Tag Archives: VACCIN

Health

Explainer: COVID, flu and RSV this U.S. winter: Why experts are worried

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Oct 26 (Reuters) – U.S. doctors are warning that a surge in cases of respiratory syncytial virus (RSV) is coinciding with an increase in COVID transmission and an earlier-than-normal flu season, raising the specter of a “tripledemic” of respiratory illness this winter.

In particular, RSV infections among young children are reportedly filling some U.S. hospitals to capacity.

“We are already seeing patients testing positive for more than one virus,” said pediatrician Dr. Ira Wardono of Providence Cedars-Sinai Tarzana Medical Center in Tarzana, California, in a statement.

WHO IS AT RISK?

Infants are most at risk from RSV because they often cannot cough up the secretions caused by the virus and may need airway suctioning or intravenous fluids. Some may need extra oxygen. Older children and most adults typically experience mild, cold-like symptoms.

On average, RSV leads to 58,000 hospitalizations among children under age 5 and 177,000 hospitalizations among adults age 65 and older each year, according to the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.

RSV deaths are rare in U.S. children, but 14,000 adults die annually from the virus, with older or immunocompromised individuals at greatest risk, the CDC said.

[1/4] A child rides in a stroller while wearing a mask in Times Square during the coronavirus disease (COVID-19) pandemic in the Manhattan borough of New York City, New York, U.S., December 15, 2021. REUTERS/Carlo Allegri/File Photo

WHAT CAN PREVENT RSV?

Infection with RSV can be prevented in the same way one would ward off any virus: staying away from people who are sick, ensuring the best possible ventilation when you are indoors, wearing a high quality mask, and keeping your hands as clean as possible, said Dr. Jay Varma, Chief Medical Adviser at Kroll.com and Director of the Weill Cornell Center for Pandemic Prevention and Response.

High-risk infants can receive preventive treatment with monthly doses of Synagis (palivizumab) from Swedish drugmaker Orphan Biovitrum. AstraZeneca Plc and Sanofi SA are hoping for U.S. and European approval of Beyfortus (nirsevimab) for preventing RSV infections in newborns and infants.

There is no vaccine against RSV, although Pfizer Inc is developing RSVpreF for adults. In the meantime, it is important “for everyone to get up to date on their COVID and flu vaccines,” Varma said.

WHAT IS CAUSING THIS SURGE?

Part of the increase in RSV cases is due to the relaxation of COVID-precautions, such as masking and social distancing, which reduced rates of both RSV and flu during the pandemic, Varma said.

RSV rates were unusually low in the fall/winter of 2020-2021 but increased dramatically starting in Spring 2021 and have spiked since late August.

The CDC says it cannot yet predict when the previous seasonal patterns will return.

Reporting by Nancy Lapid; Editing by Michele Gershberg and Richard Pullin

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Business

Pfizer expects to hike U.S. COVID vaccine price to $110-$130 per dose

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NEW YORK, Oct 20 (Reuters) – Pfizer Inc expects to roughly quadruple the price of its COVID-19 vaccine to about $110 to $130 per dose after the United States government’s current purchase program expires, Pfizer executive Angela Lukin said on Thursday.

Lukin said she expects the vaccine – currently provided for free to all by the government – will be made available at no cost to people who have private insurance or government paid insurance.

Reuters earlier on Thursday reported that Wall Street was expecting such price hikes due to weak demand for COVID vaccines, which meant vaccine makers would need to hike prices to meet revenue forecasts for 2023 and beyond.

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The U.S. government currently pays around $30 per dose to Pfizer and German partner BioNTech SE (22UAy.DE). In 2023, the market is expected to move to private insurance after the U.S. public health emergency expires.

“We are confident that the U.S. price point of the COVID-19 vaccine reflects its overall cost effectiveness and ensures the price will not be a barrier for access for patients,” Lukin said.

It is not yet clear what kind of access people without health insurance will have to the vaccine.

Pfizer said it expects the COVID-19 market to be about the size of the flu shot market on an annual basis for adults, but that the pediatric market would take longer to build based on shots given so far.

