Zika Breaking News

Since Ebola virus disease (EVD) impacts everyone in an outbreak area, another agency has approved a preventive vaccine for young children.

Merck today announced that the European Commission (EC) approved an expanded indication for the ERVEBO® vaccine for active immunization of individuals one year of age or older to protect against EVD caused by Zaire ebolavirus.

ERVENO was previously approved for use in the European Union for individuals 18 or older. 

The U.S. FDA recently issued similar approval for young children.

ERVEBO is approved in the European Union, United Kingdom, United States, Canada, Switzerland, and ten countries in Africa.

ERVEBO is a live recombinant viral vaccine with a vesicular stomatitis virus backbone that protects people from Zaire ebolavirus. This vaccine does not protect people from the Sudan ebolavirus or the Marburg virus.

Dr. Eliav Barr, senior vice president, head of global clinical development, and chief medical officer, Merck Research Laboratories, commented in a press release on September 7, 2023, “When outbreaks of Ebola virus disease occur, they can quickly become a public health crisis. We are proud to play a role, alongside the global public health community, in helping to prepare for potential outbreaks of Zaire ebolavirus.”

In January 2021, Merck confirmed an agreement with UNICEF to establish the world’s first global Ebola vaccine stockpile to support future Zaire ebolavirus (EBOV) outbreak preparedness and response efforts.

Over 500,000 doses of ERVEBO have been delivered to the stockpile, administered by the International Coordinating Group on Vaccine Provision.

The initial EBOV case was confirmed in 1976 in the African countries of South Sudan and the Democratic Republic of Congo. Recent data suggest EBOV outbreaks may originate from human-to-human transmission instead of spillover events.

The U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention published a list of EBOV Cases and Outbreaks as of August 2023.

Moderna, Inc. today announced that clinical trial data from its research assay confirm its updated COVID-19 vaccine, which is pending approval by the U.S. Food and Drug Administration, generates an 8.7-fold increase in neutralizing antibodies in humans against BA.2.86 (Pirola), a new variant under monitoring.

The U.S. Centers for Disease Control indicates that the highly mutated BA.2.86 variant may be more capable of causing infection in people who previously had COVID-19 or were vaccinated with previous vaccines.

"These results demonstrate that our updated COVID-19 vaccine generates a strong human immune response against the highly mutated BA.2.86 variant. Taken together with our previously communicated results showing a similarly effective response against EG.5 and FL.1.5.1 variants, these data confirm that our updated COVID-19 vaccine will continue to be an important tool for protection as we head into the fall vaccination season," said Stephen Hoge, M.D., President of Moderna, in a press release on September 6, 2023.

Public health authorities are vigilantly monitoring the BA.2.86 variant, a highly mutated strain of the SARS-CoV-2 betacoronavirus with over 30 mutations as compared to prior Omicron strains.

Moderna's clinical trial data around its updated COVID-19 vaccine's effectiveness against BA.2.86 have been shared with regulators and submitted for peer review publication.

GSK and the YMCA today announced they are hosting GSK's Sideline RSV "Community Conversations" event series to raise awareness about respiratory syncytial virus (RSV) infection in older adults.

This is an essential event since the U.S. CDC issued a Health Advisory on September 5, 2023, regarding the 2023-2024 RSV season. 

The events will occur at four YMCA locations in Chicago, Los Angeles, New York City, and Phoenix, joined by GSK's campaign spokesperson Earvin "Magic" Johnson Jr., to help spark important conversations about RSV.

Kicking off in September 2023 and running through RSV Awareness Month in October, the private events will include perspectives from medical professionals and patients and convene public health leaders, media, and 60+ YMCA members.

"As a dedicated public health advocate, I'm excited to be able to visit older adults in their communities to talk about their risk for RSV infection," said Johnson in a press release.

"Like many of us, and being over 60 myself, I used to be unaware of RSV's effect on older adults."

"Now, I'm passionate about educating others and encouraging them to understand their risks and be proactive about their health."

For older adults, data suggest an increased risk for severe RSV infection that can lead to hospitalization.

RSV can exacerbate certain underlying medical conditions, such as chronic obstructive pulmonary disease, asthma, and chronic heart failure, and can lead to severe outcomes, such as pneumonia, hospitalization, and death.

As of September 6, 2023, two RSV vaccines were approved by the U.S. FDA.

To learn more, visit www.SidelineRSV.com. 

Earvin Johnson played for Michigan State in college in 1979, then for the Los Angeles Lakers, winning numerous championships.

The Coalition for Epidemic Preparedness Innovations (CEPI) and the International Vaccine Institute (IVI) recently renewed a multi-year collaboration to accelerate the development of vaccines against emerging infectious diseases.

