Day: December 16, 2021

A panel of outside advisers to the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention on Thursday voted to recommend that Americans choose one of the other two authorized COVID-19 vaccines over Johnson & Johnson’s shot because of the rare but sometimes fatal cases of blood clotting.

The CDC’s Advisory Committee on Immunization Practices voted unanimously on the recommendation. The regulator still needs to sign off on the guidance.

Cases of thrombosis with thrombocytopenia syndrome (TTS), which involves blood clots accompanied by a low level of platelets, have previously been reported in recipients of the J&J vaccine. The highest reporting rates are in women under 50.

The CDC said that the rate of such incidents is higher than previously estimated in both women and men.

At least nine people have died following the blood clotting incidents in the United States, the CDC has said.

Members of the panel also said J&J’s vaccine is less effective in preventing COVID-19 than the other two authorized vaccines.

In a presentation to the committee, a leading J&J vaccine scientist said the vaccine generates a strong and long-lasting immune response with just a single shot.

“In the setting where many people do not return for a second dose or a booster, the durability of the single-shot Johnson & Johnson vaccine as a primary regimen could make a crucial difference in saving lives in the U.S. and around the globe,” J&J’s Dr. Penny Heaton said in the presentation.

J&J’s vaccine uses a technology based on a modified version of an adenovirus to spur immunity in recipients, while the other two authorized vaccines use messenger RNA technology.

J&J’s one-dose vaccine received emergency use authorization in March. In April, U.S. regulators paused administering the vaccine for 10 days to investigate the blood clotting.

A CDC scientist said on Thursday that the rate of deaths from TTS did not decrease after the pause in April.

Fewer Americans have received the J&J shot than the other two vaccines — by a significant margin. Out of more than 200 million fully vaccinated people in the United States, around 16 million received J&J’s vaccine, according to CDC data.
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NASA touches the sun and looks to the future by traveling back through time. Plus, Japanese tourists visit the ISS, and a space-travel pioneer’s daughter follows in her father’s flying footsteps. VOA’s Arash Arabasadi brings us the Week in Space.
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Scientists in Hong Kong say the omicron variant of the coronavirus multiplies much faster in the airway passages, which could explain how the variant is spreading so fast around the globe.

A preliminary report by a team of researchers at the University of Hong Kong says laboratory experiments on tissue samples show omicron grows about 70 times faster than delta in the bronchus, the main tubes from the windpipe to the lungs.

The study also found that omicron grows 10 times slower in lung tissues than the original version, which could indicate a lower chance of a severe illness.

Lead researcher Michael Chan Chi-wai cautions that the severity of disease is not only determined by how quickly the virus replicates, but also by each person’s immune response to the infection, which could evolve into a life-threatening illness.

Dr. Chan adds that “by infecting many more people, a very infectious virus may cause more severe disease and death even though the virus itself may be less pathogenic.”

He says along with recent studies showing omicron can “partially escape immunity” from vaccines and previous infection, “the overall threat from the omicron variant is likely to be very significant.”

Omicron has now been detected in nearly 80 countries since it was first identified in southern Africa back in November.  Indonesia and New Zealand are the latest countries to report their first confirmed case of the virus.

On the vaccine front, an advisory panel with the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention will meet Thursday to discuss imposing limits on the single-shot Johnson & Johnson vaccine because of continued side effects.

The vaccine has been linked to a rare yet serious blood clotting disorder that occurs predominantly among women. At least six women out of the 16 million U.S. citizens who have received the Johnson & Johnson vaccine have been diagnosed with the disorder, including one woman who died.

The blood clotting disorder first emerged in April, soon after the vaccine began to be administered across the U.S., prompting federal health officials to suspend its use for several days while a safety review was conducted. Regulators added a warning about the potential for blood clots on the vaccine’s label, but concluded that its benefits outweighed the risks.

The Johnson & Johnson vaccine trails well behind the two-dose Pfizer and Moderna vaccines in terms of demand, both as an initial dose or a booster shot.

Some information for this report came from Reuters. 
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Airbus is set to deliver the final A380 superjumbo to Dubai’s Emirates on Thursday, marking the end of a 14-year run that gave Europe an instantly recognized symbol across the globe but failed to fulfil the commercial vision of its designers. 

Production of the world’s largest airliner — capable of seating 500 people on two decks together with perks like showers in first class — has ended after 272 were built compared with the 1,000 or more once predicted. 

Airbus, a planemaking conglomerate drawn together from separate entities in Britain, France, Germany and Spain to carry out their brainchild of mega-jets to beat congestion, pulled the plug in 2019 after airlines went for smaller, leaner models. 

Thursday’s handover is expected to be low key, partly because of COVID restrictions and also because Airbus is these days focusing its PR on environmental benefits of smaller jets. 

That’s in stark contrast to the spectacular light show that revealed the new behemoth in front of European leaders in 2005. 