So far the U.S. rollout of updated COVID-19 booster shots which target both the original coronavirus strain and the Omicron strain has lagged last year’s rate despite more people being eligible for the shots.

Around 14.8 million people in the U.S. received a booster shot over the first six weeks of the rollout of the new shots. In the first six weeks of the 2021 revaccination campaign, over 22 million people received their third shot even though only older and immunocompromised people were eligible at that point.

Lukin said she does not expect purchasing of the vaccines to transfer to the private sector until the first quarter of 2023 “at the earliest.” The move is dependent on the government contracted supply being depleted.

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Reporting by Michael Erman; Writing by Caroline Humer; Editing by Bill Berkrot and Richard Pullin

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Business

U.S. adds China’s YMTC and 30 other firms to ‘unverified’ trade list

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WASHINGTON, Oct 7 (Reuters) – The United States on Friday added China’s top memory chipmaker YMTC and 30 other Chinese entities to a list of companies that U.S. officials have been unable to inspect, ratcheting up tensions with Beijing and starting a 60 day-clock that could trigger much tougher penalties.

The new listings were the first of a slew of new restrictions announced on Friday on exports of technology to China aimed at blocking military advances. The crackdown included curbs on access to chipmaking tools for Chinese firms including Yantze Memory Technologies Co (YMTC), as reported by Reuters a day earlier. read more

U.S. senators from both parties have been calling for YMTC, China’s fast-growing chip manufacturer, to be placed on a trade blacklist known as the “entity list.” The company, founded in 2016, poses a “direct threat” to U.S. chip companies, according to the Biden administration.

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YMTC and the Chinese embassy in Washington did not respond to requests for comment.

YMTC is under investigation by the Commerce Department over whether it violated U.S. export controls by selling chips to blacklisted Chinese telecommunications company Huawei Technologies Co Ltd. Its chips also are being evaluated by Apple Inc for inclusion in some of its iPhones in China, a major concern for U.S. lawmakers and the Biden administration.

Companies are added to the unverified list because the United States could not complete on-site visits to determine whether they can be trusted to receive sensitive technology exports from the United States. U.S. inspections of Chinese companies require the approval of China’s commerce ministry.

U.S. exporters must conduct additional due diligence before sending goods to entities placed on the “unverified list,” like the 31 added on Friday, and may have to apply for more licenses.

Under the Biden administration’s new policy, if a government prevents U.S. officials from conducting site checks at companies placed the unverified list, Washington will start the process for adding them to the entity list after 60 days.

Entity listing YMTC would further escalate tensions with Beijing and force its U.S. suppliers to seek difficult-to-obtain licenses from the U.S. government before shipping them even the most low-tech items.

Not all the measures announced on Friday were bad news for China. The United States removed a unit of Wuxi Biologics, maker of ingredients for AstraZeneca’s COVID-19 vaccine, from the unverified list. Reuters reported last summer that U.S. officials had been able to conduct an inspection at the Wuxi city site, a stepping stone to removal from the list.

A Wuxi Biologics spokeswoman said the company was pleased the Wuxi site was removed from the list, given the inspection in June. The company looks forward to scheduling an inspection of its Shanghai subsidiary, which also was placed on the unverified list in February, she added.

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Reporting by Karen Freifeld; Editing by Chris Gallagher, Chris Sanders, Chizu Nomiyama, Mark Porter and Richard Chang

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Health

COVID wave looms in Europe as booster campaign makes slow start

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Oct 6 (Reuters) – A new COVID-19 wave appears to be brewing in Europe as cooler weather arrives, with public health experts warning that vaccine fatigue and confusion over types of available vaccines will likely limit booster uptake.

Omicron subvariants BA.4/5 that dominated this summer are still behind the majority of infections, but newer Omicron subvariants are gaining ground. Hundreds of new forms of Omicron are being tracked by scientists, World Health Organisation (WHO) officials said this week.

WHO data released late on Wednesday showed that cases in the European Union (EU) reached 1.5 million last week, up 8% from the prior week, despite a dramatic fall in testing. Globally, case numbers continue to decline.

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Hospitalisation numbers across many countries in the 27-nation bloc, as well as Britain, have gone up in recent weeks.

