29th Jun 2022 https://nfind.uk/lockdown_exit/index.php/newsletter=691 lockdown_exit

Lockdown Exit

Reuters Pfizer Inc and Moderna Inc said on Tuesday they will be ready with COVID19 vaccines designed to combat the BA.1 Omicron variant that was dominant last winter earlier than those designed to target currently dominant subvariants. Moderna said it would be ready with a couple of hundred million of bivalent vaccines designed to combat BA.1 by September but it would be late October or early November if the vaccine maker needed to design a vaccine to combat the currently dominant BA.4 and BA.5 subvariants. https://www.reuters.com/business/healthcare-pharmaceuticals/pfizer-moderna-be-ready-with-ba1-specific-covid-boosters-2022-06-28/ 29th Jun 2022

Lockdown Exit

Global News Olympic gold medallist Alex Kopacz may be used to being out of breath when pushing a bobsled but last year after he was hospitalized for COVID19 he experienced a very different kind of breathlessness. He was put on oxygen for two months and experienced a number of other health setbacks in the months following his COVID19 infection including blood clots in his lungs and throughout his body. It was hard to breathe and pretty much it was just going to be a matter of time to see if my body was going to heal from it Kopacz said. It took him almost four months before he was back on his feet and breathing normally again. But without even an official diagnosis of socalled long COVID the then31yearold didnt have answers about what was happening to him. https://globalnews.ca/news/8950820/long-covid-canadian-researchers-causes-study/ 28th Jun 2022

Lockdown Exit

The Guardian Wimbledons Covid19 protocols are under review after Matteo Berrettini was forced to withdraw from Wimbledon on the morning of his first round match after testing positive for Covid19. Berrettini the No 8 seed was one of the biggest contenders for the title having reached the Wimbledon final last year. After being out for nearly three months due to undergoing surgery on his finger the Italian had returned at the beginning of the grass season and immediately won nine matches in a row with titles in Stuttgart and Queens. https://www.theguardian.com/sport/2022/jun/28/wimbledon-reviews-covid-19-protocols-matteo-berrettini-withdraw-tennis 28th Jun 2022

Lockdown Exit

Reuters.com The Walt Disney Cos Shanghai Disney Resort said on Tuesday it would reopen the Disneyland theme park on June 30 a month after the Chinese economic hub lifted a two monthlong COVID19 lockdown. The theme park has been shut since March 21 when the resort closed its doors amid an uptick of cases in Shanghai. The city lifted its lockdown on June 1 and the resort begun opening some areas just over a week later. https://www.reuters.com/world/china/shanghai-disney-resort-says-reopen-disneyland-theme-park-june-30-2022-06-28/ 28th Jun 2022

Lockdown Exit

Reuters Advisers to the U.S Food and Drug Administration on Tuesday overwhelmingly recommended the inclusion of an Omicron component for COVID19 booster vaccines in the fall. The panel of advisers voted 192 in favor of the recommendation. https://www.reuters.com/business/healthcare-pharmaceuticals/us-fda-advisers-recommend-inclusion-omicron-component-covid-boosters-2022-06-28/ 28th Jun 2022

Lockdown Exit

Reuters.com U.S. health regulators on Tuesday classified the recall of some backup batteries of GE Healthcares ventilators which the company had initiated in midApril as the most serious type saying that their use could lead to injuries or death. The CARESCAPE R860 ventilators backup batteries including replacement backup batteries were recalled as they were running out earlierthanexpected which could cause the device to shut down preventing the patient from receiving breathing support the U.S. Food and Drug Administration said. https://www.reuters.com/world/us/us-fda-classifies-recall-ges-ventilator-batteries-most-serious-2022-06-28/ 28th Jun 2022

