New studies find evidence of 'superhuman' immunity to Covid-19 in some individuals

‘So who is capable of mounting this "superhuman" or "hybrid" immune response? People who have had a "hybrid" exposure to the virus. Specifically, they were infected with the coronavirus in 2020 and then immunized with mRNA vaccines this year. "Those people have amazing responses to the vaccine," says virologist Theodora Hatziioannou at Rockefeller University, who also helped lead several of the studies. "I think they are in the best position to fight the virus. The antibodies in these people's blood can even neutralize SARS-CoV-1, the first coronavirus, which emerged 20 years ago. That virus is very, very different from SARS-CoV-2."

Read here (NPR, Sept 7, 2021)

Highly vaccinated Israel is seeing a dramatic surge in new Covid Cases. Here's why

‘Israel was the first country on Earth to fully vaccinate a majority of its citizens against COVID-19. Now it has one of the world's highest daily infection rates — an average of nearly 7,500 confirmed cases a day, double what it was two weeks ago. Nearly one in every 150 people in Israel today has the virus.

‘What happened, and what can be learned about the vaccine's impact on a highly vaccinated country? Here are six lessons learned — and one looming question for the future of the pandemic.’

1. Immunity from the vaccine dips over time.
2. The delta variant broke through the vaccine's waning protection.
3. If you get infected, being vaccinated helps.
4. Israel's high vaccination rate isn't high enough.
5. Vaccinations are key, but they are not enough.
6. Booster shots offer more protection — if you are one of the world's lucky few to get them.

Looming question: Will we need COVID-19 vaccines every several months? We don't know.

Read here (NPR, August 20, 2021)

The mystery of India's plummeting Covid-19 cases

‘Last September, India was confirming nearly 100,000 new coronavirus cases a day. It was on track to overtake the United States to become the country with the highest reported COVID-19 caseload in the world. Hospitals were full. The Indian economy nosedived into an unprecedented recession.

‘But four months later, India's coronavirus numbers have plummeted. Late last month, on Jan. 26, the country's Health Ministry confirmed a record low of about 9,100 new daily cases — in a country of nearly 1.4 billion people. It was India's lowest daily tally in eight months. On Monday, India confirmed about 11,000 cases.

"It's not that India is testing less or things are going underreported," says Jishnu Das, a health economist at Georgetown University. "It's been rising, rising — and now suddenly, it's vanished! I mean, hospital ICU utilization has gone down. Every indicator says the numbers are down." Scientists say it's a mystery. They're probing why India's coronavirus numbers have declined so dramatically — and so suddenly, in September and October, months before any vaccinations began.

‘They're trying to figure out what Indians may be doing right and how to mimic that in other countries that are still suffering.’

Read here (NPR, Feb 1, 2021)

Three questions and the emerging answers about Covid-19 vaccine protection

‘As the COVID-19 vaccine rolls out, three big questions loom. First, can someone who has been vaccinated still spread the disease? Second, will the vaccine remain effective as the virus itself evolves? And third, how long will the vaccine's protection last?

‘Answers to these questions lie in our immune systems. And the answers aren't straightforward because our immune systems are both remarkably adept and remarkably challenging to predict.’

Read here (NPR, Jan 18, 2021)

Is mass vaccination the best strategy for all countries? A doctor's surprising view

‘COVID-19 is now the second-leading cause of death in the U.S. for 2020. The virus has killed more than 90 people per 100,000, reports Johns Hopkins University. 

‘But in other parts of the world, the virus hasn't been such a big problem. It's not a top killer. Some global health experts are beginning to ask whether immunizing large swaths of the population is the best use of resources for these countries. That's a question that Dr. Chizoba Barbara Wonodi of Johns Hopkins University has been thinking about as mass nationwide vaccine campaigns begin rolling out in rich countries such as the United Kingdom and the United States.’

Read here (NPR, Dec 14, 2020)

How to make sense of all the Covid-19 projections? A new model combines them

‘The [University of Massachusetts Amherst] team unveiled the first version four weeks ago and ever since has been adding in more forecasts and updating the projections weekly. The latest update — released Tuesday — incorporates eight models, including some oft-cited ones, such as those built by the Imperial College London, the University of Washington Institute for Health Metrics and Evaluation, Columbia University and Northeastern University. (The team also sends each week's release to the CDC, which publishes a version with a slight time lag.)

‘The projections vary substantially — with the most pessimistic forecasting a total death toll of 120,000 by June 6 and the most optimistic forecasting 103,000 deaths by that date. But the models have been inching closer to each other. Over the past several weeks, the distance between the highest and lowest estimates has halved from a gap of 36,000 deaths two weeks ago to a gap of 17,000 deaths in the most recent update released Tuesday.’

Read here (NPR or National Public Radio, US, May 13, 2020)

Covid-19 pandemic: A perfect ecosystem for fraudsters to operate in

‘In fact, Carpenito and Merrill say that with the massive $2 trillion economic relief package beginning to be doled out, they expect to see even more fraud in the weeks and months ahead.

‘"What we're worried about is that not only do we have these existing conditions, but we are awaiting — like everybody in the country — the arrival of $2 trillion to hit the streets," Merrill said. "And anytime there's that much money out there, you can just multiply the amount of frauds that are going to take place. So we're preparing for many more complaints to come in and new schemes to arrive on a daily basis."’

Read here (NPR, April 24, 2020)