Covid-19 vaccines and vaccinations

Health Canada approved the updated Novavax vaccine, marking the third updated booster available to Canadians alongside those from Pfizer and Moderna.

https://www.canada.ca/en/health-can...ugs-vaccines-treatments/vaccines/novavax.html

 

AstraZeneca vaccine linked with ‘spike’ in cases of rare disease that can paralyse victims

AstraZeneca vaccine linked with ‘spike’ in cases of rare disease that can paralyse victims (msn.com)

 

Another one via MSN:

Rare clotting effect of early COVID shots finally explained — what could that mean for future vaccines? (msn.com)

"Rare blood clots tied to some early COVID-19 vaccines that are no longer in use may have been the result of two out-of-control immune reactions happening at once."

 

Moved posts

Vaccination Dramatically Lowers Long Covid Risk

Several new studies reveal that getting multiple COVID vaccine doses provides strong protection against lingering symptoms

https://www.scientificamerican.com/article/vaccination-dramatically-lowers-long-covid-risk/

 

Surely it doesn't say what the headlines states at all.

The headline would only appear to be true if you have the vaccine shots before catching covid.

Surely this would dramatically reduce your chances of catching covid in the first place, making long covid less likely in that manner, possibly only in that manner.

Possibly irrelevant to a pwME whose had 5 out of 6 covid shots available in the UK. Apparently I didn't qualify for the other. Possibly due to not being an 85 year old. Been classified as serious risk for all but serious risk wasn't high enough to qualify for that one.

 

Effect of a 2-week interruption in methotrexate treatment on COVID-19 vaccine response in people with immune-mediated inflammatory diseases VROOM study: a randomised, open label, superiority trial (2023)
Abhishek et al

Background
Methotrexate is the first-line treatment for immune-mediated inflammatory diseases and reduces vaccine-induced immunity. We evaluated if a 2-week interruption of methotrexate treatment immediately after COVID-19 booster vaccination improved antibody response against the S1 receptor binding domain (S1-RBD) of the SARS-CoV-2 spike protein and live SARS-CoV-2 neutralisation compared with uninterrupted treatment in patients with immune-mediated inflammatory diseases.

Method
We did a multicentre, open-label, parallel-group, randomised, superiority trial in secondary-care rheumatology and dermatology clinics in 26 hospitals in the UK. Adults (aged ≥18 years) with immune-mediated inflammatory diseases taking methotrexate (≤25 mg per week) for at least 3 months, who had received two primary vaccine doses from the UK COVID-19 vaccination programme were eligible. Participants were randomly assigned (1:1) using a centralised validated computer program, to temporarily suspend methotrexate treatment for 2 weeks immediately after COVID-19 booster vaccination or continue treatment as usual. The primary outcome was S1-RBD antibody titres 4 weeks after COVID-19 booster vaccination and was assessed masked to group assignment. All randomly assigned patients were included in primary and safety analyses. This trial is registered with ISRCTN, ISRCTN11442263; following a pre-planned interim analysis, recruitment was stopped early.

Finding
Between Sept 30, 2021, and March 7, 2022, we screened 685 individuals, of whom 383 were randomly assigned: to either suspend methotrexate (n=191; mean age 58·8 years [SD 12·5], 118 [62%] women and 73 [38%] men) or to continue methotrexate (n=192; mean age 59·3 years [11·9], 117 [61%] women and 75 [39%] men). At 4 weeks, the geometric mean S1-RBD antibody titre was 25 413 U/mL (95% CI 22 227–29 056) in the suspend methotrexate group and 12 326 U/mL (10 538–14 418) in the continue methotrexate group with a geometric mean ratio (GMR) of 2·08 (95% CI 1·59–2·70; p<0·0001). No intervention-related serious adverse events occurred.

Interpretation
2-week interruption of methotrexate treatment in people with immune-mediated inflammatory diseases enhanced antibody responses after COVID-19 booster vaccination that were sustained at 12 weeks and 26 weeks. There was a temporary increase in inflammatory disease flares, mostly self-managed. The choice to suspend methotrexate should be individualised based on disease status and vulnerability to severe outcomes from COVID-19.

Link | PDF (The Lancet Rheumatology)

 

Hilda Bastian blog post:

A Major First Next Generation Covid Vaccine: Could There Be More in 2024? (Update 13)

https://absolutelymaybe.plos.org/20...accine-could-there-be-more-in-2024-update-13/

I didn't read the whole post, just skimmed it, since so much of it is over my head.

 

Just picking out a few bits I wanted to know (in case others do too):

• 
  On the lunar-cov19 series (efficacy, adverse effects):
• 
  

 

Got Novavax about 2 weeks ago. Still alive-had one day where I felt more tired than usual.

