Category: Brief Messages or Announcements

Video of the Raccoon in the Mulberry Tree

Sena said I should use the short video of that big raccoon I filmed in lumbering around and eating breakfast in our mulberry tree the other day. I didn’t include it in the original post, but when Sena and I looked at it together, she persuaded me that it was worth posting.

Selected Highlights of CDC ACIP Meeting on Covid-19 Vaccines

Today I’m highlighting a few items of interest to older adults from the summary slide set on Covid-19 vaccines presented on June 23, 2023 at the CDC ACIP meeting last week. Information for other age groups are included in the slide set.

Covid-19 continues to be a major health threat for the population, especially older adults and the immunocompromised. Vaccines are still the most effective intervention. However, the bivalent vaccine uptake was very low; most people didn’t get it.

A new Covid-19 monovalent vaccine with an XBB.1.5 composition, is expected to be available this fall.

In the fall, the vaccine manufacturers will switch to the commercial marketplace. In order to continue making Covid-19 vaccines available to the uninsured, there is a Bridge Access Program for Covid-19 Vaccines and Treatments” which is described at the HHS website.

Covid-19 Variants in the News

Sena alerted me to a CBS news item with the headline “CDC tracking new Covid variant EU.1.1.” The story seemed a bit misleading because the FDA just announced approval of vaccines for XBB.1.5. beginning in the fall.

I checked the CDC Data Tracker for variants and noticed XBB.1.5 is still the most common Covid-19 subvariant in the U.S.

While the EU.1.1 is on the list of subvariants tracked, it’s pretty far down the line and is much less common than the news headline seems to suggest. And it’s not clear the new vaccine for XBB.1.5 wouldn’t protect against EU.1.1 as well.

Brief Remarks on CDC ACIP Vaccines Meeting This Week

My impressions of the first couple of days of the CDC ACIP meeting on vaccines will be brief. My wife and I were interested in learning more about the new Respiratory Syncytial Virus (RSV) vaccine. It sounds like the vaccine was upvoted with only a few no votes. Most committee members thought the vaccine was a good idea. It sounds like the decision to get the RSV vaccine should be in the context of a shared-decision making conversation with your doctor.

We didn’t get a chance to hear the presentation on the Polio vaccine. The slides were available and it looks like most people are vaccinated. The recommendation is that if you’re not already vaccinated or incompletely vaccinated, or you’re a health care worker likely to encounter patients with polio, a laboratory worker who might handle material with the polio virus in it, or traveling to regions where you might contract it, then the vaccine would be recommended.

Here is a link to the presentation slides.

Sena Gives Me a Haircut

Sena gave me a haircut the other day. She’s been cutting my hair almost 30 years. She bought a new barber cape recently which has snaps instead of Velcro to hold it around my neck. I still have Velcro tennis shoes, though.

The first time Sena cut my hair she left a bald patch on the back of my head. The only way I found out about it was when somebody noticed it in the psychiatry department administration office where I hung out when I was chief resident.

Since then, she’s done an excellent job of cutting my hair. And she does a great job cutting her own hair too.

After the haircut, I had to trim my beard again because I looked a little lopsided.

CDC ACIP Meeting Today on Vaccines

The ACIP meeting on several vaccines begins today and runs through Friday, 8:00 a.m-5:30 p.m. on the 21st-22nd and 8:00 a.m.-12:40 p.m. on the 23rd, ET.

The committee will discuss vaccines for Respiratory Syncytial Virus in adults, Polio, and Influenza vaccines on the 21st. There will be a vote for each.

They will discuss vaccines for Pneumococcal, Dengue, Chikungunya, Respiratory Syncytial Virus (pediatric and maternal) on the 22nd. They will vote on the pneumococcal vaccine.

They will discuss Mpox, Meningococcal, and Covid-19 vaccines on the 23rd.

FDA Meeting Today on Strain Selection for Periodic Covid-19 Vaccine

The FDA Vaccines and Related Biological Products Advisory Committee will meet today from 8:30 am-5:00 pm ET to discuss and make recommendations on strain selection for the periodic updated Covid-19 vaccines for the 2023-2024 vaccine campaign.

The discussion topic will be:

“Based on the evidence and other considerations presented, please
discuss selection of a specific XBB lineage (e.g., XBB.1.5 or
XBB.1.16 or XBB.2.3) for inclusion in the 2023-2024 Formula of
COVID-19 vaccines in the U.S.”

The voting question will be:

“For the 2023-2024 Formula of COVID-19 vaccines in the U.S., does the
committee recommend a periodic update of the current vaccine composition to
a monovalent XBB-lineage?”

UPDATE: The committee upvoted the question unanimously. The word “periodic” was removed from the question. A September 2023 time frame was expected for availability of the new vaccine.