Study suggests Omicron-specific booster may not provide more protection

 A new study conducted in primates suggests there may not be a benefit from updating Covid-19 vaccines to target the Omicron variant at this time.

The work, by scientists at the National Institutes of Allergy and Infectious Diseases’s Vaccine Research Center, shows that animals boosted with the original vaccine had similar levels of protection against disease in the lungs as did primates that received an updated booster based on the Omicron strain. The work was done with Moderna’s licensed vaccine and a booster shot based on the Omicron variant.

Study of blood from the animals showed that many of the measurable immune responses — rises in neutralizing antibody levels, for instance — were not substantially different, regardless of which booster shot they were given.

“Therefore, an Omicron boost may not provide greater immunity or protection compared to a boost with the current [Moderna] vaccine,” the researchers concluded.

The study was posted to a preprint server on Friday. It has not yet gone through peer review.

Senior author Robert Seder said the findings are similar to those of a study the group conducted last year, when researchers compared a booster shot based on the Beta variant to the existing vaccine. In that case as well, data generated in primates suggested boosting with the original vaccine was as effective at protecting the lungs as was a booster based on the Beta variant. (That variant of concern, first spotted in South Africa, did not spread globally.)

“These data would suggest that the initial imprinting of the initial vaccine generated B cells that … when you give them a boost six or nine months later, they’re cross-reactive to Omicron or Beta or Delta,” said Seder, chief of the cellular immunity section at the Vaccine Research Center.

Seder said studies will need to be done in people to ensure the findings hold, but at this point it doesn’t appear that the vaccine strain needs to be updated. “From the company’s standpoint, I don’t know how they view this,” he said. “But I think these data are fairly clear.”

In an emailed comment, Moderna said it will continue to work to keep pace with the virus.

“We believe protection against variants of concern will be important, especially as we look ahead to the fall of 2022,” the company said. “We will continue to follow the science and epidemiology of SARS-CoV-2 and potential new variants of concern. We are committed to remaining ahead of the virus as it evolves.”

Moderna CEO Stéphane Bancel has announced plans to develop a three-in-one annual shot that would target SARS-2, influenza, and respiratory syncytial virus or RSV, a virus that causes cold-like illness in many adults but which can be dangerous in babies and older adults.

John Moore, a virologist at Weill Cornell Medical College in New York City, said these findings, combined with the earlier work on the Beta-based booster, suggest the current vaccine is generating cross-protective responses.

“Accordingly, changing to an Omicron boost may well be unnecessary — literally more trouble than it’s worth,” Moore said in an email. He added that he expects human trials being conducted by Pfizer and Moderna to test an Omicron-based booster will show the same thing. “What we have is likely to be important for formulating future policies.”

Angela Rasmussen, a coronavirus virologist at the University of Saskatchewan’s Vaccine and Infectious Disease Organization, concurred, though she cautioned that these findings are based on a small number of animals. “I think we’ll have to wait for human trial results to see if there’s a difference in the real world at population scale,” she said.

Still, Rasmussen said she wasn’t surprised by the results, saying they are consistent with what has been seen during the Omicron wave.

“The existing boosters provide improved (but imperfect) protection against infection,” she said in an email. “Based on these data, it doesn’t look like an Omicron-specific booster would improve that all that much. Certainly both booster formulations provide significant protection compared to the controls, but it may not be necessary to have Omicron-specific boosters.”

The paper notes that data have begun to emerge that suggest that an Omicron-based vaccine would not be ideal if given on its own, because Omicron may not generate the same level of cross-protection as the original vaccine strain does. If the virus continues to evolve from Omicron, at some point using it in the vaccine may make sense, Seder said. But if Delta or other earlier versions of the virus made a comeback, people might not be as well-protected by an Omicron-based vaccine as they are by the current version.

https://www.statnews.com/2022/02/04/animal-study-suggests-omicron-boosters-may-not-provide-a-benefit/

Delaying second Covid shots to 8 weeks could cut myocarditis risk

 A wider gap between the first two doses of the mRNA Covid-19 vaccines could improve the shots' effectiveness and help reduce the risk of a rare type of heart inflammation called myocarditis, experts told a Centers for Disease Control and Prevention advisory committee on Friday.