Lockdown Exit

Reuters The fastspreading BA.4 and BA.5 subvariants of Omicron are estimated to make up a combined 52 of the coronavirus cases in the United States as of June 25 the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention CDC said on Tuesday. The two sublineages accounted for more than a third of U.S. cases for the week of June 18. They were added to the World Health Organizations monitoring list in March and designated as variants of concern by the European Centre for Disease Prevention and Control. https://www.reuters.com/business/healthcare-pharmaceuticals/omicron-sub-variants-ba4-ba5-make-up-more-than-50-us-covid-cases-cdc-2022-06-28/ 28th Jun 2022

Lockdown Exit

Reuters Novartis said on Tuesday a previously announced restructuring programme could lead to 8000 jobs being cut or about 7.4 of its global workforce including up to 1400 in Switzerland. The job cuts previously projected by Chief Executive Vas Narasimhan to be in the single digit thousands are part of a restructuring programme the Swiss pharmaceutical group announced in April targeting savings of at least 1 billion by 2024. https://www.reuters.com/business/healthcare-pharmaceuticals/novartis-plans-cut-up-1400-jobs-switzerland-tagesanzeiger-2022-06-28/ 28th Jun 2022

Lockdown Exit

STAT News More than two years after the Covid19 pandemic emerged a new scorecard finds that 19 of 26 pharmaceutical companies that marketed vaccines or therapeutics to contain the virus rank poorly when it came to complying with human rights principles. The rankings were compiled by examining actions taken to provide access to products including commitments and measurable targets transparency in disclosing RD and production costs and profits the extent to which international cooperation was pursued and patents were enforced and a willingness to provide fair pricing equitable distribution and technology transfers among other things. https://www.statnews.com/pharmalot/2022/06/27/pharma-largely-failed-to-follow-human-rights-principles-with-its-covid-19-vaccines-and-drugs/ 27th Jun 2022

Exit Strategies

TES There has been a significant increase in the proportion of primary school parents who say they are unlikely to have their child vaccinated for Covid19 a new survey has found. The figures have been published as experts warn the UK is experiencing a fifth wave of Covid as infection rates climb driven by new variants of Omicron. The latest data from the School Infection Survey SIS shows that the proportion of primary school pupils who were not vaccinated and whose parents said they were unlikely to agree to their child being vaccinated in future has risen from 24 per cent in December 2021 to 36 per cent in March 2022. https://www.tes.com/magazine/news/general/covid-significantly-fewer-primary-pupils-be-vaccinated 28th Jun 2022

Exit Strategies

PharmaTimes The mobile clinics will support communities with limited or no access to vaccines and other health services. Amref Health Africa and AstraZeneca in collaboration with the Ministry of Health in Kenya are launching a fleet of mobile vaccination clinics in an effort to protect lastmile communities from the pandemic. Ten movable clinics will bring COVID19 vaccines and other health services into hardtoreach communities across Kenya increasing vaccine access and general uptake in Kenya. As of June 2022 only 31.4 of the adult population in Kenya were fully vaccinated against COVID19 while Africas average vaccination rate is 17.7 lagging behind other world regions. Each mobile clinic aims to vaccinate 70100 people every day reaching up to 1000 people per day once all ten mobile clinics are fully operational. https://www.pharmatimes.com/news/amref_and_astrazeneca_launch_clinics_to_support_kenyan_covid-19_vaccinations_1450636 28th Jun 2022

Exit Strategies

The Associated Press European Union countries approved Tuesday extending the use of COVID19 certificates by one year until the end of June 2023 as cases of the deadly virus start to grow again ahead of the summer holiday season. Aimed at facilitating travel across the 27nation bloc during the pandemic the certificates entered into force in July last year and have been a successful tool to help EU citizens move in the region in coronavirus times without restrictions such as quarantines. EU countries have issued nearly 2 billion certificates. The document attests that a person has been vaccinated against coronavirus or that they have a recent negative test result or have recovered from the infection. The European Council said the regulation can be lifted earlier. But after most EU countries removed coronavirus restrictions over the past months in light of the improved health situation a recent increase in infections fueled by new variants is leading governments to rethink their strategies. https://apnews.com/article/covid-health-pandemics-european-union-council-a779b1b68af63a4bbf2bd758b08a1527 28th Jun 2022

