CDC Says Children Can Get Within 3 Feet at Summer Camp

 Children attending summer camp can get within 3 feet (1 meter) of each other but should wear masks to limit the spread of COVID-19, according to fresh guidance issued by the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.

The CDC's updated recommendations for camps, issued on Saturday, have been eagerly awaited by parents as the end of the school year approaches.

The agency said its camp guidance aligns with its evidence for social distancing at schools, with at least 3 feet between children - and at least 6 feet (2 meters) when eating and drinking. Camp counselors and other adults should stay at least 6 feet from children and each other, the CDC said.

Summer camp activities should be held outdoors as much as possible, and if indoors, doors and windows should be left open when possible, the CDC said. Group events and large gatherings should be avoided, it added.

COVID-19 vaccinations have ramped up across the country, but younger children are not currently authorized for the three shots approved in the United States. Pfizer Inc and BioNTech SE's COVID-19 vaccine is authorized for use starting at age 16, with approval now being sought for children ages 12 to 15. Moderna Inc and Johnson & Johnson are studying their vaccines in children.

The CDC said that while fewer children have gotten sick with COVID-19 compared to adults, they still can be infected with the coronavirus and spread it to others and sometimes can have severe outcomes themselves.

https://www.usnews.com/news/top-news/articles/2021-04-25/us-cdc-says-children-can-get-within-3-feet-at-summer-camp

Mexican Minister Visits Russia, Vying to Bring Vaccine Production Home

 Mexico's top diplomat traveled to Moscow on Sunday for a visit with Russian officials, his office said, amid talks to hammer out plans for Mexico to bottle Russia's Sputnik V COVID-19 vaccine domestically after delays in shipments.

The government is aiming to quicken its pace of vaccinations, with just more than 4% of its population of 126 million people fully inoculated.

Mexico has registered 214,947 deaths, the fourth most worldwide, and 2,328,391 infections from the pandemic. The government has said the real number of cases is likely significantly higher.

Mexico's state-run vaccine manufacturer, Birmex, is working with Russia on a plan to bottle Sputnik V in Mexico, Foreign Minister Marcelo Ebrard said last week, just as Argentina produced test batches of the two-shot vaccine.

"Birmex is working jointly with Russian institutions so that Mexico can bottle the vaccine," Ebrard told Russian media outlets on Friday. "There is already significant progress."

Health ministry official Ruy Lopez told reporters on Sunday that the government's aim is to ramp up distribution of Sputnik V not only in Mexico, but also other parts of Latin America.

Russia has shipped 1.1 million Sputnik V doses to Mexico to date, far fewer doses than those originally slated to have arrived by now.

Mexico's Health Ministry said in late February it expected to receive 7.4 million doses of Sputnik V by April and an additional 16.6 million shots in May. Mexico has signed an agreement to acquire a total of 24 million doses.

Mexico is increasingly aiming to bottle vaccines domestically following delays from providers, and has already bottled 2.6 million shots of China's CanSino vaccine.

It also plans to bottle AstraZeneca shots using vaccine material produced in Argentina. But the first doses are not expected until May due to delays at the Mexican production laboratory.

Ebrard's visit to Moscow will last through Wednesday and include a meeting with his counterpart, Sergei Lavrov.

The minister will also visit China, India and the United States as part of his government's efforts to make sure that its supply agreements for vaccines against COVID-19 are honored.

https://www.usnews.com/news/world/articles/2021-04-25/mexican-minister-visits-russia-vying-to-bring-vaccine-production-home

EU to let vaccinated Americans visit this summer

 A top European Union official said Sunday that Americans who have been vaccinated against COVID-19 should be able to travel to Europe by summer, easing existing travel restrictions.

European Commission President Ursula von der Leyen told The New York Times that the union's 27 members would accept, unconditionally, all those who are vaccinated with vaccines that are approved by the European Medicines Agency. The agency has approved the three vaccines used in the United States.

"The Americans, as far as I can see, use European Medicines Agency-approved vaccines," von der Leyen said. "This will enable free movement and travel to the European Union."

She did not say when travel could resume. The EU largely shut down nonessential travel more than a year ago.

European Union countries agreed this month to launch COVID-19 travel passes that would permit people who have been vaccinated against the disease, recovered from an infection or have tested negative to travel more easily.

https://www.foxnews.com/health/european-union-will-let-vaccinated-americans-visit-this-summer-official

Muscle gene linked to type 2 diabetes

 People with type 2 diabetes tend to have poorer muscle function than others. Now a research team at Lund University in Sweden has discovered that in type 2 diabetes, a specific gene is of great importance for the ability of muscle stem cells to create new mature muscle cells. The findings are published in Nature Communications.

"In people with type 2 diabetes, the VPS39 gene is significantly less active in the muscle cells than it is in other people, and the stem cells with less activity of the gene do not form new muscle cells to the same degree. The gene is important when muscle cells absorb sugar from blood and build new muscle. Our study is the first ever to link this gene to type 2 diabetes," says Charlotte Ling, professor of epigenetics at Lund University who led the study.