 

Undervaccination and severe COVID-19 outcomes: meta-analysis of national cohort studies in England, Northern Ireland, Scotland, and Wales (2024, The Lancet)

 

I can't read the whole paper, but perhaps someone who can could explain why missing four doses appears to reduce the risk a bit? (Although not as much as getting the full recommended dose)

 

@Subtropical Island

It would be interesting to see the comorbidities broken down a bit more i.e. which comorbidities were involved, and how many were autoimmune diseases. It is good to see this part of the study being included. It might help identify if there are groups in the population who are more at risk of an adverse reaction.

 

There is an article in the Times today "Missed Covid vaccines 'to blame for 7,000 deaths and hospitalisations'" in the summer of 2022. Study is published in the Lancet and was based on anonymised health records covering the entire national population. More that one third of population had not had recommended number of covid jabs by June 2022.

Online article https://www.google.com/url?sa=t&rct=j&q=&esrc=s&source=web&cd=&ved=2ahUKEwj95P-Pk-KDAxXqVUEAHVpHCH8QFnoECB8QAQ&url=https://www.thetimes.co.uk/article/missed-vaccines-caused-7000-covid-hospitalisations-and-deaths-tknkngkxt&usg=AOvVaw1WK7DF9b72265gxuzY0bc4&opi=89978449

Work was led by Health Data Research UK and the University of Edinburgh who say this 'ushers in a new era' for scientific research.

edit: if we had accurate data on the adverse effects of vaccination (difficult to collect I know), might it be possible to come to a more balanced calculation of the overall numerical benefits of vaccination?

 

Some surprising news! (well, I was surprised, you might not be )

Switching arms between vaccine doses could dramatically improve immune response, OHSU study shows

https://www.opb.org/article/2024/02...lly-improve-immune-response-ohsu-study-shows/

This is an audio story from the Think Out Loud podcast. I have not been able to find a transcript.

But here's a link to the study:

https://www.jci.org/articles/view/176411

 

Sounds totally counter-intuitive!

 

New study results challenge the idea that vaccine immunity fades quickly

https://www.mountsinai.org/about/ne...ineinduced-antibody-responses-are-longlasting

 

Merged
A 62-year-old man from Germany has, against medical advice, been vaccinated 217 times against Covid, doctors report.

The bizarre case is documented in The Lancet Infectious Diseases journal.

The shots were bought and given privately within the space of 29 months.

The man appears to have suffered no ill effects, researchers from the University of Erlangen-Nuremberg say.

https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/health-68477735

The Anti-Vaxxers won't be happy to hear that.

 

Given the risk of a serious adverse response to an individual vaccine event is fairly low, perhaps 217 does not represent a high cumulative risk if simply adding the potential risks of each individual event.

However can we say yet if the risks of subsequent vaccine events remain the same or are increased or decreased as a result previous injections?

 

Merged thread

Adaptive immune responses are larger and functionally preserved in a hypervaccinated individual, Kocher

217 Covid vaccines!


https://www.thelancet.com/journals/laninf/article/PIIS1473-3099(24)00134-8/fulltext


Prime-boost vaccinations can enhance immune responses,
1
whereas chronic antigen exposure can cause immune tolerance.
2
In humans, the benefits, limitations, and risks of repetitive vaccination remain poorly understood.
Here, we report on a 62-year-old male hypervaccinated individual from Magdeburg, Germany (HIM), who deliberately and for private reasons received 217 vaccinations against SARS-CoV-2 within a period of 29 months (figure A; appendix 1 tab 1). HIM's hypervaccination occurred outside of a clinical study context and against national vaccination recommendations. Evidence for 130 vaccinations in a 9 month period was collected by the public prosecutor of Magdeburg, Germany, who opened an investigation of this case with the allegation of fraud, but criminal charges were not filed. 108 vaccinations are individually recorded and partly overlap with the total of 130 prosecutor-confirmed vaccinations (appendix 2 p 12). To investigate the immunological consequences of hypervaccination in this unique situation, we submitted an analysis proposal to HIM via the public prosecutor. HIM then actively and voluntarily consented to provide medical information and donate blood and saliva. This procedure was approved by the local Ethics Committee of the University Hospital of Erlangen, Germany. Throughout the entire hypervaccination schedule HIM did not report any vaccination-related side effects. From November 2019, to October 2023, 62 routine clinical chemistry parameters showed no abnormalities attributable to hypervaccination (appendix 1 tab 2). Furthermore, HIM had no signs of a past SARS-CoV-2 infection, as indicated by repeatedly negative SARS-CoV-2 antigen tests, PCRs and nucleocapsid serology (figure A; appendix 1 tab 1).

 

Thread from author.

https://twitter.com/user/status/1764885569627201565


What would happen if you got vaccinated against the same antigen over and over again? In @TheLancetInfDis, we now report on a hypervaccinated individual from Magdeburg (HIM) who received 217 vaccinations within 29 months against SARS-CoV-2. 1/19