Members of the group, the CDC's Advisory Committee on Immunization Practices, largely supported extending the recommended interval between the first two doses of both the Pfizer-BioNTech and Moderna vaccines to eight weeks.

Though there was no vote on officially extending the timing of the shots, Dr. Grace Lee, who chairs the committee, said it would look into whether it could incorporate the comments into simple guidance for the agency.

Currently, the first two doses of the Pfizer-BioNTech vaccine are given three weeks apart, while the first two doses of the Moderna vaccine are given four weeks apart.

Extending the interval to eight weeks would likely affect roughly 33 million unvaccinated Americans between the ages of 12 and 39, according to Dr. Sara Oliver, an epidemic intelligence service officer for the CDC. Vaccination rates among this age group lag behind rates for those age 40 and up.

Both Pfizer’s and Moderna’s Covid vaccines have been linked to a slightly elevated risk of myocarditis, especially in men between the ages of 18 and 29, though the condition appears to be more common in those who received Moderna, Dr. Nicola Klein, a vaccine researcher at Kaiser Permanente Northern California, said in a presentation to the committee.

But rates of myocarditis fell when the interval between the first and second doses was extended, with the lowest rates among those who waited eight weeks or more to get their second dose, according to Dr. Bryna Warshawsky, a medical adviser with the Public Health Agency of Canada.

Extending the time between doses also appears to result in higher antibody responses and higher vaccine effectiveness, according to data from Canada presented to the committee on Friday.

Dr. Helen Keipp Talbot, a committee member and a professor of medicine at Vanderbilt University, called the strategy a "win-win," adding the practice appears to be safe and effective.

"As we approach these new variants, the higher antibodies and the more diverse these antibodies are, the better protected people will be," she said. "I think it's a win-win for both safety and immunogenicity spread out."

The approach could also help convince people who have not yet been vaccinated out of concern about myocarditis to get their vaccines.

"Vaccine safety is raised again and again" among some unvaccinated people, said committee member Dr. Matthew Daley, a senior investigator at Kaiser Permanente Colorado. "We have vaccines that are highly effective and have a high degree of safety, but we have a way to make them even safer."

That the committee is able to review new data and make changes in line with those data “demonstrates to the public that we are very focused on this in the right way and making adjustments that are overall beneficial,” said Dr. Oliver Brooks, the chief medical officer at Watts HealthCare Corporation in Los Angeles and a committee member.

The findings from other countries showing decreased rates of myocarditis in individuals who received either the Pfizer or Moderna vaccine made clear to him that it is a good recommendation, Brooks added.

Dr. Kevin Ault, a professor at the University of Kansas Medical Center who also sits on the committee making the recommendation, noted one potential problem with the strategy: It could leave people vulnerable to infection in between their first and second doses.

Daley responded to the concern, saying the four-week difference was a "fairly short period of time."

As Covid case counts fall, he said he would be comfortable with the strategy as people would likely "get some protection from a first dose even if the second dose is delayed."

Bill Hanage, a Harvard epidemiologist who is not a member of the committee, said the current dosing schedules were chosen because researchers needed data as quickly as possible.

"Changes to dosing schedules happen all the time," he said. "They don’t mean other schedules were necessarily bad, but that we can’t test all schedules at one time and so we refine them as data accumulate."

During the Friday's meeting, the panel voted unanimously to recommend the Moderna vaccine. The vote was a formal sign-off on the vaccine following the Food and Drug Administration's full approval of it earlier this week.

Dr. Rochelle Walensky, director of the CDC, endorsed the committee's recommendation later in the afternoon, encouraging individuals to get vaccinated if they haven't already.

"We now have another fully approved Covid-19 vaccine,” Walensky said in a statement. “If you have been waiting for approval before getting vaccinated, now is the time to join the nearly 212 million Americans who have already completed their primary series."

Pfizer's vaccine was fully approved by the FDA last August.

https://www.nbcnews.com/health/health-news/covid-vaccine-cdc-advisers-weigh-delaying-second-shot-eight-weeks-rcna14905

New York City school lunch menu going vegan on Fridays

 Forget mystery meat or cheese pizza. Instead, chickpea wraps and veggie tacos will be on the menu for New York City public school students as the nation's largest school district shifts to “Vegan Fridays” in school cafeterias.

