​Recent News

• Cheap antidepressant shows COVID-19 treatment promise
  Mercury News – October 27, 2021 
  A cheap antidepressant reduced the need for hospitalization among high-risk adults with COVID-19 in a study hunting for existing drugs that could be repurposed to treat coronavirus. Researchers tested the pill used for depression and obsessive-compulsive disorder because it was known to reduce inflammation and looked promising in smaller studies. They’ve shared the results with the U.S. National Institutes of Health, which publishes treatment guidelines, and they hope for a World Health Organization recommendation.
• Merck’s COVID-19 Pill Licensed to U.N.-Backed Nonprofit to Increase Global Supplies
  Wall Street Journal – October 27, 2021 
  Merck & Co. will license a promising COVID-19 drug to a United Nations-backed nonprofit to provide more supplies to low- and middle-income countries. The Medicines Patent Pool, which aims to expand poor countries’ access to drugs, will work with multiple drugmakers to produce molnupiravir for 105 nations, including Pakistan, Cambodia and all of Africa, the company and nonprofit said Wednesday.
• Some immunocompromised people can receive a 4th COVID-19 shot, CDC says
  NBC News – October 27, 2021 
  The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention updated its COVID-19 vaccine guidance for large swaths of immunocompromised people, saying they can receive a booster dose of a COVID-19 vaccine at least six months after completing their primary vaccination series. But unlike boosters for the vast majority of Americans, a booster shot for an immunocompromised individual may be their fourth COVID-19 shot.
• COVID-19 Vaccines Not Linked With Pregnancy Loss
  Medscape – October 26, 2021 
  Two studies in major medical journals add to evidence that COVID-19 vaccines are safe before and during pregnancy. One study, published in The New England Journal of Medicine, tracked nearly 18,500 pregnant women in Norway, including about 4,500 who had miscarriages. Researchers found no link between COVID-19 vaccines and risk of first-trimester miscarriage, regardless of whether the vaccines were from Moderna, Pfizer and BioNTech, or AstraZeneca.
• Moderna Announces Positive Top Line Data from Phase 2/3 Study of COVID-19 Vaccine in Children 6 to 11 Years of Age
  Moderna –October 25, 2021 
  Moderna Inc. announced positive interim data from the Phase 2/3 study, called the KidCOVE study of the Company’s vaccine candidate against COVID-19, in children 6 to under 12 years of age. This interim analysis showed a robust neutralizing antibody response after two doses with a favorable safety profile. Moderna plans to submit these data to the U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA) and other global regulators in the near term.
• How did California go from the epicenter of the US pandemic to the lowest statewide transmission rate?
  ABC News – October 24, 2021 
  With the lowest COVID-19 infection rate among all states as of Friday, California, which has some of the strictest mask and vaccination mandates in the country, has managed to flip the script as the former U.S. epicenter of the pandemic. As of Friday evening, California had an infection rate of 61.1 cases per 100,000 over the past week, according to data from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.
• San Diego scientists work on a vaccine against all coronaviruses. Yes, all of them
  Los Angeles Times – October 24, 2021 
  Researchers from San Diego to Boston are racing to turn that possibility into a reality, and they just got some major help. La Jolla Institute for Immunology announced Thursday that Erica Ollmann Saphire, president of the organization, won a three-year, $2.6-million grant from the National Institutes of Health to develop a so-called pan-coronavirus vaccine.
• Millions more Californians are now eligible for COVID-19 vaccine booster
  Los Angeles Times – October 22, 2021 
  The campaign to insulate California against another winter COVID-19 surge got a major shot in the arm when federal health officials adopted criteria that will allow millions of additional residents to receive COVID-19 vaccine booster shots. It is particularly urgent that all seniors age 65 and older, as well as adults 50 and older with underlying health conditions, and anyone who got the Johnson & Johnson vaccine get additional doses of any COVID-19 vaccine, health experts and officials say.