Category: Side Effects
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
Israel: 60% of severely ill Covid patients are fully vaccinated
At least 153 patients in Israel’s hospitals are in serious condition, of whom 28 are ventilated. 93 out of the 153 severely ill patients have been fully vaccinated, or 60% of the total.
According to the Israeli Health Ministry, 102 of the severely ill patients are aged 65 and over, 76 of whom are fully vaccinated. At least 39 of the severely ill are between the age of 40 and 65, while 16 of them are fully vaccinated. Six of the severely ill are below the age of 40 but only one of them is fully vaccinated.
Israel: Are recovered Covid patients more protected than the vaccinated?
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Massachusetts: 5,166 vaccine breakthrough cases, 80 deaths
More than 5,000 breakthrough COVID infections have been reported in Massachusetts, according to the latest Department of Public Health data. A total of 5,166 breakthrough cases have been reported through July 17, resulting in 80 deaths. A week ago, there were 4,450 cases and 79 deaths reported among fully vaccinated people.
Editor’s note: 4,450 to 5,166 vaccine breakthrough cases is a 16% increase in one week
Massachusetts: more than 4,300 #coronavirus breakthrough cases reported – up 28% in a week
Image by David Mark from Pixabay
Preprint: Fatal neuroinvasion of SARS-CoV-2 in mice
Here, we show that in a widely used transgenic mouse model of COVID-19, lethality is invariably associated with viral neuroinvasion and the ensuing neuronal disease, while lung inflammation remains moderate.
BiorXiv preprint: Fatal neuroinvasion of SARS-CoV-2 in K18-hACE2 mice is partially dependent on hACE2 expression
Image by Tibor Janosi Mozes from Pixabay
More than half of young people with mild Covid-19 infections experienced Long Covid
Researchers at Haukeland University Hospital in Bergen, Norway, have followed 312 Covid-19 patients for an entire year. 247 of them home-isolated, while 65 were hospitalized. At six months, 61 per cent of all patients had persistent symptoms, the researchers found. Among those who home-isolated, 52 per cent still experienced various symptoms after half a year.
Photo by Mufid Majnun on Unsplash
Lancet: cognitive deficits in people who have recovered from COVID-19
People who had recovered from COVID-19, including those no longer reporting symptoms, exhibited significant cognitive deficits versus controls when controlling for age, gender, education level, income, racial-ethnic group, pre-existing medical disorders, tiredness, depression and anxiety.
The deficits were of substantial effect size for people who had been hospitalised, but also for non-hospitalised cases who had biological confirmation of COVID-19 infection. Analysing markers of premorbid intelligence did not support these differences being present prior to infection. Finer grained analysis of performance across sub-tests supported the hypothesis that COVID-19 has a multi-domain impact on human cognition.
Image by Gerd Altmann from Pixabay
Israel: 5,770 vaccine breakthrough infections, 495 hospitalized, 123 died
The Israeli Health Ministry reported Thursday the efficacy of Pfizer’s coronavirus vaccine in preventing infection has dropped to 39% but the effectiveness in preventing severe illness still remains relatively high.
The report adds the efficacy of the vaccine in preventing serious illness has also dropped and now stands at 91%. The efficacy in preventing hospitalizations among vaccinated now stands at 88%.
5,770 people diagnosed with Covid-19 were fully vaccinated, 495 patients were hospitalized, 334 were hospitalized in a serious condition, and 123 died.
Update 1:
Israel has already begun administering a third dose of Pfizer- BioNTech vaccine to adults with compromised immune systems.
Update 2:
In a separate surprising development, Israel has said it is moving away from the Pfizer vaccine and over to the Moderna vaccine
Update 3:
This Jerusalem Post article gives a credible explanation as to why Israel is reporting vaccine efficacy numbers that are different to those published by recent British studies:
“It is beginning to become clear that vaccine immunity begins to wane after about six months. The Israeli study showed that for people vaccinated more than six months ago, the effectiveness of the vaccine at stopping coronavirus dropped to as low as 16%.”
So what is Plan B if the vaccines fail with a new #coronavirus super-variant?
Pfizer and AstraZeneca vaccine antibodies start to wane after six weeks
Blood tests on hundreds of British people revealed that protective antibodies can wane substantially within weeks of second vaccine shots being given.
The UCL Virus Watch study found that antibodies generated by two doses of the Oxford/AstraZeneca and Pfizer/BioNTech vaccines started to wane as early as six weeks after the second shot, in some cases falling more than 50% over 10 weeks.
