Coronavirus Breaking News

The U.S. Department of State recently reissued its Level 3 travel advisory for the Federal Democratic Republic of Ethiopia with updates to security information.

As of May 19, 2023, the U.S. says to reconsider travel to Ethiopia in cities and border areas due to sporadic civil unrest, crime, and communications disruptions.

U.S. officials have limited ability to provide services to U.S. citizens outside of Addis Ababa and any U.S. citizen detained by Ethiopian authorities.

And the government of Ethiopia has previously restricted or shut down internet, cellular data, and phone services before, during, and after civil unrest. These restrictions impede the U.S.

Please contact the Embassy’s American Citizen Services Unit at [email protected] for further assistance, and enroll in STEP to be located during emergencies.

When visiting Ethiopia, Do Not Travel To the following areas:

• Tigray Region and the border with Eritrea.
• Afar-Tigray border areas.
• Amhara Region.
• Gambella and Benishangul Gumuz Regions.
• Oromia Region.
• Southern Nations and National People Region.
• The border area with Somalia.
• Border areas with Sudan and South Sudan.
• Border areas with Kenya.

From a health perspective, the U.S. CDC suggests visitors ensure they are protected against measles and polio.

Micron Biomedical recently announced positive Phase 1/2 data from the first-ever clinical trial of microarray technology in children, including infants as young as nine months old. 

The study evaluated the safety, immunogenicity, and acceptability of the leading commercially available measles-rubella (MR) vaccine administered via microarray.

Vaccination by microarray was found safe and well tolerated with no allergic reactions or related serious adverse events.

Day-42 immunogenicity showed seroprotection rates for MR in all cohorts for both the microarray (93.2% - 100%) and SC injection (89.8% - 100%) groups.

And in infants who were MR-vaccine naïve at the start of the trial, seroconversion rates were high and similar for both the microarray (92.9% -100%) and SC injection groups (89.7%-100%).

Over 90% of the parents of toddlers and infants enrolled in the trial, which took part in an acceptability survey, said that the microarray technology would be better than SC injection to give vaccines to children.

"Supporting innovations in vaccine delivery is critical to addressing ongoing health inequities," said James Goodson, Senior Scientist and Epidemiologist in the Global Immunization Division at the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention and co-investigator for the study, in a press release on May 17, 2023. 

The technology significantly simplifies the transport, storage, and administration of vaccines traditionally delivered via injection and eliminates sharps waste.

Dengue is one of the most common vectorborne flaviviral infections globally, with frequent outbreaks in the tropical regions of the United States, says the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC).

The CDC confirmed on May 19, 2023, U.S. territories experienced a high prevalence of dengue during 2010–2020, a total of 30,903 dengue cases were reported from four U.S. territories.

Puerto Rico reported the highest number of dengue cases (29,862).

And in Puerto Rico and USVI, approximately 2% of reported cases were categorized as severe dengue.

The Florida Health Department reported on May 13, 2023, there had been 68 travel-associated dengue cases and two locally acquired dengue cases confirmed as of week #17 in 2023. And Miami-Dade County remains under a mosquito-borne illness alert.

Floria reported 903 travel-associated and 68 locally-acquired dengue cases, the most noted in the U.S. in 2022.

Dengue is a vaccine-preventable disease, with two vaccines in use globally.

In addition, travel disease hot-spot news is posted by Vax-Before-Travel.

The World Health Organization (WHO) today announced nearly 2.6 million new COVID-19 cases, and over 17,000 deaths were reported in the last 28 days, a decrease of 14% and 26%, respectively, compared to the previous 28 days.

Weekly epidemiological update #143 was published on May 18, 2023, and stated the COVID-19 situation is mixed at regional levels, with increases in reported cases in South-East Asia and Western Pacific regions and increases in deaths in South-East Asia. 

At the country level, the highest numbers of new 28-day cases were reported from the Republic of Korea (418, 960 new cases; +46%), the United States of America (-34%), Japan (+15%), India (+32%), and Brazil (-28%).

The World Health Organization (CDC) Technical Advisory Group for COVID-19 Vaccine Composition today announced its advice on the composition of future formulations of COVID-19 vaccines.

The objective of an update to COVID-19 vaccine antigen composition is to enhance vaccine-induced immune responses.

Updating the vaccine composition considers the evolution of the SARS-CoV-2 beta coronavirus variants and aims to improve protection against symptomatic disease.  

The Group suggests that future formulations of COVID-19 vaccines use newer variants in their composition, i.e., XBB.1 descendant lineages.  

As of May 2023, the XBB.1 descendent lineages currently predominate globally (i.e., XBB.1.5, XBB.1.16, XBB.1.9).

Furthermore, estimates of vaccine efficacy (VE) against currently circulating SARS-CoV-2 variants, including XBB.1 descendent lineages, are very limited in terms of the number of studies, vaccine products evaluated, and populations assessed; some studies show similar VE against BA.5 descendent and XBB.1 descendent lineages, while others suggest reduced VE during periods of the predominance of XBB.1 descendent lineages.

Additionally, the TAG-CO-VAC continues to encourage the further development of vaccines that enhance mucosal immunity because they may improve protection against infection and reduce transmission of SARS-CoV-2, in alignment with the WHO Global COVID-19 Vaccination Strategy, published in July 2022. 

On May 18, 2023, the WHO stated the current COVID-19 vaccines continue to be highly protective against severe disease and death. 

And the WHO strongly encourages the use of available authorized COVID-19 vaccines, which include the index SARS-CoV-2 virus, according to recommendations from the Strategic Advisory Group of Experts on Immunization, updated in March 2023.

The U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA) today published the Briefing Document for the Vaccines and Related Biological Products Advisory Committee (VRBPAC) review of ABRYSVO™, a respiratory syncytial virus (RSV) vaccine.

Pfizer Inc.'s ABRYSVO is a bivalent vaccine candidate comprised of two preF proteins selected to optimize protection against RSV A and B. 

This digital meeting is scheduled for May 18, 2023, and starts at 8:30 AM ET and is open to the public.

The VRBPAC provides independent expert advice to the FDA on broad scientific topics or certain products to help the agency make sound decisions based on the available science.

GSK's AREXVY™ RSV OA single-dose RSV vaccine was previously approved by the FDA for seniors.

Furthermore, there are several other RSV vaccine candidates conducting late-stage studies.

Update May 18, 2023 - EXECUTIVE SUMMARY - This document summarizes the favorable benefit-risk profile for Pfizer’s RSVpreF (Abrysvo), a bivalent respiratory syncytial virus (RSV) stabilized prefusion F subunit vaccine (RSVpreF) for the proposed indication for prevention of lower respiratory tract disease and severe lower respiratory tract disease caused by RSV in infants from birth through 6 months of age, by active immunization of pregnant individuals.

The U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) today reissued its Watch - Level 1, Practice Usual Precautions notice regarding the ongoing worldwide measles outbreak.

As of May 16, 2023, the CDC has compiled an extensive list of countries reporting measles outbreaks in 2023.

This list is led by India, with about 68,000 measles cases.

Measles is caused by a highly contagious virus that spreads through the air by direct contact with infectious droplets or by airborne spread when an infected person breathes, coughs, or sneezes.

The measles virus can live for up to two hours in airspace after an infected person leaves an area.

Furthermore, people can spread measles up to four days before and four days after a rash.

While there have only been ten measles cases in the U.S. this year, this virus remains a risk to anyone under-vaccinated.

The CDC says all international travelers, including infants and preschool-aged children, should be protected against measles before traveling abroad.

Various measles vaccines are offered in the U.S. at clinics and community pharmacies.