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Vaccinating children and teens could be key to stifling the pandemic, experts have said, as clinical trials begin to test Covid-19 vaccines in young people.

While Covid-19 is associated with a considerably lower burden of morbidity and mortality in young people, and there is evidence that children may be less likely to acquire the infection, the role of children in transmission is unclear, according to the Royal College of Paediatrics and Child Health.

Until everybody – including children – is vaccinated, said John Edmunds, a member of the UK government’s Scientific Advisory Group for Emergencies (Sage) on Sunday, there remained a “significant risk of a resurgence” of the virus.

The virus can also cause asymptomatic infections across all age groups, so, in a sense, immunising children will protect the elderly, added Stanley Plotkin, who invented the rubella vaccine, co-invented the rotavirus vaccine and helped develop other vaccines, including those for anthrax, polio, and rabies

Real-world evidence from the Covid vaccination programmes in England and Scotland show that one dose of vaccine gives high protection against severe disease and admission to hospital – and protects against even mild disease with no symptoms in younger people.

The first real data from the mass vaccination programmes is promising, and although the results do not include evidence that they prevent transmission completely, there is data to show they are stopping some people becoming infected, which should slow the spread of coronavirus.

Three studies came to similarly positive conclusions about the protection offered by the vaccines – one in Scotland and two in England – although they were set up to look at the effects in different groups of people.

In England, the Siren study in healthcare workers under 65 found that one dose of the Pfizer/BioNTech vaccine reduced the risk of catching the virus by 70% – and 85% after the second dose. The healthcare workers were all tested for the virus every two weeks, so the study picked up asymptomatic infections as well as those who had symptoms.

AndyinPA wrote: ↑Mon Feb 22, 2021 1:26 pm https://www.theguardian.com/world/2021/ ... ay-experts

Vaccinating children and teens could be key to stifling the pandemic, experts have said, as clinical trials begin to test Covid-19 vaccines in young people.

While Covid-19 is associated with a considerably lower burden of morbidity and mortality in young people, and there is evidence that children may be less likely to acquire the infection, the role of children in transmission is unclear, according to the Royal College of Paediatrics and Child Health.

Until everybody – including children – is vaccinated, said John Edmunds, a member of the UK government’s Scientific Advisory Group for Emergencies (Sage) on Sunday, there remained a “significant risk of a resurgence” of the virus.

The virus can also cause asymptomatic infections across all age groups, so, in a sense, immunising children will protect the elderly, added Stanley Plotkin, who invented the rubella vaccine, co-invented the rotavirus vaccine and helped develop other vaccines, including those for anthrax, polio, and rabies

Johnson & Johnson can deliver 20 million doses of its single-shot coronavirus vaccine to the U.S. government by the end of March, an executive will testify tomorrow.

“Assuming necessary regulatory approvals relating to our manufacturing processes, our plan is to begin shipping immediately upon emergency use authorization, and deliver enough single-doses by the end of March to enable the vaccination of more than 20 million Americans,” Johnson & Johnson’s Richard Nettles, vice president of medical affairs for the company's pharmaceutical unit Janssen, will tell a House Energy & Commerce subcommittee Tuesday.

Drug companies planned to tell lawmakers Tuesday that they project a major increase in vaccine deliveries that will result in 140 million more doses over the next five weeks, saying they have solved manufacturing challenges and are in a position to overcome scarcity that has hampered the nation’s fight against the coronavirus.
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But achieving a surge on that scale remains daunting. Pfizer and Moderna, the companies with the only authorized vaccines so far, will need to increase their combined deliveries to date of 75 million doses to reach their promised target of 220 million shots by March 31.

That’s a goal of 28 million doses each week on average, far greater than their performance so far. The Biden administration said last week that doses allotted to states would grow from 11 million to 13.5 million per week, and it also directed 2 million doses to pharmacies, part of allocations that are expected to increase modestly again this week.

Lymph nodes are small bean-shaped structures throughout the body as part of the immune system. When they swell, they can look just like cancer. So doctors will have a patient come back for more tests.

Because of this issue, doctors are recommending that women wait to schedule their screening mammograms until six weeks after their second dose. Diagnostic mammograms for a lump, pain or discharge should not be delayed.

“We don’t want to scare people unnecessarily,” he said.

