Author: Editor

A new retrospective study, published in nature communications, recruited nearly 1.5 million adults from the Maccabi Healthcare Services in Israel. The population is characterized by adults older than 16 years, and receiving a second dose of the BioNTech/Pfizer mRNA vaccine between January and February (early vaccinees) and March-April (late vaccinees). The researchers compared the incidence of breakthrough infections between the two groups after adjusting for the underlying comorbidities and found a statistically significant difference. The early vaccinees had a 51% increased risk compared to the late group. 

Read the study here. 

With the emergence of Omicron, a new variant from South Africa, the focus of the World Health Organization and the party members has shifted to a global treaty. The inequities of vaccine distribution is the cause of new variants to emerge and not the inadequacies of South Africa’s efforts. The Director-General of the WHO, Dr. Tedros Ghebreyesus, praises South Africa in detecting, sequencing and reporting the details of the new variant and calls their inability to gain access to vaccine stocks as unethical, reminding the world that 80% of the global stocks are with the G20 and low-income countries have only received 0.6% thus far. 

Read more on the World Health Assembly meeting here. 

The WHO Director-General Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus urges the vaccinated and unvaccinated alike to take precautions ahead of the surging cases. In the United States, cases have increased by 7% in a week, Dr. Scott Gottlieb provides the interpretation that this may be a result of poor monitoring of breakthrough infections. 

Read the news article here. 

A new heavily mutated strain first identified in South Africa is thought to have similar properties to the Delta and Alpha variant, indicating that it may have the ability to be highly transmissible and can potentially evade antibodies, but it is unclear if it will become the next dominant strain. The strain has been identified in Asia and Europe and has sparked new travel bans.

Read the wall street journal article here, the news article published by nature, and the updated WHO statement here. 

The 12 video series targeting Gen-Z uses animation and pop culture references to combat misinformation about community immunity, concerns about pregnancy and fertility, and other hot topics. This data driven project labelled the Vaccine Confidence Project aims to reduce mistrust and the spread of disinformation.

Read the article, visit the website here, and watch the YouTube channel here. 

A Japanese pre-print study analyzed antibody titers of 365 healthcare workers 3 and 6 months after receiving the second dose of the Pfizer vaccine. Their results showed that when adjusting for age, smoking was associated with lower titers, and a significant association is found with the female gender with a 31% drop compared to 25% in men. Older individuals in their 60-70s had nearly half of the antibody titers measured in people in their 20s. 

Read and download the article here.