In the week ended Oct 4, COVID-19 hospital admissions with symptoms jumped nearly 32% in Italy, while intensive care admissions rose about 21%, compared to the week before, according to data compiled by independent scientific foundation Gimbe.

Over the same week, COVID hospitalisations in Britain saw a 45% increase versus the week earlier.

Omicron-adapted vaccines have launched in Europe as of September, with two types of shots addressing the BA.1 as well as the BA.4/5 subvariants made available alongside existing first-generation vaccines. In Britain, only the BA.1-tailored shots have been given the green light.

European and British officials have endorsed the latest boosters only for a select groups of people, including the elderly and those with compromised immune systems. Complicating matters further is the “choice” of vaccine as a booster, which will likely add to confusion, public health experts said.

But willingness to get yet another shot, which could be a fourth or fifth for some, is wearing thin.

“For those who may be less concerned about their risk, the messaging that it is all over coupled with the lack of any major publicity campaign is likely to reduce uptake,” said Martin McKee, professor of European public health at the London School of Hygiene and Tropical Medicine.

FALSE SENSE OF SECURITY

“So on balance I fear that uptake will be quite a bit lower.”

“Another confounder is that quite a high proportion of the population might have also had a COVID episode in recent months,” said Penny Ward, visiting professor in pharmaceutical medicine at King’s College London.

Some may erroneously feel that having had a complete primary course and then having fallen ill with COVID means they will remain immune, she added.

Since Sept. 5, when the roll-out of new vaccines began in the European Union, about 40 million vaccine doses produced by Pfizer-BioNTech (22UAy.DE) and Moderna (MRNA.O) have been delivered to member states, according to data from the European Centre for Disease Prevention and Control (ECDC).

However, weekly vaccine doses administered in the EU were only between 1 million and 1.4 million during September, compared with 6-10 million per week during the year-earlier period, ECDC data showed.

Perhaps the biggest challenge to uptake is the perception that the pandemic is over, creating a false sense of security.

“There must be some complacency in that life seems to have gone back to normal – at least with regards COVID and people now have other financial and war-related worries,” said Adam Finn, chair of ETAGE, an expert group advising the WHO on vaccine preventable diseases in Europe.

He added that some law-makers, too, were dropping the ball.

Italy’s Gimbe science foundation said the government, soon to be replaced after an election, was ill prepared for the autumn-winter season, and highlighted that a publication on the government’s management of the pandemic had been blocked.

The health ministry declined to comment.

Meanwhile, British officials last week warned that renewed circulation of flu and a resurgence in COVID-19 could pile pressure on the already stretched National Health Service (NHS).

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Reporting by Ludwig Burger in Frankfurt, Natalie Grover and Jennifer Rigby in London, Emilio Parodi in Milan, Editing by William Maclean

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Health

New York to ramp up polio vaccinations after virus found in wastewater

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New York Governor Kathy Hochul speaks during a news conference regarding new gun laws in New York, U.S., August 31, 2022. REUTERS/Brendan McDermid

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NEW YORK, Sept 9 (Reuters) – New York Governor Kathy Hochul declared a disaster emergency on Friday in a bid to accelerate efforts to vaccinate residents against polio after the virus was detected in wastewater samples taken in four counties.

Hochul’s executive order followed the discovery of the virus last month in samples from Long Island’s Nassau County, bordering the New York City borough of Queens. Earlier this year the virus was found in samples from Rockland, Orange and Sullivan counties, all north of the city.

In July, the first confirmed case of polio in the United States in nearly a decade turned up in an adult in Rockland County, according to the state health department.

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“On polio, we simply cannot roll the dice,” State Health Commissioner Mary Bassett said in a statement. “If you or your child are unvaccinated or not up to date with vaccinations, the risk of paralytic disease is real.”

Polio can cause irreversible paralysis in some cases, but it can be prevented by a vaccine first made available in 1955. While there is no known cure, three injections of the vaccine provide nearly 100% immunity.

People of all ages are under threat, though the virus primarily affects children aged three and younger.

Officials urged unvaccinated adults and minors as young as two months old to get inoculated against the virus, and advised that vaccinated people receive a lifetime booster dose.

