Nationwide Swedish study strengthens evidence for a third booster COVID vaccine dose https://www.news-medical.net/news/2...e-for-a-third-booster-COVID-vaccine-dose.aspx Vaccines are effective against coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) and protect from the risk of infection and severe illness and death. However, breakthrough severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 (SARS-CoV-2) infections have raised concerns about waning vaccine effectiveness. Several studies indicate that vaccines protect against severe illness up to 6 months after vaccination. There are, however, few reports of vaccine effectiveness beyond six months. A nationwide study from Sweden investigates the effectiveness of COVID-19 vaccination against the risk of symptomatic infection, hospitalization, and death up to 9 months post-vaccination. This study is published on the Preprints with The Lancet website while awaiting peer review. Study: Effectiveness of Covid-19 Vaccination Against Risk of Symptomatic Infection, Hospitalization, and Death Up to 9 Months: A Swedish Total-Population Cohort Study. Vaccine effectiveness data Clinical studies have demonstrated high efficacy of the BNT162b2 (Pfizer-BioNTech), mRNA1273 (Moderna), and ChAdOx1 nCoV-19 (Oxford/AstraZeneca) COVID-19 vaccines. Further observational studies have evaluated high real-world effectiveness. However, there are reports of waning vaccine effectiveness against symptomatic infection. Currently, there is some indication of waning vaccine effectiveness against infection up to 6 months post-vaccination. However, protection against severe illness appears to be maintained. The evidence is limited and inconsistent because of evaluations of different vaccines that may have variable long-lasting effects, a low proportion of old participants in the studies, and varying and relatively short follow-up times. A retrospective study This new retrospective cohort study was conducted using Swedish nationwide registries. The 3,640,421 individuals included in the study were vaccinated with at least one dose of any COVID-19 vaccine (ChAdOx1 nCoV-19, BNT162b2, or mRNA-1273) in Sweden until 26 May 2021 and 1,331,989 had a confirmed infection until 24 May 2021. Statistics Sweden, the national agency for statistics, randomly sampled one individual from the total population of Sweden and matched them according to the birth year, sex and municipality. These matched individuals had neither been vaccinated nor infected with COVID-19 on the date of first vaccination dose or infection of the matched vaccinated individual. This total population of 5,833,003 individuals was updated concerning vaccination status and SARS-CoV-2 infections until 4 October 2021. From this total cohort, each fully vaccinated individual was matched to one randomly sampled unvaccinated individual with respect to birth year and sex. This cohort comprised 1,684,958 individuals forming 842,974 matched pairs. Description of selection of the cohort. Another cohort formed using less strict matching criteria resulted in 3,966,630 individuals forming 1,983,315 pairs. Data on individuals were collected from the Swedish Vaccination Register and SmiNet register managed by the Public Health Agency of Sweden. These registries have a 100% coverage of the total population. Data on cases of symptomatic infection and severe COVID-19, i.e., hospitalization or 30-day mortality after confirmed infection, were collected from 12 January to 4 October 2021. Vaccine effectiveness data from Sweden Within the study group, it was observed that the vaccinated individuals more often had homemaker service, were more often born in Sweden, had more medical diagnoses, and had a higher level of education when compared to unvaccinated individuals. The term homemaker refers to domestic services provided to individuals (primarily elderly individuals) who live at home but need help with shopping, cleaning, meal preparation, and similar tasks. Vaccine effectiveness of BNT162b2 against infection waned progressively from 92% at day 15-30 to 47% at day 121-180 to no effectiveness from day 211 onwards. This waning was slightly slower for mRNA-1273. The effectiveness of mRNA-1273 was 59% from day 181 onwards. The effectiveness of ChAdOx1 nCoV-19 was lower and waned faster, with no effectiveness detected from day 121 onwards, showing a negative value of effectiveness, -19%. This means that the unvaccinated individuals were more protected than the ChAdOx1 nCoV-19 vaccinated individuals. However, effectiveness from heterologous ChAdOx1 nCoV19 / mRNA-1273 was 66% and was maintained from 121 days onwards. In this study, vaccine effectiveness was lower and waned faster among men and older individuals. Vaccine effectiveness against severe COVID-19 waned from 89% at day 15-30 to 42% from day 181 onwards. This waning effectiveness was notable among men, older frail individuals, individuals with comorbidities, and ChAdOx1 nCoV-19 vaccine. Limitations of the study It is possible that the study included individuals with previous asymptomatic infections. This would confound the results of the investigation. If these individuals happened to be in the unvaccinated cohort, their natural immunity due to a previous infection might have attenuated the estimated vaccine effectiveness. In addition, the infection pressure during the study period was low. This would also attenuate the estimated vaccine effectiveness. Implications of the study The findings of this study strengthen the evidence-based rationale for the administration of a booster dose, prioritizing the individuals at high risk of severe illness and death. Thus, these findings may have implications for vaccination strategies and public health policies. *Important notice Preprints are early-stage research papers that have not been peer-reviewed. Therefore, the findings should not be used for clinical or public health decision-making and should not be presented to a lay audience without highlighting that they are preliminary and have not been peer-reviewed. Journal reference: Nordström, P., and Ballin, M., and Nordström, A. (2021) Effectiveness of Covid-19 Vaccination Against Risk of Symptomatic Infection, Hospitalization, and Death Up to 9 Months: A Swedish Total-Population Cohort Study. Available at SSRN: https://ssrn.com/abstract=3949410 or http://dx.doi.org/10.2139/ssrn.3949410
