Category: Vaccine
South Korea: 779 vaccine breakthroughs by vaccine
Janssen’s Covid-19 vaccine recipients reported the largest number of Covid-19 breakthrough infections among the fully vaccinated in South Korea, the Korea Disease Control and Prevention Agency (KDCA) said in a regular briefing on Tuesday.
The KDCA said 779 out of 5,543,933 vaccinated people in Korea, or 14.1 per 100,000, are estimated to have had breakthrough infections as of Thursday.
By type of vaccine, 16.9 per 100,000 people given the AstraZeneca vaccine had breakthrough infections, 5 per 100,000 with the Pfizer vaccine, 38.5 per 100,000 with the Janssen vaccine, and 0.7 per 100,000 with cross vaccination with the first dose of the AZ vaccine and the second dose of the Pfizer vaccine.
Deepti Gurdasani: “This is a virus that we need to eliminate”, condemns “herd immunity” policies
“There’s no country that has attained herd immunity to SARS-CoV-2. And, certainly, there are countries with different levels of vaccination. I mean, some countries have over 60 percent of their population fully vaccinated. There are also countries that have had natural exposure to the infection at very high rates. But it hasn’t extinguished the pandemic. We’ve always seen surges even after that. And I think that reflects several factors.
One, I think natural immunity can wane over time. And I think the durability of that immunity does depend on the severity of original infection. When infections are mild and asymptomatic, we can have at least weighting of neutralizing antibodies and how that correlates with waning immunity. We don’t know yet, but we know that re-infection, or the getting infected again with the virus, either the same variant or another variant, are far more common than we originally thought. Although there is protection, even over longer duration of time, it’s not absolute.”
WSWS.org interview with Dr. Deepti Gurdasani **
** One of just a handful of people on Earth who seems to understand the existential threat that Sars-CoV-2 poses
USA: Alabama’s Covid hospitalizations jump by 30% in one night
A report from the Alabama Department of Health’s online dashboard showed 1,883 hospitalized COVID patients, up by 432 over Sunday’s total. That’s an increase of 29.8% in just one day. The total is the highest since Feb. 1, which was during the downward trend of the winter surge in the virus, just as vaccines were first distributed. The pandemic record of 3,084 inpatients was set on Jan. 11. The new total is 11.3 times the low set on June 20 of 166 hospitalized COVID patients and 75% higher than one week ago.
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Hospitals in Texas are also swamped with Covid patients
Image by David Mark from Pixabay
USA: 233 San Francisco healthcare workers in vaccine breakthough outbreak
At least 233 staff members at two major San Francisco hospitals, most of them fully vaccinated, tested positive for the coronavirus this month. About 75 to 80 percent of the more than 50 staff members infected at Zuckerberg San Francisco General Hospital were fully vaccinated, Dr. Lukejohn Day, the hospital’s chief medical officer, said in an interview on Saturday. The University of California, San Francisco Medical Center said in a statement issued on Friday that 153 of its 183 infected staff members had been fully vaccinated.
Image by Foundry Co from Pixabay
CDC: The Covid-19 report that changed the CDC’s view on facemasks
The report that encouraged the CDC to change its facemask mandate this week
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USA: At least 125,000 vaccine breakthrough infections, 1,400 dead
At least 125,000 fully vaccinated Americans have tested positive for Covid and 1,400 of those have died, according to data collected by NBC News. The total number of breakthrough cases is likely higher than 125,683, since nine states, including Pennsylvania and Missouri, did not provide any information, while 11, like Florida, did not provide death and hospitalization totals. Four states gave death and hospitalization numbers, but not the full tally of cases.
WAPO: 35,000 symptomatic Covid-19 infections per week among 162 million vaccinated Americans
USA: Cape Cod superspreader – 79% of breakthrough infections symptomatic, 80% of hospitalized were fully vaccinated
Scientists researching the Provincetown, Cape Cod Covid outbreak reported that 79 percent of the breakthrough infections were symptomatic. Four of five people who were hospitalized were fully vaccinated.
The CDC study “raises the very worrisome possibility that high viral loads can occur in people who have Delta, and this is a fundamental as we have to approach the fall and winter,” said David O’Connor, a professor of pathology and laboratory medicine at the University of Wisconsin School of Medicine and Public Health.
Image by Mark Martins from Pixabay
Kit Yates on “We have to learn to live with the virus”
What do the people who say “learn to live with the virus” actually mean?
They mean: fail to learn any of the lessons of the last 18 months, fail to mitigate against the spread of the virus and tolerate avoidable deaths and disease burden.
I’d rather we didn’t.
— Kit Yates (@Kit_Yates_Maths) July 30, 2021
Over to you Kirsty….
Netherlands superspreader event sees one person infect 180 people in nightclub
The coronavirus outbreak at the Aspen Valley nightclub in Enschede on June 26 that resulted in 180 people contracting the coronavirus can be traced back to one person, an investigation from the GGD Twente showed. Other factors also facilitated the widespread of the disease on that night.
“There are strong indications there was one person infected with the SARS-CoV-2 coronavirus present who caused the remaining infections”, said Dr. Sanne Mensink of the GGD in a statement. Attendees were required to show proof of vaccination or negative coronavirus test upon entry.
Image by Cor Gaasbeek from Pixabay
WAPO: 35,000 symptomatic Covid-19 infections per week among 162 million vaccinated Americans
“CDC Director Rochelle Walensky privately briefed members of Congress on Thursday, drawing on much of the material in the document. One of the slides states that there is a higher risk among older age groups for hospitalization and death relative to younger people, regardless of vaccination status. Another estimates that there are 35,000 symptomatic infections per week among 162 million vaccinated Americans.”