Hochul’s declaration authorizes paramedics, midwives and pharmacists to administer polio vaccinations, among other steps, to accelerate inoculation rates. The order also directs health-care providers to update the state with data on immunizations.

The state of emergency will stay in effect until Oct. 9. Health official set a goal of getting 90% of residents vaccinated.

The state health department warned people in New York City, Rockland, Orange, Sullivan and Nassau counties are at the highest risk.

Orange County has the lowest vaccination rate of the counties of concern with less than 59% being immunized, according to the state health department.

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Reporting by Tyler Clifford in New York and Rami Ayyub
Editing by Alistair Bell and David Gregorio

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US

Fauci, face of U.S. COVID response, to step down from government posts

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  • Immunologist served as adviser to seven presidents
  • Fauci was vilified by Trump and Republican lawmakers
  • He faced death threats over pandemic policies

Aug 22 (Reuters) – Dr. Anthony Fauci, the top U.S. infectious disease official who became the face of America’s COVID-19 pandemic response under Presidents Donald Trump and Joe Biden, announced on Monday he is stepping down in December after 54 years of public service.

Fauci, whose efforts to fight the pandemic were applauded by many public health experts even as he was vilified by Trump and many Republicans, will leave his posts as chief medical adviser to Biden and director of the U.S. National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases (NIAID), part of the National Institutes of Health (NIH). Fauci, 81, has headed NIAID since 1984.

The veteran immunologist has served as an adviser to seven U.S. presidents beginning with Republican Ronald Reagan, focusing on newly emerging and re-emerging infectious disease dangers including HIV/AIDS, Ebola, Zika, monkeypox and COVID-19.

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Fauci endured criticism from Trump and various conservatives and even death threats against him and his family from people who objected to safeguards such as vaccination, social distancing and masking that he advocated to try to limit the lethality of the COVID-19 pandemic. After defeating Trump in the 2020 election, Biden made Fauci his chief medical adviser.

“I definitely feel it was worth staying as long as I have. It is unfortunate, but it is a fact of life that we are living in a very, very divisive society right now,” Fauci told Reuters on Monday.

Fauci said he never considered resigning due to the threats against him.

“I don’t like the idea that I have to have armed federal agents with me. That’s not a happy feeling. It’s reality. And you’ve got to deal with reality,” Fauci said.

Republican lawmakers including fierce critic Rand Paul, with whom Fauci tangled during Senate hearings, vowed on Monday to investigate him if they gain control of either the House of Representatives or Senate in November’s congressional elections.

“As he leaves his position in the U.S. Government, I know the American people and the entire world will continue to benefit from Dr. Fauci’s expertise in whatever he does next,” Biden said in a statement. “The United States of America is stronger, more resilient and healthier because of him.”

Fauci signaled his impending departure last month, telling Reuters he would retire by the end of Biden’s first term, which runs to January 2025, and possibly earlier. read more

Top U.S. infectious disease official Dr. Anthony Fauci and U.S. President Joe Biden deliver an update on the Omicron variant at the White House in Washington, U.S., November 29, 2021. REUTERS/Kevin Lamarque/File Photo

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The United States leads the world in recorded COVID-19 deaths with more than one million. In the first months of the pandemic in 2020, Fauci helped lead scientific efforts to develop and test COVID-19 vaccines in record time and took part in regular televised White House briefings alongside Trump.

Fauci became a popular and trusted figure among many Americans as the United States faced lockdowns and rising numbers of COVID-19 deaths, even inspiring the sale of cookies and bobblehead dolls featuring his likeness.

However, Fauci drew the ire of Trump and many Republicans for cautioning against reopening the U.S. economy too quickly and risking increased infections and for opposing the use of unproven treatments such as the malaria drug hydroxychloroquine.

‘A DISASTER’

Democrats accused Trump of presiding over a disjointed response to the pandemic and of disregarding advice from public health experts including Fauci. Trump in October 2020, weeks before his re-election loss, called Fauci “a disaster” and complained that Americans were tired of hearing about the pandemic. Trump even made fun of Fauci’s off-target ceremonial first pitch at a Washington Nationals baseball game.

