1- Monday Infectious Disease News – 8th November 

1 – FDA panel recommends Pfizer’s low-dose Covid vaccine for kids ages 5 to 11

• A key Food and Drug Administration advisory committee on Tuesday recommended a lower dose of Pfizer and BioNTech’s Covid-19 vaccine for children ages 5 to 11, a critical step in getting some 28 million more kids in the U.S. protected against the virus as the delta variant spreads.
• The vote was nearly unanimous with 17 members backing it and one abstention.
• The endorsement was a critical step in getting some 28 million more kids in the U.S. protected against the virus as the delta variant spreads.
• The agency doesn’t always follow the advice of its independent committee, but it often does.

Source: CNBC

2 – Immunocompromised may need a fourth Covid-19 shot, CDC says

• A newly-discovered mutation of the delta variant is under investigation in the U.K.
• People with certain health conditions that make them moderately or severely immunocompromised may get a fourth mRNA Covid-19 shot, according to updated guidelines from the US Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.
• The CDC authorized a third dose for certain immunocompromised people 18 and older in August. It said a third dose, rather than a booster — the CDC makes a distinction between the two — was necessary because the immunocompromised may not have had a complete immune response from the first two doses.
• A study from Johns Hopkins University this summer showed that vaccinated immunocompromised people were 485 times more likely to end up in the hospital or die from Covid-19 compared to most vaccinated people.

Source: CNN

3 – Effect of early treatment with fluvoxamine on risk of emergency care and hospitalisation among patients with COVID-19: the TOGETHER randomised, platform clinical trial

• Recent evidence indicates a potential therapeutic role of fluvoxamine for COVID-19.
• In the TOGETHER trial for acutely symptomatic patients with COVID-19, they aimed to assess the efficacy of fluvoxamine versus placebo in preventing hospitalisation defined as either retention in a COVID-19 emergency setting or transfer to a tertiary hospital due to COVID-19.
• Treatment with fluvoxamine (100 mg twice daily for 10 days) among high-risk outpatients with early diagnosed COVID-19 reduced the need for hospitalisation defined as retention in a COVID-19 emergency setting or transfer to a tertiary hospital.

Source: The Lancet

4- Cheap antidepressant shows promise treating early COVID-19

• A cheap antidepressant reduced the need for hospitalization among high-risk adults with COVID-19 in a study hunting for existing drugs that could be repurposed to treat coronavirus.
• Researchers tested the pill used for depression and obsessive-compulsive disorder because it was known to reduce inflammation and looked promising in smaller studies.
• Researchers tested the antidepressant in nearly 1,500 Brazilians recently infected with coronavirus who were at risk of severe illness because of other health problems, such as diabetes.
• About half took the antidepressant at home for 10 days, the rest got dummy pills.
• They were tracked for four weeks to see who landed in the hospital or spent extended time in an emergency room when hospitals were full

Source: AP News

5 – Vaccine effectiveness of the first dose of ChAdOx1 nCoV-19 and BNT162b2 against SARS-CoV-2 infection in residents of long-term care facilities in England (VIVALDI): a prospective cohort study

• The effectiveness of SARS-CoV-2 vaccines in older adults living in long-term care facilities is uncertain.
• The investigated the protective effect of the first dose of the Oxford-AstraZeneca non-replicating viral-vectored vaccine (ChAdOx1 nCoV-19; AZD1222) and the Pfizer-BioNTech mRNA-based vaccine (BNT162b2) in residents of long-term care facilities in terms of PCR-confirmed SARS-CoV-2 infection over time since vaccination.
• Single-dose vaccination with BNT162b2 and ChAdOx1 vaccines provides substantial protection against infection in older adults from 4–7 weeks after vaccination and might reduce SARS-CoV-2 transmission.
• However, the risk of infection is not eliminated, highlighting the ongoing need for non-pharmaceutical interventions to prevent transmission in long-term care facilities.

Source: The Lancet

6 – Effectiveness of BNT162b2 and ChAdOx1 nCoV-19 COVID-19 vaccination at preventing hospitalisations in people aged at least 80 years: a test-negative, case-control study

• On Dec 8, 2020, deployment of the first SARS-CoV-2 vaccination authorised for UK use (BNT162b2 mRNA vaccine) began, followed by an adenoviral vector vaccine ChAdOx1 nCoV-19 on Jan 4, 2021.
• Care home residents and staff, frontline health-care workers, and adults aged 80 years and older were vaccinated first.
• However, few data exist regarding the effectiveness of these vaccines in older people with many comorbidities.
• In this post-implementation evaluation of two COVID-19 vaccines, they aimed to determine the effectiveness of one dose in reducing COVID-19-related admissions to hospital in people of advanced age.
• One dose of either BNT162b2 or ChAdOx1 nCoV-19 resulted in substantial risk reductions of COVID-19-related hospitalisation in people aged at least 80 years.

Source: JAMA Network

• Read more from FADIC Blog, with many articles with evidence based articles.
• Learn More Through FADIC® – Online Programs & Mini-Courses.
• Listen Now to FADIC Podcast focusing on varieties of pharmacist perspectives in specialties.
• Read More Now about FADIC Pharmacy Events to get more Experience.

Course Copyrights:

All Courses is meant for SINGLE user use only.
If more than one person acceced this course, they will be BLOCKED Forever.

Why FADIC 2021 Antimicrobial Resistance E-News (FNN) Daily Emails?

• It helps to keep up with the literature!
• Provide you with the Updated with the latest in your clinical practice. Wherever you are, and Whenever you need!
• Help you to share in the advance in clinical career. In addition to adding an impressive image to the pharmacists all-around!

Subscribe to FADIC 2020 Antimicrobial Resistance E-News (FNN), for daily publication of Daily News

Read & Download FNN Issue 8 of April 2020 FNN News