Tag: COVID-19 vaccine

Advisory Committee on Immunization Practices Meeting on Boosters

There is a meeting of the Advisory Committee on Immunization Practices (ACIP) scheduled for August 30, 2021 to discuss COVID-19 vaccine boosters. It looks like it was originally scheduled for August 24, 2021 but was rescheduled. This link to the Federal Register announcement identifies the matters to be considered (booster doses) of the meeting although the date for the meeting had not been updated at the time I wrote this post. Further ACIP meeting information is here.

COVID-19 Vaccine Booster Doses May Be available September: Joint Statement from HHS PUblic Health & Medical Experts

The CDC and FDA released a Joint Statement today indicating COVID-19 vaccine booster doses for all Americans possibly beginning as soon as September 2021. An excerpt is below:

“We have developed a plan to begin offering these booster shots this fall subject to FDA conducting an independent evaluation and determination of the safety and effectiveness of a third dose of the Pfizer and Moderna mRNA vaccines and CDC’s Advisory Committee on Immunization Practices (ACIP) issuing booster dose recommendations based on a thorough review of the evidence. We are prepared to offer booster shots for all Americans beginning the week of September 20 and starting 8 months after an individual’s second dose. At that time, the individuals who were fully vaccinated earliest in the vaccination rollout, including many health care providers, nursing home residents, and other seniors, will likely be eligible for a booster. We would also begin efforts to deliver booster shots directly to residents of long-term care facilities at that time, given the distribution of vaccines to this population early in the vaccine rollout and the continued increased risk that COVID-19 poses to them.”

CDC Publishes Data Prompting the Mask Guideline change

Today the CDC posted the data supporting the change in the mask guidelines for the fully vaccinated. It’s in the July 30, 2021 Morbidity and Mortality Weekly Report (MMWR) describing the outbreak of several hundred new cases of the Delta variant COVID-19 infection in Barnstable County, Massachusetts following July 4th events. Those who were fully vaccinated shed virus as much as the unvaccinated.

Organizers of the Iowa State Fair and those planning to attend, take note.

Brown CM, Vostok J, Johnson H, et al. Outbreak of SARS-CoV-2 Infections, Including COVID-19 Vaccine Breakthrough Infections, Associated with Large Public Gatherings — Barnstable County, Massachusetts, July 2021. MMWR Morb Mortal Wkly Rep. ePub: 30 July 2021. DOI: http://dx.doi.org/10.15585/mmwr.mm7031e2external icon.

Listening to the CDC

Like everyone else, I groaned aloud about the revised CDC mask guidelines yesterday. I still trust the CDC guidance, and I’m sure many might disagree with me. I think some headlines overstate the CDC mask change. I don’t believe it’s a “reversal” per se. I think it’s common sense to wear a mask if you’re inside somewhere with a lot of people whose vaccination status you know nothing about.

I think it’s worthwhile to actually read the CDC web site’s mask guidance in the section entitled “When You’ve Been Fully Vaccinated.” What it says is:

“To maximize protection from the Delta variant and prevent possibly spreading it to others, wear a mask indoor in public if you are in an area of substantial transmission.”

It’s a good idea to check your geographical area (COVID-19 Integrated County View) to see what the transmission situation is. It’s moderate where we live in Iowa. That’s enough for me to go back to wearing a mask in tight quarters with people I don’t know.

I was dismayed to read an opinion piece entitled “Stop listening to the CDC,” in which the author said that “the vaccinated are not responsible for the unvaccinated, and vice versa.”

That made me remember my former pastor, Reverend Glen Bandel, who is now in his 90s. When my mother was very sick, he spent a long night sitting up with her. My brother and I were too little to manage the crisis by ourselves. She was unable to keep any food or fluid down and he made many trips from her room to the bathroom, to empty her bucket of vomit in the toilet. You could have made a case for hospitalizing her, but we somehow got by without it.