Fauci sometimes publicly contradicted Trump’s statements about the pandemic. Fauci said on Monday that while he respects the office of the presidency, he felt he had to speak out “when things were said that were outright untrue and quite misleading.”

“I didn’t take any great pleasure in that,” Fauci said.

Paul frequently attacked Fauci during Senate hearings on the pandemic. read more

Fauci has accused Paul of spreading misinformation. Paul on his website has accused Fauci of “lying about everything from masks to the contagiousness of the virus.” Fauci during one hearing noted that Paul placed fundraising appeals on his website next to a call to have him fired.

Fauci said staying on until December allows for a search for a new director of NIAID, an institute with an annual budget exceeding $6 billion, and the appointment of an acting chief. Fauci also said he wanted to remain to help address an expected autumn upswing in COVID-19 infections.

Fauci made clear that while he will be leaving government service, he will not be retiring. He said in the future he hopes to use his expertise to help inspire a new generation of doctors to pursue careers in public health, medicine and science.

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Reporting by Leroy Leo in Bengaluru and Julie Steenhuysen in Chicago; Additional reporting by Kanishka Singh in Washington; Editing by Will Dunham and Sriraj Kalluvila

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Health

Explainer: Why has polio been found in London, New York and Jerusalem, and how dangerous is it?

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LONDON, Aug 15 (Reuters) – Polio, a deadly disease that used to paralyze tens of thousands of children every year, is spreading in London, New York and Jerusalem for the first time in decades, spurring catch-up vaccination campaigns. read more

DREADED DISEASE

Polio terrified parents around the world for the first half of the 20th century. Affecting mainly children under five, it is often asymptomatic but can also cause symptoms including fever and vomiting. Around one in 200 infections leads to irreversible paralysis, and among those patients, up to 10% die.

There is no cure, but since a vaccine was found in the 1950s, polio is entirely preventable. Globally, the wild form of the disease has almost disappeared.

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Afghanistan and Pakistan are now the only countries where the highly infectious disease, spread mainly through contact with faecal matter, remains endemic. But this year, imported cases were also found in Malawi and Mozambique, the first in those countries since the 1990s. read more

DIFFERENT STRAINS

There are two main forms of poliovirus. Alongside the wild-type outlined above, there are also rare cases of what is known as vaccine-derived polio.

It is this second form detected in wastewater in the British capital, London, and in New York in the United States, with one case of paralysis reported in New York state. Genetically similar virus has also been found in Jerusalem, Israel, and scientists are working to understand the link, the Global Polio Eradication Initiative (GPEI) said.

Big Ben and The London Eye are seen on a summer evening in London, Britain, June 15, 2022. REUTERS/Yann Tessier

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While vaccine-derived polio is almost unheard of in the above locations, it is a known – albeit rare – threat in other countries, causing outbreaks every year, including 415 cases in Nigeria in 2021.

It stems from the use of an oral polio vaccine containing weakened live virus. After children are vaccinated, they shed virus in their faeces for a few weeks. In under-vaccinated communities, this can then spread and mutate back to a harmful version of the virus.

While countries including the Britain and the United States no longer use this live vaccine, others do – particularly to stop outbreaks – which allows for global spread, particularly as people began to travel again after COVID-19, experts said.

WHY NOW

But experts agree that the major driver behind both vaccine-derived and wild polio outbreaks remains under-vaccinated populations, said Derek Ehrhardt, global polio lead at the United States Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC).

Vaccine hesitancy was a growing problem before the pandemic, then COVID-19 caused the worst disruption to routine immunization in a generation, according to the United Nations. read more

In 2020, there were 1,081 vaccine-derived polio cases, around three times as many as the previous year. In 2022 so far, there have been 177 cases, after major efforts to get polio vaccination campaigns back on track.

But the wastewater findings are still a wake-up call for parents with one key message, according to scientists around the world, including David Heymann, epidemiologist at London School of Hygiene and Tropical Medicine: Protect children by getting them vaccinated.

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Reporting by Jennifer Rigby
Editing by Mark Heinrich

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Health

Explainer: Monkeypox in the U.S.: Where could it spread next?

