The California Department of Health said it agrees with state regulators that the modified vaccine is safe and effective against COVID-19 after a study did not confirm an early sign of a stroke connection. The World Health Organization has urged China to continue to inform the world about the number of deaths and cases of COVID-19 among its own people after long complaints that Beijing is not forthcoming.
The California Department of Health confirms the state’s approval of the bivalent booster shot
The California Department of Health said Sunday it agrees with state regulators, after creating a sign showing a possible link between bivalent risk and stroke, “that the modified bivalent vaccine is safe and effective against COVID-19.” The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention and Food and Drug Administration said a vaccine review process in late November found that Pfizer’s modified coronavirus vaccine may be linked to an increased risk of stroke in people 65 and older. But access to several large databases did not confirm what happened, prompting officials to confirm that the threat was unconfirmed and suspicious, the agencies said Friday.
“No change to the vaccine is recommended because of all the evidence from the United States and other countries,” the California Department of Health said in a statement on Sunday, echoing the state agency’s statement that everyone should know their COVID vaccine. . “Vaccines continue to be safe and effective, and they remain a powerful tool in the fight against hospitalizations and serious illness due to COVID-19. Widespread vaccination is the main reason California has the best chance of ending this emergency,” state officials said.
Government agencies said the original plan included Pfizer’s bivalent booster that targets the coronavirus’s precursors and omicrons, and that it didn’t work on Moderna’s booster. “Although the current level of activity shows that it is unlikely that the VSD (Vaccine Safety Datalink) signal represents a real medical risk, we believe it is important to share this information with the public, as we have done in the past, when one of our safety monitoring systems detects a signal,” said the organizations.
WHO asks China to keep information on COVID
The World Health Organization is calling on China to continue spreading information about the COVID-19 disease after the government announced that nearly 60,000 people have died since early December following weeks of complaints that it is failing to target the world. The announcement on Saturday was the first death toll since the ruling Communist Party abruptly lifted restrictions on the virus in December despite a surge in infections that overwhelmed hospitals. This has left the WHO and other governments wanting to know more, while the United States, South Korea and others regulate visitors from China. The government said 5,503 people died of respiratory failure due to COVID-19 and 54,435 died of cancer, heart disease and other diseases including COVID-19 between December 8 and January 12.
Actress Jamie Lee Curtis was infected
Actress Jamie Lee Curtis said she tested positive for COVID days after attending the Golden Globe Awards, and will miss Sunday’s Critics Choice Awards and other events during the week. “F- COVID!” he posted on Instagram, sharing photos of the COVID-19 test and saying that he will not be attending the paid meetings last week. “I’m glad there are all the at-home tests available so I don’t have to go to the @americanfilminstitute luncheon and spread my germs.”
Holiday parties are dwindling with the expected rise in respiratory illnesses
The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention reported that visits to doctors’ offices for flu-like illnesses fell for the sixth straight week, and the holiday fears of COVID did not materialize. Reports of RSV, which causes severe disease in infants and adults, have also declined, and both are declining, the CDC said Friday.
In California the number of reported COVID-19 cases peaked in early December and has since declined since monitoring of wastewater showed trends over the past three weeks. Despite the coldest flu season of all time, hospitalizations were down sharply through December, with little post-holiday blip. “We’ll see what’s going on,” Erica Pan, an epidemiologist in California, told health experts at her monthly briefing last week, saying officials “hope we’re probably out of the loop” this flu season.
NY mulls options after court throws out health care worker vaccinations
The New York Department of Health is “considering its options” after a state Supreme Court judge struck down a law requiring health care workers to receive a COVID-19 vaccine. Judge Gerard Neri’s decision on Friday said Gov. Kathy Hochul and the health department overstepped their authority by ordering vaccines that are not in the state’s health laws, the Syracuse Post-Standard reported. The judge sided with the Medical Professionals for Informed Consent, a group of medical professionals involved in the vaccination process. The initiative protects people at high risk of severe symptoms and their caregivers, the health agency said in a statement to the Associated Press. “The requirement is an important tool for public health,” the organization said in expressing its opposition to the decision.
