Weekly coronavirus-related chat, questions, and minor updates - week of November 15

Pfizer doses and Moderna booster give more protection than 3 Pfizer jabs

(I just got the Moderna booster on top of two Pfizer doses, thanks @kfwyre!)

NYC Says Any Adult Can Now Get A COVID Booster Shot

Time is now the main restriction for booster shots in New York City. Boosters are permitted two months after a person takes a Johnson & Johnson vaccine or six months after their second jab of Pfizer-BioNTech or Moderna.

During his Monday press briefing, Mayor Bill de Blasio acknowledged that his administration was trying to expand the number of residents who could qualify for boosters, saying that the city would “take the broadest interpretation, most inclusive interpretation of who qualifies to ensure that people who want it get it and are not turned away.”

New York City joins three states (California, Colorado, and New Mexico) in overriding more restrictive federal recommendations for booster shots. They say it’s all good, though:

Chokshi emphasized that the city’s new guidance is still consistent with those of the Food and Drug Administration and Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, which also consider the risk of exposure, which he said is dependent on where people live and where they work.

That seems legalistic and I wonder if the people at the FDA and CDC who wrote the rules actually had this in mind? The Biden administration probably is fine with it since they wanted booster shots for everyone. The people at the FDA and the CDC disagreed, but I doubt they would go to court now that they’re being routed around.

Governance can be tricky. Even in other states, what happens in practice is based on whatever people getting booster shots think the rules are, what the forms say, how willing people are willing to lie on forms, and whether the health care providers decide to do anything if they suspect something.

My wife and I got boosters on Saturday. We went to a walk-in clinic because online forms didn’t seem to be updated for California’s new rules. There was a long line and they ran out of forms in English so they gave us Spanish ones. We used Google Translate to fill out the entire form, but it seemed like they only cared about a few entries. This is probably because at the head of the line there were people entering the data into laptops, so I suppose they would have asked about anything we didn’t fill out.

Michigan is now worst COVID-19 hot spot in nation; hospitals pushed to capacity

Hospitals statewide say they're feeling the pressure as the number of COVID-19 patients has climbed nearly 50% in the last month — from 2,097 patients admitted with confirmed cases of the virus on Oct. 18 to 3,082 on Monday

"The vast majority of the patients continue to be unvaccinated patients. So when we look at general admissions for COVID, 70 to 75% of those patients have been unvaccinated"

German government completely dropped the ball: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Statistics_of_the_COVID-19_pandemic_in_Germany#New_cases_per_day - we're seeing ridiculously high daily case numbers, higher than it's ever been. We're finally now seeing govt. action, but it's not nearly strong enough. Healthcare systems are already at capacity in some regions. Waiting 2h for an ICU bed for a stroke patient and stuff like that. It's going to get worse too before it gets better. Heavy seas ahead, I'd say. Even if the newly imposed measures have the desired effect, the bulk of new infections is not yet at a stage where they need intensive care. Once they do, it's going to get ugly. Even more so if measures don't have a strong effect, which I doubt they will.

Over a Million Americans May Have Permanently Lost Their Sense of Smell to Covid-19

New research Thursday aims to quantify a life-altering aftereffect of covid-19: a lingering loss of smell, also known as anosmia. The study estimates that up to 1.6 million people in the U.S. have experienced chronic anosmia lasting at least six months following their coronavirus infection.

Studies have estimated that anywhere from 30% to 80% of covid-19 sufferers can develop some level of anosmia. But research has indicated that most (upwards of 90%) regain their sniffer sense in as little as two weeks, possibly because the infection tends not to damage the olfactory nerve itself but the cells supporting it. Since so many people have contracted covid-19 in the U.S, though, even a relatively rare complication like long-term anosmia can still affect plenty of people.

This new study, published Thursday in JAMA Otolaryngology – Head & Neck Surgery, seems to be one of the first to try gauging the toll of chronic covid-related anosmia in the U.S. The authors were compelled to study the issue after seeing many of these patients in their clinics.

“In the last couple of months, my colleagues and I noted a dramatic increase in the number of patients seeking medical attention for olfactory dysfunction.” study author Jay Piccirillo, a otolaryngologist at Washington University in St. Louis and an editor at JAMA Otolaryngology, told Gizmodo in an email.

Piccirillo and his team estimated a range of cases, based on projections of covid-19’s spread, the odds of someone developing anosmia from infection, and the likelihood of chronic anosmia. In the most likely scenarios, somewhere between 700,000 to 1.6 million Americans (as of August 2021) have experienced a loss or change in their sense of smell lasting more than six months as a result of covid-19 so far, they found. This tally includes those who have parosmia, though no specific numbers are available for that group. It’s possible these numbers are an underestimate, the authors say, and the pandemic isn’t over—many more Americans may contract covid-19 in the months to come.

There are treatments that are thought to improve a person’s chances of recovering from covid-related anosmia, such as smell training, and there are clinical trials ongoing now that are testing out experimental treatments. But for those unlucky enough to still have trouble smelling things months down the road, the odds of recovery are slim.

Gates Foundation Offers $4 Million to Fix Syringe Shortage for Covid Shots (Bloomberg)

The Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation is stepping up efforts to address a looming deficit of syringes for Covid shots, providing about $4 million to help Kenyan manufacturer Revital Healthcare more than triple production.

Shortages of syringes and other supplies are threatening to complicate the rollout of Covid vaccines just as shipments to lower-income nations begin to pick up after months of delays. Lack of funds, transportation and training are also among the delivery challenges that could slow distribution.

[…]

When it comes to syringes, export restrictions and rising freight costs are hampering efforts to keep up with unprecedented demand, said Surabhi Rajaram, a Gates program officer. India and China account for most manufacturing of auto-disable vaccine syringes, which lock automatically to prevent reuse.

Although Unicef has tripled orders, further steps are needed. The child health program has estimated a potential shortfall of as many as 2.2 billion syringes for Covid vaccines and routine immunizations in 2022.

Across Europe, protests swell against pandemic restrictions

At least seven people were injured and more than 50 arrested after protests in Rotterdam turned violent late Friday, with protesters throwing stones and police firing shots, according to Dutch police. Demonstrators decried a proposed law that would ban unvaccinated people from entering businesses even if they provide a negative test. They also protested a partial lockdown that went into effect last week and will last until at least Dec. 4, which forces restaurants and other establishments to close at 8 p.m.

In Vienna, tens of thousands of people took to the streets Saturday after the country’s decision to mandate vaccines for everyone starting in February and impose new lockdowns beginning Monday.

In Italy, weekly protests against coronavirus restrictions showed no signs of easing, with demonstrations in Rome, including at the ancient Circus Maximus grounds. On social media, users posted videos from protests in other countries including France and Switzerland.