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A person arrives to receive a monkeypox vaccination at the Northwell Health Immediate Care Center at Fire Island-Cherry Grove, in New York, U.S., July 15, 2022. REUTERS/Eduardo Munoz/File Photo

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CHICAGO, Aug 7 (Reuters) – The United States declared monkeypox a public health emergency last week, an effort to bolster the U.S. response to contain the outbreak.

The virus continues to be largely transmitted among gay and bisexual men, but experts say the disease could spill over into other populations, especially due to vaccine shortages. Monkeypox is spread by contact with puss-filled sores and is rarely fatal.

Here is the state of monkeypox now and some other the populations U.S. experts believe may be at risk:

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WHO IS GETTING MONKEYPOX NOW?

Last month, the World Health Organization declared monkeypox a global public health emergency. So far, 80 countries where the virus is not endemic have reported 26,500 cases of monkeypox, according to a Reuters tally. read more

In the United States, 99.1% of U.S. monkeypox cases occurred among those assigned the male sex at birth as of July 25, according to a technical report by the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC). Among male patients, 99% reported having sexual contact with other men.

About 38% of cases occurred in among white, non-Hispanic males. Another 26% were in Black males and 32% in Hispanic males.

The pattern of sexual transmission in men is not typical. In Africa, where monkeypox has been circulating since the 1970s, 60% of cases are in men, and 40% occur in women. read more

One reason may be that the virus appears to be “very efficiently transmitted through anal receptive intercourse and to some degree oral sex,” said Dr. Celine Gounder, an infectious disease epidemiologist and an editor-at-large at Kaiser Health News.

WHO ELSE IS AT RISK?

Although the current explosion of cases has occurred in men, experts say there is no biological reason the virus will remain largely within the community of men who have sex with men.

“We certainly know it’s going to spread to family members and to other non-male partners that people have,” said Dr. Jay Varma, director of the Cornell Center for Pandemic Prevention and Response. He said the virus could also spread through massage parlors or spas.

The real question, he said, is whether it spreads as efficiently in those groups as it does among close sexual networks of men who have sex with men.

Experts point to the way HIV spread as a possible indicator for where the virus will go next.

“My greatest fear is that as we try to contain this, it’s going to seep along the fractures in our social geography and go where HIV did, and that’s going into communities of color in the rural South,” said Dr. Gregg Gonsalves, an associate professor of epidemiology at Yale University and a leading HIV/AIDS activist.

Those are places with limited infrastructure for testing, vaccines and treatments.

Gounder is especially concerned about infections among Black women, who account for the largest share of new HIV infections in the United States, and already suffer significantly higher rates of maternal complications and deaths.

WHO ELSE MIGHT BE AT RISK?

Other at-risk settings include college dormitories, health clubs and sports teams.

Gounder is aware of some sports leagues that are preparing for possible infections, noting that sports such as wrestling involve close skin-to-skin contact.

Wrestling, football, rugby and other sports teams have previously had outbreaks of the superbug MRSA, according to the CDC.

“I think it is something we need to be thinking about and prepared for,” she said.

Employers may also need to start preparing. Gounder said some theaters in New York, for example, are considering how they might protect their workers from possible monkeypox infections through contact with shared costumes.

“We’re still in the beginnings of that, but I am encouraged to see that some are already thinking about that.”

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Reporting by Julie Steenhuysen; Editing by Caroline Humer and Josie Kao

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US

U.S. declares monkeypox outbreak a public health emergency

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Aug 4 (Reuters) – The United States has declared monkeypox a public health emergency, the health secretary said on Thursday, a move expected to free up additional funding and tools to fight the disease.

The U.S. tally topped 6,600 on Wednesday, almost all of the cases among men who have sex with men.

“We’re prepared to take our response to the next level in addressing this virus, and we urge every American to take monkeypox seriously,” Health and Human Services Secretary Xavier Becerra said at a briefing.

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The declaration will improve the availability of data on monkeypox infections that is needed for the response, U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention Director Rochelle Walensky said, speaking alongside Bacerra.

The U.S. government has come under pressure for its handling of the outbreak.