Israel: 90% of confirmed Covid-19 cases in the over-fifties are fully vaccinated
Israel: 90% of confirmed Covid-19 cases in the over-fifties are fully vaccinated
The Covid vaccine may be losing its efficacy in older people, researchers in Israel have warned. The monitoring team at the Hebrew University in Jerusalem reported that about 90 per cent of new confirmed cases in the over-fifties group were people who had been fully vaccinated. “It seems there’s a reduced efficiency of the vaccine, at least for part of the population,” the team said.
UK: vaccine breakthroughs now nearly HALF of all new Covid-19 cases
Image by PublicDomainPictures from Pixabay
UK: Vaccine Breakthrough for Health Minister Sajid Javid
Sajid Javid, who became UK health secretary in June, said he had taken a lateral flow test after feeling a “bit groggy” on Friday night and it was positive. He said he was now self-isolating until he got the results of a PCR test. In a video posted on his Twitter feed, Mr Javid said: “I was feeling a bit groggy last night, so I took a lateral flow test this morning and it’s come out positive, so I’m now self-isolating at home with my family until I get the results of a PCR test.” “I’m grateful that I’ve had two jabs of the vaccine and so far my symptoms are very mild.”
UK: vaccine breakthroughs now nearly HALF of all new Covid-19 cases
UK: vaccine breakthroughs now nearly HALF of all new Covid-19 cases
There are currently 15,537 new daily symptomatic cases in partly or fully vaccinated people, an increase of 40% from 11,084 new cases last week. It is estimated that among unvaccinated people in the UK there are currently 17,581 new daily symptomatic cases of COVID on average, based on PCR test data from up to five days ago, a decrease of 22% from 22,638 last week. The overall number of estimated cases is 33,118 which remains similar to last week’s figure which was 33,723.
With cases in the vaccinated group continuing to rise, the number of new cases in the vaccinated population is set to overtake the unvaccinated in the coming days.
Update to this story:
UK: Covid-19 study shows 40% vaccine breakthrough after changing its methodology
Last week….
UK: Vaccine breakthroughs now one third of all new Covid-19 cases
India: children returning to hospitals with long-covid symptoms like breathlessness, headaches, say Delhi doctors
Dr Nameet Jerath, Senior Consultant, Pediatric Intensive Care, Indraprastha Apollo Hospitals, New Delhi, said most children previously infected with coronavirus have had mild Covid, but stressed that even those who were asymptomatic are having prolonged low grade fevers, weakness, headache even after recovery.
Dr Shuchin Bajaj, Founder-Director, Ujala Cygnus Group of Hospitals, said that children are facing the issue of brain fogging and are unable to remember what they studied.
“They do not have much energy left, are stressed, anxious. Parents might confuse brain fogging with children trying to make excuses to not study or attend online classes, but these are real symptoms,” he said.
Bajaj also said that in children who had severe Covid, symptoms like shortness of breath, developing severe heart rate even while going to toilet, severe headaches were found.
“These symptoms were found to be persisting for three to four months,” he added.
Image by AkshayaPatra Foundation from Pixabay
UK: Vaccine breakthroughs now one third of all new Covid-19 cases
According to the UK ZOE COVID Study, among unvaccinated people in the UK there are currently 22,638 new daily symptomatic cases of COVID on average. Among partly or fully vaccinated people there are currently 11,084 new daily symptomatic cases, an increase of 85% from last week. The positivity rate is still much higher in those with just a first dose, compared to those who are double vaccinated
Latest:
UK: vaccine breakthroughs now nearly HALF of all new Covid-19 cases
UK: learning to live with COVID-19 cannot mean simply allowing infections to spread unchecked causing hospitalisations, illness – including Long COVID, and deaths
Joint Statement from the Association of Directors of Public Health and the Faculty of Public Health on the COVID-19 Roadmap.
Whilst the Roadmap is coming to an end on the 19th July, COVID-19 is not.
Learning to live with COVID-19 cannot mean simply allowing infections to spread unchecked causing hospitalisations, illness – including Long COVID, and deaths; and increasing the possibility of new variants of concern. Evidence shows carefully selected public health messages and measures both limit transmission and provide the foundation for a sustainable economic and social recovery, rather than being a roadblock.
ADPH and FPH continue to argue for a combination approach to protecting our communities. The vaccination rollout is a huge success and allows us to move closer to normality, but it is far from complete. Therefore, handwashing, ventilation, testing, isolating and face coverings in high-risk settings remain vital tools.
Balanced measures, clear communication and the collective effort of everyone are key to easing restrictions and keeping cases at low levels. This is a challenging moment and caution is crucial.
Joint Statement from the Association of Directors of Public Health and the Faculty of Public Health on the COVID-19 Roadmap.
Image by Cor Gaasbeek from Pixabay