A new wave of COVID-19 infection is coming! Countries attach importance to vaccine booster, and monkeypox virus spreads rapidly.

Omicron subtypes BA.4 and BA.5 spread faster and have stronger immune escape ability, which is causing a new wave of infection. Among them, BA.4 and BA.5 have become the most mainstream strains in the United States, accounting for more than 52%; The situation in Europe is also not optimistic. The average number of infected people in France reached 69,000 on the 7th, an increase of over 330% compared with the end of May. The number of infected cases in Britain has increased by more than 40% in a week, and the hospitalization rate in COVID-19 has also increased by 23%. The number of people diagnosed in Germany in a single day also exceeded 65,438+10,000; It is worth noting that due to the harassment of Ba 4 and Ba 5, the epidemic situation in some Asian countries has also shown signs of rising. LawrenceWong, Singapore's deputy prime minister, warned that the possibility of COVID-19 tightening restrictive policies again could not be ruled out.

Faced with the faster spread of BA.4 and BA.5 in Omicron, more and more countries began to attach importance to the vaccination of vaccine "booster shots". On Tuesday, local time, the independent vaccine expert group of the US Food and Drug Administration held an emergency meeting, and with the voting result of 19 to 2, it was suggested to vaccinate a new vaccine against Omicron variants in autumn.

At present, the United States and Europe are still facing the challenge of the spread of monkeypox. The US Centers for Disease Control and Prevention said it would deploy 300,000 doses of monkeypox vaccine. In addition, the US Department of Health and Human Services said that it will provide10.6 million doses of Jynneos smallpox vaccine in the autumn of 2022.

A new wave of COVID-19 infection.

Omicron subtypes BA.4 and BA.5 are sweeping the world.

In just over a month, Omicron subtypes BA.4 and BA.5 have become the dominant strains in the United States. On June 28th, local time, the latest data released by the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) showed that in the week ending June 25th, BA.4 and BA.5 caused about 52% of new infections in the United States, while in early May, BA.4 and BA.5 only accounted for 1% of new infections. This shows that the spread speed of BA.4 and BA.5 is extremely terrible.

Peter Marks, a senior vaccine official of the US Food and Drug Administration (FDA), said that the rapid evolution of COVID-19 was "disturbing", and the decline of immunity, coupled with new strains, increased the risk of COVID-19 in the United States.

On June 28th, local time, according to the data of Johns Hopkins University (JHU), there were 522 new deaths and 527 new confirmed cases/kloc-0 in a single day.

In the latest report, the World Health Organization (WHO) warned that Omicron subtypes BA.4 and BA.5 are spreading around the world, and in some countries, the increase in cases has also led to a surge in hospitalization and severe cases.

The situation in Europe is also not optimistic.

Among them, France once again set a record of detecting more than 654.38+10,000 positive cases in a single day. On the 27th, 654.38+064.828 new infections were reported, and the average number of infected people on the 7th reached 69,000, an increase of more than 330% compared with 6,543.8+0.6 million cases at the end of May.

French Health Minister BrigitteBourguignon called on the French to start wearing masks again in crowded places, especially on public transport.

On the other side of France, in Britain, the infection rate in COVID-19 is also rising sharply. According to the latest data from the National Bureau of Statistics, the number of infected cases has increased by more than 40% in a week, and the hospitalization rate in COVID-19 has also increased by 23%. The Financial Times analyzed the data of infection and hospitalization in COVID-19, saying that the number of inpatients in COVID-19 has increased in France and Britain, and the subtype BA.5 is spreading rapidly.

In addition, the number of confirmed cases in Germany in a single day also exceeded 65,438+10,000. On the 27th local time, Germany reported142,000 new cases, with an average of 82,750 new cases on the 7th. These two figures increased by 1.9 times and 1.7 times respectively compared with the beginning of June. German Health Minister KarlLauterbach suggested that Germans wear masks indoors again, and thought that Germany should pass a new infection protection law before winter.

Up to now, Omicron subtypes BA.4 and BA.5 have become the main epidemic strains in the United States, South Africa, Britain, France, Portugal, Israel and other countries.

Alarmingly, due to the harassment of BA.4 and BA.5, the epidemic situation in some Asian countries has also shown signs of rising. ..

On June 29th, South Korea's Central Anti-epidemic Countermeasures Headquarters reported that there were new confirmed cases of COVID-19 10463 in South Korea that day, which was the first time that the number of confirmed cases in South Korea had increased to more than 1 10,000 since June 9th. The South Korean government warned that the reproductive rate (R0) of the virus had increased from 0.74 in the first week of June to 1. With the spread of Omicron subtypes BA.4 and BA.5 and more summer travel, the spread of COVID-19 may accelerate again.

