Morning Briefing
Summaries of health policy coverage from major news organizations
Sputnik Vaccine Might Be Significantly Better Against Omicron Than Pfizer
Reuters: Sputnik V Shows Higher Omicron-Antibody Levels Than Pfizer In Preliminary Study
Researchers said samples taken three to six months after the second dose of a vaccine have shown that the levels of antibodies in recipients of two doses of Sputnik V were more resistant to Omicron than in those vaccinated with Pfizer. ... The study, that will seek certification by peer review, showed that Omicron-specific neutralizing antibodies were detected in the blood serum of 74.2% of the people vaccinated with Sputnik and in 56.9% of those vaccinated with Pfizer/BioNtech. (1/20)
In other covid and vaccine research —
USA Today: COVID Vaccine Won't Prevent Pregnancy But Infection Might
Getting vaccinated against COVID-19 won't affect a couple's chances of getting pregnant, but contracting the coronavirus could impair male fertility. Those are the main conclusions of a study funded by the National Institutes of Health, refuting a common myth about the vaccine and sending a warning to men who avoid it. Researchers at Boston University studied more than 2,000 couples and found no differences in their chances of conception if either partner was vaccinated compared to unvaccinated couples. But the couples' chances of conceiving decreased slightly if the male partner had contracted the virus 60 days or less before the other partner's menstrual cycle, an indication of diminished male fertility. (Ortiz, Bacon and Stanton, 1/20)
San Francisco Chronicle: UCSF Scientists Detect Anomalies In People With Post-COVID ‘Brain Fog’
Scientists studying the persistent “brain fog” that plagues many people after a bout with COVID-19 are reporting, for the first time, abnormalities in the clear liquid surrounding the brain and spinal cord of several patients. The discovery of elevated protein levels in the cerebrospinal fluid suggests the presence of inflammation, while unexpected antibodies may reveal an abnormally activated immune system, according to small study led by UCSF and published Tuesday in the journal Annals of Clinical and Translational Neurology. (Asimov, 1/20)
Bloomberg: Denmark Covid Cases: 36% Lower Risk Of Hospitalization From Omicron
The risk of ending up hospitalized after a Covid-19 infection is 36% lower for people who were exposed to the omicron than the delta variant, according to a new study from health authorities in Denmark. The study in the Nordic nation, which has one of the world’s most ambitious programs for testing and variant screening, showed that 0.6% of those infected with the new variant were admitted to hospital, compared with 1.5% of those who tested positive for delta. (Rolander, 1/20)
CNBC: Omicron Could Be The Most Transmissible Covid Variant We Get: Experts
It’s too soon to know if Covid’s omicron variant will hasten the end of the nearly two-year-long Covid-19 pandemic. But some experts say that when it comes to contagiousness, omicron could be the “most transmissible the virus can get.” The reason: Due to “evolutionary constraints” on how many mutations and changes the virus can make, omicron could be “the ultimate version of this virus,” Dr. William Moss, executive director of the International Vaccine Access Center at the Johns Hopkins Bloomberg School of Public Health, tells CNBC Make It. (Scipioni, 1/20)
The Boston Globe: What Happens After Omicron? Some Experts Predict A Lull But Say The Virus Could Have More Tricks Up Its Sleeve
The surge fueled by the Omicron variant will likely fade in the weeks ahead in the United States, experts say, and encouraging case declines have already emerged in Massachusetts and other states in the Northeast. But what comes after that? Some experts are expecting a lull in the pandemic followed by a decline in the severity of future waves. But many also warn that it’s hard to predict where the pandemic will go next — and a new variant could throw everything into doubt. “I want to emphasize that we don’t know what comes after Omicron,” said Dr. Jake Lemieux, an infectious disease specialist at Massachusetts General Hospital and co-leader of the viral variants program at the Massachusetts Consortium on Pathogen Readiness. (Finucane, 1/20)
