It’s been a while since I reviewed the news related to COVID-19 vaccines, so I thought it was time to review the recent data and vaccination rates.
Last month, Swiss researchers reported that the monovalent Moderna COVID booster vaccine was associated with an elevated risk for hives lasting more than six weeks.
Among people who got an mRNA COVID vaccine booster and had new-onset hives reported to local allergists, 90% had vaccination precede CSU [chronic spontaneous urticaria, aka hives] in the canton of Vaud during the study period, as did 81% of patients in the nationwide cohort, reported Yannick Daniel Muller, MD, PhD, of the University of Lausanne in Switzerland, and coauthors.Crude incidence rates of CSU following a booster dose in the two cohorts was 1.9-2.1 per 100,000 doses of Pfizer’s vaccine and 30.8-43.9 per 100,000 doses of Moderna’s product, according to their research letter in JAMA Network Openopens in a new tab or window.
The Danish Medicines Agency is now reporting that a possible side effect of taking Moderna’s ‘Spikevax’ COVID-19 vaccine, also known as…chronic hives.
Based on a total of 360 European cases, it is assessed that there is a ‘probable’ connection in 58 cases, while a ‘possible’ connection exists in 228 cases.A suspected side effect is categorized as either probable, possible, or not probable….Team leader at the Danish Medicines Agency, Martin Zahle Larsen, told that these are preliminary results.Therefore, further studies are necessary to determine whether there is an actual connection.”When we say possible, it’s because there is a likelihood that it could be caused by the vaccine,” the team leader said.
Interestingly, last year, Germany was forced to discard 200 million COVID-19 vaccine doses. Now, a German company is in a dispute with the US National Institutes of Health (NIH) over the lack of royalty payments.
BioNTech said on Monday the U.S. National Institutes of Health has sent a notice to the German company regarding default on the payment of royalties and other amounts related to its COVID-19 vaccine.BioNTech, which partnered with U.S. pharma giant Pfizer for its COVID-19 vaccine, however, said it disagreed with the positions being taken by the NIH and intends to defend against all allegations of breach.Spokespersons for the U.S. NIH did not immediately respond to Reuters’ request for a comment.
Meanwhile, vaccination rates in this country continue to plummet. In Minnesota, only 1% of a high-risk group…the elderly…are opting to be “up to date” with the latest COVID shot.
The monthly vaccination rate data released Thursday by the Minnesota Department of Health show only 12.5 percent of Minnesotans, including only 1 percent of those age 65 or older, are up to date on their COVID vaccines. This is down from the 21 percent up-to-date rate, including over 58 percent among the older adult crowd, released last month.It is not that Minnesotans are somehow becoming unvaccinated. It is just that the department’s latest vaccination rate data now considers the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention’s (CDC) latest guidance on vaccination, issued on Feb. 28, recommending all adults ages 65 and older receive an additional dose of the version of the COVID-19 vaccine released early last fall.The definition of “up to date” did not change for those younger than 65, and vaccination rates improved for that large age group — but by less than one percentage point. Demand for the new version of COVID-19 vaccine continues to be tepid with less than 15 percent of any age group below age 50 in Minnesota receiving the shot to date.
This trend is also observed across the country, per a new Pew Research poll.
A new Pew Research Center survey finds that just 20% of Americans view the coronavirus as a major threat to the health of the U.S. population today and only 10% are very concerned they will get it and require hospitalization. This data represents a low ebb of public concern about the virus that reached its height in the summer and fall of 2020, when as many as two-thirds of Americans viewed COVID-19 as a major threat to public health.Just 28% of U.S. adults say they have received the updated COVID-19 vaccine, which the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) recommended last fall to protect against serious illness. This stands in stark contrast to the spring and summer of 2021, when long lines and limited availability characterized the initial rollout of the first COVID-19 vaccines. A majority of U.S. adults (69%) had been fully vaccinated by August 2021.
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