FDA advisors recommend replacing original Covid vaccine with bivalent omicron shots for all doses
The Food and Drug Administration's independent advisory committee on Thursday unanimously recommended replacing Pfizer and Moderna's original Covid vaccine used in the U.S. for everyone's first two immunizations with the new bivalent omicron shots. Instead, the drugmakers' bivalent omicron shots that target the omicron BA.5 subvariant as well as the original strain would be used for the entire vaccination series. Currently, Pfizer's and Moderna's omicron shots are only authorized as a booster, while the first two doses are still their old shots based on the original Covid strain. The FDA has proposed moving to a system that resembles how the agency updates and rolls out flu shots every year. The agency would select a Covid vaccine formulation in June to target the variant that is expected to dominate in the fall and winter.
cnbc.comOmicron booster shots provide some protection against mild illness from Covid XBB subvariants, CDC says
The CDC study published Wednesday provides the first estimate of the omicron shots' real-world effectiveness against the XBB family of subvariants. For people ages 18 to 49, the omicron booster reduced the risk of mild illness by about 48% two to three months after receiving the shot. The shots provided 38% protection against mild illness for those ages 50 to 64 and 42% protection for people ages 65 and older, according to the study. They had very little protection against mild illness due to waning immunity observed with the old vaccines, Link-Gelles said. It's too early to draw conclusions about how the protection from the omicron boosters holds up over time, she said.
cnbc.comElon Musk casts doubt on whether a 2nd COVID booster helps or hurts. Here’s what studies show.
Twitter owner and CEO Elon Musk waded into a discussion about COVID-19 boosters in a tweet on Wednesday, with the billionaire claiming that it “isn’t clear whether, all things considered, a second booster helps or hurts.”
news.yahoo.com10 new developments with 779 units highlight housing push in Portage in 2022
PORTAGE, MI — Addressing a need for housing in the area, Portage Planning Commission and City Council moved 10 new residential projects forward, accounting for 779 new units, over the course of 2022. You’ve got a city council, the leadership, that is directing staff to apply the capacity to make these developer’s dreams come true. The city has also created a new position for a city housing specialist, which they are currently looking to fill, he said. Wild Plum: Just southeast of Pennridge Trail, at 1109 W. Osterhout Ave., is the future site of the Wild Plum housing development. StoryPoint South: A new 172-unit senior housing development, approved by city council on Oct. 18, is expected to break ground this coming May and open in 2025.
mlive.comKids 6 months to 4 yrs now eligible for bivalent COVID booster
Young children are now eligible to get the latest COVID-19 vaccine booster. Children can get a single bivalent booster two months after completing their two-dose primary series with the original, monovalent COVID vaccine from Moderna. Bivalent COVID vaccines have been available since September, and more than 1.33 million Michigan residents have since been boosted. Both bivalent shots include an mRNA component corresponding to the original strain of coronavirus, plus an mRNA component corresponding to the omicron variants BA.4 and BA.5. To find a vaccine provider near you, visit vaccines.gov/search, input your ZIP code, and select one or both of the bivalent COVID-19 vaccines.
mlive.comPfizer’s $750M investment, 300 additional jobs a big deal for Portage, community leaders say
PORTAGE, MI — Another large investment in Pfizer’s Portage facility has state, county and city leaders highlighting the benefits for the community. It will bring a total of 300 new jobs to the facility, not including construction jobs. Morse credited the continued commitment by Pfizer to the community to the importance that Kalamazoo County places on education. In 2018, the Portage City Council approved a PA-198 tax abatement for the MAP project, Pfizer with a 50% break on taxes for 15 years. Since, the city has partnered with the company to help bring $1.3 billion in investment and the creation of 1,000 well-paying jobs, city officials said.
mlive.comPfizer announces further $750M expansion of Portage facility
Pfizer plans to invest an additional $750 million for an expansion of the company’s facility in Portage to increase the pharmaceutical corporation’s modular aseptic processing capacity. Gretchen Whitmer hosted Pfizer executive David Breen Monday for a press conference announcing the investment. He said the spending had been formally approved by the corporation and the purchase of equipment had already begun. Messer said there was “no anticipation” dollars from the state’s SOAR fund would be used in connection with Pfizer’s spending. Breen said the Portage facility had been the only place considered.
mlive.comPfizer’s COVID booster spurs immune response to new omicron subvariants
Pfizer’s updated COVID-19 booster may offer some protection against newly emerging omicron mutants even though it’s not an exact match, the pharmaceutical company announced Friday. Pfizer and its partner BioNTech said their updated booster generated virus-fighting antibodies that can target four additional omicron subtypes, including the particularly worrisome BQ.1.1. The immune response wasn’t as strong against this alphabet soup of newer mutants as it is against the BA.5 strain. Moderna recently announced early evidence that its updated booster induced BQ.1.1-neutralizing antibodies. Updated boosters are available for anyone 5 or older, but only about 35 million Americans have gotten one so far, according to the CDC.
mlive.comCOVID booster uptake in Michigan is slower than doctors hoped
The latest version of COVID-19 vaccines have been available in Michigan for about nine weeks, yet only 10% of eligible residents have gotten boosted. Pfizer and Moderna’s latest COVID shots aim to offer enhanced protection by including the blueprints for the latest mutations of the virus, known as omicron subvariants BA.4 and BA.5.
mlive.com3% of Michiganders have gotten the omicron booster shot – see uptake by county
The newest medical innovation to fight COVID-19 is here, but people are hardly racing to get it this time around. The Pfizer and Moderna bivalent booster shots have been available in Michigan since early September. The vaccine includes mRNA components of the original COVID-19 strain (like the initial vaccines) plus components of the omicron BA.4 and BA.5 subvariants to help fight the latest strains of the virus.
mlive.comEU regulator clears Pfizer-BioNTech's tweaked COVID booster
The European Medicines Agency has recommended the authorization of a tweaked booster dose of the Pfizer-BioNTech coronavirus vaccine that includes protection against two of the latest versions of omicron, as countries look to bolster their immunization programs ahead of winter.