Exit Strategies

BBC News People are asked to stay home if unwell because of suspected rises in Covid19 cases. Health bosses in Devon and Cornwall say official data suggests between 2.2 and 2.7 of people in the counties have the virus. People are being reminded to protect themselves and others and remember the virus is very much still here https://www.bbc.com/news/articles/cz94r315y7zo 28th Jun 2022

Exit Strategies

Reuters French people should start wearing masks again in crowded areas especially in public transport as France has to deal with a new wave of COVID19 infections fuelled by new variants of the disease Health Minister Brigitte Bourguignon said on Monday. Im not saying it should be mandatory but I do ask the French people to put the mask on in public transport she told RTL adding it was a civic duty to do so. https://www.reuters.com/world/europe/france-asks-citizens-wear-masks-again-public-transport-2022-06-27/ 28th Jun 2022

Exit Strategies

The Associated Press China on Tuesday announced an easing of its quarantine requirement for people arriving from abroad but stopped short of lifting what remains a stringent COVID19 policy compared to most other countries. Anyone coming from outside the country will be required to stay in a quarantine hotel for seven days followed by three days of home quarantine the National Health Commission said in its latest pandemic response plan. The previous plan called for 14 days in a hotel plus seven days of home quarantine. Some cities including Beijing have already reduced the hotel requirement to seven or 10 days in recent weeks according to Chinese media reports. China has kept tight restrictions on international travel under a zeroCOVID strategy that seeks to keep the virus out and stop any infections from spreading through lockdowns and mass testing. https://apnews.com/article/covid-health-china-pandemics-ffc19abce41222e3fe03a99a22431cc1 28th Jun 2022

Exit Strategies

The Associated Press The rickshaw men in Tokyo are adding Englishspeaking staff a sure sign Japan is bracing for a return of tourists from abroad. Japans border controls to curb the spread of coronavirus infections began gradually loosening earlier this month. Thats great news for Yusuke Otomo owner of Daikichi a kimono rental shop in Asakusa an old district of Tokyo famous for its temples quaint restaurants and rickshaw rides. He can barely contain his excitement. Those were a hard three years. But we managed to endure until today. And after such an experience to think people from abroad can finally come back is simply thrilling Otomo told The Associated Press. https://apnews.com/article/covid-politics-travel-health-9e4e37e80074a49c00bbe69d3986806e 28th Jun 2022

Exit Strategies

The Guardian Since the early days of the pandemic it has been clear some people shed genetic material from the virus in their stools for months after catching Covid19. The findings were initially regarded as a curiosity but there is mounting evidence to support the idea that persistent pockets of coronavirus in the gut or elsewhere may be contributing to long Covid. Earlier this month Prof David R Walt and colleagues at Harvard Medical School announced that they had detected SarsCoV2 proteins most commonly the viral spike protein in the blood of 65 of the long Covid patients they tested up to 12 months after they were first diagnosed. Though small and preliminary the study provides some of the most compelling evidence yet for the idea that reservoirs of the virus could be contributing to peoples longterm ill health. The halflife of spike protein in the body is pretty short so its presence indicates that there must be some kind of active viral reservoir Walt said. https://www.theguardian.com/society/2022/jun/28/are-pockets-of-covid-in-the-gut-causing-long-term-symptoms 28th Jun 2022

Partisan Exits

South China Morning Post on MSN.com The owners of a Taiwanese drinks shop in Hong Kong have been jailed for up to seven months under a colonialera sedition law for inciting others to flout public health curbs and refuse Covid19 vaccines. A magistrate handpicked by city leader Carrie Lam Cheng Yuetngor to oversee national security proceedings convicted the two women at West Kowloon Court on Tuesday upon their admission to a joint count of doing an act or acts with a seditious intent. Chinese University student Hau Wingyan 24 and Lam Yuenyi 21 were the administrators of an Instagram account for the nowdefunct Ascohesion Cheese Tea shop in Mong Kok when nine posts criticising the governments antipandemic measures and vaccines were published on the platform between February 9 and 17 this year. https://www.msn.com/en-xl/news/other/taiwanese-drinks-shop-owners-jailed-for-up-to-7-months-over-social-media-posts-calling-on-others-to-flout-hong-kong-e2-80-99s-covid-19-curbs/ar-AAYXpIZ 28th Jun 2022