The disease began spreading in Europe before moving to the United States, which now has the most cases in the world. Vaccines and treatments have been in short supply and the disease often left for historically underfunded sexual health clinics to manage. read more

The World Health Organization declared monkeypox a “public health emergency of international concern,” its highest alert level. The WHO declaration last month sought to trigger a coordinated international response and unlock funding to collaborate on vaccines and treatments. read more

Governments are deploying vaccines and treatments that were first approved for smallpox but also work for monkeypox.

The U.S. government has distributed 600,000 doses of Bavarian Nordic’s (BAVA.CO) Jynneos vaccine and deployed 14,000 of Siga Technologies’ (SIGA.O) TPOXX treatment, officials said, though they did not disclose how many have been administered.

Walensky said the government aims to vaccinate more than 1.6 million high-risk individuals.

U.S. Food and Drug Administration Commissioner Robert Califf said the agency was considering freeing up more Jynneos vaccine doses by allowing doctors to draw 5 doses of vaccine from each vial instead of the current 1 dose by using a different subcutaneous method of inoculation.

U.S. President Joe Biden this month appointed two federal officials to coordinate his administration’s response to monkeypox, following declarations of emergencies by California, Illinois and New York. read more

First identified in monkeys in 1958, the disease has mild symptoms including fever, aches and pus-filled skin lesions, and people tend to recover from it within two to four weeks, the WHO says. It spreads through close physical contact and is rarely fatal.

Anthony Fauci, Biden’s chief medical adviser, told Reuters on Thursday that it was critical to engage leaders from the gay community as part of efforts to rein in the outbreak, but cautioned against stigmatizing the lifestyle.

“Engagement of the community has always proven to be successful,” Fauci said.

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Reporting by Manas Mishra and Amruta Khandekar in Bengaluru, Ismail Shakil in Ottawa, Caroline Humer and Leela de Kretser, Editing by Anil D’Silva, Deepa Babington and Howard Goller

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Health

Polio found in New York wastewater as state urges vaccinations

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WASHINGTON, Aug 1 (Reuters) – The polio virus was present in wastewater in a New York City suburb a month before health officials there announced a confirmed case of the disease last month, state health officials said on Monday, urging residents to be sure they have been vaccinated.

The discovery of the disease from wastewater samples collected in June means the virus was present in the community before the Rockland County adult’s diagnosis was made public July 21. read more

The U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) said in an emailed statement that the presence of the virus in wastewater indicates there may be more people in the community shedding the virus in their stool.

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However, the CDC added there have been no new cases identified, and that it is not yet clear whether the virus is actively spreading in New York or elsewhere in the United States.

Laboratory tests also confirmed the strain in the case is genetically linked to one found in Israel, although that did not mean the patient had traveled to Israel, officials added. The CDC said genetic sequencing also tied it to samples of the highly contagious and life-threatening virus in the United Kingdom.

The patient had started exhibiting symptoms in June, when local officials asked doctors to be on the lookout for cases, according to the New York Times.

“Given how quickly polio can spread, now is the time for every adult, parent, and guardian to get themselves and their children vaccinated as soon as possible,” State Health Commissioner Dr. Mary Bassett said.

There is no cure for polio, which can cause irreversible paralysis in some cases, but it can be prevented by a vaccine made available in 1955.

New York officials have said they are opening vaccine clinics to help unvaccinated residents get their shots. Inactivated polio vaccine (IPV) is the only polio vaccine that has been given in the United States since 2000, according to the CDC. It is given by shot in the leg or arm, depending on the patient’s age.

Polio is often asymptomatic and people can transmit the virus even when they do not appear sick. But it can produce mild, flu-like symptoms that can take as long as 30 days to appear, officials said.

It can strike at any age but the majority of those affected are children aged three and younger.

Representatives for the New York health department could not be immediately reached for more details on the wastewater findings.

The polio vaccine developed by Dr. Jonas Salk in the 1950s was heralded as a scientific achievement to tackle the global scourge, now largely eradicated nationwide. The United States has not seen a polio case generated in the country since 1979, although cases from a traveler and an oral vaccine were found in 1993 and 2013.

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Reporting by Susan Heavey; Editing by Aurora Ellis

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