Amazing turnaround for Sweden from one of the worst Covid performers to one of the top Covid performers due to vaccinations, strict restrictions, Anders Tegnell (Natural Immunity guru) getting fully vaccinated, Covid passport mandates for travel into Sweden, and now they're doing vaccine studies among the countries that I follow closely (see below chart)... Wow. More amazing is that Sweden has its citizens standing behind its government...a social democratic government without making the health crisis political. P.S. I think Sweden is now using Covid pass, Covid negative test or Verification of a recent Covid recovery to get into venues, gyms, restaurants, bars and such. If not, they'll most likely take the lead and do that soon now that Covid is shaking Europe again. wrbtrader
Sweden to Introduce COVID Vaccine Passes for Indoors Events STOCKHOLM (Reuters) - The Swedish government plans to introduce a requirement for COVID-19 vaccine passes at indoor events where more than 100 people attend, a step recommended by health officials warning of a rising tide of infections in coming weeks. Infection rates have soared across large swaths of Europe in recent weeks and while Sweden - hard hit at times earlier in the pandemic - has yet to record a similar surge, healthy agency modelling suggests infections will reach a peak in mid-December. The centre-left government was preparing a bill to be put forward to parliament with the aim to having the vaccination passes in effect from Dec. 1, Health Minister Lena Hallengren said. "The spread is increasing in Europe. We haven't seen it yet in Sweden, but we are not isolated," she told a news conference. "We need to be able to use vaccination certificates." Sweden's health agency said earlier on Wednesday it would reverse a widely criticized decision to stop recommending testing for people who were fully vaccinated but show symptoms of COVID-19. Around 85 percent of all Swedes over 16 have received one dose vaccine and 82 percent have had two doses or more. Sweden currently has the lowest number of COVID-19 patients in hospital and in intensive care in the European Union, relative to the size of the population, according to OurWorldinData, but has been hit hard by earlier waves. Sweden has opted against lockdowns and relied mostly on voluntary measures aimed at social distancing. It has seen several times higher deaths per capita than its Nordic neighbours but lower than most European countries that opted for strict lockdowns. Several aspects of Sweden's handling of the pandemic, such as poor testing, have been strongly criticised by a government-appointed COVID-19 commission. (Reporting by Helena Soderpalm and Johan Ahlander; Editing by Simon Johnson and Niklas Pollard) https://www.usnews.com/news/world/a...oduce-covid-vaccine-passes-for-indoors-events wrbtrader
That partisanship appears to have transferred to at least one other important vaccination. An examination of flu shot data suggests that which party people belong to is highly correlated with whether they have or will get a flu shot this season -- something that was not predictive of flu shot uptake the last few years. Take a look at two recent polls that have asked about whether or not people have gotten the flu shot: Axios/Ipsos and Kaiser Family Foundation. By assessing two polls instead of one, we know what we're seeing is a real phenomenon and not statistical noise. According to the Ipsos data, 68% of Democrats said they have gotten a flu shot or are very likely to get one. Just 44% of Republicans said the same. This 24-point gap is very similar to the 30-point gap for Covid-19 vaccines. The Kaiser poll shows basically the same thing. A clear majority (65%) of Democrats indicated that they had received or will definitely receive the flu shot. Just 40% of Republicans indicated they would. The 25-point partisan gap in this data is a near carbon copy of the 24-point gap in the Ipsos poll. Now compare this data to what we saw in past years -- specifically, in the years before the Covid-19 pandemic took its hold. An AP-NORC poll in February 2020 asked adults whether they had received a flu shot in the last 12 months. In this poll, 58% of Democrats said they had compared to 54% of Republicans. This 4-point gap is well within any margin of error. A Princeton Survey Research Associates International from the second half of 2016 queried adults about whether they had gotten a flu shot in the past year. This poll looked nearly identical to the 2020 poll with 55% of Democrats and 53% of Republicans saying they had gotten a flu shot in the last 12 months. In other words, there was no partisan gap.
I've seen so much misconception or misunderstanding by people online and here at ET involving vaccines... Will the vaccine change my chances of getting COVID-19? Your vaccination status only changes your risk of catching COVID-19 and becoming ill. It doesn't change your risk of exposure to the Covid virus out in the community. ---------- The above answer is correct and it's the main reason why our behaviour needs to change to change our risk of exposure to the Covid virus after being fully vaccinated. If we don't change that behavior...we'll see more fully vaccinated people being infected with Covid although less likely to be hospitalized in comparison to those not vaccinated. wrbtrader
FDA clears Moderna and Pfizer’s Covid vaccine booster shots for all U.S. adults https://www.cnbc.com/2021/11/19/fda...-vaccine-booster-shots-for-all-us-adults.html
Dr. Fauci says he expects babies and toddlers will have a COVID-19 vaccine by spring 2022 https://www.businessinsider.com/fauci-babies-toddlers-should-get-covid-19-vaccines-by-spring-2021-11
Nothing but covid as far as the eye can see. Thank you Dr Fauxci. Maybe give the Wuhan Lab some more funds to work on this. What could go wrong there? Delta-like SARS-CoV-2 variants are most likely to increase pandemic severity https://medicalxpress.com/news/2021-11-delta-like-sars-cov-variants-pandemic-severity.html
Studies have shown that over 99% of the Covid variants are generated in the unvaccinated. The simple cure for this situation is for people to get vaccinated so they stop generating variants, increasing the pandemic severity, and cease to continue the lengthening of the pandemic. Very straightforward.
Bharat Bio’s Covaxin shows 65.2% efficacy against Delta variant https://www.livemint.com/companies/...cal-trials-bharat-biotech-11636706193134.html