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How safe will it be to travel this summer? Baylor College of Medicine infectious diseases expert Dr. Prathit Kulkarni shared travel tips in an article published on May 11, 2021, which is excerpted below.
“If you’re fully vaccinated and following public health guidelines, it’s overall safe to fly,” Dr. Kulkarni said. “The risk of traveling if fully vaccinated is not zero, of course, but is reasonably low.”
For international travel, Kulkarni recommends researching the destination country before booking a flight. Consider whether that country is seeing a surge in COVID-19 cases.
Additionally, testing requirements can vary by country. Kulkarni recommends first consulting the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) travel guidelines.
Currently, travelers returning home to the U.S. need a negative COVID-19 test within three days of their return trip. The CDC also recommends getting tested 3-5 days after travel, but self-quarantining is not needed for fully vaccinated those (unless required by state or local public health guidance).
As of May 11, 2021, the US Food and Drug Administration had issued three Emergency Use Authorizations for experimental COVID-19 vaccines.
Can children go on vacation too?
“The risk of a bad outcome from COVID-19 in children is quite low, but kids can get infected and transmit the virus,” Kulkarni said.
Kulkarni also recommends that parents consider the risk-benefit debate of each trip.
“If you are going to see an elderly relative, the need to do that may outweigh the risk," he said. "If you’re going for a fun vacation, you may say the benefits don’t outweigh the risk."
"Or you may say the pandemic has been a big mental health strain on my family, and we need to get away to decompress."
"Those things are hard to quantify, and they will be different for different people.”
An updated list of suggested travel vaccines is published on this Vax-Before-Travel webpage.
Located in Houston, Texas, Baylor College of Medicine is a health sciences university that creates knowledge and applies science and discoveries to further education, healthcare, and community service locally and globally.
The biotechnology company Oxitec plans to release genetically modified (GM) mosquitoes in the Florida Keys, saying its technology will combat dengue fever, a potentially life-threatening disease mainly transmitted by the Aedes aegypti mosquito.
According to the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, there were 41 travel-related cases in Florida during 2020, compared with 71 cases transmitted locally by mosquitoes.
As of May 2021, eight dengue cases and zero Zika virus cases were reported in the USA.
Michael Bonsall, a mathematical biologist at the University of Oxford, is not affiliated with Oxitec, but has collaborated with the company in the past and worked with the World Health Organization to produce a GM mosquito-testing framework, wrote an NCSU article published on April 12, 2021.
Bonsall and other scientists think a combination of approaches is essential to reducing the burden of diseases — and that, maybe, newer ideas like GM mosquitoes should be added to the mix.
Oxitec’s OX5034 mosquitoes are the first GM mosquitoes approved for release in the USA.
Oxitec’s mosquitoes, for instance, are genetically altered to pass what the company calls “self-limiting” genes to their offspring. When released GM males breed with wild female mosquitoes, the resulting generation does not survive into adulthood, reducing the overall population.
Oxitec has been proposing to experimentally release GM mosquitos in the Keys since 2011. Critics say they are concerned about the possible effects GM mosquitoes could have on human health and the environment.
The company has already conducted a trial with the OX5034 mosquitoes in Brazil and released more than a billion of a previous version, called OX513A.
At Oxitec’s laboratory in the U.K., the company genetically engineers the mosquitoes, giving the insects the “self-limiting” gene that makes the females dependent on the antibiotic tetracycline. Without the drug, they will die.
Eggs from these genetically altered mosquitoes —will be shipped to the Keys, which will hatch both male and female insects
Mosquitoes require water to mature from an egg to an adult; when Oxitec’s team adds water to the boxes the mosquitoes will be deployed in, both GM males and GM females will hatch. With no tetracycline present in the box, the GM females are expected to die in the early larval stages.
The male mosquitoes will survive and carry the gene. When they leave the boxes, the insects will, hypothetically, fly away to mate with wild females to pass the gene to the next wild generation, according to Nathan Rose, head of regulatory affairs at Oxitec.
