Respiratory Infections News

The New England Journal of Medicine on Wednesday published data from the ongoing NIH-sponsored trial that led the FDA last fall to authorize the mix-and-match strategy for COVID-19 vaccine boosters.

Omicron has taxed the country’s health care system, causing more COVID-19 cases, ED visits and hospitalizations than any other variant during the pandemic, according to newly published data.

Pfizer and BioNTech said Tuesday that they have initiated a clinical study to assesses the safety and efficacy of a COVID-19 vaccine for adults aged 18 to 55 years that specifically targets the omicron variant of SARS-CoV-2.

The FDA halted the use of two monoclonal antibody treatments for COVID-19 because they are not effective against the omicron variant of SARS-CoV-2, which now accounts for almost all U.S. cases.

A study published in JAMA Pediatrics reported high morbidity and mortality rates among hospitalized children and adolescents with COVID-19 in 6 sub-Saharan African countries, even among those who were otherwise healthy.

Text messaging showed promise as a surveillance tool to identify acute respiratory infections over a 5-year period in New York City, researchers found.

The FDA recently announced it has expanded its approval of Gilead Sciences’ antiviral drug remdesivir — marketed in the U.S. as Veklury — to allow certain outpatients with COVID-19 to receive it.

In this episode, Joel M. Gelfand, MD, MSCE, is joined by Leonard H. Calabrese, DO, and Amesh Adalja, MD, FIDSA, as they discuss quarantine and isolation guidelines, emerging therapies to treat COVID-19, and the anticipated future of the COVID-19 pandemic.

Booster doses of COVID-19 vaccine provide the best protection against the omicron variant, according to data from three new studies published Friday, including two in MMWR.

In late November, at the behest of independent advisors, WHO classified omicron as a SARS-CoV-2 “variant of concern” amid signs that it was highly transmissible and carried an increased risk for reinfection.