Morning Briefing
Summaries of health policy coverage from major news organizations
Variants Vs. Vaccines: Scientists Prepare For Future Mutations
The Hill: AstraZeneca Says Vaccines Against New Variants May Take Six Months To Produce
AstraZeneca said in a a company document published Thursday that producing vaccines focused on combating new COVID-19 variants could take at least six months. The Anglo-Swedish drugmaker, which has worked with Oxford University to produce its vaccine, said in a 2020 review that it “hopes to reduce the time needed to reach production at scale to between six to nine months, by utilising existing clinical data and optimising its established supply chain.” (Coleman, 2/11)
The Guardian: Pfizer Vaccine Found To Give Strong Immune Response To New Covid Variants
People who have received two doses of the Pfizer vaccine have been found to have strong T-cell responses against the Kent and South African variants of Covid, suggesting that the vaccine will continue to protect against serious disease in the coming months. ... Although previous studies had suggested that antibodies from those vaccinated with the Pfizer/BioNTech jab could recognise and neutralise viruses carrying some of the individual mutations found in the South African and Kent variants – albeit at slightly lower levels compared with previous variants – these were tested on engineered viruses rather than ones isolated from real patients. (Gedes, 2/11)
NPR: FDA Prepares For COVID-19 Vaccines Changes To Deal With Variants
With two COVID-19 vaccines available in the United States and more on the way, things are starting to look up. But virus mutations being detected around the world mean the vaccines may one day need updates to ensure they stay effective. The Food and Drug Administration is already working on a playbook for how it could greenlight vaccine changes. "So, we have been trying to think about this for a while because I think what we learned very early on as we started to see variants emerge was there was the potential that this could happen, right?" The FDA's Peter Marks said during a webcast with the American Medical Association on Jan. 29. "Because of that, we're not going to get caught off guard." (Lupkin, 2/11)
In other news about the spread of the variants —
Los Angeles Times: Coronavirus Variant From L.A. Has Spread Around The World
The coronavirus variant first seen in Los Angeles in July now accounts for about 44% of new infections in Southern California and more than a third of new infections throughout the state, researchers reported Thursday. In addition, the variant has spread across the United States and to six countries around the globe, according to the study in the Journal of the American Medical Assn. It “remains uncertain” whether the genetic changes that characterize the fast-moving variant have improved its ability to transmit from person to person, or to make people infected with it sicker, a team from Cedars-Sinai Medical Center in Los Angeles acknowledged in the JAMA report. But the virus’ rapid propagation in California is a cause for some concern, they wrote. (Healy, 2/11)
The Hill: DC Health Says UK, South African COVID-19 Strains Detected
Two separate variants of the coronavirus, first detected in the United Kingdom and South Africa, have been detected in three Washington, D.C., residents, the city health department said Thursday. Director of D.C. Health LaQuandra Nesbitt noted that not every positive test has been sequenced, only a sample, so there are likely more cases of the variants present. (Weixel, 2/11)
