Infectious Disease

USA cannot be sure until the whole world is vaccinated

August 16, 2021

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Barouch D. COVID-19: Vaccine Development During a Pandemic. Presented at: Annual Conference of the Association of Women in Rheumatology; 12-15 August 2021, Hilton Head Island, South Carolina (hybrid meeting).

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Barouch does not report any relevant financial information.

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As long as COVID-19 continues to spread around the world and variants develop, no one – not even in areas with high vaccination densities – can be safe, like this and Barouch, MD, PhD, whose laboratory was involved in the development of the Johnson & Johnson vaccine.

Barouch, director of the Center for Virology and Vaccine Research at Beth Israel Deaconess Medical Center, the Boston-based laboratory that led the development of Johnson & Johnson’s Ad26.COV2.S vaccine, addressed his comments to the Association of Women 2021 in Rheumatology Annual meeting. Speaking to conference attendees, he said the specter of more and more dangerous COVID-19 variants will continue to threaten the United States until “the whole world” is immunized against the virus.

“As long as a region of the world remains unvaccinated, there can and will be big waves there, and new and dangerous variants are gradually emerging in the context of those waves,” said Dan Barouch, MD, PhD, at the Women’s Association’s 2021 Annual Meeting in rheumatology. Source: Adobe Stock

“We strongly believe that multiple vaccines need to be implemented in parallel to accelerate adoption in the US, and especially the world, because we cannot be sure in the United States until everyone around the world is vaccinated, or at least are available. “A high level of vaccination protection in all parts of the world,” said Barouch. “Because as long as any region of the world remains unvaccinated, there can and will be large waves there, and in the context of these waves new and dangerous variants gradually emerge.

“According to my colleagues in phylogenetics, this virus has not yet fully scanned its sequence space, and so there is a very real possibility that there could be variants in the next climb or after that,” which are even more worrying than the beta and the next Delta variants that we have today, ”he added. “And then they can come and re-infect the US population.”

and Barouch

According to Barouch, Johnson & Johnson made a “significant commitment” this year to provide the world with at least 1 billion doses of the vaccine – one that “is particularly good for developing countries,” he added. The single-dose delivery of the Ad26.COV2.S vaccine and the ability to be stored above sub-zero temperatures will allow mass vaccination campaigns to be extended to remote and hard-to-reach regions of the world, Barouch said.

He added that the company will manufacture and use the cans on a “nonprofit basis” with the aim of making the vaccine “affordable and accessible to developing countries.”

According to Barouch, the introduction of vaccines has achieved a new level of urgency with the advent of the B.1.617.2 or “Delta” variant. He cited the recently published report on the Morbidity and Mortality Weekly Report, which was released in late July 2021 on the “Provincetown Cluster” of COVID-19 cases in Massachusetts, which suggests the Delta variant may also be used in fully vaccinated individuals remains potentially highly contagious.

“The other piece of data from this study that I think really caught the attention of CDC health officials is that fully vaccinated individuals who become infected have similar viral loads in nasal swabs as unvaccinated individuals. it’s not lower at all, ”said Barouch.

“The concern is that if you do become fully vaccinated, people will likely still be protected from serious illness – that’s the most important thing I think has been missing from some media coverage – but you could still deal with a highly infectious delta – Infect variant. and if you do get infected, the viral loads will be pretty similar as if you weren’t vaccinated at all, ”he added. “Which means you can probably pass the infection on. I think this has led to many of the resurgence cases we see in the United States, as well as additional masking requirements from the CDC, even for those who are fully vaccinated indoors.

Fortunately, however, the vaccines currently available appear to be effective in preventing serious COVID-19 and death. Regarding the Johnson & Johnson vaccine, Barouch cited a study published last week by the South African Department of Health found that the Ad26.COV2.S vaccine provided 92 to 96% protection from death and 71% from serious illness and hospitalization . The real-world study was conducted among 480,000 healthcare workers in the context of a massive increase in the Delta variant within the country, according to Barouch.

“So it’s really important on many levels, both for global humanitarian and global health purposes, but also for the health of the United States, to ensure that we have a global vaccination strategy and can reach every corner of the planet. “he said.” I am often asked when this pandemic will end, and of course I can’t predict that any better than anyone, but I think there really is a race between world vaccination – the global vaccination program – and the emergence of variants That will really determine how long we will live with COVID-19. “

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National Conference of the Association of Women in Rheumatology

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