This allows the swelling to decrease on its own. If the lymph node remains enlarged, the doctor may proceed with a biopsy.

Key Statistics for Breast Cancer in Men

The American Cancer Society estimates for breast cancer in men in the United States for 2021 are:

About 2,650 new cases of invasive breast cancer will be diagnosed
About 530 men will die from breast cancer

Breast cancer is about 100 times less common among white men than among white women. It is about 70 times less common among Black men than Black women . As in Black women, Black men with breast cancer tend to have a worse prognosis (outlook). For men, the lifetime risk of getting breast cancer is about 1 in 833 .

Suranis wrote: ↑Wed Feb 24, 2021 1:30 am Guys can sometimes need Mammograms too.

Suranis wrote: ↑Wed Feb 24, 2021 1:30 am Guys can sometimes need Mammograms too. A surprising amount of men die of Breast Cancer. I'm actually thinking of talking to by doctor about arranging a Mammogram.

https://www.cancer.org/cancer/breast-ca ... stics.html

Key Statistics for Breast Cancer in Men

The American Cancer Society estimates for breast cancer in men in the United States for 2021 are:

About 2,650 new cases of invasive breast cancer will be diagnosed
About 530 men will die from breast cancer

Breast cancer is about 100 times less common among white men than among white women. It is about 70 times less common among Black men than Black women . As in Black women, Black men with breast cancer tend to have a worse prognosis (outlook). For men, the lifetime risk of getting breast cancer is about 1 in 833 .

The point being that Men might need to be warned about the same thing.

FedEx and UPS said they plan to increase distribution of the coronavirus vaccine 40 percent next week, with peak distribution likely to come in May.

Wes Wheeler, the head of UPS’ health care unit, said the courier service is currently handling about 10 million weekly doses, but that the figure is set to increase to 14 million next week.

If Johnson & Johnson’s single-shot vaccine secures an emergency use authorization from the Food and Drug Administration, that number will increase further, according to Bloomberg.

Wheeler told the publication that even at peak distribution, the vaccines will only account for about 6 percent of its 24.7 million daily package deliveries. By May, UPS projects it will handle up to 1.4 million shipments daily of COVID-19 vaccines.

AndyinPA wrote: ↑Tue Feb 23, 2021 10:02 pm https://pittsburgh.cbslocal.com/2021/02 ... ctors-say/

Lymph nodes are small bean-shaped structures throughout the body as part of the immune system. When they swell, they can look just like cancer. So doctors will have a patient come back for more tests.

Because of this issue, doctors are recommending that women wait to schedule their screening mammograms until six weeks after their second dose. Diagnostic mammograms for a lump, pain or discharge should not be delayed.

“We don’t want to scare people unnecessarily,” he said.

This allows the swelling to decrease on its own. If the lymph node remains enlarged, the doctor may proceed with a biopsy.

The happiest place in medicine right now is a basketball arena in New Mexico. Or maybe it’s the parking lot of a baseball stadium in Los Angeles, or a Six Flags in Maryland, or a shopping mall in South Dakota.

The happiest place in medicine is anywhere there is vaccine, and the happiest people in medicine are the ones plunging it into the arms of strangers.

“It’s a joy to all of us,” says Akosua “Nana” Poku, a Kaiser Permanente nurse vaccinating people in Northern Virginia.

“I don’t think I’ve ever had an experience in my career that has felt so promising and so fulfilling,” says Christina O’Connell, a clinic director at the University of New Mexico.

“There’s so many tears” — of joy, not sadness — “that it’s almost normal at this point,” says Justin Ellis, CVS pharmacist in Laveen, Ariz.

For health-care workers, the opportunity to administer the vaccine has become its own reward: Giving hope to others has given them hope, too. In some clinics, so many nurses have volunteered for vaccine duty that they can’t accommodate them all.

A key Food and Drug Administration advisory panel voted Friday in favor of recommending the approval of Johnson & Johnson’s coronavirus vaccine, setting the stage for FDA authorization, which is likely to come as early as Saturday and making it the third vaccine in the United States.

Johnson and Johnson scientists presented data to the panel that showed that the single-shot vaccine was 66 percent effective in protecting against cases of moderate to severe illness in a large, global trial. It was 85 percent effective against severe cases.

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