Women who are pregnant may see greater risk
A recent study found pregnant women in Washington state were infected with COVID-19 at a 70% higher rate than others at similar ages.
Additionally, rates of infection among pregnant women of color were far higher than researchers expected, according to the study published in the American Journal of Obstetrics and Gynecology. The study provides further evidence that pregnancy should be considered a high-risk health condition for COVID-19 vaccine priority, said senior author Dr. Kristina Adams Waldorf, an OB-GYN at the University of Washington School of Medicine.
“Our data indicates that pregnant people did not avoid the pandemic as we hoped that they would, and communities of color bore the greatest burden,” Waldorf said.
The U.S. has more than 27.8 million confirmed coronavirus cases and 491,000 deaths, according to Johns Hopkins University data. The global totals: More than 110 million cases and 2.43 million deaths.
Cuomo takes more heat for nursing home deaths
The Justice Department has been examining New York Gov. Andrew Cuomo’s coronavirus task force and trying to determine whether the state intentionally manipulated data regarding deaths in nursing homes, two people familiar with the matter told The Associated Press.
Cuomo, once considered a national leader in the struggle against the virus, is facing calls for an investigation after his top aide, Melissa DeRosa, told lawmakers last week that the state “paused” the release of certain COVID-19 nursing home data to state lawmakers. Cuomo and DeRosa have said they delayed the data release because they were focused on a similar inquiry from the Justice Department.
“No excuses,” Cuomo said this week. “We should have done a better job in providing information, we should have done a better job of knocking down the disinformation. I accept responsibility for that. I am in charge.”
Pfizer vaccine weaker against South Africa variant
Neutralizing antibody response from the Pfizer/ BioNTech vaccine diminished by two-thirds against the variant first detected in South Africa, but it’s not known how that might impact the vaccine’s level of protection, according to a preliminary report published Wednesday in the New England Journal of Medicine.
The variant known as B.1.351 has been detected in only about 20 cases in the U.S. but raised concerns because of the possibility it might resist vaccines. Pfizer and BioNTech said there has been “no clinical evidence to date” that its vaccine is not effective against that variant but the two companies are working on an update or booster shot anyway.
“It is unclear what effect a reduction in neutralization by approximately two-thirds would have on (vaccine)-elicited protection from COVID-19 caused by the B.1.351 lineage of SARS-CoV-2,” says the report, authored by researchers from Pfizer, BioNTech and the University of Texas Medical Branch.