The move was pushed by the city's new Mayor Eric Adams, who follows and promotes a plant-based diet that he credits for improving his health.

“I can’t tell people what to put on their grills on the weekend. But darn it, we should not be feeding the health care crisis in our prisons, our hospitals, and most importantly, in our schools, so we want to go in a more healthy direction,” Adams said in an interview on WNBC-TV on Friday.

Vegan options are already available in all of the city's public schools every day, but starting Friday and continuing weekly, the lunch offering will be vegan. Students can still request a non-vegan option, according to the city’s Department of Education, and milk, peanut butter and jelly sandwiches, hummus and pretzels will always be available to students.

New York City public schools, which have about 938,000 students, have been offering Meatless Mondays since 2019 and Meatless Fridays since April. Around the country, 14% of school districts offered vegan meals and 56% offered vegetarian meals in at least one of their schools, according to a 2018 survey from the School Nutrition Association, a trade group representing school nutrition programs and workers.

It's unclear whether any other districts around the country plan to go vegan one day a week like New York City schools.

New York City schools says its vegan meals have been tested and approved by small groups of students.

Friday's menu included “vegan veggie tacos,” with a tortilla and salsa, with broccoli, and a carrot and lemon salad on the side. Other planned offerings this month include a Mediterranean chickpea dish with rice or pasta, and a black bean and plantain rice bowl.

Adams, a former New York City police captain, has said he traded in a lifestyle with junk food for a plant-based diet that helped him overcome diabetes. He wrote a book about his diet, “Healthy at Last.”

Nearly 40% of New York City public school children in grades K-8 were overweight or obese, according to data cited by the city in 2019.

Angela Odoms-Young, an associate professor in the nutritional sciences division at Cornell University who helped develop the nutrition standards for the National School Lunch Program, said the shift in New York City schools is “innovative and exciting.”

Odoms-Young said adding in plant-based meals can help ensure students are getting the recommended five servings of fruit and vegetables a day, expose them to foods they might not normally consume and reinforce lifelong healthy habits. She also said it could dispel the notion of children being resistant to eating vegetables.

“It doesn’t just have to be broccoli,” Odoms-Young said. “It can just be a whole host of things that maybe kids would eat — particularly if it’s prepared in different ways.”

https://abcnews.go.com/US/wireStory/york-city-school-lunch-menu-vegan-fridays-82675637

WHO chief says discussed collaboration on COVID origins with Chinese premier

 The head of the World Health Organization said on Saturday he had discussed with Chinese Premier Li Keqiang the need for stronger collaboration on the origins of COVID-19, a subject of controversy that has strained Beijing's relations with the West.

Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus has previously pressed China to be more forthcoming with data and information related to the origin of the virus.

"Pleased to meet with Premier Li Keqiang," Tedros tweeted. "We discussed COVID-19 and the need for an aggressive effort on VaccinEquity this year to vaccinate 70% of all populations," he said, referrring to the WHO campaign for fair access to vaccines around the world.

"We also discussed the need for stronger collaboration on COVID-19 virus origins, rooted in science and evidence," he added.

The WHO last year established the Scientific Advisory Group on the Origins of Novel Pathogens (SAGO) and called on China to supply raw data to help any new investigation. China declined, citing patient privacy rules.

China has consistently denied allegations that the virus was leaked from a specialist laboratory in the city of Wuhan, where COVID-19 was first identified at the end of 2019.

A joint study by China and the WHO published last year all but ruled out the theory that COVID-19 originated in a laboratory, saying that the most likely hypothesis was that it infected humans naturally, probably via the wildlife trade.

Last November, China said a declassified U.S. intelligence report saying it was plausible that the pandemic originated in a laboratory was unscientific and had no credibility.

https://economictimes.indiatimes.com/news/international/world-news/who-chief-says-discussed-collaboration-on-covid-origins-with-chinese-premier/articleshow/89369293.cms

Canadian Cities See Anti-Vax Mandate Protests Spread

 Canadian cities, including the financial hub Toronto, faced protests on Saturday against vaccine mandates which spread from the capital of Ottawa.

The “Freedom Convoy” began as a movement against a vaccine requirement for cross-border truckers, but has turned into a rallying point against harsh public health measures and Prime Minister Justin Trudeau’s government.