In type 2 diabetes, the ability to produce insulin is impaired, and patients have chronically elevated blood sugar. Muscles are generally worse at absorbing sugar from food, and muscle function and strength are impaired in patients with type 2 diabetes.

A muscle consists of a mixture of fiber types with different properties. Throughout life, muscle tissue has the ability to form new muscle fibers. There are also immature muscle stem cells that are activated in connection with, for example, injury or exercise. In the current study, the researchers wanted to investigate whether epigenetic patterns in muscle stem cells can provide answers to why impaired muscle function occurs in type 2 diabetes.

Two groups were included in the study: 14 participants with type 2 diabetes and 14 healthy people in a control group. The participants in the groups were matched by age, gender and BMI (body mass index). The researchers studied epigenetic changes in the muscle stem cells in both groups, and under exactly the same conditions, they also extracted mature muscle cells and compared them. In total, they identified 20 genes , including VPS39, whose gene expression differed between the groups in both immature muscle stem cells and mature muscle cells. The researchers also compared the epigenetic patterns of muscle cells before and after cell differentiation in both groups.

"Despite the fact that both groups' muscle stem cells were grown under identical conditions, we saw more than twice as many epigenetic changes in the type 2 diabetes group during the differentiation from muscle stem cell to mature muscle cells. Muscle-specific genes were not regulated normally, and epigenetics did not function in the same way in cells from people with type 2 diabetes," says Charlotte Ling.

"The study clearly showed that muscle stem cells that lack the function of the gene VPS39, which is lower in type 2 diabetes, also lack the ability to form new mature muscle cells. This is because muscle stem cells that lack VPS39 due to altered epigenetic mechanisms cannot change their metabolism in the same way as muscle stem cells from controls -- the cells therefore remain immature or break down and die," says Johanna Säll Sernevi, postdoc researcher at Lund University.

To confirm the findings, the researchers also used animal models with mice that had a reduced amount of the VPS39 gene, to mimic the disease. The mice subsequently had altered gene expression and reduced uptake of sugar from blood into the muscle tissue, just like the individuals with type 2 diabetes.

The comprehensive study is a collaboration between Swedish, Danish and German researchers, who believe that the findings open up new avenues for treating type 2 diabetes.

"The genome, our DNA, cannot be changed, although epigenetics in effect does. With this new knowledge, it is possible to change the dysfunctional epigenetics that occur in type 2 diabetes. For example, by regulating proteins, stimulating or increasing the amount of the VPS39 gene, it would be possible to affect the muscles' ability to regenerate and absorb sugar," concludes Charlotte Ling.

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Story Source:

Materials provided by Lund University. Note: Content may be edited for style and length.

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Journal Reference:

1. Cajsa Davegårdh, Johanna Säll, Anna Benrick, Christa Broholm, Petr Volkov, Alexander Perfilyev, Tora Ida Henriksen, Yanling Wu, Line Hjort, Charlotte Brøns, Ola Hansson, Maria Pedersen, Jens U. Würthner, Klaus Pfeffer, Emma Nilsson, Allan Vaag, Elisabet Stener-Victorin, Karolina Pircs, Camilla Scheele, Charlotte Ling. VPS39-deficiency observed in type 2 diabetes impairs muscle stem cell differentiation via altered autophagy and epigenetics. Nature Communications, 2021; 12 (1) DOI: 10.1038/s41467-021-22068-5

https://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2021/04/210423130134.htm

Vaccine Hesitancy Poses Risk to Herd Immunity: NIH's Collins

 Top health officials warned that vaccine hesitancy posed a risk to getting enough Americans inoculated to stop the spread of Covid-19, and they encouraged individuals to get vaccinated.

"If we're going to be able to put Covid-19 behind us, we need to have all Americans take part in getting us to that point," Dr. Francis Collins, director of the National Institutes of Health, said Sunday on NBC's "Meet the Press."

President Biden's chief medical adviser, Dr. Anthony Fauci, said separately that the U.S. has made good progress on vaccinations overall but that the level of infections remains precarious at an average of nearly 60,000 daily cases in the past week as of Friday. "We don't want that to go up," Dr. Fauci said on ABC's "This Week With George Stephanopoulos."

Dr. Collins highlighted pockets of the country that are falling behind on vaccinations.

"You can look at the map and say, 'Where are vaccines lagging?' Those are the places to worry about," Dr. Collins said. "We could change that if we can really inspire everybody to get engaged."

Both officials offered assurances on the safety of Johnson & Johnson's Covid-19 shot. U.S. health regulators on Friday said that vaccinations with J&J's shot should resume, after they temporarily paused use of the shots while investigating rare blood-clotting cases.

Dr. Collins said those potential adverse events are very rare. "We clearly have a situation where the benefits greatly outweigh the risks," he said.

Dr. Collins called for shifting the conversation around vaccinations to avoid scolding individuals. "I think maybe there's been too much finger-wagging," he said. "I've done some of that. I'm going to try to stop and listen, in fact, to what people's specific questions are."

