New Brunswick NJ, Johnson & Johnson (NYSE: JNJ) (the Company) today announced that the U.S. Food and Drug Administration’s (FDA) Vaccines and Related Biological Products Advisory Committee (VRBPAC) unanimously voted to recommend Emergency Use Authorization (EUA) for the Company’s single-shot COVID-19 vaccine candidate for adults 18 and older, developed by the Janssen Pharmaceutical Companies of Johnson & Johnson. The vote was based on a totality of scientific evidence provided by the Company, including efficacy and safety data from the Phase 3 ENSEMBLE trial.
Ridgewood NJ, according Johns Hopkins Center for Health Security , as more and more people recover from acute COVID-19 disease, clinicians and researchers are gathering additional information on the chronic effects of SARS-CoV-2, commonly referred to as “long COVID.” A study conducted in Israel, published in Clinical Microbiology and Infection, investigated chronic symptoms in recovered COVID-19 patients over a 6-month period. The study included 103 patients who recovered from mild COVID-19 illness, and investigators collected data on the onset and duration of a variety of symptoms. Fever was among the first symptoms to resolve, with a mean duration of 5.6 days, whereas fatigue (31.1 days), difficulty breathing (18.6), and changes to taste (18.6) and smell (23.5) tended to persist longer. Notably, nearly half of the participants reported chronic symptoms that persisted for 6 months, including 22% with ongoing fatigue, 15% with changes to taste and smell, and 8% with breathing difficulties. The onset of some of the chronic symptoms—such as fatigue, breathing difficulties, memory disorders, and hair loss—tended to be reported after the 6-week point, indicating that they were newly developed conditions in recovered patients rather than longer-term continuations of acute disease.
New Brunswick NJ, U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA) staff said in documents published on Wednesday, that Johnson & Johnson’s one-shot COVID-19 vaccine appeared safe and effective in trials, paving the way for its approval for emergency use (EUA) .
Ridgewood NJ, many readers have beeen asking about vaccine safety and here is is, researchers from the US CDC COVID-19 Response Team and the US FDA published analysis of early SARS-CoV-2 vaccine safety monitoring from the US vaccination campaign. The study, published in the US CDC’s MMWR, reviewed safety monitoring data for the Pfizer-BioNTech and Moderna vaccines administered in the US from December 14, 2020, to January 13, 2021—accounting for approximately the first month of vaccinations for both products. During this period, 13.8 million doses of vaccine were administered, and there were 6,994 post-vaccination adverse events reported in the Vaccine Adverse Event Reporting System (VAERS). The most common symptoms were headache (22.4%), fatigue (16.5%), and dizziness (16.5%). Anaphylactic reactions were reported in approximately 4.5 out of every million vaccinations, which is similar to the rate expected for inactivated seasonal influenza vaccines. Adverse events were more likely to be reported after an individual’s second dose than their first dose.
Ridgewood NJ, In a potential game changer for vaccine distribution, Pfizer and BioNTech asked the U.S. Food and Drug Administration to allow their Covid-19 shot to be stored at temperatures found in normal pharmaceutical freezers. Up until now, the doses had to be stored in super-cold specialty freezers, complicating distribution.
Ridgewood NJ, the CDC published findings from analysis of US mortality data from January-June 2020, which indicates that the average life expectancy in the US decreased by 1 year compared to estimates from 2019. The analysis was conducted by the CDC’s National Center for Health Statistics, and the researchers evaluated all reported deaths from the first half of 2020*. The researchers estimate the overall life expectancy in the US for the first half of 2020 to be 77.8 years, a decrease from 78.8 years in 2019 and the lowest estimate since 2006. This is the largest single-year decline since World War II. The decrease was slightly greater in males than females—1.2 years compared to 0.9 years. The analysis also evaluated changes in life expectancy by racial and ethnic groups, a major concern due to the disproportionate burden of COVID-19 on racial and ethnic minorities. Life expectancy decreased by 0.8 years for the non-Hispanic White population, 1.9 years for the Hispanic population, and 2.7 years for the non-Hispanic Black population, illustrating “a worsening of racial and ethnic mortality disparities.”
Ridgewood NJ, the COVID19 vaccine developed by Pfizer appears to be effective against the more transmissible variants of the coronavirus, including the one first discovered in South Africa, according to a new report in the New England Journal of Medicine.
Ridgewood NJ, The WHO COVID-19 Dashboard reports 108.82 million cases and 2.40 million deaths as of 10:30am EST on February 16.
Both the global weekly incidence and mortality continue to decrease steadily. Weekly mortality has decreased by nearly half since the peak reported the week of January 4, 2020. The current weekly incidence is the lowest since mid-October 2020. Weekly mortality decreased for the second consecutive week, down nearly 25% from the high reported the week of January 25, 2021.
Morris Plains NJ, as Darlene Pallay continues to wait on the legal process of her Appellate Division case against Gov. Phil Murphy and pandemic shutdowns near their one-year anniversary, the
former business owner of the CKO Kickboxing Franklin franchise remains in limbo while she tries to recover from the domino effect of the business shutdowns, with her husband also recently laid off from his job.
Ridgewood NJ, according to Johns Hopkins Center for Health Security ,the emergence of SARS-CoV-2 variants with the potential for increased transmissibility has provided the motivation necessary to rapidly scale up genomic sequencing capacity, in the US and elsewhere. Some members of the scientific community argue that existing capacity is available, at least in terms of having adequate hardware, technicians, and infrastructure; however, there is a lack of funding available to conduct this type of research, particularly on a scale needed to monitor the evolution of a national epidemic. In the global context, the US ranks #36 in terms of the proportion of specimens sequenced (0.36% of confirmed cases), compared to #1 Denmark, which has sequenced more than half.
Ridgewood NJ, according to Johns Hopkins Center for Health Security on February 9, the US FDA issued an Emergency Use Authorization (EUA) for Eli Lilly’s monoclonal antibody cocktail of bamlanivimab and etesevimab as a treatment for COVID-19. The EUA specifically authorizes the treatment for “mild to moderate” COVID-19 in adults and pediatric patients aged 12 years and older who are “at high risk for progressing to severe” disease.
Ridgewood NJ, some good news for nursing homes for a change. Despite the defective policies from Governor Cuomo ,Murphy and Wolf , vaccines seem to be the answer. A new study from AHCA/NCAL, the nursing home trade association, found that vaccinated nursing homes experienced a 48% decline in new resident cases three weeks after their first clinic, compared to a 21% decline among non-vaccinated nursing homes located in the same county. This suggests that deaths are going to start falling fast.
Trenton NJ, a published report exposing the shocking admission by a high-ranking aid to Governor Cuomo that New York intentionally withheld “the state’s nursing home death toll from COVID-19” may raise serious questions about the reliability of New Jersey’s data, Senator Joe Pennacchio said.
Hackensack NJ, Hackensack Meridian Health, the largest and most integrated health network in New Jersey, announced today that it has administered its 100,000th COVID-19 vaccine on February 12, 2021. The network reached this major milestone just two months after it launched its vaccination deployment program on December 15, 2020.
Ridgewood NJ, the CDC finally recognized that the masks they’ve had everyone wearing for the better part of a year are largely ineffective because aerosols easily go around the top and sides. Time to nail this down, so to speak. Their latest recommendation is “placing a sleeve made of sheer nylon hosiery material around the neck and pulling it up over either a cloth or medical procedure mask” or using knots and tucking to fit a mask closely to the face.
