COVID-19 Update: Three Vaccine Doses are Likely Needed for Full Protection, Fauci Says; and More

Three Doses of COVID Vaccine Likely Needed, Says Fauci

With a mass booster rollout likely to take place in the coming weeks pending FDA authorization, it seems likely that three doses of the vaccine are needed to achieve full protection, according to Dr. Anthony Fauci, per a CNN article, who cited two Israli-based studies that found attenuated infections among people who got a booster shot. Fauci says there was good reason to believe that a third dose “will actually be durable, and if it is durable, then you’re going to have very likely a three-dose regimen being the routine regimen.”

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Biden Administration Discussing Scaling Back Ambitious Booster Plan

Conversations are ongoing about scaling back the ambitious booster plan laid out by top federal health officials last month as September 20 nears closer – the date when booster shots may start to be offered. This comes from concerns that the US FDA may only be prepared to recommend boosters for those who had the Pfizer/BioNTech COVID-19 vaccine. Currently, there isn’t enough data on the Moderna to make the recommend it.

New Mu Variant Under Observation

A new coronavirus variant, called the Mu variant by the World Health Organization, is being monitored as a “variant of interest,” but federal health officials say they don’t consider it an immediate threat, according to a CNN report. “This variant has a constellation of mutations that suggests that it would evade certain antibodies,” Fauci said Thursday of Mu. “Not only monoclonal antibodies, but vaccine and convalescent serum-induced antibodies. But there isn’t a lot of clinical data to suggest that — it is mostly laboratory, in vitro, data. “Not to downplay it — we take it very seriously. But remember, even when you have variants that do diminish somewhat the efficacy of vaccines, the vaccines still are quite effective against variants of that type. Bottom line, we’re paying attention to it. We take everything like that seriously. But we don’t consider it an immediate threat right now,” he said.

Expert Discusses the Need for Critical Care Medical Devices Amid COVID

Throughout the COVID-19 pandemic, one piece of medical equipment has featured heavily – the ventilator. The question now becomes: What is the best way to utilize ventilator fleets as the pandemic continues on?

DocWire News spoke with Angela Rabinovich, VP Strategy & Business Growth at Inovytec Medical Solutions Ltd., a developer of medical devices that address emergency and routine respiratory and cardiac care, to gain her insight into issues that the pandemic highlighted within the industry for medical equipment, what the focus should be for healthcare providers and med tech engineers when creating new technology, and the use of ventilators amid the pandemic and beyond.