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Tag: KP.2

Topic: vaccinesView all posts for the topic: vaccines

Health Canada approves Pfizer-BioNTech’s updated COVID-19 vaccine

Published September 24, 2024

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Published by: The Canadian Press
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By Nicole Ireland, Hannah Alberga

Health Canada approved Pfizer-BioNTech’s updated COVID-19 vaccine on Tuesday, marking its third authorization of vaccine formulations that protect against the most recently circulating variants of the virus.

Pfizer-BioNTech’s mRNA vaccine, called Comirnaty, targets the KP.2 subvariant of Omicron, replacing the previous version that targeted the XBB.1.5 Omicron subvariant.

The approval of Comirnaty follows last week’s authorization of Moderna’s updated Spikevax mRNA vaccine and Novavax’s updated protein-based vaccine, Nuvaxovid.

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Topic: vaccinesView all posts for the topic: vaccines

FDA may greenlight updated Covid-19 vaccines as soon as next week, sources say

Published August 16, 2024

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Published by: CNN
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By Meg Tirrell

The US Food and Drug Administration is poised to sign off as soon as next week on updated Covid-19 vaccines targeting more recently circulating strains of the virus, according to two sources familiar with the matter, as the country experiences its largest summer wave in two years.

The agency is expected to greenlight updated mRNA vaccines from Moderna and Pfizer/BioNTech that target a strain of the virus called KP.2, said the sources, who declined to be named because the timing information isn’t public. It was unclear whether the agency simultaneously would authorize Novavax’s updated shot, which targets the JN.1 strain.

The move would be several weeks ahead of last year’s version of the vaccine, which got FDA signoff on September 11.

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Topic: QuebecView all posts for the topic: Quebec

Analysis: Quebec in midst of new COVID-19 summer wave

Published July 7, 2024

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Published by: Montreal Gazette
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By Aaron Derfel

Quebec is now witnessing — as is the case across North America — an uptick in COVID-19 hospitalizations, reinforcing the notion that SARS-CoV-2 is still not yet a fully seasonal virus and sending vaccine manufacturers racing to develop COVID shots for this fall that will guard against the latest sub-variants.

The province reported a total of 671 hospitalizations with and for COVID-19 as of July 5. That’s up from a low of 400 such hospitalizations on April 20 in Quebec. The number of patients in emergency rooms testing positive for SARS-CoV-2 is also rising, according to the Institut national de santé publique du Québec (INSPQ).

More and more Quebecers are testing positive for COVID-19, with the percentage rising to 12.9 per cent as of June 30, according to the INSPQ. That this is occurring during summer suggests that SARS-CoV-2 is still far from a seasonal virus like the flu, a view supported by doctors and experts in the field.

“COVID is not over,” Dr. Susan Kuo, a British Columbia family physician, told the CBC on Friday. “This is the summer. It’s July. It’s not usually a time that we’re seeing so many people that are sick. What this tells us is that COVID is not a seasonal virus.”

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Topic: CaliforniaView all posts for the topic: California

Summer COVID bump intensifies in L.A. and California, fueled by FLiRT variants

Published June 24, 2024

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Published by: Los Angeles Times
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By Rong-Gong Lin II

The new COVID-19 subvariants collectively nicknamed FLiRT are continuing to increase their dominance nationwide, fueling a rise in cases in Los Angeles County and growth in the coronavirus levels seen in California wastewater.

Taken together, the data point to a coronavirus resurgence in the Golden State — one that, while not wholly unexpected given the trends seen in previous pandemic-era summers, has arrived earlier and is being driven by even more transmissible strains than those previously seen.

It remains unclear how bad the COVID situation may get this summer, however. Doctors have said that by the Fourth of July, we may have a better feel for how the rest of the season will play out.

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Topic: AlbertaView all posts for the topic: Alberta

COVID-19 on the rise in Alberta as summer approaches

Published June 18, 2024

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Published by: CBC News
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By Jennifer Lee

Albertans can expect a further COVID-19 bump, driven by yet another crop of new variants, experts are cautioning.

COVID cases, hospitalizations and positivity rates have been rising since April.

“Unlike other respiratory illnesses, we’re not really getting a summer reprieve,” said Sarah (Sally) Otto, a COVID-19 modeller and professor in the department of zoology at the University of British Columbia.

“We’re seeing this across Canada and globally, that there’s an uptick in cases. And that’s coming from these new variants [and the] evolution of this virus.”

The KP.2 and KP.3 variants, combined, now account for more than half of Alberta’s sequenced cases.

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Topic: SingaporeView all posts for the topic: Singapore

Singapore facing new Covid-19 wave; vaccination recommended especially for seniors: Ong Ye Kung

Published May 18, 2024

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Published by: The Straits Times
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By Chin Soo Fang

Singapore is seeing a new Covid-19 wave, with rising cases of infection in the last two weeks, said Health Minister Ong Ye Kung on May 18.

“We are at the beginning part of the wave where it is steadily rising,” said Mr Ong. “So I would say the wave should peak in the next two to four weeks, which means between mid- and end of June.”

The Ministry of Health (MOH) said that to protect hospital bed capacity and as a precaution, public hospitals have been asked to reduce their non-urgent elective surgery cases and move suitable patients to facilities like transitional care facilities or back home through Mobile Inpatient Care@Home.

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Topic: variantsView all posts for the topic: variants

New virus variants threaten a summer Covid-19 wave, but experts say the risk remains uncertain

Published May 17, 2024

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Published by: CNN
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By Deidre McPhillips

Covid-19 levels are about the lowest they’ve ever been in the United States, but another new crop of virus variants once again threatens to disrupt the downward trend as the country heads into summer.

KP.2 — one of the so-called FLiRT variants — has overtaken JN.1 to become the dominant coronavirus variant in the United States, according to data from the US Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. Data through May 11 shows that it’s responsible for more than a quarter of cases in the country, which is nearly twice as many as JN.1. A related variant, KP.1.1, has caused about 7% of cases, CDC data shows.

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‘FLiRT’ COVID-19 subvariant dominant in Canada. What to know about the strainElectron microscope image of SARS-CoV-2 virus particles. Virus particles are shown emerging from the surface of cells cultured in the lab. Image captured and colourized at NIAID’s Rocky Mountain Laboratories in Hamilton, Montana. Photo by: NIAID. Creative Commons CC BY 2.0 DEED Attribution 2.0 Generic license: https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/2.0/.
Topic: variantsView all posts for the topic: variants

‘FLiRT’ COVID-19 subvariant dominant in Canada. What to know about the strain

Published May 10, 2024

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Published by: Global News
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By Katie Dangerfield

Canada’s lull in COVID-19 cases faces a potential disruption with the emergence of a new family of subvariants, playfully dubbed the ‘FLiRT’ variants.

These genetic cousins, originating from JN.1, the Omicron subvariant that fuelled the winter surge, are now spreading nationwide, with one variant, KP.2, quickly gaining dominance in Canada.

KP.2 is the dominant subvariant of the JN.1 strain, explained Gerald Evans, an infectious disease specialist at Queen’s University in Kingston, Ont. As of April 28, national data shows that KP.2 accounted for 26.6 per cent of all COVID-19 cases in Canada, surpassing other JN.1 subvariants.

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