As if more evidence were needed, a new study in The Lancet affirms that the “hybrid immunity” obtained by having been infected with the coronavirus and vaccinated against it provides the strongest and longest-lasting protection against severe outcomes. UCSF medicine chief Dr. Bob Wachter sang the praises of a report that meticulously debunks anti-vaccine propaganda circulating on the internet. And another study from JAMA finds that vaccination cuts the risk of developing long COVID. Meanwhile, crowdsourcing strikes again: a paper from Northeastern University finds — as with so many things — that Google searches and social media activity can help predict COVID outbreaks.
Another study finds vaccine cuts the risk of long COVID
Unvaccinated people have a higher risk of reporting COVID-19 symptoms lasting 28 days or more, indicative of the condition known as long COVID, according to a study by the Uniformed Services University of the Health Sciences Infectious Diseases Clinical Research Program. In a cohort study of nearly 2,000 individuals, researchers found that COVID-19 is associated with increased health care encounters through 6 months after infection, and vaccination was associated with a lower risk of long-term symptoms. The results were published Wednesday in JAMA Network Open. “Participants with COVID-19 were more likely to seek medical care for diabetes, pulmonary, neurological, and mental health-related illness for at least 6 months after onset compared with their pre-COVID baseline health care use patterns,” the authors wrote. “In addition, unvaccinated participants were at higher risk of 28 or more days of symptoms and of medical encounters associated with pulmonary and neurological diagnoses.”
At least 65 million people worldwide have symptoms associated with long COVID, according to in Nature Reviews Microbiology, based on the estimated global rate of 10% of infected people and the more than 651 million documented cases. The researchers of the report suggested that the number is likely an undercount. “There is a broad misconception that everyone makes and retains SARS-CoV-2 antibodies, and many clinicians and researchers are unaware of the limited utility of antibody tests to determine prior infection,” they wrote. “Between 22% and 36% of people infected with SARS-CoV-2 do not seroconvert, and many others lose their antibodies over the first few months.”
CDC shares job listing for coronavirus director
The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention on Wednesday listed the job opening for its director of coronavirus and other respiratory viruses division, a new position created to manage the pandemic as the government winds down its emergency response. The salary range for the title is $176,300 to $226,300 and the major duties include providing executive leadership in managing, directing, coordinating, overseeing and evaluating all Coronavirus and Other Respiratory Viruses Division (CRVD) scientific and programmatic work.
“Candidates must show clear evidence of specialized experience. Specialized experience is that which is directly related to the position and which has equipped the applicant with the particular knowledge, skills, and abilities to successfully perform the duties of the position, such as executive-level experience leading and/or providing consultation and statistical, epidemiological, clinical, behavioral and laboratory research services to assist state and local health departments as well as national, state and local non-governmental organizations in the planning, development, implementation and overall improvement of a coronavirus or respiratory disease program.”
Navy stops disciplining members who refuse the vaccine
The Navy is no longer booting or disciplining sailors who refuse the COVID-19 vaccine, following a fleet-wide order from Defense Secretary Lloyd Austin to end the mandate for all branches of the U.S. armed forces. Chief of Naval Personnel Vice Adm. Rick Cheeseman issued a bulletin last week noting that the agency will “immediately discontinue administrative separation processing of Navy Service Members solely for refusing the COVID-19 vaccine, including those with approved separation letters.” The Navy honorably discharged 1,639 active duty sailors and 402 Reserve sailors for refusing the vaccine as of Nov. 30, according to its COVID dashboard.
Hybrid immunity protects better than infection alone, large study finds
Hybrid immunity — the response when a person has been both infected and vaccinated — offers a substantially higher and sustained level of protection against hospitalization or severe disease due to the omicron coronavirus variant compared to a previous COVID-19 infection alone, according to a new study published in The Lancet. World Health Organization researchers analyzed data from 26 other studies on the subject and found that individuals with hybrid immunity had a 95% lower chance of the worst outcomes of the disease up to one year after their initial infection, while those who were previously infected but unvaccinated had a 75% lower risk over the same period. Similarly, hybrid immunity lowered the odds of reinfection by 42% after two shots for up to a year, and by 47% for six months after receiving a booster dose. For unvaccinated individuals, that protection fell to 25% one year after infection. The authors wrote that the results demonstrate “the advantages of vaccination even after people have had COVID-19.”
