enough to prevent against measles for the rest of your life," said Dr. Dan Pastula, Head of Neuro Infectious Diseases at UCHealth. If you are concerned or you are at a high risk for exposure, you should talk to your healthcare provider. "You can get tested to see if you have immunity. And if you don't, then you could get a booster. But for the average person, no, we don't need to have a booster shot," said Dr. Bob Belknap, the Director of the Public Health Institute at Denver Health. Tests for measles immunity measure IgG antibody levels and can be done by a primary care physician and CVS MinuteClinics. Doctors said if you've never had measles, you don't want it. "Symptoms for measles usually start out with a pretty high fever, along with cough, runny nose, red, itchy, watery eyes. And then the rash comes, and the rash typically starts on the face or near the hairline and then spreads down the body. It's uncomfortable. It's itchy. It can be painful. And in, in the worst case, it can lead to pneumonias, problems in the lungs or even swelling around the brain," said Belknap. Both doctors agree immunity is the only way to avoid measles, which you can get one of two ways. Surviving measles or a vaccine, and the vaccine is the least troublesome way to gain immunity. "For anyone who is unvaccinated, it's not worth taking that risk. It's better off to just get the vaccine," said Belknap. There has been a rumor going around that vitamin A is effective at preventing measles and treating it. Doctors said that's not true, and you can give yourself liver damage if you take too much.
ABC News
4 days ago
- Health
- ABC News
New COVID-19 variant NB.1.8.1 'pretty much everywhere' in Australia
Australians are being urged to get their COVID-19 booster as a new coronavirus variant drives up infections. The World Health Organization (WHO) has designated the new NB.1.8.1 strain as a "variant under monitoring" and it's now the dominant variant in China and Hong Kong. Griffith University virologist Associate Professor Lara Herrero said the new strain could possibly overtake others in Australia too. "The new strain is now the dominant coronavirus strain in China and Hong Kong and, in Australia, we're seeing it pretty much everywhere. "There is a prediction that this might start taking over other strains, but it's early days, so we'll just wait and see." Currently the new variant makes up more than 40 per cent of total COVID cases tested in Victoria, around 25 per cent in Western Australia and New South Wales, around 20 per cent in Queensland and less than 10 per cent in South Australia. "We're seeing a lot of cases in the community coming through the [emergency department] but it's likely we're heavily under-reporting because COVID reporting is no longer mandatory," Dr Herrero said. More than five years since COVID was declared a pandemic, Australia is still experiencing regular infections and Dr Herrero said case numbers had been slowly rising since May. In the past six months, only 6.6 per cent of adults have received a COVID vaccine, according to federal data. "This new strain is a sublineage of Omicron and descends from the JN1 variant, which is what the current vaccine protects against," she said. "The flu is nasty this season too so I'd very strongly recommend everyone get their yearly flu vaccine and JN1 COVID booster — it's the best way you're going to be protected if you haven't had COVID in the last six months. "As the virus mutates, it gets a little sneakier and better at evading our immune response and antibodies. Australian Medical Association NSW chair of public health Dr Michael Bonning said early reports showed the variant had a higher infection rate, but that existing vaccines were still effective. "Individual variants are probably less important than overall societal factors such as whether people are keeping up to date with boosters," he said. Dr Bonning said respiratory infections were up nationally. "We are expecting a spike in cases over the coming weeks with an expectation of a particularly difficult winter respiratory season because of what we have seen in the northern hemisphere," he said. "In New South Wales, in the past week there was an increase of 29.2 per cent in COVID-19 notifications, an increase of 25.9 per cent in influenza notifications, and an increase of 9.7 per cent in RSV notifications." According to WHO, NB.1.8.1 was first detected in January. It was declared a variant under monitoring earlier this month. "That is not done with every variant — not at all — it's ones that have specific mutations or if we have extra data that it might evade the immune system or transmit better," Dr Herrero said. "In this case, we've got mutations in the spike protein that seems to be making it easier for this virus to attach to our cells and it seems to be making this virus evade our antibodies better." Dr Herraro said there was no evidence to suggest the symptoms of the new strain were worse than other variants. "We're still seeing the same symptoms like fevers, cough, runny nose, headaches, some people are getting whole body aches and some are getting gastro symptoms," she said. "We're probably all getting tired of these sorts of messages but I'd just say to people, just be vigilant before you get sick because that's how you protect yourself. "Wash your hands, don't go out in public if you're sick and spread it to everyone, get your vaccines if you want them. If you've got a cough or cold I'd wear a mask because you don't want to share that with other people."