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“vaccinated individuals infected with Delta may be able to transmit the virus as easily as those who are unvaccinated. Vaccinated people infected with Delta have measurable viral loads similar to those who are unvaccinated and infected with the variant.”
Washington Post: The War Has Changed
CDC: The Covid-19 report that changed the CDC’s view on facemasks
Image by David Mark from Pixabay
USA: Vaccination is not enough by itself to stop the spread of Covid-19 variants
Vaccination alone won’t stop the rise of new Covid-19 variants and in fact could push the evolution of strains that evade their protection, researchers warned Friday. They said people need to wear masks and take other steps to prevent spread until almost everyone in a population has been vaccinated.
Nature.com Preprint: Rates of SARS-CoV-2 transmission and vaccination impact the fate of vaccine-resistant strains
USA: Provincetown, Cape Cod outbreak – 882 infections, 74% fully immunized, most reporting symptoms
As of Thursday, 882 people were tied to the Provincetown outbreak. Among those living in Massachusetts, 74% of them were fully immunized, yet officials said the vast majority were also reporting symptoms. Seven people were reported hospitalized.
Image by Christophe Schindler from Pixabay
Israel: booster vaccine jab rollout begins – third vaccination in 8 months for some
Israeli Prime Minister Naftali Bennett announced on Thursday the world’s first vaccination drive to inoculate people over 60 with a third Covid vaccine dose, starting Sunday. Speaking at a press conference at Sheba Medical Center in Tel Hashomer, where 60-year-old Herzog received the jab, Bennett said: “We are launching our third jab campaign to protect seniors in Israel. From today there is a new mitzvah: to vaccinate your fathers and mothers.”
Israel: 60% of severely ill Covid patients are fully vaccinated
USA: Washington State Vaccine Breakthroughs by Variant up to 28th July 2021
This week’s update from Washington State showing vaccine breakthrough cases and which Sars-CoV-2 variant is causing them up to 28th July 2021. Of note this week is huge jump for Delta B.1.617.2 breakthrough cases, which have more than doubled in one week from 113 to 254. There are further increases in vaccine breakthroughs for other variants too.
Vaccine Breakthroughs up to 28th July 2021
| 28th July 2021 Variant | Lineage | Number of Vaccine Breakthrough Cases With Variant | Percentage of Vaccine Breakthrough Cases With Variant | Percentage of Sequences From All Covid-19 Cases With Variant | Increase in Number of Breakthroughs From Previous Week |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Alpha | B.1.1.7 | 337 | 34% | 43% | 29 |
| Gamma | P.1 | 168 | 17% | 10% | 12 |
| Epsilon | B.1.429 | 116 | 12% | 15% | 3 |
| Delta | B.1.617.2 | 254 | 26% | 7% | 141 |
| Iota | B.1.526 | 26 | 3% | 3% | 4 |
| Beta | B.1.351 | 10 | 1% | 1% | 0 |
| Epsilon | B.1.427 | 11 | 1% | 2% | 0 |
| Eta | B.1.525 | 4 | 0% | 0% | 0 |
| Kappa | B.1.617.1 | 1 | 0% | 0% | 0 |
| Zeta | P.2 | 0 | 0% | 0% | 0 |
| Other | Other | 54 | 6% | 18% | 4 |
| Total | 981 | 100% | 100% | 193 |
Vaccine Breakthroughs up to 21st July 2021
| 21st July 2021 Variant | Lineage | Number of Vaccine Breakthrough Cases With Variant | Percentage of Vaccine Breakthrough Cases With Variant | Percentage of Sequences From All Covid-19 Cases With Variant | Increase in Number of Breakthroughs From Previous Week |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Alpha | B.1.1.7 | 308 | 39% | 44% | -1 |
| Gamma | P.1 | 156 | 20% | 10% | 9 |
| Epsilon | B.1.429 | 113 | 14% | 16% | 0 |
| Delta | B.1.617.2 | 113 | 14% | 4% | 23 |
| Iota | B.1.526 | 22 | 3% | 3% | 0 |
| Beta | B.1.351 | 10 | 1% | 1% | -1 |
| Epsilon | B.1.427 | 11 | 1% | 2% | 0 |
| Eta | B.1.525 | 4 | 1% | 0% | 0 |
| Kappa | B.1.617.1 | 1 | 0% | 0% | 0 |
| Zeta | P.2 | 0 | 0% | 0% | 0 |
| Other | Other | 50 | 6% | 19% | 0 |
| Total | 788 | 100% | 100% | 30 |
Vaccine Breakthroughs up to 14th July 2021
| 14th July 2021 Variant | Lineage | Number of Vaccine Breakthrough Cases With Variant | Percentage of Vaccine Breakthrough Cases With Variant | Percentage of Sequences From All Covid-19 Cases With Variant | Increase in Number of Breakthroughs From Previous Week |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Alpha | B.1.1.7 | 309 | 41% | 44% | 12 |
| Gamma | P.1 | 147 | 19% | 10% | 6 |
| Epsilon | B.1.429 | 113 | 15% | 16% | 0 |
| Delta | B.1.617.2 | 90 | 12% | 4% | 20 |
| Iota | B.1.526 | 22 | 3% | 3% | 1 |
| Beta | B.1.351 | 11 | 1% | 1% | 0 |
| Epsilon | B.1.427 | 11 | 1% | 2% | 0 |
| Eta | B.1.525 | 4 | 1% | 0% | 0 |
| Kappa | B.1.617.1 | 1 | 0% | 0% | 0 |
| Zeta | P.2 | 0 | 0% | 0% | 0 |
| Other | Other | 49 | 6% | 20% | 0 |
| Total | 757 | 100% | 100% | 39 |
USA: Washington State Vaccine Breakthroughs by Variant up to 21st July 2021
So what is Plan B if the vaccines fail with a new #coronavirus super-variant?
Image by David Mark from Pixabay