Mutations

Not enough data to support multiple annual COVID boosters, U.S. CDC advisers say There is not sufficient evidence to recommend more than one COVID-19 booster shot a year for older people and those with weakened immune systems, an expert advisory group to the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) said on Friday. Aditya Samal Reuters

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Merck's COVID pill fails to prevent infection among household members Merck & Co Inc said on Tuesday its COVID-19 pill was not effective at cutting the risk of coronavirus infections in people living with someone infected with the virus. Reuters Reuters

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Could old coronavirus variants ever come back? The virus is evolving through a "continual game of cat and mouse between the virus and our immune systems," an epidemiologist explained. YahooNews

What happened to the variants that once wreaked havoc? “For all intents and purposes, we can consider them gone,” said David Dowdy, an epidemiology professor at Johns Hopkins Bloomberg School of Public Health.

Omicron hospital illness 54% deadlier than flu hospital cases, study finds Adults hospitalized with SARS-CoV-2 Omicron infections in Switzerland died at 1.5 times the rate of those diagnosed as having influenza A or B. CIDRAP

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Analysis of a subgroup of patients hospitalized primarily for COVID-19 or flu found that the risk of death was 2.5 times higher, and the likelihood of ICU admission was 1.7 times higher, among Omicron than flu patients.

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