Partisan Exits

Reuters A U.S. appeals court panel said on Monday it would convene a full panel to reconsider President Joe Bidens executive order requiring civilian federal employees to be vaccinated against COVID19 and set aside the order pending that hearing. The U.S. Court of Appeals for the Fifth Circuit which is based in New Orleans had reinstated the vaccine order in April by a 21 vote after it was blocked by a district court judge in January. https://www.reuters.com/world/us/us-appeals-court-vacates-federal-vaccine-mandate-pending-additional-hearing-2022-06-27/ 28th Jun 2022

Scientific Viewpoint

Pink Sheet Only one last step remains before the approval of South Koreas first homegrown COVID19 vaccine as SK Biosciences SKYCovione GBP510 receives positive assessments from review committees. Any nod which could happen this week would mark a milestone for the countrys ambitions of becoming a global vaccine hub. https://pink.pharmaintelligence.informa.com/PS146401/Koreas-First-Home-Grown-COVID-19-Vaccine-To-Speed-Hub-Ambitions 28th Jun 2022

Scientific Viewpoint

CIDRAP Though both complications were rare data from Ontario show higher rates of myocarditis and pericarditis with the Moderna COVID19 vaccine than with the PfizerBioNTech vaccine but the rates were lower for both vaccines if the spacing between receiving two doses was extended according to a study late last week in JAMA Network Open. Myocarditis is an inflammation of the heart muscle and pericarditis involves swelling of the thin membrane around the heart. https://www.cidrap.umn.edu/news-perspective/2022/06/rare-heart-related-side-effects-higher-moderna-covid-vaccine 28th Jun 2022

Scientific Viewpoint

Business Standard Soon India may have its first indigenous mRNA vaccine that is stable at 28 degrees Celsius as the expert panel advising the Central Drugs Standards Control Organisation CDSCO has greensignalled Gennova Biopharmas mRNA vaccine candidate for Covid19. The Subject Expert Committee SEC has recommended granting the Emergency Use Authorisation EUA to the countrys first mRNAbased Covid19 vaccine in a meeting held on Friday according to reports. Now the Drugs Controller General of India DCGI will take a final call on granting the final approval. https://www.business-standard.com/article/current-affairs/india-s-first-indigenous-mrna-vaccine-likely-to-be-available-soon-122062800285_1.html 28th Jun 2022

Scientific Viewpoint

Nature.com Early in the COVID19 pandemic the risk of dying from the disease was roughly twice as high for people living in lowerincome countries as for those in rich nations a study reports. The research published in BMJ Global Health in May1 is one of a growing number of studies to reveal COVID19s massive burden in lowerincome countries. Data from early in the pandemic suggested that death and infection rates in poor countries were relatively low compared with those in rich ones. But recent evidence paints a very different picture says Madhukar Pai an infectious disease epidemiologist at McGill University in Montreal Canada. This paper is one among many that illustrate that the biggest impact of this pandemic has been on low and middleincome countries says Pai. https://www.nature.com/articles/d41586-022-01767-z 28th Jun 2022

Scientific Viewpoint

News-Medical.Net Based on official data on COVID19 deaths the authors estimated that vaccinations prevented 14.4 million deaths in 185 countries and territories during the oneyear study duration. Based on excess mortality estimates they observed that vaccinations halved the potential global death toll and averted around 19.8 million deaths in a year. The latter represents the true extent of the first year of the pandemic showing a global reduction of 63 in total deaths due to vaccination. https://www.news-medical.net/news/20220628/In-1st-year-of-pandemic-COVID-vaccines-saved-20M-lives.aspx 28th Jun 2022

