May 22, 2021 10:12 PM
How Long Will Covid-19 Coronavirus Vaccine Protection Last?
https://www.forbes.com/sites/brucelee/20...tion-last/
Oxford-AstraZeneca vaccine 80% effective against B1.617.2 variant: UK study
https://www.theweek.in/news/health/2021/...study.html
INTRO: Two doses from either the Oxford/AstraZeneca or the Pfizer vaccine are over 80 per cent effective in preventing infection from the B1.617.2 variant of COVID-19, first discovered in India, a new UK government study has reportedly found. The Oxford/AstraZeneca two-dose vaccine is also being produced by the Serum Institute of India as Covishield and being administered among the adult population in India to protect against the deadly virus.
The UK findings are said to be based on data from Public Health England (PHE) and have also revealed that the two doses provide 87 per cent protection from the B.117 variant, first discovered in Kent region of England and also considered highly transmissible. According to The Telegraph' newspaper, the latest study's findings were presented to a meeting of the government's New and Emerging Respiratory Virus Threats Advisory Group (Nervtag) this week.
The latest PHE statistics released earlier this week show that case numbers of the B1.617.2 variant had risen by 2,111 over the past week to hit 3,424 cases across the country. "I think it's clearly growing, which anyone can see from the numbers as they are reported week by week, Dr Jeffrey Barrett, director of COVID-19 genomics at the Sanger Institute, told the BBC. "If I had to put a guess today it would be 20 or 30 per cent rather than 50 per cent (more infectious than the Kent variant). But there is still uncertainty, 50 per cent might be a reasonable worst case scenario," he said, in reference to the rate of transmissibility of the variant of concern (VOC) first detected in India.,, (MORE)
Almost no nursing home in America was safe from COVID-19, federal study finds
https://www.ocregister.com/2021/05/22/al...udy-finds/
INTRO: Months after it became painfully clear that older people were the most likely to die from COVID-19, poor infection control resulted in multiple, sustained outbreaks at the overwhelming majority of the nation’s nursing homes, according to reports from the U.S. Government Accountability Office.
Of the 50 states and District of Columbia, California ranked 19th worst for sustained COVID-19 outbreaks lasting more than five weeks from May 2020 to January 2021. But nowhere was safe: A stunning 99.5% of America’s nursing homes overseen by the Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services (CMS) had at least one outbreak, and 74% had three or more outbreaks, in the time frame examined.
“The congregate nature of nursing homes, with staff caring for multiple residents and residents sharing rooms and other communal spaces, as well as high incidence rates in the surrounding community, can increase the risk that COVID-19 will enter the home (for example, through staff) and easily spread,” the GAO said. “Asymptomatic transmission can further complicate a nursing home’s efforts to prevent and control the spread, as it allows the virus to continue to transmit in the home undetected. A growing body of evidence shows that asymptomatic transmission may be a contributing factor to nursing home COVID-19 outbreaks.”
A lack of personal protective equipment can increase the risk as well, and staffing issues — frequent turnover, and manpower shortages due to illness, became acute during the pandemic — make it harder to stick to infection-control practices, nursing home officials said.
In a series of probes over the past year, the GAO also has found that many nursing home staffers have been hesitant to get COVID-19 vaccines, which can complicate infection-control efforts, and that consumers can’t easily look up how many residents and staffers have been vaccinated at each nursing home. “This has been striking, that so many staff have had cases of COVID-19,” said John Dicken, a director on GAO’s health care team. “We recommended that CMS report vaccination rates for staff and residents of homes, so consumers, families and CMS itself will be able to better understand which facilities may be more apt to have outbreaks.”
CMS is working on that recommendation. It’s responsible for making sure the nation’s 15,500 Medicare- and Medicaid-certified nursing homes — which house 1.4 million elderly and fragile people — meet federal quality standards. But the agency has appeared loathe to crack down on homes after finding infection-control problems, the GAO found... (MORE)
https://www.forbes.com/sites/brucelee/20...tion-last/
Oxford-AstraZeneca vaccine 80% effective against B1.617.2 variant: UK study
https://www.theweek.in/news/health/2021/...study.html
INTRO: Two doses from either the Oxford/AstraZeneca or the Pfizer vaccine are over 80 per cent effective in preventing infection from the B1.617.2 variant of COVID-19, first discovered in India, a new UK government study has reportedly found. The Oxford/AstraZeneca two-dose vaccine is also being produced by the Serum Institute of India as Covishield and being administered among the adult population in India to protect against the deadly virus.
The UK findings are said to be based on data from Public Health England (PHE) and have also revealed that the two doses provide 87 per cent protection from the B.117 variant, first discovered in Kent region of England and also considered highly transmissible. According to The Telegraph' newspaper, the latest study's findings were presented to a meeting of the government's New and Emerging Respiratory Virus Threats Advisory Group (Nervtag) this week.
The latest PHE statistics released earlier this week show that case numbers of the B1.617.2 variant had risen by 2,111 over the past week to hit 3,424 cases across the country. "I think it's clearly growing, which anyone can see from the numbers as they are reported week by week, Dr Jeffrey Barrett, director of COVID-19 genomics at the Sanger Institute, told the BBC. "If I had to put a guess today it would be 20 or 30 per cent rather than 50 per cent (more infectious than the Kent variant). But there is still uncertainty, 50 per cent might be a reasonable worst case scenario," he said, in reference to the rate of transmissibility of the variant of concern (VOC) first detected in India.,, (MORE)
Almost no nursing home in America was safe from COVID-19, federal study finds
https://www.ocregister.com/2021/05/22/al...udy-finds/
INTRO: Months after it became painfully clear that older people were the most likely to die from COVID-19, poor infection control resulted in multiple, sustained outbreaks at the overwhelming majority of the nation’s nursing homes, according to reports from the U.S. Government Accountability Office.
Of the 50 states and District of Columbia, California ranked 19th worst for sustained COVID-19 outbreaks lasting more than five weeks from May 2020 to January 2021. But nowhere was safe: A stunning 99.5% of America’s nursing homes overseen by the Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services (CMS) had at least one outbreak, and 74% had three or more outbreaks, in the time frame examined.
“The congregate nature of nursing homes, with staff caring for multiple residents and residents sharing rooms and other communal spaces, as well as high incidence rates in the surrounding community, can increase the risk that COVID-19 will enter the home (for example, through staff) and easily spread,” the GAO said. “Asymptomatic transmission can further complicate a nursing home’s efforts to prevent and control the spread, as it allows the virus to continue to transmit in the home undetected. A growing body of evidence shows that asymptomatic transmission may be a contributing factor to nursing home COVID-19 outbreaks.”
A lack of personal protective equipment can increase the risk as well, and staffing issues — frequent turnover, and manpower shortages due to illness, became acute during the pandemic — make it harder to stick to infection-control practices, nursing home officials said.
In a series of probes over the past year, the GAO also has found that many nursing home staffers have been hesitant to get COVID-19 vaccines, which can complicate infection-control efforts, and that consumers can’t easily look up how many residents and staffers have been vaccinated at each nursing home. “This has been striking, that so many staff have had cases of COVID-19,” said John Dicken, a director on GAO’s health care team. “We recommended that CMS report vaccination rates for staff and residents of homes, so consumers, families and CMS itself will be able to better understand which facilities may be more apt to have outbreaks.”
CMS is working on that recommendation. It’s responsible for making sure the nation’s 15,500 Medicare- and Medicaid-certified nursing homes — which house 1.4 million elderly and fragile people — meet federal quality standards. But the agency has appeared loathe to crack down on homes after finding infection-control problems, the GAO found... (MORE)