Japan Times
26-05-2025
- Health
- Japan Times
The FDA's new COVID-19 vaccine policy is clear as mud
When news broke that the U.S. Food and Drug Administration was rolling out a new plan for COVID-19 vaccine approvals, my phone instantly started buzzing. Friends, family members and colleagues all had the same question: Does this mean I can't get a fall booster? I wish I had a straightforward answer for them. Despite an explanation of the new strategy published last week from FDA Commissioner Marty Makary and Vinay Prasad, who oversees vaccines at the agency, public health experts were left guessing about basic details such as how it will affect access to COVID-19 shots. Do healthy people have a choice or not? What is the status of shots for kids? For an agency that has vowed to build the public's trust by offering transparency and an open dialogue, it was a frustrating start. Here's what we know: The FDA is adopting a risk-based strategy for approving new COVID-19 vaccines that will limit their use to people 65 and older or anyone with a health condition that puts them at risk for severe disease — a group Prasad and Makary estimate accounts for about 100 million Americans. The new policy keeps the current standards for greenlighting vaccines, meaning pharmaceutical companies need only to produce data showing theirs prompts people to produce antibodies against the virus. For healthy adults and children, new vaccines, including boosters updated to match circulating strains of the virus, seem to be on ice. FDA officials will require drug manufacturers to run studies proving their vaccines are better than a placebo in preventing symptomatic infections in people ages 50 to 64 — a group Prasad said was chosen because health agencies around the world express the most disagreement over the benefits of vaccination for the demographic. They said companies can choose to pursue studies that demonstrate their drugs effects in other groups. The future of pediatric COVID-19 vaccines seems particularly foggy, since updated shots also function as the primary series for unvaccinated children. While billed as "a balance of regulatory flexibility and a commitment to gold-standard science,' the policy seems designed to put the vaccines out of reach. Let's start with the feasibility and ethics of running the trials. Who would volunteer for such a study? COVID-19 skeptics or anyone hesitant about the safety of the vaccine seem unlikely to participate. Why would anyone who trusts the evidence that the vaccine is safe and effective — and that the risks from COVID-19 are real — want to take a chance on getting a placebo, says Paul Offit, director of the Vaccine Education Center at Children's Hospital of Philadelphia. "This is a low-risk group, but it's not a no-risk group,' he says. Although we are no longer in an emergency, COVID-19 hasn't gone away. Nearly 1,400 Americans died of the disease last month — and we're in a lull. During last year's late-summer wave, more than 1,000 people were dying each week, according to data from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. The required trials would also be expensive. Thousands of people would need to be enrolled and, according to the FDA's plan, followed for six months. With few people opting for COVID-19 boosters these days, companies might decide the investment isn't worth it. If FDA's advisers, who meet this week to choose a formula for fall shots, ask drug companies to change the vaccine, millions of Americans could be left without a booster this fall. Vaccines are a public good. I am at low risk of a serious COVID-19 infection, but my motivation to get a booster is about more than my own health. When I roll up my sleeve, I am thinking about my elderly parents, a dear family member undergoing chemotherapy and all the other people in my life who are more vulnerable to this virus than I am. I know a booster can't guarantee that I won't get sick and pass that infection onto others, but the evidence that it lowers the chances of both, at least for a few months, is sufficient for me to believe it's worth getting. I should have that option. Prasad dismisses that argument, noting in a town hall (an event where only Makary was allowed to ask questions) that there's "no high-quality evidence' to suggest getting a booster to "go visit grandma' is helpful. He and Makary argue that without data to support that claim, people are operating under a false sense of security. However, the CDC and others have offered evidence showing that higher vaccination rates in a community result in fewer infections and fewer people ending up hospitalized. It's true that finding comes from mining real-world data rather than randomized, placebo-controlled trials, but that doesn't mean people can't factor it into their choice to vaccinate. And Americans have spent the last several years making personal decisions with the knowledge that some information is murky, says Georgetown University professor Jesse Goodman, who previously served as the FDA's chief scientist. "I would argue that