Delta increases COVID-19 risks for pregnant women; Pfizer/BioNTech
vaccine antibodies gone by 7 months for many
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[October 02, 2021]
By Nancy Lapid
(Reuters) - The following is a summary of
some recent studies on COVID-19. They include research that warrants
further study to corroborate the findings and that have yet to be
certified by peer review.
Delta variant increases risks for pregnant women
Compared to coronavirus cases earlier in the pandemic, infections with
the Delta variant lead to worse outcomes for unvaccinated pregnant
women, new data suggest. Doctors studied 1,515 pregnant women with
COVID-19 who received care from a large public health system in Dallas
from May 2020 through Sept. 4, 2021. Overall, 82 women - 81 of whom were
unvaccinated - developed severe illness, including 10 who needed
ventilators and two who died. The proportion of severe or critical cases
among pregnant women was around 5% until early 2021, and were "largely
nonexistent" in February and most of March 2021, the researchers said in
a statement. In late summer, during the peak of the surge of the Delta
variant, the proportion of pregnant COVID-19 patients requiring
hospitalization jumped to 10% to 15%, they reported in the American
Journal of Obstetrics and Gynecology. Pregnant women face greater risks
for complications with any type of severe respiratory infection, so
these findings of the higher risk from the Delta variant further
emphasize the need for them to get vaccinated for COVID-19, study leader
Dr. Emily Adhikari of the University of Texas Southwestern Medical
Center said in a statement. On Wednesday, the U.S. Centers for Disease
Control and Prevention called for "urgent action" to increase COVID-19
vaccination among people who are pregnant, recently pregnant, including
those who are breastfeeding, or who might become pregnant in the future,
saying "the benefits of vaccination outweigh known or potential risks."
Pfizer/BioNTech vaccine antibodies disappear in many by 7 months
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Six months after receiving the second dose of the two-shot vaccine from
Pfizer Inc and BioNTech SE, many recipients no longer have
vaccine-induced antibodies that can immediately neutralize worrisome
variants of the coronavirus, a new study suggests. Researchers analyzed
blood samples from 46 healthy, mostly young or middle-aged adults after
receipt of the two doses and again six months after the second dose.
"Our study shows vaccination with the Pfizer-BioNtech vaccine induces
high levels of neutralizing antibodies against the original vaccine
strain, but these levels drop by nearly 10-fold by seven months" after
the initial dose, Bali Pulendran of Stanford University and Mehul Suthar
of Emory University said by email. In roughly half of all subjects,
neutralizing antibodies that can block infection against coronavirus
variants such as Delta, Beta, and Mu were undetectable at six months
after the second dose, their team reported on Thursday on bioRxiv ahead
of peer review.
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![](../images/100221pics/news_J51.jpg)
A pregnant woman receives a vaccine for the coronavirus disease
(COVID-19) at Skippack Pharmacy in Schwenksville, Pennsylvania,
U.S., February 11, 2021. REUTERS/Hannah Beier/File Photo
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Neutralizing antibodies are not the immune system's only
defense against the virus. Still, they "are critically important in
protecting against SARS-CoV-2 infection," said Pulendran and Suthar.
"These findings suggest that administering a booster dose at around 6 to
7 months following the initial immunization will likely enhance
protection against SARS-CoV-2 and its variants."
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Experimental Merck pill halves hospitalizations,
deaths
Merck & Co's experimental oral antiviral drug for COVID-19,
molnupiravir, reduced by around 50% the chance of hospitalization or
death for patients with mild or moderate infections who had risk
factors for severe disease, according to interim clinical trial
results announced by the company https://bit.ly/3zVtyE5 on Friday. A
planned interim analysis of 775 patients in Merck's study found that
7.3% of those given molnupiravir twice a day for five days were
either hospitalized or had died by 29 days after treatment, compared
with 14.1% of placebo patients. There were no deaths among those
given molnupiravir but eight in the placebo group. Due to the
positive results, the Phase III trial is being stopped early at the
recommendation of outside monitors. "An oral antiviral that can
impact hospitalization risk to such a degree would be game
changing," said Amesh Adalja, from Johns Hopkins Center for Health
Security, who was not involved in the study. Merck and partner
Ridgeback Biotherapeutics plan to seek U.S. emergency use
authorization for the pill as soon as possible, and to submit
applications to regulatory agencies worldwide. If authorized,
molnupiravir, which is designed to introduce errors into the genetic
code of the virus, would be the first oral antiviral medication for
COVID-19.
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(Reporting by Nancy Lapid and Deena Beasley; Editing by Bill
Berkrot)
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