October 5, 2021

The case for boosters gains a fresh evidentiary crack. Nature reports that vaccines cut the risk of transmitting Delta but not for long, and Reuters covers a study showing Pfizer’s effectiveness dropping after six months. Johnson & Johnson asks the F.D.A. to authorize its own booster the same day, so the waning-immunity findings arrive just as the machinery for more shots is being assembled.

Francis Collins nears the announcement that he will step down as N.I.H. director after twelve years, Bloomberg reports, leaving a void at the top of the U.S. research establishment as questions about the agency’s pandemic role mount. Reuters reports that rapid tests are growing scarce and pricey as employer demand jumps, a shortage that persists a year and a half into the pandemic.

The Guardian reports that the richest Americans grew 40 percent richer during the pandemic, the Forbes 400 adding $4.5 trillion in wealth while lockdowns hollowed out smaller businesses. Time argues that vaccines cannot end pandemics alone, a caveat that cuts against the single-solution messaging built around the shots.

COVID vaccines cut the risk of transmitting Delta — but not for long

People who receive two COVID-19 jabs and later contract the Delta variant are less likely to infect their close contacts than are unvaccinated people with Delta.

Nature

Working To Make COVID-19 Vaccines Accessible to Everyone, Everywhere

Pfizer

SARS-CoV-2 immune repertoire in MIS-C and pediatric COVID-19 - Nature Immunology

Pediatric COVID-19 can be associated with subsequent multisystem inflammatory syndrome in children (MIS-C), but how these pathologies are related or differ is unclear. Here the authors compare and contrast pediatric COVID-19 and MIS-C immunophenotypes using SARS-CoV-2 antibody fingerprinting proteomics.

Nature

Young Adults Report Rising Levels of Anxiety and Depression in Pandemic (Published 2020)

The New York Times

Focus: Rapid COVID-19 tests increasingly scarce, pricey as demand from employers jumps

Reuters

Teens in Covid Isolation: ‘I Felt Like I Was Suffocating’ (Published 2020)

The New York Times

Single-cell analysis of COVID-19, sepsis, and HIV infection reveals hyperinflammatory and immunosuppressive signatures in monocytes

ScienceDirect.com

To capture the scope of COVID's toll, this photographer spent 30 hours on one photo

Photographer Stephen Wilkes walks us through his process and insights into creating a photo that demonstrates the devastating loss of life from COVID-19, but sends a message of hope as well.

NPR

Understanding the effectiveness of government interventions against the resurgence of COVID-19 in Europe - Nature Communications

European governments control resurging waves of COVID-19 using nonpharmaceutical interventions. Here, the authors estimate the effectiveness of 17 interventions in Europe’s second wave, and analyse differences to the first wave as well as implications for the future of the pandemic.

Nature

Genetic and phenotypic analysis of the causal relationship between aging and COVID-19 - Communications Medicine

Ying et al. conduct a multi-instrument Mendelian randomization study looking at the link between aging and COVID-19 risk. They observe an association between genetic variation implicated in longevity and decreased risk of COVID-19 infection and hospitalization, with Notch signaling and immune system development loci found to be important in aging-related COVID-19 risk.

Nature

Tocilizumab reduces COVID-19 mortality and pathology in a dose and timing-dependent fashion: a multi-centric study - Scientific Reports

Nature

COVID’s lessons for climate, sustainability and more from Our World in Data

International agencies need the mandate, funds and expertise to connect information — otherwise pandemics, hunger and unsustainability will go unsolved.

Nature

Effect of COVID-19 pandemic lockdowns on planned cancer surgery for 15 tumour types in 61 countries: an international, prospective, cohort study

The Lancet

New book shows how failure to implement quick, accurate testing compounded COVID's spread

The United States has now passed yet another tragic pandemic milestone. COVID-19 has now claimed the lives of more than 700,000 Americans. William Brangham talks to Dr. Scott Gottlieb, a former FDA commissioner and author of new book "Uncontrolled Spread: Why COVID-19 Crushed Us and How We Can Defeat the Next Pandemic" about where the U.S. response failed and how it can do better next time.

PBS

I took the Covid vaccine while pregnant – let’s not pretend it’s an easy decision

Only 31% of pregnant Americans are fully vaccinated. I felt a responsibility toward this bean-like bundle forming in my body – which, with the conflicting advice, made it hard for me to decide

The Guardian

Arizona can't use COVID money for anti-mask grants, feds say

In a letter to Ducey, the Treasury Department said the grant programs are "not a permissible use" of the funding.