If we all believed that we are not responsible for each other, we would have been extinct long ago, let alone getting through this pandemic in the last 18 months. Not all of us who got the COVID-19 vaccine did it just for ourselves. I think a great many also did it for those they loved and for whom they felt responsible. This is called altruism and I think humans are still capable of it, despite what you read in the news.

Update on Advisory Committee On Immunization Practices Meeting July 22, 2021

Presentation slides for the ACIP meeting today are available here. Updates to clinical communication indicate that, while patients with a history of Guillain-Barre Syndrome (GBS) are eligible for any of the authorized vaccines, they should discuss with their clinical teams the availability of mRNA vaccines given the association of GBS with the J&J vaccine.

For the summary of the issues regarding giving booster vaccine doses to immunocompromised patients, see data from slide 15 onwards.

New FDA Warning Regarding association of Guillain-Barre Syndrome with J&J Covid-19 Vaccine

On July 13, 2021, the FDA issued a revision to the J&J COVID-19 vaccine fact sheets regarding the increased risk of Guillain-Barre Syndrome (GBS) with the vaccine. According to the announcement, the benefits still outweigh the risks for getting the vaccine and so far no causal association has been found. GBS is rare and has been associated with other vaccines, including the flu vaccine. GBS has not been associated with the mRNA vaccines, so far.

Results of CDC Emergency Meeting Today on COVID-19 Vaccine Safety

The ACIP presentation slide sets available for June 23, 2021 regarding safety of COVID-19 vaccine including myocarditis and pericarditis and booster doses are here. Updated CDC recommendations for myocarditis and pericarditis following mRNA COVID-19 vaccination are here. Data does not support recommending booster doses currently although monitoring will continue.

Update: CDC Emergency Meeting June 23-25, 2021 on COVID-19 Vaccine Safety Including Myocarditis

The CDC Advisory Committee on Immunization Practices (ACIP) emergency meeting is re-scheduled for June 23-25, 2021 to discuss COVID-19 vaccine safety including myocarditis after Vaccine Safety Technical Work Group assessment. You can find a webcast link and the draft of the working agenda details here. The Vaccines and Related Biological Products Advisory Committee report slide set summary as of May 31, 2021 is on slide 26. The American Academy of Pediatrics (AAP) news story is here.

Magnetically Speaking

Today I saw the story about a nurse practitioner in the Ohio state legislature who tried to demonstrate how the COVID-19 vaccine magnetized her. However, she was like Teflon—nothing stuck. This occurred during the Ohio state legislature hearing about House Bill 248, which would prohibit mandatory vaccinations. I gather it is still being considered, although not on the strength of the scientific evidence favoring any magneto-genic properties of the vaccine. Even the CDC has a web page debunking this.

You know, when we were grade school kids, we used to do this trick of placing a spoon on our noses. The spoon sticks to your nose mainly because of the oil on your skin. The school lunchroom monitors did not get a big kick out of this, for some reason. They would make us sit in the bleachers. They also caught us stuffing spinach and fruitcake into our milk cartons, which brought the same penalty.

The CDC forgot to mention the other important issue, though. Aliens are installing tracking devices into the injection site. They want to see how many people are going to the marijuana shops in the states where it’s legal to get free joints for getting the jabs. Those aliens got it all wrong. In fact, I guess it’s tough to get the jab in the first place. You only get the marijuana for actually getting the shot in the pot shop (try saying that three times really fast), not for proving that you already got one by showing your vaccination card (like at beer gardens). It turns out that health care professionals are leery of administering the injections at pot shops because of some federal law against using or selling marijuana. Imagine that.

Anyway, there is no scientific evidence for COVID-19 vaccines making you magnetic. And they won’t make you like fruitcake, either. Is there any evidence for human magnetism at all, meaning can you make metal objects stick to you as if you’re a human magnet? Probably not. There are some colorful characters out there who claim they’re magnetic, though.

But is there evidence for humans having magnetoreception or some kind of magnetic sense? There might be some evidence although definite conclusions can’t be made yet. In an earlier post I mentioned that scientists believe there is evidence supporting a magnetic sense in some animals including foxes.

Try the sticky spoon trick at home.