FDA to OK Boosters for Some; VA Passes on Aducanumab; Bogus COVID Vakzine

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NBC News reports that the FDA will update the emergency use authorizations for Pfizer and Moderna’s COVID-19 vaccines on Thursday to allow for a third dose in transplant recipients and other immunocompromised individuals.

The streak of bad luck continues for aducanumab (Aduhelm), as the VA decided not to add the new Alzheimer’s drug to its formulary and even recommended against offering it. (Endpoints News)

HHS Secretary Xavier Becerra announced that COVID-19 vaccination will be required for more than 25,000 HHS healthcare workers — at NIH, the Indian Health Service, and U.S. Public Health Service Commissioned Corps — who interact with or could have contact with patients.

As of Thursday at 8:00 a.m. EDT, the unofficial COVID-19 toll reached 36,193,574 cases and 618,496 deaths, an increase of 134,817 and 347, respectively, from this time yesterday.

A large meta-analysis suggesting benefit for ivermectin in COVID-19 will be retracted and re-analyzed due to “fraudulent data” in one of the studies used for the analysis. (Open Forum Infectious Diseases)

HHS dispatched 200 hundred ventilators and 100 other smaller breathing devices to Florida amid record COVID-19 hospitalizations. (Washington Post)

The situation is so bad in one Florida county that officials are asking residents to ease up on 911 calls. (CBS News)

Hospitals in Texas are sounding the alarm as well, with over 50 with ICUs already at maximum capacity. (New York Times)

Calling it a “badge of honor,” Sen. Rand Paul (R-Ky.) was temporarily banned by YouTube for misinformation on masking. (ABC News)

Sen. Paul also disclosed, albeit 16 months late, that his wife purchased up to $15,000 worth of Gilead stock — maker of COVID therapy remdesivir (Veklury) — as the pandemic was just getting underway. (Washington Post)

Facebook banned hundreds of Russian accounts that claimed COVID vaccines could turn people into chimps. (The Hill)

Meanwhile, criminal organizations claiming to have COVID vaccines are going after governments officials in multiple countries — including Italy, France, and Spain — hoping to secure multimillion dollar contracts. (Wall Street Journal)

In internal CDC slides, the Delta variant was said to be as transmissible as the chicken pox — not quite says one researcher. (NPR)

What should we expect after Delta? (The New Yorker)

Aubrey de Grey, PhD, CEO of the anti-aging SENS Research Foundation, was placed on leave after charges of sexual harassment from two young scientists working in the field. (STAT)

Being fully unvaccinated will cost students at West Virginia Wesleyan College $750 this fall semester. (NPR)

Going for a placebo effect? A nurse in Germany is thought to have injected thousands of people with saline instead of COVID-19 vaccine, or vakzine over there. (NPR)

The FDA approved pembrolizumab (Keytruda) plus lenvatinib (Lenvima) for the first-line treatment of advanced kidney cancer, based on results of the CLEAR trial.

In other agency news, an application from one company seeking to market a cannabidiol (CBD) product as a dietary supplement was rejected. (Bloomberg)

Last Updated August 12, 2021