Scientific Viewpoint

Nature.com As countries brace for another Omicron wave driven by the variants BA.4 and BA.5 calls to update COVID19 vaccines are growing louder. Existing vaccines based on the version of the virus SARSCoV2 that emerged in Wuhan China in late 2019 are a poor match to current Omicron strains. As a result the vaccines now offer only shortlived protection from infection although they seem to be holding up against severe disease. This week an advisory panel to the US Food and Drug Administration FDA will meet to discuss whether COVID19 vaccines should be updated and what the upgraded vaccines should look like. https://www.nature.com/articles/d41586-022-01771-3 28th Jun 2022

Scientific Viewpoint

The Associated Press The worlds first COVID19 vaccine to offer immunity against all variants is one step closer. Clinical trials have shown the novel vaccine works by stimulating a completely different immune pathway from other vaccines producing high affinity antibodies that neutralise all COVID19 variants. Australian Biopharma company EnGeneIC is currently conducting trials of its groundbreaking vaccine in Sydney and Melbourne. Thirtytwo healthy participants received two doses three weeks apart. Of those 27 have passed the 28day safety assessment with no side effects. Critically they all have high affinity antibodies capable of neutralising all COVID19 mutants including Omicron. https://apnews.com/press-release/globe-newswire/covid-technology-health-clinical-trials-sydney-41d8fa4cc4581d7da4f76a19c7784972 28th Jun 2022

Scientific Viewpoint

ABC News Antibody blood tests can tell you if youve had COVID19 but there are some caveats. COVID19 antibodies naturally dwindle over time so if they turn up in your blood test their levels cant tell you exactly how long ago you were infected just that you were infected sometime in the past few months. We think now the test is a useful marker of fairly recent infection as opposed to whether youve ever been infected Dr Machalek says. https://www.abc.net.au/news/health/2022-06-28/covid-virus-antibody-laboratory-blood-test-past-infection/101150468 28th Jun 2022

Scientific Viewpoint

Daily Record Nearly all secondary schoolage children have Covid19 antibodies according to new data. Data from the School Infection Survey which was released on Monday revealed that numbers of primary school parents who would be unlikely to vaccinate their children has increased. The news comes as levels of Covid continue to rise in the UK with new cases likely due to variants of the Omicron strain. In the last week an estimated 1.7million people are reported to have had the virus up 23 from 1.4 million the previous week. https://www.dailyrecord.co.uk/lifestyle/majority-children-covid-19-antibodies-27341902 28th Jun 2022

Scientific Viewpoint

Sky News Researchers tried using weightloss drugs and other fattargeting compounds to try to stop the virus in cell culture. The new study comes as infections rose in all four UK nations with about 1.7 million having the virus last week. https://news.sky.com/story/covid-19-fattens-up-our-bodys-cells-to-help-fuel-its-viral-takeover-study-suggests-12641683 28th Jun 2022

Scientific Viewpoint

The Lancet In summary this important study shows that a 2week interruption of methotrexate after booster COVID19 vaccination results in increased immunogenicity compared with no interruption among patients with several immunemediated inflammatory diseases. Although this finding adds to the evidence base to support interruption of methotrexate after vaccination a shared decision process is needed to weigh the possible benefit of optimising protection from COVID19 and the possible risk of underlying disease flare. https://www.thelancet.com/journals/lanres/article/PIIS2213-2600(22)00224-7/fulltext 28th Jun 2022

Scientific Viewpoint

Reuters U.S. regulators plan to decide by early July whether to change the design of COVID19 vaccines this fall in order to combat more recent variants of the coronavirus with hopes of launching a booster campaign by October a top Food and Drug Administration official said on Tuesday. The better the match of the vaccines to the circulating strain we believe may correspond to improve vaccine effectiveness and potentially to a better durability of protection Dr. Peter Marks director of the FDAs Center for Biologics Evaluation and Research said at a meeting of outside expert advisers to the agency. https://www.reuters.com/business/healthcare-pharmaceuticals/us-fda-advisers-meet-discuss-design-future-covid-vaccines-2022-06-28/ 28th Jun 2022