Under the renewed CEPI-IVI Implementing Partnership Agreement announced on September 1, 2023, IVI will provide technical services for CEPI-funded projects, leveraging IVI’s expertise and capabilities at their headquarters in Korea.

And help accelerate vaccine development against pathogens with epidemic or pandemic potential, and in support of CEPI’s 100 Days Mission, a goal to reduce the time taken to develop safe and effective vaccines against pathogens with pandemic potential to 100 days.

To this end, IVI will support CEPI across a variety of projects, including providing strategic, technical, and scientific support for clinical development and manufacturing of vaccines, standards, and assay development, and capacity-building initiatives that strengthen local resources to help establish or improve research preparedness and emergency evidence generation for future outbreaks.

CEPI's 5-year plan lays out a $3.5 billion roadmap to compress vaccine development timelines to 100 days, develop a broadly protective vaccine against COVID-19 and other betacoronaviruses, and create a "library" of vaccine candidates for use against known and unknown pathogens.

CEPI has also invested in new platform technologies for rapid vaccine development against unknown pathogens (Disease X).

Before the recent pandemic, beginning in 2027, CEPI focused on developing vaccines against the Ebola, Lassa, MERS, Nipah, Rift Valley Fever, and Chikungunya viruses. 

CEPI's plan is available at https://endpandemics.cepi.net.

In the United Kingdom, 900,000 more adults have recently become eligible for a shingles vaccination. Those newly eligible for a shingles vaccine include all those turning 65 and 70 and those aged 50 and over with a severely weakened immune system.

Those aged 70-79 remain eligible for the vaccine.

Following the latest advice from the Joint Committee on Vaccination and Immunisation, the NHS announced on September 1, 2023, that the shingles vaccination program has tod been expanded to protect more people at an earlier age.

The Shingrix®, a non-live, adjuvanted recombinant vaccine, is available through GP surgeries in primary care and can be offered throughout the year.

Dr. Mary Ramsay, Head of Immunisation at the UK Health Security Agency, commented in a press release, "Shingles is an excruciating condition, and complications can be long-lasting. Older people and those with weakened immune systems are particularly vulnerable, so I'd encourage all those newly eligible from today to come forward."

According to the NHS, about 20% will develop shingles in their lifetime.

Shingles (herpes zoster) is a viral infection of an individual nerve and the skin surface served by that nerve. 

Shingles can occur at any age, but the risk and severity of shingles increase with age, and complications are higher in individuals with severely weakened immune systems and those older.

Symptoms of the disease can include blindness, hearing loss, nerve pain and, in some cases, death.

In the first five years after a shingles vaccine was introduced in England in 2013, there were 45,000 fewer GP consultations and 1,840 fewer hospitalizations for shingles and post-herpetic neuralgia, showing the program's overall impact in protecting the public.

An updated direct-to-consumer (DTC) test that reports selected BRCA1/BRCA2 genetic variants was updated to add 41 BRCA1/BRCA2 variants to the previously authorized test. 

This DTC test analyzes DNA from a self-collected saliva sample.

It generates personalized reports describing if the genetic variants detected in that sample are associated with an increased risk of developing breast and ovarian cancer and may be associated with an increased risk for prostate, pancreatic, and potentially other cancers.

On September 1, 2023, the U.S. Food and Drug Administration announced it cleared for marketing the updated 23andMe Personal Genome Service Genetic Health Risk Report for BRCA1/BRCA2.

These reports provide genetic information to inform discussions with a healthcare professional.

Consumers and healthcare providers should not use the test results to substitute for healthcare visits for recommended cancer screenings or appropriate follow-up; results from this test should not be used to determine any treatments. 

This report does not represent most of the BRCA1/BRCA2 variants in people of most ethnicities. This means a negative result does not rule out the presence of other variants that increase cancer risk, says the FDA.

The U.S. Transportation Security Administration (TSA) recently announced that since Memorial Day 2023, it has screened an average of more than 2.4 million people per day at more than 430 airports nationwide.

The Memorial Day and Fourth of July holiday weekends set records for the number of people screened, and the Labor Day holiday is shaping up to be busy as well.

TSA Federal Security Director for Washington, Greg Hawko, commented in a press release, “If you are traveling this Labor Day weekend, please take a few minutes to ensure you are prepared for the security screening process.”

Across the country, TSA expects to screen 14.25 million passengers and crew between September 1, 2023, and September 6, 2023, which is an 11% increase over 2022.

Furthermore, travelers enrolled in TSA PreCheck® wait less than 10 minutes during the screening process.

As of September 2, 2023, national airport checkpoint screening statistics are available at www.tsa.gov/travel/passenger-volumes, showing an increase from 2019.