England to Deny COVID and Flu Jabs to Under-65s This Winter + More

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England to Deny COVID and Flu Jabs to Under-65s Despite Fears for NHS This Winter

The Guardian reported:

Millions of people under the age of 65 in England will be denied flu and COVID jabs this winter despite one of the government’s top public health officials warning that coronavirus has not “gone away.”

The Joint Committee on Vaccination and Immunization (JCVI), which advises the U.K. government, said on Tuesday its plan for COVID was to offer jabs only to those at “high risk of serious disease” who are “most likely to benefit” from vaccination.

COVID boosters will be offered to residents in care homes for older adults, those aged six months to 64 in clinical risk groups, frontline health and social care workers, people aged 12 to 64 who are carers or household contacts of people with immunosuppression, and all adults aged 65 and over. The Department of Health and Social Care said it had accepted the advice for England.

The government said in May that people in England under 65 would not be offered flu jabs this winter. It means about 12 million people aged 50 to 64 are no longer eligible for either free flu or COVID-19 vaccines.

Last year everyone over 50 was offered both. The COVID jab is not available privately in the U.K., so those ineligible this year will be unable to buy the jab themselves.

Heart Scarring Observed in Children Months After COVID Vaccination: Study

The Epoch Times reported:

Some children who experienced heart inflammation after COVID-19 vaccination had scarring on their hearts months later, a new long-term study found.

Researchers followed a group of 40 patients aged 12 to 18 for up to one year after the children were diagnosed with myocarditis, or heart inflammation, following vaccination with one of the messenger RNA shots from Pfizer or Moderna. They performed a series of tests, including echocardiograms.

Cardiac magnetic resonance imaging, or cardiac MRIs, was performed on 39 of the 40 patients. Abnormal results came in for 26 of those who were imaged, including 19 who had late gadolinium enhancement, or signs of scarring.

The patients with abnormal results returned for follow-up cardiac MRIs at least five months after the initial tests and 15, or 58 percent, had residual late gadolinium enhancement (LGE). The one patient without an initial scan also had mild late gadolinium enhancement when scanned during a follow-up visit.

Is COVID Vaccination Linked to Psoriasis Emergence or Flare-Ups?

News Medical Life Sciences reported:

In a recent review published in Biomedicines, a group of authors explored the relationship between coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) vaccination and psoriasis onset or exacerbation, utilizing data from 49 studies, while emphasizing the importance of vaccination and the need for further research.

Psoriasis, a chronic skin disorder, affects millions globally and is marked by red, scaly patches. Its comorbidities include hypertension, diabetes, and anxiety, impacting mental well-being and quality of life.

The COVID-19 pandemic brought teledermatology to the forefront for remote care and COVID-19 vaccines to control the virus. Mild to moderate adverse events occurred post-vaccination, and some reports linked vaccination with psoriasis exacerbation or onset, though conclusive research on this connection remains sparse.

New COVID Variant EG.5 Now Dominant in U.S., CDC Says

U.S. News & World Report reported:

A variant nicknamed Eris now accounts for the largest proportion of new COVID infections across America.

About 17.3% of U.S. COVID cases are believed to have been caused by the variant, formally known as EG.5, in early August, according to the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. That number is 7.5% higher than it was in early July.

Other dominant variants include XBB.1.16, with 15.6% of cases, and XBB.2.23, with 11.2% of cases, CDC data show. Another 10.3% of COVID cases are from XBB.1.5, while 8.6% of cases were caused by an XBB-related variant known as FL.1.5.1.

Blue Cross of Minnesota Settles Lawsuit Over Lab’s Alleged ‘Profiteering’ With COVID Tests

Star Tribune reported:

Blue Cross and Blue Shield of Minnesota has reached a settlement with an Omaha-based lab company that the health insurer alleged was charging unreasonably high prices for COVID-19 tests.

The settlement with GS Labs, which operated several testing facilities in the Twin Cities, was announced Friday in the U.S. District Court of Minnesota.

In its March 2022 lawsuit, Blue Cross alleged that GS Labs was “profiteering off the pandemic and at Blue Cross’s expense” by pocketing “millions of dollars in wasteful and duplicative testing fees.”

A spokesman for the lab shot back that Blue Cross’ actions provided yet another example of “strong-arm gamesmanship by ‘big insurance,’ designed to hide their egregious failure to obey [federal law]” on paying for COVID-19 tests.

COVID Rancor Tests Friendships in Congress

Politico reported:

The battle over blame for the COVID-19 pandemic and how to tackle the next one is testing the limits of a decades-long friendship between Reps. Brad Wenstrup (R-Ohio) and Raul Ruiz (D-Calif.), POLITICO’s Alice Miranda Ollstein reports.

Ruiz, Wenstrup and their staffs began the year with high hopes that the lawmakers — fellow doctors who both entered Congress in 2013, had neighboring offices, regularly went out to dinner together and co-wrote several wonky health care bills — could meaningfully collaborate. But the past six months have dashed those hopes.

Wenstrup is frustrated with the partisan divide, as demonstrated by the separate majority and minority reports on COVID’s origins, even as he says he’s happy with the committee’s work so far.

Public health experts warn that if the two friends can’t even agree on what to investigate, much less how to go about it, COVID will be further politicized and the nation will be more vulnerable to future pandemics.

China’s CanSino in mRNA Vaccine Deal With AstraZeneca

Reuters reported:

CanSino Biologics (6185.HK) has agreed with AstraZeneca (AZN.L) to provide “contract development and manufacturing services” to support the Anglo-Swedish drugmaker’s messenger RNA (mRNA) vaccine program, the Chinese company said on Tuesday.

In a filing to Shanghai’s stock exchange, CanSino said it would manufacture and supply unspecified mRNA products to AstraZeneca. It did not disclose the value of the deal.

CanSino has been working on its own mRNA COVID-19 vaccine and said in February it was in discussion with Chinese regulators around the protocol for a late-stage study for its COVID-19 mRNA booster vaccine, CS-2034.

AstraZeneca is China’s largest drugmaker and is doubling down on the world’s No.2 pharmaceutical market amid slumping sales of its COVID vaccine.