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New COVID vaccines could come to Australia. Here’s what you need to know about the JN.1 vaccines

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COVID-19 vaccines have undoubtedly made an enormous difference during this pandemic. For example, it’s estimated that COVID vaccinations Since their introduction in December 2020, they’ve saved greater than 1.4 million lives in the World Health Organization (WHO) European Region alone.

Unfortunately, SARS-CoV-2 (the virus that causes COVID) is changing quite rapidly, which is affecting how well our immunity from each vaccination and past infection protects us. This problem is usually referred to as “avoiding resistance”.

One strategy to address this issue has been to update our vaccines, which we have now done 4 times in Australia. Now the Therapeutic Goods Administration (TGA) is considering a fifth version of a COVID vaccine – a shot geared toward JN.1 omicron sub-variant.

Here’s what you need to know about these updated amplifiers.

Keeping up with COVID variants

Our first vaccines were directed against the original strain of SARS-CoV-2. first update still in the set original strain but we added an early subvariant of the BA.1 omicron. Then modified BA.1 to BA.4/5 With original strain.

This latest update took place at the end of 2023, after we returned to possession just one ingredient in the vaccine, on this case omicron subvariant XBB.1.5.

The virus continues to change. Another omicron subvariant, JN.1, was first detected in August 2023 and caused a major wave of infections in Australia in the summer.

JN.1 then gave way to other sub-variants that you may know as “Flirt“and the “FLuQE” variants which have been observed relatively large increase in COVID activity in recent months. FLuQE, or KP.3, is currently dominant.

Although JN.1 now not causes many cases, on condition that FLiRT and FLuQE are derived from JN.1, vaccines targeting JN.1 should good job to protect against these newer subvariants.

What is the process?

Already in April, WHO beneficial the use of vaccines against JN.1 line based on the expectation that the virus will proceed to evolve from JN.1. European Medicines Agency issued the same advice.

Potentially, from the point at which it became clear that JN.1 was going to turn into the dominant vaccine, but definitely from that time on, pharmaceutical corporations would have began working to refine their vaccines accordingly.

Once vaccines are ready and tested, they need to be applied to the appropriate regulatory authorities for approval.

The U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA) recently approved Emergency Use Authorization regarding Novavax’s vaccine against JN.1.

Meanwhile, the UK regulatory body has approved the JN.1 specification Spikevax by Moderna AND Comirnats from Pfizer.

In Australia our process is barely different and takes somewhat longer. TGA website indicates that applications for 2 JN.1 vaccines are currently under review (Spikevax and Comirnaty). We won’t know after they shall be approved until a choice is made, but we hope it isn’t too far off.

The United States has also approved KP.2 vaccines.

In June, the Food and Drug Administration (FDA) beneficial that vaccine manufacturers: update your COVID vaccines to refer JN.1. However, he later beneficial that it will be higher to use vaccines to combat the KP.2 strain as a substitute (FLiRT).

Moderna and Pfizer have said they’ll find a way to develop vaccines targeting KP.2, and the FDA has given its approval. Emergency Use Authorization for the KP.2 vaccines of those two corporations.

It seems likely that the difference between a JN.1 booster and a KP.2 booster shall be minimal. Both should provide significantly improved protection against the currently circulating subvariants compared with the XBB vaccines. So we shouldn’t feel like we’re missing out by not having plans for KP.2 boosters in Australia presently.

Are the recent vaccines protected and effective?

Before approving updated boosters, regulators are fastidiously analyzing data on the immune response produced by the recent vaccines against newer variants compared with previous vaccines.

Based on data generated mainly by vaccine manufacturers, it seems that the updated JN.1 vaccines lead to significantly improved immune response against multiple related sublineages, including KP.2 and KP.3, in comparison to XBB vaccines.

These latest updates will not be expected to change the well-established security profile COVID vaccines. But as all the time, the safety of vaccines (and their effectiveness) shall be proceed to be monitored even after they’ve been approved and implemented.

The safety of COVID-19 vaccines is consistently monitored.
Carlos Giusti/AP/AAP

What about Novavax?

The COVID vaccines from Pfizer and Moderna are mRNA vaccines. They work by instructing our bodies to make the SARS-CoV-2 spike proteins (the proteins on the surface of the virus that it uses to attach to our cells). Then, after we encounter SARS-CoV-2, our immune system is prepared to respond.

This Novavax injection Is adjuvant protein based vaccinemeaning the proteins are produced in a lab, and an ingredient called an adjuvant is added to improve the body’s immune response. Vaccines using this kind of technology have been available for a while, so it’s considered a more traditional way of constructing a vaccine.

While our mRNA options work well, there are individuals who I can not have it or you don’t need an mRNA vaccine, so Novavax provides a vital alternative option.

However, Novavax’s improved booster vaccine doesn’t yet appear to be available to be used before the TGA, so it is probably going to take a while in Australia.

Some challenges remain

While we’re proud to have successfully updated our vaccines, ideally we would really like to develop vaccines that don’t need to be updated as ceaselessly.

But perhaps the most vital consider determining a vaccine’s effectiveness is its uptake, and at once, the rate of individuals getting booster doses of the COVID vaccine is way lower than it must be.

For example, from August only 31.8% of individuals aged 75 and over have received a COVID vaccine in the last six months (beneficial) every six months on this age group).

