With COVID-19 resurging in the U.S., particularly in states with the lowest vaccination rates, additional news and research about the vaccines and the virus is coming out. Here’s a look.
With COVID-19 resurging in the U.S., particularly in states with the lowest vaccination rates, additional news and research about the vaccines and the virus is coming out. Here’s a look.
3 States Responsible for 40% of New COVID-19 Cases
Although COVID-19 cases are surging again, three states appear to be the source of most of them: Florida, Texas and Missouri. Together, they account for 40% of all cases in the U.S. They are also three states with the lowest rates of vaccination.
“For the second week in a row, one in five of all cases occurring in Florida alone,” said White House coronavirus response coordinator Jeff Zients in a press conference Thursday. “And within communities, these cases are primarily among unvaccinated people. Each shot matters. Each additional person fully vaccinated is a step closer to putting this pandemic behind us.”
According to Johns Hopkins University, the country is averaging 34,056 new COVID-19 cases each day, a 55% increase over last week.
Israel: Pfizer Vaccine Efficacy Dropped to 39%
Israel’s Health Ministry reported that the efficacy of the Pfizer-BioNTech COVID-19 vaccine for preventing infection dropped to 39%. However, the ability to prevent serious disease was 91% and preventing hospitalizations was at 88%. They cite the Delta variant as the reason for the surge. Israel is a good case study, because they have vaccinated more than 5.2 million people with two doses.
UK Data Suggests 8 Weeks Between Shots is More Effective
Although the COVID-19 vaccines that require two shots are typically given three or four weeks apart, studies in the UK on the Pfizer-BioNTech vaccine that extended the period between doses found that the “sweet spot” for fending off the more infectious Delta variant was eight weeks. At the end of 2020, the UK had extended the gap to 12 weeks in order to get more people partially vaccinated more quickly.
One of the study authors, Dr. Rebecca Payne, from Newcastle University, said, “Our study provides reassuring evidence that both dosing schedules generate robust immune responses against SARS-CoV-2 after two doses. We now need to carry out more follow-up studies to understand the full clinical significance of our findings.”
Lambda Variant Appears in the U.S.
The Lambda variant, which emerged from Peru, has been identified in several states. It was first identified at Houston Methodist Hospital in Texas and has now been identified in South Carolina. Fewer than 700 cases have been sequenced in the U.S. out of more than 34 million cases. Is it of concern? Public health experts say not yet. Delta is the dominant strain in the U.S., making up 83% of cases. Lambda appears to be more closely related to the Alpha variant, which first appeared in the UK. The World Health Organization says the Lambda variant has several mutations that might mean it is more infectious and possibly more resistant to neutralizing antibodies, but that their impact hasn’t been well understood yet and will need more study.
“Delta is clearly dominating right now,” said Stuart Ray, M.D., professor of medicine at the Johns Hopkins Hospital who specializes in infectious diseases. “And so I think our focus can remain on Delta as a hallmark of a highly infectious variant. And there’s some evidence that it might cause greater severity per infection, although that’s still a developing story.”
Although the WHO has classified Lambda as a “variant of interest,” the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) has not. “Variant of interest” is a step below “variant of concern.” The CDC does not have it listed as either, or as “high consequence.”
Still, the current vaccines appear to be effective against the known variant, although less so than for the original Wuhan wildtype strain.
Cortexyme Picks 3CLpo Inhibitor for Protection Against COVID-19
Cortexyme selected a lead 3CLpro inhibitor (COR803) to evaluate for treatment of coronavirus infections, including COVID-19. The drug is a novel patent-pending small molecule 3CLpro inhibitor. 3CLpro (Mpro) is a validated antiviral drug target essential for SARS-CoV-2 replication.
Casey Lynch, Cortexyme’s chief executive officer, co-founder, and chair, said, “We have selected COR803 based on compelling data to support its development as a potential therapy that could be prescribed at the first sign of infection or after known exposures without requiring patients to be hospitalized, as well as for those in critical care.”
