Top in ID: Updates on COVID-19 treatment, vaccination

In a recent interview, David L. Haymann, MD, chair of WHO’s Strategic and Technical Advisory Group for Infectious Hazards, said that many experts believe SARS-CoV-2 could become endemic. It was the top story in infectious disease last week.

Another top story was about preliminary data on the efficacy of an antibody cocktail in reducing viral load among patients with COVID-19.

Read these and more top stories in infectious disease below:

Q&A: Will COVID-19 become endemic?

During a WHO briefing, Haymann said vaccines and good public health practice will help the world “learn to live with COVID-19.” We asked Heymann to further discuss the potential of COVID-19 to stick around despite the availability of effective vaccines. Read more.

Interim findings suggest antibody cocktail reduces viral load in patients with COVID-19

Regeneron’s antibody cocktail reduced viral load in patients with COVID-19, according to preliminary findings from a small study published recently in The New England Journal of Medicine. Read more.

Cases of anaphylaxis rare among first 1.9 million COVID-19 vaccinations

As of Dec. 23, there were 21 confirmed cases of anaphylaxis among the first 1,893,360 recipients of the Pfizer/BioNTech COVID-19 vaccine in the United States, the CDC and FDA reported in MMWR. Read more.

Researchers estimate 14% of US population had SARS-CoV-2 by mid-November

Adjusting for under-reporting, researchers estimated that approximately 14% of Americans had been infected with SARS-CoV-2 by mid-November, suggesting the burden is much larger than the reported case count, they said. Read more.

Pfizer vaccine appears effective against emerging SARS-CoV-2 variants

The COVID-19 vaccine developed by Pfizer and BioNTech appears to be effective against emerging SARS-CoV-2 variants that spread more easily than other strains, early data suggest. Read more.