Article Summary
April 15, 2021
SARS-CoV-2 Antibody Response in Persons with Past Natural Infection
Vaccine-elicited neutralizing antibody geometric mean titers (GMT) among healthcare workers who received the first dose of the Pfizer-BioNTech vaccine 1-2 months, 2-3 months, and more than 3 months after a prior SARS-CoV-2 infection were 437, 559, and 694 arbitrary units/mL, respectively. In contrast, healthcare workers with no prior infection had a GMT of 118 units/mL…
INO-4800 DNA Vaccine Induces Neutralizing Antibodies and T Cell Activity Against Global SARS-CoV-2 Variants
[Pre-print, not peer-reviewed] Neutralizing antibody activity induced by the SARS-CoV-2 vaccine candidate INO-4800 (Inovia Pharmaceuticals), a DNA-based vaccine, was reduced against variants of concern B.1.1.7 and B.1.351 compared to the wild-type strain by 2.1 and 6.9-fold, respectively. In contrast, neutralizing activity was maintained against the P.1 variant, which harbors the same E484K mutation as B.1.351…
Role of Interferon Therapy in Severe COVID-19: The COVIFERON Randomized Controlled Trial
The interferon therapy IFNβ1a was associated with a shorter time to clinical improvement (TTCI) compared to control (HR: 2.4, 95% CI 1.1-5.2) among people with severe COVID-19 in a 1:1:1 randomized, placebo-controlled, open-label trial (n=60), but patients treated with IFNβ1b did not have a statistically significant different TTCI (HR: 1.4, 95% CI 0.6-3.2). The median…
April 14, 2021
School Closures Reduced Social Mixing of Children during COVID-19 with Implications for Transmission Risk and School Reopening Policies
A modeling study using data on children’s social contacts found that closures of elementary schools in spring 2020 in the Bay Area of California averted comparatively fewer cases than closures of middle and high schools and workplaces. The authors hypothesize this relatively smaller reduction in averted cases may be due to elementary school children having…
The Balancing Role of Distribution Speed against Varying Efficacy Levels of COVID-19 Vaccines under Variants
[Pre-print, not peer-reviewed] Vaccines with lower efficacy can reduce population-level transmission more than vaccines with higher efficacy if distribution of lower efficacy vaccines was comparatively faster based on findings from a modeling study. A vaccine with 65% and 60% efficacy before and after the variants, respectively, can outperform a vaccine with 95% and 90% efficacy,…
Suicide Trends in the Early Months of the COVID-19 Pandemic: An Interrupted Time-Series Analysis of Preliminary Data from 21 Countries
Between April – July 2020, the number of deaths by suicide in high-income (n = 16) and upper-middle-income (n = 5) countries remained largely unchanged or declined compared to pre-pandemic expected levels based on an interrupted time-series analysis using data from official government sources. Pirkis et al. (Apr 14, 2021). Suicide Trends in the Early Months…
Post-Acute COVID-19 Sequelae in Cases Managed in the Community or Hospital in the UK a Population Based Study
[Pre-print, not peer-reviewed] A population-based study of post-COVID-19 sequelae in England found that hospitalized patients had higher rates of 13 of 26 symptoms assessed and 11 of 19 diseases, and had higher healthcare utilization, than those who had not been hospitalized. Comparing symptom rates (per 100,000 person-weeks), hospitalized patients experienced more breathlessness (536 vs. 87),…
Detection of SARS-CoV-2 Specific IgA in the Human Milk of COVID-19 Vaccinated Lactating Health Care Workers
[Pre-print, not peer-reviewed] SARS-CoV-2 specific IgA and IgG were detected in milk and plasma samples from 22 lactating healthcare workers who had received either the Moderna or Pfizer-BioNTech vaccines, with peak levels occurring 7-10 days after the second dose. Samples were collected prior to vaccination, after the first dose, and after the second dose in…
Survey of Behaviour Attitudes Towards Preventive Measures Following COVID-19 Vaccination
[Pre-print, not peer-reviewed] A survey of individuals vaccinated for SARS-CoV-2 in Israel found mask wearing was 21% lower and social distancing was 47% lower than before prior to vaccination, with no differences by sex. Decreases in mask wearing (28%) and social distancing (56.1%) were larger among people under age 50 than people over the age…
Adverse Events in Healthcare Workers after the First Dose of ChAdOx1 NCoV-19 or BNT162b2 MRNA COVID-19 Vaccination: A Single Center Experience
A study of 1st dose post-vaccination adverse events in Korean healthcare workers at a single hospital (N=1,483) found that adverse events were significantly more common in recipients of the Oxford/AstraZeneca vaccine (N=1,403) than the Pfizer-BioNTech vaccine (N=80). The adverse events included injection-site pain (78% vs. 51%), myalgia (61% vs. 11%), fatigue (52% vs. 8%), headache…
Previous page Next page