Skeptics of Oxitec’s GM mosquitoes include local residents, physicians, scientists, and environmental activists. Many of these opponents say they aren’t anti-GMO, but disagree with how the approval process has been handled.
One group has even kept a running list of what it sees as Oxitec’s wrongdoings since it first began experimental releases. The list includes Oxitec’s lack of disease monitoring in the countries where it has released mosquitoes; the unknown price of its technology; and complaints that the company has overstated the success of some of it its trials.
Oxitec has accomplished 100% of the UK government’s “COVID-19 Secure” requirements but has adopted further policies and programs above and beyond government guidance to keep our people safe.
Osla-based Ultimovacs ASA announced the publication of its positive long-term Overall Survival (OS) data from the Phase I trial evaluating the Company's universal cancer vaccine, UV1, in combination with checkpoint inhibitor ipilimumab in patients with metastatic malignant melanoma.
As published on May 11, 2021, in addition to the achievement of the primary endpoints of safety and tolerability, 50% of the patients were still alive at the data cut-off, supporting the combination of the Company's proprietary UV1 vaccine candidate with ipilimumab, a CTLA-4 checkpoint inhibitor, and standard-of-care treatment, in this late-stage patient population.
"As we continue to evaluate UV1 in various combinations and indications, it is valuable to gain increased international recognition from the clinical community for this study," stated Jens Bjørheim, Chief Medical Officer at Ultimovacs in a company press release.
"Historical data on the use of ipilimumab as monotherapy in malignant melanoma have shown a 5-year survival rate below 20%; therefore, the results published today reinforce UV1's potential in this indication."
The data published in Frontiers in Immunology covers 4.8 years of follow-up on the total of 12 metastatic malignant melanoma patients that were enrolled in the Phase I trial. As reported in the journal, the OS was 50% at 4.8 years, which was confirmed.
Ultimovacs was established in 2011, and its proprietary technology is based on pre-clinical and clinical research on immunotherapies conducted at the Oslo University Hospital. Ultimovacs is headquartered at the Oslo Cancer Cluster Innovation Park in Oslo, Norway, and has an office in Uppsala, Sweden. The company is a limited public liability company listed on the Oslo Stock Exchange in Norway.
Thanks to the Pneumococcal Advance Market Commitment (AMC), children in 60 Gavi-eligible countries are being immunized against the main cause of pneumonia with pneumococcal vaccines, stated Gavi, the Vaccine Alliance.
The purpose of the twelfth and final Pneumococcal AMC Annual Report is to provide an update on the implementation activities for pneumococcal vaccines, including supply and procurement, country demand, and financial reporting.
This final report covers the period from January to December 2020, completing a decade of unprecedented progress in pneumococcal disease prevention, mainly fuelled by the expansion of routine immunization in Gavi countries.
A total of 139 million doses of pneumococcal conjugate vaccine (PCV) were procured through the AMC in 2020, a 14% decrease from 2019.
In the second half of 2021, an appendix to this report will be issued to reflect the 2020 data scheduled to be published in July 2021, including PCV coverage achieved in 2020.
Pneumococcal vaccines prevent pneumococcal disease caused by Streptococcus pneumoniae, a bacterium with more than 90 serotypes, says the U.S. CDC. The CDC's Advisory Committee on Immunization Practices vaccine recommendations is published on this webpage.
The overall likelihood of approval of Phase I pneumococcal vaccine is 16.7%, and the average probability a vaccine advances from Phase III is 75%. Pneumococcal vaccines, on average, take 8.6 years from Phase I to approval, compared to 9.0 years in the overall infectious disease space, reported ResearchAndMarkets.com in April 2021.
A Japanese political party leader stated, 'there is no way to safely hold the Tokyo Olympics this summer, which begin in late July,' reported the Kyodo News on May 10, 2021.
"Unfortunately, we have to say it is impossible to protect the lives, health, and livelihoods of the Japanese people while holding the Olympics and Paralympics," Yukio Edano, head of the Constitutional Democratic Party of Japan, said in a parliamentary session.
COVID-19 infection rates have surged in Japan in recent weeks, prompting the government to extend a state of emergency covering Tokyo and other prefectures to the end of May 2021.