Emirates is by far the largest buyer and still believes in the superjumbo’s ability to lure passengers. Even though no more A380s will be built, it will keep flying them for years. Many airlines disagree and have axed the A380 during the pandemic. 

Airline president Tim Clark refuses to bow to sceptics who say the days of spacious four-engined jets like the A380 are numbered as an airline seat becomes a commodity like any other. 

“I don’t share that view at all … And I still believe there is a place for the A380,” Clark recently told reporters. 

“Technocrats and accountants said it was not fit for purpose … That doesn’t resonate with our travelling public. They absolutely love that airplane,” he said. 

Shower talks

 The A380’s demise left deserted one of the world’s largest buildings, a 122,500-square-metre assembly plant in Toulouse. 

Airbus plans to use part of it to build some of the bread-and-butter narrowbody models that dominate sales like a deal with Qantas announced earlier on Thursday. 

But it is in Hamburg that some of the most striking features of the A380 evolved. 

Clark recalled how he huddled with Airbus developers in northern Germany to persuade Airbus chiefs in France to pay for the engineering needed to make in-flight showers a reality. 

“There was a lot of arm-folding and my friends in France were a little circumspect,” Clark said. 

“I had to sit with friends in the development unit in Hamburg having to build the showers, and then asked Toulouse management to see how it could be done, and so they bought in.” 

That innovation generated headlines but did not translate into sales needed to keep the A380 going. 

The plane was designed in the 1990s when travel demand was soaring and China offered seemingly unlimited potential. 

By the time the first delivery came in 2007, the plane was more than two years late. And when Emirates got its first A380 a year later, the emerging financial crisis was already forcing analysts to trim their forecasts for the biggest jets. 

Boeing was meanwhile capturing orders for a revolutionary new 787 Dreamliner, to be followed by the Airbus A350. 

“There was a slowing down of appetite and enthusiasm. We didn’t share that view; we put this great [A380] aircraft to work,” Clark said on the sidelines of an airlines meeting. 

“We have what I think is one of the most beautiful aircraft ever flown.” 
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The Israeli government on Wednesday said it was donating 1 million coronavirus vaccines to the U.N.-backed COVAX program.

The Foreign Ministry said the AstraZeneca vaccines would be transferred in the coming weeks, a decision that was part of Israel’s strengthening ties with the African countries.

“I am delighted that Israel can contribute and be a partner in eradicating the pandemic around the world,” said Foreign Minister Yair Lapid.

The announcement said the vaccines would reach close to a quarter of African countries, though it did not provide a list. Israel has close ties with a number of African nations, including Kenya, Uganda and Rwanda. Israel also established relations with Sudan last year as part of a series of U.S.-brokered accords.

COVAX is a global initiative that aims to provide coronavirus vaccines to poorer nations. Wealthier countries have acquired the most of the world’s vaccine supplies, causing vast inequality in access to jabs.

Israel was one of the first countries to vaccinate its population. Early this year, it came under criticism for not sharing enough of its supplies with the Palestinians.

Since then, Israel has vaccinated tens of thousands of Palestinians who work in Israel and its settlements, and the Palestinians have procured vaccines from COVAX and other sources. 

 
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The White House COVID-19 Response team Wednesday said early data indicates the omicron coronavirus variant is spreading in the U.S., but current vaccine boosters appear to be effective in fighting it.

CDC Director Rochelle Walensky said the variant is in 36 U.S. states and accounts for 3% of all U.S. COVID-19 cases, though it is higher in some areas, such as New York and New Jersey, where it may account for as much 13% of cases.

Walensky said while the vast majority — 96% — of U.S. cases are still caused by the delta variant, she said early data show the omicron variant spreads faster than delta, with cases doubling in about two days.

Walensky, along with White House Chief Medical Adviser Anthony Fauci and COVID-19 Response coordinator Jeff Zients, cited data showing being fully vaccinated along with a booster shot is the best way to fight off the new variant.

“Our booster vaccine regimens work against omicron,” Fauci said. “At this point, there is no need for a variant-specific booster.”

Walensky cited recent data from U.S. nursing homes showing unvaccinated or fully vaccinated residents without boosters were 10 times more likely to contract COVID-19 than residents fully vaccinated with boosters. Fauci cited the most real-world studies showing boosters can increase anti-body protection against omicron by as much as 35 times.

Zients cited CDC statistics showing an unvaccinated person is eight times more likely to be hospitalized and 14 times more likely to die from COVID-19 than a fully vaccinated person. He said a new study from the Yale University of Public Health shows the U.S. vaccination program prevented 10.3 million hospitalizations and saved 1.1 million lives.

The COVID-19 response coordinator said 14 million people received booster shots in the first two weeks of December, with 26 million total shots in arms during the same period. In total, the team reports more than 200 million U.S. residents are now fully vaccinated, and more than 55 million have received booster shots.

Some information in this report was provided by the Reuters news agency.
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