“We’re all sick and tired of the mandates, of the intimidation, of living in one big prison,” said Robert, a Toronto protester who did not give his last name. “We just want to go back to normal without having to take into our veins the poison which they call vaccines.”

Protesters have crowded downtown Ottawa for the past eight days.

The well-organized protest, which police say has relied partly on funding from supporters in the United States, saw protesters bring in portable saunas on Saturday to combat frigid temperatures. One man rode through the area on horseback, carrying a Trump flag, as social media videos showed. President Trump has spoken out in support of the truckers against “the harsh policies of far-left lunatic Justin Trudeau who has destroyed Canada with insane COVID mandates.”

GoFundMe took down the Freedom Convoy’s donation page on Friday, saying it violated the platform’s terms of service. The group had raised about C$10.1 million. But a GiveSendGo fundraiser was immediately created in its stead, raising hundreds of thousands of dollars in less than 24 hours.

In a confusingly worded statement, GoFundMe said it would give refunds to those who request it by Feb. 19 and work with organizers to distribute the rest to verified charities.

On Saturday, GoFundMe said it would refund all donations automatically but not before Tesla CEO Elon Musk called the company “professional thieves.” Florida Governor Rick DeSantis and other Republican state lawmakers vowed to investigate the California-based company over the move.

Toronto police ramped up their presence in the city and closed a major downtown avenue, which is home to several hospitals. Some fear protesters might impede access to those hospitals, though many truckers and protesters have not only picked up trash along roadways but have also built pop-up soup kitchens to serve hot food to the public.

About 500 healthcare workers and supporters rallied in downtown Toronto, near the site of the planned trucker convoy demonstrations, according to a Reuters eyewitness.

Several Toronto healthcare workers said they received advice from their hospitals to not wear hospital scrubs in public in light of the protest. Police said this was not their advice.

“The notion that we have to somehow skunk around or be afraid of who we are and what were doing, I think, is offensive and regrettable and, I think, a sad commentary on our society,” emergency room doctor Raghu Venugopal told Reuters.

Some protest vehicles arrived in Quebec City for a planned Saturday protest, coinciding with the city’s annual winter carnival. Meanwhile, trucks blocked traffic near Manitoba’s provincial legislature in Winnipeg on Friday and demonstrations were expected in Montreal, Calgary, and Regina. Some cities erected barricades to keep protesters away from legislature buildings or banned traffic around them.

An Ottawa resident filed a class-action lawsuit against convoy organizers, seeking up to $10 million in damages.

Last week, Ottawa police reported no incidence of violence or injuries so far during the “Freedom Convoy” demonstration in downtown Ottawa, according to CTV News. But CTV reported on Feb 1 that Ottowa police arrested and charged two people in relation to the ongoing Freedom Convoy demonstrations.

https://americanfaith.com/canadian-cities-see-anti-vax-mandate-protests-spread/

Federal agents raided home of short-seller Andrew Left in 2021: report

 Federal agents reportedly raided the home of Citron Research founder Andrew Left last year as part of a sweeping investigation into alleged wrongdoing by short-sellers.

The FBI seized computers from Left’s home sometime in the early part of 2021, Bloomberg reported.

Left, the activist short-seller once dubbed “The Bounty Hunter of Wall Street,” told the news service that he does not know why he was targeted by the feds.

“It’s very tough to defend yourself when you haven’t been accused of anything,” Left said.

“I’m cooperating and I have full faith in the system and the First Amendment.”

The Department of Justice has also subpoenaed records tied to nearly 30 investment and research firms with links to three dozen prominent short-sellers, according to Bloomberg.

The list includes Melvin Capital Management founder Gabe Plotkin, Orso Partners’ Nate Koppikar, Jim Carruthers of Sophos Capital Management, Nate Anderson of Hindenburg Research, and Viceroy Research’s Fraser Perring.

Perring and others who have had their records subpoenaed told Bloomberg that their companies haven’t been contacted by DOJ.

Left is one of three dozen short-sellers who have had their information subpoenaed by the Department of Justice, according to Bloomberg.

Bloomberg via Getty Images

“We will always cooperate with any such investigations and are happy to assist regulators in carrying out their duties,” Perring said.

“All our reports are based on information that is publicly available, sourced from records that anyone at any given time could research or find.”

