The Week in Review provides an overview of the past week’s top health care content, including industry news and trends, Mayo Clinic and Mayo Clinic Laboratories news, and upcoming events.
As Delta Variant Surges, Outbreaks Return in Many Parts of the World
The nightmare is returning. In Indonesia, grave diggers are working into the night, as oxygen and vaccines are in short supply. In Europe, countries are slamming their doors shut once again, with quarantines and travel bans. In Bangladesh, urban garment workers fleeing an impending lockdown are almost assuredly seeding another coronavirus surge in their impoverished home villages. And in countries like South Korea and Israel that seemed to have largely vanquished the virus, new clusters of disease have proliferated. Chinese health officials announced Monday that they would build a giant quarantine center with up to 5,000 rooms to hold international travelers. Australia has ordered millions to stay at home. A year and a half since it began racing across the globe with exponential efficiency, the pandemic is on the rise again in vast stretches of the world, driven largely by the new variants, particularly the highly contagious Delta variant first identified in India. From Africa to Asia, countries are suffering from record COVID-19 caseloads and deaths, even as wealthier nations with high vaccination rates have let their guard down, dispensing with mask mandates and reveling in life edging back toward normalcy. Via New York Times
Long COVID afflicts kids too, here's what we know so far
Many children can also experience lingering symptoms after getting COVID-19. But scientists are struggling for answers, so parents are banding together to find treatments and warn others of the risks. Via National Geographic
CMS does not have adequate authority to ensure that hospitals will be ready for the next pandemic, and wasn't able to regulate them well enough to know whether they were maintaining quality and safety during the COVID-19 crisis, according to a new HHS Office of Inspector General report. Via Healthcare Dive
Should people get a Pfizer 'booster' shot after receiving Johnson & Johnson
Dr. Gregory Poland, co-director of the Mayo Clinic's Vaccine Research Group, says the idea of mixing vaccines isn't unprecedented. "The first time kids below the age of 8 get the flu vaccine, they're supposed to get two doses," Poland tells Yahoo Life. "You know, we try to give the same thing, but it's not always possible just because of supply." (There are multiple types of flu vaccines.) It's one of several reasons that Poland says he's not necessarily opposed to mixing the COVID-19 vaccines. "Do I think it's an unsafe thing to do? No, I don't have any reason immunologically to think that it would be unsafe," Poland says. "Do I think it's likely to lead to higher antibody levels? Yes, definitely." Via Yahoo! News
Mayo Clinic COVID-19 vaccine platform enters clinical trials
A new COVID-19 vaccine platform developed by Mayo Clinic researchers is entering phase one of clinical trials. If it reaches the market, the single-cycle novel vaccine vector is expected to produce a greater immune response and a more effective barrier against COVID-19 than current vaccine options, according to Dr. Michael Barry, director of Mayo Clinic's Vector and Vaccine Engineering Laboratory. For the needle-phobic, there is especially good news: the vaccine would likely be delivered through a nasal mist. Via Yahoo! News
No, Vaping Doesn’t Make You More Susceptible To Coronavirus
According to the Mayo Clinic study, people who only used e-cigarettes weren't more likely to catch COVID, whereas traditional smokers had a decreased risk of disease. Those results suggest the common ingredient in both types of cigarette — nicotine — isn't responsible for any alleged benefits to susceptibility.