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COVID-19

Stainless Steel Found in Moderna COVID-19 Doses

Moderna Inc and Takeda Pharmaceutical Co Ltd on Wednesday said they are working with Japanese authorities to recall three batches of COVID-19 vaccine after an investigation found stainless steel contaminants in some vials.

Japanese authorities had suspended use of these batches of Moderna shots containing 1.63 million doses last week after being notified of the contamination issue.

Japan’s health ministry said on Wednesday, based on information from the companies’ investigation, that it did not believe the particles of stainless steel pose any additional health risk.

Moderna said the stainless steel contamination probably occurred during production.

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SOURCE URL
https://www.reuters.com/business/healthcare-pharmaceuticals/japan-finds-stainless-steel-particles-suspended-doses-moderna-vaccine-2021-09-01/

McDonald’s Considers Closing Indoor Seating…Again

Last week, McDonald’s instructed its franchisees on steps they should take to re-close their dining rooms in areas where the Delta variant is rapidly spreading, according to internal company materials seen by Reuters.

“We have a much deeper sense of what actions make a difference for the safety of our restaurant teams and crew,” McDonald’s USA President Joe Erlinger said during a Wednesday meeting, according to the materials.

In Wednesday’s conference call, McDonald’s executives recommended franchisees consider closing indoor seating in counties where COVID cases exceed 250 per 100,000 people on a rolling three-week average.

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https://www.reuters.com/business/retail-consumer/mcdonalds-others-consider-closing-indoor-seating-amid-delta-surge-us-2021-08-30/

CDC Panel: More Evidence Needed for Boosters

A Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) advisory panel on Monday indicated it could take a substantially different approach to booster doses of COVID-19 vaccines than the one proposed by the Biden administration.

Members of the CDC’s Advisory Committee on Immunization Practices (ACIP) said the evidence on boosters is not clear and indicated it would likely consider a risk-based approach that would prioritize residents of long-term care facilities and health workers rather than all eligible Americans at once.

COVID-19 vaccines continue to maintain high protection against severe disease, hospitalization and death. While some studies have found some waning of effectiveness against infection, members of the panel said the evidence is not clear enough to justify a booster recommendation.

Vaccine efficacy has ranged between 39 percent and 84 percent, according to several studies.

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https://thehill.com/policy/healthcare/570057-cdc-panel-says-more-evidence-needed-for-booster-recommendation

New Zealand Reports First Death following Pfizer Vaccine

New Zealand on Monday announced it had recorded its first death linked to Pfizer’s COVID-19 vaccine after a woman suffered from myocarditis, which is known to be a rare side effect of inflammation in the heart muscle.

New Zealand’s COVID-19 Vaccine Independent Safety Monitoring Board (CV-ISMB) released a statement on Monday advising health care professionals and consumers to be aware of myocarditis and pericarditis, another rare side effect that can occur after vaccine administration.

“The CV-ISMB extends their sympathies to the woman’s family and friends during this difficult time and thanks the family for their assistance with this investigation,” the New Zealand Ministry of Health said in a statement.

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https://thehill.com/policy/international/asia-pacific/569958-new-zealand-reports-first-death-following-pfizer-vaccine

$15 Drug Gets COVID Patients Off Oxygen Support

Fourteen out of 15 severe COVID-19 patients who were treated in an investigator-initiated interventional open-label clinical study of the drug TriCor (fenofibrate) didn’t require oxygen support within a week of treatment and were released from the hospital, according to the results of a new Hebrew University of Jerusalem study.

Fenofibrate is an FDA-approved oral medication. The results were published on Researchsquare.com and are currently under peer review.

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https://www.jpost.com/health-science/15-treatment-gets-covid-patients-off-ventilators-in-under-a-week-study-677479

COVID C.1.2 Mutation Found in South Africa

A new coronavirus variant, C.1.2, has been detected in South Africa and a number of other countries, with concerns that it could be more infectious and evade vaccines, according to a new preprint study by South Africa’s National Institute for Communicable Diseases and the KwaZulu-Natal Research Innovation and Sequencing Platform. The study is awaiting peer review.

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https://www.jpost.com/health-science/new-covid-variant-detected-in-south-africa-most-mutated-variant-so-far-678011

European Union Restricts United States Travel…Again

The European Union recommended Monday that its 27 nations reinstate restrictions on tourists from the U.S. because of rising coronavirus infections there, but member countries will keep the option of allowing fully vaccinated U.S. travelers in.

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https://apnews.com/article/lifestyle-europe-business-health-travel-9c0f10f0af7e4d7fab63d6d8d4ed844c