Top in ID: Mixing COVID-19 vaccines, eligibility among adolescents
Four out of five top stories in infectious disease last week were about updates on COVID-19 vaccination.
The discussion on vaccination has turned to vaccine mixing after the United Kingdom updated its guidance to state that people could receive a different vaccine for their second dose if the vaccine they received for their first shot was unavailable. In a trial led by researchers at the University of Oxford, participants will receive one dose of the Pfizer-BioNTech vaccine and one dose of the AstraZeneca vaccine. Experts said the findings could clarify uncertainty surrounding vaccine mixing.
In other news, Pfizer and BioNTech formally asked the FDA to open vaccine eligibility to adolescents aged 12 to 15 years. The companies reported that the vaccine trial with this age group yielded positive results.
Read these and more top stories in infectious disease below:
Should COVID-19 vaccines be mixed?
According to The New York Times, health experts were “shocked” when the United Kingdom made a change to its guidelines in January to suggest that COVID-19 vaccines could be mixed. Read more.
Pfizer, BioNTech formally ask FDA to make vaccine available to adolescents
Pfizer and BioNTech said Friday that they have formally asked the FDA to make their COVID-19 vaccine available to adolescents aged 12 to 15 years through an emergency use authorization. Read more.
Biden’s new deadline: Make all adults eligible for vaccination by April 19
President Joe Biden on Tuesday directed states to move up the deadline to make all adults eligible for a COVID-19 vaccine by almost 2 weeks to April 19. Read more.
European regulators say blood clots ‘very rare side effect’ of AstraZeneca vaccine
The European Medicines Agency said Wednesday that “unusual blood clots with low blood platelets should be listed as [a] very rare side effect” of AstraZeneca’s COVID-19 vaccine. Read more.
RCT shows tedizolid may be effective alternative to linezolid for gram-positive HABP, VABP
In a randomized controlled trial, tedizolid was noninferior to linezolid for day 28 all-cause mortality in the treatment of gram-positive ventilated hospital-acquired bacterial pneumonia and ventilator-associated pneumonia. Read more.