U.N.’s World Health Organization says that 99% of Covid cases worldwide are genetically sequenced as the Delta variant, explaining why the virus stubbornly continues to plague Europe, now accounting for 60% of cases. Of the 3.3 million new cases in the world last week, 60% were in Europe, accounting for the new up-tick in cases starting to fill hospital beds up again. WHO recorded just under 50,000 deaths worldwide, with Europe having a 5% increase in deaths across the Continent. Infectious disease experts expressed concern about the spike cases in the late fall and winter months, where more infections occur because people aggregate indoors for family gatherings around the holidays. WHO’s Covid lead scientist Maria Van Kerkhove said Germany set a Covid record for the last two years of 39,000 cases last week, up over 40%. German authorities continue to push more vaccines.
No matter how many Covid shots have been administered to date, the Covid Delta Variant wreaks havoc on the world. Scientists don’t know what percentage of fully vaccinated people develop severe Covid symptoms requiring hospitalization. Germany has over 80% of its population fully vaccinated but Covid infection rates are at the highest level during the two-year global pandemic. United Kingdom has seen 38,500 new cases last week, up 13% from the previous week. Seven-day averages in France and Italy were also up about 40%, leaving scientists to question the efficacy of Covid-19 vaccines. However vaccines reduce severity of Covid symptoms isn’t fully known. What’s know for sure is that the world needs more effective treatments for the growing numbers of infections worldwide. Pfizer received preliminary approval for its Covid pill, an important treatment in managing the pandemic.
Pfizer’s new Covid pill requires two pills a day over a course of five days, giving shortly after the first symptoms emerged. Biden ordered 10 million courses [10 pills] of the new Covid regime, hoping to save lives but only three days after initial infection. Pfizer stands a big gain when the government pays $2.2 billion to provide 3 million doses of its antiviral pills. Seventy percent of U.S. vaccinated residents are finding an increase in Pfizer infections. Public health officials want Pfizer’s anti-viral regime approved at the earliest possible time to save growing numbers of infections and deaths. Pfizer claims its new regime reduces severe infections and deaths by 89%, a staggering figure when you see so many people coming down with breakthrough infections.even after two-or-three vaccinations. Pfizer’s new pill needs to be taken with three days of developing Covid-19 symptoms.
President Joe Biden watched his Sept. 9 vaccine mandates stall out in the 5th Circuit Court of Appeals in New Orleans. With appellate courts swamped with lawsuits blocking Biden’s vaccine mandates, the Appellate Court said it was putting the 13 court cases blocking vaccine mandates on a lottery to find an appellate court capable of consolidating all anti-vaccine mandate cases. Biden officials hope the cases could be removed the conservative 5th Circuit to give it a better shot of reinstatement. Calling Biden’s vaccine mandates “overly broad,” the Circuit Court questioned the Constitutionality of forcing 100 U.S. employees of getting vaccinated or potentially losing their jobs. U.S. health officials at the Center for Disease Control and Prevention [CDC] and FDA believe vaccines are the only way to combat the Covid-19 global pandemic. Two years into the pandemic, there’s no end in sight.
Pfizer and Merck’s new Covid-19 antiviral pills represent a helpful treatment to mitigate severity of infections and hospitalizations. But both pills can only be taken three days after symptoms appear, not preventing infections but only reducing the severity of infections. Pfizer said its new anti-Covid pill reduces hospitalizations and death by 89%, a staggering number by anyone’s count. Biden administration officials think the only path out of the pandemic is to increase the vaccine rates around the country. With vaccine mandates frozen in the courts, U.S. health officials, like Dr. Anthony Fauci, feel stymied to get more people vaccinated, whether voluntary or forced. Courts aren’t really taking up the right of the government to force vaccinate mandates on citizens, only the narrower question of whether certain types of work should be granted exceptions under the vaccine mandate order.
Spikes in Covid infection around the globe have prompted a renewed push to get more people double and triple vaccinated. No one knows why vaccinated people get breakthrough infections, other than attributing it to the more contagious Delta Variant. No vaccine maker to date has developed a booster to deal specifically with the Delta Variant. Current boosters only give a third dose of the original vaccines, only marginally effective in preventing infections. How much the original vaccines prevent severe symptoms or hospitalizations is anyone’s guess. With Covid infections surging in Europe and parts of the U.S., the sooner Pfizer and Merck get their new antiviral pills to market, more lives can be saved. Vaccine makers should work on new, improved vaccines to deal with the Delta Variant, now wreaking havoc in the U.S. and around the world.