He added: “Our most recent contact with the DOJ was in assisting an investigation into the fraud at a company that we had researched.”

Short-sellers make money by borrowing and selling shares of companies that they predict will see their stock value fall.

If and when the stock does dip, it can be bought back cheaper and then returned by the borrower to the broker, thus resulting in a profit.

Some business leaders, including Elon Musk, have long decried short-selling, which is a legal form of securities trading.

https://nypost.com/2022/02/04/federal-agents-raided-home-of-andrew-left-in-2021-report/

DoJ Crackdown On Activist Short-Sellers Has Expanded To Target Over 30 Firms

 Bloomberg and others in the financial press reported late last year (supposedly coming from the DoJ) that the DoJ was plotting a massive crackdown on "activist" short-sellers who had apparently broken all kinds of securities market rules. Months later, it's still not clear exactly what they did (something involving colluding to make prices move in their favor?), but the investigation has expanded to cover more than 30 firms, some of which aren't even activist hedge funds.

Now, in what looks like an effort by the DoJ to try and "spin" their effort to cow short-sellers into obescience, Bloomberg has just published what appears to be the first deep dive into the investigation, which has sprawled well beyond Germany's Wirecard-era order to ban short-selling and is now resembles something closer to China's crackdown on short-sellers during the market ructions of 2015, when the CCP blamed them for a crash in domestic markets.

DoJ insists that the probe was inspired by a "growing number" of complaints asking that the government look into 'cabals' of short sellers, but from where we're standing, it's pretty obvious that the ones who complain about short-sellers are the same whose firms and investments are being targeted by them.

Meanwhile, the short-sellers - who all insist they haven't done anything wrong - don't exactly appreciate having their names dragged through the mud in the financial press - especially when many are claiming that they haven't heard anything from the government.

Many on that roster -- a veritable who’s-who of the activist short-selling realm -- said they haven’t been contacted directly by the government, leaving some exasperated about being left in the dark. Reached for comment, Left also said he’s frustrated. “It’s very tough to defend yourself when you haven’t been accused of anything,” Left said.“I’m cooperating and I have full faith in the system and the First Amendment,” he added, referencing protections on free speech.

The problem is that the government has been asking to interview a large number of potential witnesses, which is apparently how the names of the firms got out:

Melvin Capital Management and founder Gabe Plotkin; Orso Partners and Nate Koppikar; Sophos Capital Management and Jim Carruthers; as well as Kerrisdale Capital Management. The list also includes well-known researchers such as Nate Anderson and his Hindenburg Research, as well as Fraser Perring and his Viceroy Research. Representatives for most of those firms - Melvin, Orso, Sophos and Hindenburg - declined to comment or didn’t respond to messages seeking comment.

"We haven’t been contacted by DOJ, SEC or any governmental authorities about any investigations," Kerrisdale’s chief investment officer, Sahm Adrangi, wrote in an email. “We literally haven’t spoken to anyone at the government in many years.” Vicero

The list also allegedly includes the following:

Bloomberg had noted in December that Anson Funds, Marcus Aurelius Value, Muddy Waters Capital and Citron are part of the probe.

Other firms mentioned in requests include Atom Investors, Bonitas Research, Connective Capital Management, Falcon Research, GeoInvesting, Gotham City Research, GrizzlyRock Capital, J Capital Research, Oasis Management, Park West Asset Management, QKM, Sabrepoint Capital Management, Silverado Capital, Spruce Point Capital Management, Valiant Capital Management and White Diamond Research.

Representatives for many of those firms -- among them Falcon, GrizzlyRock, J Capital, Oasis, Valiant and White Diamond -- said they hadn’t been contacted by investigators. “It’s hard for us to comment on something we don’t know anything about,” said Taylor Hall, a representative for Oasis.

Many of the firms on this list above aren't even activist funds.

And while representatives from the firms (the ones who opted to comment, at least) swore up and down that they don't do anything illegal or untoward, it's pretty clear that the DoJ hopes to make this a marquee investigation. But the government has a problem here, and it's this: how is it going to look when the government goes after firms that have been lionized in the business press as white knights dedicated to rooting out fraud and corruption among publicly-traded firms?

https://www.zerohedge.com/markets/doj-crackdown-activist-short-sellers-has-expanded-target-more-30-firms