1.) More Boosters Coming Soon to a Pharmacy Near You
A panel of outside advisors to the FDA has voted 19-2 in favor of updating COVID-19 booster shots to include protection against Omicron. It’s a significant decision as it marks the first time the panel has proposed that vaccine makers modify their jabs to target a different strain. Alpha, Beta and Delta have already made their way through the world without any updates to the shots, as well as their sub-variants that have caused several big waves of infections.
Fine print: Much of the FDA panel discussion focused on whether the Omicron component should target the “original” strain, BA.1, or newer BA.4 and BA.5 sub-variants, but the voting question did not specifically ask the members to decide between them. The panel was also not asked about whether future boosters should be bivalent – containing protection against the original SARS-CoV-2 variant and Omicron – or just provide protection against the latter. As COVID continues to evolve, the vaccines are said to have become less effective at defending infection and mild illness, but generally protect against severe disease.
Following the committee’s recommendation, the FDA is likely to authorize the vaccine change, meaning a new generation of COVID boosters could be ready by late summer or the early fall. Vaccine manufacturers have already developed Omicron-specific vaccines, but have noted that they tend to generate a lower antibody response against BA.4 and BA.5. If not apparent already, it also appears that COVID is on track to need annual or semi-annual boosters like the flu, compared to viruses like polio and measles, which if vaccinated against as a child, the body will recognize at a much later date.
2.) The Fifth Circuit Court of Appeals has agreed to reconsider a case challenging the Biden Administration’s federal employee COVID-19 vaccine mandate.
This case challenges an unlawful Executive Order from President Biden, which would force vaccination of approximately 2.1 million federal civilian workers – many against their will.
The Fifth Circuit’s order vacates a February 9, 2022 ruling by a Fifth Circuit panel that lifted an injunction issued by a district court blocking enforcement of the vaccine mandate while the lawsuit played out.
This means the Biden Administration’s illegal federal employee vaccine mandate will be stayed pending the Fifth Circuit’s decision, which we expect to come in the fall of 2022. And it is likely the Fifth Circuit will hold the mandate cannot stand.
3.) Elmo is now vaccinated against the 2019 Chinese virus that has mutated and weakened many times over. In other news, his parents are child abusers.
https://www.4029tv.com/article/elmo-is-now-vaccinated-for-covid-19/40444726