The U.S. weekly average of vaccine doses administered, which has been generally rising since mid-December, ticked downward last week. The number of people receiving their first dose fell from a seven-day-average of 1.9 million April 11 to 1.4 million April 17.

Estimates have differed on how much of the population would need to be vaccinated to stop the virus from circulating, but many health experts are using 70% to 80% as a goal. As of Thursday, 52% of adults in the U.S. had gotten at least one dose of a vaccine, according to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. That proportion ranged from 72% in New Hampshire to 39% in Mississippi.

Dr. Fauci also said on Sunday that he expects the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention will soon issue updated guidelines on wearing masks outside.

"Obviously the risk is really very low, particularly if you're vaccinated," Dr. Fauci said of outdoor activities.

Current CDC guidance says, "Masks may not be necessary when you are outside by yourself away from others, or with people who live in your household."

A CDC representative didn't immediately respond to a request for comment. CDC Director Dr. Rochelle Walensky previously said on NBC's "Today" that the agency is considering changing its guidance on wearing masks outdoors. But she cautioned that Covid-19 is still a threat.

States have implemented varying rules around wearing masks, which have also been at the center of political battles.

According to the Kaiser Family Foundation, just over half of states had a mask mandate as of April 19. Mandates frequently include exceptions for when individuals are outdoors and able to distance themselves from others.

https://www.marketscreener.com/quote/stock/JOHNSON-JOHNSON-4832/news/Vaccine-Hesitancy-Poses-Risk-to-Herd-Immunity-U-S-Health-Officials-Say-33063042/

Israel examining heart inflammation cases in people who received Pfizer COVID shot

 Israel's Health Ministry said on Sunday it is examining a small number of cases of heart inflammation in people who had received Pfizer's COVID-19 vaccine, though it has not yet drawn any conclusions.

Pfizer said it has not observed a higher rate of the condition than would normally be expected in the general population.

Israel's pandemic response coordinator, Nachman Ash, said that a preliminary study showed "tens of incidents" of myocarditis occurring among more than 5 million vaccinated people, primarily after the second dose.

Ash said it was unclear whether this was unusually high and whether it was connected to the vaccine.

Most of the cases were reported among people up to age 30.

"The Health Ministry is currently examining whether there is an excess in morbidity (disease rate) and whether it can be attributed to the vaccines," Ash said.

Ash, who spoke about the issue in a radio interview and during a news conference, referred to it as a "question mark", and emphasized that the Health Ministry has yet to draw any conclusions.

Determining a link, he said, would be difficult because myocarditis, a condition that often goes away without complications, can be caused by a variety of viruses and a similar number of cases were reported in previous years.

Pfizer, asked by Reuters about the review, said it is in regular contact with Israel’s Health Ministry to review data on its vaccine.

The company said it "is aware of the Israeli observations of myocarditis that occurred predominantly in a population of young men who received the Pfizer-BioNTech COVID-19 vaccine".

"Adverse events are regularly and thoroughly reviewed and we have not observed a higher rate of myocarditis than what would be expected in the general population. A causal link to the vaccine has not been established," the company said.

"There is no evidence at this time to conclude that myocarditis is a risk associated with the use of Pfizer/BNT COVID-19 vaccine."

Israel has been a world leader in its vaccination rollout, with close to 60% of its 9.3 million population having received the Pfizer vaccine. Its nationwide database has already showed the vaccine to be highly effective in preventing the symptoms and severe illness associated with COVID-19.

Since January, shortly after the vaccine campaign began, daily infections dropped from a peak of more than 10,000 to just 129 before the weekend.

Nadav Davidovitch, director of the school of public health at Israel's Ben Gurion University, said that even if a correlation between the myocarditis cases and the vaccine were established, it did not appear to be serious enough to stop administering the vaccine.

"It's a situation that should be looked into, and we need to wait for a final report, but in an interim analysis it seems the risk of getting sick from COVID-19 is much higher than from the vaccine's adverse events, and the risk of peri/myo-carditis following the vaccine is low and temporary," he said.

https://www.marketscreener.com/news/latest/Israel-examining-heart-inflammation-cases-in-people-who-received-Pfizer-COVID-shot--33062966/

U.S. to provide vaccine components, medical supplies to India

 

The United States will immediately provide raw materials for COVID-19 vaccines, medical equipment and protective gear to help India respond to a massive surge in COVID-19 infections, a White House spokeswoman said on Sunday.

"The United States is working around the clock to deploy available resources and supplies," National Security Council spokeswoman Emily Horne said in a statement.

She said the United States would send raw materials required for India to manufacture the Covishield vaccine, as well as therapeutics, rapid diagnostic test kits, ventilators and protective equipment for frontline workers.

Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi urged all citizens to be vaccinated and exercise caution, as the country set a global record for new COVID-19 infections in a single day.

The United States was also is pursuing options to provide India with oxygen generation and related supplies.

Washington, which has faced mounting pressure to help the world's largest democracy, would also send a team of experts from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) and U.S. Agency for International Development to work with India on the crisis, Horne said.

https://www.marketscreener.com/news/latest/U-S-to-provide-vaccine-components-medical-supplies-to-India--33062963/