people, just as they are now, can make up their mind about whether with the imperfect data they'd like to get the vaccine,' he says. "I'd rather give people the choice.' Anyone worried about losing that choice should be just as concerned about how all of this is unfolding. The FDA's realm is evaluating the evidence about vaccines, while the CDC is charged with making recommendations about how they should be used. In nearly all cases, those decisions are based on advice from the CDC's Advisory Committee on Immunization Practices (ACIP), independent experts who carefully and publicly debate the evidence. "I'm very concerned that this really is the first step towards neutering ACIP,' says Michael Osterholm, director of the Center for Infectious Disease Research and Policy in Minnesota. "ACIP should be involved with this. This is not FDA's role to be making recommendations on vaccine for risk groups.' That committee will meet in June to discuss COVID-19 boosters. Ironically, they are likely to arrive at guidelines that largely align with Makary and Prasad's focus on the elderly and high-risk groups. Yet public health experts note the panel's recommendations are likely to differ in one notable way: Given the safety of the vaccine, they're likely to leave the door open for everyone to decide for themselves. Makary and Prasad argue that generating better data will drive more people to follow them — and that it's the lack of confidence that's holding individuals back. Public health experts have a different view. Many people simply don't see COVID-19 as the threat it once was and so are opting out. Others have been deterred by the intense rhetoric and misinformation about the shots — much of it coming from current health agency leadership. In an ideal world, we'd have perfect data that allows people to make easy decisions about their health. And while continuing to study our vaccines and adapt our recommendations to fit the evolving state of the outbreak is perfectly reasonable, it should be done through the normal channels — and communicated in terms that everyone can understand. Lisa Jarvis is a Bloomberg Opinion columnist covering biotech, health care and the pharmaceutical industry. Previously, she was executive editor of Chemical & Engineering News.
Bloomberg
22-05-2025
- Health
- Bloomberg
The FDA's New Covid Vaccine Policy Is Clear as Mud
When news broke that the Food and Drug Administration was rolling out a new plan for Covid vaccine approvals, my phone instantly started buzzing. Friends, family members and colleagues all had the same question: Does this mean I can't get a fall booster? I wish I had a straightforward answer for them.
The National
21-05-2025
- Health
- The National
Covid-19 resurgance: What is JN.1 strain and where is it active?
The JN.1 strain of Covid-19 is spreading through South-east Asia, with health authorities in Hong Kong, Singapore, China and Thailand urging people to get new booster vaccinations. Here's everything we know about this strain of Covid that is considered more contagious than other variants: The virus is considered active in Hong Kong, with the city state reporting 31 severe cases in the first week of this month. In Singapore, the Health Ministry said the number of Covid cases jumped 28 per cent to 14,200 in the week ending May 3, with the number of people being admitted to hospital rising by about 30 per cent. The picture is similar in Thailand, where Covid cases reached 33,030 last week, doubling from the 16,000 cases reported the week previously. Covid cases are also rising in China, with positivity rates among outpatient and emergency flu-like cases increasing from 7.5 per cent to 16.2 per cent since March, the Centre for Disease Control and Prevention said. The JN.1 Covid variant is a descendant of the BA. 2.86 strain that carries more than 30 mutations in the spike protein. 'Covid is with us permanently and we have to be vigilant about new strains like JN.1, a sub-lineage of BA. 2.86 Omicron, that appears correlated with increase in hospitalisation for respiratory illness,' Ramanan Laxminarayan, president of health research organisation One Health Trust, previously told The National. The World Health Organisation (WHO) has designated JN.1 as "variant of interest", though not yet a "variant of concern." The WHO's definition states that a variant of interest has 'genetic changes that are predicted or known to affect virus characteristics such as transmissibility, virulence, antibody evasion, susceptibility to therapeutics and detectability'. So JN.1 is more contagious than other Covid strains at this time. It is also 'identified to have a growth advantage over other circulating strains in more than one WHO region with increasing relative prevalence alongside increasing number of cases over time, or other apparent epidemiological impacts to suggest an emerging risk to global public health'. The first case of JN.1 was recorded in the US in September 2023. JN.1 has not shown any signs of greater severity than other Covid strains but it is more contagious.