As part of the plans to ensure safe and secure Olympic and Paralympic Games Tokyo 2020, the International Olympic Committee announced on May 6, 2021, the signing of a Memorandum of Understanding with Pfizer Inc. and BioNTech SE to donate doses of the companies’ mRNA COVID-19 vaccine to Games participants.
The National Olympic Committees will work with their local governments to coordinate local distribution following each country’s vaccination guidelines and consistent with local regulations.
Olympic President Thomas Bach commented in a press statement, “We are inviting the athletes and participating delegations of the upcoming Olympic and Paralympic Games to lead by example and accept the vaccine where and when possible.'
Ugur Sahin, M.D., CEO and Co-Founder of BioNTech, added, “This year’s Olympic and Paralympic Games are a historic moment representing the global community and how we stand together. We are honored to be able to contribute the vaccine to support the safety of the Olympic and Paralympic Games.”
The International Olympic Committee is a not-for-profit, civil, non-governmental, international organization made up of volunteers committed to building a better world through sport.
The US Department of State updated its Travel Advisory for the United Kingdom (UK) on May 10, 2021. The State Department lowered the UK's Advisory to a "Level 3: Reconsider Travel" rating.
This new Advisory says, 'Terrorist groups continue plotting possible attacks in the United Kingdom. Terrorists may attack with little or no warning, targeting tourist locations, transportation hubs, markets/shopping malls, local government facilities, hotels, clubs, restaurants, places of worship, parks, major sporting and cultural events, educational institutions, airports, and other public areas.'
If you decide to visit the UK, enroll in the Smart Traveler Enrollment Program to receive Alerts and make it easier to locate you in an emergency.
Separately, the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) issued a Level 3 Travel Health Notice for the UK due to COVID-19, indicating a high level of COVID-19 in the country. There are restrictions in place affecting U.S. citizen entry into the UK.
And air passengers coming to the USA, including U.S. citizens and fully vaccinated people, are required to have a negative COVID-19 test result no more than 3 days before travel or documentation of recovery from COVID-19 in the past 3 months before they board a flight to the USA.
However, the UK's COVID-19 map indicates a significant decrease in cases, which is good news!
Mercy Ships announced today that the Global Mercy™ has now completed deep water sea trials, one of the final milestones in the countdown towards the hospital ship’s delivery, equipping, maiden voyage, and launch into service to sub-Saharan Africa in 2022.
As the world’s largest purpose-built civilian hospital ship, the Global Mercy had received wide attention from all over the world from the very beginning of its construction in 2015. The Global Mercy has a design draft of 6.15 meters and a service speed of 12 knots.
This new vessel is the first ship built from design to implementation by the charity as all previous ships were adapted from other purposes.
The purpose-designed hospital decks represent the unique heart of the ship, consisting of six operating theatres and hospital wards for 200 patients, laboratory, general outpatient, ophthalmology, and dental clinics.
The ship has space for up to 950 persons in port, including 641 crew, comprised of volunteers worldwide. The Global Mercy is specially equipped with first-class training facilities to allow Mercy Ships to contribute to the sustainable support of essential surgical and related skills for local healthcare professionals when docked.
“These deep-water trials represent a critical checklist for our new purpose-built ship to become the platform for service it is designed to be. Trials systematically test operational aspects by putting the vessel through paces for an extended period at sea. I am pleased to say that Global Mercy successfully passed every test,” stated Jim Paterson, Marine Executive Consultant for Mercy Ships, in a press release.
“We are then left with some finishing touches in the interior, particularly the hospital area, before we take delivery,” Paterson added.
The Global Mercy will join the current Mercy Ship, Africa Mercy, in service to sub-Saharan and Central Africa.
Founded in 1978, Mercy Ships has worked in more than 55 developing countries, providing services valued at more than $1.7 billion and directly benefitting more than 2.8 million people. Our ships are crewed by volunteers from over 60 nations, with an average of over 1,200 volunteers each year. Mercy Ships - US is based in Lindale, TX.
