FDA Greenlights Another RSV Vaccine
Pfizer's version was approved Wednesday, just weeks after GSK made history as the first to win approval. Both vaccines are likely to be available this fall, The New York Times said. Other news is on mpox and covid.
The New York Times:
FDA Approves Pfizer’s RSV Vaccine For Adults 60 And Older
The Food and Drug Administration on Wednesday approved Pfizer’s vaccine against the respiratory syncytial virus, or R.S.V., for adults age 60 and older, the second approval granted for shots offering protection from the virus this month. GSK was the first drugmaker to get the F.D.A.’s permission to market an R.S.V. vaccine on May 3. The vaccines are expected to be available in the fall before the winter R.S.V. season. (Jewett, 5/31)
The Wall Street Journal:
New Pfizer RSV Vaccine Rolls Out Into Headwinds Of Hesitancy
Vaccine makers are confronting a post-Covid conundrum: New shots are taming a widening range of diseases, but people are more skeptical of them than ever. (Hopkins, 5/31)
In updates on mpox —
Stat:
House Republicans Demand Scientist Explain Pathogen Research
House Republicans are ratcheting up pressure on federal agencies’ pandemic response with an unprecedented move: interrogating a career poxvirus scientist’s infectious disease work. In a letter to federal health officials Tuesday, top Republicans on the Energy and Commerce Committee asked longtime researcher Bernard Moss, who has worked for the National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases for more than four decades, to sit for a videotaped interview about his work on mpox. (Owermohle, 5/31)
In covid developments —
Bloomberg:
Covid Lockdowns Messed With Memories In Ways Seen In Prisoners, Study Finds
The psychological toll of Covid lockdowns could lead some people to misremember the timing of recent events, according to a new study published by University of Aberdeen researchers. (5/31)
CIDRAP:
Study: Higher Veteran COVID Death Rate At Community Hospitals Than At VA Centers
Most US Veterans Health Administration (VHA) enrollees aged 65 and older were treated for COVID-19 at community hospitals, which reported higher death rates for this group than VHA hospitals in 2020 and 2021, suggests an observational study published yesterday in JAMA Network Open. (Van Beusekom, 5/31)
CIDRAP:
Analysis: Mother-To-Newborn COVID-19 Transmission Infrequent
A meta-analysis of 26 studies involving mother-to-child COVID-19 transmission in the first 30 days after birth reveals an overall estimate of SARS-CoV-2 infection among infants of 2.3%. The study was published today in Scientific Reports. During the initial months of the COVID pandemic, many hospitals stopped practices known to promote breastfeeding and maternal bonding when the mother had an active COVID-19 infection at delivery, including infant room-in, skin-to-skin contact, and breastfeeding itself. (Van Beusekom, 5/31)
CIDRAP:
Kidney Transplants From COVID-19-Positive Donors Appear Safe
JAMA Network Open published a study yesterday on the safety of donors with COVID-19 donating a kidney, showing that the use of kidneys from donors with either active or resolved COVID-19 infections yields excellent outcomes. Now that the COVID-19 pandemic has entered a phase wherein many Americans have experienced infections, questions about the medium-term prognosis of organ donation remain to be answered. (Soucheray, 5/31)
The New York Times:
An Inside Look At Covid’s Lasting Damage To The Lungs
More than three years after the start of the pandemic, many Covid survivors continue to struggle. Some, especially those who became so severely ill that they were hospitalized and unable to breathe on their own, face lasting lung damage. To better understand the long-term impact of Covid’s assault on the lungs, The New York Times spoke with three patients who were hospitalized during the pandemic’s early waves, interviewed doctors who treated them and reviewed C.T. scans of their lungs over time. (White, Belluck, Bassetti-Blum, Lutz and Do Thi Duc, 5/31)
