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As the omicron variant sweeps through South Africa, Dr. Unben Pillay is seeing dozens of sick patients a day. Yet he hasn’t had to send anyone to the hospital...That’s one of the reasons why he...suspect that the omicron version really is causing milder COVID-19 than delta, even if it seems to be spreading faster...“They are able to manage the disease at home,” Pillay said of his patients. “Most have recovered within the 10 to 14-day isolation period.” said Pillay...In the two weeks since omicron first was reported in Southern Africa, other doctors have shared similar stories. All caution that it will take many more weeks to collect enough data to be sure, their observations and the early evidence offer some clues...READMORE

Nevada has become the first state to implement a health care premium surcharge on some 5,000 state employees not vaccinated against COVID-19 starting in July 2022...The Nevada Public Employees’ Benefits Program, which manages the health program for 43,000 members and 27,000 dependents across the state, approved a policy...to charge state employees $55 a month plus $175 a month for any unvaccinated dependents over the age of 18 unless they provide a legitimate health or religious exemption by the end of the open enrollment period, which will be assessed July 2022...The policy will help cover the costs of COVID-19 testing and hospitalizations associated with unvaccinated members, Laura Rich, executive officer of the Nevada Public Employees’ Benefits Program (PEBP), said...READ MORE

UnitedHealthcare will adjust claims for COVID-19 vaccines in response to providers who said they were paid sub-Medicare rates to administer the shots...the nation's largest insurer said it has been reimbursing for COVID-19 vaccines at the $40 per administration Medicare rate since July 1 but that it will adjust claims that were underpaid between March 15 and June 30 to that same rate...A number of physicians, particularly pediatricians, have called out UHC for underpaying them to administer COVID-19 vaccines...George Rogu, M.D., a pediatrician and CEO of Commack, New York-based RBK Pediatricians, said physicians of all kinds faced significant costs in setting up vaccine programs...READ MORE

Moderna on Thursday said it will build a plant in Africa to produce shots for COVID-19 as well as other vaccines for other diseases, although it has yet to pick a site or a country for the planned factory...The Massachusetts biotech intends to spend as much as $500 million on the plant, which it claims will be able to produce as many as 500 million vaccine doses a year. Along with manufacturing the actual vaccine product, the plant will also fill vial vials and package doses, Moderna said...African nations are well behind the rest of the world in COVID-19 vaccinations. Only 7% of the continent's population has had at least one dose, compared with 66% for the U.S. and Canada, 58% for Latin America and 57% for Europe...READ MORE

Two doses of the Pfizer/BioNTech vaccine ‘may not be sufficient’ to protect against infection with the Omicron variant; but three doses of the vaccine neutralize the variant, according to a preliminary laboratory study released by the companies...it is the first data to indicate whether existing COVID-19 vaccines are likely to protect against the Omicron variant or not...Meanwhile, Pfizer and BioNTech say a variant-specific vaccine could be ready by March should it prove to be needed to increase the level and duration of protection against Omicron...READMORE

A pharmacy in Virginia incorrectly administered Pfizer and BioNTech’s Covid-19 shots to 112 children last week, according to the state Department of Health...“The pharmacy attempted to provide a proper dose,” Loudoun County Health Department director Dr. David Goodfriend...said it appears the pharmacy did administer about a third of the adult dose, which should be the correct amount. However, “a lower dose is possible if not all of the 0.1 ml was administered into muscle,” he said...Goodfriend alerted parents in a letter sent out...that Ted Pharmacy may have administered a lower dose than recommended. State and federal officials told the pharmacy to stop distributing shots altogether on Friday before seizing all of its Covid doses, a Virginia health department spokesperson said in a statement...READ MORE

The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention has given its go-ahead for the use of Moderna's and Janssen's COVID-19 vaccines as booster shots...after their initial series as well as the approval of mixing and matching vaccines...READ MORE

A college student who argues he’s immune from COVID-19 because he was previously infected has lost his bid for an emergency court order that would have allowed him to register for classes while he presses his federal lawsuit challenging the constitutionality of UNR's mandatory vaccination policy...A U.S district judge from California...said in denying the temporary restraining order sought by 18-year-old Jacob Gold that he’s failed to establish a fundamental constitutional right to refuse vaccination...Gold claims that because he recovered from COVID-19, he has immunity superior to students who’ve been vaccinated and it is statistically impossible for a shot to benefit him...READMORE

Officials with the FDA have authorized the COVID-19 vaccine from Pfizer and BioNTech for use in children 5 through 11 years of age, based on submitted data and an advisory committee recommendation...the vaccine’s safety was evaluated in approximately 3100 children who received the vaccine. No serious adverse effects were detected in the ongoing study, according to the press release...approximately 8300 cases in children 5 through 11 years of age resulted in hospitalization, and as of October 17, 2021, 146 deaths from COVID-19 have been reported in the United States in this age group...READ MORE

Before the Pfizer-BioNTech COVID-19 vaccine authorization, there were no mRNA therapies approved anywhere in the world. The idea of using messenger RNA as a way to get your body to be the drug manufacturer has been around for some time, but only in recent years has it become practical. And it was the COVID-19 pandemic that provided the opportunity for the technology to push ahead...In terms of cancer...BioNTech has two types of mRNA vaccines for cancer. “First, we have our off-the-shelf vaccines, where we’ve identified molecular features of tumors that are shared by many patients...By targeting these molecules, you can fight the cancer without getting collateral damage to healthy cells.”...“Second, we have highly personalized vaccines. We identify cancer mutations that are unique to every patient...We biopsy the tumor, sequence it, and design a unique, individualized vaccine for each patient.”...READ MORE