Coronavirus weekly need-to-know: Pfizer boosters, rapid antigen tests, omicron & more
Each week, we offer you a roundup of our noteworthy coronavirus coverage.
More than 49.8 million people in the United States have tested positive for the coronavirus as of Saturday morning, Dec. 11, according to Johns Hopkins University. That includes more than 797,000 people who have died nationwide.
Globally, there have been more than 269.6 million confirmed cases of the highly infectious virus, with more than 5.3 million reported deaths.
More than 200.7 million people in the U.S. are fully vaccinated against COVID-19 as of Dec. 9 — about 61% of the total population, a Centers for Disease Control and Prevention tracker shows. More than 49.9 million people have received a booster dose.
Here’s what happened between Dec. 3 to Dec. 9.
16- and 17-year-olds can now get a Pfizer COVID-19 booster shot
Federal health officials expanded Pfizer COVID-19 booster shot eligibility to 16- and 17-year-olds as the delta and omicron coronavirus variants spread in the U.S.
Eligible teens can receive a Pfizer booster at least six months after receiving their second dose of the two-dose Pfizer vaccine, the U.S. Food and Drug Administration announced Thursday, Dec. 9. The FDA emphasizes 16- and 17-year-olds “should only receive” the Pfizer vaccine for their booster dose; Adults, on the other hand, are allowed to mix-and-match, meaning they can receive a different vaccine for their booster than they did for their initial shot or shots.
The CDC signed off on the FDA’s authorization hours after the administration’s announcement, meaning eligible teens can officially get boosted.
Pfizer COVID-19 booster may protect against omicron variant infection — two doses may not
New laboratory data shows a Pfizer-BioNTech COVID-19 booster shot may help protect you against the omicron coronavirus variant that early research shows may be more contagious and capable of evading vaccines, according to the companies.
Experiments on blood samples from people who received a Pfizer booster a month ago found antibody levels increased 25-fold against omicron, similar to levels seen after two doses against the original version of the coronavirus.
Blood from people who only received two doses of the vaccine, however, experienced a 25-fold reduction in antibody levels against the omicron variant, on average, suggesting two shots may not protect against omicron infection.
What’s important to note is the possibility that two doses of the Pfizer vaccine may still protect against severe COVID-19, including hospitalization and death.
Time of day you get COVID-19 vaccine may affect how much protection you get
Each cell in your body can tell what time of day it is and adjust its behaviors accordingly, such as producing hormones at night that make you sleepy and telling your brain you’re hungry around noon.
Decades of research have demonstrated your immune system follows your body’s 24-hour internal clock, formally called your circadian rhythm, in ways that could affect how you respond to medications, exposure to viruses and vaccinations.
Now, new research suggests the time of day you receive your COVID-19 shot may influence how much protection your body builds.
Continue reading to learn what time of day offered the biggest boost in coronavirus antibodies.
Rapid antigen COVID-19 tests more effective than thought
There are two types of COVID-19 tests: PCR and rapid antigen.
They both work by analyzing nasal or saliva samples from people, but the tests differ in how they process them — as well as how accurate they are at doing so.
PCR coronavirus tests are the standard for health professionals during the COVID-19 pandemic and are proven to be more accurate than their antigen cousins. But new research reveals rapid tests are more effective than previously thought.
Read on to learn more about the differences between PCR and rapid antigen tests.
COVID-19 kills Native Americans at much higher rates than other groups
COVID-19 killed Native Americans at a rate 2.8 times higher than that among white people last year before vaccines became widely available, according to a new study. The mortality rate for the disease among the group was also “considerably higher” than that of Black and Latino populations.
The study found Native Americans living in rural reservations faced greater risks of dying from COVID-19, likely because of poor living conditions and inadequate access to health care, researchers said.
The findings add to a relatively scant pool of data on the group — comprising people who self-identify as American Indian or Alaska Native — which has long been disproportionately affected by poverty, food insecurity and poor health outcomes from several diseases such as heart and kidney disease.
Omicron outbreak at California hospital tied to out-of-state wedding
Eleven employees at Kaiser’s Oakland Medical Center in California have tested positive for COVID-19, at least six with the omicron variant of the coronavirus, health officials said.
They are among 12 cases in the San Francisco Bay Area linked to a wedding in Wisconsin. The 12th is a Berkeley resident.
The infected health workers attended a Nov. 27 wedding in Wisconsin, officials said. One person at the wedding had just returned from an overseas trip.
Sick child ‘knowingly’ sent to class fuels COVID-19 outbreak in California
A COVID-19 outbreak at a California school that infected eight kids and quarantined 75 began when parents “knowingly” sent an ill child to class, officials said.
The family was notified Nov. 8 that the child tested positive for COVID-19 but sent the youngster to Neil Cummins Elementary School in Corte Madera anyway, Superintendent Brett Geithman wrote in a newsletter Friday, Dec. 3.
The district did not learn the child had COVID-19 until Marin County health officials asked why its database didn’t reflect the new case.
This story was originally published December 10, 2021 at 7:07 AM.
