COVID-19 Update | July 9, 2021

COVID-19 News

COVID-19 Update | July 9, 2021

July 9, 2021

The California Biotechnology Foundation is committed to keeping you up to date about COVID-19 testing, treatment and prevention advancements. The following resources track what progress has been made as of July 9, 2021. Notable advancements include:

  • Pfizer and BioNTech announced they are developing a COVID-19 booster shot intended to target the delta variant. Clinical studies could begin as early as August, subject to regulatory approvals.
  • Roche and Sanofi’s anti-inflammatory drugs were found to reduce the risk of death in the most severe COVID-19 patients and are both recommended by the World Health Organization.
  • A third dose of the COVID-19 vaccine from Pfizer/BioNTech improves protection against the COVID-19 in organ transplant recipients, a population particularly vulnerable to more severe COVID-related outcomes, according to new study findings.

​Recent News

  • Pfizer says it is developing a COVID booster shot to target the highly transmissible delta variant
    CNBC – July 8, 2021
    Pfizer and BioNTech announced they are developing a COVID-19 booster shot intended to target the delta variant. Clinical studies could begin as early as August, subject to regulatory approvals. Executives from Pfizer and BioNtech have repeatedly said people will likely need a booster shot, or third dose, within 12 months of getting fully vaccinated.
  • COVID: Delta variant now dominant in California, U.S. Who should worry?
    East Bay Times – July 8, 2021
    The highly contagious Delta is now the dominant variant of COVID-19 in both California and across the U.S., hitting areas with low vaccination rates particularly hard and sparking concerns about what comes next in a pandemic that has dragged on for well over a year. In California, the Delta variant made up nearly 43% of cases the state analyzed in June, according to the California Department of Public Health.
  • LA County Public Health Director Reports A Rise In Cases Among Black Residents
    NPR – July 8, 2021
    Black residents of Los Angeles County are dealing with a rise in COVID-19 cases and hospitalizations. The development comes shortly after California reopened its economy and the highly contagious Delta variant became the dominant strain in the U.S. Dr. Barbara Ferrer, LA County’s public health director, tells NPR that in comparing data from two-week periods in May and June, the case incident rate for Black residents went from 39 cases per 100,000 people to 46 cases per 100,000 people.
  • Gene hunters turn up new clues to help explain why COVID-19 hits some people so hard
    STAT – July 8, 2021
    A report in Nature revealed that more than a dozen parts of the human genome were linked with either enhanced susceptibility to infection with or severe COVID-19. The research won’t change current treatment decisions for patients, but these genetic clues may point to existing drugs that could be repurposed to help the worst-off among them.
  • Third Dose of Pfizer’s COVID-19 Vaccine Improves Protection in Organ Transplant Recipients
    Medscape – July 7, 2021
    A third dose of the mRNA COVID-19 vaccine from Pfizer/BioNTech improves protection against the novel coronavirus in solid-organ transplant recipients, a population particularly vulnerable to more severe COVID-19-related outcomes, according to new study findings. A weak immune response to two doses of COVID-19 vaccine has been observed in this population, the French research team notes in The New England Journal of Medicine.
  • WHO Urges COVID-19 Treatment With Roche and Sanofi Anti-Inflammatory Drugs
    Wall Street Journal – July 6, 2021
    The World Health Organization recommended that certain hospitalized COVID-19 patients be given a type of anti-inflammatory drug found to reduce the risk of death by 13% in the sickest patients when taken in combination with steroids. The global public-health agency updated its COVID-19 treatment guidelines on to strongly recommend that people with severe or critical disease be given drugs tocilizumab and sarilumab to combat the haywire inflammatory immune reaction of some patients.
  • How the Moderna COVID-19 mRNA vaccine was made so quickly
    CNBC – July 3, 2021
    One of the reasons Moderna’s mRNA COVID-19 vaccine development moved so quickly is because scientists had been working with mRNA for years. “Messenger RNA technologies have been in development from a basic science perspective for over 15 years,” Kizzmekia Corbet, the scientific lead for the Coronavirus Vaccines & Immunopathogenesis Team at NIH, who helped make the vaccine possible, told the NIH Record.
  • Here’s how to design drug trials to defeat the next pandemic
    CNN – July 4, 2021
    In normal times when science isn’t racing against the clock to defeat a pandemic, the process to introduce a new therapy into health care typically begins with first testing drugs in animals, then in humans, and then in clinical trials. This process can take a decade—and often much longer.
  • Johnson & Johnson says its COVID-19 vaccine is effective against delta variant
    Washington Post – July 1, 2021
    The Johnson & Johnson COVID-19 vaccine provides effective protection against the delta variant, according to a small study, offering hope to many developing economies facing a summer surge of the highly contagious strand. Blood samples obtained from eight inoculated people who participated in a laboratory study showed that Johnson & Johnson’s single-dose shot generated a strong immune response against the delta variant.

Rely on California Biotechnology Foundation to monitor breaking news and provide updates on the latest advancements in COVID-19 diagnostics, vaccines and treatments.

Stay informed on the latest news and trends on the economic and health benefits of this industry by visiting the new CABiotech.org

If you have any questions about informational briefings contact California Biotechnology Foundation Executive Director Patty Cooper at (916)764-2434 or [email protected].