PBS

Moderna COVID-19 vaccine generates long-lasting immune memory

People who received low doses of the Moderna COVID-19 vaccine had strong immune memories of the virus six months after being fully vaccinated.

National Institutes of Health (NIH) (.gov)

Study reveals why some people get Covid toe condition

Scientists have investigated how the chilblain-like lesions arise in some people who catch Covid.

BBC

Mechanisms of SARS-CoV-2 entry into cells - Nature Reviews Molecular Cell Biology

Entry of SARS-CoV-2 into host cells is mediated by the interaction between the viral spike protein and its receptor angiotensin-converting enzyme 2, followed by virus–cell membrane fusion. Worldwide research efforts have provided a detailed understanding of this process at the structural and cellular levels, enabling successful vaccine development for a rapid response to the COVID-19 pandemic.

Nature

J&J is asking the FDA to authorize its COVID-19 booster shots

Johnson & Johnson asks the Food and Drug Administration to allow extra shots of its COVID-19 vaccine as the U.S. government moves toward expanding its booster campaign.

NPR

Romania suspends surgeries, asks EU for help as it battles coronavirus wave

Seven-day averages for case numbers and deaths have surpassed previous waves in the country.

POLITICO.eu

New Zealand will phase out its zero-covid strategy, acknowledging it cannot eliminate coronavirus

The Washington Post

Differentiating coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) from influenza and dengue - Scientific Reports

Nature

Slovenian police clash with protesters ahead of EU summit

AP News

NIH’s Francis Collins to Retire, Leaving Void in U.S. Pandemic Team

Bloomberg.com

Covid-19 numbers are improving. Don’t let history repeat itself with yet another resurgence, doctors say | CNN

CNN

Effects of surgical masks on aerosol dispersion in professional singing - Journal of Exposure Science & Environmental Epidemiology

Nature

Uncovering the release of micro/nanoplastics from disposable face masks at times of COVID-19

ScienceDirect.com

Population-scale identification of differential adverse events before and during a pandemic - Nature Computational Science

An algorithmic approach is developed to analyze large-scale patient safety data and remove the confounders of reporting trajectory and drug inference. Such an approach can be effectively used to investigate demographic disparities of drug safety and to identify at-risk patients during a pandemic.

Nature

The richest Americans became 40% richer during the pandemic

The Forbes 400 – who have each accumulated at least $2.9bn – added $4.5tn to their wealth

The Guardian

Vaccines Can’t End Pandemics Alone—And We’ve Known That Since We Eradicated Smallpox

The COVID-19 pandemic has been a painful reminder that confronting infectious diseases requires both science and social adaptation.

Time Magazine

Change sign detection with differential MDL change statistics and its applications to COVID-19 pandemic analysis - Scientific Reports

Nature

Publisher Halts Promotion of Cuomo Book, Citing Nursing Homes Inquiry (Published 2021)

The New York Times

Why U.S. pandemic management has failed: lack of attention to America's epidemic engines

If we continue to de-prioritize the health and welfare of those who our systems of inequality have rendered most vulnerable, we will be inviting deepening disasters for everyone.

www.statnews.com

‘Not just surviving, thriving’: interest in women’s sport has risen since pandemic

A fifth of UK adults have increased their following of women’s sport during the pandemic, research has found, with many citing the rise in coverage as a reason for their greater interest

The Guardian

Kate highlights pressures of being born in a pandemic

Will there be long-term consequences for children born in the pandemic?

BBC

COVID-19: ‘Hybrid immunity’ may give us ‘edge’ over the coronavirus

New research suggests that people who have had COVID-19 and then receive their first vaccine dose develop very strong immunity against a wide range of coronaviruses and SARS-CoV-2 variants.

Medical News Today

Pfizer/BioNTech COVID-19 vaccine effectiveness drops after 6 months, study shows

Reuters

Dr. Francis Collins, who led fight against cancer and COVID, steps down as NIH head

Dr. Francis S. Collins, director of the National Institutes of Health for 12 years, said Tuesday he is stepping down, capping a career in which he directed crucial research into the human genome and the fight against serious diseases like cancer, Alzheimer's, diabetes and COVID-19.

PBS

Dave Grohl on vaccine requirements for Foo Fighter shows

The Washington Post

Did we really gain weight during the pandemic? - Harvard Health

Researchers studying weight gain during the pandemic looked at health records for millions of people from both before it and during the first year of it. Unsurprisingly, a significant percen...

Harvard Health

October 5, 2021

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