Nancy Lapid

(Reuters.) – Here is a list of recent COVID-19 studies. There are some research results that require further analysis to verify the findings, and others that were not yet certified by peer review.

The COVID-19 vaccines are not associated with pregnancies.

COVID-19 vaccines have been confirmed safe by evidence in two major medical journals. The New England Journal of Medicine published a study that tracked almost 18,500 Norwegian pregnant women, with approximately 4,500 of them having miscarriages. Researchers did not find any link between COVID-19 shots and first-trimester miscarriages, no matter which vaccine they came from. Moderna (NASDAQ:) Pfizer (NASDAQ:), BioNTech or AstraZeneca. Researchers found that miscarriages in women were generally 9% more likely to have been immunized. Researchers published a separate study Thursday in The Lancet that tracked the progress of 107 pregnant women in three trials for AstraZeneca vaccines in South Africa, Brazil, and the UK. The vaccine was administered to 72 of these women, while others received a placebo. The researchers found that AstraZeneca’s vaccine did not affect the chances of carrying the baby to term. “It is important that pregnant women are vaccinated since they have a higher risk of hospitalizations and COVID-19-complications, and their infants are at higher risk of being born too early,” the authors of the Norwegian study wrote. The Norwegian study also stated that vaccinations during pregnancy are likely to protect the infant from COVID-19 infections in the initial months of life.

Combining vaccines with other technologies might be the best option.

A recent study found that healthcare workers in France, who received the first dose of AstraZeneca’s COVID-19 vaccine followed by the Pfizer/BioNTech vaccination for the second shot, had stronger immune responses than those who had been given two shots of Pfizer’s vaccine. The immune response to viruses can be boosted by combining different technologies, as the latest study shows. In the current study, both vaccines contain instructions which instruct cells to produce a small amount of protein that is similar to that found in coronavirus. That triggers an immune response. However, they accomplish this in completely different ways. Vincent Legros from Universite de Lyon, France (coauthor of a Nature report), said that the protocols were “safe and efficient”. Legros stated that the combination of the AstraZeneca shot and the Pfizer/BioNTech shot “conferred even greater protection” than the two Pfizer shots, which also included the Delta variant. Combining the technologies produced an improved antibody response. He stated that there were more antiviral antibodies to block the virus and that more vaccine-trained cells had a greater defense potential. Legros said that combined vaccination was safe and might offer “interesting options” for physicians to combat SARS-CoV-2.

Cognitive issues seen in COVID-19 middle-aged survivors

Researchers have discovered that a substantial proportion of COVID-19 patients in their middle years had cognitive difficulties for more than half the time following diagnosis. The researchers looked at 740 individuals ranging in age between 38 and 59. 63% of them were female and half of those surveyed were white. 20 percent had difficulty converting short-term to long term memories; 18% struggled processing fast information and 16% experienced difficulties with planning, organizing, paying attention, recalling instructions and managing multiple tasks. Average time to diagnosis was 7.6 month. The average time from diagnosis was 7.6 months. Becker explained that “but we can tell that our cohort had a higher than expected frequency of cognitive impairment” due to their relatively young age and good health.

Pfizer vaccine is recommended in adolescents and children.

According to briefing papers submitted to the U.S. Food and Drug Administration, the Pfizer/BioNTech COVID-19 vaccination showed a 90.7% effectiveness against coronavirus. Two doses of 10-microgram vaccine were administered to the children. This is a third less than the dosage given to adults 12 years and over. It was not intended to evaluate the efficacy of the vaccine against the virus. It compared neutralizing antibodies in children with adult recipients to determine if the vaccine induced any. Pfizer, BioNTech and others claimed that the vaccine produced a strong immune response among the children. The FDA’s outside advisers are expected to meet Tuesday and vote whether the vaccine should be approved for this age group. An additional study, which was conducted in Israel during the Delta variant’s emergence and was published in The New England Journal of Medicine on Wednesday, examined nearly 95,000 12-18-year olds who were given Pfizer’s vaccine compared with similarly vaccinated teens. Research team found that the vaccine was “highly effective” within the first week of being vaccinated against documented infections and symptoms associated with COVID-19 in this age range.

Click for a Reuters graphic https://tmsnrt.rs/3c7R3Bl on vaccines in development.