What specialized clinics may do for long COVID, as many questions remain
WBUR – November 23, 2021 This WBUR piece highlights a BIDMC patient’s long COVID journey and how the hospital’s Critical...
WBUR – November 23, 2021 This WBUR piece highlights a BIDMC patient’s long COVID journey and how the hospital’s Critical...
Harvard Health Publishing – November 22, 2021 Harvard Health Publishing faculty contributors, including Suzanne Salamon, MD (Geriatric Medicine, BIDMC), answered...
Harvard Medical School – November 19, 2021 In a recent phase 2b/3 clinical trial, a third mRNA vaccine against COVID-19 — known as CVnCoV and...
Bloomberg – November 17, 2021 The researchers studying the mid-summer COVID-19 outbreak in Provincetown are gaining important insights into the...
COVID-19 infections among vaccinated people are rising in the U.K. Dan Barouch, MD, PhD (Center for Virology and Vaccine Research, BIDMC) said breakthrough infections are not rare, unexpected, or very concerning.
In October, an expert panel that advises the CDC voted unanimously to approve boosters for specific groups and opened the door for mixing and matching vaccines. Westyn Branch-Elliman, MD (Infectious Disease, BIDMC) discussed how the decision was informed by a newly released NIH-funded study, which is yet to be peer-reviewed, that suggests mixing and matching vaccine boosters is safe and effective among 458 participants enrolled.
In his new book, A Shot to Save the World: The Inside Story of the Life-or-Death Race for a COVID-19 Vaccine, Wall Street Journal reporter Greg Zuckerman highlights stories of vaccine development, including mention of Dan Barouch, MD, PhD (Center for Virology and Vaccine Research, BIDMC) and his work with the Ad26 viral vector technology.
New research from BIDMC published Friday in the New England Journal of Medicine suggests the one-shot Johnson & Johnson vaccine produces a more durable immune response than the Pfizer-BioNTech and Moderna shots, which have been found to wane over time. Dan Barouch, MD, PhD (Center for Virology and Vaccine Research, BIDMC) will present the data for the first time to the FDA’s scientific advisory committee on Friday morning, hours before the panel is expected to issue a recommendation on J&J’s booster to the agency.
New research from BIDMC published Friday in the New England Journal of Medicine suggests the one-shot Johnson & Johnson vaccine produces a more durable immune response than the Pfizer-BioNTech and Moderna shots, which have been found to wane over time. Dan Barouch, MD, PhD (Center for Virology and Vaccine Research, BIDMC) said that by month eight, antibody responses were comparable for these three vaccines.
Amid Covid variants concerns, in some countries, people have already received booster shots of Pfizer-BioNTech or Moderna after getting two shots of either AstraZeneca, Sinopharm or Sinovac. Dan Barouch, MD, PhD (Center for Virology and Vaccine Research, BIDMC) said that theoretically, a person immunized with one vaccine and then boosted with another, “might be able to get the best of both worlds, but that no efficacy data on the approach is available yet.”
Johnson & Johnson is planning to ask federal regulators early this week to authorize a booster shot of its coronavirus vaccine. Last month, the company announced that a second dose, given two months after the first, increased the vaccine’s effectiveness against symptomatic COVID-19 by about 22 percentage points, to 94 percent. Dan Barouch, MD, PhD (Center for Virology and Vaccine Research, BIDMC) said the data show that there is a dramatic increase in efficacy when the boost is given at two months and could potentially be even better when given later.
Sharon Wright, MD, MPH (Infection Prevention, BILH) discussed that while vaccination rates continue to increase in Massachusetts and across the U.S. and the number of new COVID cases and hospitalizations is declining, there is concern that transmission rates might increase as colder weather approaches.
J&J recently announced that a second shot substantially increased protection in a clinical trial. Dan Barouch, MD, PhD (Center for Virology and Vaccine Research, BIDMC) said the shot has proven durable despite the Delta variant and cited a recent study where 390,000 J&J recipients found that the one-shot vaccine alone had an 81 percent efficacy rate against COVID-related hospitalization and 79 percent against symptomatic infections, with no evidence of decline from March to July.
Dan Barouch, MD, PhD (Center for Virology and Vaccine Research, BIDMC) reasons that delta-specific vaccines probably won’t be that much better than the original vaccines because delta’s spike protein is pretty similar to the ancestral coronavirus’s in terms of its look and shape.
The mask mandate in Massachusetts public schools, previously scheduled to expire Friday, October 1, has been extended to November 1. Preeti Mehrotra, MD (Infection Control, BIDMC) said masks have been an effective mitigation method throughout the pandemic and that the mask mandate extension in schools could be part of the state’s efforts to keep mitigation methods in place as vaccination rates continue to increase.
According to data released by the company, people who receive a Johnson & Johnson COVID-19 vaccine booster shot are better protected against the coronavirus for a longer period of time. Dan Barouch, MD, PhD (Center for Virology and Vaccine Research, BIDMC), who helped develop the single-shot Johnson & Johnson vaccine but was not involved in this study, said these new data show that a second shot of the vaccine results in substantially increased protective efficacy both in the United States and globally.
A key FDA panel is set to meet today to debate and vote on Pfizer and BioNTech’s application to offer booster shots to the general public. Dan Barouch, MD, PhD (Center for Virology and Vaccine Research, BIDMC) said there is currently not a consensus in the biomedical community on boosters for the general public and there are senior experts different sides of the debate.
Researchers are pointing to preliminary data suggesting that mixing different vaccines could offer an even stronger immune boost than booster shots.Dan Barouch, MD, PhD (Center for Virology and Vaccine Research, BIDMC) said our immune system is built to have repeated exposures to the same antigen, which will substantially enhance immune protection.
The FDA staff declined to take a stance on whether to back booster shots of Pfizer’s Covid-19 vaccine, saying U.S. regulators haven’t verified all the available data. Dan Barouch, MD, PhD (Center for Virology and Vaccine Research, BIDMC) said there is currently not a consensus in the biomedical community on boosters for the general public and with experts on both sides of the debate, it’ll be interesting to see where the debate goes.
The European Union is recommending new travel restrictions for American tourists as COVID-19 cases in the U.S. continue to surge. Preeti Mehrotra, MD (Infection Control, BIDMC) discussed the proposed travel restrictions and said international travel plays a role in global transmission.