We also need to look for tactics to approve updated COVID vaccines faster and effectively on this country, including non-mRNA options.

This article was originally published on : theconversation.com
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Health and Wellness

‘Preventable’ death of black mother after complications first linked to abortion ban

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Amber Thurman, Roe v. Wade, theGrio.com

A Black mother died in Georgia after a strict state law banning abortion caused an almost 24-hour delay in her care.

In August 2022, 28-year-old Amber Nicole Thurman went to a North Carolina clinic to have an abortion, People Magazine reportedShe couldn’t get the procedure in Georgia, where she lived, because she was six weeks pregnant — and after Roe v. Wade was overturned in 2022, the state banned abortions after six weeks of pregnancy.

The clinic gave her the pregnancy-terminating pills, mifepristone and misoprostol, which she took home to Georgia. A number of days later, Thurman developed a rare complication during which she didn’t expel all of the fetal tissue, according to ProPublicathe editorial office that first reported on her case.

Thurman, a medical assistant and mother of a 6-year-old boy, began experiencing heavy bleeding and pain before she eventually collapsed at home. Her boyfriend called an ambulance and she or he was taken to Piedmont Henry Hospital in Stockbridge. The remaining tissue caused her to develop a highly dangerous infection often called sepsis.

However, due to Georgia’s anti-abortion laws, doctors didn’t perform a D&C (dilation and curettage). Despite losing consciousness within the hospital room and rapidly deteriorating, she didn’t receive treatment for nearly 24 hours.

ProPublica reports that an official state commission found that doctors waited 20 hours before the surgery while monitoring Thurman’s infection status — during which era her blood pressure dropped to dangerous levels and her organs shut down.

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After her death, a state investigation concluded it was “preventable” — and ProPublica said Thurman’s case is the first known “preventable” case involving an abortion.

The publication notes that it should likely take one other two years to fully understand the impact of Roe v. Wade’s defeat, as many hospitals have a two-year delay in reporting the cause of patient deaths. But it’s not surprising that the first public story is a few black woman. The maternal health crisis continues to disproportionately affect black moms.

What happened to Thurman isn’t only one of the risks of abortion. It may occur in cases of miscarriage, vaginal delivery or cesarean section, according to Mayo ClinicWhen many warned that overturning Roe v. Wade and letting states resolve could have negative impacts on women’s health overall, this is strictly what many feared.

“We actually have proven evidence of something we already knew — that abortion bans kill people,” said Mini Timmaraju, president of the abortion rights group Reproductive Freedom for All. Mother Jones on Thurman’s case. “This can’t go on.”

Meanwhile in Georgia, Dr. Krystal “KR” RedmanSPARK co-founder, told the outlet: “Amber’s case is just one example of the ongoing systemic neglect that continues to claim the lives of Black people.”

Redman added: “Reproductive justice is not just about access to abortion, but also about the broader right to high-quality, comprehensive, full-spectrum, culturally modest, life-saving health care for all of us.”

This article was originally published on : thegrio.com
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Quincy shares positive updates about his relationship with his father, Al B. Sure!

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Artist Quincy Brown, the adopted son of Sean “Diddy” Combs, sat down with Angela Yee on her podcast to debate his relationship with his biological father, Al B. Sure! It’s a timely conversation considering Quincy’s father, Diddy, was recently arrested by federal agents in New York. for conspiracy to commit racketeering, sex trafficking by use of force, fraud or coercion, and transportation for the aim of prostitution.

Asked about the status of his relationship with Al B. Sure! following an open letter he wrote to him in 2009, Quincy said they were currently “fine,” adding that he had spoken to him just days earlier when B. Sure!, 56, congratulated him on his latest album ETA.

“It’s a cool relationship,” he said. “He tries to act like a father a lot, but that’s not really where we are in life. We’re buddies, more than anything else,” Brown, 33, added.

Quincy also stated that the character of their relationship is to spend time and do things together. Speaking of which, they were last seen together on the Black Excellence Brunch held on the White House, in order that they did indeed spend a while together.

“I feel like that’s what we’re all about, the awareness that we’re two grown men. We can talk about anything and everything,” he concluded.

If you remember, in 2009, Quincy wrote an open letter to his biological father by which he criticized him for his long-term absence from home.

“Albert Brown, aka ‘Al B Sure!’ is my biological father, but Sean Combs, aka ‘Diddy,’ has been a fatherly figure in my life for as long as I can remember. Sean Combs is someone I respect and appreciate as a father figure,” he said in a lengthy open letter on the time.

With Diddy’s dark past quickly emerging, in March 2024, B. Sure! took to social media to put in writing a brief open letter to his son, reminding him that the door to his house is wide open.

“#LetterToMySon! Come home. [door] is wide open. You’re safe here, son! I love you, Popz, Your Biological,” he wrote within the caption.

Brown was born in 1991 to the late Kim Porter and Al B. Sure! In 2020, the singer revealed that they were also briefly married, surprising many fans. Porter began dating Combs when Quincy was around three years old and eventually adopted him.

We’re glad Quincy has a father he can count on while Diddy stays in custody awaiting trial.

This article was originally published on : www.essence.com
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SEE | The Usefulness of Having a Community in the Fashion Industry – Essence

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This article was originally published on : www.essence.com
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