Wachter praises “superb” report busting vaccine myths
Dr. Bob Wachter, UCSF’s chief of medicine and a prominent Bay Area voice on the pandemic, called a new report on the safety of the COVID-19 vaccines “superb,” noting that it debunks “the fallacy that they’re causing significant harm.” The analysis written by epidemiologists Katelyn Jetelina and Kristen Panthagani and published Tuesday aims to put to rest the unfounded rumors that regularly appear after the deaths of prominent individuals — most recently singer Lisa Marie Presley and soccer reporter Grant Wahl — citing the vaccines as the primary cause. “We have more evidence than for any other vaccine or disease in the history of humans that the benefits of COVID-19 vaccines greatly outweigh the risks.” the authors wrote. Presenting data from a variety of sources, they meticulously address the latest round of misinformation around vaccines. “There are rare vaccine tragedies, and they need to be taken seriously,” they said. “But do not confound these rare tragedies with thinking they are common occurrences. And certainly don’t forget that COVID-19 vaccines saved millions of lives across the globe and will continue to do so.” Wachter added as a footnote that “this misinformation technique — pinning all bad outcomes on vaccines — comes right out of the misinfo playbook. In fact, I predicted its use in Dec. 2020, just as the mRNAs were rolling out. Sad that it works as often as it does. It kills.”
Internet searches can predict outbreaks, study finds
Google searches, Twitter posts and other online activity usually used to cull data for advertisers could also be used as an early warning system for COVID-19 surges, according to a team of scientists from Northeastern University. In a paper published Wednesday in Science Advances, machine learning expert Mauricio Santillana said internet users’ “digital traces” can be adapted to alert public health officials to sharp increases in COVID-19 at the county level one to six weeks ahead of a major outbreak. “What we aspire to do is to use the same information that Google or Amazon or any of these big firms use to send ads to you” to inform public health decisions early on in an outbreak, Santillana said in a press release. The research team used machine learning methods that included information from outbreaks in 97 U.S. counties between Jan. 1 2020 and 2022, zeroing in on an uptick of search terms that included fever, clinician searches for COVID-19 treatments. “The goal is not necessarily to quantify how many infections there are but to quantify when sharp increases in infections will happen,” said Santillana, who collaborated with scientists from Boston Children’s Hospital, Harvard Medical School, Oklahoma State University and other organizations.
More than 900 million in China infected, study says
An estimated 900 million Chinese people have been infected with COVID-19 through Jan 11, representing 64% of the country’s entire population, according to a study released over the weekend by Peking University. That figure bucks the official tally of 503,000, according to an analysis of the outbreak by Michael Toole, an associate principal research fellow at the Burnet Institute in Australia, for SBS News. Chinese government data shows there have been almost 60,000 deaths of people with coronavirus infections in hospitals in the past five weeks since it abandoned its strict zero COVID policy, but under the country’s narrow definition of COVID-19 deaths, officials say the virus caused only 5,500 of those deaths. The toll does not include the number of people who died at home or in aged care facilities, and the government has not released updated numbers on cases or deaths since Jan. 12.
“The world may not see the full impact of the surge in China for another month or so,” Toole writes. “During the Lunar New Year period, an expected 2 billion trips will be made within China. This will transmit the virus to remote rural villages where there is minimal health care and no genomic sequencing facilities. So, the virus could infect an immunocompromised individual who may harbour the virus for months. This could result in a mutation that emerges as a more transmissible variant.”
Fed’s Powell tests positive, has mild symptoms
Federal Reserve Chair Jerome Powell tested positive Wednesday for COVID-19 and is experiencing “mild symptoms,” the Federal Reserve announced. The 69-year-old Powell is “up to date” with all COVID vaccines and boosters, the Fed said, and is working from home. “Following Centers for Disease Control and Prevention guidance, he is working remotely while isolating at home,” the central bank said in a statement shared by the Associated Press. The Fed’s next interest rate-setting meeting is Jan. 31 to Feb. 1, a timetable that could allow Powell to recover in time to participate in person. An alternative plan would be to return to holding the meeting virtually, which the Fed did for months during the height of the pandemic.