Scientific Viewpoint

The New York Times Tomorrow will be a big day for the future of U.S. coronavirus vaccines A panel of independent advisers to the F.D.A. will recommend whether to update the existing vaccines to take aim at a version of the virus in the Omicron family. The advisory panel also will probably split between those who believe a fall booster will be broadly necessary and those who would limit additional shots to highrisk individuals. The policy may depend on funding and resources. Its very clear were not going to have enough vaccines for every adult who wants one said Dr. Ashish Jha the White House coordinator for the pandemic response. https://www.nytimes.com/2022/06/27/briefing/booster-fda-omicron-coronavirus.html 27th Jun 2022

Scientific Viewpoint

FiercePharma AstraZeneca launched the first ever COVID drug DTC for its prevention antibody Evusheld and its one of the most unusual and unique commercials you will see this year. The ad which is set up more as a public health announcement though is heavily branded has a very different feel from most traditional pharma DTCs. There are no bright colors or emotional beats. You wont find someone roller skating around a park for instance or someone running with their dog. What you get instead is just one narrator standing in a bland empty white office space laying out informatively how Evusheld works who its for and instead of waiting for the end of the ad explaining many of the potential side effects in the middle of the video. https://www.fiercepharma.com/marketing/astrazeneca-launches-first-evusheld-dtc-without-full-approval-it-comes-different-feel 24th Jun 2022

Coronavirus Resurgence

South Wales Guardian The number of Covid19 deaths registered in England and Wales continues to remain low with no evidence yet of the impact of the latest rise in infections. A total of 264 deaths registered in the seven days to June 17 mentioned coronavirus on the death certificate according to the Office for National Statistics ONS. This is down slightly from 284 deaths in the previous week and remains well below the 1125 recorded in the peak week of the Omicron BA.2 wave of infections earlier in the year. https://www.southwalesguardian.co.uk/news/20240010.covid-19-deaths-remain-low-infections-hospital-numbers-rise/ 28th Jun 2022

Coronavirus Resurgence

CNA Singapore reported 11504 new COVID19 cases as of noon on Tuesday Jun 28 comprising 10732 local infections and 772 imported cases. There was one fatality taking the death toll from coronavirus complications to 1410. Cases tend to increase on Tuesdays with Health Minister Ong Ye Kung previously referring to such a pattern writing on Facebook in October 2021 that numbers would always spike after the weekends. The last time Singapore reported more daily infections than Tuesday was on Mar 22 when 13166 COVID19 new cases were reported. https://www.channelnewsasia.com/singapore/new-covid-19-cases-deaths-hospital-infection-ratio-moh-2775281 28th Jun 2022

Coronavirus Resurgence

BBC News Health experts have warned the Covid19 pandemic isnt over as a county saw cases rise by 20 in a week and an increase in people going to hospital. In the week to 22 June Northamptonshire has 886 cases up from 736 in the previous week. The countys two councils said two new subvariants of Omicron appeared to be more infectious than other variants. Sally Burns interim director of Public Health for West Northamptonshire said people should take precautions. Both North Northamptonshire and West Northamptonshire councils said there was an increase in hospital admissions from the rise in cases. Northampton General has 16 people in hospital with Covid19 an increase from 13 in the previous week and Kettering General has 21 in hospital a rise from 17. https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-england-northamptonshire-61957325 28th Jun 2022

Coronavirus Resurgence

Reuters Ireland agreed on Tuesday to put the army on standby to help with security at Dublin airport should staffing be hit by a resurgence of COVID19 during the rest of the busy summer travel period. Irelands main airport is one of many around Europe that has struggled to hire staff fast enough to deal with a sharp rebound in travel although it has had relatively few issues since more than 1000 passengers missed their flights in a single day last month. https://www.reuters.com/world/europe/ireland-puts-army-standby-help-dublin-airport-amid-covid-surge-2022-06-28/ 28th Jun 2022