At the same time, the epidemic in Singapore has also rebounded. On June 28th, the data released by the Ministry of Health in Singapore showed that the number of newly infected people in a single day was 1 1504, which was the largest number of infected people since March 22nd. Singapore's Health Minister Wang Yikang said that the next wave of COVID-19 infection in Singapore came earlier than expected.

Lawrence Weng, Deputy Prime Minister of Singapore, warned on the 27th that the possibility of the Singapore government tightening COVID-19's restrictive policies again could not be ruled out. On the same day, Singapore reported the first child death caused by COVID-19.

New vaccine "strengthening" plan

Faced with the faster spread of BA.4 and BA.5 in Omicron, more and more countries began to attach importance to the vaccination of vaccine "booster shots".

Omicron BA.4 and BA.5 have stronger immune escape ability, but the protective effect of the vaccine also decreases with time delay. According to the data provided by the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC), after 65438+ 150 days of vaccination for adults aged 08 and above, the effective rate of three doses of vaccine for preventing Omicron is only 19%.

On Tuesday, local time, the independent vaccine expert group of FDA held an emergency meeting to discuss COVID-19's vaccination plan, and finally voted 19 to 2, suggesting to vaccinate a new vaccine against Omicron variants in the autumn of 2022. Public health officials predict that there will be a new surge in confirmed cases in COVID-19.

Dr PeterMarks, head of the vaccine department of FDA, said that we must seriously consider launching a "vaccination campaign" this fall. The better the match between COVID-19 vaccine and epidemic strain, it may mean that the higher the effectiveness of the vaccine, the better the durability of protection.

Earlier, European countries also released the fourth dose of COVID-19 vaccine vaccination plan. Among them, Spain announced that it would consider the fourth dose of COVID-19 vaccination in autumn. According to the contract signed by the Spanish government with pharmaceutical companies through the European Union, a new vaccine adapted to the Omicronia variant will arrive at that time.

However, the vaccines of major vaccine manufacturers are still the original version of BA. 1 for Omicron, and the effect on BA.4 and BA.5 which are popular in Omicron is not ideal.

Pfizer and Moderna provided small research data based on hundreds of people. Compared with the vaccine against the original strain, their Omicron vaccine significantly improved the immune response to BA. 1, but it seems that the immune response to BA.4 and BA.5 is not ideal.

However, at present, the mainstream strains in the United States are not BA. 1, but BA.4 and BA.5, which have faster transmission speed and stronger immune escape ability.

Therefore, the members of the FDA team suggested that vaccine manufacturers should aim at Omicron's BA.4 and BA.5 to produce new vaccines. It should be pointed out that it takes about 3 months to develop and produce another subtype of new vaccine.

In addition, the autumn "strong needle activity" in the United States is also facing the problem of funds. So far, the US Congress has not allocated funds to buy additional new vaccines for the United States. The White House warned that without more funds, the United States may have to limit the injection of pneumonia vaccine to high-risk groups such as the elderly in autumn.

Another challenge

At present, the United States and Europe are still facing the challenge of the spread of monkeypox.

Up to now, more than 4700 cases of monkeypox have been reported in 49 countries around the world. Among them, most cases occurred in Europe and the United States, and the number of confirmed cases of monkeypox reported by European countries accounted for 84% of the total.

In addition, the latest data from the US Centers for Disease Control and Prevention show that up to now, at least 306 cases of monkeypox have been diagnosed in 27 States and Washington, D.C., compared with 156 cases a week ago.

Faced with the rapid increase of confirmed cases of monkeypox, US health officials announced on June 28th that they would expand the recommended coverage of monkeypox vaccine and increase vaccine supply to cope with the recent increase of infected cases in the United States.

The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) said that the United States will immediately release 56,000 doses of Jynneos smallpox vaccine from the national strategic reserve, and another 240,000 doses will be released in the next few weeks. In addition, the US Department of Health and Human Services said that it will provide10.6 million doses of Jynneos vaccine in the autumn of 2022.

Jynneos is the only vaccine approved by FDA to prevent monkeypox. The manufacturer is a Nordic company in Bavaria, Denmark, which is suitable for the high-risk population of smallpox or monkeypox aged 18.

The CDC recommends that people who have been diagnosed or suspected to have been exposed to monkeypox should be vaccinated as soon as possible and should be vaccinated within two weeks of exposure to the virus.

With the rapid increase of cases of monkeypox infection, the demand for vaccination in the United States is very strong. According to The New York Times, the health department in Washington, D.C. provided 300 reservation places for monkeypox vaccination on 27th, and all of them were filled in less than 15 minutes.

It is worth noting that new york is the hardest hit area of monkeypox outbreak in the United States. Since the beginning of May, about 30 people in new york have been infected with monkeypox, and the number of infected people increased by 60% last week. At present, the number of infected people in new york accounts for more than 20% of the total number of infected people in the United States.

Want to know more financial news in real time, please pay attention to us.