With inputs from Dr Monica Vasudev

Covid-19 vaccines prevented 20 million Covid-19 deaths from 2020-2021

A mathematical modeling study from the Imperial College London published in the Lancet Infectious Diseases has described the impact of the Covid-19 vaccines in curbing the onslaught of the pandemic. During the first year of their availability, between December 8, 2020, and December 8, 2021, vaccines prevented 14.4 million deaths from Covid-19 in 185 countries. Addition of excess deaths increased this estimate to nearly 20 million. During the first year, an estimated 60% of people globally had received at least one dose of the vaccine…. (Source: Medscape, June 23, 2022)

Surge in BA.4 and BA.5 cases in Europe

There has been an upsurge of new Covid-19 infections in Europe driven by the BA.4 and BA.5 Omicron subvariants. On Wednesday, France recorded more than 95,000 daily new cases. Cases are also rising in other European countries such as Portugal. These new subvariants, which are more infectious but less virulent, are likely to become the dominant strains in Europe, says the European Centre for Disease Prevention and Control …(Source: Reuters, June 23, 2022)

Moderna says its combination Covid-19 booster vaccine is effectiveness against Omicron

Moderna says that its combination Covid-19 booster vaccine candidate mRNA-1273.214 induced 8-fold increase in the neutralizing antibody titers among seronegative study subjects against the omicron variant than the original mRNA-1273 vaccine after one month of administration. It was also well-tolerated with a side effect profile similar to the mRNA-1273 vaccine. The vaccine candidate contains the original mRNA-1273 vaccine along with a vaccine candidate targeting the omicron variant…(Source: Moderna, June 8, 2022).

Women are more likely to develop long Covid than men 

Women are more likely to develop long Covid than men with odds ratio of 1.22, according to a recently published review in Current Medical Research and Opinion. The likelihood of ENT (OR 2.28), GI (OR 1.60), mood/psychiatric (OR 1.58), neurological (OR 1.30), dermatological (OR 1.29) sequelae were higher among women, while men were more likely have renal (OR 0.74) and endocrine (OR 0.75) disorders…(Source: Current Medical Research and Opinion, June 20, 2022)

Second Pfizer booster dose 72% protective against Covid-related deaths during Omicron wave

In a study from Israel involving more than 24,000 residents of long-term care facilities, a fourth vaccine dose of the Pfizer-BioNTech vaccine was highly protective against COVID-19 hospitalizations and deaths. It provided 34% protection against infection, 64-67% against hospitalizations and 72% against deaths during the omicron wave. The study was conducted between January 10 through to March 2022…(Source: JAMA Internal Medicine, June 23, 2022)