FDA Debates Whether To Update Covid Vaccines Ahead Of Fall

The New York Times: F.D.A. May Move Toward Updating Vaccines 
A panel of independent experts advising the Food and Drug Administration is set to recommend on Tuesday whether to update existing Covid-19 vaccines to target a newer version of the coronavirus in a booster shot that Americans could get in the fall. The federal government is hoping to improve the vaccine to better boost people’s immunity before a likely resurgence of the virus this winter. But to move that quickly, it may need to abandon the lengthy human trials that have been used to test coronavirus vaccines over the past two years in favor of a faster process that relies more on laboratory tests and animal trials. (LaFraniere, 6/28)

AP: US Grapples With Whether To Modify COVID Vaccine For Fall 
U.S. health authorities are facing a critical decision: whether to offer new COVID-19 booster shots this fall that are modified to better match recent changes of the shape-shifting coronavirus. Moderna and Pfizer have tested updated shots against the super-contagious omicron variant, and advisers to the Food and Drug Administration will debate Tuesday if it’s time to make a switch — setting the stage for similar moves by other countries. “This is science at its toughest,” FDA vaccine chief Dr. Peter Marks told The Associated Press, adding that a final decision is expected within days of the advisory panel’s recommendation. (Neergaard, 6/27)

More on vaccines —

AP: Court Revives Block Of Vaccine Mandate For Federal Workers 
In a reversal for President Joe Biden, a federal appeals court in New Orleans on Monday agreed to reconsider its own April ruling that allowed the administration to require federal employees to be vaccinated against COVID-19. The new order from the 5th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals in New Orleans vacates an earlier ruling by a three-judge panel that upheld the mandate. The new order means a block on the mandate imposed in January by a Texas-based federal judge remains in effect, while the full court’s 17 judges take up the appeal. (McGill, 6/27)

CIDRAP: Rare Heart-Related Side Effects Higher With Moderna COVID Vaccine
Though both complications were rare, data from Ontario show higher rates of myocarditis and pericarditis with the Moderna COVID-19 vaccine than with the Pfizer-BioNTech vaccine, but the rates were lower for both vaccines if the spacing between receiving two doses was extended, according to a study late last week in JAMA Network Open. Myocarditis is an inflammation of the heart muscle, and pericarditis involves swelling of the thin membrane around the heart. (Wappes, 6/27)

Stat: On Covid-19 Medicines, Pharma Has A Mostly Poor Human Rights Record
More than two years after the Covid-19 pandemic emerged, a new scorecard finds that 19 of 26 pharmaceutical companies that marketed vaccines or therapeutics to contain the virus rank poorly when it came to complying with human rights principles. The rankings were compiled by examining actions taken to provide access to products, including commitments and measurable targets; transparency in disclosing R&D and production costs, and profits; the extent to which international cooperation was pursued and patents were enforced; and a willingness to provide fair pricing, equitable distribution, and technology transfers, among other things. (Silverman, 6/27)

In news about the spread of covid —

Fox News: COVID-19 May Increase Risk Of Alzheimer's, Parkinson's, Stroke: Study
A new Danish study found COVID-19 outpatients had a higher risk of being diagnosed with Parkinson’s, Alzheimer’s, stroke and bleeding into the brain when compared with COVID-19 negative patients, but most neurological disorders were not more frequent after COVID-19 than after other respiratory infections, according to a recent study published in Frontiers in Neurology this June. "More than two years after the onset of the COVID-19 pandemic, the precise nature and evolution of the effects of COVID-19 on neurological disorders remained uncharacterized," said lead author Dr. Pardis Zarifkar, member of the Department of Neurology at Rigshospitalet hospital in Copenhagen, Denmark. (Sudhakar, 6/27)

CIDRAP: People With Down Syndrome At Higher Risk For Severe COVID-19
The Journal of Infectious Diseases has published studies demonstrating lower COVID-19 incidence—but a higher risk of severe disease—in people with Down syndrome (DS), and a lower COVID vaccine immune response. ... People with DS were 32% less likely to contract COVID-19 than non-DS matches, but they had severe COVID-19 six times more often. (6/27)

San Francisco Chronicle: Latino COVID Death Rates Have Declined, But More Help Is Needed
The success of vaccination campaigns has narrowed disparities in COVID death rates in California, especially for the Latino community, which has been disproportionately affected with coronavirus infection during the pandemic. Since the state began tracking deaths in April 2020, more than 91,000 Californians have died from COVID-19 — approximately 230 deaths per 100,000 people — according to the Public Policy Institute of California, a policy research nonprofit with offices in San Francisco and Sacramento. (Narayan, 6/27)

NBC News: Covid Falls Off World Leaders’ Agenda Despite Remaining Threat From The Virus
A year ago, when world leaders gathered at the annual Group of Seven summit, the Covid pandemic was omnipresent — from restrictions on those traveling for the gathering to the pledge by those present to donate a billion vaccine doses. But as the leaders of the wealthiest democracies met again this week in the Bavarian Alps, combating the pandemic had fallen off the agenda, even as much of the developing world remains unvaccinated and health officials warn of another winter surge. (Pettypiece, 6/28)